In 1965 on the Loess Plateau, Li Jianguo, an 18-year-old farm boy, received an opportunity to change his destiny - the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination spread like thunder in the commune. This young man, who carried a hoe during the day to earn work points and gnawed on books under a kerosene lamp at night, buried his dream of "walking out of the Loess Slope" deeply in his heart, and started a road of preparation for the exam in which he pursued hope in poverty and hardship.
The hoe in the cornfield and the pen in the cave house constituted his entire life. Faced with the heavy farm work of the production team, the plight of his family, and the fierce competition for only two places in the village, Li Jianguo never wavered. The eggs his mother secretly saved, the review materials his father exchanged with his blood and sweat, the helping hands extended by the villagers during the ditch digging crisis, the mutual encouragement of his classmate Erya and the selfless guidance of the educated youth teacher Wang all became the motivation for him to move forward.
The red paper for the pre-examination brought short-term joy, but it did not relieve any pressure. The news that the college entrance examination time was brought forward, the sudden high fever before the test, and the barriers to English vocabulary all came one after another. He ran between cornfields and desks, persisted in the face of doubts and expectations, and used the stubbornness and resilience of a young man to resist the limitations of the times and the test of fate.
