He was busy, too busy to pay attention to the things around him.
He knew Sheng Qianyu was the same—she had no time for trivial matters or irrelevant people.
She had always charged forward, with her own goals since childhood, moving steadily toward them without ever looking back. Unwilling to fall too far behind, he had followed closely, even without daily or spiritual communication. He believed that such efforts would eventually lead to an intersection with her future.
That was enough.
During this time, his brothers from the compound had called him a few times, mainly to update him on Zhao Xiaoyu’s recent situation.
“She got into college, but only a junior college, unlike Sister Qianyu, who got into Tsinghua University and is majoring in two subjects.”
“She used the Zhao family’s connections to study at a medical university, saying she wanted to become a doctor after graduation. But my dad told me her first clinical surgery didn’t go well—her hands were shaking. Luckily, it was a minor surgery, and the lead surgeon was supervising, or the consequences could have been dire. After leaving the operating room, she was scolded by the lead surgeon so loudly that everyone around heard about it.
Later, I heard she attempted a few more minor surgeries, but her performance remained poor, so she switched to studying traditional Chinese medicine. What a joke!”
“Is traditional Chinese medicine that easy to learn? Just memorizing the names and properties of medicinal herbs confused her. She mixed up so many of them! If she were to treat patients like that, wouldn’t she be harming them? Someone went to ask the senior TCM doctor mentoring her, and out of respect, he only said she should return to school for further study.
Upon closer inquiry, I found out that once, while filling a prescription, she grabbed the wrong medicine! Even though the medicine cabinet was clearly labeled, she still made a mistake! The patient who took the medicine ended up with diarrhea that same day and came to the hospital demanding an explanation. In the end, the Zhao family suppressed the matter.”
“Brother Zhou, with her unreliability, how did she manage to skip grades like Sister Qianyu and take the college entrance exam at 13?”
Chen Zhou didn’t respond.
He had sensed something off from the start.
Although Sheng Qianyu was naturally gifted, her achievements were also the result of hard work. While other children in the compound were playing wildly at that age, she often hid in her room reading. Others thought she was too frail to go outside, but they didn’t understand—whenever he went to see her, she was immersed in a sea of knowledge. She wouldn’t even respond when called, so he would pick up a book and quietly read alongside her.
As for Zhao Xiaoyu?
Zhao Xiaoyu wasn’t clever, at least not academically, as far as he could tell. Yet, she managed to skip from sixth grade to tenth grade in just one year and took the college entrance exam with the Zhao family’s connections.
During the half-year he was still in the compound, he never saw Zhao Xiaoyu touch a book. She was always hovering around him, and even after he left, he heard she spent her time socializing with peers.
Later, when the boys in the compound reached a certain age, unless they were neglected or had no expectations placed on them, they underwent core training and ideological refinement. That’s when they began to see through Zhao Xiaoyu’s clumsy tactics.
For example? Zhao Xiaoyu repeatedly insinuated, both openly and subtly, that Sheng Qianyu had taken advantage of the Zhao family for over a decade, using their resources. If she hadn’t returned, Sheng Qianyu would have continued climbing the social ladder relying on the Zhao family.For example, she would try to build good relationships with them, play the victim by saying she had a hard time in the Sheng family, and other subtle tactics. She was even caught once by the Sheng family’s elderly grandmother. After that incident, the old lady never appeared in the military compound again. Later, she only hinted that the reason the Sheng family often came to the military compound to see her was because they coveted the Zhao family’s resources and power.
While playing the victim, she also took advantage of the sympathy of teenagers to collectively isolate Chen Zhou. If he were an ordinary teenager, he would have long been unable to bear such isolation and chosen to compromise. But who was Chen Zhou?
When Qianyu was making progress, didn’t he also train alone to improve his physical fitness? Would he care about such petty isolation? He even found such clumsy tactics laughable and reported what happened to his father. On the surface, Political Commissar Chen didn’t do much. He simply visited the parents of those children, explained the situation, and after being disciplined at home, these children who had been brainwashed by Zhao Xiaoyu suddenly realized the truth.
As for the children whose families failed to discipline them, they were left to their own devices. After all, in the 1960s, few people paid attention to contraception—if you had a child, you raised them. If one didn’t turn out well, you could always focus on another.
As for Zhao Xiaoyu, she likely only toned down her behavior after being warned by Zhao Daxiong.
Within just a year, very few peers in the compound were willing to play with Zhao Xiaoyu. She thought it was because her reputation as a genius was widely known, and others felt inferior and didn’t dare approach her.
After all, geniuses are often lonely.
She glanced at the few boys and girls she was on good terms with, thinking to herself that the quality of friendships mattered more than the quantity—as long as they were of high quality.
As Chen Zhou’s recollection ended, he heard his playmate say, “She applied to be a military doctor on the island, but her clinical skills are lacking. Even her memorization of traditional Chinese medicine properties isn’t as precise as others’. How can she expect to become a military doctor? It’s already good enough if she isn’t sent back to school for further training.”
Only then did Chen Zhou feel relieved.
If Zhao Xiaoyu really followed him, he would choose to apply for military school to avoid her.
As for Qianyu…
He knew Qianyu too well.
Given the relationship between the Chen and Zhao families, and the fact that Qianyu had grown up with him as the Zhao family’s daughter, she wouldn’t have much contact with him.
All he could do was climb higher, reach a certain level, make her suitors back off, maintain a distance that was neither too close nor too far, watch over her, and hold up an umbrella for her.
Even if, perhaps, she didn’t need his umbrella.
At the Zhao family home.
After learning that Zhao Xiaoyu had applied to the hospital, Zhao Daxiong had a heated argument with her in the study.
“I’ve noticed your abilities. If you rely on the Zhao family name to become a doctor in the military, I’m afraid I won’t be able to save you if something goes wrong. You should give up on this idea. In a few days, I’ll suggest to the hospital that you return to school for further training. With your current abilities, you’re not yet qualified to be a doctor.”
“Why can Sheng Qianyu enter the Agricultural Sciences Institute while I have to go back to school for further training? Dad, do you look down on me? Do you know how many people will laugh at me if I’m sent back to school? As many people who envied me before will look down on me in the future! Dad, I’m a member of the Zhao family—I represent your face!”
Zhao Daxiong remained cold and unmoved.
He held a high position and wielded great authority. Even though he was once only skilled in warfare, after sitting at the desk, he naturally became familiar with the intricacies of such matters.
Zhao Xiaoyu’s petty schemes and tactics were nothing in his eyes.
He had even seen through the child’s true nature earlier than Chen Zhou.