Time came to the end of October in a blink of an eye, and Wu Dao had to make a choice for the future, because if he wanted to take the doctoral exam, he had to complete the registration in November and mail the review materials to the school where he applied for the examination. Just when Wu Dao was worried about this, one day Si Baifang said to him:

"Wu Dao, there is something I want to tell you."

"What's the matter?" Wu Dao said.

"I heard that many of our graduate students have gone abroad to teach Chinese as a foreign language in their second year of graduate school, and I want to sign up too. In this way, you can increase your knowledge, and secondly, you can save a lot of money and send it to your hometown. ”

Wu Dao is no stranger to the project Si Baifang said, in fact, he once wanted to sign up very much, but he chose to give up for Si Baifang's sake. However, he couldn't tell Si Baifang these words, he could only say:

"Baifang, I think it's good that you signed up for that program, and I support your decision. Being able to live abroad for a year is also good for you to write poetry. ”

"Wu Dao, what are your plans? You'll graduate next year, and I'll go abroad, so I can't accompany you anymore, do you work or take a doctorate? ”

Si Baifang's words made Wu Dao feel very sad, but he supported Si Baifang's decision, no matter what Si Baifang wanted to do, he, a friend of his heart, would help her to complete it. In addition to being sad, he also saw his direction clearly, since Si Baifang was leaving Jeju, he should also pursue what he wanted, he said to Si Baifang:

"Baifang, I think about it, I want to take the doctoral exam and become a scholar in the future."

"I support your decision."

At the beginning of November, Wu Dao told Tian Mo about his decision to take the exam. Tian Mowen has always supported and hoped that Wu Dao would take the doctoral examination, because he felt that Wu Dao was very suitable for research work. Wu Dao chose Tian Mowen as his mentor, and Tian Mowen was happy in his heart, because this graduate student allowed him to temporarily retain his qualification as a graduate tutor, but he didn't have much expectations for Wu Dao at first. After meeting for the first time, Tian Mowen found that Wu Dao was somewhat similar to his younger self, and they both had a sense of momentum. Later, Wu Dao's diligence also surprised Tian Mowen, in just two years, this student with almost no French foundation can use French materials completely by self-study, which is a very difficult thing. Wu Dao decided to take the doctoral exam at the last moment, and although Tian Mowen felt that the time was a little late, he still felt very happy, and he told Wu Dao that he had a classmate who worked as a doctoral supervisor at a university in Beijing, and Wu Dao could apply there. Thinking that his good friend Jing Like was in Beijing, Wu Dao gladly accepted Tian Mowen's suggestion. Tian Mowen immediately contacted his classmates and recommended Wu Dao to him, and then Wu Dao also got in touch with this doctoral supervisor by email, and the matter of Kaobo was officially put on the agenda.

Candidates who apply only need to send their two papers together with the recommendation letters of three professors or associate professors to the school, and the doctoral supervisor of the school will determine the list of people who will enter the re-examination according to these materials. Wu Dao excerpted two chapters from the first draft of his graduation thesis, revised them into a thesis, and then asked Tian Mowen and two other tutors to write letters of recommendation, and then sent them to the school where he applied for the examination.

Of the seven graduate students majoring in foreign literature, five plan to work after graduation, and two are taking doctoral examinations. In addition to Wu Dao, another person who took the Ph.D. exam was Lu Qianqian, who was admitted to the same school as Wu Dao, but not in the same research direction, so there was no competition.

At the beginning of December, Wu Dao received a phone call from the school he applied for, and he passed the review and entered the re-examination.

In winter, Si Baifang made a third pair of cotton shoes for Wu Dao. Wu Dao thought that he was about to be separated from Si Baifang, and his future life was unpredictable, and this might be the last pair of shoes Si Baifang made for him. So, instead of wearing those shoes, he put them in a box that he would treasure forever.

When he returned to Qicheng County during the winter vacation, Wu Dao told his family about his doctoral examination and the fact that he had passed the preliminary examination. Although he repeatedly emphasized that passing the preliminary examination does not mean that he was admitted, people still thought that he had been admitted to the doctorate. Especially Wu He, he said to others everywhere:

"My grandson Xiaodao has been admitted to a doctorate in Beijing, and he will go to Beijing in September."

After hearing what Wu He said to the people in the village, Wu Dao said to Wu He:

"Grandpa, I haven't been admitted yet, and there is a retest. After passing the re-examination, you can be admitted. ”

"Isn't it already vetted, and admission is a matter of time. Growing up, you didn't fail in any exam. Grandpa believes that you will definitely be able to get in. Wu He said.

Wu Dao is not good at saying anything.

Almost all the relatives of the Wu family heard from Wu He that Wu Dao was admitted to the doctorate. When Wu Dao visited his relatives, his relatives asked him about it. Wu Dao explained again and again, extremely embarrassed.

In March, Wu Dao and Lu Qianqian were going to Beijing to take the re-examination of the doctoral admissions examination. The re-examination is divided into two parts, first, the foreign language translation exam, the on-site translation of highly professional foreign language literature, and then the tutor interview, in which the candidates state the topics and ideas they plan to study when they study for a doctorate in the future.

When she was in graduate school, she had already thought about taking the doctoral exam in the future, and she has been preparing for this goal, passing the TOEFL exam in English, and her research topic is also very mature under the guidance of her supervisor. In comparison, Wu Dao's preparation was much worse. First of all, the foreign language test is a dilemma for Wu Dao, after he began to learn French on his own, he gave up learning English, although he still often reads English papers, but he has a very small vocabulary, although French has been learning, but after all, the study time is still short, and the vocabulary is also very small. Without the help of foreign dictionaries, he can only understand the surface of professional papers, whether in English or French. Compared with the two, Wu Dao felt that his English was slightly better than French, because after all, he had been learning English for more than ten years, so he chose English when he signed up for the exam and chose the language for the exam. As for the research topic, Wu Dao only thought about it temporarily when he decided to take the exam, and he took Rousseau as the object of study. He had already read all of Rousseau's major works, and he had also read a lot of relevant research results. Based on the accumulation of this knowledge, Wu Dao sorted out a research idea. Before the retest, Tian Mowen once asked Wu Dao how he was prepared, and Wu Dao thought he was ready, so he didn't turn to his mentor and asked him to do some guidance.

Just as the exam was approaching, Si Baifang suddenly fell ill and was admitted to the hospital. Wu Dao took care of Si Baifang in the hospital every day, and he even planned to stay and give up Kaobo at one point. At Si Baifang's request, he did not give up.

Wu Dao originally planned to take the morning train to Beijing with Lu Qianqian the day before the exam, and after arriving, Lu Qianqian stayed in a hotel, and he went to Jing Like, if he had a place to stay, he would stay there, and if not, he would find a hotel outside. Si Baifang's illness made Wu Dao change his plan, because Si Baifang could not be discharged from the hospital that morning. Wu Dao asked Lu Qianqian to go to Beijing in the morning as originally planned, and he took a sleeper car in the evening, and bought tickets in advance.

When Si Baifang heard that Wu Dao had changed his itinerary, he said to him:

"Wu Dao, you don't have to worry about me, I'm already well, and I can be discharged from the hospital immediately. The exam is a big deal, and you still have to go early. ”

"Baifang, I'm not all here to take care of you. If I go to Beijing during the day, I have to find a place to stay there. If I lived in Jing Like's place, I would have to cause trouble for him, and Peking University was far away from the school I applied for, and it was not convenient to take the bus for more than an hour. Besides, it's not a holiday, and Jing Like doesn't necessarily have a place to live. I took the train at night, in the sleeper car, and slept on the train at night, and I didn't have to go to Beijing to find a place to live. Wu Dao said.

"So will you still be able to catch the retest?"

"I can catch up. The train I took departed at 9:30 p.m. and arrived at Beijing Railway Station at 6:30 a.m. After arriving at the station, I took the bus again, and it took about half an hour to get to the university I was applying for, and the foreign language test started at 9 o'clock in the morning, which was completely in time. Speaking of which, it is more convenient than living at Peking University. ”

"Then I'll be relieved."

What Wu Dao said to Si Baifang was also true, he didn't want to cause trouble to Jing Like. If he takes the daytime train, it is already night or even late at night when he arrives in Beijing, he knows that the later the time, the more Jing Like will pick him up at the station, and even if he does not have a place to live, he will try his best to arrange a good place for him to live.

At noon, Si Baifang went through the discharge procedures.

At half past nine in the evening, Wu Dao boarded the train to Beijing again. He thought he could sleep well in the sleeper and go to the retest the next day full of energy. However, the moment he stepped into the train car, he didn't feel good because it was too noisy.

Looking at the boundless dark night outside the window, Wu Dao regretted not taking the morning train to Beijing.

There are many people in the same carriage who went to Beijing to take the doctoral examination, but they all applied for other schools, and the examination was not tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow, and most of the majors were science and engineering. Listening to the people in the carriage saying that they were interning in a certain central enterprise, a state-owned enterprise, or a large hospital, and earning six or seven thousand a month, they still felt dissatisfied, and Wu Dao felt a little unbelievable, because for a graduate student in liberal arts, that kind of work is almost impossible. Wu Dao suddenly understood that the so-called useless students are scholars, not all scholars, but only liberal arts students, especially those who study literature, and literature graduates are useless to society except for writing articles.

That night, the noise in the carriage was too loud, and the clanging of the train and the sound of people talking made it difficult for Wu Dao to sleep. In addition, the retest is imminent, and he has something on his mind, and his sleep is even worse.

The train arrived at Beijing Railway Station on time at half past six, walked out of the train station, and went straight to the bus stop. Once again, his plans were shattered, as the entire city was shrouded in a haze that made it impossible to see the direction.

It took more than 20 minutes for Wu Dao to find the stop sign and get on the bus, but because of the serious haze and the morning rush hour, there were many vehicles on the road, and the bus took more than half an hour to arrive. When he got off the bus, it was already half past eight, and Wu Dao didn't care about eating, so he ran directly to the examination room for the foreign language translation test, and there were only twenty minutes left before the exam started.

Lu Qianqian, who was already waiting in the examination room, saw Wu Dao who was panting and said to him:

"Angkor, you're finally here, and the foreign language written test will start soon."

"Don't mention it, I'll be in Beijing at six o'clock. As soon as I left the station, there was a heavy fog outside, and I was stuck in traffic during the morning rush hour, so I was lucky to be able to catch the foreign language test. Wu Dao said.

"Thankfully, I came yesterday."

"It doesn't matter if it's early or late, just don't be late, let's take the test."

"Let's take the test well, I hope both of us can be admitted."

"I hope so."

At the beginning of the foreign language written test, as soon as he saw the test paper, Wu Dao's mind was a little foggy, because the English literature on the test paper was far more difficult than the literature he usually read, and there were too many words that he had never seen before. After reading the whole text, he can only understand 12/10, and if he wants to reason according to the context, it is difficult to expand because he does not know the key words. Coupled with an empty stomach, very hungry, and a stomach ringing twice from time to time, the final result can be imagined.

When he walked out of the foreign language written examination room, Wu Dao realized that the possibility of admission to the doctoral examination was not very large. At noon, I had dinner with Lu Qianqian, and the two of them talked about the situation of the foreign language written test, and Lu Qianqian took the test very well, and she said to Wu Dao:

"Brother Ang, your research ability is stronger than mine, now is not the time to give up, grasp the interview in the afternoon, and you can still turn defeat into victory."

"That's what I thought, I'll try again during the interview." Wu Dao said.

Interviews are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Lu Qianqian was in front of the order, and the interview was already over at three o'clock, and she came to the corridor and said to Wu Dao:

"Angkor, the interview is very simple, if nothing else, I should be able to get in. I'm waiting for you now. ”

"Okay, I'll do my best." Wu Dao said.

"Angkor, do you have any plans after the exam?"

"Let's go back to Jeju after the exam, there's nothing to do here."

"I want to wait here for the admission results to come out, and by the way, I will spend two days in Beijing. I have a few classmates who are graduate students in Beijing, and I go to play with them. ”

"I also have a good friend in Beijing, I'll take a look at it again and tell you when the interview is over."

"Waiting for your good news."

After Lu Qianqian finished speaking, she went for a walk on campus.

When it was Wu Dao's turn to enter the examination room for an interview, it was already half past four in the afternoon. During the more than two hours of waiting in the corridor, he combed through his research ideas again and felt that there was no problem. After entering the examination room, Wu Dao found that it was not the case at all, most of the questions asked by the tutors, he had not thought deeply or even thought about it, and his answers were stammering, and there was no logic at all. The doctoral supervisor who had been contacted in advance and planned to apply for the exam was sitting opposite Wu Dao, and the two of them not only contacted by email, but also made a phone call, in this situation, Wu Dao was ashamed, and the doctoral supervisor also shook his head again and again, and finally he stopped the interview in advance and asked Wu Dao to wait outside for the school's phone call.

The moment the interview was stopped, Wu Dao knew that he was completely hopeless in taking the exam. He reluctantly said "Thank you, tutors" and left the exam room.

Wu Dao never thought that his doctoral exam would end in such a fiasco, he was upset, and he had no idea of going to see Jing Like. He called Lu Qianqian:

"Sissi, my interview was very bad, and I can't be admitted. I'm not going to play in Beijing, I'm going to take the train back to Jeju tonight. ”

"Angkor, don't be too upset. I didn't take the exam this year, so I can prepare well when I go back, and I can take the exam again next year. Lu Qianqian said.

"If you don't take the test, let's talk about it later. You are alone in Beijing, so you should be safe. ”

"Angkor, I'm fine, there are several classmates here. On your way back, stay safe. ”

"Good. Then let's go back to Jeju and see you again. ”

"See you back in Jeju."

Tian Mowen once told Wu Dao that he wanted him to call and tell him the results as soon as the re-examination was over. Wu Dao felt that he had done too badly in the exam, and he was ashamed of Tian Mo's recommendation, so he didn't call, and wanted to wait until he went back to Jeju to meet.

Wu Dao bought a bucket of instant noodles at the school store and took the bus to the train station. Halfway through the bus, he received a call from the school he was applying for, telling him that he had not been accepted and thanking him for applying. Wu Dao had already expected this result, hung up the phone, and just smiled stupidly. Three minutes later, Lu Qianqian sent a text message telling Wu Dao that she had been admitted. Wu Dao replied to the text message, "Congratulations. I was not admitted and have left for Jeju. ”

After arriving at the train station, Wu Dao bought a train ticket at 9 o'clock in the evening. Because he bought the ticket too late, there were no sleepers on the train, so he bought a hard seat. In fact, even if he could still buy a sleeper ticket, Wu Dao didn't want to buy it because he wanted to punish himself. The Ph.D. exam was the most painful failure he had ever experienced since he was in elementary school, and to some extent, the only one.

While waiting for the train at the train station, Si Baifang called Wu Dao:

"Wu Dao, how is your retest today? I've been waiting for your news. ”

"Baifang, I didn't get in." Wu Dao said.

"Are the admission results out?"

"It's already out."

"Did you fail the foreign language written test or did you fail the interview?"

"I didn't do well in either of these exams. I have already bought a ticket to go back, take the 9 p.m. train, and arrive in Jeju tomorrow morning. I'll talk to you about it later. ”

"Then you have a good night's rest, and we'll see you tomorrow. Don't overthink it and stay safe on the road. ”

"Okay."

Si Baifang's phone just hung up, and only two minutes later, Tian Mowen's call came again, Wu Dao said the result in a hurry, Tian Mo asked:

"You should call me as soon as the exam is over, then maybe there is room for reversal, now that the results are out, there is no possibility of changing, and you can only accept this result, there is no other way."

Wu Dao thought that failing the doctoral examination is not only a matter for the candidate, but also to a certain extent will make his tutor lose face, and the tutor bothered to contact the doctoral supervisor and write a letter of recommendation, but the final result is a fiasco, and his mentor will be so embarrassed when he sees the doctoral supervisor again! Thinking of this, he asked Tian Mo:

"Teacher Tian, I'm sorry for you and failed to live up to your recommendation."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, if you don't get in, you won't be admitted, come back and change your graduation thesis and prepare for the final defense."

At eight o'clock in the evening, Li Mei called Wu Dao and asked him about the results of the retest. Wu Dao said:

"Mom, I didn't get in."

"The doctorate is not so easy to get into, if you don't get in, then find a job to do, it's really not good, and then go back to the river town government." Li Mei said.