Chapter 7 The Day the Score Was Announced
On the day my Gaokao results were released, Teacher Sun's office was packed with people.
Her hand holding the mouse shook. She clicked the check page three times before it worked.
A string of numbers popped up on the screen.
The office fell silent.
Teacher Sun's mouth opened and stayed like that, frozen.
For a full half minute, she did not close it or make any sound.
The teacher who had once hugged my waist and cried like my mother suddenly stood up.
Her chair slid backward with a sharp friction sound.
Teacher Sun walked around the desk and hugged me tightly from the front.
Warm tears fell on my neck.
"Good! Good!" She was so happy she could not speak clearly, only repeating those two words.
After that day, our ordinary public high school had never looked so glorious.
The principal even personally pulled a twenty-meter-long red banner from the top of the teaching building down to the first floor. On it, in the biggest font, was "Warmly Congratulate Our School's Gu Yan Student for Excellent Gaokao Results!"
In the corridors, former classmates whispered.
"Damn it, that's Gu Yan? She almost dropped out. How could she score so high?"
"Crazy, that score is enough for Hua Qing!"
"Definitely a mistake, or cheating..."
In the middle of all the commotion, my phone rang.
It was Lu Congzheng.
"Gu Yan, congratulations."
His voice sounded gentle as always, even carrying a smile.
"I'm happy for you, and a little surprised. I didn't expect my Gu Yan to be so good at studying."
I held the phone and walked to an empty stairwell.
"But." His tone changed. "I always feel like you seemed to know you would score this well from the start, like you already knew the questions."
"Gu Yan, with such a smart head, why were you thinking of going to the nightclub before?"
The probing gaze seemed to pierce through the phone and reach me.
I stayed silent for a moment. Following the script I had rehearsed countless times in my heart, I said in a tone full of gratitude and shyness, "Maybe I was too anxious and had no way out at the time, and... hadn't met you yet."
"Thanks to you, Lu Congzheng. Your sponsorship freed me from worries, and my brother helped a lot."
A light laugh came from the other end, as if satisfied with my answer.
After hanging up, I looked out the window.
Lu Congzheng was right.
I had planned to cheat on this exam from the start.
Yes, I cheated.
It was shameless.
In the end, the celebration banquet was held, and the teacher farewell dinner was eaten.
Just as the principal and Teacher Sun happily discussed how to drum up a parade to send me to university, I spoke calmly at the dinner table.
"Teacher Sun, I want to repeat the grade."
Or rather, I wanted to take the Gaokao again next year.
Teacher Sun's chopsticks holding a piece of braised pork froze halfway.
Her mouth, which had only just closed, opened slowly once more.
"...Gu Yan, what did you say? Say it again?"
After the dinner ended that day, I walked into the principal's office.
"Principal, I don't need special admission or extra points."
"I guarantee that next year I can still meet Hua Qing's score line. What that means for the school, you should know better than me."
Like the enrollment rate, the first-tier rate.
And the reputation, quality students, and government policies and education funding that would come with it. It was enough to raise this school several grades in the coming years.
Its value far exceeded sending one student to Hua Qing.
In fact, before me, such special people had already existed on the market, known as "Gaokao mercenaries."
The principal looked at me, his eyes complex. "Then... Gu Yan, what do you want?"
"150,000." I said. "As a reward for bringing this honor to the school, I need a one-time 150,000 scholarship."
So the deal was made.
That day, I returned to the apartment. Gu Cheng was sitting at the desk.
He was not doing homework or reading, as if waiting for me.
"Sister."
He called out to me.
"Mm?"
"That sponsor... Lu Congzheng, what exactly is your relationship with him?"
My shoe-changing action paused for a moment, then I answered quickly. "He's just a... kind-hearted philanthropist."
Gu Cheng slid off the chair and walked over to me.
He looked up, his eyes clear.
"Sister, I'm young, but I'm not stupid. If there were really so many kind-hearted philanthropists in the world, you wouldn't have gone to interview at Hui Huang Ren Jian to be a hostess before."
I was not surprised by his blunt words.
After all, these harsh truths, I had told him little by little.
After rebirth, I had thought many times that perhaps the biggest problem between us as brother and sister was my parents and the way I had educated him.
I had always tried to keep things peaceful, to pretend everything was fine.
I thought that was the best protection, but it had left Gu Cheng unaware of what bitterness and pain were.
In the end, he had turned into an immortal who did not eat the world's smoke, who could easily say "we are even."
So in this life, I chose to tell him everything.
Except for my rebirth.
And my real plans for the future.
Gu Cheng continued, "He rented us such a good house, hired a nanny, and covered all our expenses. That's an unequal investment. What return is he expecting for all he has given?"
I looked at him, my throat feeling dry, not knowing how to answer.
"What he wants as return is you, right?"
Gu Cheng looked straight into my eyes. "He likes you, doesn't he?"
I did not speak.
"Yesterday, he came to the apartment looking for you, but you were at school. He picked up this photo and looked at it."
Gu Cheng pointed to the photo of him and me on the shoe cabinet.
It was the one the nanny took on the first day we moved in.
"He stood at the door holding the photo the whole time, looking for a long time."
"I don't like the way he looks at you."
My gaze fell on the photo.
In the photo, I was not smiling, while Gu Cheng held tightly onto my hem.
"Sister, though I'm young, I can feel his thoughts. He wants to treat you as his."
Gu Cheng paused, as if searching for the right metaphor.
"Like when I saw a new book I wanted to buy it home and put it on my shelf, make it mine. Is that right?"
I slightly lowered my eyes, avoiding his pure gaze.
Gu Cheng did not ask again.
He simply reached out once more and tightly held my hem.
"Sister, can you promise me something?"
"What?" I looked up.
Gu Cheng's fingers tightened, word by word, as if carving a vow.
"Do not fall in love with him. Do not believe anything he says. Do not accept anything from him except money. And if he makes you unhappy, you must tell me."
His voice was light, but unusually firm.
"And then, when I grow up, at that time I can repay him all his money, and from then on, we will owe him nothing."