One week later, the results of the high school entrance exams were finally released.
Liang Zhou arrived home, dusty and tired from travel. He handed the things he was carrying to Uncle He, scanned the living room, and asked, "Have you checked the scores yet?"
"No, we were waiting for you to come back, young master."
Aunt Liu was nervously guarding the telephone, continuously rubbing Yu Shulin's hand to comfort him. "Don't be nervous, Shulin. Relax. It's okay if the scores aren't good. Everyone knows you're a good kid who loves to study."
"I'm not nervous," Yu Shulin replied, feeling rather helpless. When he looked up and saw Liang Zhou striding into the room, the sadness in his heart practically threatened to overflow.
"Brother, you're back," he greeted stiffly, clutching his exam admission ticket even tighter in his right hand... This was so embarrassing.
"Mm." Liang Zhou gave him a curt nod, his face serious. He walked over, patted Yu Shulin's head from behind, circled around, and sat down beside him. He then reached out toward Aunt Liu. "Give me the phone."
Aunt Liu hurriedly pushed the phone over, patting her chest as a wave of relief slightly eased her tension.
Without giving Yu Shulin any chance to object, Liang Zhou decisively took the phone, put it on speaker, and began dialing the number from the sheet of paper Uncle He handed over.
Uncle He, who appeared the calmest, secretly took out his reading glasses, put them on, and squinted at the telephone as if trying to see a flower bloom from it.
Yu Shulin looked at one person, then another, and finally at Liang Zhou's handsome profile. Defeated, his shoulders slumped. He had known for the past two days that the scores would come out today. Originally, he had planned to secretly check them using his cell phone. But despite all his planning, he never expected his phone would run out of credit and get suspended today! To make matters worse, when he went downstairs to use the landline in the living room, he was unfortunately caught red-handed by Aunt Liu. Then Aunt Liu told Uncle He, Uncle He notified Liang Zhou, and coincidentally, Liang Zhou had cut his business trip short and rushed home... A simple score check had somehow turned into a full-family mobilization.
If his scores were good, it would be one thing. But the problem was his results... were terrible.
The call connected quickly. After a series of automated electronic prompts, Liang Zhou reached out to Yu Shulin. "Give me your admission ticket."
Yu Shulin handed it over and hung his head.
After inputting the ticket number, the electronic female voice began announcing the scores.
"Chinese, 78. Mathematics, 102. Science composite... English, 12. Total score..."
English, 12 points... Yu Shulin's ears gradually turned red. Although his expression remained somewhat composed, his head drooped even lower. The results were indeed awful. Would Uncle He and the others be very disappointed? What about Liang Zhou? Would he think Yu Shulin was a bad kid... Just when he had finally managed to fit into this family...
"A bit unbalanced in subjects."
The low, pleasant male voice broke the heavy silence in the room. Yu Shulin's head snapped up, his surprise unmistakable. "J-just unbalanced?"
Liang Zhou frowned, patted his head, found the sensation agreeable, and ruffled his hair. "You're too severely unbalanced. A cram school isn't suitable. I'll have He Long hire you a private tutor."
After the shock came overwhelming joy. He wasn't being looked down on or blamed... His expression brightened bit by bit, revealing a lovely smile as he nodded. "Okay. I'll listen to whatever you say, brother." This outcome was really... too good.
Liang Zhou also smiled. Although it wasn't very obvious on his face, his eyes softened considerably as he replied in a low voice, "Mm."
The matter of hiring a tutor was settled just like that. Two days later, a gentle middle-aged female teacher was brought home by He Long, and Yu Shulin officially began his tutoring life.
Liang Zhou was still very busy, reportedly rushing to finish the final few scenes as his new film was nearing completion.
The way the two spent time together also evolved, starting from exchanging text messages to talking on the phone once a day. When he wasn't too busy, Liang Zhou would also find time to check Yu Shulin's homework. Gradually, their interactions became more and more natural.
The summer vacation passed in a rush. In late August, Liang Zhou finally wrapped up the last scenes of his new film and several important public appearances, and began to wholeheartedly help Yu Shlin choose a high school.
"How about this one? B University Affiliated High School. The teaching staff is quite good." Liang Zhou pulled out the promotional brochure for the affiliated school and tapped it.
Yu Shulin shook his head, continuing to memorize vocabulary words with his head down. "It's too far from home. I'd have to board if I went there." He cherished the familial bond with Liang Zhou and didn't really want to be apart.
Liang Zhou thought for a moment, then nodded. He glanced at Yu Shulin diligently writing away and tossed the B University Affiliated High School materials into the trash bin.
"Then this one, the Foreign Language School. Bilingual teaching. It would be very helpful for your English studies." He flipped through the pile and pulled out another set of materials.
Yu Shulin finished writing the last word, checked it over, put his things away, and leaned over to look at the brochure Liang Zhou was holding. He shook his head again. "Not good. I don't like their teaching model."
Liang Zhou looked at the foreigner on the brochure who was grinning somewhat creepily, then at the well-behaved Yu Shulin beside him. He frowned, folded the brochure to cover the foreigner's face, and threw it into the trash bin. "Then we won't choose this one."
Yu Shulin nodded, took out a physics test paper, and buried his head in it.
Liang Zhou continued flipping through the materials. As he did, his expression grew increasingly grim. On paper, they all seemed like good schools, but upon closer thought, each one had some drawback or another.
Yu Shulin waited for a while without hearing him speak, looked up puzzled, and saw him frowning, looking quite troubled. After thinking for a moment, Yu Shulin reached over, pulled out a brochure, and pointed at it. "How about this one? The school is relatively new, but I've heard the teaching quality is good. It's also close to home, just a twenty-minute bus ride away."
Liang Zhou's frown deepened, his lips pressed into a thin line. He scrutinized the brochure from top to bottom with a look of disdain and decisively threw it into the trash bin. "That area is under development, with construction going on all the time. The learning environment is poor, and the neighborhood is chaotic. Not good."
Yu Shulin gave him a helpless look, nodded, and lowered his head to continue with his homework.
Aunt Liu had been secretly watching for a while. Although she was happy to see the young master talking more, seeing the two brothers unable to settle on a school made her anxious too. She brought out the simmered white fungus and lotus seed soup she had prepared, carefully set it down on the coffee table avoiding the scattered materials, and cautiously suggested, "Why not go to City No.2 High School, where you studied, young master? It's close to home too. It's only a fifteen-minute bike ride to and from school. Very convenient."
Liang Zhou's brow relaxed slightly. He dug through the pile of brochures, pulled out the information for City No.2 High School, and stared thoughtfully at the words "strict school ethos" printed on it.
Yu Shulin looked up, somewhat surprised. "Aunt Liu, is that the City No.2 High School? The famously difficult one to get into?"
Aunt Liu nodded, placing a bowl of soup by his hand. "Yes, that school is excellent, and it's close to home. Don't do your homework for now. Have some soup and take a break before continuing."
Yu Shulin put away his test paper, took the soup, thanked her, and shook his head. "That school is good, alright, but it seems very hard to get in through connections..." He hadn't considered City No.2 High School, but hearing how difficult it was to enter, he had given up on the idea.
"No backdoor dealings." Liang Zhou set down the brochure, picked up the bowl of snow fungus soup, and took a sip. "What was your score on the last quiz?"
Yu Shulin reported his grade and looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean, no backdoor dealings?"
Liang Zhou tapped the information about City No.2 High School, considered the score Yu Shulin had just given, and nodded. "Your score is sufficient. No need to deliberate further. You'll attend City No.2 High. Prepare yourself; you're coming out with me tomorrow."
"For what?"
"To visit my old high school teacher with me. We'll ask him to help figure something out."
"..." Isn't that still essentially a backdoor deal?
