Chapter 25 Brother Zhou!

"How could he possibly rank first in the entire school? He must have cheated, right?"

This was Xu Qing’s first thought. She remembered that Zhou Ziyang’s grades had always been mediocre; how could he suddenly jump to the top of the school rankings? It was clearly cheating.

"He didn't," Xia Wei said with certainty.

Xia Wei told her mother that even before the results were released, the teachers in class already knew Zhou Ziyang would be the top student. When they went over the test papers, it was Zhou Ziyang who went up to the blackboard to solve many of the problems. Moreover, Zhou Ziyang had received a perfect score on his essay—something no other student in the school had managed to do.

Zhou Ziyang definitely hadn't cheated. He wasn't just the top student in the school; he was the top in the entire county and had even placed high in the city rankings. The more Xia Wei spoke, the more solemn Xu Qing’s expression became.

At that moment, Xia Wei was also in a foul mood. She sat in the back seat, tugging at the front seat, and said, "Mom, you said before that Zhou Ziyang’s grades were bad, and that even if Uncle wanted to help, he couldn't. But now that Zhou Ziyang is first in the school, if Uncle really has resources, he’ll definitely give them to Zhou Ziyang first. Mom, what should I do? I didn't even pass the cutoff score for Nanjing University this time. Will I fail to get into a good school? Mom!"

Xu Qing didn't know why, but hearing that Zhou Ziyang had ranked first made her feel unsettled. Yet, at the same time, Xia Wei’s whining and complaining only made her feel irritable.

Facing her noisy daughter, she said impatiently, "He’s already ranked first in the county, what else could your uncle possibly help him with?"

"But..." Xia Wei hesitated, wanting to say that if Zhou Ziyang messed up the college entrance exam and ended up with a score similar to hers, Uncle would surely prioritize his own biological son.

Before she could finish, Xu Qing cut her off. "Instead of sitting here worrying about things outside your control, you’d be better off considering your own grades."

"I remember Ziyang’s grades were always poor before. Why was he able to rank first in the school all of a sudden?"

Xia Wei said he had been studying hard lately.

"So, are you saying you haven't been working hard?"

"I—" The question left Xia Wei speechless.

Xu Qing continued to herself, wondering if she had spoiled her daughter too much. "It seems I need to be stricter with you. I shouldn't have kept telling you about asking your Uncle for help. You have a sense of crisis now, don't you? Bring me your test papers when we get back."

"I want to see what you took this time. Why can Ziyang rank first and you can't?"

Xu Qing, who had been gentle when she first got into the car, suddenly turned serious. This left Xia Wei in silence. For the rest of the journey, mother and daughter didn't speak much, each lost in her own thoughts.

Xu Qing drove with focus. She wasn't worried that Zhou Ziyang’s success would affect her daughter’s future, as she knew Zhou Ziyang and his mother were always the most proud and stubborn people. The two families had been estranged for over a decade. Still, the fact that Zhou Ziyang had suddenly ranked first made it impossible for Xu Qing to feel happy; she felt a heavy, oppressive weight in her chest that persisted until they arrived home.

As soon as they got home, Xu Qing asked Xia Wei to take out her papers so she could analyze them. In this exam, Xia Wei had lost the most points on her Chinese essay—fifteen points in one go.

Xia Wei felt embarrassed to show her essay to Xu Qing. After reading it, Xu Qing was predictably displeased. She said, "This topic was very simple. Why did you insist on taking such a strange approach? Your first sentence was, 'My father is a great prosecutor.' I’m a teacher myself, and I can tell you, the teachers grading these papers are often those who feel unfulfilled, people in their thirties or forties still working on the front lines. Do you really think that by writing about your father being a government official, they’ll want to flatter you? They don’t even know you."

"Of course, there are sycophantic teachers out there, but writing this essay was a gamble. Even if you win the gamble, you aren't guaranteed a high score. If you run into teachers who are cynical, your score is bound to suffer. Giving you forty-five points is actually quite standard; if you hit those stubborn types, they might give you thirty!"

Based on Xu Qing’s understanding of the teaching profession, female teachers were slightly better, but male teachers, to be honest, could be quite self-righteous and stubborn. It made sense; these teachers were intellectuals, and if it weren't for their temperaments or other reasons, they wouldn't have spent their entire lives as frontline teachers.

As she continued, Xu Qing couldn't help but let her tone become harsher, which made Xia Wei feel aggrieved, leaving her staring at the floor, not daring to say a word. Seeing her daughter like this, Xu Qing sighed helplessly. Suddenly, she remembered something and asked, "You said Zhou Ziyang got a perfect score on his essay? What did he write about?"

Xu Qing was genuinely curious. She knew Zhou Ziyang’s parents had divorced when he was very young, and due to his mother’s stubborn nature, he hadn't seen his father in seven or eight years. For a child like that to write an essay on the topic of "Father" and receive a perfect score? What on earth did he write?

Xia Wei, in a foul mood and on the verge of tears, replied, "He wrote... he wrote that his father died a long time ago."

Xu Qing was stunned. She hadn't expected that at all. But then, she couldn't help but laugh. "That boy, he certainly has a backbone."

When Zhou Ziyang met Li Dongfeng at the train station, Li Dongfeng almost didn't recognize him. They were all from poor families, and after spending nearly two weeks in the south, they looked haggard and thin, their clothes disheveled, looking like refugees. Besides Li Dongfeng, there were over a dozen others from the Xuhuai area who had heard Li Dongfeng had work for them and had followed him back.

Setting foot on his home soil again made Li Dongfeng happy. As he led the group out, he shouted, "Brothers! Being here is like being home! Let’s go, let’s get a bowl of Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles first!"

"Hey, Brother Dong, forget the noodles for a second. You said you’d find us work—don’t tell me you were just messing with us!"

"How could that be? My buddy is a second-generation official! If he says he can find work, he definitely can!" Li Dongfeng said confidently as he walked out.

Suddenly, a tall man in a suit and glasses grabbed Li Dongfeng.

Li Dongfeng was startled. "What the—!?"

Zhou Ziyang chuckled. "What, I use you to brag, and now you don't even recognize me?"

"Old Zhou?!?"

The second Li Dongfeng recognized Zhou Ziyang, his face lit up with joy. He was so excited he wanted to give Zhou Ziyang a bear hug, but seeing how clean Zhou Ziyang looked, he stopped himself. For some reason, after two weeks of begging for food, seeing Zhou Ziyang again made Li Dongfeng want to cry.

He choked out, "Why are you dressed like this?"

Zhou Ziyang replied that he was heading out to talk business.

Li Dongfeng had a crowd of people waiting behind him. Seeing him greeting someone, they grew curious. Someone asked, "Dongfeng, who is this? Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Oh, right, I forgot! This is the brother I’ve been telling you all about! He’s our boss. Come on, say hello to Brother Zhou!"

"Brother Zhou!"
"Brother Zhou!"
"Brother Zhou!"

Hearing that this was the man who would find them work, the young men—who were desperate for jobs—brightened up and shouted "Brother Zhou" with all their might, each hoping to catch his attention. On the way there, Li Dongfeng had already bragged about Zhou Ziyang, calling him a "second-generation official" whose relatives owned large factories and could get them jobs paying 20 yuan an hour.

Most of these people were high school dropouts who hadn't seen much of the world. The only things they had been exposed to were the high-salary traps online. Now that those illusions were shattered, Zhou Ziyang was the most impressive person they had ever met. They couldn't help but be sincere.

The sound of twenty-plus people shouting "Brother Zhou" out of sync actually startled the people nearby. Even travelers who had just gotten off the train couldn't help but walk around them. Not far away, station staff glanced over, wondering if some illicit activity was taking place.

Zhou Ziyang looked over the group and saw they were all sturdy young men. Satisfied, he nodded and said, "Let’s go. I’ve arranged for a car outside. While we have time, let’s go to the factory, have a look around, and get everyone settled."

"Great!"

Hearing this, the group felt even more relieved. They thought to themselves that Li Dongfeng was reliable after all. When they had first followed him, they had been nervous, wondering if he was a scammer. Now, the man was taking them straight to a factory to get settled—that was infinitely better than any scammer.