The period between the release of exam results and the application for colleges saw the provincial top scorers experiencing a series of events.
Ding Yun and her grandson went through them all.
For instance, reporters’ interviews and internet celebrities seeking to leverage their fame.
As well as rewards from their high school, the county education bureau, the municipal education bureau, even the provincial education bureau, and from certain local enterprises. Furthermore, admissions officers from various universities would contact them by phone or even visit.
However, because Ding Yun and her grandson had already made their choices, they wouldn't change their minds just because a school offered a few tens of thousands more in scholarship money or promised more freedom.
Therefore, the phone calls from university admissions offices had no impact on them. In the end, Ding Yun and her grandson filled out their applications according to their original plans.
With the college entrance examination period over, all that remained was to wait for the admission letters to arrive.
Concurrently, as the college entrance examination season concluded, the related public attention naturally dissipated rapidly.
...
While Ding Yun and her grandson were waiting for their admission letters, many people who were closely related to them but had little contact with them in normal times felt a mix of complex emotions.
This primarily included relatives from their families.
And Liu Changan's biological mother.
After the original body's husband passed away and half of the compensation money was given to his parents, their interactions had completely faded, maintaining only superficial contact at most, meeting during holidays.
When her son died in a car accident and her daughter became paralyzed, they stopped even those superficial interactions.
It was a genuine fear that the original body would ask for money.
They also feared that the original body brought bad luck and would implicate them.
From then on, they didn't even gather for holidays. The original body's in-laws even explicitly stated that they should no longer be in contact, each living their own lives. They shouldn't expect any help from them, nor would they expect the original body to support them in old age.
After the original body's New Year's gifts to her in-laws were thrown back at her the year her son died, she stopped seeking favor and completely severed ties with them. This break lasted for over a decade.
The duration of their estrangement was as long as her grandson had been alive.
Consequently, even though the original body and her grandson both became top scorers, only some distant relatives made special calls to offer congratulations; no close relatives appeared.
They were probably too embarrassed to come.
Nor did they believe they could gain any advantage.
However, while they were too embarrassed to appear in person, they were not reserved online. The discussions online that claimed the original body had a harsh fate, was a jinx, cursed her husband and son, and while it was good she became a top scorer now, it was uncertain how many more years she would live, mostly originated from them.
If not for the lack of widespread agreement and the limited impact, and because Ding Yun couldn't be bothered with them, the situation might not have remained peaceful.
Instead, it would have escalated to a legal confrontation.
However, the other party, who was experiencing complex emotions, not only became restless but also took action.
This was Liu Changan's biological mother.
His biological mother, whom he hadn't seen in over a decade – Xu Ping.
By this time, she had remarried and had other children, a son in high school and a daughter in the third year of junior high. To be honest, if not for Ding Yun and her grandson appearing on a trending topic and much of the related information being dug up, she wouldn't have known that Liu Changan was her son. Now that she knew, her emotions were naturally difficult to quell.
After all, Liu Changan was her biological son.
And he was a top-scoring son.
There was a significant difference between a successful son and an unsuccessful one, especially when compared to her current eldest son who paid extra fees for his high school enrollment, and her daughter, whose ability to enroll in high school was uncertain and might require further fees.
This made her even more satisfied and deeply moved.
Such a son was the kind of son she envisioned.
If it weren't for her second marriage husband and her other children, she would have wanted to rush directly to Ding Yun's place for a mother-son reunion. However, although she didn't go directly to Ding Yun to reunite with her son, she managed to contact Ding Yun and hoped to speak with her son.
In response, Ding Yun, after consulting her grandson's thoughts, did not refuse and provided the contact details.
This allowed mother and son to communicate privately.
As for the process, it didn't seem particularly pleasant.
Liu Changan ultimately stated that since there had been no contact for so many years, there was no need to suddenly reconnect. If he was alone and without support in his old age, he could call again, and he would pay the legal amount for filial support.
There was no further news after that.
Fortunately, neither the original body's close relatives nor Liu Changan's birth mother were particularly shameless. Most importantly, Ding Yun and her grandson had not yet achieved fame and fortune or amassed immense wealth, likely not enough to make them lose face and do anything at this moment. Thus, they did not cause any distress to Ding Yun and her grandson.
The matter soon subsided.
What followed was the arrival of the admission letters.
And Ding Yun and her grandson began their preparations.
Preparing to move, directly to a location near their university.
Liu Changan's situation was simpler; he would simply live with Ding Yun for the time being. When their university started, he could move directly into the school dormitory. Ding Yun, due to her special circumstances, had notified the school in advance that she would not be staying in the dormitory. After renting a place and settling her daughter, she began visiting nearby hospitals to look for suitable caregivers.
Although caregivers could be found online, the agencies at this time were too predatory and full of scammers. She didn't mind spending more money, but she feared finding someone who would abuse her patient. For various reasons of concern, Ding Yun had to find a caregiver herself. For example, she would visit nearby hospitals to observe the situation.
She would discreetly inquire with other patients.
She would gather information about the reputation of local caregivers.
Then, based on her needs, she would contact someone she felt good about and reach an agreement.
The salary was twelve thousand yuan a month.
She would only be needed during the day, not at night.
If this were a small town, or if the patient were not completely paralyzed, the salary would certainly not be this high. However, the city where Ding Yun was attending university was by no means a small one.
Furthermore, caring for a completely paralyzed patient was indeed much more troublesome than caring for someone with partial paralysis.
Therefore, this price was entirely reasonable.
It was even considerably cheaper than what some professional agencies and intermediaries introduced.
Ding Yun, with the hundreds of thousands she had earned from translation work over the past year, coupled with the recent rewards she had received, could afford this price.
Thus, they quickly reached an agreement.
Following this, Ding Yun began teaching the caregiver how to look after her daughter. The teaching here primarily meant informing her about her daughter's daily habits to reduce the adjustment period for both parties.
This would help the caregiver become familiar with the specific situation.
It would also facilitate her daughter's acceptance.