It's January, and it's time for the Graduate Record Exam. There was no test center in Qicheng County, and Wu Dao needed to go to Fangzhou City to take the test, so he asked Hu Xueshan, the director of the office, for leave two days in advance. Previously, Wu Dao had not mentioned the matter of the postgraduate examination to the people of the Hecheng Town Government, and suddenly heard the word postgraduate examination, Hu Xueshan was a little surprised at first, but quickly calmed down, and he said to Wu Dao:

"It's a good thing to be admitted to graduate school, if you have the ability, you should go up, you are indeed a little condescending in our town. You can rest assured that you can take the test, the town will not set up any obstacles for you, and you need to open any certification materials, just come to me to open it. The county can't get a few graduate students a year, and if you can be admitted to the graduate school, it will also be a happy event for our town. You should have told me about the graduate school entrance examination as soon as possible, and if you knew that you were going to take the graduate school entrance examination, you would be given a month off so that you could go home and review with peace of mind. You just have to go back now, the postgraduate entrance examination is a big deal, and it's not too late to do the things in the unit when you come back. ”

Wu Dao originally thought that the Hecheng Town Government needed him very much, and the town leaders would try their best to keep him, and did not want him to take the postgraduate examination, but it was precisely because of this concern that he never told others about the postgraduate entrance examination, and he never expected that things would go so smoothly. At this time, he realized that the government is an iron-clad official of the yamen, it doesn't matter who is missing, there will be another one if he leaves, not to mention that he is not an official at all, but just a soldier, and the salaries of everyone in the government are financed, and there is no need for the leader to take the money himself, even if you are given a month's leave, what is the loss?

Wu Dao came out of Hu Xueshan's office, took the review materials and went back to Xiaohuangzhuang. The Wu family also learned a few days ago that he was going to graduate school. When he told his family about his plans, his parents were initially opposed, with Wu Yang saying:

"Your heart is too high, is it so easy to get into graduate school? If you don't get admitted to graduate school, and then you lose the iron job bowl of the town government, it will be a big loss, where will you find this kind of unit when the time comes? ”

Contrary to Wu Dao's expectations, Wu He was very supportive of him from the beginning:

"I think Xiaodao must be fine, this kid has studied well since he was a child, and he will be admitted to graduate school. When people go to higher places, water flows lower places, and when they graduate from graduate school, they may go directly to work in the provincial government, which is several levels higher than the commune government. ”

Wu Dao also explained in detail that if he could not be admitted to graduate school, he could continue to work in the town government, that he not only did not have to pay tuition fees for graduate students, but also that he could receive subsidies, and that the salary he received in the town government for one year was more than enough to study for graduate school, and so on, which dispelled his parents' concerns.

Wu Dao had never been to Fangzhou City, and the day before the exam, he went to the Qicheng County Bus Station early in the morning to get on the bus to Fangzhou City. Qicheng County is a two-hour drive from Fangzhou City, and at a little more than ten o'clock in the morning, the car reached Fangzhou City.

Fangju is a relatively backward city in the province, and neither the size of the urban area nor the degree of prosperity can be compared with the coastal city of Maoseong, where Jeju University's Maoseong branch is located. Wu Dao's test center is Fangzhou No. 3 Middle School, when he worked in the Hecheng Town Government, he looked up the route from Fangzhou City Bus Station to No. 3 Middle School on the Internet, and after getting off the bus, he found the test center very smoothly. In order to prepare for the postgraduate examination, the No. 3 Middle School has set up the examination room in advance, and after Wu Dao entered the school to check the location of the examination room, he left the school again and found a hotel nearby to stay.

Wu Dao put his luggage in his hotel room and walked out to the street to eat. He wanted to go back to the hotel after lunch to look at the review materials, but halfway through the meal, his teeth suddenly hurt. After enduring the pain and returning to the hotel, he quickly brushed his teeth, but the toothache did not lessen in the slightest, and the pain became worse and worse. The root of Wu Dao's toothache was buried as early as childhood, the Wu family did not have the habit of brushing their teeth, Wu Yang and Li Mei rarely brushed their teeth, Wu He brushed his teeth less often, before Wu Dao went to elementary school, no one told him about brushing his teeth, and he never brushed his teeth, and he often had toothaches at that time. When he was in the second grade of elementary school, he brushed his teeth for the first time, but it was irregular, sometimes once a week, sometimes once every three days, and only in junior high school did he start brushing his teeth every day.

The toothache was unbearable, Wu Dao had to leave the hotel and look for a dental clinic on the street, and walked for more than 20 minutes before finding one. After the dentist examined him, he said that one of his teeth had died and the root had suppurated, and that he had to be immediately disinflamed, and that he would be filled in a week, after which he was treated. Coming out of the dental clinic, Wu Dao's teeth didn't hurt anymore, but there was an indescribable discomfort in his mouth, and saliva kept producing, and he spat all the way and walked back to the hotel. After some tossing, he didn't have the intention of reading anymore, so he had to watch TV, and after watching it for a while, he felt bored, so he went to see the exam room again.

At night, Wu Dao tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep for a long time, and said to himself: "I have a toothache today, what does this portend?" Is it a success in the graduate school entrance examination and will leave the town government smoothly, or will the graduate school entrance examination fail? Leave the River Town Government anyway, it doesn't belong to me! ”

Wu Dao applied for the postgraduate examination in the direction of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, and had to take four exams for two days. Although he didn't sleep well, he consciously played well. On the day of the exam, he returned to Qicheng County by car.