Grades of Glory

Lily Cage is born into a poor family. Her father tells her that education is the best way out for a poor child, and she takes that to heart and studies without letup. People in the village look down on her. Relatives make her life hard, and at one point she is accused of things she did not do. Her father takes a whipping on her behalf. She keeps at her books through all of it. When the university entrance exam comes she scores at a level few candidates reach and ranks first in the whole province. The talk against her stops, and people who had looked down on her start treating her with respect.