When the exam results came out, everyone was somewhat surprised.

The top two scorers were Aunt Zhao and Mrs. Sun, who outshone all the men present.

Mrs. Sun is usually quite busy, sometimes she doesn't even have time to eat. Aunt Zhao is also usually quite unrefined in her speech, but they turned out to be the two who scored the best in this exam.

As agreed, Song Ning and Song Ning each received ten taels of silver, which made everyone else very envious.

The two last two are Li Xingwang and Jiang Yongshou.

These two men, one is Aunt Zhao's son and the other is Sun's husband, are clearly from the same family, yet the difference between them is so great.

Aunt Zhao started complaining again: "Look at you, you can't even compare to your old mother. Don't go out and say you're my son, don't embarrass me."

On the other hand, Jiang Yongde was also a little embarrassed in front of Sun.

Sun was the best performer among all the test takers this time. She did well in all aspects, had the best handwriting, the most accurate accounting, and knew the most characters.

"It won't be long before Sister-in-law Sun catches up with me," Xiao Cui said with a smile.

Sun was embarrassed by the praise, her cheeks flushed slightly: "I'm still far from it. When I can catch up with Xiao Cui, I can be Er Ya's manager too."

"It'll be done soon, sister-in-law. You're smart and good at reading and doing math. Even our scholar praised you."

When Sun was in Nanshan Village, she was very ambitious and worked very hard for Song Ning, afraid that she might not do anything well.

Previously, Song Ning suggested that everyone should learn to read with Mr. Yu, and Sun was the first person from outside to come.

She comes to class every day without fail. Sometimes when her child is being noisy, she brings the child along. After finishing her work during the day, she stays up late at night to finish learning what the teacher has taught her.

Even when I was very busy later on, I didn't fall behind in my studies.

Jiang Yongshou felt inferior; he truly lacked his wife's perseverance in this regard.

As for Aunt Zhao, she really has that indomitable spirit.

Aunt Zhao is concerned about saving face, and it was this concern that helped her achieve second place in the exam. So, sometimes, caring about face can be a good thing.

“Sister-in-law Sun and Aunt Zhao are our role models. We should all learn from them and strive to earn ten taels of silver.”

As mentioned before, if you can rank in the top two in three consecutive exams, you will be exempt from taking the exams afterwards.

The sooner you qualify, the sooner you will be free.

Song Ning's strictness towards his employees has inspired many in the county to follow suit.

These days, they have all experienced the benefits of reading and writing. Once the benefits are realized, there is no need for the government to promote reading and writing; the people spontaneously begin to read and write.

A sudden surge of interest in reading has emerged in Tianxiang County. Even those who didn't like reading and learning to read have started reading books now, influenced by others.

Scholars are scarce and precious in this era.

If a family doesn't have any property, they probably can't afford to send their children to school. Besides, in the past, education was a privilege reserved for men, but things are different in Tianxiang County now. The cost of going to school for a year is not much, and boys and girls are treated the same, so there are more students now.

The school has two days off every seven days. On one of the days off, the teachers take turns teaching these adults who don't have time during the week.

Of course, the teachers will definitely receive overtime pay.

Today, Tianxiang County is using the five-day work week and two-day rest system that was previously proposed by Song Ning.

However, restaurants like this always need people, so they let everyone take turns resting.

This ensures that everyone can rest without delaying work.

The top floor of Xiangyun Tower is filled with books, making it a popular spot for book lovers to visit and take photos. Recently, it has become a gathering place for many people to study.

The books here are not for sale, but you can read them for free or borrow them, as long as you return them within the specified period.

Zheng Gaoyi stood in the tea room on the top floor, which had been turned into a semi-circular terrace. From here, one could have a panoramic view of most of Tianxiang County.

Zheng Gaoyi took a sip of tea, and his mood was clearly good.

"Lord Zheng, how does the current situation compare to before?"

I heard that this place used to be the territory of the Jin Dynasty, but it was later occupied by an enemy state and eventually recovered.

They have recovered the territory, but they don't know how to deal with it.

It's like someone who originally belonged to this country, was exiled to another country as a child, and returned after growing up, not knowing how to live there.

No one wants to come here; very few people would waste their life for a place where they can't see a future.

"This place wasn't this lively before."

Although Tianxiang County was a county during the Jin Dynasty, it was a desolate and impoverished place back then, far from being as prosperous as it is now.

"I knew I hadn't misjudged you. When you first came to the county, I knew you were extraordinary—you had a commanding presence and an exceptional demeanor. The moment I saw you, I knew you were my strategist..."

Song Ning: ......

They had just fled famine, so how could they have shown any dignified bearing or extraordinary demeanor?

Shouldn't they look disheveled and think they're easy to fool?

"Now I have to thank the village chief of Yaojia Village. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't have come."

At that time, Zheng Gaoyi cast a wide net, as Tianxiang County was in dire need of people, and anyone willing to come would be welcome.

Whether a person is good or bad, he welcomes anyone who is willing to come.

But there was absolutely nothing here at the time, and no one who passed by would ever come back a second time.

At that time, Song Ning and his group had nowhere else to go, so what could they do?

Song Ning laughed and said, "To be honest, if we had any other choice at the time, we definitely wouldn't have come here."

Zheng Gaoyi wasn't annoyed at all; instead, he laughed a few times and said, "Look, isn't this fate?"

"However, speaking of Yaojia Village, in the past few days, quite a few villages have wanted to join our county."

In the Jin Dynasty, each county had several towns and villages. When the county prospered, the towns and villages below it naturally followed suit.

The higher authorities considered that Tianxiang County was, after all, a county town, and it couldn't just be an isolated county with nothing, so they transferred Yaojia Village, which was the closest to it, and renamed it Tianxiang Village.

Who would have thought that they would complain about being poor and insist on going back? Now they regret it.

"One of them is Yaojia Village, but Yaojia Village has changed its village chief. I heard that the new chief is much more capable and efficient than the previous one. I even saw him when I went to Jiangning last time."

Song Ning has recruited so many people, but none of them are from Yaojia Village.

Most people in the county don't want workers from Yaojia Village because of what happened last time; their reputation is bad, and nobody dares to hire them.

"You can decide on this matter; I won't get involved."

The two sat for a while longer, and as the sun was about to set, Zheng Gaoyi got up to take his leave.

Just as he reached the first floor of the stairs, Zheng Gaoyi saw something, his expression changed, and he ran out like a madman, as if searching for something.

Song Ning quickly followed him out, only to see Zheng Gaoyi suddenly appear lost in thought, muttering, "She's back, she's back..."