"Over 300 points?"

Lin Xian remembered very clearly that in their year of the gaokao (National College Entrance Examination), over 300 points wouldn't even get you into a vocational college, let alone be admitted to Hunan University.

"Yes." The head teacher looked a little melancholy.

"That year, you were already filling out your college applications online. He didn't even reach the admission line for vocational colleges, so he wasn't even qualified to apply… So how could he possibly be admitted to Hunan University? Not to mention Hunan University, no university could have admitted him."

Lin Xian understood.

He rummaged through the file box. Inside were photos of admission letters printed by the head teacher. He saw many familiar faces, including his own and Gao Yang's vocational college admission letter.

He flipped all the way to the bottom, where there was a single folded piece of printed paper.

Lin Xian opened it up…

As expected.

It was Zhou Duanyun's admission letter.

Hunan University, Computer Science major.

Even from this printed photo, Lin Xian couldn't tell if it was real or fake. It had all the elements, including the president's signature and the school's seal.

But on the internet these days, creating a fake admission letter is not difficult. It's just a matter of photoshopping and taking the time to print it in color.

But forging this kind of thing is useless…

Taking the admission letter to the school to register is just a formality.

The key is that the school has your admission information. In fact, even if you lose your admission letter, it doesn't affect your ability to register at the university.

So.

Lin Xian roughly understood the whole story of Zhou Duanyun's affair—

He most likely created a fake admission letter out of vanity or for some other reason.

Because Zhou Duanyun didn't have many friends in the class and didn't communicate much, no one cared about him.

And when the head teacher asked everyone for photos of their admission letters, Zhou Duanyun definitely didn't want to send one.

But when his mother found out, she traveled a long distance to show the head teacher her proud son's admission letter.

The head teacher naturally knew that Zhou Duanyun's admission letter was fake. He knew better than anyone how many points Zhou Duanyun had scored.

But…

Facing this happy and excited unfortunate mother, he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth, and so he kept it a secret.

"Later, I also asked some classmates about Zhou Duanyun."

The head teacher turned around and continued,

"After all, his admission letter was fake, so he definitely couldn't go to university. I was definitely worried that this child would go astray and get into trouble outside, so I indirectly asked people about him."

"But everyone didn't know much about him. They all thought he had gone to university, and some even said that he had won the lottery after the gaokao and bought a bunch of brand-name clothes, an Apple phone, a high-end computer, and even an expensive belt."

"But actually… the lottery thing is also fake."

Lin Xian narrowed his eyes.

"Also fake?"

Was anything real about this Zhou Duanyun? How could everything be fake?

"The reason I know this is fake is because when his mother came to deliver the admission letter, I talked to her a lot. His mother had worked hard her whole life and hadn't saved much money, but there was some compensation money from when Zhou Duanyun's father died, and she had always kept it for Zhou Duanyun to go to university. When she found out that her son had been admitted to a prestigious university, she took it all out and gave it to Zhou Duanyun so he could study hard."

"Those brand-name clothes, shoes, phones, computers, etc. that Zhou Duanyun bought were all bought with this money. As for why everyone thought he had won the lottery, I don't know, and I don't know if Zhou Duanyun said it himself."

"Since then, you've all gone far away, and Zhou Duanyun has also left his hometown. Sometimes when your classmates come to see me, I just casually ask about him. Most of them don't know what Zhou Duanyun is doing. Some who know only have some gossip, saying that he's involved in pyramid schemes, saying that he dropped out of school, saying that he's rich… Anyway, there are all kinds of rumors. I don't know exactly how he is now."

……

Lin Xian didn't say anything.

Listening to the head teacher, Zhou Duanyun's life was far less glamorous than he described, and even a little embarrassing. But even if the admission letter and lottery ticket were fake, that Rolls-Royce Phantom couldn't be fake, right?

Even if it was rented, it would cost several thousand yuan a day. The person who could afford to rent it was definitely not an ordinary person. What's more, Zhou Duanyun's car was driven every day, so it was obvious that it was his own.

It was a fact that Zhou Duanyun was now rich.

But how he became rich was still a mystery, and an unusual one at that. It must contain the secret that he wanted to know.

"The current Zhou Duanyun is doing well." Lin Xian said truthfully,

"He's very rich. He should be a big boss. He drives a Rolls-Royce Phantom and has a special driver."

"Is that so!"

The head teacher smiled happily when he heard this news.

"Really? If it's true, then I'm relieved!"

"It's true." Lin Xian nodded.

"We saw him at the class reunion. Zhou Duanyun is considered the best-off of all our classmates."

"That's good… that's good…" The head teacher's expression completely relaxed, and he lit another cigarette with a smile.

"Well, no matter what, in my eyes, you students are like my own children. Teachers all hope you're doing well. No matter what happened before… as long as you're doing well now! Zhou Duanyun is also an unfortunate child. I can understand his actions back then."

Lin Xian asked the head teacher who he had heard the rumors about Zhou Duanyun winning the lottery and being involved in pyramid schemes from.

He had a feeling…

Perhaps these disgraceful things were Zhou Duanyun's real life.

Life is full of disappointments; failure runs through everything, and frustration is the norm; where are there so many glories and legends?

Even the autobiographies of famous people gloss over the important things and offer hindsight, let alone the life of an ordinary person?

The head teacher told Lin Xian that he had heard these things from Zhou Le.

Zhou Le and Zhou Duanyun grew up in the same village. Zhou Le attended a vocational college in Hangzhou and worked in his hometown after graduation, so he had more contact with the head teacher.

After saying goodbye to the head teacher, Lin Xian contacted Zhou Le.

Zhou Le had something to do during the Chinese New Year, so he didn't attend the class reunion. Lin Xian used the excuse that he was just passing by and invited his old classmate to dinner.

Lin Xian was very popular in high school, and Zhou Le was very happy. They found a place for a drink at noon.

Classmates always have endless things to say.

Zhou Le asked a lot about the class reunion, so the topic naturally turned to Zhou Duanyun… Because he was the most dazzling person at the entire class reunion, it was unavoidable.

"I heard you two are from the same village?" Lin Xian asked.

"Yes, although we both have the surname Zhou, we're actually not from the same branch." Zhou Le took a sip of wine and said,

"Zhou Duanyun's father died of illness when he was young… The family lived very hard, and you know how it is in the countryside, it's always easy to be bullied when there is no man in the family."

"I only found out about these things when I grew up. The land of Zhou Duanyun's family was basically occupied by the surrounding neighbors, and there was no difference between that and forced occupation. Every time they plowed the land, they would lean a little bit more towards their side, and in the end, Zhou Duanyun's family was left with very little."

"The homestead was the same. Zhou Duanyun's family didn't have money to build a house, and the surrounding neighbors didn't make sense when they built their houses, and they occupied all kinds of land. But what could Zhou Duanyun and his mother do? The mother and son depended on each other, and no one supported them, so they were always bullied."

"Then where did they get their income from?" Lin Xian asked.

Listening to Zhou Le's account, Lin Xian finally understood why Zhou Duanyun was so poor back then, no wonder he didn't even have decent clothes.

The matter of grabbing land for building houses is also common in rural areas, and many conflicts arise from this. But Zhou Duanyun didn't have a father, so he really couldn't do anything when he encountered those domineering neighbors.

"Zhou Duanyun's mother is really a very strong person…" Zhou Le sighed,

"She just reclaimed some wasteland that others didn't want and planted peanuts."

"Over time, when she reclaimed the land, others would take the land back, so she would have to go and reclaim other wasteland… In this way, Zhou Duanyun's mother really had it easy…"

"She worked hard, one peanut at a time, to raise Zhou Duanyun."