Chapter 156, Part 1? Are you sure you're not mistaken?
Back at the market, Gu Qingming and Li Xiang had just finished eating when they received a call from the old man.
"Dad, what's wrong? Are you going to buy something to take back home?"
Li Xiang didn't know what they were saying, but she saw Gu Qingming's eyes light up like light bulbs as he quickly walked to the door.
Li Xiang was puzzled, so she got up and followed. Then she heard the other person ask, "Dad! The signal isn't very good here, could you speak louder?"
"What?! Our two daughters, one got into Jianggao High School?! And the other got into the city's No. 1 High School?! Are you sure you're not kidding me?!"
Upon hearing this, Li Xiang immediately stepped forward and snatched the phone.
"Dad, did they all really pass the exams?!"
"What! Ayin is the top scorer in the county! She's just one point away from a perfect score! Ahua is also ranked 30th in the county! Both of them scored high enough for Jianggao High School? Ahua doesn't have a certificate? No problem! No. 1 High School in the city is also excellent! Okay, okay, let's go back right away! Okay, okay! Let's buy groceries and go back!"
After hanging up the phone, Li Xiang grabbed Gu Qinglang's arm, her voice trembling with excitement: "That's fantastic! That's amazing! Jiang Gao! No. 1 Middle School of the city!"
People had already gathered around Gu Qingming when he shouted that he had been admitted to Jianggao High School!
They heard what Li Xiang said as well.
Seeing that she had hung up the phone, they immediately surrounded her.
"Your daughter got into Jianggao High School?"
"Wow, that's amazing! That's Jianggao! Mr. Gu, you're so lucky!"
"Congratulations, Boss Gu! When are you holding your graduation celebration banquet? We'd like to bring our kids and bask in the good fortune of this academic star!"
Gu Qingming grinned and laughed, "That's right! One got into Jianggao High School, and the other got into the No. 1 High School in the city! They both came from our town! Their homes are too far away, so I won't invite you all over. I'll host a special banquet here later to treat you all! Please come!"
"We understand! We'll definitely come back!"
"Bring the two kids along! Let's all share in the good fortune! Maybe my son can get into a good school too! Forget about Jianggao and the No. 1 Middle School in the city!"
"Boss Gu, could you give us a copy of your kids' notebooks or something? We don't need the originals, we'll just make copies ourselves!" Youcheng, a man with his own agenda, seized the opportunity to voice his request. Those were the notebooks of the county's top scorer! He had just heard it—just one point short of a perfect score!
Gu Qingming didn't dare to make the decision himself. He scratched his head and said with a smile, "How about this, I'll talk to the two kids about this when I get back. If it's really possible, we'll bring it over together when we have the graduation banquet!"
"Then thank you in advance, Mr. Gu! You're so generous!"
"Alright, that's enough for today. I need to go buy some groceries to take back and treat the villagers to a meal! I won't chat with you all now, we'll talk again later!" Gu Qingming said goodbye to everyone as soon as he saw that Li Xiang had locked the door.
The two bought some cold dishes and braised dishes, as well as some fruit, and got in the car together to go home.
While the old lady was boiling water in the kitchen, people from the village came to visit one after another.
Li Sen arrived first: "Auntie, I just saw a few people come to your house, and I even saw the principal of No. 2 Middle School. Have your two daughters' grades come out yet?"
Gu Hua was washing vegetables when she heard this and nodded: "Hello, village chief, yes! The results are out."
Gu Le entered the kitchen: "Grandma, go and entertain them. I'll boil some water."
In rural areas, children generally learn to tend fires after they can remember things. Gu Le will be in third grade next year, and the old lady is very relieved that he is watching the fire.
"Okay, call me over when the water boils!"
After saying that, he left the kitchen, walked to the yard, sat down, and said with a smile, "The results are out today; those people came to recruit students!"
Li Sen nodded upon hearing this. He saw that the old lady's eyes were full of smiles, which meant that the two children must be doing very well in school.
"How did the exam go?!"
The old lady slapped her thigh and held up one finger: "Ayin is first in the county, just one point away from a perfect score! Go to Jianggao High School! Ahua is 30th in the county, go to No. 1 Middle School in the city!"
Li Sen raised an eyebrow, slapped his knees a few times, and exclaimed in surprise, "Amazing! Absolutely amazing! We absolutely have to have most of this! Auntie, your family is the best!" He then gave a thumbs up.
"All three of your children are studying in the city! Not just in our town, but in the whole county, which family can compare to you?! Our village is truly blessed to have you!"
This isn't an exaggeration. In a village, if there's a particularly outstanding scholar, they'll be more sought after in marriage! Why?!
Let's put it this way: if a college graduate goes on to become a civil servant, it opens up a whole new world for the villagers! If the village doesn't hold any grudges against him, then when the village's children graduate and want to take the civil service exam, he can definitely provide them with some very important experience! This is extremely important for the children.
If this college student becomes successful, becomes a high-ranking official, or makes a lot of money, besides his family, the biggest beneficiary will be his village!
Now, all three of the Gu family's children have entered some of the best high schools in the city, or even the province. If they get in and nothing goes wrong, they're guaranteed to be college students! If just one of them succeeds, the whole village will benefit!
The old lady smiled and nodded vigorously: "Yes! We'll definitely have a big celebration! A banquet for the two children's graduation, no doubt! We'll need the village chief's help later!"
"Absolutely!" Li Sen had barely finished speaking when Gu Yin and Gu Qinglang, the couple, returned.
Knowing that her elder brother and sister-in-law had bought groceries, Li Mengxin went to buy some candy. She wanted to give them candy when they came to congratulate her, so they could share in the joy. After buying the candy, Gu Yin and the others arrived in town, and the three of them returned together.
"Hey! The top scholar is back!" Li Sen stood up, handed Gu Qinglang a cigarette, and smiled at Gu Yin.
Gu Yin sighed: "Village chief, please stop teasing me. What do you mean by top scorer? It's just the middle school entrance exam, not the college entrance exam. If I get the top score in the college entrance exam, and you still say things like that, then I'll take it!"
Li Sen patted her on the shoulder: "That's ambitious! I'll be waiting for that day!"
Li Mengxin took a plate, poured some sugar into it, and said with a smile, "Eating sugar brings good luck! We'll have dinner at home tonight! I've already bought the groceries!"
Gu Qinglang nodded in agreement: "Yes, stay for a drink! Later, invite the old village chief and all the respected elders in the village!"
Li Sen nodded: "Okay, leave this to me!"
"Grandpa, what are you bringing back?" Gu Hua's voice reminded everyone. They turned around and looked at the door, where they saw the old man pushing his bicycle into the yard, with a well-prepared fat sheep tied to the back of the bicycle seat.
The group quickly got up and went to help.
After parking the car, the old man sat down, drank a few sips of cool boiled water, and said with a smile, "I bought it from Wangjia Village! I personally picked out the sheep, a full 50 jin! The sheep has already been prepared! We'll roast the sheep tonight!"
After calling his children at noon, the old man was happy. While strolling around the yard, he suddenly remembered that Ayin had mentioned roasted whole lamb. There was a family in Wangjia Village that raised sheep, and he had heard that a batch of them had recently been released for sale. With that in mind, he rode his bike out the door!
“It’s so big, I’ll go get a few people to help us process it. We can roast it slowly now, and it’ll be ready for dinner tonight!” Li Sen said to Grandpa Gu.
The old man nodded: "Alright, go and call them!"
As soon as Li Sen left, the other villagers came over.
The old lady and Li Mengxin treated them to fruit and candy.
Knowing that the Gu family was hosting dinner that evening, the others also acted accordingly, grabbing a handful of candy and leaving after receiving the answer.
When Gu Qingming and Li Xiang arrived home, the sound of chopping meat could already be heard in the yard.
After putting his things down in the courtyard, Gu Qingming greeted everyone. Then he found Gu Yin and Gu Hua, who were washing vegetables, and immediately pulled them up: "Today is such an important day for you two, how can you still be doing this? Leave it there, I'll wash it later!"
After saying that, he patted the two on the shoulder, looked at one, then at the other, and grinned, "Not bad, not bad, you've got potential! How come you're so amazing! Hahaha! My daughter! My niece! Tsk tsk tsk, I'm still the best!"
Gu Hua: "...Dad, you're already drunk before you've even had a drink?"
Seeing her uncle like this, Gu Yin couldn't help but laugh.
Gu Qingming ignored Gu Hua's teasing and chased the two away before washing vegetables while humming a song.
Seeing the two being chased away, the old lady laughed: "I told you two I didn't need your help, but you wouldn't listen. Now you've been chased away anyway."
The two chuckled but remained silent.
The people who came to help said enviously, "That's because they're filial! Your children are all so wonderful! They're good at studying, good-looking, hardworking, and sensible and filial, unlike my child! He goes out to play before dawn, comes back to eat when he's hungry, doesn't even wash the dishes after eating, and goes out again, not coming back until dark, sometimes even in the middle of the night! If we talk about it too much, people will say that school is so tiring, and he finally has a holiday, so what's wrong with playing a little?! Look at him! With a child like that, I'd be grateful if he even got into high school!"
Others also started complaining about their own children.
Gu Yin and Gu Hua exchanged a glance, then turned and went inside. As children, they knew how hurtful it was to be used as a comparison!
In the county family compound, Grandma Jiang was reading the newspaper when Jiang Yuren returned with some documents.
He had just entered his home when he received a call from the bureau. His subordinates said that the high school entrance exam results were out and asked if he wanted to do any activities or publish a special column about filling out high school entrance exam applications, since they had done so in previous years.
Jiang Yuren nodded as he changed his shoes: "Just do it the usual way. Pay more attention to the top student in our county and see if we should interview him. We can also take the opportunity to promote our teaching and research reforms."
After noting it down, Jiang Yuren casually asked, "Is this year's top student from the county's No. 1 Middle School or No. 2 Middle School?" In the past, the top student always came from these two schools.
"No? Wanli Town No. 2 Middle School? There must be a mistake. What's the student's name?" Jiang Yuren was surprised to hear that the student was from Wanli Town. For a place that was virtually unknown, getting into the county's top school was already the limit, let alone getting the top student in the entire county! How could that be possible!
Upon hearing the name Wanli Town, Grandma Jiang, who was reading the newspaper, looked up at her son.
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