Chapter 92

Ye Family Village.

By the time the sky was nearly dark, Xie Tingyu finally strolled back to the village, slowly holding his wife’s hand.

Before they even entered the house, Ye Qingshui could already hear her mother’s voice.

Her mother was praising Xie Tingyu nonstop — even from afar, one could hear her singing his praises.

Reporters had come to the Ye home to interview Mother Ye.

Mother Ye was an absolute fangirl for her son-in-law — as the saying goes, “a mother-in-law grows fonder of her son-in-law the more she looks at him.”

Xie Tingyu was handsome, spirited, good to her daughter, and even helped her improve herself.

Now he had even brought her along into university.

At this moment, Mother Ye was Xie Tingyu’s most loyal supporter.

“Tingyu is such a filial child — he does all the housework at home and can’t bear to see the elders do anything. During the college entrance exam period, he was especially hardworking. To build the village’s biogas pit, he went out early and came home late every day, but still managed to feed all the chickens, ducks, and pigs in the yard properly. Every morning you’d see he had already chopped the firewood and made breakfast.”

“There aren’t many men in the village as patient as he is. He treats his family extremely well.”

As the reporters listened, their expressions slowly went blank.

They had come to interview the top scorer of the college entrance exam , but somehow it started sounding like a feature article titled “The Ideal Husband from Someone Else’s Family.”

Ye Qingshui blushed a little — because the truth was, feeding the pigs was her job.

During the exam period, she often studied late into the night and couldn’t get up in the morning.

Hearing this, she gave a loud cough and said, “Mother, we’re back.”

Mother Ye didn’t hear her daughter at all and continued bragging:

“Besides all these virtues, my son-in-law is especially handsome — looks just like a movie star!”

Like a movie star?

The reporters from various places all kept a straight face, thinking silently: All right, now that’s going a bit far…

As reporters from major provincial newspapers, hadn’t they seen plenty of celebrities before?

But when they turned their heads and looked toward the couple who had just returned, they froze in shock.

By the faint light spilling from the house, they could finally see clearly the face of this year’s top scorer.

The hazy moonlight fell softly on the man’s shoulders.

The first thing that came into view was a pair of long, slender legs. When their gaze moved upward, a spark of astonishment flashed through the reporters’ eyes — this young man was strikingly handsome, his features as if carefully carved by the hand of God.

He was wearing a thin black coat and stood in the cold wind, exuding a cool and calm aura even more captivating than that of a film star.

As the saying goes: A true gentleman is like jade — polished and refined.

The top scorer of the year truly lived up to his name — like a piece of fine jade.

After a whole day of standing in the cold wind and eating dust, the reporters’ numb hearts suddenly came alive again with excitement and passion.

Such a handsome top scorer — this was a first in many years!

This year’s exam champion was truly a surprise, shattering their stereotype of top scorers as plain and dull.

Xie Tingyu let go of his wife’s hand, slightly startled by the sudden appearance of strangers in his home.

“Who are these people…?”

Immediately, the reporters turned on their cameras and recorders, thrusting microphones at him excitedly:

“Congratulations, Comrade Xie Tingyu! You’ve achieved the highest score in the province this year, and there are reports you may even be the national top scorer! How do you feel right now?”

“Comrade Xie Tingyu, your total score was 476 points — could you share your study strategy with us?”

“Comrade Xie Tingyu, how do you usually study?”

“Comrade Xie Tingyu, what review materials did you use? Any advice for next year’s examinees?”

Hearing “Comrade Xie Tingyu” over and over, Ye Qingshui’s ears buzzed.

She instinctively shielded her belly and stepped away from the crowd.

In truth, Ye Qingshui had done quite well on the exam too.

Her estimated score was 451.

In her previous life, Xie Tingyu had scored 450 and was already the provincial top scorer — this time, if nothing had changed, she should have been the one in first place.

But this year, he had somehow raised his score by more than 20 points, completely overshadowing her.

The reporters, eager to be the first to interview the champion, naturally ignored the runner-up.

They hadn’t yet realized that the top two science scorers in the entire province were from the same village — and were husband and wife.

Once they figured that out, the news would be explosive.

Seeing his wife keeping her distance, Xie Tingyu coughed lightly and smiled.

“It’s quite late. You all must’ve waited a long time and probably haven’t had dinner yet, right? I’ll answer your questions quickly so you can go back and eat on time.”

No, we’re not hungry — please, don’t worry about us!

The reporters’ curiosity deepened — they wanted to know everything about his student life.

He calmly answered each question one by one:

“I don’t have any special feelings. I never thought I’d be the top scorer.”

“In my experience, persistence is key to studying.”

“Study strategy? I recommend reading Chairman M’s On Practice .”

“I used Zhou Cunren’s Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry Handbook. For next year’s students, I just want to say — ‘Study hard and make progress every day.’”

The camera flashes went off nonstop, almost blinding everyone.

In less than ten minutes, Xie Tingyu had answered everything and, with polite tact, ushered the reporters out.

Mother Ye blamed her son-in-law for being too shy and thin-skinned, saying regretfully,

“What a waste of a good chance to get in the papers. Why did he drive them away so soon?”

Ye Qingshui couldn’t help laughing.

“He was just being considerate — those reporters have had a long day…”

Mother Ye nodded.

“True, driving hungry at night isn’t safe either.”

After dinner, the couple sat down seriously to fill out their university application forms.

Ye Qingshui had originally wanted to study in Yangcheng, since it would have great opportunities for development in the coming decade, thanks to the open-reform policies.

If not for the misunderstanding that had been cleared between her and Xie Tingyu during the New Year, she wouldn’t even have considered universities in the capital.

Was college important?

Yes.

But timing and opportunity were equally important.

However, now that she was pregnant, Ye Qingshui had to postpone her plans for a few years.

She carefully wrote “Physics, B University” as her choice.

Being able to attend B University in this life was already a rare stroke of luck.

Xie Tingyu was delighted. He dreamed of going to university together with his wife and said with enthusiasm:

“Shui’er, this is the top school in the country. There will be many outstanding classmates there. Once we start, we can’t just slack off like before. I’ll start teaching you some university-level material now.”

“If there’s anything you don’t understand, I can tutor you.”

He rummaged through the cabinet, found a new physics book, and sat down beside her.

But Ye Qingshui was already yawning sleepily, rubbing her eyes. After a long day running around the county, she was completely worn out.

When he turned back, excited to begin, he found his wife fast asleep.

…

The reporters, after spending a whole day gathering material, finally had a goldmine of content.

They couldn’t afford to delay publishing — news was all about being new.

So the editorial department began working overnight to write the story.

Before the top scorers were officially announced, they had already drafted headlines such as:

“Tempered Like Jade — Knowledge Youth Achieves Top Science Score in G Province”

“Fragrance of Plum Blossoms from Bitter Cold — The Story of G Province’s Top Scorer”

“From Hardship to Excellence — Inside the Mind of the Science Champion of G Province”

But after reading the actual materials, they were dumbfounded.

The champion who built a biogas pit before the exam and reviewed “simply” was… him?

A young man who scored 478 while spending nights digging in the biogas pit and taking his wife to town?

Hardworking?

The villagers all said, “Never seen him study!”

They’d even worried he wouldn’t get into college at all and planned to recommend him as a worker-peasant-soldier student next year.

Yet, the villagers’ glowing praises and the interview transcripts were so vivid that the editors couldn’t stop reading.

The more they read, the more excited they became — especially when they saw the interview footage.

The camera was a bit blurry, but even so, the top scorer was astonishingly handsome .

They were thrilled — this science champion had personality !

In contrast, the liberal arts top scorer seemed much more ordinary.

The editors who had transferred from the capital stared at his face for a long while, then made a late-night call to a friend.

When he hung up, he slapped his forehead and said excitedly:

“No wonder he looked familiar! His grandmother is the retired Ministry of Education official who wrote that article we published recently. Let me find it…”

He flipped through papers and finally found the article, titled:

“Making Extraordinary Contributions in Ordinary Positions.”

It read:

“Most of us live ordinary lives. But the nation cultivates its youth — their will, their abilities — and every young person has their own goals.

Whether they go to the countryside to aid rural development, work in factories as socialist screws, serve as clerks, teachers, or farmers — all contribute to the country.

My grandson often asks me: ‘What is the meaning of life?’ He is just an ordinary educated youth, but today I want to tell him and all the youth like him:

The motherland thanks you. You are her pride, her hope, her future.

Even in ordinary posts, you are making extraordinary contributions.”

After reading this, the newsroom was deeply moved.

The chief editor picked up his pen and wrote the headline:

“A Model of the New Generation: A Day in the Life of G Province’s Science Top Scorer.”

The Capital.

Even though Grandma Xie had already sent a telegram home, she still couldn’t calm down all day.

A few days ago, her eldest grandson, Xie Tingjue, had been hit by a car — luckily, he reacted quickly, so only his leg was injured.

Still, he had been hospitalized for several days, and Grandma Xie was heartsick.

Even though Tingjue hadn’t grown up by her side, blood is blood — especially since he and Tingyu were twins. Seeing that identical face nearly brought her to tears.

She murmured, “It’s fine if he didn’t get into college — as long as he’s safe.”

After a while, she reasoned that if something serious had happened, her granddaughter-in-law would have sent a telegram. Feeling reassured, she finally managed to sleep.

Two days later, however, rumors spread through the family compound that Xie Tingyu had failed the college entrance exam.

Neighbors with children or relatives who took the exam were all gossiping:

“That Zhou family boy, Zhou Pinghuai, did great — he estimated 430 points. For his first try, that’s impressive. Smart kid.”

Zhou Pinghuai and Xie Tingyu had always been the two brightest boys in the compound.

But after Xie Tingyu went to the countryside — and especially after news spread that he’d married there — people stopped thinking highly of him.

Now that rumors of his failure were out, everyone compared him unfavorably to Zhou Pinghuai.

Zhou Pinghuai, unsurprisingly, applied to B University’s Economics Department.

Everyone praised him endlessly.

But when they spoke of Xie Tingyu, they sighed regretfully — even using him as a negative example to warn the younger generation:

“Marriage should be between equals. Don’t let yourself be ruined by a woman.”

That morning, the new issue of People’s Daily was delivered to every household.

Grandma Xie, after breakfast, picked it up to read casually.

The college exam results were featured prominently — and then she saw her grandson’s familiar face.

The bold headline made her dizzy, almost disbelieving her eyes.

“National College Entrance Exam Champion — Xie Tingyu.”

She read it twice before believing it was real, then chuckled and scolded fondly:

“That rascal… made Grandma worry for nothing!”

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