Cutting-Edge Technology R&D Center

Chapter 5: Lan Wei

“What are you getting at?” Mr. Zhang listened to his wife’s words with a helpless, wry smile. “What I mean is, Xiao Hao’s grades are definitely more than just being in the top 100 in the school. I reckon if Xiao Hao wants to come in first, it’s just a matter of whether he wants to or not.” Mr. Zhang felt a pang of emotion; this was indeed something he hadn’t anticipated. He had originally assumed that Wang Hao’s academic performance was limited to the top 100 because he was distracted by other pursuits. He held Wang Hao’s musical prowess in high regard—after all, he had hired numerous music teachers for Zhang Xin and Zhang Nan, yet the two children’s evaluations of those teachers paled in comparison to Wang Hao’s. In the end, he simply stopped hiring music teachers to tutor the two children. Instead, he used the summer and winter breaks to take Zhang Xin and Zhang Nan to Ganzhou City to seek guidance from Wang Hao. And sure enough, this decision paid off immediately—one summer vacation proved far more effective than three years of lessons with a music teacher. He wasn’t a rigid man, and Wang Hao was very sensible. He stopped focusing on grades; in his words, as long as Wang Hao was happy, that was all that mattered. It was precisely this decision that made Zhang Xin and Zhang Nan deeply envious. Every time they fought back against their father, demanding more freedom, he would dismiss them with a single sentence: “With a brother as talented as yours, you don’t even need to go to school.” “What do you know?” Zhang’s mother paused, then asked. Mr. Zhang didn’t hold back; he recounted what he’d learned from Uncle Zhen, leaving all three of them stunned. “Did I hear that right? Are you saying Xiao Hao taught last year’s top student in Xijiang Province?” Mrs. Zhang’s gaze grew vacant, as this completely contradicted the image of Wang Hao she had in her mind. She had witnessed Wang Hao’s musical prowess—it was indeed remarkable—but while his academic performance wasn’t bad, it certainly wasn’t outstanding. Her son and daughter were both ranked in the top three of their grade at Changnan City’s First High School, so she naturally assumed that Wang Hao, who ranked 100th in his class, had nothing particularly commendable about his academic performance. Like Mr. Zhang, she acknowledged Wang Hao’s musical prowess, but now she was suddenly hearing that he had produced a provincial top scorer as early as a year ago. As teachers themselves, they were well aware of the difficulty involved. They were university professors, yet even if the two of them had spent a whole year working together, they likely wouldn’t have been able to produce a provincial top scorer. This comes down to breadth of knowledge. With so many subjects in high school, even if the two of them collaborated, they couldn’t possibly be experts in every single one. Yet here was someone who had actually produced a provincial top scorer. “No way, bro… is he really that good?” Zhang Nan said, looking utterly incredulous. Coaching a provincial top scorer was far harder than achieving that distinction oneself. “Why is it impossible…?” Zhang Xin tapped Zhang Nan on the head and said with admiration. The more she interacted with Wang Hao, the more she sensed his unfathomable depth of knowledge—as if he knew everything, just like an encyclopedia. Whenever she asked a question, she’d get a perfect answer from him. “I’ve been saying all along that you really know a lot, bro,” Zhang Xin said with an admiring look on her face, but no sooner had she spoken than her mother gave her a light tap on the head. “Enough already. Who was it who cried, threw a tantrum, and even threatened to hang herself back then, just to stop us from bringing Xiao Hao home?” Zhang’s mother said exasperatedly. “I was just young and foolish back then,” Zhang Xin said with a look of grievance. Thinking back to how she’d nearly gone so far as to threaten to hang herself to stop Wang Hao, a faint blush spread across her pretty face. But when she saw Zhang Nan’s slightly amused smile, her anger flared up, and she flicked Zhang Nan’s head hard with her delicate hand. “Sis, that’s going too far…” Zhang Nan gasped, clutching his head. “I told you not to laugh, hmph…” Zhang Xin glared at him, making a move as if to hit him again. But she was stopped by Zhang’s father. “Stop fooling around. You’re distracting Xiao Hao from his lecture.” Just then, a figure appeared outside the thatched hut and tiptoed into the small stone courtyard. “Um, hello, everyone…” But the moment the person stepped into the courtyard, they met the gazes of Zhang’s father and the other three, and spoke with a smile. “Are you… Lan Wei?” Zhang’s father felt the visitor looked somewhat familiar and asked. “My name is Lan Wei. Do you know me, Uncle?” Lan Wei had heard from his father on the way here that the teacher wasn’t coming alone this time—the whole family was coming. As soon as he heard the teacher had arrived, he immediately set down the firewood he’d carried back from the mountains and rushed straight over here, his face beaming with excitement. “I do. I almost didn’t recognize you,” Mr. Zhang said, looking at Lan Wei with a touch of emotion. This was last year’s provincial top scorer—though his face had matured considerably—and yet he had still vaguely recognized him. “I’ve seen the news reports about you,” Mr. Zhang explained, noticing the puzzled look on Lan Wei’s face. “I see. Hello, Uncle and Auntie. Hello, everyone,” Lan Wei said warmly, but when she looked at Zhang Xin and Zhang Nan, she wasn’t sure how to address them. “Hello. You’re quite the celebrity now. The seniors at our school absolutely hate you,” Zhang Xin said with a smile. “Why would they hate me?” Lantian asked, puzzled. “They’re tormented by you every single day—hearing how amazing Lan Wei is, how the ‘wayward son’ turned his life around, studied hard, and finally became the top student in Xijiang Province. I’m still in my sophomore year, but by the time I’m a senior, I’ll probably be tormented too—and I’ll end up hating you as well.” “No way. You’re in your sophomore year now. By the time you’re a senior, the one you’ll be hating is my teacher,” Lan Wei said, pausing for a moment before smiling and pointing at Wang Hao, who was intently teaching the class. “Did my brother really teach you to become the top student?” Zhang Xin paused in surprise and asked. “You guys didn’t know? …Well, I guess that makes sense. Teachers love to keep their true abilities under wraps. I rarely go back to the mountains these days, but when my teacher came to give a lecture, I listened in from the sidelines. I was young and headstrong back then—seeing someone younger than me command such high prestige in the village naturally made me resentful.” Lantian said with a wry smile, as if blushing at his behavior back then. “What happened next?” Zhang Nan asked, unable to contain his curiosity. Zhang’s father, mother, and Zhang Xin all looked just as curious. “The result, of course, was that I was completely crushed. After I returned to school, I studied hard and went into the village every week, all to challenge the teacher. But can you imagine—I’d spend an entire week racking my brain to come up with problems, some of which even high school teachers couldn’t solve. Yet when I brought the problems I’d collected over the week here… it never took him more than five minutes to solve them effortlessly.” Lan Wei’s wry smile deepened.