Chapter 65: College Entrance Examination Results Released

Yang Chunsheng laughed heartily at his youngest son's remark, giving Yang Xingwu a firm pat on the shoulder.

When they returned to the village, the evening glow already filled the sky. Yang Chunsheng led his entire family straight to the ancestral home.

Yang Xinglong stood at the entrance of the village looking out, and seeing his father and his eldest uncle returning, he ran home in a hurry to break the news.

Upon hearing her grandson's message, Liu Cuihua hurriedly called out to the others, directing them to carry the dining table out into the courtyard.

There were two trees in the courtyard—a pomegranate tree and a persimmon tree—symbolizing an abundance of children, blessings, and everything going as desired, just like the auspicious meaning of persimmons!

As soon as the table was set and the dishes were served, Yang Chunsheng arrived home along with his family and his younger brother.

Seeing them, Liu Cuihua hastened to greet them.

"You're back? Come on, take your seats for dinner. Xiaohu, Xiaohong, grab your bowls and pick out some food!"

Seeing her eldest brother's family and her husband returning, Sun Chunni brought out half a basin of water in an enamel washbasin and offered it to everyone to wash their hands.

"Eldest brother, sister-in-law, Xiaowen, Xiaowu, go wash your hands quickly and let's eat!"

Yang Chunsheng acknowledged with a nod, parked the cart under the shed, and after washing up with his family, sat down at the table.

The meal was quite ordinary: stir-fried green beans with chili peppers, smashed cucumbers with garlic paste, cold tossed onions, a plate of steamed sweet potato leaves, and a family-friendly dish of sliced tomatoes sprinkled with brown sugar—white sugar was simply too expensive.

With all kinds of summer vegetables fully matured, Liu Cuihua had planted two rows of green beans that grew a bit too fast for them to consume in time, leaving some to turn fibrous and old. She saved the old pods for seeds to plant next year, while others were dried under the sun to be stir-fried for winter dishes.

"How was it? Did everything go smoothly?"

At the dining table, Yang Kaishan asked his two sons about delivering the public grain earlier that day.

"Not bad. Since it was the first day, the people at the grain station didn't give us a hard time. We'll have to set off a bit earlier tomorrow, though; we arrived a bit late today, which is why it dragged on for so long!"

"Alright then. Tomorrow we'll wake up even earlier, get the grain turned in, and we can enjoy a few days of peace. That way, we won't have to worry for the next few months until the autumn harvest comes in!"

Yang Chunsheng agreed promptly.

Having finished questioning his eldest son, Yang Kaishan turned his gaze to Yang Xingwu and asked, "Xiawu, when will the scores be released? When are you planning to go into town to check the results board?"

"Grandpa, we probably have to wait a few more days. Today is only the 25th, so the scores should come out around August—about another week or so!"

"Fair enough. Once we finish delivering the grain and the rush is over, you can rest for a few days, and we'll all head into town together to check the board!"

"That sounds great! By then things will have calmed down, and we can take a nice stroll around the city!"

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

Hearing her grandson's words, Liu Cuihua beamed with joy. As the family ate and chatted, night quietly fell.

After dinner, Yang Chunsheng took his family home to rest. Exhausted from a full day's work and with more grain delivery awaiting them the next day, everyone immediately climbed onto the kang and went to sleep.

The next day, despite another early rise, they spent the entire day bustling about before finally finishing the grain delivery.

With the grain delivered, life in the village returned to a state of tranquility.

On July 28th, at the provincial capital's examination center, Ma Weimin stood in the conference room, speaking animatedly.

Seated around him were the head examiners for each respective subject.

"This year, the total number of national candidates reached 1.64 million, which is 30,000 fewer than last year. After eliminating sixty percent in our province, we still have nearly 100,000 students charging into the national college entrance examination! Although the overall scores aren't exactly ideal..."

Noticing the director's unusual demeanor, several head examiners exchanged curious glances.

Only a few days ago, this very man had berated them unmercifully; had he suddenly changed his tune today?

Suppressing their curiosity, everyone listened on patiently.

"Every subject is much the same as in previous years—even the science chemistry test turned out to be quite a bit simpler!

"However, the mathematics paper caught candidates nationwide completely off guard.

"The average score in our province was a mere 25 points—though, of course, that's considering our massive population and the extreme difficulty of the questions.

"After all, the highest provincial average in the entire country was Jiangsu at just 32 points, while Beijing's average scraped a meager 17 points..."

At these words, a murmur of whispered conversations rippled through the audience.

"Head Examiner Zheng, what's going on here? Did your math department set off a firecracker? With scores this terrible, this fellow Ma would normally have flown into a rage. Why is he so amiable today?"

"Ah, what else could it be? Someone in our province scored a perfect score! Looking across the entire country, that's as rare as a unique gem. How could he not be thrilled?"

"I see. Who is that candidate? Do you know him?"

"Don't know him personally, but judging by the admission ticket number, he's from the Luoyang Prefecture region!"

"Goodness gracious, really? Someone from our side? What's his name?"

"Look at my memory, I almost forgot that Head Examiner Li is from Luoyang. His name is Yang Xingwu. Have you heard of him, Head Examiner Li?"

Hearing this, Head Examiner Li paused to think, but no such name came to mind!

Observing this, Head Examiner Zheng looked slightly puzzled.

"What? Head Examiner Li doesn't recognize him?"

"Strange, how could I have never heard of such a person? Could he be a student from one of the county schools down below?"

"Ah well, there are simply too many students; how could anyone expect to memorize every single student in an entire city?"

"That's true!"

After whispering back and forth for a moment, the two men straightened up and resumed listening to the speech at the front.

After rambling on at great length, Ma Weimin finally reached the crux of the matter.

"In light of the exceptionally difficult math paper this year, the passing lines are significantly lower than last year, and the key university admission line falls short of five hundred points. Even so, a multitude of outstanding students have emerged from the pack!

"Our very own student Yang Xingwu from Luoyang achieved a flawless, perfect score in mathematics, successfully answering every single extra-credit question as well. With 100+10 in physics, 100+10 in chemistry, and a perfect 50 in biology, out of a total possible science score of 690, student Yang Xingwu racked up an astonishing 667 points, claiming the crown as this year's national science top scorer!

"Truly, fortune takes turns, and this year it has landed right at our doorstep! Today the cafeteria is adding extra meat dishes—everyone eat and drink well!"

The moment Ma Weimin finished speaking, thunderous applause erupted, shaking the doors of the conference room on their hinges.

Many science teachers felt an immense surge of pride upon hearing this, clapping their hands furiously. Head Examiner Li and Head Examiner Zhang, both hailing from Luoyang, were practically beaming with delight.

"Head Examiner Zhang, isn't this Yang Xingwu one of your students? Talk about keeping your brilliance hidden!"

"I'm ashamed to say I've genuinely never heard of him! Once the meeting wraps up, should we find some of our local teachers and ask around?"

"An excellent idea!"

At the midday cafeteria, Xu culture, Liu Laonian, Zhang Lijuan, and Teacher Wang sat together for lunch.

Staring at the unusually lavish spread of dishes, they found it hard to believe.

"Is the cafeteria running a deficit or something? Why is there so much meat?"

"Never mind whether they're going broke or not, let's just dig in!"

"Our province produced the national science top scorer! Perfect scores across mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology, and he nearly aced foreign languages too. No wonder the grading panel is treating us to extra dishes today!"

Teacher Wang explained as he ate.

"That impressive? Whose student is he?"

"As it happens, the person is from our very own Luoyang—none other than that Yang Xingwu I mentioned to you all during our last meal.

"Head Examiner Zheng asked around for ages and nobody knew who he was. Many are guessing he was a student who kept a very low profile and only unleashed his true strength during the actual exam!

"Hey, Teacher Liu, who knows? This prodigy just might be one of your own students!"

Unintentionally spoken, the words struck a chord, and Liu Laonian immediately took them to heart.