July 3rd, 1984.

Three days remained until the college entrance examination.

Just as dawn was breaking, two sharp dog barks came from the Yu family courtyard.

“Shh, it’s too early, don’t disturb the neighbors.”

Summer daylight came early, and it was only 6 AM – many people were still asleep. Xia Xiaolan quietly warned the two dogs before opening the courtyard gate. She had made leashes for them so she could walk them during her morning run. It was pitiful to keep them confined in the yard all day.

Xia Xiaolan now woke up around 5:40 AM and always left for her run before 6 AM.

The only people up earlier than her were Ge Jian, who waited at the door, and Grandmother Yu, who had to leave at 5:30 AM to sweep the streets.

With Li Dongliang helping Liu Yong in Shenzhen, only Ge Jian remained in the commercial capital. Xia Xiaolan had told him several times that he didn’t need to come so early – she felt quite safe running with the two dogs. But Ge Jian was stubborn and insisted on waiting at the Yu family gate before 6 AM, so Xia Xiaolan had to let him be.

“Good morning, Grandmother Yu!”

By the time Xia Xiaolan left, Grandmother Yu had almost finished her work. Xia Xiaolan would help with the remaining tasks, but Grandmother Yu couldn’t understand why Xia Xiaolan seemed increasingly relaxed as the exam drew closer.

Last-minute preparation could still yield results.

This girl had previously been going to the library early and staying late to review, studying until midnight after returning home.

Though no one supervised her, she spent no less time studying than high school seniors still in school.

But now, for the past two days, she’d stopped going to the Commercial University library to study!

While her wake-up time hadn’t changed, she now spent time running and walking the dogs until around 8 AM, returning with the dogs and a bag of vegetables. After dawdling until 9 AM, she would study and do practice problems until 11 AM, then start preparing lunch and delivering food to the clothing store at noon… returning around 1:30 PM. She’d even take an afternoon nap before resuming studies at 2:30 PM!

She did study from 2:30-6:00 PM, but then it was time to cook again – Grandmother Yu ate Xia Xiaolan’s cooking but didn’t particularly enjoy it. The girl had ordinary culinary talent; despite high-quality ingredients, the taste was just average. Besides, at such a crucial time, wouldn’t it be better to spend that time studying instead of cooking?

If not for fear of affecting Xia Xiaolan’s exam mindset, Grandmother Yu would have confronted her about it long ago.

In the evenings too, Xia Xiaolan no longer stayed up late. She’d casually flip through some books before getting ready for bed after 9 PM.

Her daily routine was even more regular and healthy than Grandmother Yu’s. This unhurried pace made others anxious just watching!

But Xia Xiaolan herself wasn’t worried.

A string pulled too tight might snap – some relaxation was necessary. She felt her memory in this life was even better than in her previous one. Physically, she was at an age of active thinking; psychologically, she had better control over her emotions. Her review was going well and progressing according to plan. It was impossible to improve much in science subjects in just three or four days, so Xia Xiaolan stopped going to the university library to adjust to the exam schedule in advance.

She felt the results were quite good. With a less intense schedule, her mind was clearer, and memorization was more effective!

While Grandmother Yu thought her morning runs and dog walks were a waste of time, Xia Xiaolan was reciting material along the way. With just a few days left, she’d memorize as much Chinese and Politics as she could. She had memorized almost all the key points Teacher Qi had given her, and these days she was cramming Politics. With luck, memorizing a few more concepts might earn her some extra points.

The practice exams had given Xia Xiaolan a good sense of where she stood, so she wasn’t too nervous about the actual exam.

Though she hadn’t attended the school’s final mock exams, she had Ge Jian bring the papers back for her.

Let the college entrance exam come – Xia Xiaolan felt she was calmly prepared. Tomorrow she would go to school to get her admission ticket. There would be no special treatment; everything would follow the school’s arrangements. Whatever score she could achieve, worrying now wouldn’t help. Rather than thinking about the exam in three days, she preferred to consider how to cook the lamb for dinner.

Braised, stewed, or stir-fried.

Grilling would be the most fragrant, but too much trouble, and might cause internal heat.

While Grandmother Yu looked down on Xia Xiaolan’s cooking skills, Xia Xiaolan felt there was room for improvement with more practice!

…

As Xia Xiaolan thought about the evening’s lamb dinner.

In nearly two months in the commercial capital, she hadn’t run into Zhang Cui and the others, which was quite remarkable.

Since Zhang Cui preferred doing business with students, she and Zhang Manfu had set up two stalls, moving between middle school entrances and the northern agricultural market area. It wasn’t that Zhang Cui didn’t want to do business near universities or the National Cotton Factory; the provincial capital wasn’t stupid – with food streets already established, of course, there would be mobile food stalls.

Anqing County wasn’t very big. When Zhang Cui first set up her stall four years ago, her snack stand was unique in Anqing County. In 1980, when reform and opening up had just begun, few people dared to do business on the streets. Zhang Cui had seized the market opportunity in Anqing County. Because she started early, she developed into a proper store. Now in the commercial capital, she wasn’t among the first wave of vendors anymore. Those who had started food businesses earlier had converted their homes into shops and were running thriving businesses.

Just in the food street area, there were vendors selling steamed dumplings, lamb noodle soup, spicy soup… many varieties, yet not interfering with each other, each specializing in their own items.

Zhang Cui knew a bit of everything, which gave her a competitive edge. If she opened a shop, customers would have many choices in one place.

But she couldn’t open a shop now.

Money wasn’t the main problem – she couldn’t find a suitable location.

The shop in Anqing had been rented through Principal Sun’s help, but they had no such connections in the commercial capital!

Zhang Cui and Xia Changzheng, Zhang Manfu, and Jiang Lianxiang were all genuine rural people, with no relatives in the commercial capital and no influential person who, after eating a bowl of noodles, was so impressed they would actively help them rent a shop.

The scattered shops near schools were either converted into private homes or belonged to work units.

This was true throughout the commercial capital.

Unable to open a shop, mobile food stalls couldn’t offer as much variety. Despite the commercial capital’s large market, Zhang Cui’s stall business now couldn’t match their peak times in Anqing. Provincial inspections were also strict; in the first month, Zhang Cui and others, lacking experience, were heavily fined by various departments – this was why Xia Xiaolan avoided the food business. A single food safety issue could result in fines that make business impossible.

After barely surviving to the second month, Zhang Cui had roughly figured out some rules. After losing money in May, they started seeing profits in June.

Both stalls earned around 200 yuan in profit, but Zhang Manfu and Jiang Lianxiang now had independent stalls, and they wouldn’t give their money to Zhang Cui. It had become two separate family businesses… Each handled their food stall work. Xia Changzheng couldn’t be idle either; he had to knead the dough and buy supplies daily, help Zhang Cui set up, and close the stall. The breakfast rush was their peak time, requiring them to wake up at 4 AM to prepare. Since arriving, Xia Changzheng hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep.

This made his temper very volatile.

Zhang Cui didn’t coddle him, and the couple often had explosive arguments.

So it wasn’t until near the college entrance exam that Zhang Cui, receiving Xia Ziyu’s telegram, remembered about stopping Xia Xiaolan from taking the exam.

“How are those people you found? There won’t be any problems, right?”