A few days later as the mother and son kept their distance from each other, mostly at the insistence of Wan Zhi, they received a call. The results for the exams were finally out, and just as he had expected he had gained the top marks, this prompted the principal to call him in person. But he knew that even if he topped the school the principal wouldn’t have paid that much attention which meant he had probably gained the highest marks in the county.
This cause Wan Zhi to give his first genuine smile, if he had really topped the county then that means more prize money and a chance of getting a higher scholarship in the school of his choice. His mother and he got dressed in their best clothes and went to meet with the people at the school. They were both happy but there was another thing that had noticeably changed about them, no matter how happy they were they didn’t hold each other.
They walked into the school side by side but held a certain distance from each other, when they met with the teachers and the principal they were given the news Wan Zhi was expecting to hear. He smiled and even forced himself to remain calm as all the teachers and representatives from the government wanted to give him a hug.
After talking and laughing, he received the three checks, one was from the school, another from the town they lived in but they both pales in comparison to the one he received from the county representative. As Wan Zhi looked at the amount he smiled like a carefree child, after that the adults were supposed to talk among themselves and send him out to play, but with the way his mother was, he was more of an adult than she was.
It was later in the day when the two return to the hostel, as they entered people they hadn’t even talked to before came up to congratulate them. Wan Zhi ditched them all to return to his room and left his mother to deal with it all, the people eventually gave up and left when they noticed how overwhelmed Yin Zi was.
The mother and son remained in the town for another week to complete the formalities and change the checks before Wan Zhi woke his mother up one early morning and left with her. By the time the people noticed they had left they had already been on the road for more than an hour. Soon they got off the bus and boarded the train, though the trains of that time were a bit troublesome it was faster than traveling by bus.
After Wan Zhi cashed the checks he had enough for him and his mother to have their own bunks, he slept on the top one, keeping the money with himself and let his mother stay in the bottom. After time passed they finally reached their destination, the mother and son got off the train and at the insistence of Wan Zhi went to look for a place to live right away.
But before that, he purchased some good quality clothes for him and his mother and then went and showered in a public bath. When they were dressed they looked like a middle-class housewife and he spoiled son. This was the image he wanted to have so that it would be easier to get a place, even though it was the early twenty-tens and the country had already integrated with technology people were still more inclined to treat the rich better.
He didn’t even need to look for a place since he had long done all his research, they didn’t have enough income to live in a really expensive place but leasing an apartment near the school for six months was no issue. Wan Zhi looked around at the furnished apartment and smiled to himself, he let his mother do as she wished as she changed into old clothes and started cleaning the place from head to toe.
He went into his room and smiled to himself, it was now a separate room from his mother’s so he didn’t have to worry about her touching his things or coming into his room. He sat down and unpacked his things, the clothes he had brought with him from the hostel were packed into a garbage bag for throwing out and he made his mother do the same, later he would buy more clothes for them.
When he was done he sat at the table and started calculating the money and then the things he needed to do with it, of course, he didn’t include the school fees and such because he was confident in getting a full scholarship. He knew even if he got it this year he would have to remain in his first rank to continue getting the scholarship but he was confident he could do that.
After he was finished he put the money in a small lockbox he had bought and put his things away, he would fix up his room a little later so his desk looked more like a study. He also wanted to get a phone and laptop for himself but he would need to wait and see. He looked at his desk and took out a notebook and quickly sketched a layout and made a small list of what he wanted.
When he was satisfied he put his things up and left his room to go find his mother, the woman was covered in sweat as she threw out a bucket of dirty water. Wan Zhi looked at her state and took a step back with a from on his face, because of his experiences he had gained a certain need to always be clean so seeing her in such a state made him not want to see her.
“Mom stop cleaning, the place is fine, take a bath we’ll go out and get something to eat.” His tone was a bit commanding but Yin Zi seemed oblivious as usual as she raced to follow her son’s orders.
