A perfect score on the college entrance exam? The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng has astonis

"Have you guys seen Chen Mo on Douyin? He has over 20 million followers..."

"Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River... I read it three times, but I still didn't understand it. However, I think it's amazing."

"Of course you can't understand it, it's classical Chinese, but don't you think those sentences are beautiful? Graceful as a startled swan, elegant as a swimming dragon—I get goosebumps just reading them once."

"So Chen Mo was just faking it when he scored over 400 on exams? If he's that good, wouldn't he easily get full marks on his essays?"

"I now suspect that he was faking sleeping in class. He's not a bad student at all; he's an assassin who's been hiding for three years, all for this one stab in the college entrance exam."

"Stop talking. Now when I think back to the things I said to him in the group chat, I want to slap myself."

"+1, me too. I told him back then, 'You have the nerve to say 700 words?' Now I want to die."

"So...did you guys notice that the Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River is written about a girl? Chen Mo has someone in his heart."

After the message was sent, the group was quiet for a moment.

Then the news exploded out.

"Holy crap, is this for real?"

"His description of the Goddess of the Luo River is definitely praising a girl. 'Graceful as a startled swan, lithe as a swimming dragon'—isn't that describing how beautiful that girl is?"

"Then...who is that girl?"

"Think about it, who is Chen Mo closest to? From childhood to adulthood, who has he been closest to?"

"...Su Wanci?"

"Yes, it's Su Wanci. Look at the video, there's a girl in a floral dress standing at the very front. Chen Mo was the first to go to her after he finished writing. That person is Su Wanci."

"I watched that video, and the girl blushed, she blushed really red."

"So Chen Mo wrote 'Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River' to confess his feelings to Su Wanci???"

"I don't know, but he went to Peking University with Su Wanci. Did you know that? Su Wanci's estimated score was 660, which is not enough to get into Peking University normally. But Chen Mo's condition with Peking University was that he would only go if Su Wanci went."

"How did you know that?"

"My uncle works in the Education Department, so the news has already spread. The only condition Chen Mo mentioned to Peking University was that Su Wanci be admitted."

The group chat fell silent again.

This time the quiet lasted even longer.

Then someone sent a message, which contained only five characters.

"I give up, really."

A long string followed

"+1"

"+2"

"+10086".

No one questioned anymore, no one mocked anymore.

Everyone had only one thought in their minds.

The person they once mocked was the real genius.

They weren't even worthy of carrying his shoes.

Zhao Tianyu sat on his bed in his bedroom, his phone screen lit up, having read every message in the class group chat.

His finger hovered above the screen, trying to type something, but he couldn't type a single word.

A single image kept replaying in his mind.

Chen Mo stood in the pavilion, holding a pen, and wrote, "Graceful as a startled swan, lithe as a swimming dragon."

He didn't know what those eight characters meant.

But he knew those eight characters were so beautiful that he could never write them in his entire life.

He suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.

It felt like something was pressing down on it, making it hard to breathe.

It's not jealousy.

Jealousy only exists when people are on the same level.

When you realize that the other person's level is something you can never reach.

You don't even have the right to be jealous.

That feeling is worse than jealousy; it's called helplessness.

My phone suddenly rang.

The screen displays one word: Dad.

Zhao Tianyu's fingers trembled slightly. He hesitated for two seconds before answering the call.

"Hello, Dad..."

"Have you seen that video online?"

Zhao's father's voice was very low.

"I...I saw it."

"That Chen Mo, is he the one you offended before?"

Zhao Tianyu was silent for a second.

"……yes."

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

It was so quiet that Zhao Tianyu could hear his father breathing.

"Dad, I—"

Do you know?

Zhao's father's voice suddenly rose, so high that Zhao Tianyu moved the phone away from his ear a little.

"How popular is Chen Mo right now? 20 million followers on Douyin! His 'Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River' has over 100 million views across the internet! Tsinghua and Peking Universities are vying for him! Of all people to offend, you had to offend him?!"

Zhao Tianyu opened his mouth, but said nothing.

"Do you know that at the company dinner today, someone asked me if your son and that Chen Mo were classmates?"

"I said yes, and people asked, 'What's the relationship between your son and Chen Mo?'"

"How am I supposed to answer that? Am I supposed to say, 'My son offended him, mocked him in a group chat, and humiliated him in front of many people at the mall'? Where am I supposed to put my face?!"

Zhao Tianyu's eyes reddened.

It's not a feeling of being wronged; it's something that's hard to explain.

It's like being stripped naked and standing on the street.

Everyone is watching you, but no one sympathizes with you.

"I'll tell you,"

Zhao's father's voice turned cold.

"From now on, whenever you see Chen Mo at school or outside, be polite to me. No, not just polite, be respectful. Listen to what he says and do what he asks you to do. If you cause me any more trouble, don't come back."

The phone hangs up.

Zhao Tianyu held his phone, listening to the busy tone coming from the receiver.

A tear slid down the corner of her eye.

He didn't know why he was crying.

Was it because of the insults, or because they knew they had lost, lost completely?

All he knew was that from this day forward, his name would be Zhao Tianyu.

In everyone's mouth, he will be associated with "the person who offended Chen Mo".

Principal Wang saw the video of "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River" in his office.

He brewed a cup of Longjing tea, leaned back in his chair, propped his phone up next to the teacup, and read it from beginning to end.

After reading it, he picked up his teacup and took a sip. The tea had gone cold, but he didn't notice.

He put down his teacup, leaned back in his chair, looked at the ceiling, and the corners of his mouth slowly, slowly curled up, all the way to his ears.

"The first person in the country to get a perfect score on the college entrance exam was from my school; the first person to write 'Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River' in a scenic area was from my school; and the person with 20 million followers on Douyin is from my school."

He muttered to himself, his voice so soft it was as if he was afraid someone would hear him.

"From now on, when I go out to meetings, I can just sit there and not say anything, and people will know—oh, Principal Wang of No. 1 Middle School, the school Chen Mo went to."

He stood up.

I walked to the window and looked at the students running on the playground.

The setting sun cast long shadows on them.

Like individual strings of a musical instrument, they trembled slightly in the wind.

He suddenly laughed, a laugh like a child.

"Young people these days..."

He shook his head, his tone devoid of blame, only displaying a fatherly helplessness and pride.

"Their confession is so earth-shattering. Back then, we would blush for ages when we wrote a love letter, but they just wrote a timeless masterpiece. Wow, really something."

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