Chapter Twenty-Three: A Perfect-Score Essay

"Zhou Ziyang is the top student in the school? Who is he? I've never even heard the name before."

Throughout the county's First High School, which had twenty senior classes and nearly a thousand students, some people were hearing the name Zhou Ziyang for the very first time, despite having been in school for three years. The top of the grade rankings usually featured the same familiar faces—Xia Wei, Wang Zhong, Sun Ke—rotating among themselves. But this Zhou Ziyang? He was completely unheard of. Word was that his best previous ranking had been outside the top two hundred. How did he suddenly jump to first place in the entire school?

"Who on earth is this Zhou Ziyang!?"

"I know him. He's in Class One. He's actually quite handsome."

"Handsome? How handsome? Is there a photo? Let me see."

It had to be said that in high school, if your grades were good enough, you would inevitably attract attention. Not only were nearly half the students in the school discussing who Zhou Ziyang was, but even the arts and sports students—those fair-skinned, beautiful girls with long legs—had learned of his name. Some had never heard of him, while others had a vague impression. Was he that boy who had been running on the track every single day recently?

"Oh, I know him. He's the one who runs really fast. I heard he got his heart broken and was feeling the pressure."

"Perfect! He’s handsome, smart, and has great stamina. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have him as a boyfriend?"

"That's all you ever think about."

During the first period on Monday, students were still buzzing with discussion about Zhou Ziyang. When the teacher arrived and heard the chatter, they couldn't help but say with a scoff, "It's not just the top of the school, it's the top of the entire county!"

"The top of the county!?"

The students were even more shocked, though upon reflection, it made sense. In the entire county, the only high schools that could compete were the First and Third. The First High School had always been far ahead, so it was only natural that the school's top student would be the county's top student. This was a joint examination across six counties and one city. Being first in the school meant Zhou Ziyang ranked thirteenth in the city.

When Old Chen, Zhou Ziyang’s homeroom teacher, received the news, he was grinning from ear to ear. The homeroom teacher of the science class next door, who was also Zhou Ziyang’s math teacher, remarked that Old Chen had hit the jackpot, picking up such a bargain at the last minute. "This kid usually keeps a low profile. If his math is this good, why did he choose the liberal arts track? He should have gone into the sciences!"

Old Chen was not pleased with this. "Oh, so just because his science scores are good, his liberal arts skills must be bad? His Chinese scores are actually even better than his math scores."

Beyond his massive leap in ranking, Zhou Ziyang had achieved two special honors. The first was a perfect score in English. Across the entire school, students with a perfect English score could be counted on one hand, and this time, Zhou Ziyang was the only one.

The second honor was even more baffling: a perfect score on his essay! Even his homeroom teacher, upon seeing the grade, could hardly believe it. Who gets a perfect score on an essay these days? Was there a mistake? He specifically retrieved Zhou Ziyang’s essay to read it.

Well, it was indeed a fine piece of work: "My father passed away when I was very young."

Seeing the first sentence, the teacher nearly lost his composure. After skimming the entire text, the teacher, with twenty years of experience in language arts, could guess why the examiner had given it full marks. The handwriting was neat, the paper was clean, and five points could be awarded for the overall impression alone. The essay lacked flowery language, but the emotions were raw and pure. Furthermore, since most students wrote argumentative essays for the college entrance exam—which rarely yielded high scores but provided a stable baseline—a narrative piece like this was precious.

Of course, these factors alone weren't enough for a perfect score. The remaining points were "sympathy points." The homeroom teacher knew Zhou Ziyang’s family situation, which made the essay hit home, but the anonymous examiner did not. Even just reading the text, one could see the child had lived a very difficult life, having lost his father long ago. He was a highly motivated student, his answers in the rest of the paper were almost entirely correct, and he had beautiful, steady handwriting. Which teacher wouldn't like a student like that?

Especially the final two lines: "The grass on the grave mound turns green and then yellow, yellow and then green."

These few words captured the passage of time and the depth of his longing for his father. Those two lines alone were enough for an examiner to make an exception and award a perfect score. Thus, Zhou Ziyang became the only student out of the six counties and one city to receive a perfect score on his essay. It was to be included in an anthology of excellent essays and used by teachers across the region as a teaching tool.

Their introductions usually went something like: "Come, let’s look at an excellent essay from this exam. This was written by Zhou Ziyang. He placed first in the county and thirteenth in the city. You should all learn from him. Look, he lost his father at a very young age, but he never bowed his head to life. He has high aspirations. Compare yourselves to him—aren't you ashamed?"

"The best parts of the entire essay are these final two lines: 'The grass on the grave mound turns green and then yellow, yellow and then green.'"

These lines were repeated over and over by teachers in every school. However, it wasn't as if nobody knew the truth about Zhou Ziyang’s family. His parents had mutual friends, and their children were roughly Zhou Ziyang's age. When those friends heard he had placed first in the school, they were shocked, and then thought it was incredibly impressive. Zhou Ziyang had met these people with his mother a few times in the past, but they were from different social circles and rarely kept in touch. Everyone just knew he existed.

When they heard the teachers reading Zhou Ziyang’s essay, they were left utterly bewildered.

"???"

"Wait, Zhou Ziyang’s dad is dead!?"

"Isn't his dad actually..."

Incredible. Truly incredible!

When they got home that day, they couldn't wait to find their parents. "Mom! Dad! Do you know who got first place in the school this time?"

"There was an exam? What did you score?"

"Ugh, my score doesn't matter! Do you know who the top student is?!"

"What does the top student have to do with me? It certainly isn't you."

"You!"

The stubborn parents were about to drive their child crazy. The student said urgently, "The top student is Zhou Ziyang! That person you told me about, your colleague—the one you're divorced from—it's his son."

"You mean Guowei's son?" The father finally recalled who he was. The top of the school? Not bad—the kid had turned out well!

"That's not the point! The point is he wrote a perfect-score essay. Do you know what it’s about?"

"What is it? Tell me already! Who taught you to be such a tease!?"