"And ever since Mianmian started school and ranked first in her class, all the parents in our village have sent their children to school as well."
The villagers spoke as if it were the absolute truth. Listening from the side, Mianmian’s face flushed with heat. If she didn’t have a proper self-awareness, she might have believed them herself.
The people of Stone Bridge Village had a strong sense of collective honor. They knew that the reporter’s visit would be documented in the newspaper, so of course, they wouldn’t hold back at such a time.
And some of it was indeed true; initially, it was because of Jiang Mianmian alone that the entire village, even the whole commune, had adopted a culture of learning.
No matter what the parents’ initial intentions were, the fact was that in these past few years, there were many more students enrolled in the commune than in previous years.
Reporter Zhao took down the villagers’ words earnestly, believing that these simple and kind villagers couldn’t possibly be lying.
Moreover, their visit today was unexpected, and the villagers had no prior knowledge, so they couldn’t have conspired in advance.
Thus, they never suspected that the villagers would collectively lie, firmly believing that Mianmian was an exemplary student who excelled in morals, intelligence, physique, aesthetics, and labor.
The whole village was jubilant because of the reporters’ visit, except for Zhaodi, who was full of anger.
But now that Mianmian knew her own details, she could no longer pretend to be naive and use "childish talk" to expose their lies as she had in the past.
She glanced at Zhang Guihua, who was laughing heartily among the crowd, wanting to rush forward in front of the reporters and accuse the old couple of their preference for sons over daughters, abuse, making them do hard labor, and not providing enough food.
But as she touched her face, she reluctantly suppressed the thought.
Because over the past year, after Jiang Changhai had come into some money, he often brought meat home to improve the family’s meals.
Now, the girls did not look as pale and thin as before; Zhaodi’s face even had become plump.
Even if she ran out now to speak up, no one would believe her.
Look, he deliberately bought things to fatten them up, so that when the villagers saw, they would think he was caring and generous, having prospered but not forgetting his parents and siblings at home, truly a calculating and hypocritical person.
The two reporters, feeling that they had gathered enough material from the village, tucked away their notebooks.
"Brother Jiang, might we have a look inside the house?" Reporter Zhao asked.
"Of course, please come in," Jiang Changhai said enthusiastically.
Upon entering the room they used to live in, they saw the walls covered with newspapers, which Jiang Changhai had mentioned were used to teach Mianmian to read.
They also took photos of all the newspapers on the walls.
"Jiang Mianmian, come stand here, let the photographer take a picture of you," Reporter Zhao pointed to the wall covered with newspapers.
Mianmian thought that if pictures were being taken, the whole family should be included. She asked, "Uncle Zhao, may I take a photo with my parents?"
"Of course you can," Reporter Zhao, hearing Mianmian’s request, felt she really was filial, never forgetting her parents in anything she did.
"Mom and Dad, come here quickly, let’s take a photo together," Mianmian called out.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Guihua walked over from the crowd of villagers, rubbing her hands and saying, "My good granddaughter, include granny in the photo too. Granny hasn’t taken a photo before, and neither has your grandpa."
"San Ya, bring Third Aunt along too, she’s skinny and won’t take up much space," Sun Lixia shamelessly moved closer.
This was a rare opportunity to appear in the newspaper, and they couldn’t let it pass.