Age of Legends

Chapter 349: Hold it in hand
It's unclear who first mentioned this in a QQ group, but the phrase "A classmate of mine got a perfect score on the college entrance exam essay" was automatically attached to the students of Class 5, Grade 2001, Yude Education.

When Zheng Xue got home, her first thought was to announce it on social media, but she was too late when she logged onto QQ and opened the class group.

"Have you seen the West China City Daily?... Zhang Chen is in the newspaper!"

"What's in the newspaper? You got caught stealing?" This was Li Jiajun's sarcastic remark.

"Zhang Chen's college entrance exam essay! It's been published in the newspaper today!"

Zhang Zhihua: "Holy crap, Brother Chen is awesome!" He usually calls Zhang Chen directly, but he was so shocked by reality that he changed his address.

Wang Shuowei had already called Zhang Chen, shouting that it was impossible, but now, facing the QQ group, he was very calm and sent a message: "My brother Chen is quiet until he speaks, then he'll amaze everyone!"

Tian Jiayi tagged Zhang Chen: "I also bought the newspaper today and read it. Please, the person involved, come forward and say how you feel right now."

A group of people tagged Zhang Chen.

Li Runjia exclaimed, "Zhang Chen is amazing! That bastard pulled off something big without making a sound. I knew you were planning something big when you got a perfect score on your essay back in our second year of high school! Our class is awesome this time!"

"How can it not be awesome... Li Runjia, you got into Peking University; Shen Nuoyi, you got into Tsinghua University; and Zhang Chen is still getting his perfect score essay published in the newspaper! The Three Musketeers!"

"Peng Xin, what about you! I remember now, you made a bet with Zhang Chen about the essay, how did you do?"

"@PengXin, yeah, Xin-ge, your essay should have been pretty good this time too, right? Didn't you get a perfect score?"

Peng Xin responded after a long pause: "Congratulations Zhang Chen, I lost two points."

Peng Xin: "@Zhang Chen, I lost, I admit defeat wholeheartedly. The entry point of 'The Void in the Backpack'... how come I didn't think of that? Gazing at the 'void' itself is much more profound than describing the act of discarding. You saw the blank space that we all overlooked. It is indeed well written, and it is not the kind of text that is written for exams."

Zhang Chen, who had been lurking on the screen, now felt compelled to speak up: "It's just luck. Sometimes, losing two points and getting a perfect score is simply a matter of luck." Peng Xin's writing was excellent, and Zhang Chen was even ashamed of his own lack of youthful exuberance. He felt he was merely benefiting from having two lifetimes of souls, writing purely from the perspective of someone adjacent to the examiner, making it easier to connect with the current social landscape and resonate with the examiner. And indeed, luck was definitely involved.

When the group saw him, the person in question, appear, they immediately erupted in anger.

"Great, it's finally here!"

"We've been talking about you for ages, honestly, were you just looking at the history and not saying anything...?"

"A repressed slut..."

Peng Xin: "Luck is also a kind of ability, and I genuinely think your writing is better than mine. I overused fancy words, and it's not as simple and moving as yours. Actually, I'm genuinely happy to see your work published. I'll remember that bet we made in high school, and you won, so I'm willing to accept the punishment! Tell me, I'll do anything you want, but you can't possibly make me take my pants off and run two laps outside right now!"

"Zhang Chen, let him run!" This was Wang Shuowei, who loved to stir up trouble.

Zhang Chen: "Don't drag me into this, you perverts."

The group chat was buzzing with excitement. At this point, with the college entrance exam results released, some were happy while others were sad. Some hadn't done as well as they'd hoped, but the atmosphere in the class group helped to ease some of the gloom. In the "United Class Group" of Class 9, the topic of Zhang Chen's report naturally came up. Hearing everyone's discussion about Zhang Chen, with all the envy and praise, Zhuang Yanyue felt a little irritated.

It's like a gemstone that you discover yourself. It's usually dull and not very noticeable, but one day, it's as if a light shines on it, and everyone is amazed by its color.

She was quite unhappy about it.

However, upon seeing her college entrance exam score of 578, her eyes crinkled, and dimples appeared on her porcelain-like face.

She was already looking forward to... a future where she could set traps and control everything.

……

The reporter met Zhang Chen at Yude Middle School.

Zhang Chen was forced to work today. Huang Huifen dragged him out of bed early this morning, saying, "Today is newspaper interview day. Don't be so nonchalant. You need to take it seriously!"

Zhang Chen thought to himself that he was an adult and had a promising future, but Huang Huifen still treated him like a child who would never grow up, and she would always make him pay attention to her. In the past, she would pay attention to his poor grades and his bad attitude when talking to adults. Now that he had finished the college entrance examination, she would pay attention to his interview.

But when she looked at Huang Huifen, she saw that she was wearing a cheongsam, had put on makeup, and had even specially chosen the most expensive clothes. Well, it turned out that she had gotten up early to prepare and probably had everything ready. When she turned around, she found that Zhang Chen was still sleeping with the door closed. She couldn't stand her anxiety and woke him up.

"By the way, your dad has a meeting at work today, so he won't be able to come with you. But he told me to tell you to relax, media interviews are nothing to worry about, just give the standard answer, mainly thanking your school for its education... He'll cheer you on, good luck, son." Huang Huifen's obviously heavy eyeshadow and animated expression made Zhang Chen both laugh and cry.

“You weren’t this serious about it when I took the college entrance exam,” Zhang Chen said.

Zhang Zhonghua is now the pillar of the family. Whether it's Zhang Chen's college entrance exam results or his essay being published in the newspaper, he remains calm and composed, as if he were the same authoritative and authoritative person he is as a technical lead at the company. But in reality, Zhang Chen saw him secretly cutting out newspaper clippings and hiding them under the glass of his desk in his study that day. His grandparents were the first to know about Zhang Chen's article in the newspaper, and his grandfather also cut out some clippings.

His grandfather was the young master of a capitalist, a spoiled scholar. Although the family had fallen on hard times, they still retained a certain air of impoverished intellectuals. So, the fact that Zhang Chen was able to get reported meant a lot to his generation. It could be said that all the relatives back home knew about it.

Zhang Chen ate the meal Huang Huifen had prepared, and then Guan Li drove downstairs. In the quiet morning light, Guan Li's red Mazda, her mother's secretary, started to hum.

"Coming, coming, get ready to go!" Huang Huifen hurriedly went to grab her bag.

Zhang Chen suddenly froze. Huang Huifen had given interviews to higher-level officials before, and had even appeared on television. But she had never seemed so serious and nervous before.

It seemed that Zhang Chen's morning grumpiness subsided in an instant.

Huang Huifen went to Yude Hospital many times, mostly to ask her parents to come and complain.

But this time, at the principal's invitation, she went to the school with her back straight more than ever before.

Exhale and raise your eyebrows.

(End of this chapter)