Chapter 37: Su Cen in Xiahai City

much to cram all at once. But I know what's important," Xue YiYang frowned.Liu Rui also spoke up, "I started my revision early; as long as I get into the second high school, that's good enough for da...Chapter Thirty-Seven: Su Can in Xiahai City

Yu Qiushou only had a vague understanding of Zeng Quanming. He heard that the planning office director was quite strict, but he also knew that Zeng Quanming had offended too many people. Whatever news Yu Qiushou heard about him were all negative. Since Yu Qiushou could become mayor, he naturally had his own views. However, due to hearsay multiplying like rumors, he still harbored some prejudices against Zeng Quanming. Now, when he asked a symbolic question about Su Can whom he didn’t even know the name of, he might forget what Su Can looked like after this dinner was over.

When Xiao Fei's wife glanced at Su Can, disdain appeared in her eyes. Their family lived opposite where Su Can lived. She had heard many times from Zeng Quanming’s wife Yin Shuying about how troublesome her nephew Su Can was—how poor his grades were and how often he got called to school by teachers. Back then, Su Can's reputation in the compound was notorious; she strongly opposed her daughter Xiaoyun getting too close to him due to this bad influence. Although she didn’t worry about any threat from Su Can towards her own daughter now, she still held a bias against him.

Xiaoyun picked up a small cake with her delicate fingers and took a bite, then looked at Su Can with a smile on her face.

"Su Can, the mayor is asking you. Answer yourself," Zeng Quanming said indifferently.

Xiao Fei hummed inwardly with interest; this was what he meant, wasn’t it Zeng Quanming couldn't afford to lose face anymore.

Before Su Can could speak, his aunt Yin Shuying excitedly blurted out, "645 points! That’s the score on his middle school graduation exam!"

"Heh! Keep up the good work…" Xiao Fei was about to chuckle and continue when he suddenly realized what had been said. His eyes bulged in shock; his expression changed dramatically between a split second, "What What How many points Just how much did your Su Can score"

Xiaoyun bit into half the cake but couldn’t swallow it after that. Her beautiful eyes were full of astonishment as she looked at Su Can; her mouth slightly agape, with a mysterious hint in her teeth and tongue.

If Su Can had said this himself, Xiao Fei’s wife would have dismissed his score with ridicule, even thinking he was exaggerating too much. But when these words came from Yin Shuying, his big aunt, it was different.

Yin Shuying, who is known for her straightforward personality and as the大姐 (big sister) in their circle whose words carry weight, wouldn't hesitate to expose her family's private matters without any pretense. If Su Can wasn’t up to par, there would be no need for him to conceal anything either. Therefore, everything she said was usually the truth.

"Oh," Yu Qiushou looked somewhat surprised and finally gave a proper look at Su Can, her gaze filled with more scrutiny. "Your grades are impressive. I've never heard of such an excellent nephew before. This young man looks very handsome, yes, quite spirited!... Is he attending No. 1 High School"

"He used to study in No. 3 High School, but this time he's planning to transfer to No. 1 High School. It’s just that the process is somewhat complicated..." His uncle couldn't help but reveal a naturally proud smile. Su Can was able to make Mayor Yu exhibit such surprise; his uncle knew it wasn’t easy, and indeed, this nephew of his had been surprising lately.

"Oh What's so difficult about it"

"He made an error in filling out his college application. Originally, he didn't think that with some effort, he could achieve such high scores, so he initially chose No. 3 High School as his preference. But when the results came out, he realized his score was good enough for No. 1 High School. When he went to inquire at No. 1 High School, they mentioned there were issues and it wouldn't be easy..." His uncle Zeng Zhouding spoke up first.

Yu Qiushou frowned; she couldn’t believe a school’s administrative office would intentionally make things difficult for an excellent student. "Difficult What's so difficult about it Such an outstanding student is being underutilized at No. 3 High School. If he wants to transfer to No. 1 High School, let him do so! Tell President Ding Juntao that I said so!"

This would put significant pressure on the administrative office of No. 1 High School with Vice Mayor Yu's direct intervention; they likely wouldn't be able to resist.

Xiao Fei had a somber expression, lost in thought.

On the contrary, Xiao Yunyun’s gaze towards Su Can changed, lacking some of her previous condescension. As she reminisced about their past days together, her eyes softened, and there was even a hint of admiration returning.

...

The warm and deep male voice rang out again at this moment, "Su Cen, are you Su Cen from Xiahai City"

All present couldn't help but glance at the man who spoke. Xiao Fei's wife, still in shock, thought to herself that this was a reporter from Xinhua News Agency; how could he speak without any logic Wasn't it obvious

Yu Qiushou sensed something amiss and looked seriously at Zhang Zhaoyang. Judging by the tone of voice, it seemed like this Xinhua News Agency reporter knew Su Cen.

The atmosphere on stage suddenly became quiet as everyone’s attention was drawn to what was happening. Heads of cultural departments and supervisory institutions present all turned their gazes over.

How could a journalist from the most authoritative news body in China, Xinhua News Agency based out of Beijing, know about Su Cen, an almost anonymous figure in a small city

"Huh, but I found you. Did you write a reportage during your high school entrance exam You are that young author" Zhang Zhaoyang's tone became excited, causing those around to become serious. Since arriving at Xiahai City, he had never shown such genuine feelings; yet today, because of this middle school student, he couldn't help but reveal his excitement and joy.

Su Cen’s heart skipped a beat, thinking, "This is it then." His exam composition revolved around the core issue of the 1998 flood disaster. He wrote from a tree's perspective, using a tone that lamented the world to depict the desolate conditions, with the theme being the high school entrance exam essay topic, 'Give Me One Day.'

His opening lines were, "I am a tree. Humans, pause your hands wielding axes and knives for just one day, let me reminisce over my hundred years of life here where I took root in boundless fertile lands with birds singing and flowers blooming... like paradise for hundreds of years..."

He then continued from the perspective of a tree, collecting all the information he knew about human-induced destruction along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, summarizing potential disaster risks. Of course, he couldn’t explicitly state that a flood was imminent, but his arguments were well-grounded and emotionally compelling.

The whole venue fell into an eerie silence as Zhang Zhaoyang had left his seat to approach Su Cen. This move froze everyone in place; the city’s cultural bureau chief, who had been trying hard to curry favor with Zhang Zhaoyang, was met with polite but distant treatment from him before, yet now he showed such enthusiasm that even the hand movements of people reaching for their chopsticks froze in mid-air under the scorching summer sunlight, with white cotton-like fluff floating in the air.

Zhang Zhaoyang laughed heartily and extended his hand to shake Su Cen's, a middle-aged man of thirty ignoring most prominent figures in a provincial-level city while placing great importance on a sixteen-year-old junior high school student. This scene was truly eye-catching. "Your essay has already been selected for priority publication in the 'New Edition Junior High School Excellent Essays Collection' published by a publishing house in Haidian District, Beijing and will soon be available nationwide!"

What!

The entire venue was shaken as both Su Cen's mother and father clearly showed their surprise at this sudden explosive news.

In fact, the truly explosive news went far beyond that. During the first half of the year, when experts from the Ministry of Water Resources judged that there would be no major flooding in the Yangtze River Basin within three years, the region迎來了一個豐收的吉年，全國都沉浸在喜慶的氛圍之中。 (saw a bountiful and auspicious year; everyone was immersed in an atmosphere of joy and celebration.) Some minor dissenting opinions from experts working for national departments related to this were drowned out. But no one could have predicted that when sustained heavy rains came in June and July, a major flood truly erupted, causing massive property and life losses. The country's military forces rushed to the front lines while civilians joined efforts to resist floods and disaster relief.

Only then did everyone realize that some of those experts' worries back then were not baseless. During the subsequent flood rescue operations, there was also the fact of local officials shirking responsibility among each other. Furthermore, countless commentaries pushed all the most critical factors contributing to this disaster onto nature's wrath.

Su Cen’s article had already been selected as an excellent essay and a senior leader in the State Council happened to see it in his grandson’s new book, mentioning it during a heated intra-party discussion. He praised it highly: "This report literature from a middle school student hits home; they speak about key points that many newspapers, media outlets, news comments dare not voice! Regarding the flood's beginning and end, we shouldn't push all responsibilities onto nature. The real causes should be sought within our human activities. How many officials sacrifice environmental protection for political achievements We have cultivated so much green land, built so many factories and buildings – how much will this cost us when water inundates everything! If humans don’t leave a way of life for water, water won’t spare humans a path either. This rings an alarm bell for us and sets another important metric for future development..."

Although the leader casually mentioned it, those who heard were deeply moved. Su Cen from No. 3 Middle School in Xiahai City became a profound impression on many people’s minds that summer.

This also included Zhang Zhaoyang.

The trip down from central headquarters to Xiahai City had another task for him: interviewing this young author and bringing back meaningful news. When he got to the provincial level, it turned out several leaders there were already aware of this matter; only they kept it under wraps without spreading it around, waiting for a follow-up visit by central reporters.

Zhang Zhaoyang was just about to finish his current work and then proceed with this task when he unexpectedly ran into Su Cen. It seemed like everything fell into place effortlessly for him.e's nothing we can do about it." Gong Jun stretched out his arm to point at Liu Zheng's neck as if he were holding a rooster ready for slaughter. His neck was taut with blood rushing to it, and all th...