Chapter 45: Winning the Top Scholar Title, Collecting the Prize Money, and Appearing in the Provincial Newspaper

"Leaders from both the county and the city will be coming over today to distribute various bonuses to you all. Furthermore, a reporter from the provincial newspaper specifically requested an interview with the top scorer."

Inside a silver Hyundai, Principal Sun Hai sat in the back row, his face beaming as he spoke to Xu Ming beside him.

Last night, he and several head teachers had stayed in the office, guarding the computer just to check the scores the very first moment they were released. When they saw Xu Ming's score and ranking, the heavy stone in their hearts finally dropped, confirming that their school had produced the top science scorer in the province.

Upon receiving the call from the city early this morning, he didn't even have time to eat breakfast before coming to Xu Ming's home to extend his congratulations.

Without a pause, he continued and added, "Oh, and by the way, there is a local businessman from our county this time who wants to reward you all. He also chipped in for the bonus pool."

"Principal Sun has made quite a few trips on account of this matter," the Director of Studies, who was driving up front, smiled and chimed in.

Hearing this, Xu Ming's eyes instantly lit up. He quickly spoke up, "Thank you, Principal."

Chen Lu, sitting nearby, echoed his words and expressed her gratitude. Given her family's financial situation, they truly needed this bonus to pay off their external debts.

"This is nothing less than what you deserve," Sun Hai waved his hand and said. "Our school has produced a top scorer with such a high total score, breaking the provincial record for science scores. Even Dongping No. 1 High School has become famous because of it; otherwise, how could we attract journalists here?"

He made no effort to conceal his current elation.

Soon, as this topic came to a close, Wang Qingtao, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned his head to look at Xu Ming and Chen Lu.

"I honestly didn't expect the two of you to end up together. I was originally planning to visit Chen Lu's home, but now the two of you can keep each other company when the semester starts at Peking University..."

...

He chuckled and added a few casual remarks, before briefing the two on some relevant precautions.

Before long, Xu Ming and Chen Lu returned to the campus once more.

Although the high school entrance examinations had already concluded, the first and second-year high school students had not yet started their summer vacation. The two of them were temporarily arranged to stay in the principal's office while waiting for the county and municipal leaders to arrive for the bonus award ceremony.

About twenty minutes passed. Zhou Junhao and several other top students from the key classes who had applied to elite universities were also brought over by Cui Zhibang.

Upon seeing Xu Ming, they all took the initiative to come over and greet him.

Even though they weren't particularly close to Xu Ming, they couldn't ignore the dazzling halo of the title "top scorer" hovering above his head.

Xu Ming naturally put on no airs and responded to everyone with a consistent, polite smile.

"Congratulations, Xu Ming," Zhou Junhao was the last to speak. At this moment, the gaze he directed toward Xu Ming was filled with nothing but admiration.

Back in the car earlier, he had already heard the head teacher recount Xu Ming's college entrance examination score. Even though it matched their estimations, the shock delivered by the actual confirmation was entirely different.

During this period, he had asked himself more than once whether he could ever achieve such a score. The answer was a resounding no.

What's more, Xu Ming had surged to the top within a short span of time, which only made his achievement all the more substantial and impressive.

Xu Ming stood up and uttered two words, "Thank you."

Around ten o'clock in the morning, inside the lecture hall of Dongping No. 1 High School, Xu Ming and the others, along with teachers of various subjects, sat below to attend the bonus award ceremony.

After getting the details, they learned that Xu Ming, as the top scorer, would receive a total cash reward of 150,000 yuan, while students like Chen Lu and Zhou Junhao, who entered Peking University and Tsinghua University, would receive 80,000 yuan each. The rest of the students admitted to key universities would each receive 50,000 yuan.

Given the actual economic conditions of Dongping County and referencing the school's rewards from previous years, this was certainly a substantial sum. After all, Dongping No. 1 High School had students admitted to Tsinghua and Peking University every year. If it were Dongping No. 3 High School that had produced a student breaking their zero-record, the bonus would undoubtedly have multiplied several times over.

"Next, we invite city leader Director Yang Hong to present the 150,000 yuan cash reward to this year's science top scorer, Xu Ming!"

Hearing his name, Xu Ming did not hesitate at all and immediately stood up to walk onto the stage, accepting the red placard inscribed with the prize amount from Director Yang's hands.

"Thank you, Director Yang."

"I hope that after entering Peking University, you will continue to achieve brilliant results and win honor for our school, our city, and our county."

"Everyone is proud of you."

Yang Hong gently patted Xu Ming's shoulder, offering a few words of encouragement.

Xu Ming nodded and replied, "I will."

The entire ceremony lasted for about half an hour and concluded successfully amidst enthusiastic applause from everyone. Just as they finished taking photos for the honor wall posted beside the school gate, Principal Sun Hai walked over, chatting and laughing with a slightly plump middle-aged man.

"This is Boss Ma from our county. He has some gifts he'd like to present to you all."

Before Principal Sun could finish his introduction after they came to a halt, Boss Ma had already taken the initiative to shake Xu Ming's hand.

"You must be little Xu, this year's science top scorer! I must soak up some of your auspicious top-scorer luck."

As his voice trailed off, he suddenly remembered something and hastily shouted to his assistant not far away.

"Quickly bring the things over!"

When the assistant approached, everyone realized that what he was carrying was a whole box of Nokia mobile phones, which were immensely popular at the moment.

"Knowing that you're all heading off to big cities for college, it certainly won't be convenient without a mobile phone out there. So I took the liberty of selecting one for each of you."

Upon hearing Boss Ma's words, Xu Ming could only think that this was an exceptionally well-made decision.

Heading to Beijing for university without a phone by his side was definitely out of the question. Originally, he had planned to buy one once he got his bonus, but now this directly saved him a lot of trouble.

Therefore, after accepting the phone from the other party, he immediately expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you, Boss Ma."

Hearing this, Boss Ma first looked Xu Ming up and down, then smiled and brought up another matter.

"I've recently developed a new residential property project in the county, and I'd like you, our top scorer, to come over and help boost its popularity. You can choose any apartment you like; I'm sure everyone would love to live in the same neighborhood as the top scorer."

If the phone just now had caught Xu Ming by surprise, this current offer could be considered an absolute windfall.

Compared to buying a house with his own hard-earned cash, how could a free apartment not be appealing? Even though housing prices weren't exorbitantly high right now, saving that money would allow his parents to upgrade to a better freight truck or purchase a larger commercial storefront.

Crucially, buying real estate at this time offered an extremely high cost-performance ratio. He didn't mind using his identity as the top scorer to help with the publicity; from a certain perspective, it was also bringing benefits to everyone.

Besides, a boss who could prompt the principal to run errands for him was definitely trustworthy.

With this thought in mind, he simply agreed on the spot.

"I have no problem with that."

"Then I'll contact you in a couple of days." Boss Ma beamed with a joyous smile, looking thoroughly satisfied.

Just as he left with his assistant, several classmates around him, including Zhou Junhao, looked at Xu Ming with overwhelming envy. Compared to the rewards the top scorer had secured, what they received practically paled into insignificance.

Only Chen Lu felt genuine happiness for Xu Ming.

In the time that followed, as the college entrance examination matters officially came to a close, the students successively left the campus, unsure if they would ever have the chance to meet again.

As for Xu Ming, because he had to wait for an interview with a reporter from the provincial newspaper, he had no choice but to linger a bit longer and enjoy another meal at the school cafeteria.

Meanwhile, in the admissions office of Peking University, the faculty members were busy working away for the admission of this year's incoming students across various colleges...