Chapter 773: Midterm Examination

Translator: Henyee Translations | Editor: Henyee Translations

Chu Qingzhi smiled and nodded to everyone, “I came to check on the progress of the house. You all continue with your tasks.”

“Okay.” Everyone resumed their work.

Wan Haonan approached Chu Qingzhi, “Miss Chu, may I have a word with you?”

“Sure.” Chu Qingzhi followed Wan Haonan to a birch tree, “What is it? You may speak.”

Wan Haonan wanted to discuss something about breeding, “Every day, we need to cut a large amount of grass to feed the pigs, horses, and sheep. With so much open space around here, I was thinking why not grow grass for livestock on these lands. Miss Chu, what do you think?”

Chu Qingzhi looked around and said, “It’s a good idea, the land is idle anyway.”

Seeing Chu Qingzhi’s support, Wan Haonan said, “Then, shall I start working on it?”

Chu Qingzhi nodded.

As Wan Haonan was about to leave, he stopped, “Miss Chu, we just fertilized the walnut grove. You might want to avoid that area for now, so you don’t dirty your shoes.”

“I understand.”

Wan Haonan then left reassured.

Chu Qingzhi looked around satisfied, then returned home with a group of wolf cubs.

At the county office.

The Secretary called Chu Xujin to the back hall.

In the back hall, the county magistrate was leisurely drinking tea, “Xujin, do you know why I called you here?”

Chu Xujin had no idea, “My lord, please speak directly.”

The county magistrate put down his teacup, looked at Chu Xujin, “In dealing with the epidemic, your fifth sister made a great contribution, and so did you. The county plans to reward your efforts.”

Chu Xujin stood there, quietly waiting for the county magistrate to continue.

The county magistrate, seeing Chu Xujin becoming more composed, was even more pleased with him, “Considering your excellent performance in handling the epidemic, the county intends to offer you the position of county sheriff.”

Chu Xujin was momentarily stunned, then revealed a big smile and bowed, “Thankyou, my lord.”

The county magistrate then handed a box to Chu Xujin, “There’s also some reward. Take it.”

Chu Xujin joyfully accepted the box, “Thankyou, my lord.”

The county magistrate then handed a larger box to the Secretary, “This is the reward promised to Chu Qingzhi. Deliver it to her later.”

The Secretary replied, “Yes, my lord.”

Chu Xujin hesitated, then asked in a low voice, “My lord, both of my younger brothers have passed the scholar examination. I was wondering if it might be possible to copy the exam questions from the past ten years for them?”

The county magistrate readily agreed to Chu Xujin’s request, nodding, “Go ahead, but keep it quiet.”

Chu Xujin bowed, “Thankyou, my lord.”

In Chu Village.

In the ancestral hall, the children were taking exams.

Halfway through the teaching period, it was time for a midterm examination to assess their learning.

Originally there were twenty-eight children, but after several were eliminated, twenty remained, including Chu Laner.

Chu Laner worked very hard, excelled in her studies, and was particularly capable in managing the workshop’s cleanliness.

With Ge Lihua, Chu Qingning, and Hong Yujun supervising the exam, and after Wu Yaqing left, Chu Qingzhi took over her responsibilities. If Chu Qingzhi was unavailable, it meant more work for Ge Lihua.

Chu Qingzhi greeted them and sat down to help supervise the exam. She had been running around so much lately that her shoes were wearing thin.

The exam would end in half an hour.

After a while, Chu Junbao led the Secretary over, “Sister Qingzhi, the Secretary is looking for you.”

Chu Qingzhi got up to meet him, “Secretary, what can I do for you?”

The Secretary handed the box to Chu Qingzhi, explaining, “Thanks to Miss Chu for the epidemic, this is the lord’s reward for you. Please accept it.”

Chu Qingzhi took the box, glanced inside, and saw it contained silver notes worth ten thousand taels, “You’ve made a long trip here, Secretary. Would you like to have some water before you go?”

The Secretary laughed and waved his hand, “No need to trouble yourself.

There’s still a lot to do back at the county office. I must take my leave now.”

Chu Qingzhi said, “Take care, Secretary.”

The Secretary courteously responded, “Miss Chu, please stay well.”

Half an hour later, the exam ended, and Ge Lihua collected all the papers, “Everyone, review your lessons in the classroom quietly. I will go over your exam papers.”

“Yes, Sister Lihua.”

Ge Lihua, carrying the exam papers, said, “Let’s correct them together.”

“Okay.” The four of them moved to the next room with a table, sat on each side, and started marking the papers.

With two exam papers per student and a total of forty papers, each person corrected ten papers. They quickly finished marking and then compiled the scores into a spreadsheet.

Chu Qingning looked at the spreadsheet, “Who got the highest score?”

Ge Lihua answered, “Several of them, they all got full marks in both subjects.” “How many full marks?” Chu Qingning was surprised and took the spreadsheet to look, “Xu Songnian, Xu Wenlin, TianXiaoqiu, Xu Zeliang, ZengYiping, Chu Laner, Sun Tianyang, all full marks.”

Besides these seven, there were also ten others who scored over ninety in both subjects, making the results quite impressive.

After reviewing the spreadsheet, Chu Qingning handed it to Chu Qingzhi,

” What do you think, fifth sister?”

Chu Qingzhi glanced at it and said, “Not bad, these seven with full marks should be given special attention for future development.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

After discussing, they distributed the exam papers without revealing the scores, only handing back the individual papers.

Ge Lihua instructed, “Look at your own papers, don’t peek at others. Reflect on your mistakes, I will review them later.”

Some were happy, some were disappointed.

Xu Songnian couldn’t help but smile, feeling his efforts were rewarded.

Xu Wenlin, being younger, couldn’t contain her excitement and immediately shared with her brother.

Xu Songnian pinched Xu Wenlin’s cheek, “Keep a low profile.”

Xu Wenlin immediately pursed her lips, trying not to laugh, “Brother, I can’t help being happy.”

Xu Songnian patted her head, “Alright, you’re allowed to be happy for a while.”

Tian Xiaoqiu, thrilled with his full marks, vowed to work even harder for the next exam.

Xu Zeliang sneakily checked Tian Xiaoqiu’s paper and feigned ignorance, “Tian Xiaoqiu, how much did you score?”

Tian Xiaoqiu instinctively covered her paper, “What about you?”

Xu Zeliangsmiled, “Guess?”

Tian Xiaoqiu, hesitating, asked, “Full marks?”

Xu Zeliang was surprised for a moment, “Did you peek at my paper?”

“No, I guessed.” Tian Xiaoqiu pointed at Xu Zeliang’s face, “Look at you, all smiles. It’s written all over your face.”