Chapter Summaries

Zhou Cheng warned Wu Shanshan that Huang Ling had mentioned something about her, and Wu Shanshan discovered that Wu Jianguo had secretly changed her school choices from senior high school to secondary vocational school. She confronted her parents, insisting that they were sacrificing her chance at university for an earlier salary, and the argument remained unresolved.

• Zhuang Tunan left to find his father, while Zhou Cheng took Zhuang Xiaoting out to give Huang Ling and Song Ying time alone.
• Zhou Cheng warned Wu Shanshan to prepare herself because Huang Ling had mentioned her during the family argument.
• Wu Jianguo and Zhang Amei discussed the Zhuang family's public quarrel and compared their own household to their neighbors' families.
• Wu Shanshan returned home and asked Wu Jianguo whether he had changed her school choices; his reaction confirmed that he had done so secretly.
• Wu Shanshan accused her parents of taking away her chance to attend university, while Wu Jianguo defended secondary vocational school as a way for her to start earning sooner.

Wu Shanshan regained the chance to attend high school after a retired teacher offered to fund her education, while Zhuang Chaoying withdrew to the school and Zhuang Hualin struggled to keep Xiang Pengfei in Suzhou. Zhuang Hualin left the Zhuang home without seeing her brother, and Zhuang Xiaoting reminded Zhuang Tunan that they had to stand by their mother.

• Wu Jianguo argued with Wu Shanshan over her school preference, and she ran away crying to find Zhou Cheng and tell him she had been forced to choose vocational secondary school.
• A retired City No. 1 Middle School teacher offered to fund Wu Shanshan's education in exchange for repayment after graduation and help with daily tasks, allowing Wu Jianguo to approve her return to the high school track.
• Zhuang Chaoying moved into the school office after his conflict with his family, while Zhuang Hualin and Xiang Pengfei endured growing hostility at the Old Zhuang family home.
• Zhuang Hualin went to the Zhuang home hoping to find Zhuang Chaoying and ask him to help keep Xiang Pengfei in Suzhou, but Zhuang Xiaoting told her that her father was away.
• Zhuang Hualin left without entering the house, and Zhuang Xiaoting told Zhuang Tunan they had to support their mother despite wanting Xiang Pengfei to live with them.

Zhuang Hualin despaired after learning Xiang Pengfei could not stay with the Zhuang family, but Zhou Cheng explained Huang Ling’s reasons and offered her new paths forward. He left her holding onto the hope that Pengfei could move in after one year or eventually make a home in the city.

• Zhuang Tunan returned to studying more obsessively, blaming his grades for the family conflict and resenting himself, Huang Ling, and Zhou Cheng.
• Zhuang Hualin wandered through her old neighborhood, and Xiang Pengfei revealed he had secretly followed her and offered to buy her food.
• Zhou Cheng found Zhuang Hualin and explained that Huang Ling had refused to let Pengfei stay because Father Zhuang and Granny Zhuang intended to take advantage of the family and send Zhuang Zhen Dong and Zhuang Zhen Bei as well.
• Zhou Cheng described how the elderly Zhuang couple favored Zhuang Ganmei because they relied on him for support in their old age, and Zhuang Hualin lost her remaining resentment toward Huang Ling.
• Zhou Cheng told Zhuang Hualin to wait one year, when he and Tu Nan would leave for university, and suggested Pengfei could later move to the city by buying a home or succeeding through his studies.
• Zhuang Hualin eagerly accepted Zhou Cheng’s reassurance and clung to the hope that Pengfei could move in after a year.

Zhou Cheng arranged for Xiang Pengfei to move in with his family the following year and promised to help him prepare for school. Zhuang Chaoying returned home after more than half a month away and found his family living comfortably without him.

• Zhou Cheng told Zhuang Hualin and Xiang Pengfei that Xiang could move in with him after the next year's college entrance exams, and offered to help him study.
• Zhou Cheng treated Zhuang Hualin and Xiang Pengfei to noodles, accepted a braised duck for his family, and arranged for Xiang to take Zhuang Tunan and Zhuang Xiaoting's notes home.
• Zhou Cheng told Zhuang Tunan and Zhuang Xiaoting about Xiang's plans, and Huang Ling accepted the arrangement.
• Zhuang Hualin took Xiang Pengfei back to Gui Province after he collected the notes and spent time with Lin Dongzhe.
• Zhuang Xiaoting and Lin Dongzhe persuaded Zhuang Chaoying to return home, and he came back before dawn after deciding it was safer than staying at school.
• Zhuang Chaoying saw that ceiling fans had been installed and learned from Zhuang Xiaoting and Zhuang Tunan how comfortable the household had been while he was away.

Zhou Cheng learned that Lin Wufeng’s prosperous sideline work could later lead to a denunciation and tried to warn him indirectly about the importance of documenting technical-service payments. He began describing a similar case involving a friend’s father, leaving Lin Wufeng and Song Xiangyang waiting for the rest of the story.

• Zhuang Tunan told Zhuang Chaoying that Pengfei and Aunt had returned to Guizhou, but Pengfei could come back the next year with the family’s agreement.
• Zhuang Xiaoting told Zhuang Chaoying that his parents had demanded his wages and that Grandpa had urged Huang Ling to divorce him.
• Zhou Cheng began boarding at school, agreeing to Huang Ling’s condition that he return home at least once a week.
• Zhou Cheng noticed that Lin Wufeng’s part-time engineering work could eventually expose him to a denunciation and loss of his factory position.
• Zhou Cheng asked Lin Wufeng about receipts for technical-service fees, then described a friend’s father whose signed receipt had been found by a coworker.

Zhou Cheng warned Lin Wufeng that a signed receipt from unauthorized part-time work could threaten his career, prompting Lin to secure his records. As the college entrance exam approached, Zhou Cheng and Zhuang Tunan attracted top universities’ interest, and their families prepared to support them through the exam.

• Zhou Cheng told Lin Wufeng how a signed receipt had been used to derail a technician’s promotion, and advised him to protect his own receipts.
• Lin Wufeng checked that all his receipts were present and began locking them away after each part-time job.
• After winter break, Zhuang Tunan felt mounting pressure as his family invested in his studies and he compared himself with Zhou Cheng.
• Admissions officers from Fudan and Tongji interviewed Zhuang Tunan, while officers from four leading universities interviewed Zhou Cheng; Zhou Cheng chose Fudan.
• School leaders urged Zhuang Chaoying to share his teaching experience after both sons attracted university attention, though he doubted he could account for Zhou Cheng’s exceptional ability.
• As the exam neared, Huang Ling brought Zhou Cheng home, the families shared food and milk with the candidates, and Song Ying chased away people who might disturb them.

As the college entrance exams approached, Zhou Cheng supported the anxious Zhuang Tunan and chose Fudan, while Zhuang Tunan safely applied to Tongji. When the results were posted, the family discovered Zhuang Jingcheng’s name at the very top of the list, and the chapter ended as they reacted to the scores below it.

• Song Ying quieted the neighbors to protect Zhuang Tunan and Zhou Cheng while they prepared for the college entrance exams.
• Zhou Cheng took the exams calmly, estimated a score near 700, and applied to Fudan’s Management Science Department.
• Zhuang Tunan, unsure whether his score would meet Fudan’s cutoff, followed Zhuang Chaoying’s advice and applied to Tongji’s Architecture Department.
• While the family anxiously waited for the results, Zhou Cheng remained carefree, and Lin Dongzhe joined them on their trip to No. 1 Middle School.
• At the school, Zhou Cheng’s classmates hailed him as the nation’s top scorer, and the family found Zhuang Jingcheng listed first on the results board.

Zhou Cheng’s family learned that he had scored 707 on the college entrance examination, becoming the undisputed provincial science top scorer, while Zhuang Tunan also earned admission to his desired university. They returned home to share the news, leaving Song Ying and Lin Wufeng eager to hear the results.

• Huang Ling and Zhuang Chaoying found Zhou Cheng’s score of 707 at the top of the results list and saw that Zhuang Tunan had also scored well enough for his university plans.
• Zhou Cheng’s family was surrounded by onlookers, and school staff escorted them to the principal’s office, where they learned his composition had been judged worthy of full marks on review.
• Zhuang Chaoying and Huang Ling celebrated their sons’ results as the family toured No. 1 Middle School’s campus.
• Song Ying and Lin Wufeng waited anxiously at home for news, then welcomed the returning family into the courtyard.
• Lin Dongzhe teased his parents about staying quiet, and Song Ying moved to grab him as he darted behind the group.

Zhou Cheng celebrated earning the province’s highest science-track score and admission to Fudan with the Zhuang family, whose son Zhuang Tunan had been accepted to Tongji. The celebration was interrupted when the family learned Zhuang Tunan had a mild color vision deficiency, and Zhuang Chaoying took him to Shanghai to ask the university about his admission.

• Song Ying and the Lin family celebrated Zhou Cheng’s Fudan admission and Zhuang Tunan’s Tongji admission with the Zhuang family.
• Lin Dongzhe recounted the excited reception at school, and Zhuang Tunan explained that he was glad to study architecture at Tongji.
• Li Yiming called Zhuang Tunan to the telephone, where Zhuang Chaoying learned that a pre-exam physical had found a mild color vision deficiency.
• Zhuang Chaoying tested Zhuang Tunan at home, then took him to the railway station to ask Tongji about his admission.
• Zhou Cheng reassured Zhuang Xiaoting and Huang Ling that color vision deficiency did not bar admission to Tongji’s Architecture Department.

Zhuang Tunan gained admission to Tongji after Zhuang Chaoying persuaded an admissions teacher to overlook his color weakness, and Zhou Cheng and Zhuang Tunan’s admission letters brought great joy and celebration to their families. As the neighbors celebrated, Zhou Cheng began considering new arrangements to protect Wu Shanshan while he was away at university.

• Zhuang Chaoying took Zhuang Tunan to Tongji, where an admissions teacher agreed to admit him despite his color weakness and his memorized color-test plates.
• Huang Ling worried until Zhuang Chaoying called from Shanghai, then learned that Zhou Cheng and Zhuang Tunan had both received admission letters.
• Song Ying hung banners congratulating Zhou Cheng on entering Fudan and Zhuang Tunan on entering Tongji, and Huang Ling’s neighbors celebrated with her.
• The Zhuang, Lin, and Wu families gathered for a celebratory meal, where Zhang Amei praised Wu Shanshan’s university prospects despite the neighbors’ knowledge of her difficult circumstances.
• Zhou Cheng realized Wu Shanshan would be mostly alone while he attended university and decided he needed to make new arrangements for her.

Xiang Pengfei moved to Suzhou with his father to enroll at the Affiliated Middle School, while Zhuang Hualin stayed behind, unable to face her family after last year’s conflict. Zhuang Chaoying arranged a banquet with his parents to celebrate his sons and welcome Pengfei, and Huang Ling invited Song Ying because she expected the gathering to be entertaining.

• Zhuang Chaoying and Huang Ling agreed to let Xiang Pengfei move into their home, while Zhuang Hualin reflected on her bleak prospects and sent her husband and son to Suzhou without going herself.
• Xiang Dong brought Xiang Pengfei to Suzhou, thanked the family over dinner, and accepted help from Song Ying with the crowded sleeping arrangements.
• Zhuang Chaoying arranged Pengfei’s enrollment at the Affiliated Middle School, then visited his parents to tell them the boy had arrived.
• Zhuang Chaoying reported that his parents planned a banquet to celebrate Zhou Cheng and Zhuang Tunan’s university admissions and welcome Xiang Pengfei.
• Huang Ling invited Song Ying to the banquet, explaining that the meal might be poor but the spectacle would be worth seeing.

Lin Wufeng and Song Ying joined the Zhuang family banquet, where Zhou Cheng and Lin Dongzhe drew attention by boasting about the brothers’ university results. Huang Ling and Zhou Cheng countered the elders’ stinginess with pointed food and drink orders, while Zhou Cheng grew more certain that the banquet had an ulterior purpose; Father Zhuang ended by asking when Jingcheng and Tu Nan would leave for university.

• Lin Wufeng brought his family to the banquet and discovered that the Zhuang elders and Zhuang Ganmei’s family were there too.
• Father Zhuang assigned Lin Wufeng to the main table, but Lin Wufeng declined and sat with Xiang Dong at the women’s table.
• Lin Dongzhe loudly praised his brothers’ university admissions, drawing the attention of the noodle shop’s customers.
• Zhou Cheng ordered pork rib noodles for the children, and Huang Ling challenged Granny Zhuang when she tried to limit the food ordered for Xiaoting.
• Zhou Cheng ordered chilled soda for the children and guests despite the Zhuang elders’ objections, reinforcing his suspicion that the banquet had an ulterior purpose.
• Father Zhuang asked Zhuang Chaoying when Jingcheng and Tu Nan would leave for university, and Zhuang Chaoying replied that they would leave in less than ten days.

Zhou Cheng and Huang Ling confronted the Zhuang family’s demand to let Zhendong and Zhenbei move into their home. Zhou Cheng left the door open only if their father paid for their upkeep, forcing the family to face the cost of the arrangement.

• Father Zhuang demanded that Zhendong and Zhenbei move in with Zhuang Chaoying and Huang Ling to prepare for university entrance exams.
• Huang Ling firmly refused, while Granny Zhuang tried to use Xiang Pengfei’s stay as a precedent.
• Xiang Dong attempted to explain that Pengfei’s arrangement was different, but Granny Zhuang silenced him.
• Father Zhuang pressed Zhuang Tunan and Zhou Cheng to support the boys moving in, and Zhou Cheng said he did not object in principle.
• Zhou Cheng insisted that Zhuang Ganmei provide the boys’ grain rations and pay a hundred yuan, arguing that their studies and care would require substantial resources.
• Zhuang Ganmei balked at the proposed payment as Zhou Cheng compared it with the family’s monthly spending.

Zhou Cheng stopped Father Zhuang from pressuring Huang Ling’s family to support Zhen Dong and Zhen Bei, and the family’s meal ended with the restaurant owner waiving the bill after recognizing Zhou Cheng as the provincial science-stream top scorer. After leaving, Father Zhuang realized his wallet was missing and returned to the noodle shop, where his demand to search the waiter sparked an argument.

• Zhou Cheng argued that the family should contribute money toward Zhen Dong and Zhen Bei, and Zhuang Chaoying refused to make Huang Ling’s household bear the burden alone.
• Father Zhuang demanded that Zhuang Chaoying pay the restaurant bill, and Huang Ling reluctantly offered to cover it when he lacked enough money.
• Zhou Cheng stopped Huang Ling and prepared to pay, but the noodle shop owner recognized him and waived the bill in exchange for his opinion of the noodles.
• Father Zhuang discovered his wallet was missing and rushed back to the shop, where he accused the waiter of having it and demanded to search him.
• The waiter refused, and the dispute grew loud enough to draw the restaurant owner over.

Father Zhuang lost the hundred yuan and food coupons he had brought to the noodle shop, while Zhou Cheng secretly took the money and left the empty wallet by the road. After Xiang Dong returned to Gui Province, Zhou Cheng prepared to move back home, but Song Ying asked him to stay longer.

• Father Zhuang accused the waiter of taking his wallet, but the search found nothing and the diners mocked the Zhuang family.
• Zhuang Zhen Bei found Father Zhuang's wallet by the road, and Father Zhuang discovered it was empty.
• The Zhuang family learned that a hundred yuan and grain and meat coupons were missing, while Zhou Cheng privately revealed that he had taken them.
• Father Zhuang searched the street for the money, Zhuang Ganmei later berated the elders at home, and Song Ying returned satisfied with the day's drama.
• Xiang Dong left two hundred yuan with Huang Ling for Xiang Pengfei before taking the train back to Gui Province.
• Zhou Cheng planned to leave the Lin family's home, but Song Ying persuaded him to stay a few more days.

Zhou Cheng and Zhuang Tunan traveled from Suzhou to Shanghai to begin university, parting at the station to head to Fudan and Tongji. Zhou Cheng completed registration at Fudan and met his new roommates, while a helpful upperclassman escorted him to the dormitory.

• Liu Xian visited Zhou Cheng before the semester began and congratulated him on becoming the Provincial College Entrance Exam Top Scorer.
• Li Yiming lent Zhou Cheng and Zhuang Tunan his cargo tricycle, gave each of them imported aviator sunglasses, and took them to the station.
• Zhou Cheng and Zhuang Tunan rode the train to Shanghai and agreed to meet at Zhuang Tunan's university gate the following weekend.
• Zhou Cheng registered at Fudan with help from Yang Hui, an upperclassman who then carried his suitcase to his dorm room.
• Zhou Cheng met roommates Xu Baokun, Cai Ming, and Wang Jianjun, and learned that Xu Baokun and Wang Jianjun were Shanghai locals while Cai Ming came from Jiangxi Province.

Zhou Cheng settled into Fudan as the National Science Top Scorer, drew attention from students and university leaders, and prepared to build connections on campus. He met his older brother Zhuang Tunan at Tongji, where the two exchanged contact details and toured the university.

• Xu Baokun, Wang Jianjun, and Yang Hui recognized Zhou Cheng as the National Science Top Scorer, and Yang Hui’s confidence in pursuing him faded.
• Yang Hui took Zhou Cheng, Wang Jianjun, and Cai Ming to finish their enrollment procedures, and Zhou Cheng treated her to lunch at the cafeteria.
• Wang Yonghong arrived as another Shanghai-local roommate, while Zhou Cheng became prominent at Fudan and agreed to speak at the opening ceremony.
• Zhou Cheng arrived at Tongji University to meet Zhuang Tunan, who seemed more confident and less burdened than before.
• Zhuang Tunan and Zhou Cheng exchanged their dormitory contact details, then Zhuang Tunan showed Zhou Cheng around Tongji.

Zhou Cheng toured Tongji University with Zhuang Tunan and ate with him in the cafeteria, where he recognized Zhuang Tunan’s class monitor, Li Jia. After Zhou Cheng’s bold scrutiny caught Li Jia’s attention, the two returned to their meal, with Zhuang Tunan quietly reproaching his guest for staring.

• Zhou Cheng toured Tongji’s lively campus with Zhuang Tunan and planned to find a place off campus and buy a way to get around.
• Zhuang Tunan treated Zhou Cheng to Tongji cafeteria food, and Zhou Cheng ordered several expensive meat dishes.
• Zhou Cheng recognized Zhuang Tunan’s class monitor, Li Jia, and reflected on her difficult family background and self-reliant nature.
• Li Jia’s roommate pointed out Zhou Cheng staring, and he met Li Jia’s gaze before nodding and turning back to his meal.
• Zhuang Tunan told Zhou Cheng that staring was rude, and Zhou Cheng joked that his good looks made it a form of respect.

Zhou Cheng helped Zhuang Tunan get money for a bicycle, and both brothers settled into university life as their family and neighbors adjusted to their absence. Near New Year's Day, Lin Dongzhe tried to secure a trip to Shanghai by bargaining with Song Ying, then secretly turned to Xiang Pengfei for help.

• Zhou Cheng gave Zhuang Tunan money for a bicycle and encouraged him to consider private tutoring rather than saving a little by assembling one himself.
• Zhuang Tunan encountered Li Jia and her roommate, who were curious about Zhou Cheng, and explained that Zhou Cheng was his younger brother visiting from elsewhere.
• Zhou Cheng spoke as Fudan's freshman representative, while Zhuang Tunan attended Tongji's Mid-Autumn Poetry Gathering and met cultural figures.
• In Suzhou, Song Ying struggled to manage Lin Dongzhe, while Zhuang Chaoying worried over Xiang Pengfei's studies.
• Lin Dongzhe asked to join Huang Ling's New Year's trip to Shanghai, and Song Ying agreed only if he ranked in the top twenty on his exams.
• Knowing he could not meet the condition on his own, Lin Dongzhe secretly approached Xiang Pengfei to discuss another plan.