Volume 1: The Classmate is a Youngster Chapter 39: Sunzi, hurry up and come out to call Grandfather!

  "Chinese 125, math 146, English 138, science comprehensive 287, total score 696. Second in class, tenth in grade? This...this can't be true, right?"

  Liu Aizhen took another incredulous look at the name on the transcript, Su Lin, no mistake, it was indeed her son Su Lin's name.

  "Old Su, Old Su... you... hurry up and wake up... take a look... this is Little Lin's report card... Little Lin got second place in the class... tenth place in the grade!"

  He shook Su Guorong vigorously, but Su Guorong had drunk himself into a stupor and couldn't wake up so easily. Liu Aizhen excitedly pinched Su Guorong's nose, making him unable to breathe, and only then did he cough a few times and slowly come to.

  "What's going on? I still want to drink..."

  Su Guorong's voice was still drunk, Liu Aizhen looked at him and scolded: "Still drinking, drink your head off, you'll die from it sooner or later. Old Su, wake up quickly, take a look at this report card, it's our family's Little Lin, he ranked 10th in the grade."

  Liu Aizhen picked up the teacup on the table and splashed a little water from it onto her husband Su Guorong's face, and only then did Su Guorong become somewhat sober.

  "What? Kobayashi's report card?"

  Slowly taking the transcript from Liu Aizhen's hand, Su Guorong took a look and immediately widened his eyes, exclaiming in surprise: "Xiao Lin ranked tenth in the grade? My son ranked tenth in the grade?"

  Suddenly, Su Guorong's wine was completely awake, and he smiled with his mouth open, "My son is indeed promising."

  "No wonder this little rabbit dared to make a bet with Xiao Tang the night before, it turns out that he had already been confident in his heart, and I thought he was just bragging."

  Liu Aizhen held this transcript, also with a smile on her face, and the previous layoff was completely forgotten.

  "Dad, Mom, the dishes are all ready, come and eat quickly!"

  At this time, Su Lin came out of the kitchen with a bowl of soup and saw that her father had woken up. She said, "Dad, you've just sobered up from your wine, I'll go get some tea to help you wake up."

  Looking at his father's hair that had turned white, Su Lin's heart ached and felt a pang of guilt. All these years, he hadn't made things easy for his parents, but from now on, he was determined to be more considerate and bring a better life to this family, letting his parents enjoy their later years in peace.

  "Kobayashi, don't bother, hurry up... sit down, let's eat and talk. Is this really your report card? You actually ranked 10th in the grade?"

  Liu Aizhen hastily called out to Su Lin, holding a transcript in her hand and asking.

  "Jian'an No. 1 Middle School can't have another Su Lin, right? Mom, this is my report card, and I really did rank tenth in the grade this time. And my college entrance exam will definitely be impressive, I'll get into a top university."

  Since entering high school, Su Lin saw such expectation in her mother's eyes for the first time, and she felt a warmth in her heart, vowing to achieve good results in the college entrance examination.

  "Good, Xiaolin, you have spirit. You're a credit to me as your father. Work hard and do well. Although I've been laid off, as long as you get into a good university, no matter what, I'll support you."

  Su Guorong also completely got rid of the gloom of being laid off, and said seriously, "It's just a job! Dad has been driving for over ten years and is an old driver, so he's not afraid of not finding a job? The family expenses are temporarily covered by your mom's salary, and there are some savings, which is enough to cover the tuition fees for your first year of university."

  "Old Su? You... have also been laid off?"

  From Su Guorong's mouth after he woke up, Liu Aizhen confirmed that her husband was also laid off and waiting for reassignment.

  "Really? Ai Zhen, you've also been laid off? Didn't your factory say they wouldn't be cutting staff this year?"

  The couple finally got to the bottom of things, and now they understand the situation at Su's house. Both are unemployed and stay at home, with no income source for the Su family, relying on a few hundred thousand yuan in savings; if Su's father and mother don't find work soon, they will be left with nothing.

  "Dad, Mom, don't worry. I'll figure out a way to pay for college myself. After the college entrance exam, I'll also find a way to make money. I'm almost 18 years old now, which means I'm an adult, and from then on, I won't ask you guys for money anymore. I can even support this family."

  Worry and anxiety once again crept onto his parents' foreheads, Su Lin said resolutely.

  "Stop messing around! Xiao Lin, don't worry about family matters. Your current task is to focus all your thoughts on studying and do well in the college entrance exam. As for money, Dad will take care of it."

  Su Guorong took out his father's self-respect at this time and said.

  "I can make money with my ability to pause time, but it's still not good to tell dad and mom about it now. Even if I say I can make money, they won't believe me, so let's just keep it this way for now. Anyway, I won't let dad and mom worry anymore in the future."

  This meal was warm and harmonious, and everyone ate with great joy. Although the Su family suffered a sudden blow, with both Su's father and mother losing their jobs, Su Lin's rapid progress brought new hope to this family.

  After dinner, Su's father and mother chatted with some neighbors in the yard and asked them if there were any employers recruiting people recently. The neighbors also expressed surprise and sympathy for Su's parents' layoffs, and those who could help promised to ask their own units if they needed anyone.

  "Uncle Su, don't tell Xiao Lin about this. Xiao Lin is about to take the college entrance exam and it will affect his grades."

  Ye Xingzhu in the courtyard said with some worry.

  "Xing Zhu, Xiao Lin already knows. But now our family's Xiao Lin has grown up and become more sensible. His grades have also improved a lot, I believe this time's Gaokao will be fine, he'll definitely get into a good university."

  When chatting with neighbors about Su Lin, Liu Aizhen always spoke with a tone of resentment, but today she was unusually enthusiastic and even said that Su Lin's grades had improved and getting into a good university would be no problem. This surprised the neighboring uncles and aunts.

  "Could it be that Kobayashi has actually improved on this exam?"

  Ye Xing was also delighted in his heart.

  "Yes! Kobayashi made great progress this time and got tenth place in the grade!"

  Liu Aizhen said loudly that since Su Lin's high school grades plummeted, she hadn't boasted about her son in the courtyard like this for a long time.

  "Wow... tenth in grade? Isn't Kobayashi from Kenan No. 1 Middle School? Tenth in grade can get into a key university!"

  "It's not just a key university, even the best universities like Tsinghua and Peking University, as well as Yenching University, may also be possible to get into."

  "I remember Su Lin's grades weren't very good before, right? How did she suddenly get such a good score?"

  ……

  Liu Aizhen's words were astonishing, ranking 10th in the grade. What a concept! Jian'an City has a population of over 5 million, and Jian'an No. 1 Middle School is one of the best high schools. Every year, around 150 students get admitted to first-tier universities. Ranking 10th in the grade means you can already get into a top domestic university.

  The neighbors around naturally knew Su Lin's previous achievements, and many even knew about the bet between Su Lin and Tang Zhongwang two days ago.

  "Impossible! With Su Lin's grades from your household, how could she possibly get 10th place in the whole grade? It's even unlikely that she'll make it into the top 100."

  The one who said this was Tang Zhongwang's father, with a look of discontent. Originally, in this courtyard, only his son and Su Lin were studying at Jian'an No. 1 Middle School. In the past, Su Lin's grades were good, suppressing Tang Zhongwang, but now Tang Zhongwang's grades are the best, every time the results come out, he is praised by the surrounding neighbors. But this time, he was unexpectedly stolen the spotlight by Su Lin.

  Tenth in grade? Relying on Su Jia's Su Lin's three-year-old trash results, can you get into tenth grade? Go dream! Must be bragging! Bragging won't even draft.

  "By the way, Old Tang, isn't your Zhongwang also studying at Jian'an No. 1 Middle School? How many points did he score in this exam? Didn't Zhongwang's grades used to be pretty good? He had a glimmer of hope last time."

  "I just asked my family's Zhong Wang, and he told me that the results haven't come out yet. The exam was only finished yesterday, how could the results be released so quickly? Obviously, Old Su, it seems like you've been deceived by your own son Su Lin! He intentionally made his score sound better than it is. How did he know he ranked 10th in the grade when the results haven't even come out yet? Based on Su Lin's previous scores, do you think that's possible?"

  Indeed, when Tang Zhongwang returned home today. His father did ask him about his exam results, but this time Tang Zhongwang performed poorly, with zero points on the English answer sheet and a drastic drop in ranking. He could only mumble and deceive his father, telling him that the results had not come out yet.

  Of course, Tang's father really thought that the results had not come out, and now he saw Su's father and mother showing off Su Lin's results in the courtyard. How could he not make a good show of it? In his opinion, Su Lin must have lied about her grades.

  "The results haven't come out yet? Then... that report card Kobayashi showed me was... did he forge it himself?"

  Because Su Lin's progress was a bit unbelievable, when Su's mother heard Tang's father say that the grades hadn't come down, she thought about it more and felt that Su Lin was deceiving her and her husband. Immediately, Su's mother got angry, didn't say another word, and directly rushed home, grabbed Su Lin's ear and dragged him out.

  "Little rabbit, are you deceiving your old mother again? The scores of the third-year high school exam at Jian'an No. 1 Middle School have not been released yet, where did you get this transcript from? I thought you had grown up and become sensible, but it turns out you told such a big lie."

  Liu Aizhen was really angry this time, she had just been boasting about Su Lin's achievements in the courtyard, but was suddenly exposed by Tang Fu, losing all face. The key point was that Su Lin actually used his grades to lie, which made her even more furious and indignant.

  "Oh no, oh no, oh no...... Mom, let go of me first. Who told you the grades are out? The grades aren't even out yet, where would I get a report card from?"

  Su Lin was seriously reading a book in the house when he was inexplicably caught by his mother, and he felt extremely depressed.

  "Report card, look at this report card, is it yours or did you get someone else to do it for you?"

  Su Mu flung the report card into the courtyard where everyone was watching, especially Tang Fu who had a look of enjoying the show.

  "Mom, look at this report card. It has our school's official seal on it and the printing is always so standard. How could I possibly have faked it? Who told you that our grades haven't come out yet? Let them come out and confront me."

  It's not easy to get a good grade, but unexpectedly, he's still not believed. Su Lin felt depressed in his heart! Turning his head, he saw Tang Fu smiling at him and said: "Little Lin, it's not right for you to lie like this. Our Zhong Wang has already said that the results have not been announced yet, where did your transcript come from?"

  It was actually Tang Zhongwang. Su Lin suddenly understood. But why did Tang Zhongwang tell Tang's father that the results had not come out yet?

  "By the way, when the English exam was over, I erased Tang Zhongwang's test number on his answer sheet. His English score is estimated to be only a few tens of points now. Could it be that he was afraid of his parents knowing about his poor grades and lied that the scores hadn't come out yet?"

  After thinking for a moment, Su Lin understood the cause and effect, holding back his anger, looking at Tang Fu said, "Tang Shu, I remember that I made a bet with your family's Zhong Wang the night before last, I wonder if it is still valid?"

  "Which one?"

  Tang's father wasn't present that day, but he also knew about the bet between his son and Su Lin. The bet was whether Su Lin could get into the top fifty in their grade level, whoever lost had to call the other "grandfather".

  "Hmph! You kids and your games... But since it's a bet, I'll naturally have to make good on it."

  Looking at Su Lin's fearless appearance, Tang Fu still sighed that young people were too ignorant, but he didn't believe that Su Lin could really get into the top 50 of his grade, so he nodded and said.

  "Alright, since Uncle Tang has said so, then please go and call out your family member Tang Zhongwang. Has the result come out or not? Whether I got into the top ten in my grade or not, let's have him come out and we'll clarify things once and for all."

  As soon as Tang Fu entered the courtyard, Su Lin chuckled and just at this moment, Tang Zhongwang seemed to have also heard the movement in the yard, and he leaned against his own door with his ear pressed against it. Su Lin caught sight of him immediately and shouted loudly: "Tang Zhongwang, grandson, come out quickly and call your grandfather!"