Once the matter of the village primary school’s new teacher recruitment had been settled, Deputy Secretary An said he had other matters to attend to and promptly left.
As quickly as he had come, he was gone, but news of the incident spread throughout the surrounding villages.
Those who had previously been pulling strings behind the scenes and making rounds of “visiting relatives” and seeking favors no longer dared to show themselves openly.
Although everyone still worked as usual, discussing the affair had become the favorite topic after meals and during breaks.
After the examination, Lin Baiyu continued living as she always had, and she exchanged more gossip for melon-eating points. She now had fifteen melon-eating points.
She had already learned the full story from Grandpa Lin, Grandma Lin, and Lin Wenhu.
Principal Wang was an upright man, and his experiences during those turbulent years had made him exceptionally cautious. At his age, he certainly would not ruin his reputation for something like this.
Officially, the team leaders of several villages maintained the same explanation, claiming that one of the exam papers had been lost during transportation, since several spare copies had been prepared, and that someone with ulterior motives had picked it up and leaked the answers.
However, only a small number of people believed that explanation. Most understood that the team leaders were probably involved to some degree.
After all, the villagers were connected through marriages spanning generations, and since no major disaster had resulted from the affair, everyone simply let it pass. It was nothing more than “when everyone is guilty, no one is punished.”
Whether people believed it or not, the matter had officially come to an end.
Those were the things everyone knew, but according to information Grandpa Lin had somehow obtained, the commune had already decided that those who had cheated would not receive any promotions or recommendations for advancement for the next three years.
When that news spread, needless to say, the offenders were filled with regret, while everyone else felt that justice had finally been served.
At the Educated Youths’ residence of Team Two in Lin’an Village, the topic naturally came up again during dinner.
Now that everything had been decided, everyone’s mood had calmed considerably. Whenever they saw Xie Qingyuan, they would congratulate him.
Everyone except Xu Guangyao.
Living in the same room, Xu Guangyao tried his best to hide his emotions, but Xie Qingyuan knew that he was deeply jealous.
Ever since childhood, Xie Qingyuan had been particularly sensitive to other people’s emotions. From the day the results were announced, he had clearly noticed the change in Xu Guangyao’s attitude.
On the surface, Xu Guangyao congratulated him, but his strange tone and the envy he could not suppress in his eyes exposed his true feelings.
Xie Qingyuan did not care much about Xu Guangyao’s little schemes, but constantly being watched made him uncomfortable. He hated trouble.
Otherwise, he would never have written to Secretary Li of Donglin Commune, to which Lin’an Village belonged, who had once been a subordinate of his uncle. He had informed Secretary Li of the possibility that the examination questions might have been leaked.
After all, since he had passed in one attempt, he had no interest in wasting time dealing with unnecessary complications or having to sit the examination again.
Besides, Xie Qingyuan thought of another matter that had occurred on the day of the exam.
Raising his head, he glanced at Zheng Peizhen, who was eating quietly, and Gao Lanying, who seemed absentminded.
He had a feeling that the Educated Youths’ residence was far from peaceful and that more trouble was on the horizon. It would probably be better to find a way to move out.
Among everyone involved in the affair, the calmest people were probably Xie Qingyuan and Lin Baiyu.
One knew the whole truth, while the other had complete confidence in her own abilities. Neither of them imagined that they would soon cross paths once again.
That day, while Lin Baiyu was cherishing her remaining time studying under Doctor Lin, Lin Wenhu came running over to tell her that there was some excitement to watch and that she would definitely be interested.
She asked him briefly about it, but Lin Wenhu could not explain it clearly.
However, during this period, he had become quite familiar with Lin Baiyu and knew well how much she loved watching lively spectacles.
Seeing that something major seemed to have happened at the Educated Youths’ residence, he immediately came to inform her.
Trouble at the Educated Youths’ residence?
Lin Baiyu recalled the matter of the teacher examination. After it ended, she had asked the system about the progress, only to learn that the task completion rate stood at fifty percent and energy collection at sixty-five percent.
The remaining fifty percent was probably related to this commotion.
With a rough guess in mind, and since she had no work left to do, Lin Baiyu went with Lin Wenhu to enjoy some gossip.
Along the way, Lin Wenhu told her what he knew.
“I heard it’s those newly arrived educated youths from our team causing trouble again,” Lin Wenhu said. “They’ve only been here for a month, and look how many problems they’ve already caused. They really don’t give anyone any peace.”
Seeing his exaggerated look of worry, Lin Baiyu burst into laughter.
“You’re still so young, yet you’re worrying like a little old man,” she teased.
Embarrassed, Lin Wenhu scratched the back of his head.
“I heard it’s pretty serious this time,” he continued. “They’ve even gone to call Team Leader Lin.”
“They’ve called the team leader?” Lin Baiyu pondered for a moment. “Then it definitely isn’t a small matter. Let’s hurry, we can’t miss the show.”
The two immediately quickened their pace toward the Educated Youths’ residence.
By the time they arrived, Team Leader Lin had just gotten there as well.
Quite a few villagers had already gathered outside to watch, and Lin Baiyu and Lin Wenhu blended into the crowd unnoticed.
Team Leader Lin frowned deeply as he looked at the group of educated youths.
“How many incidents have happened in your residence in just one month?” he demanded. “Are you people ever going to stop?”
Suppressing his anger, he called over Sister Ma, the leader of the Team Two Educated Youths’ group, and asked her to explain exactly what had happened.
Sister Ma herself was extremely displeased, so she concealed nothing and recounted the entire sequence of events.
Lin Baiyu listened attentively, trying to reconstruct what had happened. She had a feeling that this incident was connected to the remaining fifty percent of her task.
According to Sister Ma, after the examination ended, everything at the Educated Youths’ residence had remained peaceful, and she had been in a particularly good mood lately.
The main reason was that Zheng Peizhen and Gao Lanying had become much quieter. Without their constant quarrels, the residence had regained its former tranquility.
She could tell that Zheng Peizhen had been greatly affected by the examination and simply no longer had the energy to argue with Gao Lanying, which, no matter how one looked at it, was a good thing.
As for Gao Lanying, Sister Ma could not understand her behavior.
Still, seeing how low-key she had been lately and how she no longer deliberately provoked Zheng Peizhen, Sister Ma did not think much of it.
Although she found it strange that Gao Lanying always avoided Zheng Peizhen’s gaze and seemed somewhat uneasy around her, she had assumed that after losing so many arguments and gaining no advantage over Zheng Peizhen, Gao Lanying had simply become intimidated.
But after today’s incident, Sister Ma finally realized that it was not fear at all.
It was guilt.
After glancing at the furious Zheng Peizhen, the sobbing Gao Lanying with her head lowered, and the other educated youths wearing complicated expressions, Sister Ma let out a sigh.
Then she began telling everyone what had happened.