Chapter 10: You were not a dream
Su Can woke to bright sunlight streaming through the window, filling his room with light. It had been a long time since he had slept straight through until nine or ten. The first semester of his freshman year of high school had ended just like that, and his advance study had already given him enough command of the material to handle the next semester. In physics, history, mathematics, and English, he had even moved on to the first semester of his sophomore year.
He had borrowed the books from the family of a student in their work unit who had been three years ahead of him and had already graduated. The father, surnamed Zhao, was a retired engineer who had had his son late in life. His son attended a university out of town. When Su Can came to borrow the books, the old man had been rather reluctant. He had even made a special call to his son and only slowly agreed to lend them after getting his confirmation.
Engineer Zhao had always had a certain pedantic sourness about him. His wife taught at a middle school, so he considered theirs an intellectual family. His son had been the most academically accomplished of all the work unit's children. He had graduated from No. 2 High School and entered a key university in western China, which gave his father considerable pride. He had always looked down on the other employees' children.
He particularly scorned the way Xue Yiyang's family had used connections and paid to get Xue Yiyang into No. 1 High School. Back when his own son had wanted to apply there, his score had fallen a mere four points short of that year's cutoff. Their family could not afford the money,