Chapter 13 – Registering for the Exam, Buying New Clothes for the Two Babies

Xi Youyou had already finished the task at hand. She planned to go ask about it shortly, and once she returned, she would be able to start cooking.

“What’s all this talk about it being hard? Just go!”

Xu Xiu said. After speaking, Xi Youyou went out to wash her hands, greeted the two babies, and then rode off on her bicycle.

Following the location mentioned by Jiang Fenglin and relying on the Original Owner’s memory of the city, Xi Youyou successfully found the place to register for the physician qualification exam.

Two staff members were handling reception at the location. When they saw her, one of them asked what she needed.

“I’m here to inquire about the physician qualification exam.”

Xi Youyou got straight to the point. The receptionist, hearing this, told her to go inside to talk.

“The physician qualification exam is relatively strict. The exam itself is standardized. We’re only responsible for registration here.”

“Once you register with us, the actual exam takes place at a local school’s faculty testing center. After registering, we’ll issue you an admission ticket. When the time comes, you’ll need to bring that ticket to gain entry to the school.”

“Once you complete the exam, as long as you pass, you’ll receive the physician qualification certificate.”

“The certificate corresponds to specific medical departments, which you should already know. You take the test for the field you’ve mainly studied.”

The staff member explained the rules to Xi Youyou in detail. She nodded after listening; in fact, it wasn’t much different from how things worked in the future.

It was just that the current evaluation system wasn’t as fully developed.

“I understand.”

Xi Youyou indicated that she understood. The staff member checked the time.

“You’ve actually come at a good time. Normally, the exam is only held every one to two months. Because not many people take it here in the county, each session only happens when there are enough applicants.”

“This time, the exam is scheduled for ten days from now.”

The corners of Xi Youyou’s lips lifted slightly—she hadn’t expected her timing to be this perfect.

“Where do I register?”

“Which department do you want to take the exam for?”

“I want to take the Chinese Medicine Doctor exam and also the surgery exam.”

These were the two areas she was most confident in. She wanted to get both certifications at once—they would definitely come in handy in the future.

“Alright, please wait a moment.”

The staff members were professional and didn’t show any signs of annoyance. They brought over two registration forms.

“Once you finish filling them out and we check that everything looks fine, we’ll issue you the admission ticket.”

“You’ll need to attend two separate exams, held at different times and in different exam rooms.”

Xi Youyou nodded as she listened, then filled out the forms according to the guidelines.

The staff took the forms and handed them to another colleague for review. As long as the general information checked out, it would be fine.

Looking at the graceful handwriting on the forms, the two staff members clicked their tongues inwardly.

They figured that the likelihood of Xi Youyou passing the exam was pretty high—someone who could write so beautifully likely had solid skills as well.

That was what both of them thought silently to themselves.

There weren’t any issues with Xi Youyou’s basic information, and she was also the wife of a soldier stationed in the area. That meant there wouldn’t be any obstacles to her taking the exam.

The staff member who had just helped Xi Youyou earlier brought over her documents.

“The stamp has already been placed on them. Just wait a moment—the admission ticket will be brought out shortly, and then you can leave. Just follow the date and location on the ticket and head to the local high school here for the exam.”

“It’s in ten days. You still have time to review a bit.”

She had neat, elegant handwriting, was a military spouse, looked pleasant, and was polite and respectful—this left a very good impression on the staff, who naturally felt inclined to say a few more words to her.

In just a few minutes, the other staff member came in and handed Xi Youyou her admission ticket.

After double-checking the exam date and time, Xi Youyou was about to leave.

But after taking a few steps, she turned back and looked at the staff.

“By the way, do you know where the library is?”

“Or a bookstore would be fine too.”

Hearing this, the staff guessed she was looking for study materials and pointed out a direction.

“There’s a small library over there, but it doesn’t have a great selection. You’d find more books in a bigger city.”

“Alright, thank you very much.”

After expressing her thanks, Xi Youyou headed toward the place the staff had pointed to. She turned left and right a few times and finally found a small library.

She parked her bicycle at the entrance and went inside to pick out some books.

Mainly, she had transmigrated into a novel, and reading books here didn’t feel like being in the real 1980s. At home, there were some things she didn’t dare say carelessly. If she accidentally said something strange and caused suspicion, that wouldn’t be good.

If she understood the context more clearly, she wouldn’t speak out of turn in the future.

After all, this was a fictional world based on a novel.

She picked out a large pile of books, including some surgical and Chinese Medicine Doctor textbooks, then brought them to the front desk to ask how to borrow them.

“It’s two yuan a month. You can apply for a library card and borrow all of these. But I need to register them, and you’ll need to return them within a month.”

Xi Youyou had the money, so she immediately took it out, filled in her name and address, got her library card, and waited while the staff registered all the books she was borrowing.

Once everything was ready, the staff saw she was struggling to carry them and even tied them up with a rope for her so she could secure them to the back seat of her bicycle.

“Thanks!” Xi Youyou hadn’t even thought of that. She didn’t expect the staff to be so thoughtful.

“You’re welcome.”

Xi Youyou carried the books out of the small library, tied them securely to the back seat of her bicycle, and then rode off to the department store.

There was still a little money left over from the last time, so she planned to buy a skewer of candied hawthorn for the two babies, then buy two sets of clean clothes for them.

She had just realized during their recent bath that the children’s clothes weren’t in good condition. But in the Original Owner’s wardrobe—now hers—there were many beautiful dresses.

She picked out two sets of ready-made pure cotton outfits and also bought two pairs of fitting cloth shoes. After buying the candied hawthorn, she headed home with her bicycle loaded full of books and goodies.

The crisp ringing of the bicycle bell echoed as she approached, and the two children ran out from the courtyard.

“Comrade Xi Youyou is back!”

Xiao Bao bounced up and down excitedly. Xi Youyou held the candied hawthorn in one hand while the bicycle bell chimed in rhythm. Seeing the two little ones waiting eagerly ahead made her instinctively speed up.

Fortunately, in her previous life she had ridden a lot of shared bikes—otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to handle the bicycle so smoothly now.

When she stopped at the entrance, Xi Youyou first handed the candied hawthorn to the two children before pushing the bicycle back inside.

Xu Xiu came out from the kitchen and froze when she saw the backseat of the bicycle stacked with so many books.

“Youyou, what’s all this?”

Xi Youyou had mentioned earlier in the morning that she wanted to prepare for an exam, but they had thought she was just saying it casually—after all, taking a qualification exam wasn’t an easy thing.

But bringing back this many books—what was going on?

“Mom.”

Xi Youyou parked the bike and began untying the things from the back seat as she spoke. “Didn’t I say this morning I wanted to prepare well for the exam? I went to inquire, and it turns out there’s one scheduled exactly ten days from now. So I went and borrowed some books to review properly. If I manage to pass, I’ll start working at a hospital here and get a job.”

When Xi Youyou finished speaking, Xu Xiu was stunned. Even Jiang Fenglin, who was sitting farther away and hadn’t said a word, moved his hand slightly.

He was excited—shocked!

“The main thing is…” Xi Youyou smiled a little sheepishly, “I feel like I shouldn’t just be idle. The kids aren’t that little anymore, and they can stay with you two. I should go out and do something, and maybe give you both a bit of relief.”

To help with the household expenses, the elderly couple still had to go out and do odd jobs.

Xi Youyou didn’t want it to continue like that. Besides, she was never the type who could sit around doing nothing. She was a modern woman of the new era—how could she let her elders go earn money to support her?

Of course, she had to rely on herself!

And since she had already transmigrated here, she was fully prepared to live a long-term life in this place.

Although she had some things in her space that could be exchanged for money, if she pulled out cash without any visible job, wouldn’t that raise suspicion?

“You…”

Xu Xiu’s eyes were slightly red, but Xi Youyou grinned widely. “I also bought the kids two sets of clothes and two pairs of cloth shoes. I didn’t splurge on anything else. Da Bao, Xiao Bao! Come try on your new clothes!”

Xi Youyou waved at them. Da Bao and Xiao Bao ran over, and when they saw the new clothes, they thought they were dreaming!

They hadn’t expected Comrade Xi Youyou would actually buy them new clothes!