Chapter 609: Passing the Assessment

The onlookers among the commune members erupted into another round of clamor.

"It still needs approval from the leaders above. What if the leaders don't agree?"

"Your worry is useless. Factory Director Lu doesn't just say things casually; as long as she says it, she can definitely get it done."

"Factory Director Lu, is there a standard for what constitutes a family in difficulty?"

Lu Qiao smiled and said, "There is definitely a standard. Once the documents regarding this are issued to the commune, you will all know."

The crowd broke into another round of discussion.

However, there were those with loose tongues who loved to watch the chaos: "Lin Gang's wife, there are so many people meddling in other people's business today, why don't you just send those two children to the homes of those who are meddling?"

Lin Gang's wife's face flushed red instantly, and she glared fiercely at the man who said this.

Lu Qiao interrupted these people in time.

Blindly mocking them wouldn't help the two children at all. Instead, it would only make Lin Gang's wife vent her anger on them.

Moreover, even Lu Qiao didn't have any particularly good solution for a situation like this.

Whether morally or legally, the children had parents.

Even if the mother was a stepmother, the father was their biological father, and they were all on the same household registration.

If one insisted on taking the two children away from this family, there were only two outcomes: either someone adopted them, or they went to an orphanage.

But there were regulations for orphanages accepting children; it was impossible for them to be taken in.

As for adoption, it was not as simple as one might imagine.

Therefore, Lu Qiao said in a gentle voice to Commune President Yu and the old principal, "I will file a report with the relevant departments as soon as I return. I believe it will be approved quickly, and the expenses will be covered by the Xiang Yang Food Factory..."

Then Lu Qiao looked at Lin Gang's wife and said with a smile, "Cao Zhaozhao, who always scores first, will soon be joining the army. Then Lin Xiaonan, who has always scored second, will move up to first place. The bonus standard will be based on the midterm and final exams. If he can maintain a top-five ranking, he will always be eligible for a bonus."

These words were already clearly telling Lin Gang's wife to treat the high-achieving Lin Xiaonan well, because he would earn bonuses for the family.

Lin Xiaonan was ten years old this year; he started first grade at eight, so he should be entering third grade this autumn.

People in the rural areas here liked to calculate age based on the lunar calendar.

According to the current regulation that elementary school ends in fifth grade, he still has three years left in elementary school.

Since it was advocated by Factory Director Lu, the bonus wouldn't be small. Such a young child could not only help with chores at home but also earn money for the family.

If he could persist until high school graduation, not only would schooling cost nothing, but he would actually be earning money for the family.

And then, after graduating from high school, he could take the recruitment exam.

Some high school graduates in the commune could become workers directly.

Thinking about it this way, as long as the child had excellent grades, it was like raising a golden doll.

It was a pity that she didn't know how much the bonus was, but the fact that all miscellaneous fees were waived made everyone very envious.

Lin Gang's wife's face didn't look very good. She also wanted to do as she had before—send the children to whoever meddled in her business—but she couldn't bring herself to say it now.

She knew Lin Xiaonan studied well.

If he could earn bonuses for the family, whoever she sent him to would be happy to take him.

The key was, who dared she send the child to now?

Lin Gang's wife glanced at the stern-looking Commune President Yu, and beside him were Officer Li and a security officer.

They were all looking at her with warning gazes.

Then she looked at the director of the Xiang Yang Food Factory, Lu Qiao.

She immediately met the other party's clear, bright eyes.

For some reason, Lin Gang's wife's heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly looked away.

Seeing that Lin Gang's wife had stopped making noise, Commune President Yu finally expressed his satisfaction.

He couldn't be bothered to deal with the Cao family's affairs; in any case, he would take the entire family of five of Cao Zhaozhao with him when he left.

As for the rest of the old Cao family, they could fight, make a scene, or argue as much as they wanted; he didn't care.

Thus, the group left Qinggang Village.

The brigade leader and the women's director stood at the village entrance, sighing in relief in unison.

The old principal also happily followed them to the commune, because the Xiang Yang Food Factory was going to donate school supplies to this small school.

Lu Qiao acted very quickly.

This was the benefit of the factory having money. When she filed the report to the higher-ups stating that this bonus would be covered by the food factory, they approved it very quickly.

The food factory's office formulated a reward standard and issued it; the various communes then reported the lists, and after the Xiang Yang Street Office reviewed and approved them, they were submitted to the food factory's finance department...

Currently, there were only three surrounding communes, naturally including the Manshan Commune, which had frequent interactions.

It could also be considered a pilot project.

But because of this, the commune members of these communes all knew about the instant noodle factory and also knew about Factory Director Lu.

And then, children who studied hard and had excellent grades received special care at home.

Just like Lin Xiaonan, even though he would still be scolded every day and even beaten by Lin Gang's wife when she was in a bad mood, this was still much better than his life before.

At the very least, he could eat his fill and go to school with his sister.

The little guy not only worked hard himself every day but also had to tutor his sister, striving to win the bonus together with her.

The old principal was full of energy.

Lu Qiao said she would use his school as a pilot project.

And it was also because of his responsibility that these children who loved to read and had excellent grades could return to school.

Although Lu Qiao didn't say it explicitly, the old principal and Teacher Yin felt that Lu Qiao would definitely be able to secure two public teacher quotas for them.

If that were really the case, the two of them felt their lives would be complete.

Therefore, the two of them devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the children in the school, regardless of whether their grades were good or bad.

The brigade leader of Qinggang Village held another general meeting after these cadres left, and the brigade leader flew into a rage at the meeting.

It was often said that a local official is better than a distant one.

Most of the commune members were still very much in awe of the brigade leader.

The brigade leader warned the commune members that whoever prevented their children from going to school because of raising ducks or geese like before would be kicked out of Qinggang Village.

He didn't want Qinggang Village to be criticized as a negative example.

Then Cao Zhaozhao successfully passed the assessment.

The military leaders were simply overjoyed.

This child's talent was truly too good.

Even in their unit, she was a top-tier existence.

The mental arithmetic unit, the local garrison leaders, and the head of the county armed forces department conducted a joint assessment.

Wu Dani and Cao Laoer, along with their two daughters, waited anxiously in the office next door.

Because this lineup was truly too intimidating.

The Satellite Commune consisted of single-story houses, but there were also more than twenty offices.

Usually, people coming in and out made it very noisy and clamorous, but today the whole building was exceptionally quiet.

And Wu Dani and Cao Laoer finally realized that what they had experienced over the past few days was not a dream.

After the assessment was passed, the leaders had a talk with the child's parents.

Their attitudes were very gentle, praising the other party for cultivating a pillar of talent for the country.

They also told the couple to rest assured and hand the child over to the military; from now on, the military would be her second home.

They could also communicate normally.

The child would also have home leave.

And then there were subsidies.

Finally, what was involved was work.

This was a new regulation for this year; it had to be said that Cao Laoer and Wu Dani could be considered lucky. ===== CHAPTER 610 =====