Chapter 74: Midterm Exams
Chapter 74: Midterm Exams
After lunch at home, Deng Yunheng set off with the living expenses his father had given him, riding his bicycle back to school with his sister.
Deng Shirong noticed that the open space in front of their house was still piled with a significant number of large stones. These stones had been transported from the stone mountain by the village's young and strong men. When they were laying the foundation for their new house, they hadn't used all the stones, leaving about a quarter of them remaining.
Seeing this pile of stones, Deng Shirong's desire to build a river embankment grew even stronger.
The Deng family's homestead was roughly two acres in size. The new house was built in an inverted 7-shape, with the long side facing the front of the homestead and the short side along the small river on the left. Directly in front of the new house stood the old mud-brick house.
To the left front of the mud-brick house, by the small river, stood a longan tree that was over thirty years old.
The rest of the area was an open space, stretching all the way to the village road at the entrance.
After building the new house, Deng Shirong had an idea: to construct a river embankment along the left side of the house, about twenty centimeters above the ground, with reserved holes for a beautiful wooden railing.
On the right side, he planned to build a wall around their homestead, with the foundation at the same height as the river embankment. He would also add a beautiful wooden railing on top, leaving a few meters wide "gate" at the front by the road. He would place two stone lions at the entrance to guard the home, making it perfect.
Once they moved into the new house, he would demolish the old mud-brick house, level the ground, and lay cement. He would then plant a few fruit trees along the river embankment and the right wall, and ideally, build a pavilion under the old longan tree.
When all of this was done, the overall quality of their home would be significantly improved.
However, one must take things step by step. Currently, their orchard was in full swing, and the furniture was being crafted. There was no one available to help with transporting the stones and building the embankment.
After all, by the end of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, the production team would start harvesting rice. Although this year's land allocation had delayed things, it wouldn't be long before the entire village began the rush to harvest the rice. So, hiring help now wouldn't be timely.
Deng Shirong decided to put this idea on hold and wait for a more suitable time to implement it.
...
At the end of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, on the day of the Winter Solstice, the midterm exams at Na Ye School arrived as scheduled.
During this period, thanks to the financial incentives provided by Deng Shirong, both his second son, who was in high school, and his other children, Deng Yunsong (middle school) and Deng Yunhua and Deng Yunheng (elementary school), had been studying much harder than before.
Whether their grades had improved, whether their average scores could reach above ninety, and whether they would receive the promised rewards from their father would soon be revealed.
At 4:42 PM, Deng Yunhua walked out of the classroom with a worried expression. In the Chinese exam that had just ended, he had struggled with a few high-scoring questions. Even if he got all the other questions right, his Chinese score would likely not exceed eighty-two.
If he made mistakes on other questions, he might not even reach eighty.
Even if his math score was better, it would be impossible for his average score to reach ninety.
Thinking about this, Deng Yunhua felt a mix of frustration and helplessness. This meant he wouldn't be getting the reward his father had promised!
Seeing Deng Yunhua's dejected face, Deng Yunheng approached and asked, "Fourth Brother, how did your Chinese exam go?"
Deng Yunhua sighed painfully, "No hope. I definitely won't get the reward. How about you, Little Heng?"
Deng Yunheng replied with a smile, "I did pretty well. I only missed three questions, and I finished the rest. If everything goes as expected, my score shouldn't be lower than ninety."
Deng Yunhua’s heart ached even more when he heard this. He knew his little brother had done well in math, estimating that he wouldn’t score below ninety points. Now, with his Chinese score also not below ninety, it seemed likely that his little brother would receive their father’s reward.
Thinking about this, Deng Yunhua hooked his arm around his little brother’s shoulder, flashing a particularly friendly smile. "Xiaoheng, what do you think of your Fourth Brother?"
Deng Yunheng blinked and replied, "Fourth Brother is very good to me. Last semester, when a classmate tried to bully me, you even helped me beat him up."
Deng Yunhua smiled warmly. "This time, I didn’t do well on the exam. If you get Dad’s reward, we can spend it together, okay?"
Deng Yunheng was no fool. He shook his head vigorously. "That’s not right. This reward is from my own hard work. I want to save it and spend it myself."
Deng Yunhua frowned. "Xiaoheng, am I still your good Fourth Brother?"
Deng Yunheng replied, "You are my good Fourth Brother, but this is my money, and I want to keep it for myself."
Deng Yunhua felt drained. His little brother was growing up and becoming harder to deceive. He gritted his teeth. "Xiaoheng, tell me, what conditions do you want to agree to share your reward with me?"
Deng Yunheng chuckled. "Fourth Brother, I really like that slingshot of yours..."
Deng Yunhua agreed readily. "Fine, from now on, that slingshot is yours!"
Deng Yunheng beamed. "Great, Fourth Brother! It’s a deal. Once I get the reward, we’ll spend it together!"
At that moment, the two brothers reached an agreement at school.
...
Mid-term and final exams were the standards for evaluating their sons’ performance, and Deng Shirong naturally took them very seriously.
After dinner, Deng Shirong called his three sons to him and asked, "The mid-term exams for elementary school are over, and some of the junior high exams are done. How did the three of you do?"
The three brothers looked at each other, and finally, Deng Yunheng stepped forward to answer. "Dad, I think I’ve improved. My average score for both subjects should be over ninety."
Deng Shirong wasn’t surprised. After all, his youngest son was only in second grade, and the material was still relatively simple. It was normal for him to score high. He nodded. "That’s good. If your average score is over ninety, I’ll keep my promise. Let’s see if you can do even better."
Then, Deng Shirong’s gaze shifted to his third and fourth sons. "What about you two? How did you do?"
Deng Yunsong hesitated before speaking. "Dad, since starting junior high, there’s been a lot more coursework. Although I’ve been working hard, it’s quite challenging to get an average score of ninety. I don’t think I’ll make it this mid-term, but I’ll try to improve for the finals."
Deng Shirong nodded. "Alright, just keep working hard. I believe you can do it."
In his previous life, among his five sons, only the third son, Deng Yunsong, had managed to get into a technical secondary school.
In those days, the value of a technical secondary school diploma was far greater than it would be in the future. Getting into one meant securing a stable job, so in his previous life, only the third son had entered the public sector and achieved significant success, retiring with the rank of a department head.
Therefore, Deng Shirong wasn’t too worried about his third son’s studies. Even without the monetary reward as motivation, following the path of his previous life, the third son would still get into a technical secondary school.
(End of Chapter)
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