The next morning, An Moxue got up early and practiced martial arts in the courtyard. She saw Li Laitou go up the back mountain again. What were these two doing? What was so attractive about the back mountain? When did Li Laitou become so diligent?

After An Moxue finished practicing martial arts and eating, she led the two children into the back mountain and followed the direction Li Laitou had taken up the mountain. They walked for quite a while but did not see Li Laitou or find anything suspicious. Then she took the two children home.

Back home, I picked up a notebook and headed to the educated youth compound.

As An Moxue passed by Yang the carpenter's house, a group of aunties and sisters-in-law stopped her, saying, "Come, come, An the educated youth."

An Moxue walked over cheerfully and greeted everyone, "Aunties and sisters-in-law, are you all free?"

Someone replied, "Hmm, An Zhiqing, where are you going?"

"I'm going to the educated youth settlement to study."

An aunt asked An Moxue, "I heard you were named an outstanding educated youth, is that true?"

"It's true, Auntie's got really good information!"

"Oh my, I only found out yesterday. An Zhiqing, you're really amazing! You're not even afraid to catch bad guys."

"No, no, it was all just a coincidence. How could I ignore it when it happened?"

“Look at that educated youth An, he speaks so modestly.”

Seeing that these people were about to go on and on, An Moxue quickly said, "Aunties, sisters-in-law, I have to go to my studies now, I'm going to be late, I can't talk to you anymore, I'll chat with you when I have time!"

Everyone ignored her and said, "Go, go, hurry up and go. Young people should strive for progress."

An Moxue hadn't gone far when she was stopped by several aunties. "An Zhiqing, come here for a moment. We need to ask you something."

"What can I do for you ladies?"

"I heard you were named an outstanding educated youth, is that true?"

"It's true."

"Wow, that's really amazing!"

"Absolutely! That's amazing!"

An Moxue didn't reply. She raised her hand to check her watch and said to the aunties, "Aunties, I have to go study now. I'm going to be late. I have to say goodbye."

Before the aunties could react, An Moxue had already slipped away. Along the way, she saw several groups of people, all of whom asked her about being an outstanding educated youth. When she finally arrived at the educated youth compound, the educated youth surrounded her again, asking, "Moxue, you were named an outstanding educated youth, is it true?"

Several people started asking the same question all at once, and An Moxue replied helplessly, "Yes."

Qi Taohua, not understanding, asked, "Sister Moxue, I've never heard of an outstanding educated youth selection before. How is this outstanding educated youth selected?"

In fact, the older educated youth all know about this, but only two or three people in a county can be selected, which is extremely rare. Over the years, only a few have been selected, so many people have forgotten about it. Besides, the selection is based on the individual deeds reported by the village and the results are evaluated accordingly. Sometimes there isn't even one person selected in a year. It's not a fixed number of people every year, so it's something that many people overlook. It's normal that the new educated youth don't know about it.

An Moxue smiled and said, "At the end of the year, the village reports the individual deeds of the educated youth. Those with outstanding performance are selected based on the size of their contributions. I was mainly selected because I caught a few bad guys."

After An Moxue said that, several of the older educated youth who were originally indignant couldn't say anything anymore. They were thinking, why did they have to go to the countryside earlier than her and do farm work better than her, and why did she get the award but not them? After hearing what An Moxue said, they all realized that there were plenty of people like them, but no one like her. They decided to give up.

I gave up on finding the village chief, but the sour feeling still lingered. So, listen to what this guy has to say—

“An Zhiqing, next time there’s something good, you have to think of inviting us. Let’s all improve together. As people, we should have a sense of collective honor and not just think of ourselves. That’s too selfish.”

"Li Weiguo, get out of here. Go cool off somewhere else. When those tomb raiders were living with you, why didn't you notice anything unusual about them? When they were being arrested at the entrance of the educated youth compound, why didn't you come out and help with the arrests? Now you're showing off your abilities. If you were so capable, where were you then? Go and arrest them! Who are you trying to morally blackmail? Trying to make yourself seem noble! Everyone can see through your selfish and self-serving nature. You're like a prostitute trying to maintain a virtuous image."

Li Weiguo, enraged, retorted, "An Moxue, stop talking nonsense. Shouldn't people have a sense of collective honor?"

"Oh, this is just trying to confuse the issue. Of course, one should have a sense of collective honor, but the prerequisite is that the members of that group must dare to step forward and have the ability to do so when things happen. Did you step forward? Did you have the ability?"

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone's expression turned sour. An Moxue had noticed their unhappiness since yesterday, feeling that she had blocked their opportunity to perform in front of the leaders. Today, the news of the outstanding educated youth had spread. They didn't even consider their own abilities, how much they could possibly hold. They were too spoiled. They weren't her father or her mother.

"An Moxue, you!—you!—" Li Weiguo was so angry that his face turned red and his neck bulged, and he couldn't speak for a long time.

An Moxue was about to speak when Xu Guoqing interrupted her, "Li Weiguo, An Moxue has made a contribution and was named an outstanding educated youth based on her own abilities. We should admire her, not slander her. You've gone too far."

Li Weiguo glared at Xu Guoqing, as if to say, 'As if you're not jealous at all! Stop pretending to be a good guy!'

Xu Guoqing pretended not to see Li Weiguo's look and said to An Moxue, "An, calm down. We are all educated youth. If you have different opinions, you can raise them. There is freedom of speech. There is no need to be too angry."

An Moxue could understand but did not accept this obvious biased attitude. She said, "We are all educated youth, and I can understand everyone's feelings. But those who want to step on me to get ahead can try and see if you are more capable or I am more capable. Xu, I have something to do these few days, so I won't be coming to the educated youth settlement for study. I will study at home and then submit the study report to the village chief. I'll be leaving now."

Before the other educated youth could react, she had already left the educated youth compound.

In fact, An Moxue had long since given up on coming to the educated youth institute to study together. It was a complete waste of time. Wouldn't it be better to spend those two hours at home reading books instead?

As long as you write the report and submit it to the village on time, isn't that enough?

She had always struggled to find a good excuse or reason not to come, but today Li Weiguo gave her this ladder, so she climbed down it and found herself a perfect excuse not to come to the intelligence institute anymore. How wonderful!

An Muxue walked home happily, her mood much better.

The educated youth compound became lively because of An Moxue's departure. The female educated youth had more contact with An Moxue, and apart from Mary, who was brainless, the others were relatively fair and all felt that An Moxue had done nothing wrong.

Some of the male educated youth felt that An Moxue was making a mountain out of a molehill, that it was a trivial matter that had caused everyone to fall out and look ugly, and that it was completely unnecessary.

Two male educated youths, though they did not express their opinions, disagreed and felt that An Moxue was not wrong and did the right thing.