Zhou Siyu’s mind stirred, and she turned her head to look at Gu Jianbin, her eyes lighting up.
The seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy, wearing a plaid shirt and casual gray pants, had fair skin and looked very refreshing and clean, radiating a sunny demeanor.
No boy at her school had ever given off such a vibe.
Her heart pounded fiercely as she saw him looking back, her cheeks uncontrollably blushing a slight red.
But Gu Jianbin merely glanced at her before shifting his gaze away. Girls like her were a dime a dozen at school and on the streets; nothing about her particularly stood out.
"Your son is really handsome, and his grades are so good, you’re so lucky," Zhou Lanfang said with a hint of sourness, not expecting someone like Wang Erfeng, who wasn’t much to look at, to have such a fine son.
"Isn’t that the truth! My son’s grades are really great, always coming in first," Wang Erfeng boasted.
"My daughter’s grades are also good, she often comes in first too," Zhou Lanfang said, not willing to be outdone.
Zhou Siyu listened to Zhou Lanfang’s exaggerated lies without calling her out, as in the current situation, she indeed needed someone to sing her praises.
But she humbly said, "Our little town can’t compare with the city. Being first in the town might just be an average achievement in the city. If this brother can come in first in the city, that’s real strength."
Gu Jianbin took another look at Zhou Siyu when he heard she also had good academic performance.
He loved learning, and when he heard someone else was good at it, he felt an affinity toward them.
Upon hearing Zhou Siyu’s praise, his impression of her suddenly improved a bit.
Usually, when his mother boasted about him, it was laced with vanity, and since his mother was illiterate, her praises were too crude for his liking.
Being recognized as excellent by someone in the field, especially by an attractive girl, gave him a sense of vanity.
He had planned on leaving after the meal, but now he felt more inclined to talk, "Even in a town, a classroom still has dozens of students. Coming in first means the grades are truly good. Even in the city, you could rank within the top ten."
He was a country boy too, having studied in the countryside in the past. It was only in the last two or three years, as his family’s circumstances improved, that he moved to the city for school.
Coming from the same rural roots, he didn’t look down on country folks.
Studying hard was simply his way of trying to completely escape the fate of being a ’country bumpkin.’
When he first arrived in the city, his family wasn’t as well-off as they were now, and due to personal living habits, he didn’t pay much attention to hygiene, which often made him the butt of jokes among his classmates. He gritted his teeth and slowly changed himself.
With the gradual improvement of his family’s situation, he became the person he is now.
"I hope so! But I heard that city students are all very good at studying," Zhou Siyu said, feeling a bit excited by his praise but maintaining a calm exterior. She deliberately tested, "With such good grades, you must be studying at First High, right?"
Upon hearing this, a trace of embarrassment crossed Gu Jianbin’s face, "Second High."
He had wanted to attend First High, but he hadn’t performed well enough at the time and missed the cut-off by a mere ten points or so.
"The teaching quality at Second High isn’t worse than First High," Wang Erfeng chimed in. "Let me tell you, the reputation of First High is just hyped up; in reality, there’s not much difference."
These were Gu Jianbin’s original words. She didn’t know whether they were true or false, but she kept them in mind and would always pretend to be knowledgeable and repeat these words whenever the topic came up. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥