Chapter 13: Lin Wan Definitely Won’t Make the Cut
To give Lin Wan and Huo Xiao a chance to cultivate their feelings, Comrade Huang Guixiang only stayed at the hospital for a short while before leaving.
When Lin Wan finished her IV drip, she was discharged and went home. The very first thing she did was hand over several packs of dried noodles she had smuggled out of her space to Huang Guixiang.
Along the way, she slipped her a hundred yuan and one hundred jin worth of grain coupons.
She claimed they were from Huo Xiao.
Huang Guixiang grinned so wide her teeth showed, declaring that when looking for a man, you had to find one like Huo Xiao, who was willing to spend money on his woman. To be this generous before they were even married—the young man had a bright future!
Huang Guixiang gripped Lin Wan’s hand tightly. “Logically speaking, Mom shouldn’t take your money. But Mom is tight on cash right now, so consider this a loan. I’ll pay you back slowly later!”
Sigh, it was all her own fault for being too foolish. The moment she heard someone was selling a job, she got overly excited and ended up being scammed out of eight hundred yuan! The entire savings of the Zhang family!
Just wait until she caught that dead scammer! Once she found her, she would tear her alive!
Her Wanwan truly possessed great fortune and was so thoughtful, bringing everything back to her biological mother to help resolve the urgent crisis. With money, coupons, and dried noodles, the food crisis of the past few months could be considered resolved!
The massive boulder pressing down on Huang Guixiang’s chest was finally lifted.
Her entire life goal was to properly settle her daughter. Now that Wanwan had tested into a job at the post office and found such an excellent boyfriend, life visibly had something to look forward to.
How wonderful! Huang Guixiang was happier than she had ever been before.
Lin Wan thought to herself that this money was originally meant to fill the pit for Comrade Huang Guixiang anyway. For now, it would solve the food crisis for the massive household. Later on, she could use the excuse of going to the black market to properly bring back a batch of rations.
She hugged Huang Guixiang, whose face was split into a massive smile, and lowered her head to nuzzle against her shoulder.
“Mom, you loved and protected me until I became an adult. Now it’s my turn to show filial piety to you!”
“Don’t talk about borrowing or not borrowing, it makes me feel like an outsider.”
“If you say it again, I’m really going to get angry!”
Huang Guixiang was coaxed by Lin Wan until her mouth curled up in a constant smile, and she said repeatedly, “Fine, fine, fine, Mom won’t say it anymore. Mom is going to wash your clothes, you go rest up quickly!”
Once Huang Guixiang went out, Lin Wan hurriedly pulled out paper and a pen to write the statement explaining the situation.
She bit the penholder, racking her brains to figure out how to write it, making it feel almost like writing a graduation thesis! Since Huo Xiao hadn’t handed her a death sentence yet, she felt she could still be resuscitated a bit.
After finishing it, she pulled out the answers to memorize them.
Even if she had to die tomorrow, she should do what needed to be done today; one still had to put in the effort.
She thought she would be restless, but the moment she began memorizing the answers, she became completely immersed. Even the system was astonished by her mental fortitude. It was simply too stable!
Not only did Lin Wan memorize the answers, but she also spent fifty points to exchange with the system for the extended content of the exam questions and memorized that as well. She didn’t just want to know the answers; she wanted to know the why, the sources, and the knowledge and content related to those answers.
Death wasn’t scary. What was scary was giving up on one’s own life.
Only by immersing herself in studying could she forget the scene that made her want to dig her toes into the ground. The power of that drug was simply too terrifying. It infinitely magnified one’s lustful courage, making her bold enough to physically pounce on even Huo Xiao!
After falling asleep that night, Lin Wan had a night full of vividly colorful dreams.
In her dreams, she physically pounced on Huo Xiao. The tip of her tongue pried open Huo Xiao’s thin lips, and her small hands also pulled off his leather belt.
However, what didn’t succeed in reality didn’t succeed in the dream either…
One second she stripped Huo Xiao’s pants off, and the next second Huo Xiao pulled out his gun and shot her dead!
A wet dream turned right into a nightmare!
When she woke up the next morning, she still felt a lingering fear recalling that dream. Whatever iron-clad lustful courage she had was shattered into dust. But thinking about the explicit parts, her small face grew hot enough to fry an egg.
“Wanwan, are you still running a fever?” Huang Guixiang looked at her expression, deeply worried. Her daughter’s small face was crimson, and the dark circles under her eyes were pitch black.
Lin Wan said, “I’m fine, Mom. I’ll go to the hospital to check it out in a bit!”
Huang Guixiang felt both heartache and guilt, and hurriedly fetched money for her.
Seeing this scene, the two sisters-in-law looked at each other and whispered in low voices. One look told her they weren’t saying anything good. Lin Wan saw it but acted as if she hadn’t.
She hurriedly washed up, ate breakfast, and headed out the door along with the members of the family who were going to work. “Mom, I’m going to look for Huo Xiao.”
Thinking that she was going to register her marriage with Huo Xiao, Huang Guixiang hurriedly said, “Go quickly, go quickly, don’t waste time. Bring Little Huo back for lunch this morning!”
Lin Wan nodded. “Alright!”
Hearing this, Zhang Hongqiang immediately clapped his hands in celebration. “Awesome! Brother-in-law is coming over for lunch again today!” When Brother-in-law came, the house had meat to eat, and there were white steamed buns to eat too! Hehehe~
Huang Guixiang raised her hand and delivered a swift slap to him. “What the hell are you happy about? The rice jar and flour jar are both hitting rock bottom, yet you don’t know how to worry at all!”
Sigh…
The previous day, Eldest Son went to line up to buy grain, but it was a wasted effort; he didn’t manage to buy a single grain of rice. Now that she had cash in her pocket, she needed to make a secret trip to the black market.
Zhang Hongqiang stuck out his tongue. “Mom, then am I still going to pick up coal cinders?”
Huang Guixiang shook her head. “Don’t go today. Your brother-in-law is coming at noon, so stay home and help me with chores!”
Lin Wan took the bus to the post office. When entering the door, she enthusiastically greeted the old security guard. The old security guard remembered her—how could he possibly forget a young girl who was so generous with her gifts? He enthusiastically led her to the exam room.
Lin Wan slipped him a few White Rabbit creamy candies to show her thanks.
“Little Lin is here!” When Section Chief Tang from the personnel department saw Lin Wan, a smile instantly piled up on his face. “Hurry inside! Almost everyone is here! The exam will start right on time.”
Lin Wan expressed her thanks.
Big Sister Gao from the personnel department was also present, responsible for invigilating the exam and handing out the test papers. Seeing Lin Wan, she also greeted her with a face full of smiles. After all, Lin Wan was the only person who had handed them White Rabbit creamy candies when she came to register. Furthermore, the person backing Lin Wan might very well be a high-ranking official, so keeping on good terms was the right move.
About twenty young men and women were already seated inside the meeting room. The moment Lin Wan arrived, they all lifted their heads to look at her one after another.
Oh! What a gorgeous girl!
The staff from the personnel department were so warm toward her—whose connections was she riding on?
The vast majority of the people in the room were children of employees within the unit, so they were all familiar with one another, but none of them recognized Lin Wan. It seemed she came through connections from an external unit.
They were only recruiting ten people this time. With another powerful competitor arriving, everyone couldn’t help but grow anxious. Their sense of crisis was raised immensely high.
Xu Hui timed her arrival perfectly, stepping through the door right on the dot.
She scanned the exam room, her gaze landing on Lin Wan, locking onto Lin Wan’s eyes. Her heart gave a sudden thud. For no discernible reason, a wave of intense loathing toward Lin Wan welled up within her. She didn’t even know this person, so why…
Frowning, Xu Hui walked over to her seat and sat down, casting another glance at Lin Wan.
Lin Wan was also dazed. The female lead of the original book! She hadn’t expected to run into her right here!
Tsk tsk. She actually wanted to stay far away from the male and female leads of the original book. Sigh… this godforsaken sense of destiny!
Time was up, and the test papers were distributed.
Lin Wan scanned it over. Mm, the system was reliable after all; the test paper was exactly the same as the one it had provided.
“Time is up, you may begin writing!”
“The exam time is ninety minutes. You may hand in your paper after thirty minutes have passed.”
Lin Wan picked up her pen and wrote furiously. While others were scratching their heads and ears in frustration, she was already close to finishing.
Section Chief Tang, who was invigilating, came over to check on Lin Wan. One look at her pristine test paper and entirely correct answers left him completely shocked. This comprehensive test paper didn’t just contain knowledge about posts and telecommunications; it also included miscellaneous knowledge. This exam featured questions selected by three different departments, which were only compiled this morning. Therefore, even for the few pre-selected candidates who held questions and answers in their hands, they didn’t possess the entirety of it.
But what did it mean that Lin Wan got everything right? It meant she likely possessed all the answers. Otherwise, how could a child from an external unit answer their unit’s test paper with absolute correctness? The background of this Comrade Lin Wan was far deeper than he had imagined!
Thirty minutes arrived.
Lin Wan handed in her paper.
She belonged to an external unit, so if she wanted to stay, she had to stand out—stand out to the point that if someone wanted to reject her, they would have reservations. Handing in the paper first and scoring first place—if they dared reject her, they shouldn’t blame her for going to the committee to report them!
“Oh, someone already handed in their paper?”
Bureau Chief Zhao brought a team over to inspect the rooms, happening to run right into Lin Wan handing in her paper.
“She probably didn’t know how to do it, so she gave up,” Director Xu from the office, Xu Hui’s third uncle, said with a smile.
The others also chimed in one after another. “Exactly. The questions this time are on the difficult side; even comrades who graduated from the posts and telecommunications major at the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers University would find them challenging!”
“This young girl’s attitude isn’t right. Even if she didn’t know how to do it, she shouldn’t have given up the opportunity. It’s only been thirty minutes, leaving sixty minutes for her to think, yet she still gave up.”
“A person like this cannot be hired!”
None of the group recognized Lin Wan. They had taken all the pre-selected children to meet beforehand explicitly to avoid any blunders that might accidentally cause them to be rejected. Since they didn’t know her, they could suppress her as they pleased.
Bureau Chief Zhao’s expression wasn’t very good; clearly, he also felt the others were right. He stepped into the exam room, requested Lin Wan’s test paper from Big Sister Gao, and began reading it over.
His very first impression of the test paper was that the girl’s handwriting was excellent—sharp, forceful, and piercing through the paper. It didn’t look like a girl’s writing at all, but rather resembled a boy’s.
Then he looked at the content.
The more Bureau Chief Zhao looked, the more solemn his expression became.
It was actually entirely correct.
The bureau possessed a question bank, and for this test paper, three different departments were asked to select questions separately. They were all delivered to him this morning, and then he personally formulated three temporary questions to complete the paper before handing it over to his subordinates to print. Therefore, there was absolutely no opportunity for it to be leaked.
Bureau Chief Zhao set down the test paper and walked out of the classroom.
The others also took turns looking over Lin Wan’s test paper, their state of mind after reading it matching Bureau Chief Zhao’s exactly.
This exam would have its scores and rankings announced on the spot, so everyone stayed behind after finishing the test. They waited right at the scene for the scores to come out.
Lin Wan was also waiting out in the corridor. She didn’t have any acquaintances and stood all by herself.
Xu Hui huddled together with a group of girls, pointing and gesturing at Lin Wan.
Xu Hui cast a look of loathing at Lin Wan and went to find her third uncle. “Third Uncle, there’s a candidate named Lin Wan. I detest her—don’t let her make the cut.”
Director Xu: “Her? The one who handed in her paper first?”
“I got it!”
Xu Hui let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I was just worried whether she was someone’s well-connected relation.” The moment she saw those two characters Lin Wan, she felt a physiological wave of loathing, which Xu Hui herself found strange. But she decided to follow her heart. No one was willing to work together with someone who disgusted them.
Director Xu: “Don’t you worry, she won’t make the cut. Bureau Chief Zhao’s face looked completely foul when he looked at her test paper; she must have answered terribly.”
