There is no trench in front of the horse that cannot be jumped,

There is no stone in front of the spear that cannot be pierced.

- Naxi proverb

In the 1980s, television sets had just appeared in China, and they had not yet gained widespread popularity. Only a few poor families in the 181st Regiment had television sets.

Run Run Choi is Li Mei's husband and an excellent physics teacher at the school. The two of them are a typical complementary couple. Li Mei has a bold personality and is straightforward and fast-talking. Cai Yifu is calm and introverted, full of self-cultivation, and speaks a strong Sichuan dialect.

Run Run Tsai was a multi-talented man, often hiding alone in a small house with thick curtains, bent over to print various photographs taken with the Seagull 120 camera.

He was the first person to erect a tall television antenna in the school's family area. He used a 14-inch black-and-white television to receive television programs broadcast by Altay Television, and turned his home into a television club for teachers and students.

Every weekend night, some classmates often ask Niu Mulin to go to Li Mei's house to watch TV. Niu Mulin was worried that Mr. Li would blame him for not studying hard, so he hesitated for a long time, and finally couldn't resist the temptation of TV, so he mustered up the courage to go to Li Mei's house.

At that time, the Japanese inspirational TV series "Volleyball Girl" was being broadcast on TV. It was the first time Niu Mulin had seen a television set and a TV program with his own eyes.

After watching "Volleyball Girl", Niu Mulin immediately became ambitious, and his heart was full of strong fighting spirit. He strode back to his classroom in the bright moonlight and threw himself into his studies. This Japanese TV series had such an impact on him that he often borrowed lines from it later when encouraging others: "Go hard, Junko Oshika!" ”

One Sunday afternoon, Niu Mulin went to the Xinhua Bookstore at the Youth League headquarters to buy books. For some unknown reason, the bookstore was not open.

He has been attending school at the regiment headquarters for more than one year. Because he usually took the time to study, he had never visited this small town. So, he planned to take the opportunity to visit the regiment headquarters. He first came to a nearby building.

This is a small two-storey building, which is the seat of the regimental headquarters and the only building of the 181st regiment.

He saw that the door of the building was open and unguarded. He went straight through the door and up the concrete staircase to the roof.

As far as the eye can see, the scenery in all directions is under the eyes of the cattle and wood forests:

Surrounding the building are poplars and lush saponaria trees. The green leaves on the trees are "whooshing" in the breeze, are they clapping enthusiastically, or are they singing and dancing happily?

Through the gaps in the branches, he could see factories, open-air cinemas, clubs and sports fields scattered far and near.

Looking at these scenes in front of him, Niu Mulin seemed to feel like he was flying in the sky. He seemed to have forgotten the morning clouds and the morning breeze, as if he was about to say goodbye to this place and fly away into the distance.

He silently admonished himself:

Yes, it's high enough here, in the 181st regiment, in Altay. However, this is by no means my ultimate goal. I want to climb to the high point of Xinjiang, to the top of China, to the top of the world.

If you want to be poor, go to the next level.

Young people, full of vigor and ambition.

We should go up, work hard, and stand at the highest point of human growth.

Ambition is not in the age, courage must be climbed.

In the early 1980s, underworld and evil forces throughout the country ran rampant and domineering, committing evil acts and bullying men and women, resulting in very poor social order. The campus, which is a gathering of teenagers, is not immune. Several students with bad character in the middle school of the 181st regiment colluded with hooligans in society to steal chickens and dogs, cause trouble, and not only often bully students from other places who live on campus, but even openly besiege teachers on campus to stop their evil deeds.

It seems that no one can control them. I don't know what the public security police were busy with at that time.

Niu Mulin and his classmates studied on their own in the classroom at night. The misbehaving students threw sand at them from the windows. They had to go back to their dormitories to study. The bad students ran to the dormitory and asked them for meal tickets, and robbed them of their nice clothes and shoes.

Niu Mulin really had no way to live in the school dormitory, so through the relatives of his neighbor Wang Xueqiang, he moved to live with his brother-in-law, who worked as a carpenter at the school

At that time, high school was a two-year program. The first semester of the second year of high school is divided into liberal arts and science classes. Niu Mulin remembered the advice of Su Manli, the head teacher of the junior high school, and chose to attend the liberal arts class that Ma Xuanhua was in charge of.

Xu Jinmin is in charge of the science class and continues to serve as the head teacher of the top class.

One day, Niu Mulin saw that on the class schedule posted on the wall of the classroom, the science class was full of classes, but there were several blanks in the class schedule of the liberal arts class. He was dissatisfied that the school did not pay attention to liberal arts classes, so he filled in the blank spaces with a pencil the word "self-study".

When Xu Jinmin went to class, he found that the class schedule had been altered by others, and he immediately showed anger and shouted: "Who wrote it?" Stand up for me! ”

At that time, Niu Mulin's brain was blank and he stood up faintly.

Xu Jinmin originally guessed which naughty student was messing with nonsense, but he didn't expect it to be Niu Mulin, who served as a member of the study committee. He looked at Niu Mulin in surprise.

In an instant, the classmates in the class fell silent, as if the air had frozen.

Xu Jinmin's reaction was very sensitive, and his face quickly returned to its previous grimness.

He said succinctly: "Erase it after class!" ”

After class, Niu Mulin erased the word "self-study" from the class schedule in full view.

Xu Jinmin naturally understood Niu Mulin's thoughts. When they were in history and geography classes, he would come in from time to time to learn about the liberal arts classes.

During the winter vacation of 82, in order to devote himself to preparing for the college entrance examination, Niu Mulin did not return home like other students, but chose to stay in school to review.

At that time, the catering industry was not allowed to develop in society, and there were no self-employed households. The school cafeteria closed for winter break. Niu Mulin's food became a big problem.

In the early morning when the air turned into frost and the dripping water turned into ice, Niu Mulin met Xu Jinmin on the way to the classroom.

Xu Jinmin wore an army-green cotton military hat on his head, and a thick tile-gray cotton coat and cotton pants. Without waiting for Niu Mulin to speak, he said first: "I'll go to the Youth Company and the car platoon to ask if they have a halal canteen there." ”

Niu Mulin knew that Mr. Xu was running around for his meal, and before the words of thanks could be spoken, Xu Jinmin had already walked past him with his straight body and head upright, leaving behind a string of big-headed cotton shoes stepping on the snow with a crisp "creaking" sound.

Niu Mulin looked at Mr. Xu's distant back, and his heart was moved. In the cold winter, his heart was warm.

In the spring of the year of the college entrance examination, there seemed to be an exceptionally large number of movies screened in open-air cinemas. Every day at 6 p.m., the cinema announces that the iconic song of the new movie tonight - "Wandering Everywhere", the theme song of the Indian movie "The Wanderer", is transmitted to the classroom through a loudspeaker:

"Abalagu, Abaragu,

Agalagisimae,

Uasmani,

Abalagu,

U –

...... Abalagu"

Niu Mulin has been a movie fan since he was a child. He can watch a movie over and over again 4 or 5 times. Every time I hear the melodious singing of "Wandering Around" in class, my heart begins to itch.

One day, the cinema will show the Japanese feature film "Ah, Wild Wheat Ridge", which reflects the exploitation of women workers by the capitalists.

Niu Mulin saw an article about this movie in Popular Film magazine. As a die-hard movie fan, how can you give up watching such an excellent foreign movie? In the evening, when he was studying on his own, he quietly slipped out of the classroom and rushed in the direction of the movie theater.

After the movie ended, Niu Mulin walked to the exit with the audience, and suddenly saw Mr. Xu with angry faces and a few dejected classmates.

"It's over, it's dead this time!"

Niu Mulin dodged, so he had to walk up to Teacher Xu nervously, ready to be severely reprimanded.

The corners of Xu Jinmin's tightly closed mouth twitched a few times, but he didn't say anything.

Niu Mulin and those classmates were stunned for a moment, and then ran wildly in the direction of the school.

From then until the college entrance examination, Niu Mulin tried his best to resist the temptation of excellent movies in his heart, and focused on reviewing his homework.

The person in charge of the liberal arts class is Ma Xuanhua.

Ma Xuanhua has an extraordinary knack. He never brought textbooks and lesson plans when he was in class, he danced a piece of chalk in his hand to describe the world, and talked all over the world with one mouth, and he was convinced of the naughty ghosts in the liberal arts class whose hearts were higher than the sky and no one in their eyes.

After school, Ma Xuanhua often gathered the students to his home, organized them to review their homework together, and turned his home into a second classroom. Sometimes, no one can tell who is his student and who is his child.

Once, Niu Mulin brought a copy of Xinjiang Youth magazine to the classroom. On the back cover of the magazine are the lyrics and sheet music of "Early in the Morning, We Embark on the Trail".

When Ma Xuanhua saw that magazine, not only did he not criticize Niu Mulin for taking up precious time to read idle books, but asked with interest: "You also know simple music?" ”

Niu Mulin actually didn't know much about the simple score, so he pretended to understand and hummed according to the score.

"Cut." Ma Xuanhua grabbed the magazine, looked at the song sheet on it, and gently hummed the accurate melody.

This was the first time Niu Mulin had heard Mr. Ma sing, and it was also the first time he had seen a relaxed expression on his weather-beaten face.

Ma Xuanhua's lover suffers from the sequelae of diabetes and has been in a wheelchair for many years. However, illness could not hide her quiet and elegant temperament. A standard Mandarin is reminiscent of her good family background.

It is said that Ma Xuanhua stayed on to teach at China University of Geosciences after graduating from the university. The lover is his student. Because her lover was assigned to work in Xinjiang after graduation, Ma Xuanhua also followed her to the distant frontier.

Niu Mulin also heard that Teacher Ma was depressed at school, and in addition to teaching students and cooking for his family, he spent the rest of his time playing mahjong with a few people who shared the same illness. Therefore, Niu Mulin thought for a long time that playing mahjong would be a tool used by people to vent their depression.

Niu Mulin had long heard that Mr. Deng Linsen was the best history teacher in the 181st Regiment Middle School, and he used to be a top student in the history department of Wuhan University, a famous university. It's a pity that he is not in good health and has not come to the class to teach.

There are about 30 days left before the college entrance examination, and Deng Linsen finally appeared in the classroom of the liberal arts class.

He had a broad body, a big head, a bright head, and a pale complexion, and looked both burly and very weak.

Linson Deng arranged a revision plan for the students. He said calmly: "You review the first and second volumes of "Chinese History" this week, and the first volume of "World History" the next week, and then go to take the college entrance examination, come back and rest for a week, and then review the second volume of "World History......"

Niu Mulin's mouth opened wide in shock when he heard this, thinking that there was something wrong with his ears: What is the use of reviewing the second volume of "World History" after the college entrance examination?

Deng Linsen may have seen Niu Mulin's surprised expression, but still said gently: "Don't be angry. Since the resumption of the college entrance examination for more than 6 years, no fresh graduates from our school have been admitted to the university. ”

After listening to Mr. Deng's explanation, Niu Mulin finally understood what he meant. Niu Mulin was very unconvinced, and secretly made up his mind: Hmph, underestimate our strength! I must be admitted to university this year!

Whenever Niu Mulin felt bored and wanted to be lazy in his studies, Mr. Deng's words would ring in his ears, and he suddenly regained his spirits and swam into the ocean of knowledge quickly.

Once, Deng Linsen introduced the students' desire to fill in the college entrance examination, and said seriously: "You'd better apply for universities in the north." Because you can't adapt to the climate of the south, not even Kunming, which is like spring all year round. ”

Later, when Niu Mulin filled in the university application, he was afraid of the southern climate, and all the universities he filled in were located in the cities north of the Qinling Mountains and the Huai River. At the same time, he had deep doubts about the reputation of Kunming Spring City.

Niu Mulin heard the famous singer Li Guyi's "Hometown Love" on the radio by chance, and immediately fell in love with this song.

The lyrics of "Hometown Love" are concise and smooth, the melody is beautiful and affectionate, the artistic conception is far-reaching, and the object of confiding can be a lover, a relative, or a hometown and motherland, with rich connotations and extensive extensions.

Niu Mulin has developed a habit of learning since he was a child: listen carefully to the teacher's lectures during class, review the content of the day after returning home from school, then write homework, and finally preview the content to be studied on the second day, and read books and newspapers and listen to the radio the rest of the time.

Although the study load in the second year of high school was very heavy, he still completed his study tasks quickly according to his habits. He looked up and saw that the students in the classroom were still immersed in their studies, and he was embarrassed to leave early, so he had to patiently find something to see. After a long time, he looked up and saw that his classmates were still immersed in their studies.

Niu Mulin felt that there was really nothing to learn, so he packed his schoolbag and quietly left the classroom.

Summer nights are full of stars and breezes. He walked on the road alone, humming "Hometown Love" softly in his mouth, and he was in a relaxed and happy mood.

At that time, a preliminary examination was held before the official college entrance examination. Only students who have obtained excellent results in the pre-examination are eligible to take the gaokao.

Niu Mulin's pre-examination score was the first place. He is full of confidence in winning the college entrance examination.

The official college entrance examination has begun. The place where they took the exam was located 60 kilometers away in Beitun Town, the headquarters of the 10th Agricultural Division.

The school appointed Li Mei as the team leader, and took 30 students who had won the college entrance examination to ride in the open car of the Jiefang truck, and came to Beitun Town in the dust.

Niu Mulin is a newborn calf and is not afraid of tigers. He plunged headlong into the exam room, sat down and answered the paper quickly.

Li Mei is a person who is very serious about his work. She cares carefully about each candidate. Whenever Niu Mulin walked out of the examination room, she had to step forward and ask with concern: "Niu Mulin, how do you feel about the exam?" ”

Niu Mulin smiled awkwardly and replied, "It seems that a word was written incorrectly." ”

At noon, the students had a group meal in the cafeteria. The stir-fry in front of Niu Mulin was different from other classmates, it was a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

The master chef of the cafeteria came over and specially told the other students: "There are slices of meat in your dishes. This classmate's dish is a vegetarian dish, so scrambled eggs with tomatoes are specially given to him. ”

Niu Mulin glanced at the master gratefully, and at the same time saw the envious eyes of the other students. He picked up his chopsticks and poured some scrambled eggs with tomatoes into his rice bowl, then picked up the plate and distributed the rest of the dishes to his classmates.

After all the 6 homework exams were completed, Li Mei organized the students to evaluate their own scores.

Most of the students assessed their scores at more than 300 points. Niu Mulin estimated himself at 430 points. As soon as the news spread, teachers and classmates gathered around him, eager to re-estimate with him. The result is still more than 430 points. Everyone looked at Niu Mulin with both envy and suspicion.

Niu Mulin said disapplaudively in his heart: What is this! I set a goal of 480 points.

After returning home, Niu Mulin calmed down and estimated the score again, and the result was 470 points. A small drum also began to beat in his heart: how could it be higher and higher?