There were crooked merchants in every era (something came up tonight, so just one chapter)

Li Juan attended middle school, where the parent meeting was held early, while Li Qiang attended primary school, where it was held later. After picking up Liang Yuemei and Li Juan, Li Long drove the Jeep to the primary school and had Liang Yuemei attend its parent meeting.

To Li Long's surprise, Li Qiang had also received a certificate: outstanding Young Pioneer.

But when Liang Yuemei came out with Li Qiang, he did not look very happy.

Li Long handed him the candied hawthorn skewer he had bought beforehand and asked why he was unhappy, but Li Qiang said nothing.

"He didn't get the outstanding student award, so he's upset," Liang Yuemei explained. "Outstanding Young Pioneer is good too. Getting a certificate at all is something. Only two or three kids in your class got one."

"But an outstanding student certificate would be so nice..." Li Qiang explained as he munched on his candied hawthorns, his mood visibly improving.

"That depends on whether you can earn it," Liang Yuemei said, sitting in the car. "Your teacher said you were careless on your final exams. Otherwise, you might have gotten it."

They called it the "outstanding student" award, but at the time, it was mainly about grades. Once a student ranked at the top academically, the certificate was practically guaranteed.

Li Long knew Li Qiang had a problem with his studies: the harder the exam questions were, the higher he scored, because difficult questions made him take them seriously.

The easier the questions, the more mistakes he made. He got careless when they were easy. That was why Liang Yuemei said that whenever Li Qiang came home after an exam saying the questions had been too easy, they were in trouble. He definitely would not come first.

"It's fine. What grade