In the following days, the educated youth from Chaoyang Brigade began to return home one after another, and Lin Qing and the others also began to busy themselves preparing their luggage for going home.

Lin Qing's family had far too much stuff. She sold the furniture that the village carpenter had made for her to some people in the village at a price that was practically giving it away. Then, she had Wang Dongsheng come and take away the betrothal gifts that her father-in-law had given her when she got married, as well as her bicycle and other things she still needed. At the same time, Wang Dongsheng also took away the belongings of Chen Bin and Lu Xianghong, Xu Fengjiao and Wang Haoran, her third brother, and the belongings of Chun, Xia, Qiu, Dong, Feng, Yu, Lei, and Dian. These things filled two trucks. This was after Lin Qing had secretly packed a lot of things into her spatial storage. Otherwise, there would have been even more. Wang Dongsheng promised to deliver these things after the New Year.

Just after Lin Qing and the others had prepared their things, their notification finally arrived two days later, along with a reporter from the provincial newspaper.

"Thump thump thump... thump thump thump..."

That day, Lin Qing and everyone were chatting inside when suddenly there was a rapid knocking on the door, followed by the loud voice of the brigade leader.

"Xiao Gu, Xiao Lin, are you there?"

Gu Nanxun jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), put on his shoes, and walked into the courtyard. Everyone else followed him out.

"Captain, is something the matter?"

Gu Nanxun opened the door and saw that it was the captain, so he asked.

"Xiao Gu, I've come to deliver your admission notices. They've arrived."

Upon seeing Gu Nanxun open the door, the captain said with a happy expression, and then handed Gu Nanxun a stack of notices.

"Our notification letter has arrived!"

Wang Haoran shouted out in surprise!

"Great, our acceptance letter has finally arrived."

Lin Yunfeng said happily, slapping his thigh hard, then wincing in pain, but even in that pain, his smile remained bright.

"Yes, I feel relieved now. I can finally go home!"

Xu Fengjiao smiled and said that she could finally go home. She hadn't been home for several years. Just thinking about how happy her parents would be to see her when she brought her admission notice, her husband, and her children home! Thinking of this, she smiled happily and showed two rows of white teeth.

...

Gu Nanxun took the stack of notices, and a weight was finally lifted from his heart. He turned around and distributed the notices to Lin Qing and the other long-awaiting classmates.

Everyone who received the notification letter beamed with joy and excitement. They carefully opened the envelopes and looked closely at the contents of the letter.

Lin Qing also held her acceptance letter, her eyes slightly moist. She looked up at Gu Nanxun, and the two smiled at each other; years of hard work and waiting had finally paid off.

"Uncle Village Chief, thank you!"

Lin Qing looked up from the notice and thanked the captain with excitement.

"Yes, thank you, Captain!"

Seeing Lin Qing thank the captain, the others followed suit and thanked the captain as well.

"Hehe...hehe...no need to thank me, no need to thank me. You've really given our village chief a lot of face. You don't know, your deeds have spread throughout the surrounding villages, and everyone calls our village the Village of Top Scholars!"

The brigade leader waved his hand and chuckled, his face crinkling with even more wrinkles. "Great," he thought, "their village's advanced village award is secured again, and it'll be easier for the village kids to find partners in the future."

The captain smiled as he thought to himself, and his smile grew even brighter.

"Captain, our notice just arrived, how come it's already spread throughout the surrounding villages!"

After hearing the captain's words, Wang Haoran asked curiously, "What? News travels so fast now? They just received their notices!"

"Oh dear, look at me, I was so focused on talking to you guys that I forgot the important thing."

Suddenly, the captain slapped his thigh and said with a look of annoyance. After speaking, he smiled brightly and continued to say to everyone, "First of all, congratulations. You are all the pride of our Chaoyang Brigade."

The captain paused for a moment after speaking, then continued with a smile, "Besides congratulating you on successfully getting into university, there's something else. Reporters from the provincial newspaper heard about your story and want to interview you. They're right outside the door, you see..."

"Of course, we'd love to be interviewed." Lin Qing turned to look at her friends, who all looked excited. She smiled and answered on behalf of everyone. Yes, in this day and age, being in the newspaper is such an honor! How could they possibly refuse such a great opportunity!

The captain smiled and nodded, "Alright, get ready, I'll go out and bring the reporters in."

Last night, the captain turned and walked out, but a short while later he led in several reporters. They were carrying cameras and notebooks and looked very professional.

"Hello everyone, we are reporters from the provincial newspaper. First of all, congratulations on all of you being admitted to university! We are here to interview you because you are the top scorers in science and arts in our province, and the rest of you have also achieved excellent results in the college entrance examination. Therefore, we would like to interview you."

"This village is truly remarkable," the lead reporter said excitedly. "Not only did the top scorers in both the humanities and sciences come from here, but these young people in front of us have all been admitted to universities in the capital and military academies. It's simply a miracle."

"Of course, it would be our honor."

Wang Haoran straightened his collar and then answered excitedly.

"Then I would like to ask our top science student, Comrade Lin Qing."

The lead reporter continued to ask questions.

"It's me, reporter. What questions would you like to ask?"

Lin Qing smiled and replied when asked by the reporter.

"I'd like to ask Comrade Lin Qing, how did you manage to get such a high score? How can the rest of us achieve a score as high as 396?"

The reporter asked earnestly, then looked at Lin Qing expectantly, trying to get an answer from her response.

Lin Qing smiled and scratched her head upon hearing this, then said apologetically, "Actually, it's nothing. It's just about doing more practice problems and memorizing more. There are no shortcuts to success except hard work."

"As expected of our top science student, you work so hard. I heard that Gu Nanxun, who scored 395 points in our provincial exam and came in second, is your husband. Is that true?"

The reporter suddenly asked out of curiosity. When he learned from the captain that the two were a couple, he was taken aback. What a brilliant couple they were! They were equally outstanding.