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At first, Lin Qingmei thought Lin Qinghua had really fainted. But when she went to help her up, she noticed that her eyes were still moving under her closed eyelids.
How annoying—Lin Qinghua was actually pretending to faint.
Was it because she couldn’t answer the questions? Lin Qingmei really couldn’t understand how someone like Lin Qinghua, who never had good grades, had the confidence to even show up for the accounting exam.
While pretending to faint, Lin Qinghua was actually panicking inside. She had arranged for someone to steal the test paper in advance and give it to her, but now the actual exam questions were completely different!
Could it be that Feng Nan had tricked her? Didn’t he say that his uncle was the one making the test? He couldn’t even handle something so simple. What a useless idiot.
Unnoticed by anyone, the teacher from County No. 1 High School who was invigilating the exam cast a dark and cold gaze at Lin Qinghua. The moment she pretended to faint, he suspected she was the one who ordered her nephew to steal the test paper.
Today’s test paper had been deliberately swapped out by him. He hated it when people tried to scheme against him. A bratty little girl thought she could manipulate him? Did she think he was too nice?
The commune leaders acted as if it was none of their business—no matter what happened today, it had nothing to do with them. The only one truly panicking now was the brigade leader.
“Qingmei, why are you still standing there? Hurry and take her to the clinic!”
“Brigade Leader, no rush. I learned some first-aid techniques back in school. Let me try waking her up first.”
Hearing Lin Qingmei say she was going to try waking her up, Lin Qinghua immediately dropped the act.
“No need to go to the clinic, Brigade Leader. I’m awake.”
“Good, good. Then just continue writing your test. Qingmei, since you’re already done, you can go home for now. The results will be announced in the afternoon.”
“Sure, I’ll come back after lunch.”
Since the brigade leader had already given permission for her to leave, Lin Qingmei saw no reason to stay. She handed in her paper and happily left the exam room.
Outside, the village had grown quiet. The crowd that had gathered earlier had long dispersed. Though the production team didn’t have much work right now, the villagers still had plenty of things to do at home.
Winter in Guangdong Province was different from the north—there was no such thing as “hibernating through winter” here.
Her home was quite far from the brigade office, almost on the other side of Linjiawan. She had rushed over earlier and hadn’t had a chance to enjoy the scenery. Since it was still early and not yet time to cook lunch, she decided to stroll around the village.
Linjiawan was a coastal village. In spring, it often got hit by typhoons, so most of the houses were built with stone and blue bricks.
Her own home had been built by Grandpa Lin and Grandma Lin when they first got married. Decades had passed since then, and many of the roof tiles were cracked. Thankfully, the typhoons in the past two years hadn’t been too strong—otherwise, the house might not have survived.
Grandma Lin had originally planned to rebuild the house this year, but sadly, she passed away before anything could begin. Now, even though Lin Qingmei wanted to rebuild it, she had to wait until the forty-nine-day mourning period was over.
After returning home, the exam continued in the office. Teacher Feng from County No. 1 High School quietly walked over to Lin Qinghua’s desk and, seeing she had only finished half the paper, shook his head.
With such poor performance, she wanted to become an accountant? Even if it was just a village position, it wasn’t something just anyone could take.
Unaware that Teacher Feng had already seen through her, Lin Qinghua even smiled sweetly when he approached.
Time flew by, and as the exams concluded and the papers were collected, the exam room was filled with sighs of frustration.
“The results won’t be out until this afternoon. Everyone can go home and eat lunch first.”
Once the crowd had dispersed, Lin Qinghua was the last to slowly leave the room.
Today’s test had completely caught her off guard. How was she supposed to explain this to her family? She had been so confident when she left the house this morning, even bragging that she would definitely come in first.
Not only had she failed to defeat Lin Qingmei, but she had also embarrassed herself terribly. It was infuriating.
…
After lunch, the village loudspeaker blared to life.
“Attention all villagers! Please gather immediately at the brigade office!”
Upon hearing the announcement, the villagers stopped what they were doing and headed toward the office.
“What happened now? Why another meeting?”
“You didn’t know? There was an accounting exam at the office today. This meeting is probably to announce the results.”
“But isn’t our old accountant still doing fine? Why pick a new one?”
“Have you been working too hard and gone silly? The old accountant has been sick for a long time. Plus, he’s in his sixties—it’s about time he retired.”
“I’ve been busy harvesting cassava. I honestly didn’t hear anything about him being sick.”
“Let’s go quickly. I want to see who the new accountant of Linjiawan will be.”
Once everyone lined up, the brigade leader had someone post all the test papers on the wall.
“As you all know, today we held an exam to select a new village accountant. The results have now been posted. The top scorer was Lin Qingmei, with a perfect score of 100. So starting today, the new accountant of Linjiawan will be Lin Qingmei.”
“I have a question!” someone shouted. “Why did everyone else score fifty or sixty, and only Lin Qingmei got a perfect score? Don’t tell me she cheated!”
“Li Chun’ya, you’re such a damn troublemaker. You’re always causing drama wherever you go! Qingmei has always ranked first in every exam. Scoring 100 is normal for her!”
Before the brigade leader could respond, Aunt Liu, who stood beside Li Chun’ya, couldn’t take it anymore. Did Lin Qingmei, with her brains, really need to cheat?
“Liu Xiaohua, you’re the troublemaker! You’re the biggest gossip in Linjiawan.”
“So what if I gossip? At least I don’t accuse people of cheating in exams!” Aunt Liu had always looked down on Li Chun’ya. Not only was she venomous and dumb, but she also thought everyone else was dumber than her.
“You—! Who said I was accusing her? I heard Lin Qingmei finished the exam in under thirty minutes. If she wasn’t given the answers beforehand, how could she finish so quickly?”
With that one sentence, Li Chun’ya offended not only Lin Qingmei, but also the brigade leader and Teacher Feng.
“So what you’re saying is—you suspect I leaked the test questions?”
The brigade leader was furious. He had served in his position for years and never once played favorites. Now this old woman was accusing him of cheating?
“You’ve always favored Lin Qingmei. It’s not hard to believe you’d do something like this!”
Li Chun’ya had long wanted to bring the brigade leader down. Only if he made a mistake and got dismissed could her husband have a chance to take his place.