Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiang closed the stove cover.

"Aunt Ling, do you want to build a kang?"

"Well, Ling Ran said this kang is so good, so I came to take a look and experience it before making a decision."

"Having a kang is great. Before, the temperature inside the room was the same as outside, but now when I heat the kang, the temperature is several degrees higher than outside. I can cook or write without feeling constipated."

Mother Ling looked at Zhou Xiang's face, which was now more plump than before, and said distressedly, "Didn't you freeze badly in the winter before?"

Zhou Xiang nodded, "Yeah, it's not much different from sleeping outside, but it's better now that it's warm inside."

Ling's mother looked at the satisfied Zhou Xiang and sighed in her heart. Such a considerate and capable daughter was actually ignored by her parents. However, her son told her when he came home that her parents treated her much better recently because her grades had improved.

Alas, maybe it’s because I have so many sisters, but I only have Ranran, so all my thoughts are on Ranran, and the burden is small and there is no pressure.

Ling's mother patted Zhou Xiang's head and said, "Okay, I've checked it out. Auntie is going back now."

Zhou wanted to send her to the gate of the courtyard, but Ling Ran didn't follow her back. He finally had an excuse to come for the second time today, so he wouldn't leave easily! Then he heard a sentence, "Aren't you leaving?"

Ling Ran looked at Zhou Xiang with a face full of grievance, "Are you chasing me away again?"

"I have to go out for something."

"I'll accompany you!"

Looking at the expectant eyes, Zhou thought for a moment and nodded.

Ling Ran was happy and followed Zhou Xiang who locked the door.

It was only when we arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative that we realized that Zhou Xiang was actually there to see his mother.

"Zhou Xiang, Zhou Xiang, come here." Aunt Huang was sharp-eyed and saw Zhou Xiang and waved to her. There were several women around her.

Zhou Xiang walked up to her and called out sweetly, "Auntie Huang."

Aunt Huang responded simply, then asked, "Everyone says you cheated on the exam. Is that true?"

Ling Ran was so angry that he wanted to say something and act like a troublemaker, but Zhou Xiang held him back.

"Auntie Huang, what do you think?"

"I don't think so." Aunt Huang said, but she was not sure in her heart.

Zhou Xiang understood her uncertainty.

"Auntie, analyze it this way. I got 399.5 points, so cheating means plagiarism or missing questions. I got the highest score, more than 20 points higher than the second place. Who did I copy from? The second place student is from another class.

Since you didn't plagiarize others, that means you missed some questions. If the school knew about this, do you think they would agree?

We must find out who spread the rumor. I guess the rumormonger will be punished. At the very least, he will be given a demerit, and at the worst, he will be fired. You guys, please stop spreading these things. If things get out of hand, everyone will be held responsible!

Don’t let that rumormonger end up getting fired.”

Aunt Huang's eyes sparkled. "Zhou Xiang, do you know who spread the rumor?"

Zhou Xiang shook his head.

"I don't believe it. Don't lie to me. You said the rumormonger might be expelled. It must be from your school. Well, I can probably guess who it is."

"Auntie, currently, spreading rumors isn't illegal. However, if the consequences of a rumor are serious and cause a major incident, it might violate the law. So, if there's no evidence, even if it's just speculation, you can't spread it around, right?"

Aunt Huang was stunned and frightened by the serious consequences that Zhou Xiang mentioned. Normally, if someone said something wrong, they might get beaten up and bleed. If some untrue words really caused serious consequences, it would be against the law, just like what Zhou Xiang said.

Aunt Huang covered her mouth and shook her head.

"As for me! Those who are innocent will be innocent. I will only let my future grades speak for themselves. I plan to get the top score every time. Auntie, tell me, I will use this score to slap the face of the person who accused me of cheating, okay?"

Aunt Huang put down her hand and said, "Okay, this is good. Our Zhou Xiang is ambitious and always gets first place in the exam."

I feel so jealous. Every word this little girl says is so hurtful that I can't even say anything. I'm so envious!

Ling Ran felt very relieved when he saw that Zhou Xiang had silenced everyone with just a few words and even intimidated them so that they would not talk too much.

Aunt Huang and a few others left, and Zhou Xiang took Ling Ran to the warehouse in the backyard to find his mother.

There were also a few people around Zhou's mother, watching something.

"Mom, I'm here."

When Zhou's mother heard her daughter's voice, she looked up and saw Zhou Xiang. She said something to a few people around her and walked towards her daughter.

Zhou Xiang looked at the watch on his mother's wrist and guessed that everyone was looking at his mother's watch. Seeing the gloating in everyone's eyes, he guessed that they were all preparing to watch his show. Haha, isn't it just envy and jealousy!

"Mom, let me tell you, Aunt Huang stopped me just now..." Zhou Xiang repeated what happened just now out loud.

Zhou's mother rubbed her daughter's head and said that her daughter came here on purpose to resolve the rumor.

"Well, whether you cheated or not is not something you can just say casually. If the school doesn't know about it, it's fine. But if it gets spread far and wide, the school will definitely not tolerate it. You finally got a perfect score, and maybe even reported it, but then it's said you cheated. I don't know how angry you'll be!"

After hearing what Zhou Xiang said, those people felt that it was inappropriate for them to spread these words. Now after hearing what Zhou's mother said, they were even more worried. If the matter was really reported to the county, the school would definitely conduct a thorough investigation. Then, those who followed suit and spread the news would not end up well.

They all said goodbye and left, and hurried back to tell everyone not to tell anyone. They heard that no one outside knew about it, and it must have been someone in the family compound who spread the rumor. If it spread to other places, it would be a big deal.

Several people acted separately, then gathered together and talked to each other. That's it, no one knew where the news had spread. That's right, it had been going on for three or four days and it had spread far and wide.

Several people returned home listlessly, and their children asked their mother what happened.

Thinking that my child is also a student, I talked to him about the matter.

The child looked at his mother and said, "You guys are just too idle, gossiping about other people all the time. Now you've got yourself into trouble, haven't you? The principal might actually report this. The school's overall performance is always at the bottom, and this time Zhou wants him to show off. How can he not show off? You better keep your mouths shut!"

When the women saw that they were being taught a lesson by their children, they had nothing to refute and they all behaved themselves and stopped talking nonsense.

Aunt Huang and her friends have also become obedient. If something really happens, no one can take the blame.

However, the town primary school principal Li Gengxue took away Zhou Xiang's test paper. Although he said that he wanted to convince those top students, he actually had his own little thoughts.

The knowledge learned in elementary school was very shallow. Only a few top students scored full marks in Chinese and math, while the other students' grades were not good enough. Our school was always at the bottom of the total score at the end of each semester.

This time, Zhou wanted to get full marks on the most difficult test paper from last year.