Chapter 78

“Today we went to inspect work at a rural elementary school and finished early. Our vehicle happened to pass by your Canned Food Factory Elementary School. We heard that your school plans to build a cafeteria and sports field during the summer break, so Minister Zhu and Director Qiu decided to come in and check the progress,” Minister Wu said. He still remembered the questions Minister Zhu asked earlier, so he continued, “What were you chatting about in Principal Yang’s office? We could hear quite a lively atmosphere right from the hallway.”

The people in the office quickly came out to greet them. Principal Yang immediately said, “Yes, it’s a bit lively. My niece has a friend who is said to be a genius. She knows everything the school teachers know, and even things they don’t. The reason she never went to school is that the teachers couldn’t teach her.”

“This is Comrade Qiao Xinyi. She’s already nineteen years old this year. Since she never had formal schooling, even though she’s a genius, she can’t find a job without credentials. When I heard my niece say this, I felt pity for such talent,” Principal Yang continued.

“As all of you leaders know, the country places great emphasis on education and there’s a shortage of talent in many areas. I thought it would be a huge loss if such a genius was held back just because she lacks formal qualifications. So, I made an exception and specially arranged a graduation exam for Comrade Qiao Xinyi.”

“You leaders arrived just in time. Comrade Qiao Xinyi just finished the exam, and we were about to grade her math paper,” Principal Yang said. “I’ve entrusted the two teachers with this task. I’ll accompany you leaders around the school to check on the progress of some of our projects.”

Principal Yang had already stepped out of the office and gestured to lead the leaders away. But unexpectedly, the leaders became curious about the genius.

“Isn’t it said she’s done with the exam and waiting for grading? No rush, we want to see how much this genius can score,” Minister Zhu said cheerfully. “At our age, curiosity is natural.”

Minister Wu, hearing this, led Minister Zhu directly into the office. The teacher nearby quickly went to the next room to bring a few chairs for the leaders to sit on. Smiling, the teacher said, “The Chinese paper has already been graded. Leaders can take a look. She scored 89 points. Leaders, look at her handwriting—it’s especially beautiful.”

The already graded Chinese test paper was passed around among the leaders, who were all naturally curious. When they turned to the essay page, they nodded repeatedly in praise. The entire essay had no spelling mistakes, the wording was elegant, and it even included literary allusions.

“This writing style is beyond elementary school level,” Director Qiu said.

If anyone else had received such praise, they might modestly deflect it a little. But Qiao Xinyi? She wasn’t one to be shy. As the leaders complimented her, she nodded along confidently, making everyone in the office except Principal Yang and Liu Yun laugh.

“I’ve lived to this age and this is the first time I’ve met someone so confident,” Minister Zhu said. He didn’t find her arrogance off-putting—in fact, he liked it. “Young people should be confident. That’s good. The future belongs to you young people.”

The leaders clearly weren’t on the same side as Liu Yun, so Qiao Xinyi was especially gracious and friendly toward them.

She took a newspaper from her cloth bag and handed it to Minister Zhu. “Minister Zhu, take a look. I even wrote articles for the provincial newspaper, based on my own experiences. They published my articles and sent me some payment.”

One word: showing off.

The newspaper was something Qiao Xinyi had bought casually while passing the post office and stuffed in her bag, forgetting about it until now, when she finally remembered. Since the leaders had already praised her so much, she might as well show off a bit more.

Minister Zhu, intrigued, took the paper and saw the page she pointed to. Indeed, it occupied a rather large space.

Taking another look at the content, Minister Zhu slapped his thigh and said, “I’ve heard about this case in the city before, but I never expected to meet the person involved today!”

Minister Zhu called over Director Qiu. “We were just talking about this case in the office earlier, remember? The one about the three children who were switched at birth nineteen years ago. This young woman right here is the one switched away to that rural family, who was almost beaten to death and even had a ghost marriage arranged for her.”

Everyone immediately understood why Qiao Xinyi, despite being so intelligent, had never had a day of formal schooling.

Minister Zhu felt sorry for the child when he first saw the news. Now that he heard she was clever and had become talented by learning from the old professor who lived in the cattle shed, he was even more eager to know Qiao Xinyi’s exam results.

“Has the math paper been graded?” Minister Zhu asked.

The teacher grading the math exam stammered, “Not yet,” and instinctively glanced at Principal Yang with a nervous look. He had many questions in his mind but knew better than to ask Principal Yang in front of the leaders. Scratching his head anxiously and awkwardly, the teacher seemed flustered.

Seeing this, Minister Zhu got up and walked over, standing beside him and looking down at the exam paper. He asked directly, “What difficulties are you encountering in grading?”

Minister Zhu’s eyes landed on the question being graded, and he read it aloud. After reading it, he was stunned, and so were Director Qiu and Minister Wu. Even the teacher who had graded the Chinese paper earlier was stunned.

Director Qiu asked, “Isn’t this supposed to be a primary school graduation exam? Why is this question a high school physics problem?”

“It’s a second-year high school physics question,” Minister Zhu said, holding the exam paper and scanning through it from start to finish. Then he pointed to a later question, “This one looks like a middle school physics problem, right?”

He flipped through several more questions, pointing them out one by one. “These are high school math questions, and the last big question here…”

Minister Zhu called over Director Qiu and Minister Wu to take a look together. “I get dizzy just looking at this question. What grade level do you think these questions are for?”

Minister Zhu looked confused, Minister Wu also looked confused, but Director Qiu recognized it. “They look like math olympiad questions to me.”

Director Qiu explained, “Our department hired a young man this year who loves math problems. There are always math competitions abroad. After a recent contest ended, he brought back the problems. Half a month ago, he invited us to look at them. We were all overwhelmed, but he worked tirelessly on them for days.”

Director Qiu was judging by the style of the questions that they were olympiad level.

Minister Zhu had finished flipping through the entire paper, then looked at Principal Yang and asked directly, “Principal Yang, do you want to explain to us and Comrade Qiao Xinyi what’s going on with this paper?”

“You said this was a primary school graduation exam, but you’ve inserted middle school and high school questions, even some math olympiad problems. I just counted — these questions make up half the entire exam’s points,” Minister Zhu said.

“Which primary school graduate could pass this test? Principal Yang, do you want to take the exam yourself and see how many points you can score?”

Principal Yang was at a loss for words. He had personally copied the exam paper, so he couldn’t avoid responsibility.

“So are you still going to grade this paper?” Director Qiu stared at Principal Yang and asked the others.