Chapter Forty-One: The Extraordinary Talent Wei Xiaofan

“Li Liangtian is truly an outstanding entrepreneur! Why doesn’t Li Bufan learn from his father?” Zhang Liying remarked.

“Speaking of Li Bufan, Wei Xiaofan, and Wei Xiaoping, after you left last time, I asked Li Bufan about the magazine. He admitted he put the book there, said it was just a prank. Maybe it really was just mischief, because he’s only been in our class for a little over two months, and you haven’t had any conflicts with him. So, it probably was just a prank. In that case, we needn’t hold it against him,” Wu Wenbin said.

“We’ve already forgotten about it, Teacher Wu! Yesterday we bumped into Li Bufan, and he admitted his mistake. He even said he’d treat us to a meal! It’s all right, teacher!” Wei Xiaoping replied.

“Well then, all the better. Even if someone’s character is less than ideal, as long as you consistently treat them kindly, they’ll be embarrassed to do you harm in the future. So, when you see each other, make sure to greet him proactively. After all, you’re all classmates,” Wu Wenbin advised.

“Don’t worry, Teacher Wu, neither Wei Xiaofan nor I are the type to bear grudges!” Wei Xiaoping assured him.

“We’ll greet Li Bufan when we meet him from now on,” Wei Xiaofan echoed, though inwardly he thought it best to stay cautious around that kind of person.

“Now that’s settled, let’s leave it at that. Starting tomorrow and until next Monday, you won’t need to attend classes in your classroom. At eight-thirty in the morning, head to the middle school conference room—the exams will be held there. You can return to your classroom for now to continue your lessons,” Wu Wenbin instructed.

“Oh, right!” As the three were about to leave, Wu Wenbin seemed to remember something, and quickly added, “I forgot to tell you one thing. Besides awarding bonuses to the students who win first and second place, Li Liangtian intends to sponsor one impoverished student from each grade in our school, supporting them from high school all the way through university! This sponsorship starts next semester, with stricter requirements due to the limited slots. Wei Xiaofan, although you’re still in your third year of middle school, I believe with your current grades you’ll easily get into our high school. I plan to report your situation to the Academic Affairs Office. After this evaluation event is over, find some time to go home and have the village leaders issue you a certificate proving your family’s hardship, so I can help submit your application.”

Wei Xiaoping and Zhang Liying praised Li Liangtian’s sponsorship, hoping Wei Xiaofan would secure the spot so he could study with them through high school and even university.

Wei Xiaofan also admired Li Liangtian’s generosity, though he felt a bit embarrassed for being a recipient of the impoverished student aid.

“Teacher, is it really okay to submit the materials early? What if I don’t get accepted?” Wei Xiaofan asked.

“Since you’ll be attending our high school, and during the high school entrance exams, students from our middle school who meet the standards are given priority admissions, so yes, you can submit your materials early for review by the Academic Affairs Office.”

The three left Wu Wenbin’s office and headed back to their classroom.

On the way, Zhang Liying and Wei Xiaoping both expressed their hope that Wei Xiaofan would win the sponsorship, and they also greatly admired the viewpoint he shared in his essay during their meeting in Wu Wenbin’s office.

“Wei Xiaofan, the model student competition this time comes with generous rewards! I hope you can help our class win the championship and the bonus. That way, we bring honor to our class and can use the prize money to improve our learning and living conditions. Then we can continue studying together!” Zhang Liying said.

Wei Xiaoping was also interested in the monetary rewards for the competition. He thought, if he and Wei Xiaofan could win first and second place, together they’d receive nearly two thousand yuan. That would be enough to provide the starting capital for the small business they planned to run during the summer vacation!

Wei Xiaofan considered that Li Liangtian’s actions were truly admirable, but why did he have to be Li Bufan’s father? Especially when Li Bufan had clashed with him before. If he really got into high school and received the impoverished student sponsorship, what if one day Li Bufan played another prank, mocking him for being supported by his father? That would be so awkward!—Ah, whatever, just follow Teacher Wu’s advice for now.

In the following days, Wei Xiaoping, Wei Xiaofan, and Zhang Liying performed excellently in their exams. Although they were given one hundred and twenty minutes to finish, they completed their papers in about seventy minutes.

To ensure their answers were perfectly accurate, they checked their papers repeatedly.

Especially Wei Xiaofan, who scrutinized his exam paper word by word. Even after several thorough reviews, if there were ten or fifteen minutes left, he’d still check again, feeling compelled to ensure perfection.

When he finally felt he couldn’t check anymore, he handed in his paper and left the exam room.

Seeing that there was still an hour before lunch, he went to the school library to research materials for his essays.

Thus, over those three days, he finished every exam quickly, checked thoroughly, and then headed to the library to study essay examples.

Within those days, he read through more than twenty sample essays, gaining increasing confidence in how to write about the five themes: morality, intelligence, physical education, aesthetics, and labor.

When the essay exams began, each piece he wrote was a flowing, eloquent work of five or six thousand words, rich in logic and style, leaving readers in awe.

Though the topics were distinct—morality, intelligence, physical education, aesthetics, and labor—Wei Xiaofan managed to weave connections between all five essays, each with a clear thesis, making the seemingly disparate themes interconnected. The logic was impeccable, the arguments convincing, and the teachers reviewing the papers nodded in admiration, sometimes muttering to themselves, “This is truly outstanding. It’s the first time I’ve seen essays covering five different themes, so well linked together, with such strong logic and persuasive arguments.”

The reviewing teacher then shared each of Wei Xiaofan’s essays with other teachers, who all praised him as a prodigy.