Rebirth: My college entrance exam score was stolen? I turned the tables and made a billion.

After the matter was settled, the two politely said goodbye to Uncle Wang and left the police station.

Liu Guangming stopped under the streetlight.

He took out the wad of cash from his pocket, counted out thirty yuan, and slapped it directly into Zhao Xiaojun's hand.

"Take it."

Zhao Xiaojun recoiled as if he had been electrocuted:

"Brother! Who are you insulting? This money...!"

Without a word, Liu Guangming grabbed his collar, forced the money into his shirt pocket, and slapped it twice.

"Enough with the nonsense. In this kind of deal, it's always split in half after the first meeting; that's the rule in this business."

"Also, without your father's connections, we wouldn't have gotten away with this so easily today."

"Besides, the real money-making opportunities are yet to come. If you can't even handle this small amount, what will you do with hundreds or thousands later? You'll be terrified!"

Zhao Xiaojun stared blankly at Liu Guangming; these words managed to suppress his stubborn temper.

"Okay, bro, I'll do as you say."

The two pushed their respective bikes onto the car.

"Go home and get some sleep. See you at the farmers' market at 5:30 tomorrow morning."

Liu Guangming waved and pushed the cart into the night.

Zhao Xiaojun rode his Flying Pigeon 28-inch bicycle, the chain creaking and groaning.

The summer night breeze should have been quite refreshing, but his heart felt like it was on fire.

He reached into his pocket and felt a thick wad of banknotes.

Today, I helped Brother Guangming sell watermelons and earned thirty-eight yuan. This afternoon, I added that thirty yuan to my earnings, which will make me over sixty yuan!

This was the first time in his eighteen years of life that he had carried such a huge sum of money.

"Damn, this isn't a high school student like me."

As Zhao Xiaojun pedaled hard, he muttered to himself, "With Guangming's brains and his shrewdness, once he gets into a top university and graduates, he'll definitely be a big shot in the provincial capital or the municipal government."

Thinking of this, Zhao Xiaojun became a little worried again.

I know perfectly well what my lousy achievements are like.

What if I fail the college entrance exam?

Should he stay home and wait for employment? Or should he ask his perpetually stern-faced father to pull strings and get him a job as a police auxiliary officer serving tea and water at the police station?

"Useless! Utterly useless!"

Zhao Xiaojun gritted his teeth,

"Who cares? From now on, I'll follow Brother Guangming wholeheartedly. If he gets the meat, at least I can get a few pieces of bone too."

As I was pondering this, the bicycle had already turned onto the tree-lined road near the Songyang County Guesthouse.

This is where county officials often come to eat and hold meetings; usually, there's not a soul in sight at night.

Zhao Xiaojun glanced at the guesthouse entrance as usual, then suddenly slammed on the brakes.

"Holy crap?"

By the dim light of the streetlamp at the entrance, he could clearly see a military green sidecar motorcycle parked in the spacious courtyard of the guesthouse.

He would recognize that license plate number and the peeling mudguards even if they were ashes! It was definitely his father Zhao Youcai's company car.

"The old man said he had a lot of work at the bureau this morning and had to work the night shift in the office. Why is he eating out at the guesthouse?"

Zhao Xiaojun braced his feet on the ground, hid behind a large poplar tree by the roadside, and peeked inside.

A few seconds later, the glass doors of the guesthouse opened, and two people walked out chatting and laughing, heading towards the row of upscale private rooms at the far end of the courtyard.

The man on the left, wearing a white polyester short-sleeved shirt and sporting a beer belly, was none other than his biological father, Zhao Youcai.

The one walking on the right was wearing a gray Zhongshan suit, with his hair neatly combed and a black leather briefcase tucked under his arm.

Zhao Xiaojun frowned; the man looked very familiar.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind, and he remembered the sentence that Chen Defu had mentioned when he was shouting in the police station lobby that night.

"Education Bureau Chief Chen Jianguo!"

That slicked-back hair with the briefcase—isn't that Chen Jianguo, who frequently appears on the county TV news?!

Zhao Xiaojun's heart suddenly started racing.

This whole thing has a weird vibe to it.

Today, Guangming and I dealt with Chen Defu and even got sixty yuan from him.

In the middle of the night, his own father was drinking with Chen Defu's father in this upscale guesthouse.

"Has that bastard already gone home and badmouthed me? Is Chen Jianguo currently conspiring with my dad to figure out how to deal with me when we get back?"

The more Zhao Xiaojun thought about it, the more a chill ran down his spine.

His father used to beat him severely, always hitting hard with his belt on the thickest parts of his body.

"No, I have to find out what's going on. I need to die knowing the truth."

Zhao Xiaojun threw his bicycle into the bushes and skillfully circled around to the back alley of the guesthouse.

He used to come here to raid bird nests when he was a child; he could find his way with his eyes closed.

The back alley is a narrow passageway with a ditch on the side. All the private rooms on the first floor of the guesthouse have their back windows open on this side.

Because it was the hottest time of summer, the wooden-framed glass windows were all half-open for ventilation, separated only by a screen.

Zhao Xiaojun crouched down, stepping on a few broken bricks at the base of the wall, and quietly approached the window of the private room where the light was on.

As soon as I got close, a strong aroma of wine mixed with the smell of food wafted out through the cracks in the window.

"Old Zhao, come on, I'll drink this one, you can drink as you like!"

"I really put in a lot of effort with the county's organization department to help you get promoted to deputy bureau chief. Our relationship is unquestionable!"

Chen Jianguo's voice was slightly intoxicated and excited.

Immediately following was his father, Zhao Youcai, laughing heartily.

"Old Chen, you're such a straightforward and honest person! Thank you in advance!"

"As for your Defu's matter, I've taken care of it perfectly for you."

Zhao Youcai put down his wine glass and lowered his voice, but Zhao Xiaojun, with his ear pressed against the windowsill, could still hear everything clearly.

"I did it myself this afternoon. I stamped it with the bureau's official seal, and replaced everything that needed replacing. It's a perfect job."

Chen Jianguo laughed heartily, slamming his hand on the table with a deafening roar.

"Good! With you saying that, I can finally put my mind at ease!"

"Old Wang in the admissions office has already been taken care of."

"The scapegoat's file has been secretly taken out, and the photo and admission ticket number have all been replaced with our TestDaF's."

"Once the results come out, Old Wang will get another report card. Defu will take his high score and go straight to a top-tier university in the province! After graduation, he'll be a legitimate government official!"

Zhao Xiaojun squatted outside the window, several mosquitoes with spotted legs crawling on his arm sucking his blood, but he was like a wooden man, completely unaware.

Wait a minute, what is my own father doing?

Did they switch college entrance exam records?

Impersonating someone else to get into university?!

This is a serious crime that could land you in jail for life! How could my father be behind the bureau's back, doing such a despicable and shameful thing with Chen Jianguo?

This is no small favor; it's blatantly ruining someone's life!

Although Zhao Xiaojun wasn't usually that upright and would get into fights with the other kids in the compound, he had a moral compass and would never do anything immoral.

Hearing about this horrifying conspiracy sent chills down his spine.

At this moment, Zhao Youcai, who was inside the room, still seemed to have some concerns and lit a cigarette for himself.

"Old Chen, even though we've covered our tracks cleanly, this is still something that can't be brought to light."

"Have you thoroughly investigated the background of the scapegoat you chose?"

"What if he's a troublemaker, has some kind of family background, or is stubborn? They might insist on investigating him later and cause trouble..."

Chen Jianguo picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, smacked his lips, and spoke with a hint of contempt.

"Don't worry, how could the people I chose be wrong?"

"That man's name is Liu Guangming, just a country bumpkin with no parents."

"You do have four older sisters, but none of them have made a name for themselves. The only one who works in the county town is her husband, who is just a worker smashing spindles in a dilapidated cotton mill that is about to go bankrupt. He doesn't even know a minor official."

"Besides, even if he usually gets good grades and his estimated score is high, what can he do when the actual results come out?"

"Does he have the spare money to go to the provincial capital to check the exam papers? Does he have the connections to overturn the case?"

"These poor wretches who spend their whole lives at the bottom of society only deserve to go back to their villages to farm and do manual labor. What's the point of them going to university?"

After hearing these words, Zhao Youcai was completely relieved.

"That's enough. As long as this kid doesn't have any connections, we can do whatever we want with him."

Zhao Xiaojun, who was outside the window, froze upon hearing this.

Liu Guangming?!

Where the hell is this guy named Liu Guangming?

In the entire Songyang County, who else could possibly be Liu Guangming, whose brother-in-law works at a cotton mill and who could afford a bachelor's degree?!

His eyes widened as images of what had happened during the day flashed before his eyes.

Brother Guangming, who made a fortune selling watermelons under the scorching sun.

The man in the police station who swallowed his anger and accepted sixty yuan to protect his father from trouble, was Guangming.

His college entrance exam score, earned through ten years of hard work and studying day and night, was somehow stolen by those two people without them even noticing!

And one of them is actually his own biological father!