Chapter Summaries

After Su Can woke from surgery, he learned that the stabbing had drawn the attention of city leaders. His family feared the consequences of the fight, while Mayor Hong Xiaotian realized Municipal Party Secretary Liu Lan had brought an inspection team to the hospital, turning the incident into a political crisis.

• Su Can regained consciousness after receiving seven stitches, and Director Ding Zhaoguo and the head nurse reprimanded him while waiting for city leaders to arrive.
• Zeng Na told Zeng Qu anming about the stabbing, and Su Can's family rushed to the hospital, where Zeng Qu anming blamed Zeng Ke and Su Licheng for the incident.
• Yin Shuying warned that the family might have to pay compensation, while Zeng Qu anming feared the injured student was connected to Wang Jinrong's faction.
• Mayor Hong Xiaotian arrived at the hospital and learned that Municipal Party Secretary Liu Lan was on his way with the visiting inspection team.
• Hong Xiaotian suspected Liu Lan had deliberately escalated the incident to strike at his faction through Zeng Qu anming.

Liu Lan arrived at the hospital with the provincial inspection team after a violent incident at City First Middle School, realizing that the clash between his faction and Hong Xiaotian’s had reached a dangerous point. As officials gathered around the injured student, Wang Jinrong and Zeng Qu anming feared that Wang Jinrong’s nephew had fought with Su Can and stabbed someone.

• Liu Lan recalled his political rise and recognized that Hong Xiaotian’s desperate move had left him feeling powerless.
• Secretary Xiao Wang told Liu Lan that the incident seemed to have begun as a student fight and that police were investigating.
• Liu Lan entered the hospital corridor with Yang Dingsheng and encountered members of Hong Xiaotian’s faction, including Zeng Qu anming and Wang Jinrong.
• Wang Jinrong worried that his nephew Wang Haoran had caused the incident but hesitated to seek his release while the investigation continued.
• Zeng Qu anming saw Wang Jinrong’s pale, trembling state and suspected that Wang Haoran had clashed with Su Can and injured him.

After Su Can and Mao Xiaoshi underwent surgery, city officials and reporters turned Su Can’s intervention in the stabbing into a public story about civic courage. Su Can gave the interviewers the answers they wanted, but the reporter’s final question about how much the knife hurt left him silently anguished.

• The nurse reported that Mao Xiaoshi had severe injuries to both hands, while the doctor said Su Can had suffered a minor abdominal wound and was recovering after surgery.
• Liu Lan, Wang Jinrong, Hong Xiaotian, Yang Dingsheng, and other officials visited Su Can as television cameras recorded the visit.
• Su Can realized officials were presenting his actions as an example of youthful courage after Zhao Lijun investigated the stabbing and reported his findings.
• Su Can answered reporter Zhao’s questions about stopping Chen Chong, brushing off praise and saying he had only done what he should.
• Su Can briefly alarmed Zeng Qu anming and the officials by rejecting their attention, then reassured them with a speech about public duty and fighting evil.
• Reporter Zhao asked whether the knife being pushed back and forth through Su Can’s abdomen had hurt, and Su Can turned away in anguish.

After the investigation cleared the way for reconciliation, Liu Lan and Hong Xiaotian made peace, and Yang Dingsheng proposed a dinner to celebrate Xiahai’s young hero, Su Can. In the hospital, Su Can’s family watched Tang Wu and Chen Lingshan visit him, and their attention left him facing an awkward, wine-like atmosphere.

• Liu Lan apologized to Hong Xiaotian for judging the incident before the investigation was complete, and they agreed that they needed better communication.
• Wang Jinrong thanked Zeng Qu anming for raising Su Can well and proposed bringing their families together so Wang Haoran could learn from him.
• Yang Dingsheng offered to host a dinner celebrating Su Can and the city’s civility initiative, surprising the municipal leaders and inspection team.
• Chen Lingshan, Li Lumei, Tang Wu, and Du Ting visited Su Can in the hospital, and Li Lumei and Du Ting teased him about his bravery and Tang Wu’s concern.
• Su Licheng, Zeng, Yin Shuying, and Zeng Na watched Tang Wu and Chen Lingshan with growing interest, leaving Su Can uneasy about the atmosphere.

After Su Can recovered from the stabbing, his family rejected Chen Chong’s family’s attempt to settle the assault with money, and city officials ordered the case handled severely. Su Can returned to school after the New Year, and the first semester ended with winter break.

• Chen Lingshan praised Su Can to his parents and left the hospital with Li Luomei, Tang Wu, and Du Ting.
• Xiao Rihua arrived with Chen Chong’s mother and uncle, who offered compensation and urged Su Can’s family to accept mediation.
• Zeng He and Su Licheng refused the offer, and Liao Chenguan warned them that mediation was the expected route; Zeng Qu anming left without accepting the check.
• Liao Chenguan learned that city leaders had ordered Chen Chong’s case dealt with severely, and City TV reported on Su Can’s courageous actions.
• City First Middle School disciplined staff, while Chen Chong was expelled and sentenced to several months of criminal detention.
• Su Can went home to recover, returned to school after the New Year, and began winter break after the first-semester exams.

After Su Can was honored for intervening in the attack, his reputation at school grew and Xiao Rihua finally let go of his resentment toward him. After the end-of-term exams, Su Can agreed to join Chen Lingshan’s outing, and Tang Wu surprised everyone by saying she had time too.

• Su Can answered Xiao Rihua’s question confidently, while Xue Yiyang described Su Can’s heroism to classmates and drew attention to himself.
• Xiao Rihua heard colleagues grumble about his bonus, but he forgave Su Can and defended his youthful behavior.
• Ding Juntao commended Su Can at a school assembly, and Su Can’s classmates recognized his growing standing.
• After the final exams, Su Can walked downstairs with Tang Wu and spoke with her about Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code.
• Chen Lingshan reminded Su Can of his promise to join an outing, and he agreed.
• Chen Lingshan invited Tang Wu along, and Tang Wu accepted, saying she had time.

Su Can and Tang Wu attended a karaoke gathering where Que Junhao, Waihai Middle School’s top entrance-exam scorer, tried to belittle Su Can and impress the girls. The two groups became divided, and Que Junhao proposed a card game with the No. 1 High School students.

• Tang Wu arrived at Ding Sheng Karaoke City, and Su Can joined her inside.
• Wang Lu introduced her boyfriend, Que Junhao, to Su Can and Tang Wu and described him as the city’s previous entrance-exam champion.
• Que Junhao shook Su Can’s hand and mocked him as someone who played the hero, but Su Can ignored the jab.
• Que Junhao’s uncle offered to cover the gathering, while Que Junhao neglected Wang Lu and sought the attention of Chen Lingshan and Tang Wu.
• Chen Lingshan, Li Lumei, Su Can, and Tang Wu gathered together after Que Junhao’s group ordered the drinks without offering them a menu.
• Que Junhao suggested playing cards with the No. 1 High School students.

Su Can turned Que Junhao’s drinking game against him, then defeated him in a singing duel and helped the students from Waihai Middle School and City First High School mingle. As everyone sang together, Su Can shared a charged moment with Tang Wu on the sofa.

• Li Lumei lost several rounds of cards to Que Junhao and drank until Chen Lingshan stepped in, while Su Can joined the game.
• Su Can exploited Que Junhao’s classmates’ play and forced Que Junhao and his friends to drink heavily, prompting Que Junhao to end the card game.
• Chen Lingshan sang a Backstreet Boys song and impressed the room with her clear voice.
• Que Junhao challenged Su Can to trade song choices, but he struggled with Su Can’s picks while Su Can sang confidently and impressed the students.
• The students from Waihai Middle School and City First High School sang together, and Tang Wu leaned close to Su Can on the sofa.

Su Can and Tang Wu left the karaoke room to walk beneath the stars, where they acknowledged how much Su Can had changed and grew closer despite their earlier awkwardness. When they returned, they found Wang Lu confronting Que Junhao over his breakup, and her thrown beer hit a middle-aged man who grabbed Que Junhao in anger.

• Tang Wu received messages from her family, called them outside the karaoke club, and then walked with Su Can through Xiahai City.
• Tang Wu told Su Can that he had changed so much that she barely recognized him, and they exchanged teasing remarks about her study materials.
• Su Can and Tang Wu returned to the second-floor corridor and saw Wang Lu demanding an explanation from Que Junhao for breaking up with her.
• Que Junhao rejected Wang Lu's promise to wait for him, and Wang Lu ran into the room in tears before charging back out with a mug of beer.
• Wang Lu's beer drenched a middle-aged man and the woman with him, so the man seized Que Junhao by the neck and blamed him.

Feng Youfu attacked Que Junhao after Wang Lu accidentally drenched him with beer, and the confrontation escalated when Que Junhao’s uncle arrived with several men. Su Can stepped in, and Feng Youfu’s fear of Su Can’s uncertain connections left the conflict poised for Su Can to take control.

• Wang Lu accidentally poured beer over Feng Youfu, who grabbed Que Junhao and began beating and scolding him.
• Wang Lu and the Waihai boys tried to intervene, but Feng Youfu overpowered them while Que Junhao called for his uncle.
• Feng Youfu recognized Su Can from the Bayi Kaixuan Hotel reception and became wary of his possible connection to Miss Lin.
• Que Junhao’s uncle arrived with several men, but Que Junhao shoved Wang Lu to the floor and blamed her for the trouble.
• Su Can approached Feng Youfu, put an arm around his shoulders, and quietly agreed that Que Junhao needed to be taught a lesson.

Su Can turned Que Junhao’s attack against him by prompting Feng Youfu to fight back, then reunited with Cheng Lan, a former classmate working as a hostess. After the police mediated the brawl, Su Can left with Tang Wu, while Cheng Lan resolved to stop giving up on herself.

• Su Can whispered to Feng Youfu, who caught Que Junhao’s flying kick and beat him as the two groups brawled around them.
• Su Can recognized the hostess as Cheng Lan, one of the twin sisters who had supported Tang Wu in middle school.
• Cheng Lan realized Su Can and Tang Wu were together, and she urged them to be happy as they left in a taxi.
• Cheng Lan remembered Tang Wu’s advice and resolved to stop giving up on herself.
• The police mediated the incident, Feng Youfu avoided serious consequences, and Que Junhao’s family failed to retaliate against him.
• Wang Lu permanently broke up with Que Junhao, while she and Li Lumei occasionally discussed Su Can during winter break.

Su Can’s family shop drew a crowd of admiring middle school girls, and an awkward accident brought him and Wang Yue closer. The moment was interrupted when Urban Management officers arrived to confiscate the shop’s sun umbrellas, leaving Su Licheng trying to stop them.

• Su Licheng praised Su Can’s shrewdness while Wang Yue admired his abilities and teased him about his popularity.
• A group of middle school students visited the shop, and the girls blushed around Su Can while Wang Yue joked that he was popular with them.
• Wang Yue pressed Su Can to persuade his mother to buy her mother’s shop, and he said he would bring it up when the time was right.
• When items fell from a shelf, Su Can accidentally struck Wang Yue’s breast while trying to catch them, and she blushed and complained that it hurt.
• Urban Management officers arrived in trucks and tossed one of the shop’s sun umbrellas onto a truck.
• Su Licheng grabbed the remaining umbrella as clerk Liu Zheng ordered it confiscated and dismissed his pleas.

Su Can confronted Liu Zheng and the urban management officers after they targeted his family’s stationery shop and confiscated a sun umbrella. Police detectives Gong Jun and Yang Daoyuan intervened, but bureau chief Ma Luohua ordered the officers to continue confiscating the property, leaving the standoff unresolved.

• Liu Zheng ordered his auxiliaries to confiscate the shop’s umbrellas, and Su Licheng stood in their way as the officers prepared for a confrontation.
• Su Can challenged the officers over their selective enforcement, drawing support from people at nearby shops.
• Detectives Gong Jun and Yang Daoyuan arrived, recognized Su Can, and asked Liu Zheng to return the confiscated umbrella.
• Ma Luohua learned that two police officers were intervening and ordered his men to confiscate the umbrella anyway.

Gong Jun and Yang Daoyuan arrested Liu Zheng and another municipal enforcement officer after they attacked Su Licheng, ending the threat to Su Can’s family shop. Later, Su Can and Wang Ming shared milk tea, and Wang Ming kissed his cheek as a playful reward while suggesting he help open another shop.

• Liu Zheng ordered his officers to confiscate the sunshade, and two of them attacked Su Licheng when he refused to let go.
• Gong Jun subdued and handcuffed Liu Zheng, while Yang Daoyuan arrested the officer Su Licheng had punched.
• The municipal enforcement bureau backed down after learning the officers were Zhao Lijun’s men, and Su Can’s family shop remained undisturbed.
• Su Can and Wang Ming talked over milk tea about her reading and her hopes for the future.
• Wang Ming kissed Su Can’s cheek and offered a greater reward if he helped open a branch shop.

Su Can’s visit to Engineer Zhao helped persuade the retired engineer to join the Xinghai Square project, strengthening Su Licheng’s team. On the way to collect their report cards, Su Can rode the bus with Lin Luoran, who told him that he was not a dream to her.

• Su Can borrowed textbooks from Engineer Zhao, whose surprise at Su Can’s admission to City First Middle School changed his opinion of Su Can and his father’s work.
• Engineer Zhao joined the Xinghai Square construction effort, helping the engineers resolve design problems and produce blueprints.
• Su Can boarded the Route 8 Bus to collect his report card and found Lin Luoran aboard, collecting hers and her brother’s.
• Su Can and Lin Luoran sat together and talked about Wang Weiwei, Lin Zouwen, and her choice to stay in Xiahai City.
• Lin Luoran told Su Can that she did not know whether everything was a dream, but that he was not a dream to her.

Su Can ran into Chen Lingshan while walking with Lin Luoran, and the two girls competed for his attention before Lin Luoran took his arm and led him away. At school, Su Can reunited with Xiao Rihua, who awkwardly asked about his recovery and praised his results.

• Chen Lingshan approached Su Can and invited him to join her and her classmates for barbecue, while Lin Luoran declined to come along.
• Lin Luoran learned from Chen Lingshan that Su Can had been stabbed and asked whether he had recovered.
• Chen Lingshan pinched Su Can's abdomen and told him to protect himself, prompting Lin Luoran to take his arm and lead him toward the school gate.
• Lin Luoran and Su Can blushed as they walked together, then teased each other about whether they had ever held a boy's or girl's arm before.
• Su Can encountered Xiao Rihua, who asked whether his stabbing injury had healed and told him his results were good.

Su Can celebrated his improved exam ranking and reassured Tang Wu that he hoped to attend the same university as her. Later, he outmaneuvered Zhao Lu’s attempts to provoke him at a department store and left with the cigarettes he had actually come to buy.

• Xiao Rihua announced that Su Can ranked eighth in the class, Xue Yiyang placed in the forties, and Tang Wu remained first.
• Xue Yiyang teased Su Can and Tang Wu before leaving them together, and Su Can told Tang Wu he hoped to attend the same university as her.
• Su Can encountered Zhao Lu and his companions at a department store, where Zhao Lu began buying items Su Can examined at double the price.
• Su Can calmly let Zhao Lu buy the selected goods, then collected his checked bag of cigarettes and waved it at Zhao Lu as he left.
• Zhao Lu and his companions realized Su Can had tricked them into buying a pile of unwanted goods.

Su Can used a gift and his connection to Zeng Qu anming to stop Wang Weidong from targeting his family's stationery shop, then spent the evening impressing Liu Rui and Xue Yiyang with his gaming skills. Wang Weidong agreed to direct office-supply business to the shop, while Su Can left the internet café after dominating their games.

• Wang Weidong decided to retaliate against Su Can's family's stationery shop after his men were taken away by criminal investigators.
• Su Can brought Wang Weidong cartons of Soft Yun and Red Plum cigarettes and said his eldest uncle had sent them to apologize.
• Su Can named Zeng Qu anming as his uncle, prompting Wang Weidong to call Zeng and ask whether the bureau could buy office supplies from the shop.
• Zeng Qu anming confirmed the shop was an authorized municipal supplier, and Wang Weidong agreed to send it the bureau's business.
• Su Can joined Liu Rui and Xue Yiyang at an internet café and beat them at Quake, Half-Life, and StarCraft with an impressive Zerg strategy.

During Lunar New Year, Su Can’s family celebrated his eldest uncle’s career advancement and the success of Su Licheng’s business, while Su Can received money and noticed his cousins’ reactions to the family’s new wealth. The evening ended with Su Can and Zeng Yuan staying at Zeng Na’s house, where Zeng Yuan opened a drawer and startled Su Can with whatever was inside.

• Su Can reflected on his progress through high school textbooks and the importance of education beyond earning money.
• At the New Year gathering, Zeng Qu anming encouraged Su Licheng to overcome difficulties on the Xinghai Construction Project, while the family discussed its earnings of 150,000 yuan.
• Su Can noticed Mei Lan and Jia Zheng’s excitement over the family’s profits, and Zeng Qu anming gave him 2,000 yuan in New Year’s money.
• Zeng Na teased Su Can about his popularity with girls and invited him and Zeng Yuan to stay overnight at her home.
• After Zeng Na went to sleep, Zeng Yuan remarked on her appearance, beckoned Su Can over, and opened a drawer beneath the bed, leaving Su Can shocked by what he saw.

Su Can spent New Year with his relatives and reflected on his changed life, then persuaded his parents to consider opening a branch store. The family agreed to pursue a storefront near City No. 3 Middle School with Wang Ming’s family, leaving preparations to begin.

• Su Can and Zeng Yuan rummaged through Zeng Na’s underwear drawer, and Zeng Na later suspected both of them had touched her things.
• Su Can learned that Lin Luoran had left town for the New Year and wondered whether she would return when school resumed.
• Su Can proposed expanding the family business, arguing that a branch would ease his parents’ workload and increase their income.
• Su Can told his parents that Wang Ming’s family would provide a storefront outside City No. 3 Middle School, while his family handled the renovation and received seventy percent of the profits.
• Zeng He agreed to move forward with the branch, and she asked Su Can to encourage Wang Yue to pursue further studies.