Genius Club.

Chapter 172 Good Night
Lin Xian put down his chopsticks, leaned back in his chair, and fell silent.

On the plate in front of me was a plate of boiled peanuts with sesame gluten.

hard to imagine……

How did a thin, poor and bullied rural woman pick up the rotten land that others didn't want, accumulate little by little, and plant peanuts one by one to raise Zhou Duanyun.

This kind of thing sounds even worse than scar literature.

But that's what it is.

A fact that a mother is strong.

"Later, did he really win the lottery?" Lin Xian asked tentatively.

"That's for sure!"

Zhou Le answered without hesitation:

"He must have won the lottery! Otherwise, how could so much money suddenly appear! You don't even know how rich Zhou Duanyun was at that time!"

"Did Zhou Duanyun admit it himself?" Lin Xian continued to ask.

"He definitely doesn't dare to admit it, haha!" Zhou Le poured himself a full glass of wine, raised his head and drank it all, then looked at Lin Xian with a smile:

"Who would admit that they won the lottery if they won the lottery? If you dare to admit it, wouldn't everyone rush to your house to borrow money? At that time, everyone in the village said that he won the lottery, but he refused to admit it. But the more he denied it, the more we knew it was true!"

"Zhou Duanyun's life should have taken off at that time." Zhou Le picked up a few peanuts and put them in his mouth:

"That's how luck works. When you hit rock bottom, you should bounce back. Zhou Duanyun was admitted to a prestigious university, won the lottery, and immediately became a celebrity in the village. From then on, no one bullied their family anymore. On the contrary, when Zhou Duanyun went to college, many people in the village gave him gifts, hoping that he would repay the favor when he became successful in the future."

"What a drama." Lin Xian couldn't help but sigh.

It's so dramatic.

"Didn't you suspect that Zhou Duanyun's admission letter was fake? How come he was suddenly admitted to a 985 university when his grades were so poor?"

"I was definitely skeptical at first!" Zhou Le said:
"But didn't our class teacher send a congratulatory picture later, saying that everyone in our class was admitted to university, and even listed the names of the schools, so how could it be false?"

……

This is the end.

Lin Xian finally understood this dramatic experience.

By some mistake.

The two "lies" that Zhou Duanyun told unintentionally made those greedy and snobbish villagers believe them to be true, and they completely changed their attitude towards the mother and son.

From being bullied everywhere to being treated as a guest of honor.

In fact, nothing has changed in essence, yet everything has changed.

The world is so wonderful.

If you really say that you won the lottery, everyone’s first reaction will be disbelief.

And the more you deny that you won the lottery, the more people will think you are lying.

Lin Xian couldn't guess how Zhou Duanyun viewed these two things... But since he accepted the gifts from the villagers and pretended to go to college...

This means that he ultimately perpetuated the scam and continued to deceive everyone.

Was it the deception that made him taste the sweetness of cheating?
Or was it the change in the villagers' attitude that made him truly understand the hypocrisy of human nature?

Now let’s see.

Zhou Duanyun is like a person who lives with a mask on.

And the mask on his face seemed to have more than one layer.

"What happened next?" Lin Xian looked at Zhou Le:

"How did Zhou Duanyun become successful later?"

"That's not very clear..." Zhou Le raised his glass again:
"You know, Zhou Duanyun's personality makes it hard for us to get along. And at that time, many people in the village bullied Zhou Duanyun and laughed at him. Although I didn't participate in the bullying, I didn't stand up for Zhou Duanyun, so we can't be considered friends."

"Now that I think about it, I actually feel quite guilty. After all, we were classmates back then, so I should have helped. But... well, that's how people are. When you grow up and realize it, it's too late."

“[Some things that seemed like big things when you were a kid, turned out to be trivial when you grow up; but some things that seemed like trivial things when you were a kid, turned out to be big things when you grow up.]”

thump.

Zhou Le put down his wine glass and wiped his mouth:

"Lin Xian, you have nothing to do this afternoon, come over to my house and sit down with me."

"I won't go." Lin Xian waved his hand.

"Come on, come on, I'll show you Zhou Duanyun's mansion!"

"Mansion?"

Lin Xian became interested:

“When was it built?”

"It was built last year. After Zhou Duanyun became rich, he bought up all the residential land in the surrounding neighborhoods and built a nine-story mansion for his mother! It's like a fucking castle!"

Lin Xian was indeed a little curious. Besides, he and Zhou Le hadn't talked enough and he wanted to know more intelligence information about Zhou Duanyun.

At present, we only have some understanding of Zhou Duanyun’s experience before college, but the years that followed are still blank.

How did he become so successful?
Why is it so developed?

Zhou Le didn’t know that Zhou Duanyun’s lottery ticket and admission letter were fake, but Lin Xian knew it. He knew clearly that relying on the lottery ticket as start-up capital to get rich was a complete lie.

Lies, lies, lies.

Zhou Duanyun is full of lies.

Everything is fake, but there must be something real, right?
"Okay." Lin Xian reached out to the waiter to pay the bill:

"Then come to your house and sit down."

……

The village where Zhou Duanyun and Zhou Le grew up was very remote. They first took a shaky bus for an hour and then took a taxi to get there.

I haven’t entered the village yet.

From a distance, Lin Xian saw the nine-story castle!

Really...

This size and scale can no longer be described as a villa, it is truly a castle.

The exterior is even as luxurious as Chu Shanhe's private club. Of course, the interior is definitely much different.

"How about it? It's spectacular, isn't it?"

After getting off the car, Zhou Le pointed at the magnificent castle with a smile:

"The status of Zhou Duanyun's family in the village is now different from what it used to be. After Zhou Duanyun became rich, he did not forget his fellow villagers. He helped everyone a lot, built roads and temples for the village, and helped everyone make money. Now in everyone's mind, Zhou Duanyun has a higher status than the village chief!"

"That's for sure." Lin Xian thought to himself, in such a power-hungry place, whoever can make everyone make money is the boss, that's the reality.

When Lin Xian and Zhou Le approached, they found that there was almost no sign of decoration in the huge courtyard of the castle. It was all flat and fertile land, and a thin white-haired woman was bending over to work.

"Aunt!"

Zhou Le was obviously very familiar with her, and he walked to the courtyard wall and shouted directly.

The white-haired woman was wearing clean but somewhat gray clothes, with her hair neatly combed, and she raised her head.

Seeing Zhou Le, he smiled, and the wrinkles on his face squeezed together:
"Hey, Lele." "Lin Xian, this is Zhou Duanyun's mother." After introducing Lin Xian, Zhou Le looked at Zhou Duanyun's mother again:

"Auntie, this is my and Zhou Duanyun's high school classmate. I just happened to pass by here and said hello to you!"

When she heard that it was Zhou Duanyun’s classmate, the old mother’s eyes immediately lit up!
He quickly stood up, wiped his hands on his apron, and opened the gate:

"Hey, hurry up, come in and sit down!"

"No need, Auntie." Lin Xian waved his hand...

He had only intended to come over quietly to take a look and chat with Zhou Le, and had no intention of entering Zhou Duanyun's house at all.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Le greeted me directly.

Zhou Duanyun's mother was very welcoming, so Lin Xian and Zhou Le had no choice but to go into the house and sit down.

The room was clean, but too big and lacked any living atmosphere.

"Aunt, weren't there a lot of servants before?" Zhou Le turned his head and asked.

"I'm not used to so much at home." Zhou Duanyun's mother smiled and brought two glasses of water to the two of them:

"I'll let them leave after the Chinese New Year so I can have more peace and quiet. But this house is too big...it's not convenient to clean."

Lin Xian held the water and looked around the living room.

It is indeed luxurious and must have cost a lot of money.

There are various paintings and calligraphy hanging on the walls, but in the most conspicuous place in the living room...what is framed is actually a wrinkled A4 printed paper, which is very inconsistent with the luxurious atmosphere of this house.

Lin Xian stood up and walked over...

After a closer look, it was just as I had guessed.

What was framed inside was a copy of the "Hunan University Admission Letter".

This is probably the most precious thing in Zhou Duanyun's mother's eyes among all the famous teachers' paintings in the room... because Lin Xian discovered that the other picture frames were covered with a layer of fine dust, obviously they had not been wiped for a long time.

But the glass frame containing the admission letter was the only one that was clean and bright, without a speck of dust, and it was obvious that it was carefully wiped every day.

Lin Xian stood here, looking at the admission letter in front of him, which he knew was forged...

I don’t know how long Zhou Duanyun’s mother has to stand here and watch every day, and how many years she has been proud of it.

"Which university did you graduate from?" Zhou Duanyun's mother looked at Lin Xian and asked.

"Auntie, I'm from Donghai University."

"Donghai... that should be quite far from Hu Nan University, right?"

Lin Xian nodded.

This distance is very close for some people, but very far for Zhou Duanyun's mother.

Maybe she has never left the village.

Perhaps in her eyes, Hu Nan University is the best university in the world.

"Has Zhou Duanyun returned for the New Year?" Lin Xian turned his head and asked.

“Not this year.”

Zhou Duanyun's mother shook her head:

"It's mainly because he's busy this year, so he doesn't have time to come back. In fact, he comes back every year, not just during the Chinese New Year, but also often comes back to see me on other days."

Speaking of Zhou Duanyun, the white-haired woman was very proud:

"My son is very filial. He often calls me, buys things for me, and sends me good night messages before going to bed every night... I have asked people in the village, and no one's child would insist on sending them good night messages every day!"

"every day?"

Lin Xian was a little surprised when he heard this:

“Every day?”

Lin Xian believes that he cannot do this...

Of course, he knew very well that if he sent a good night message to his mother every day, his mother would not find him annoying and would definitely be happy.

But... I don't know why, but it just feels a little weird.

In this regard, Lin Xian still looks up to Zhou Duanyun.

He believes that to some extent, insisting on sending goodnight messages to his mother every night is more difficult than building a nine-story castle for her.

"Yes! Really! Look!"

Seeing Lin Xian's surprised expression, Zhou Duanyun's mother was even happier. She took out her mobile phone from her pocket, opened the WeChat chat page with Zhou Duanyun, and handed it to Lin Xian:

"Look~ It's really posted every day!"

Lin Xian took the phone and saw Zhou Duanyun's white chat box on the left side of the interface. He would send her a message every day saying "Good night, Mom."

Sometimes it's "Go to bed early, mom.", and sometimes it's "I'm going to sleep, mom."

Lin Xian quickly slid up the chat history.

Perhaps it was because Zhou Duanyun’s mother was not very good at using mobile phones, so the chat between the two was actually very formulaic, with basically no other messages except saying good night to each other.

The format is also neat.

Basically it's one sentence on the left and one sentence on the right.

I guess WeChat is just a machine for the two of them to say goodnight to each other. If there is anything, they will just call each other directly... Who would chat with their mother on WeChat all day? At least Lin Xian wouldn't.

"You really do send goodnight messages every day..."

Lin Xian swiped up the chat history so fast that afterimages appeared and the specific content could not be seen clearly.

But these chat boxes are very short, and they are definitely just saying good night to each other.

He has skated until July and August 2022, and the screen is still full of good night.

Lin Xian was very curious. When did this start?

As if it were magic, he continued to quickly scroll through the chat history, wanting to see when they started saying goodnight to each other.

"I wait for his goodnight every day before I go to sleep!"

Zhou Duanyun's mother smiled happily. She clasped her hands and looked at Zhou Le:

"So I often tell Lele... Zhou Duanyun is really the best kid in the world!"

Lin Xian's chat history has slid to 2021...

The screen is still full of good night!
It seems... there is no way back.

suddenly.

Among the short chat boxes that were quickly swiping by, two rectangular chat boxes suddenly popped up!

Lin Xian suddenly stopped his fingers and turned back.

He was curious.

We have always exchanged very short goodnight messages, so why did we suddenly have such a long chat?
After scrolling back twice, Lin Xian found the two long messages sent by Zhou Duanyun -

2021年10月17日，16：26
[Mom, I can't run away... Call the police and let them protect you! The person who killed me is Ji Xinshui! ]

(End of this chapter)