Chapter 77

Chapter 77

At this moment, Wang Meili was still at home, gossiping with her neighbor again. When the topic turned to her daughter, Wang Meili couldn’t shut up about her.

Xu Jia had performed well since middle school, and Wang Meili had grown accustomed to it. Little did she know that her daughter had been struggling since high school—just scraping by in the three core subjects while her performance in the supplementary courses was a total disaster, with physics and chemistry just winging it.

As she chatted about children’s college plans, Wang Meili said offhandedly, “Jiajia’s grades are good enough for some no-name college. If she wants to shoot for something better, she’ll need to put in more effort.”

Chen Hu's mother snorted, “I see Xu Jia always out gallivanting. Just last weekend, she went skating with a bunch of boys.”

Wang Meili’s face went dark—she’d been publicly slighted. “Xu Jia may be a bit of a wild child, but even with minimal effort, she’s still better than some. If she actually put her nose to the grindstone, who else would stand a chance at getting into a top-tier university? Some folks just breeze through without lifting a finger.”

This was a boast about how Xu Jia could score high without much studying.

Chen Hu had poor grades and dropped out after middle school, now running a small noodle shop. Wang Meili got a kick out of rubbing it in.

Chen Hu's mother was also close to Feng Yanwen and had never gotten along with Wang Meili. Since Feng Yanwen left, Chen Hu's mother had been waiting to twist the knife, taking every opportunity to mock Wang Meili’s family. Naturally, she wasn’t fazed by Wang Meili’s bragging and had been quietly keeping an eye on the two girls’ academic performance. While others might not criticize Xu Jia’s character to her mother’s face, they certainly wouldn’t hesitate to spill the tea to anyone who’d listen. By now, Wang Meili was probably the only one who still believed her daughter was flawless.

“Listen to you. Seems like Xu Jia is definitely heading for college,” Chen Hu's mother said with a smirk.

“What, you got a problem with that?”

As they argued, a few high school students in uniforms walked by, carrying their winter break homework. They looked somewhat familiar.

The alley was home to many families, and even if they weren’t close, everyone knew each other to some extent. Wang Meili recognized one of the girls—she was in the same grade as Xu Jia and had even been in the same class during elementary school.

Wang Meili deliberately raised her voice. “Oh, I see. You’ve got your eye on Xu Meng, don’t you? Want her as your daughter-in-law? Well, I suppose that airhead Xu Meng is a perfect match for your Huzi. I remember back in middle school, Huzi even got into a fight over Xu Meng, hahaha!”

She noticed the girl giving her a strange look.

Wang Meili assumed it was because of Xu Jia.

Xu Meng had always been academically inferior to Xu Jia, with only her looks being slightly better. As kids, the boys in the alley had often fought over her. Wang Meili made sure the gossip mill churned to tarnish Xu Meng’s reputation at school—she was nursing a vendetta.

Last time, Xu Jiefang had returned in a rage, hacked up her dresses, and left without a word, never coming back.

The rumor mill was working overtime. Some even claimed she’d had an affair with her brother-in-law, which was why she’d always resented Feng Yanwen and constantly compared herself to her. The rumors were vicious, painting her alleged affair with Xu Jiefang as fact, to the point where even Xu Laoer now looked at her differently, as if it were true. Wang Meili, of course, never reflected on how she’d once meddled in their marriage—instead, she only grew more resentful toward Feng Yanwen.

Huzi’s mother rolled her eyes hard. “What are you even talking about? Xu Meng isn’t as good as Xu Jia?”

After Feng Yanwen left, she often traveled around and would deliberately pass by Huzi’s shop, sometimes stopping in for a bowl of noodles. The two old neighbors had never lost touch.

No one knew Xu Meng’s recent situation better than Huzi’s mother. And as much as she hated to admit it, Chen Hu really wasn’t good enough for Xu Meng.

Wang Meili pressed on, “Oh, give me a break. Xu Meng’s grades have always been worse than our Jiajia’s. When they were little—”

The girl didn’t walk away. Instead, she stood there, waiting for Wang Meili to finish. When Wang Meili fell silent, the girl smiled and retorted, “Xu Meng isn’t as good as Xu Jia?”

Smelling blood in the water, the onlookers turned their attention to her.

The girl grinned. “Has your Xu Jia not come home yet? Or has she not told you about school? Xu Meng has aced English three—no, four times in a row now.”

Wang Meili’s smile froze.

The girl’s grin widened. Clearly, Xu Jia hadn’t mentioned her recent poor performance to her family. This was gonna be good.

“Impossible!”

“Don’t believe me? Ask your daughter when she gets back. Oh, and make sure to ask how she did on this last exam.”

Wang Meili was stunned by these words. Could it be that Xu Meng had performed better this time? She snapped instinctively, "How could Xu Meng do well? She must have cheated."

"Cheated?" The girl's smile grew even more knowing. By now, the whole school knew Xu Jia was the cheater. Unfortunately, her mother was still in the dark. The girl's smile widened. "Say whatever you want. But this time, our school's exam supervision was especially strict, set up like the gaokao. The results are indeed different from before. Some top scorers might’ve flunked this time."

With that, she rolled her eyes and walked away.

She couldn’t be bothered arguing with this woman. Even if Xu Jia didn’t tell her family about her grades, they’d find out during the college entrance exams.

Now Xu Jia was the laughingstock of the whole grade, even dragging Teacher Yang into the spotlight. Back then, Yang Ruohua had been Xu Jia’s biggest fan. Now, she must be feeling the sting of embarrassment. But what did that have to do with her? She just wanted a front-row seat to the drama and see if this woman would break down when she finally learned her daughter’s exam results.

Humming a tune, the girl left.

These words unsettled Wang Meili, sapping her energy for small talk. But she firmly believed her daughter couldn’t possibly be worse than that airhead Xu Meng.

When Wang Meili returned home, she happened to see Xu Jia coming back as well.

Only then did she remember that Xu Jia had been in low spirits ever since the final exams.

"How did you do?" Wang Meili, still stewing from earlier, couldn’t keep the irritation out of her voice.

But to Xu Jia, the tone sounded ominous. That morning, her mother had been all sunshine, even making her two eggs for breakfast. What had changed so fast? In Xu Jia’s ears, it could only mean one thing—her mother had found out about her grades.

Xu Jia instinctively shrank back. The report card had come out ages ago, but how could she show it to her mother?

Only her freshman-year grades had been legit. After that, none of them had been truthful.

And it was all her mother’s fault. If her mother hadn’t pressured her to excel, why would she have cheated?

So Xu Jia didn’t feel the slightest guilt about cheating. Instead, she resented Wang Meili even more.

Seeing her daughter cower, Wang Meili understood immediately. She yanked the backpack from Xu Jia’s hands and dug through it like a madwoman. What did she find? Naturally, she found Xu Jia’s pile of disastrous exam papers. Aside from English (thanks to Feng Yanwen’s tutoring since childhood), which was passable at over seventy points, the other subjects were a complete mess. The total score barely cracked two hundred.

With grades like these, forget about getting into a top-tier university—she wouldn’t even make it into a vocational college.

Wang Meili couldn’t believe it. She pored over the papers carefully, but by the end, she was utterly despondent. One thing was clear: Xu Jia was a lost cause.

Back then, Xu Jia should have studied liberal arts. At least memorization could’ve kept her afloat.

But from the day she stopped understanding physics and chemistry, it was inevitable she’d only fall further behind.

Yet when it came time to choose between liberal arts and sciences, Wang Meili had scoffed at Xu Meng for picking liberal arts. "Master math and science, and you’ll never fear the world. My daughter is going to be a scientist. How could she settle for something as useless as liberal arts?"

She’d sneered at Xu Meng’s choice.

Now, the report card in her hands was a slap in the face. Forget becoming a scientist—Xu Jia would be lucky to get into any college at all.

Wang Meili lost it.

Xu Jiefang’s madness hadn’t broken her. The factory’s poor performance hadn’t broken her. But seeing her daughter’s grades, Wang Meili finally snapped. Pointing at Xu Jia’s head, she screamed, "What were you thinking? What the hell goes on in that head of yours? If you can’t learn, you cheat? What good are fake grades? What about the college entrance exams? Tell me, what will you do if you don’t go to college? What kind of job can you get? Look at the white-collar folks in offices, then look at Chen Hu running a noodle shop. Do you really think we push you to study for our own sake?"

"What else could I do? Would you have let me off if I didn’t cheat?"

Xu Jia also broke down, curled up on the floor, sobbing, "It’s all your fault! You’re the one who pressured me! Ever since I was little, if I didn’t do well, you’d yell at me, demanding I be better than Xu Meng. Have you ever looked at what her parents do and what ours do? You always ride me about not being as good as Xu Meng, but have you ever looked at yourself? After all these years, you’re still just an ordinary worker. Why should I have to be better than Xu Meng?"

Wang Meili, totally roasted: "..."

She had never been so speechless. Her daughter’s failure was now being blamed on her.

Trembling, Wang Meili pointed at her daughter’s head, unable to utter a word.

Xu Jia hardened her resolve and raised her head with a fierce look: "Mom, it's not like I haven't thought about what to do if I keep cheating like this. This is all your doing! If Xu Meng hadn't moved away and my grades could stay this good, I could just steal her college acceptance letter when the time comes. Since Xu Meng is definitely going to get into university."

Wang Meili's head spun, reeling from the words "since she's definitely going to get into university."

Why was it like this? Shouldn't her own daughter be the one with good grades? When did Xu Meng become the one who could get into college?

No, something was off—that girl's expression just now wasn't right either.

Wang Meili walked out and went to the girl's doorstep, just as the girl was talking to her parents about the final exams: "...Our school was really strict with proctoring this time, so a lot of the students who usually did well dropped in rankings. Guess who scored the highest this time? It's Xu Meng from the old Xu family! She got a perfect score in English and ranked third overall in the humanities track. I wouldn't be surprised if by next semester, she'll be number one."

Third in the grade—and this time, there was absolutely no way she could have cheated.

Wang Meili reeled backward a few steps, as if she couldn't keep her balance, suddenly unsure where to turn next.

Her mother-in-law was bedridden and needed care. She and her husband were barely getting by on their meager salaries. If not for the hope that her daughter would excel academically, she wouldn’t have known how to get through these years. But now, even that hope was gone. She began to mull over her daughter’s earlier words.

Xu Jia had always been scheming, thinking things through clearly. She had even considered maintaining her fake grades until after the college entrance exams to steal Xu Meng’s admission letter. If she could think that far ahead, she should have thought even further. It was all Wang Meili’s fault—why had she driven Xu Meng away?

If Xu Meng had still lived with them, making this work would have been much easier. They could have found a way to push Xu Meng out, let Xu Jia take her place under her name, and then quietly change the name back a few years later. No one would have ever known. But now, all of that had been ruined by her own actions.

Wang Meili stumbled back distractedly, not even hearing when someone called out to her.

Huzi’s mom caught sight of this.

Someone asked, "Why does Wang Meili look like she lost money?"

Huzi’s mom snorted derisively. "Probably just found out some truth that’s got her crushed. She’ll get over it."

She who once looked down on my Huzi for having no education and just running a noodle shop—well, sorry, but soon you might not even measure up to my son, who only finished middle school. Huzi’s mom thought gleefully, whistling cheerfully to herself.

———

Xu Meng scoring full marks in English again caused a minor commotion in the neighborhood. The way people looked at Feng Yanwen now was filled with respect—her child was so well-behaved and accomplished! Despite Feng Yanwen being so busy, Xu Meng never troubled the adults and even helped manage things. And her grades? They didn't slip at all!

Feng Yanwen had become accustomed to this over the past six months.

She knew her daughter was smart. Ever since those annoying people and troubles were gone, Xu Meng had more time to focus on studying, and her grades had skyrocketed.

But Huang Xiaoying didn’t know that. Holding Xu Meng’s report card, she was practically wide-eyed with awe: "Sis, perfect score in English, almost full marks in math!"

What kind of unbelievable scores were these? And her sister could even earn money—was there anything she couldn’t do?

Xu Meng smiled faintly. "See? That’s why I told you to study at my place and stay without worries. If you’re serious about learning, I’ll ask the school next year if you can enroll as a transfer student."

In the past, Huang Xiaoying would have refused without hesitation.

But now, with such an exceptional example right in front of her, Huang Xiaoying felt a newfound confidence in herself.

Plus, she had a free personal English coach—she could ask her aunt for help anytime.

Feng Yanwen smiled gently. "If you really want to study, I’ll support you."

She liked Huang Xiaoying.

Huang Xiaoying waved her hands quickly. "No, no, not now. I’ll read at home first and study on my own."

She wasn’t sure if she could keep it up. If her grades turned out decent, then she’d consider going to school.

She couldn’t really let her aunt support her, either. Staying here had already caused enough trouble for her.

Feng Yanwen didn’t push Huang Xiaoying to enroll in school. Taking on another student would stretch their budget. If Huang Xiaoying wanted to study, starting at home was fine—Xu Meng could tutor her, and she could lend a hand too.

Once this direction was settled, Huang Xiaoying threw herself into independent study.