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

The streetlights in the county town were dim at night.

Zhao Xiaojun carried a military green canvas bag and walked very slowly.

Liu Guangming walked beside him, their shadows stretching long under the streetlights.

After walking for most of the distance, Zhao Xiaojun suddenly stopped, squatted down on a blue stone by the roadside, held his head, and didn't move for a long time.

"Regret it?"

Liu Guangming stayed by his side.

Zhao Xiaojun sighed.

"Brother Guangming, tell me... am I doing the right thing?"

Zhao Xiaojun looked up, his eyes bloodshot.

"No matter what he did, he's still my biological father."

"My mom left crying, my dad was going crazy, but I ran off with you."

"I always feel like something is missing in my heart, a kind of empty and uncomfortable feeling."

Liu Guangming struck a match, and the flame danced on his fingertips.

"You see that as home, but to him, it's his territory."

Liu Guangming exhaled a puff of blue smoke.

"Xiaojun, you need to understand one thing."

"Uncle Zhao has been transferred to guard the reservoir."

"But this isn't over yet. Do you really think he can just sit there and guard the gate peacefully?"

Zhao Xiaojun paused for a moment, his brows furrowing:

"What do you mean? Isn't everything settled? County Chief Lin has spoken, so my dad's life is probably pretty much over."

Liu Guangming squatted down opposite him and lowered his voice.

"Have you forgotten what you told me about?"

"Chen Jianguo dared to target my college entrance exam scores for the sake of his son, Chen Defu."

"Do you really think your dad was just helping out in a small way?"

Zhao Xiaojun didn't speak, but his heart skipped a beat.

Liu Guangming looked into his eyes.

"Your dad has been in the police station for so many years, he must know the consequences of doing this kind of thing."

"Once things get out, his punishment will definitely be even more severe!"

"Think about it, if that day really comes, do you think you'll have a good ending if you stay in that house?"

After he finished speaking, Zhao Xiaojun fell silent again.

"actually……"

After a long while, Zhao Xiaojun spoke again, but his voice trembled slightly.

"I've admired him since I was a child."

"Back then, he had just put on that leather uniform, his collar neatly tied. When he walked down the street, everyone who saw him called him Officer Zhao."

"Back then, I thought that when I grew up, I would wear that uniform, catch bad guys, and protect the people."

As he spoke, he gave a self-deprecating smirk.

"But later, I watched him accept cigarettes from others, and watched him clink glasses with Chen Jianguo."

"Even now, he's capable of doing something as ruthless as trying to crush someone like you who's determined to study."

"Brother Guangming, I feel disgusted whenever I see that uniform now."

"I don't even dare to take the police academy entrance exam anymore. I'm afraid that if I go in, I'll end up like him."

As Zhao Xiaojun spoke, his tone became more dejected than ever before.

Liu Guangming reached out and patted his shoulder with considerable force.

That's his path, not yours.

"You want to be a policeman because you still have a sense of justice in your bones."

"But these days, justice isn't only served in the police station."

"If we expand our business, guide Liangzi and his brothers onto the right path, and enable many people to live a better life, isn't that a worthwhile endeavor?"

Zhao Xiaojun fell silent again upon hearing this.

Then, he took a deep breath and stood up.

"Brother Guangming, you're right."

"As for my dad... I'll consider it a debt to him. When he gets old and sick, I'll send him money every month."

"But I'm really not going back to that home."

Liu Guangming also stood up.

"That's right."

"However, men must first be self-reliant before they can talk about anything else."

"I'll be very busy for the next while, so you can take over Liang Ge's business and lend me a hand."

Zhao Xiaojun nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of the physical work; you handle the brain work."

......

Meanwhile, in the provincial capital, at Jiangnan Normal University.

This is the marking center for the Chinese language exam in Jiangnan Province this year.

More than thirty Chinese language teachers sat in the large classroom, each one sweating profusely, their red pens flying across the test papers, marking checkmarks and crosses.

Grading college entrance exam papers is a tough job.

They revise essays so badly they're nauseating.

This year's essay question was based on provided material.

You are given a short story and are required to choose your own perspective, create your own title, and write no less than 800 words.

"Old Sun, do you have anything outstanding over there?"

A middle-aged female teacher in the front row rubbed her sore neck and complained.

"I've corrected over thirty papers in a row, all with titles like 'Walking Out of the Shadows' and 'Persistence Leads to Victory.' These students' minds are completely frozen."

Sun Weiguo pushed up his reading glasses and took a big gulp of cool boiled water.

"What a load of crap."

"The story is very clear, so the essay is not difficult."

"Everyone's stirring in the same pot, how can you expect to write something original? It's difficult!"

He sighed and casually picked up the next answer sheet.

The moment his gaze fell upon it, Sun Weiguo's hand stopped.

The handwriting is beautiful.

There's none of that affected, high school student's deliberate imitation of calligraphy; instead, it exudes a wild, untamed energy, with powerful strokes that seem to penetrate the paper.

The title has only four characters.

Emerging from the Cocoon.

Sun Weiguo subconsciously sat up straight and looked back.

The article doesn't use any parallel sentences or quotes from famous figures. It gets straight to the point with just one sentence.

"I once met a man who lived in the shadow of others for thirty years, until the day the shadow disappeared, he realized that he had never stood up straight."

This first sentence was like a heavy hammer blow, making Sun Weiguo's eyelids twitch.

He swallowed hard and quickly swept downwards.

This candidate got straight to the point, not bothering with "persistence" or "adversity," but focusing on the core issue—"constraints."

The middle paragraphs meticulously analyze "habitual dependence and passive acceptance," pointing out that this is itself a kind of mental shackle.

The so-called big tree, on the surface, is a protective umbrella, but in reality, it is a meat grinder.

The subsequent content was written with an exceptionally mature and skillful style.

He quotes classical texts with ease; one paragraph is about the carefree wandering in Zhuangzi, and the next paragraph takes a sharp turn, directly dissecting social reality with Lu Xun's scalpel.

Finally, the sentence "Actively breaking through barriers is the beginning of growth" firmly returns to the material itself, every word resonating powerfully.

Sun Weiguo threw the red pen on the table and took a deep breath.

He took off his reading glasses, wiped the lenses, put them back on, and read the article from beginning to end three times.

This is...

Is this something a high school student could write?

This insight into society, this depth of thought built up from experience, even he himself might not be able to write it so thoroughly in one go!

"Team Leader! Team Leader Lin!"

Sun Weiguo suddenly stood up, pushed his chair back, and strode to the front row. "Hurry up! Look at this test paper!"

All the teachers in the classroom stopped writing and turned to look at them.

Lin Pingzhi, the head of the marking team and director of the Chinese Department of the provincial university, took the paper.

Five minutes later.

Lin Pingzhi slammed his hand on the table with a loud "bang".

"Good! What a great idea: 'Habitual dependence is a mental shackle'!"

Lin Pingzhi's face was flushed, and he was so excited that his hands were trembling.

"This concept, this angle of approach! It completely blows all the other papers on 'Persistence' out of the water!"

"This is the core of the material! This is what our province's education sector truly needs!"

He grabbed the red pen on the table and drew a heavy circle in the upper right corner of the test paper.

"Full marks! Not a single point can be deducted!"

The female teacher next to her leaned over and glanced at it, then smacked her lips:

"Director Lin, this is well written."

"But isn't giving full marks for such an unconventional idea too risky? After all, it's not the standard answer formula..."

"Out of line?"

Lin Pingzhi glared and pointed at the exam paper.

"You guys, don't read too many formulaic essays, or your brains will rust."

"I'd give this article a perfect score, or even extra points if I could!"

"No, we can't just leave this paper sealed away like this."

Lin Pingzhi paced around the room twice, then gritted his teeth.

"Make a copy of it."

"I have a college classmate who is the editor-in-chief of the supplement of the People's Daily in Beijing. I want to send this article to him."