Chapter 8: The Exam

The feud between those two could go on for three days and nights without end. Back in the day, before Widow Huang got married, she had a brief relationship with Lin Hongjun.

Unfortunately, Lin Hongjun’s mother had objected because Widow Huang came from a poor family and had a younger brother still attending a private school.

Later, Lin Hongjun married Li Chun’ya, and half a year after that, Widow Huang was married off to another family in Linjiawan, ironically becoming Lin Hongjun’s niece-in-law.

Widow Huang’s life was full of misfortune. Not long after marrying into the family, her husband went out to sea to fish and was swept away by the waves.

Her mother-in-law believed she was cursed and forbade her from remarrying, so she became a widow at a young age.

Even though Lin Hongjun had already married Li Chun’ya, he still couldn’t forget about Widow Huang. He often helped her by chopping firewood and fetching water. Before long, their relationship rekindled.

At that time, Li Chun’ya had just given birth to their eldest son. She was busy working and taking care of the child and didn’t notice anything strange.

But then Lin Hongjun crossed the line—he even gave all the family’s money to Widow Huang.

When Li Chun’ya discovered their affair, she completely broke down. The scandal caused a huge uproar, and Widow Huang was nearly drowned in a pig cage as punishment.

Her in-laws, upon finding out she was “unfaithful,” planned to sell her off under the pretense of arranging a remarriage.

Just then, a man came knocking. He offered twenty silver dollars to have Widow Huang give him a son.

Her in-laws were delighted and sent her off to the man’s private estate. Twenty silver dollars would be enough to support them in old age.

For several years after, no one in Linjiawan saw Widow Huang again and assumed she had remarried. But after the founding of the People’s Republic, she returned. Since her household registration had never been officially moved, the villagers had no choice but to let her live there again—even though they weren’t thrilled.

Seeing that her goal was within reach, Widow Huang let Li Chun’ya tear at her clothes and hair during their fight to make herself look more pitiful.

Onlookers believed Li Chun’ya had the upper hand, beating Widow Huang senselessly.

Only Li Chun’ya knew how badly she’d been hurt. Widow Huang had somehow learned to aim at sensitive, painful, and hidden spots when hitting her.

“What are you doing? Stop right now!”

The brigade leader had arrived at the office with the commune leaders and the teacher from County No. 1 High School, only to witness a brawl.

He was so furious he wanted to kick both women himself. Didn’t they realize what day it was? The whole village wasn’t big enough for their fights—did they really have to do it right in front of the brigade office and make fools of themselves?

“Captain, it wasn’t me this time. I was just speaking the truth,” Widow Huang said, sneaking a glance at the leaders behind the brigade leader. The person she had been waiting for had finally arrived.

“You shameless hag, so what if I hit you? You deserved it for talking nonsense!”
Li Chun’ya still had no idea how serious things were. She thought it was just another typical village fight, and the worst the brigade leader would do was yell at them.

“Captain, look! Li Chun’ya is always bullying me,” Widow Huang said as she stepped back, pretending to be afraid. She had mastered the art of playing the victim over the years.

If there was anyone Widow Huang hated most, it was Li Chun’ya and Lin Hongjun. If Li Chun’ya hadn’t raised such a fuss back then, she wouldn’t have been sold off by those two old bastards.

“Both of you, shut up! You’re both too old to still be brawling like this. Since you’ve got so much energy, you can go shovel manure tomorrow. And as for the rest of you watching—did you enjoy the show? How about we cancel this year’s movie screening and let you watch fights instead?”

The brigade leader shot them a deadly glare. Linjiawan’s reputation had been completely ruined by these two. If they weren’t arguing, they were fighting. There wasn’t a single peaceful day.

“Captain, we were wrong. But those two old women aren’t worth watching. Please don’t take away our movie screening,” someone in the crowd pleaded.

“Yeah! They’re both old and ugly—we’ve had enough of their drama!”

…

When the villagers heard the movie screening might be canceled, they were not having it. They only got to watch one movie at the end of the year—it would be a real shame to lose that.

“Alright, alright! The accountant exam is about to start. Anyone not here to take the test, clear out!”
The brigade leader led the teacher and commune leader into the office. There were twelve candidates for the exam today—just enough to fill the room.

Among them, aside from Lin Qingmei and Lin Qinghua, all the others were men. Most of them were older than Lin Qingmei.

People her age were too scared to compete—they’d been crushed by her in academics too many times. Knowing they couldn’t outperform her, they didn’t even bother signing up.

Only those older folks who hadn’t heard of her reputation dared to take the test with confidence.

When Lin Qingmei entered the office, all the other candidates had already arrived.

The only empty seat left was next to Lin Qinghua. Talk about enemies meeting on a narrow road. She just hoped Qinghua wouldn’t try any dirty tricks—otherwise, she wouldn’t hold back.

When the test papers were handed out, Lin Qingmei skimmed through it once and immediately started writing.

To be honest, the test really wasn’t hard. Most of the questions were middle-school level, with only one or two long questions from high school.

In less than twenty minutes, Lin Qingmei had finished the whole exam. To avoid disturbing others, she decided to lay her head down and take a nap.

Lin Qinghua saw Lin Qingmei finish so quickly and began to panic. She had originally planned to accuse her of cheating, but it looked like Lin Qingmei was still just as formidable—even after losing her grandmother.

Damn it! No matter how hard she worked, she just couldn’t beat her.

The angrier she got, the tighter she gripped her pen. Suddenly, her mind went blank and she fainted on the spot.

Lin Qingmei was awakened by the brigade leader and looked dazed.
Wasn’t she just falling asleep? Had the test already ended?

“Qingmei, since you’ve already finished, turn in your paper and take Qinghua to see Dr. Zhou,” the brigade leader said, clearly flustered. He hadn’t expected someone to faint during a simple accountant exam.

“What happened to Lin Qinghua? Did she finish her test and fall asleep like I did?”

“She fainted. Was the test too hard?”

The brigade leader was starting to panic. He had asked a teacher from County No.1 High to prepare this test—had he messed up?

“It’s not hard at all. Most of the questions were from middle school. Only the last two big questions were from high school.”

Hearing that, the brigade leader finally let out a sigh of relief. As long as the test wasn’t too difficult.

Meanwhile, the other candidates—still struggling halfway through—were silently swearing.
This is ‘not hard’?!
Most of them had only gotten through half the paper by now.