Chapter Sixteen

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[This chapter has undergone one revision, so it might feel a bit awkward.]

Xu Qing, Xia Wei’s mother, was very satisfied with her current life.

She had always been a refined egoist.

At seventeen, she became pregnant out of wedlock with a wealthy heir from the city and had Xia Wei.

Thanks to her ex-husband’s connections, she was assigned a teaching position at a prestigious elementary school in the city.

Later, when her ex-husband’s family went bankrupt, conflicts arose daily, and their marriage eventually ended.

During the years following the divorce, Xu Qing endured hard times.

After all, although teaching was respectable, her monthly salary barely reached three thousand yuan. She could barely support herself, let alone raise her daughter.

Helplessly, she left her daughter with relatives in the countryside for two years.

Fortunately, Xu Qing was attractive and knew how to dress well. Despite being divorced, suitors continued to come her way at school.

But Xu Qing was a smart woman. Her first marriage was never about love, and now that she was middle-aged, love was even less a factor.

By chance, she met Zhou Guowei.

Though now, she had no real relationship with him.

To put it bluntly, she was just clinging on, embarrassing herself by acting like his housekeeper.

Yet, small towns are always rife with gossip.

She and Zhou Guowei had nothing between them.

They didn’t even live together.

Zhou Guowei lived in the prosecutor’s office dormitory.

Years ago, a neighbor bought a commercial apartment and moved out.

Zhou Ziyang’s mother was a resourceful woman who insisted Zhou Guowei borrow money to buy it.

So Zhou Guowei borrowed twenty thousand yuan to buy the adjacent unit.

Later, to accommodate Xu Qing and her daughter, he let them live there.

Zhou Guowei’s reputation had been tarnished by the time of his divorce, so he no longer cared about gossip.

Besides, his position had no chance for promotion.

Yet the prosecutor’s office couldn’t do without him.

For example, for nearly twenty years of case files in this small county, if a superior called with just two key points, Zhou Guowei could recite the time, place, and people involved verbatim.

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He could even cite two other related cases.

Zhou Guowei had worked almost thirty years; whenever an old leader called—no matter how late—he was always on stand-by.

Such a man might never reach the pinnacle, but in this small office, everyone respectfully addressed him as Prosecutor Zhou.

Leaders came and went, one batch after another.

But Zhou Guowei remained.

He was regarded as a capable man in this small county.

Therefore, although Xu Qing and Zhou Guowei had no real relationship, the small town buzzed with rumors.

Even Zhou Ziyang’s mother tacitly accepted that they were together, often cursing Xu Qing behind her back as shameless.

Honestly, even Zhou Ziyang himself was unclear about Xu Qing and Zhou Guowei’s relationship.

Zhou Guowei, however, always insisted he was innocent.

Indeed, he had helped Xia Wei more than once.

In his plan, he hoped to introduce Xia Wei to Zhou Ziyang and have them marry, so his investment in Xia Wei wouldn’t be in vain.

Unfortunately, Xia Wei was not interested in Zhou Ziyang.

Driving ahead, Xu Qing told her daughter not to worry, saying it was okay if her exam results weren’t perfect.

“Uncle Zhou will help you.”

Before, Xia Wei would have taken this for granted.

Because, in her eyes, although Zhou Guowei and her mother weren’t openly together, it was only a matter of time.

She was also quite fond of Uncle Zhou.

At that moment, Xia Wei even naively thought about how she would later show filial piety to Uncle Zhou and her mother.

Yet, recalling what Zhou Ziyang said today, Xia Wei hesitated.

“But Uncle Zhou’s resources must be limited, right?”

“?” Xu Qing was taken aback, looking at her daughter with puzzlement.

Xia Wei hesitated before saying, “No matter how powerful Uncle Zhou is, he can only help one person, right?”

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“Then why would he help me instead of Zhou Ziyang? Zhou Ziyang is his biological son, isn’t he?”

Hearing the name "Zhou Ziyang," a noticeable change flickered across Xu Qing’s face.

“Him…”

Xu Qing showed no expression as she stared ahead, driving the Mercedes.

After a long pause, as if seeking an excuse, she said, “Your uncle does have resources, but he doesn’t need to use them.”

“?” Xia Wei was confused.

Xu Qing explained, “Weiwei, some resources can’t be used just because they’re available.”

“For example, this year’s admission cutoff for Nanda University was 632 points. You scored 620, just ten points short. Then your uncle and I could pull some strings, make some calls, and maybe find a way for you to get in.”

“But if you only scored in the five hundreds, no matter how capable your uncle and I are, you simply wouldn’t get in. Do you understand?”

“Ziyang’s situation is just like that. As far as I know, his grades aren’t good. By the way, how’s he doing lately?”

Xu Qing knew Zhou Ziyang was in the same class as her daughter but rarely talked about him.

They were two people with no overlap, so naturally, there wasn’t much to discuss.

Xia Wei thought about it and felt her mother’s words made sense.

She said Zhou Ziyang seemed to have given up on himself recently.

“He hardly comes to school anymore.”

Hearing this, Xu Qing secretly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, saying, “See? It’s not that your uncle doesn’t want to help him; he just doesn’t need your uncle’s help.”

“Ziyang is your uncle’s biological son, that’s true, but apart from him, you’re the one he’s close to, right?”

“If he has these connections but doesn’t use them, it’d be a waste. You’re ambitious and capable. Shouldn’t your uncle help you?”

“But…” Xia Wei felt her mother made sense, yet something still felt off.

“There’s no ‘but.’ Ziyang’s grades are too poor. You’re consistently in the top fifty in school. If Ziyang scored better than you and needed your uncle’s help, I wouldn’t object.”

“Not only your uncle’s help, even if he needed mine, as long as he needed it, we’d be willing to help. After all, you’re all like our children.”

“But right now, the problem is he’s not doing well academically and can’t make use of the help!”