Tian Jing no longer paid attention to the arrival of Lin Er's family; she was solely focused on the nursery's affairs.
Li Mu diligently stewed soup for her youngest son. No matter how late Li Zhengguo returned, a bowl of hot soup, along with the two women, would be waiting for him.
While drinking the soup, Li Zhengguo asked the two ladies accompanying him, "The weekend in the next two days is the position assessment. Do you hope I pass or fail?"
Li Mu glared at her son. "If you want to lose great face, score zero. If you want to lose a little face, aim for just passing. If you don't want to lose face, score eighty or above."
Tian Jing glanced at her husband. "The position assessment was your idea. If you fail yourself, it's not your face or ours that will be lost, but County Magistrate Ji's face."
"Heh heh," Li Zhengguo chuckled. "I was just trying to lighten the mood with a joke. Actually, I'm quite nervous. I haven't taken a test in decades, and suddenly having to take one has given me test anxiety."
"Who is the proctor?" Tian Jing believed that for fairness and impartiality, her husband wouldn't be proctoring himself.
"Heh heh." Li Zhengguo grinned sheepishly. "County Magistrate Ji has sent everyone from the General Education Division and the Adult Education Division of the County Education Bureau to jointly proctor."
"They also said that after the assessment, work efficiency is expected to increase, and civil servants in other units will also undergo position assessments annually."
"I've been pushed into the spotlight by him again."
"You deserve it!" Tian Jing chided him. "Is this how a new official makes a splash?"
Li Zhengguo lowered his head and drank his soup. "I don't want to retire due to illness like the previous incumbent."
Tian Jing glanced at the top of her husband's head. With the purified essence of plants and herbs she provided, how could he possibly fall ill? The only thing inevitable was human aging.
The next morning, as soon as Li Zhengguo stepped out, he was surrounded by a group of tourists.
"Town Chief Li, we heard you're participating in the position assessment today. Are you nervous?"
"Yes, Town Chief Li, you proposed the position assessment. Do you think you can pass?"
Li Zhengguo waved his hand. "Your questions sound less like tourists and more like reporters."
"You're blocking my path. A late arrival gets zero points. I genuinely wish to resign from my post, but I don't want to retire with a score of zero. Please, let me pass."
The tourists were taken aback and quickly made way. They then turned to find the person who had instigated them to surround Town Chief Li, but they couldn't find them.
Li Zhengguo waved goodbye to the tourists. "Thank you. You're here to travel, so please enjoy your trip."
"These trivial matters, hearsay, take them as entertainment. Don't get involved, lest you become someone else's entertainment."
Watching Li Zhengguo's rapidly receding back, the tourists found themselves somewhere between laughter and tears. Well, they supposed they should focus on their sightseeing.
...
In the evening, Li Zhengguo returned and told the two ladies waiting for him, "I didn't embarrass you. I passed with ninety points."
Li Mu opened the lid of a soup bowl on the table. "This is your reward."
Li Zhengguo glanced at the soup bowl. It was just plain crucian carp soup. Was this considered a reward? He looked at the other soup bowl. "What's in that bowl?"
Li Mu looked at her son and opened the lid of the other soup bowl. "Plain boiled water."
Li Zhengguo was speechless.
"Hahaha." Tian Jing burst into laughter. "Mom said if you didn't pass, she'd give you plain boiled water. If you refused to drink it, she'd pour it over your head to wake you up."
Li Zhengguo was speechless. So, that bowl was meant to be splashed on him?
After the position assessment, Li Zhengguo's routine became more regular. He went to work punctually every day and occasionally stayed a little late. He no longer came home as late as eight or nine o'clock as before.
...
In the blink of an eye, winter arrived again. The tourist season in Kushan concluded, and the dividends distributed to each household were more than twenty thousand yuan less than the previous year. The villagers were confused. Their business had been better today than last year, so why were the dividends lower? The village committee's explanation was:
The former village head never allocated taxes to each household, stating that villagers had to pay income tax and also deduct business tax, resulting in significant losses. In the past, the business tax was entirely borne by the village committee. The current village head, however, believed that since business tax was calculated based on the total operating revenue, each household participating in the dividend distribution must jointly bear this tax burden. Therefore, this year's dividends were a percentage after deducting the business tax. Each household's dividend was the amount after deducting twenty percent of the personal income tax. Over twenty thousand yuan per household, for sixty-eight households, amounted to over a million yuan. Coupled with the taxes from the previous three years, it was at least two million in taxes. They had, in fact, been enjoying benefits that Town Chief Li never openly mentioned.
The more grateful they felt towards Town Chief Li, the more they disliked Lin Wan. When Lin Wan was finally able to move around, she was met with disdainful glances, even from her formerly close friends. Lin Wan felt utterly alone in the world.
...
In December, Lin Hua'er gave birth to a baby boy. After meticulously attending to her confinement, Li Min packed up and returned home. She was exhausted and left her eldest son to fend for himself. It was already past Laba Festival, and she hadn't even prepared the New Year's goods yet...
During the winter break, Li Weili called again to say she wasn't coming home; they were interning at the company. Li Mu sighed, "Once they're out, they forget to fly back home." She only grumbled; the family wasn't short of money. But if her granddaughter wanted to take over the company and wasn't willing to see it collapse, she couldn't dampen her granddaughter's enthusiasm. She called her three grandsons, but none of them had time to return for the New Year.
Seeing her mother-in-law's lonely expression, Tian Jing invited her elder brother-in-law and sister-in-law to celebrate the New Year, and of course, the Yuan Man family was included. Upon hearing this, Li Min thought it was perfect timing. The New Year goods she had just purchased needed processing, so she brought them to the courtyard house to prepare them.
With something to do and her children around her, plus a great-grandson, Li Mu's mood improved. While coaxing the tiny Chen Jiqing, Ouyang Meihua envied Li Min for being a grandmother so early. She longed to hold her own grandchild and had no idea when that would happen.
Li Min glanced disdainfully at her grandson and said to her sister-in-law, "Wait until you've helped your daughter-in-law through her confinement before you say that to me. Doesn't everyone think other people's babies grow fast?"
Li Mu directly threw a bunch of green garlic at her. "Why are you looking at my great-grandson from the corner of your eye?"
Li Min dodged the green garlic. "Mom, you just called him your great-grandson. You love him, so you hit me?"
Ouyang Meihua nudged Li Min. "What's gotten into you?"
Li Min peeled the green garlic with dissatisfaction. "Not only does he look exactly like his mother, but he's even more like Fang Qiuhong than she is. He annoys me just looking at him."
"Don't talk nonsense!" Ouyang Meihua chided her softly. "You become like the people whose food you eat. He'll change as he grows older. Don't say things that will hurt the child's feelings."
Li Min slanted another look at the swaddled infant. "Will he really change?"
"At least he won't look exactly like Fang Qiuhong," Ouyang Meihua said, then looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms. "I don't see where he resembles Fang Qiuhong at all. His eyebrows and chin clearly resemble Xiao Fu's."
"Let me see again." Li Min leaned forward and peered at the baby. "His eyebrows do resemble Xiao Fu's."
Ouyang Meihua was exasperated. "You took care of him for a month and didn't even notice?"
Li Min shook her head. "I spent this month taking care of Hua'er. Xiao Fu took care of his son. I just helped with some washing."
"Xiao Fu always says Jiqing looks like Hua'er, but I can't help but think he resembles Fang Qiuhong. Apart from when I'm washing him, I don't really want to look at him much otherwise."
Li Mu felt her hands itching again.