Chen Zhuo spoke, slow and unhurried.
When Zhang Qiang heard Chen Zhuo speak up for him, he was deeply touched. ’What a true brother,’ he thought. ’He knows how to give a guy an out when it counts.’
He shot Chen Zhuo a grateful look.
Chen Zhuo didn’t look back at him. Instead, he stood up.
"The second year of middle school is a real turning point. If you don’t have a solid foundation, you won’t be able to handle the comprehensive exams in the third year."
Chen Zhuo looked at Zhang Qiang’s parents.
"This past half-year at Keda, I had some free time in the evenings, so I took the opportunity to break down the key question types and underlying logic from the final sections of City No. 1 Middle School’s high school entrance exams from the last few years."
Zhang Qiang’s hands, which were shelling a peanut, froze.
Chen Zhuo turned and walked toward his bedroom.
"I organized my findings into a set of notes designed for targeted improvement."
The bedroom door wasn’t closed, and a dozen seconds later, Chen Zhuo walked out holding a black hardcover notebook.
He walked to the coffee table and, with both hands, presented the black notebook to Zhang Qiang’s mother.
"Auntie, this is it."
Chen Zhuo’s eyes were as sincere as a clear spring.
"It contains mind maps for all the key concepts in middle school math and physics, plus a set of powerful problem-solving templates I summarized for him. There’s no need for rote memorization; you just follow the logic and apply the templates."
Zhang Qiang’s mother was stunned.
She stared blankly at the black notebook being offered to her, so flustered she didn’t know what to do with her hands.
Zhang Zhicheng, sitting beside her, reacted in a flash.
As a man who had fought his way up in the business world, he knew exactly how much this unassuming black notebook was worth.
’What was this?’
’This was a secret manual for success, personally written, stroke by stroke, by a national competition champion, a thirteen-year-old genius from Keda’s program for the gifted, and tailor-made for City No. 1 Middle School’s exam system!’
’Forget a few hundred yuan for oral supplements—even if you spent tens of thousands to hire a master teacher from the Provincial City, they could never produce something like this, simplified and organized by a top-tier intellect.’
’This wasn’t a notebook; this was a golden path to success laid out for his son!’
"Aiyo, Xiaozhuo..."
Zhang Zhicheng shot to his feet, took the notebook with both hands, his voice trembling with emotion.
He flipped open the cover.
Inside was exceptionally neat handwriting. Clear mind maps were drawn with a blue ballpoint pen, with common mistakes and problem-solving shortcuts marked in red. There wasn’t a single wasted word—just the most lethal breakdowns of key exam topics.
"Old Chen, Mrs. Chen, this... this is too valuable!"
Zhang Zhicheng turned to Chen Jianguo and his wife, his eyes welling up.
"Xiaozhuo is so busy with his own studies, yet he’s still thinking about our Qiangzi’s schoolwork every day. This thoughtfulness... I’m at a loss for words!"
Zhang Qiang’s mother finally snapped out of her daze.
She snatched the notebook from her husband’s hands and cradled it in her own as if it were a priceless treasure.
"Xiaozhuo, thank you. Auntie really doesn’t know how to thank you."
Zhang Qiang’s mother was so emotional her voice began to choke up.
She turned her head to look at Zhang Qiang, who was sitting completely petrified on his plastic stool.
The mix of doting love and helplessness she’d felt just a second ago while complaining about her son’s lack of ambition instantly transformed into an unyielding will of steel the moment she touched the notebook.
’With this secret manual written by the champion himself, even if he were a pig, I’ll make him pass the entrance exam for City No. 1 Middle School’s high school!’
"Zhang Qiang!"
His mother’s voice suddenly shot up in pitch, laced with unquestionable authority.
Zhang Qiang shuddered, and the half-shelled peanut in his hand fell to the floor.
"Look at Xiaozhuo! He’s working so hard at the university, and he still went to all this trouble for you! How can you even think about going out to have fun?"
His mother pointed a finger at Zhang Qiang and, on the spot, issued the harshest possible Spring Festival decree.
"Let me tell you, starting this afternoon, you are not to go anywhere for the rest of this winter break! You will stay in the study every day and go through this notebook! If you don’t finish it, if you don’t master it, you can forget about your lucky money!"
Zhang Qiang’s face went white.
He felt like his world was collapsing.
The fifty arcade tokens that had felt so warm in his pocket just moments ago now seemed like fifty cold lumps of iron, weighing down his thigh.
The new *The King of Fighters ’97* machine at the arcade, the crisp clicks of the joysticks, the cheers of his classmates—in that instant, it all vanished into thin air.
He stared at Chen Zhuo in horror.
He couldn’t believe that the brother he trusted with his life had, on a festive day like the second of the New Year, just completely and utterly destroyed him in front of the adults.
Chen Zhuo stood by the coffee table, looking at Zhang Qiang’s desperate expression, which was on the verge of tears.
Not only did he not break character and laugh, but the look of concern on his face actually deepened.
"Auntie, don’t be too hard on him either."
Chen Zhuo sighed, playing the part of a protective older brother trying to plead on his little bro’s behalf.
Hearing this, a faint glimmer of hope sparked in Zhang Qiang’s eyes.
"There are a few problems in here on the comprehensive application of spatial geometry and quadratic functions that are a bit advanced for his level."
"If Qiangzi runs into problems he can’t solve and gets frustrated to the point of tears, please don’t scold him, and definitely don’t let him give up. Just have him leave the problems blank. A few days before school starts, I’ll find an afternoon to come over and personally explain everything to him until he gets it."
That faint glimmer of hope in Zhang Qiang’s eyes was completely extinguished by Chen Zhuo’s words.
With that one sentence, every possible escape route—feigning illness, acting pitiful, or claiming the problems were too hard—was welded shut.
’Can’t solve it? No problem. The young genius himself will personally come to your house for a tutoring session before school starts. How could you possibly escape?’
After hearing this, Zhang Qiang’s mother nodded repeatedly, weeping with gratitude.
"Don’t you worry, Xiaozhuo. Auntie definitely won’t hit him. If he dares to slack off, I’ll just have his dad stand over him with a belt every day while he works!"

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