Cheating?

How could she cheat?

Teacher Sun’s round face turned red with agitation: “Sister Qi, I never left her side – I even followed her to the bathroom, and she ate lunch in the office. There’s no way she could have cheated!”

Teacher Qi quickly calmed her agitated junior colleague: “Don’t worry, I believe you’re a conscientious comrade. Her results were just rather unexpected.”

Assured that Teacher Sun hadn’t been negligent, Teacher Qi submitted the papers and test results to the grade group. Old Wang from the third-year group was also skeptical: “Nobody leaked the answers? Then this student can transfer in.”

“Leak what answers? This Friday’s third-year diagnostic test – I used that set of papers, with questions from all subject teachers. Who could have gotten the answers in advance?”

Teacher Qi had taken the papers home.

And though her husband was an English teacher, Xiao Lan had performed best in English.

But her husband hadn’t written those questions, and they had no connection to Xiao Lan. Teacher Qi had nothing to hide and believed it impossible for Xiao Lan to have obtained answers beforehand.

Old Wang’s expression was remarkable: “She self-studied at home after middle school graduation?”

Xiao Lan lost points mainly in subjects requiring memorization, like Chinese and Politics. Biology wasn’t great either, but how many points was Biology worth? As for Chinese and Politics, intensive short-term memorization could easily improve those scores. Not to mention, with that abysmal Political score and the unnecessary points lost in Chinese, Xiao Lan could easily have scored 40 points higher!

Forty points!

Old Wang grinned – they’d accept a promising student, even self-taught.

After all, if she passed the college entrance exam, who cared if she was self-taught? People would only know she got in from First County Middle School, counting toward their admission rate!

Old Wang carefully collected Xiao Lan’s papers: “Hurry, notify this student!”

“Qing Chen from Class 3 recommended her…”

“Then let’s have Qing Chen show us the way!”

Teachers were quite responsible these days.

Since the revival of college entrance exams, First County Middle School’s teachers might not match big city standards, but most had impeccable professional ethics. University admission could change a person’s life – some students repeat year after year, never giving up. Now that a promising candidate had appeared out of nowhere, once they knew, First County Middle School wouldn’t let her slip away.

They called for Qing Chen, and Old Wang and Teacher Qi couldn’t wait for his holiday – they wanted to go to Qi Jing Village immediately to find Xiao Lan.

Along the way, Old Wang kept asking about Xiao Lan – why she’d stopped schooling before, how she studied at home. What could Qing Chen know? He knew nothing about Xiao Lan’s past in Da He Village. Perhaps she had truly studied hard at home after dropping out of middle school.

But seeing the teachers’ demeanor, Xiao Lan must have passed the school’s test.

Old Wang kept the suspense, refusing to reveal Xiao Lan’s score.

“You’ll know when we reach her home.”

The two teachers and Qing Chen cycled to Qi Jing Village, with Qing Chen burning with curiosity.

They rode quickly and were sweating when they arrived, but despite Qing Chen knocking for ages, no one emerged from the Liu household.

Liu Yong was preparing for a long trip in a few days and wanted to help Xiao Lan beforehand. With the autumn harvest done, after sending Tao Tao to school, all three adults went out to collect eels for Xiao Lan.

Though they delivered about 100 jin of eels to Shangdu City every other day, several hundred jin were already stored in their water vats.

Xiao Lan had little cash now and couldn’t afford to buy meat and ribs freely anymore. The family mostly ate loaches, which they caught while collecting eels – dirt cheap.

The two teachers waited until their throats were parched.

Qing Chen took them to his home for water and rest.

Teachers making a home visit!

Qing Chen’s family nearly worshipped the two teachers. When Wang Da Chen spoke up, Qing Chen’s mother wanted to kill a chicken and buy meat, but Old Wang quickly stopped her: “We’re not here to eat. We just want to find Student Xiao Lan quickly. Every day delayed could mean two fewer points on her exam – we can’t have that!”

Old Wang was wholly dedicated to his duty.

Even Wang Da Chen’s hospitality had to yield.

“That girl Xiao Lan is sensible, though her family’s circumstances aren’t good. Fortunately, she knows to better herself.”

Wang Da Chen had someone fetch Liu Yong back.

Liu Yong was so excited he knocked over his eel basket: “Xiao Lan passed the test? She can take the college exam next year?”

Eels crawled everywhere, but Liu Yong didn’t care.

Money was important, but in the long run, it wasn’t everything. If Xiao Lan could enter university next year, it would change her entire life!

Old Wang encouragingly assured Liu Yong: “With a few months left, if Student Xia studies hard, a bachelor’s degree is certainly within reach.”

Normally, notifying the family of Xiao Lan’s test results and asking her to report to First County Middle School would complete the teachers’ task. But with only eight students admitted to bachelor’s programs last year, Old Wang wasn’t exaggerating – he truly valued this promising student.

He wanted to meet Xiao Lan.

The urge was so strong he couldn’t wait until tomorrow.

Liu Yong slapped his thigh, “Xiao Lan went to deliver goods to Shangdu City…”

“Then let’s go to Shangdu City.”

Teacher Qi was equally curious – how could someone excel at English but perform so poorly in Chinese? She wanted to meet Xiao Lan and properly reason with her!

Xiao Lan stayed longer in Shangdu City today.

With several hundred jin of eels stored at home, Xiao Lan felt anxious. Short-term storage was fine, but if the eels lost weight over time, she’d lose money. Besides, several hundred jin tied up too much capital – without selling more, she wouldn’t have money to buy more stock! The oil residue money had all gone into buying eels, so today Xiao Lan brought an extra hundred jin, selling at early markets in South and North City, asking restaurants and noodle shops if they needed eels. By noon, she had finally turned the extra eels into cash in her pocket.

After spending most of the day, she was late for deliveries.

At the Huanghe Restaurant, Fang Zhu knew Xiao Lan would come today. Though delivery times weren’t fixed, she never missed an every-other-day delivery. Even when busy last time, she’d sent her uncle – she’d proven her business reliability.

Fang Zhu’s mother was quite irritated. As someone with some authority, she planned to meet this enchantress who had bewitched Fang Zhu.

She dressed particularly carefully – her clothes, her shoes, her meticulously arranged hair, her composed demeanor – clearly different from ordinary workers.

Mama’s boy Fang Zhu thought his mother was showing respect to Xiao Lan, but she intended to intimidate her.

But as the wait dragged on, Fang Zhu’s mother’s imposing air deflated – Xiao Lan hadn’t appeared yet, as if giving her a taste of her own medicine. When Xiao Lan finally appeared on her bicycle, Fang Zhu’s mother’s eyelid twitched frantically:

No, no, she’s even more bewitching than imagined – the Zhu family couldn’t handle such an enchantress!