Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 173

The situation in each class was basically the same. After each exam, the students had a period of relaxation. What the teachers had to do was to mobilize the students’ enthusiasm for learning again.

The two key classes were no exception.

The class teacher of Class 1 saw the students in his class relaxing and stood on the podium. “You can still smile, you can still laugh.” He pointed at Zhang Wenxue and other top students in the grades. “Have you all forgotten? How did you get into No. 1 High School? Do you not want a first-class scholarship?”

Zhang Wenxue and others were stunned.

They were all directly approached by the admissions teacher of No. 1 High School, who said that if they were willing to study at No. 1 High School, they would not only get free tuition but also receive a reward of 1,000 yuan.

Many families would get less than that a year.

After that, scholarships would be awarded every year based on their performance. A first-class scholarship was worth 500 yuan, a second-class scholarship was worth 300 yuan, and a third-class scholarship was worth 100 yuan.

One hundred yuan was the monthly salary of many factory workers.

They were all attracted by the bonuses and scholarships offered by No. 1 High School. The scholarships for the first in their grade and the scholarships for the top ten in their grade were of different amounts.

Previously, the competition for the top spot in grade was only between Zhang Wenxue and Cheng Yufeng, plus at most a few others including Xing Hongyu and Yao Wenjuan from Class 2.

Jiang Ning suddenly landed on their heads, which immediately put them under great pressure.

Fortunately, Zhang Wenxue was a boy. He had good grades and his family attached great importance to his studies, so there was no pressure to drop out of school. But Cheng Yufeng didn’t.

Cheng Yufeng graduated from junior high school, and her family wanted to find a way for her to work.

If the admissions teacher of No. 1 High School hadn’t found her home and told them she was exempted from tuition fees and given a scholarship, it would have been difficult for her to go to high school.

It was not difficult for girls in rural areas to study, but it was difficult for girls in rural areas to study after junior school.

In the nine years of compulsory education before junior school, the tuition was not high, and families who loved their daughters a little were willing to let their daughters read some books and recognize a few words. But in high school, not to mention girls, it was common for boys to go to work and get married around the age of twenty. Men and women who were not married after twenty-three or four could be considered older, and those who were not married after twenty-five had their parents worrying about whether they would be a bachelor for the rest of their lives. People would also think that there was something maybe wrong with them.

The same went for girls. They could get engaged when they were seventeen or eighteen years old. Cheng Yufeng was already eighteen years old.

In their place, people were not considered to be one year old; they were all considered to be older in vain.

Many girls her age in her village got engaged early and only waited for two years to get married. Some of them got married early and had children by the age of eighteen.

Cheng Yufeng didn’t want to get married. She wanted to go to college, for which she needed a scholarship.

The scholarship was like a carrot hanging in front of everyone. Everyone stretched their necks and kept trying to reach the carrot. The teachers were behind them with small whips and whipped them hard, and they ran as hard as they could.

As Jiang Bai ran, he found to his confusion that his ranking in the class had improved again. If he continued to improve, he would be among the top three in the class.

It had been a long time since he had entered that ranking. Being so close to the top three in the class, he actually felt like he was in another world.

He thought that he didn’t care about his grades and only wanted to work after graduation.

But after he actually got the rank, he realized that he cared. It turned out that he was just pretending not to care.

Then he couldn’t help but become nervous. To maintain his grades, he must be among the top three in the class next time.

If he got first place in the class and maintained it, it wouldn’t be considered a step back.

Thinking that his sister would be able to see his ranking in each exam on the final exam list, Jiang Bai suddenly tensed up. He feared that if his ranking dropped at any time and his sister saw it, he would not be allowed to sell clothes in her store, so he decided to study harder.

He had to stay in Jiang Ning’s store to sell clothes except for one day on weekends.

The rest of the time was all used by him to study. The hard work in studying made Tong Jingang, who had been thinking about playing all day, become involved.

Tong Jingang was admitted to No. 1 High School, and his previous grades were naturally not bad. The reason why he was at the bottom of Class 8 was that he didn’t work hard enough, and most of his thoughts were on playing and having fun.

“Hehua, what’s wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?” Ruan Hong obviously noticed that Jiang Hehua was a little distracted.

Since the joint examination, Jiang Hehua’s mind had been filled with the name that weighed on Song Peifeng. She had been wondering if it was Jiang Ning she knew. She wished she could go home immediately and go to Jiang Ning’s house to find out.

That made it impossible for her to study, and her mind wandered during class.

The pace of classes in Wuzhong was already fast, and the pace of key classes was even faster. Jiang Hehua was just distracted. When she came back to her senses, she couldn’t understand what the teacher had just said, and she had to learn it all over again. It made her feel very tired.

She was not a person who kept herself entangled. If she wanted to know, she would ask.

The management of their school was stricter than that of No. 1 High School. Students were not allowed to go out at all on weekdays. Even on weekends, they were still under supervision. Where they went, how long they stayed, and when they came back, they had to sign in and out. When she arrived at the entrance of No. 1 High School, she found that she couldn’t get in.

The guard of No. 1 High School was like a pair of fiery eyes. He could tell at a glance that she was not a student of No. 1 High School.

The guard said, “I saw you walking out of the gate of Wuzhong. Don’t think that my eyesight is blurred because I am old. My eyesight is fine.”

Jiang Hehua took two steps back to take a look at him. She originally wanted the guard to call Jiang Ning out for her, but after thinking about it, she went back. 

“Winter vacation is coming soon. When I go back and see Jiang Ning, I will ask her.”