After the divorce, he took care of his child and sold fried rice; his ex-wife was filled with regret

"Oh, Dad, you don't understand! This soy milk is different!" Zhou Xiaoya said anxiously on the other end of the phone.

"It's all over our school forum. Everyone who drank it today says it's incredibly effective."

"Several of us are going together, and everyone else is going, but I'm not. What if my studying efficiency is worse than everyone else's tomorrow?"

"I'm not talking to you anymore, we're packing warm clothes, I'm hanging up now!"

"Zhou Xiaoya! You're not allowed to go! Come home right now!" Zhou Zhengming shouted into the phone.

"Beep beep beep..."

The call has been disconnected.

Zhou Zhengming held his phone, his chest heaving with anger.

He knew his daughter's temperament all too well; she was just like him, and once she made up her mind, nothing could change it.

Since she and her roommate had already made plans and were determined to go, there was no way to persuade them by phone.

You have to queue up in the early morning and wait outside until the store opens in the morning.

Standing on the street for six hours in this heavy snow would make even a good person sick!

Zhou Zhengming tossed his phone onto the sofa and looked at the cold food on the table, losing all appetite.

He paced back and forth in the living room a few times.

No, I absolutely cannot let my daughter act so recklessly.

Zhou Zhengming glanced up at the clock. Going to her dorm now would be pointless; too many people would gossip. Since she was going to queue at Jin Street, he'd just wait for her there.

He went back to his bedroom and set his alarm for four in the morning.

……

4 a.m. the next day.

The alarm clock rang on time. Zhou Zhengming suddenly opened his eyes, immediately threw off the covers and got out of bed.

The room was heated, but a glance out the window revealed thick frost patterns on the glass, and the wind was still howling outside.

Zhou Zhengming put on his thickest thermal underwear, then a sweater, and finally wrapped himself in a long down jacket, covering himself up completely.

He pushed open the door and walked into the building.

A cold wind, carrying snowflakes, blew in through the cracks at the entrance of the stairwell, making him shiver.

Unable to hail a taxi on a snowy day, he walked for nearly forty minutes.

At 4:40 a.m., Zhou Zhengming arrived at the entrance of Phoenix Golden Street.

It was still dark.

He stood at the street corner, adjusted his fogged-up reading glasses, and looked inside.

The sight before him stunned him.

A long queue had formed outside the tightly closed wooden door of the Lin family shop. At a glance, there were at least seventy or eighty people.

What surprised Zhou Zhengming the most was that the team was not entirely composed of students.

The first twenty or thirty people in line were all middle-aged, in their forties or fifties. They were pacing back and forth, breathing out white vapor as they chatted, shivering from the cold.

More than a dozen luxury cars were parked haphazardly in the snow on both sides of the street.

Although Zhou Zhengming didn't know much about cars, he could still recognize that the car in front was a Maybach, and that there was a Rolls-Royce and a Mercedes-Benz G-Class behind it.

These bosses, who are usually pampered and spoiled, are now standing in line obediently in the snow, just like the students.

Zhou Zhengming frowned.

If students are desperate and get scammed because they're struggling with final exams or postgraduate entrance exams, then what are these business owners driving luxury cars worth tens of millions up to?

He had no interest in delving into the boss's thoughts. All he wanted now was to find his daughter.

Zhou Zhengming stepped forward and searched along the back of the line.

The back half of the line was made up of young people bundled up like balls, carrying backpacks. Some were holding thermos flasks, and some were even using flashlights to study.

Zhou Zhengming searched for dozens of meters before finally spotting a familiar figure in the middle of the line.

Zhou Xiaoya was wearing a long white down jacket and a mask. She was huddled together with several female classmates, stamping her feet to keep warm.

Ahead of them in line was Zhang Qiang, a boy with a buzz cut who had done well on yesterday's advanced mathematics exam.

"Zhou Xiaoya!"

Zhou Zhengming strode over and shouted in a deep voice.

Zhou Xiaoya froze upon hearing the sound. She slowly turned her head and looked at Zhou Zhengming, whose face was full of anger, her eyes widening instantly.

"Dad? What brings you here?"

Several of his roommates and Zhang Qiang also saw Zhou Zhengming. Zhang Qiang shrank back in fright and quickly closed the book in his hand.

"Why am I here?" Zhou Zhengming stepped forward, grabbed his daughter's arm, and said, "Come home with me!"

"I won't go back!" Zhou Xiaoya took a step back, shook off Zhou Zhengming's hand, and said stubbornly.

"Dad, we've been queuing here since 3:30, and we've been freezing for almost two hours. If we go back now, all that freezing will have been for nothing!"

"You still know how to endure the cold!" Zhou Zhengming said sternly, his voice low. "A hundred yuan for a cup of plain water and soy milk? Don't you even have the basic judgment? Come with me right now!"

"This isn't a scam! Others have tried it and it worked!" Zhou Xiaoya was so anxious she was almost crying.

The father and daughter were pulling at each other in the line, making quite a commotion, which attracted the attention of the people in front.

Li Dayong, who was at the front of the line, was rubbing his hands when he heard the commotion behind him and turned around.

Li Dayong had a fight with his wife last night, and got up early this morning, so he's in a bit of a bad mood.

He glanced at Zhou Zhengming's stern, lecturing posture, put his hands in his sleeves, and walked over.

"Hey buddy, what are you yelling about in the street so early in the morning?"

Li Dayong glanced at Zhou Zhengming and raised his chin.

"This young lady is spending her own money and earning her own way to queue up for food and a drink. What's it to you? As an elder, what are you doing here throwing your weight around in this freezing weather?"

Zhou Zhengming turned to look at Li Dayong, who exuded a street-smart aura, his brows furrowed: "I'm her father, and also a teacher at Jiang University. What business is it of yours how I discipline my daughter and my students?"

"It's okay. But I can't stand your way of so easily dismissing others."

Li Dayong stepped forward and pointed to the tightly closed gate of the Lin family shop.

"You're saying Boss Lin's soy milk is just a rip-off of plain water?" Li Dayong scoffed. "Have you even taken a sip yourself? Have you even tasted it?"

"You haven't even tasted it, yet you dare to come here and declare it a scam based solely on your rigid, preconceived notions. You academics are just too bookish and stubborn!"

These words were blunt and directly stabbed Zhou Zhengming in the face.

Chairman Chen watched from the front without saying a word, only smiling faintly.

Zhou Xiaoya tugged at Zhou Zhengming's sleeve and whispered, "Dad, stop talking, everyone's watching."

He pushed his daughter's hand away, took a step forward, and stared straight into Li Dayong's eyes.

"it is good."

Zhou Zhengming pointed to the gate, his tone as stiff as a stone.

"Since you all say this stuff works, I'm not leaving today."

"I'm personally queuing up here to buy a cup. I want to taste what kind of magic potion is in this fifty-dollar cup of soy milk that has bewitched all of you big bosses and students!"