The Poor School Heartthrob Was Secretly a Financial Titan - Chapter 31

He was handsome and energetic, and his patience in caring for his father left a good impression on the nurses—these days, there aren’t many young people willing to stay in the hospital and take care of their fathers, and even fewer who are both handsome and attentive. Like the female staff at the Chunmei Hotel, the nurses here took special care of him. In the first few nights when there were no beds available, the head nurse let him sleep on an extra bed without charging him.

During morning rounds, the head nurse was the first to ask him, “Xiao Han, have the results come out today? Have you checked them?”

Han Xuetao was taken aback. He had been so busy taking care of his father these past few days that he had completely forgotten about it.

“Haven’t checked yet.”

The head nurse waved her hand: “Come to the nurses’ station to check in a bit. The phone over there can make outside calls.”

After finishing his rounds, Han Xuetao followed his mother, Zhao Xiurong, to the nurses’ station. He didn’t say much along the way, but Zhao Xiurong clutched her cloth bag tightly, clearly a little nervous.

The nurses’ station was busy, with several nurses organizing medical records. Seeing Han Xuetao approach, a young nurse immediately made way for him: “Come on, use this phone.”

Han Xuetao picked up the phone and started dialing.

He had just dialed two numbers when he noticed his fingers were a little stiff.

wrong.

He paused, looking down at his hands. These hands, which had held guns, seen blood, and commanded gangs of tens of thousands, were now somehow unresponsive as he dialed a score inquiry call?

A soft laugh came from the side.

“Xiao Han is nervous!” a nurse said, covering her mouth.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I believe you can pass the exam.” Another nurse came over and leaned over the table to look at him.

Zhao Xiurong whispered from behind, “Slow down, don’t rush.”

Han Xuetao chuckled self-deprecatingly.

This is unbelievable. In his previous life, he was in jail and never experienced checking his college entrance exam scores. Now, given this chance, he’s sweating bullets over a phone call. He steadied himself and dialed again.

This time it’s safe.

Following the voice prompts, I entered my ID number. There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the line. Then a mechanical female voice began to announce:

“Chinese, 117 points. Math, 135 points. English, 142 points. Physics, 96 points. Chemistry, 91 points. Total score, 581 points.”

The person on the other end of the phone was still reporting the individual subject scores, but the nurses’ station was already in an uproar.

“Wow–!”

Several nurses clapped their hands and jumped up, as if they themselves had scored high marks on the test.

“580! With this score, Ninghai University is a sure thing!”

“Not just Ninghai, you can choose any top university you want!”

“Xiao Han, you’re amazing!”

As soon as Han Xuetao hung up the phone, he was surrounded by several nurses. One patted his shoulder, another tugged at his arm, and the head nurse was grinning from ear to ear.

“Thank you, nurse, thank you, nurse…” Han Xuetao was overwhelmed by the praise and kept thanking her.

Zhao Xiurong stood outside the crowd, her face flushed.

Her son got a high score, and everyone praised him so much; this mother felt sweeter than if she’d eaten honey. She suddenly stood up: “I’ll go buy some candy! I’ll buy some to share with everyone!”

After saying that, she ran two steps outside, then stopped: “Wait, I haven’t told your dad yet!”

She turned and ran towards the ward, beaming with joy.

In the ward, Han Defu lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, his heart pounding with anxiety. Hearing the door open, he turned sharply and saw Zhao Xiurong rushing in with a beaming smile. He quickly asked:

“How was it? How did the exam go?”

Zhao Xiurong walked a few steps to the bedside and, panting, read out her scores.

“581! This kid did an amazing job this time! With this score, Ninghai University is a sure thing!”

Han Defu paused for two seconds, then suddenly slapped the edge of the bed: “Good! Good!”

He was grinning from ear to ear, and all the worries that had been weighing on his face vanished.

Zhao Xiurong said, “I’m going to buy some candy to give to the nurses. They’ve helped us so much, we should thank them.”

“Go, hurry up!” Han Defu waved his hand. “Buy something good! Don’t forget the doctor and Director Qu; we’re really grateful for their help!”

Zhao Xiurong responded and turned to walk out.

Han Xuetao finally managed to escape from the nurses’ encirclement and return to his ward.

Han Defu’s smile hadn’t faded when he saw his son come in. He beckoned, “Come here, sit down.”

Han Xuetao sat down on the edge of the bed.

Han Defu looked at him for several seconds, then suddenly said, “Dad didn’t get much education in his life. He worked in the factory for twenty-three years, and in the end, he was kicked out. I always thought that this was all there was to my life.”

He paused.

But you are different.

Han Xuetao remained silent.

“Your mom just ran in and told me how many points you got on the test. My first thought wasn’t to be happy,” Han Defu said, looking at him. “My first thought was, thank goodness I didn’t agree to what your uncle asked for.”

His voice was a little hoarse: “If I were to give your spot to someone else, I would never be able to get over this in my life.”

Han Xuetao was silent for a moment before speaking: “Dad, I got my score myself, and I went to university on my own. Nobody can take it away from me.”

Han Defu nodded.

“You’ve grown up,” he said. “You’re better than your dad.”

Han Xuetao smiled and said, “Dad, you’re not bad either. Aren’t all your apprentices trained by you?”

Han Defu paused for a moment, then laughed.

As he laughed, he remembered something and pointed to the bedside table: “There’s an apple over there, you can peel it and eat it.”

Han Xuetao picked up the apple and slowly peeled it.

The ward quieted down, and the sunlight streaming in through the window fell warmly on the father and son.

…

Meanwhile, Li Man was also checking her scores.

She was considered late to check her scores. When the college entrance exam hotline opened in the early morning, many students couldn’t wait to call, and I heard that the lines were constantly busy, with some people dialing hundreds of times before finally getting through. But Li Man was different; she had a habit of going to bed early, and since she wasn’t panicking, she slept until she naturally woke up.

I was woken up by a phone call.

The first one was Luo Diandian, who loudly asked her how many points she got on the exam. Li Man mumbled that she hadn’t checked yet, and Luo Diandian screamed on the other end of the phone: “Haven’t checked yet?! How can you sleep?!”

Next came Sun Ling, then Ma Hui, and even the homeroom teacher called to ask. Li Man dealt with everyone before slowly getting up, washing her face and brushing her teeth, and walking to the telephone in the living room.

She had just picked up the microphone when the door opened.

Gu Aizhi walked in carrying a shopping basket. Seeing her daughter standing there, she paused for a moment and asked, “You’re up? Have you checked?”

Li Man put down the phone: “We were just about to investigate. Mom, why are you back so early?”

“Isn’t today your college entrance exam score check?” Gu Aizhi put the shopping basket on the table. “I took leave from work and came back specifically for this. So, did you check? What was your score?”

“We haven’t investigated yet, we’re about to make the call.”

“Wait for me!” Gu Aizhi rushed into the kitchen, the faucet gushing twice, then rushed out again, her hands still dripping wet. “Come on, listen together!”

The mother and daughter sat down in front of the telephone, and Li Man picked up the receiver again and dialed the number on the slip of paper.

Busy.

I dialed again, but the line was still busy.

The third time, it went through.

Enter your examination admission ticket number as prompted by the voice. A few seconds later, a mechanical female voice began to announce:

“Chinese…Mathematics…English…Total score: 596 points.”

Li Man hung up the phone.

Gu Aizhi slapped her thigh and exclaimed, “Oh dear! We’re only four points away from 600!”

Li Man glanced at her and said, “You still expect me to get you the top score in the college entrance exam?”

Gu Aizhi glared at her: “I’m just feeling sorry for you!”

“What’s there to regret?” Li Man leaned back on the sofa. “This score is more than enough for my first choice. Luo Diandian just called and told me about some of my classmates’ scores. So far, no one has scored above 520. She got 502, and Sun Ling got 511. They’re already incredibly excited.”

Gu Aizhi thought for a moment and asked, “What was the admission score for Ninghai University again?”

“Last year it was 558, this year it should be about the same.”

“Five hundred and ninety?”

Li Man gave a lazy “hmm”.

Gu Aizhi picked up the phone and started dialing, “I’ll tell your dad.”

I dialed it once, then put it down.

“Your dad’s phone is off.”

I dialed the office phone again, but it was busy. I dialed several more times, but it was busy every time.

Gu Aizhi slammed the phone down in anger: “When your dad gets busy, he forgets about us! It’s such a big deal for our daughter to check her college entrance exam scores, and his phone is off and the line is busy in the office—that’s really something!”

Li Man said calmly, “My dad trusts me and knows I won’t do poorly on the test.”

Gu Aizhi was taken aback, then waved her hand, “Alright, alright, you father and daughter are so amazing, I’m only fit to serve you.” She stood up and walked towards the door, “I’ll go buy some more groceries, get a fish for lunch, and make you some ribs. If there’s anything else you want to eat, just tell Mom.”

“Whatever,” Li Man replied.

The phone rang again.

She answered the phone; it was Luo Diandian.

“Manman! What’s the score? What’s the score?”

Li Man announced the score, and a scream erupted from the other end of the phone.

“590! That’s the highest score in our school! I don’t know anyone who scored higher than you!”

Li Man’s lips curled up slightly, her tone still indifferent: “What scores did everyone else get?”

“Tan Hongqiang from Class 2 got 585, Wang Lixue from Class 4 got 588…” Luo Diandian said one by one. These were all students who usually had good grades, but none of them scored above 590.

Li Man listened, then suddenly asked, “Do you know how many points Han Xuetao got on the exam?”

Luo Diandian paused for a moment: “I don’t know. Didn’t he go to Ninghai? And we don’t have his contact information, so we can’t ask him at all. Ma Hou wants to find out, but there’s nowhere to ask. Ma Hou did well on the exam, he got 479, and he’s overjoyed.”

Li Man hummed in agreement.

Ma Hui only scored 479. Although Han Xuetao’s grades were usually much better than Ma Hui’s, they were deskmates. What if stupidity was contagious?

She felt a little uneasy.

Then, out of the blue, he asked, “That Zhang Lu, what was her score again?”

“Around 430, that’s what they said in their class,” Luo Diandian said. “Anyway, they bombed the exam.”

Li Man nodded and said, “This score isn’t a bad one for her; it’s just a normal performance.”

If I got this score, I wouldn’t be able to face anyone; I’d rather die.

After hanging up the phone, she leaned back on the sofa. Five hundred and ninety-six—she was quite satisfied with the score, but for some reason, she couldn’t feel truly happy.