During the day, the Gu family members all had to go to work. In the past, when there were no special circumstances, Lin Qi would just leave the fabrics at home. Although the underwear previously had the "Shu Se" trademark, they were already proficient in making them. This time, it was clothes, and he had to give a few specific instructions.
Li Xiulan knew this was not something to be careless about, so she went to call Zhang Qin and Liu Yuemin over.
"...Sister-in-law, you'll be in charge of cutting for now. In a couple of days, when I bring over the cut fabric, everyone can focus on sewing."
After Lin Qi finished speaking, he rode away on his bicycle.
...
"Li Shu, wake up." It was still dark before dawn when a shadow stood by Chen Li Shu's bedside. She opened her eyes groggily, startled almost to death, and in a low voice, she uncertainly called out, "Xue'er?"
Zhang Xue reached out to pull her up, and at the same time, lowered her voice and said, "It's past four o'clock. Hurry up and wash up. I'll accompany you to school to study."
Chen Li Shu got up with Zhang Xue's help, but she was too sleepy and her head lolled to the side, closing her eyes again as she leaned against the wall.
"Hurry up and get some energy." Zhang Xue got a washbasin from under the bed and stood up. Seeing that Chen Li Shu hadn't moved for a long time, she couldn't help but reach out and pull her again.
Chen Li Shu had no choice but to groggily get out of bed and go to the restroom with Zhang Xue.
"Xue'er, English is all about daily accumulation. Do we really need to do this?" As they walked towards the classroom, Chen Li Shu couldn't help but ask.
Ever since Chen Li Shu said she wasn't confident about winning against Jiang Yuwei, Zhang Xue had been motivated and was determined to help Chen Li Shu's grades improve drastically in the shortest possible time.
She stayed with Chen Li Shu in the study room until late at night, and then supervised her waking up early the next morning. In Zhang Xue's own words, she hadn't been this diligent even during the college entrance examination.
"Haven't you heard of 'sharpening the sword before the battle'? It may not make it shine, but it won't be dull. There are still half a month before the competition. We can't give up until the last moment. As long as we can get one more point, we might be able to surpass Jiang Yuwei. I'm still waiting to see those two go clean the toilets."
Chen Li Shu felt a mix of amusement and helplessness. No wonder Zhang Xue had been so energetic these past few days; it turned out she was waiting to see the two of them make fools of themselves.
In the dormitory, more than an hour after Chen Li Shu and Zhang Xue left, Jiang Yuwei and Sun Ling also woke up one after another. Glancing at their empty beds, Jiang Yuwei's expression changed slightly, and her movements unconsciously quickened.
"What's the use of studying hard now? English is about daily accumulation. Don't worry, Yuwei. If you ask me, even if she surnamed Chen studies day and night until the exam, her grades will never be as good as yours. The outcome has long been decided. All she can do now is to try not to lose too badly, right?"
Hearing Sun Ling's words, Jiang Yuwei's furrowed brows gradually relaxed. Yes, English had always been her strong suit. Even if she worked harder in the next half a month, what could she change? It was just memorizing more words and learning a few more sentences.
"Here, my mom bought this specifically for me. They say it's good for the brain. You've been studying so hard lately, so don't let yourself down on this."
Two minutes before class, Li Zhiwei practically entered the classroom at the last second. As he passed Chen Li Shu's seat, he placed a bag of walnuts on her desk.
Chen Li Shu looked up. "Did you go home?"
"Yeah, but it was too hot, otherwise I would have brought you a few bottles of milk." Li Zhiwei slumped into his seat, having overslept that morning and almost missed the bus.
Chen Li Shu put the walnuts into her desk compartment and smiled back, "Thank you for this."
Li Zhiwei waved his hand generously. "No need to thank me. Just treat me to a meal after the competition."
Chen Li Shu nodded. "Okay, I'll treat you to a big meal."
Zhang Xue quickly said, "Me too."
"There's no portion for you."
Zhang Xue retorted, "Why? I contributed much more than he did."
Chen Li Shu pointed at her dark circles under her eyes. "Look at what you've done to me. I'm not even sure if I can make it to that day, let alone treat you to a meal."
Zhang Xue chuckled sheepishly. "Isn't Li Zhiwei our backup? It's only half a month, let's replenish our energy and hold on."
"I think those few are just busy with nothing," Sun Ling said, overhearing their conversation. She turned her head and added, "I asked our seniors from last year, and they said the competition questions were all very simple, mostly from the textbook. Especially since we are English majors, we can basically all win a ranking."
Sun Ling felt a little regretful. If she had known the questions were simple, she would have registered too, and perhaps could have gained some recognition.
Jiang Yuwei nodded. When it came to textbook knowledge, no one knew it better than her. She was certain to win this competition.
Zhang Xue had also mentioned Sun Ling's words to Chen Li Shu earlier, but Chen Li Shu did not believe this competition would be as simple as in the past.
The reason why past competition questions were simple was purely to accommodate the majority, and frankly, to make the results look better.
After all, the Worker-Peasant-Soldier university students were admitted through recommendations, and the quality of students varied greatly. Some were high school students, some were junior high students, and some only had primary school education, yet they were recommended simply due to their background or outstanding work. Even if the competition questions were not too difficult, they could still stump a large number of people.
But their cohort was different. They were selected through the regular college entrance examination, and with many excellent professors returning to their posts, the teaching quality had improved, and the difficulty had increased. This competition was very likely to feature unexpectedly challenging questions.
Chen Li Shu didn't dare to claim mastery of all basic knowledge, but she was confident she could handle general exams. Therefore, from the beginning, Chen Li Shu had focused her attention on postgraduate entrance examination English.
With the news of the restoration of the college entrance examination, the country also restored the postgraduate entrance examination policy. The national quota was only over ten thousand. Although Chen Li Shu's normal college had no quota, Chen Yinchu had a lot of review materials.
Ding Chen's engineering university and Xu Ning's medical university had enrollment quotas, so borrowing a couple of postgraduate English reference books was not difficult.
Although time was limited, as long as she had been exposed to it, she would have some impression when answering the questions, at least in terms of hitting the key points.
While Chen Li Shu was studying intensely and busily, more than half of the seersucker fabric she had transported back had already been made into finished garments.
Time flew by, and it was time for Zhou Bin to go to the provincial capital again. After receiving the call, Chen Li Shu specifically requested a class leave from her teacher.
She first went to the Wang family, called Wang Aixiang, and together they rode a tricycle to the place where Zhou Bin's unit delivered goods to wait.
A total of one hundred and thirty-two short-sleeved shirts, filling two nylon bags.
"Brother Zhou, you haven't eaten yet, right? How about I treat you to a meal at a restaurant?"
"Sister, you don't need to be so formal with me. It's so hot today, you should go back quickly. I'll take Junzi out to eat later."
Chen Li Shu didn't insist after hearing his words and said with a smile, "Alright, I'll treat you properly when I come back during the summer vacation."
After parting ways with Zhou Bin and the others, Chen Li Shu and Wang Aixiang rode back to the room where the fabric was stored, carrying the clothes.