Shen Mo lived in a luxurious villa in the newly built central area of Jinsong City, with a courtyard surrounded by an artificial lake.
The community consisted of neatly beautiful apartment buildings in a circle, with only ten small villas, making it the absolute top-tier community for the small northern city of Jinsong.
Shen’s father was the most top-tier painter in the country, with considerable influence internationally, and every painting he sold fetched a sky-high price.
They originally lived in the economically best city in the country, but after Shen’s mother passed away, Shen’s father, along with the still young Shen Mo, moved to his hometown, the small city.
The beautifully decorated courtyard was lit up, exuding a delicacy and refined aesthetic not belonging to this northern city—every decoration here was designed by Shen’s father himself.
As Shen Mo pushed open the door, he glanced indifferently at the illuminated pathway and walked towards the house.
In his silence, the lights and shadows seemed cold and heartless.
As he entered, the nanny peeked out from the kitchen to greet him and then disappeared back into the kitchen to continue her busy work.
By the time he returned from putting his backpack in his room, the food was already on the table.
He took a few bites before his father pushed open the door to the studio and sat down in the main seat.
Shen Mo greeted his father, and his father responded faintly, his face still wearing the absent-minded look of someone lost in thought.
It wasn’t until the meal was almost finished that Shen Jiaru snapped out of his own thoughts from his earlier creation.
His gaze turned to his son, suddenly noticing the bandage on his hand and what seemed to be bruises on his brow.
He furrowed his brows slightly, contemplating whether to ask what happened, if he got into another fight at school, and if he was harmed.
Then he remembered that today seemed to be his son’s first day of class after transferring schools, unsure of his adaptation to the new environment.
As thoughts swirled in his mind, he hesitated whether to first inquire about his son’s impression of the new school or to address the issue of injuries.
Yet in this moment of hesitation, another thought emerged in his mind—
This year, he made the unprecedented decision to take on several disciples seriously, not just casually teaching, but passing down his skills with dedication.
This weekend, there will be a female student who has gone through various tests and trials to be accepted as his disciple. She moved from Beijing to Jinsong City just to learn painting from him, seemingly also transferring to the same school as his son.
Immediately, his thoughts returned to painting—how to plan the curriculum based on the progress of this female student.
Until Shen Jiaru set down his chopsticks, left the dining table, and returned to the studio, not a word was spoken to his son.
His concern and worry for his son were quickly replaced by various painting-related matters, completely pushed aside.
Shen Mo, eating alone and returning to his room to read, was already accustomed to this.
After the nanny finished cleaning the kitchen and left, the entire villa fell silent like a deserted tomb.
Only the study on the third floor where Shen Mo was, and the study on the first floor where Shen Jiaru was, had lights on, indicating someone was living there.
Unfortunately, the lights in these two rooms were at opposite corners of the villa, quite far apart.
In the dark night, they looked like two separate houses.
Completely unrelated, each shining with a stark, cold light.
…
…
Far, far away from the city center, on the northern mountains, the neatly planned rows of bungalows illuminated from First Street to Ninth Street, with every household glowing with lights.
Though living in close quarters, these homes exuded a vibrant atmosphere of life.
As Hua’s mother returned home late, she pushed the door open to find her dog happily wagging its tail at her.
She paused, gently closing the door behind her and tiptoeing through the living room, peeking inside her daughter’s bedroom through the window above the wall.
The teenage girl was buried in a sea of books, furrowing her brows in contemplation.
Hua’s mother turned back to the living room, noticing that the remote control was placed exactly as she had left it in the morning.
The television was slightly cool, indicating it hadn’t been turned on in the past few hours.
Turning on the TV, Channel 6 was showing a documentary about landmine warfare, the same channel she had deliberately set before turning it off in the morning.
Strange!
Her daughter was home alone, yet she neither played with the dog nor watched TV.
Was she really studying obediently?
Hua’s mother didn’t disturb her daughter and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Twenty minutes later, dinner was served. Hua Jie briefly shared some school stories with her mother at the dinner table. After dinner, instead of asking her mother as usual if she could watch TV for a while, she immediately went back to her room to continue studying.
Hua’s mother peeked in, feeling deeply relieved. Suddenly, she felt her daughter had grown up and understood the importance of studying.
As she washed the dishes and watched TV, she kept the volume extremely low, afraid of disturbing her daughter’s study.
Thinking about sharing her daughter’s changes with her husband, who worked as a train conductor and would be returning home after his shift, she felt happy.
…
In her small room, Hua Jie diligently read through her Grade 7 math textbook, jotting down and memorizing various formulas, slowly recalling memories of her childhood studies.
After quickly going through half of the math book, she finally gained some confidence.
It’s okay, not as confusing as reading ancient texts.
Now, her thinking is stronger than when she was young, she have found methods for studying, and her understanding seems to have improved a lot. Her efficiency in self-learning is not low.
To solidify what she have learned, she pulled out exercise books and started practicing problems.
The initial panic of not remembering anything has subsided slightly. Feeling progress and igniting hope, the more she study, the more empowered she feel.
I love studying!
Studying makes me happy!
After an hour, she took a break to drink some water and use the restroom, then she eagerly returned to her room.
When Hua’s mother was happily munching on sunflower seeds, unable to resist, Hua Jie quietly took out a few test papers from her school bag.
The teacher required all students’ papers to be signed by their parents and handed in the next day.
She glanced sneakily at her mother sitting in the living room, hesitated for a moment, but finally sat back down and, imitating her mother’s handwriting, signed her name with elaborate strokes on each paper.
Being good at drawing also has its perks; her ability to imitate lines is extremely strong, and forging her parents’ signatures is a piece of cake.
It’s been a while since I’ve done something like this; I’m a little nervous…
Hmm… a well-intentioned ~ a well-intentioned lie!
Let’s make Mother happy!
Before the midterm exam, she will definitely work hard to completely rewrite her grades.
Then, when she gets good grades, her mother will also smile like this during the parent-teacher conference!
As for the grades that caught her off guard now… let them quietly dissipate into the river of time, forever submerged and forgotten!
Hmm hmm!
…………
The next day, the forged signatures on the papers of the student behind her were caught.
The homeroom teacher scolded for a while, not satisfied, and just as Hua Jie felt guilty for the embarrassment of the student behind her and nervous for herself, the homeroom teacher suddenly picked up Hua Jie’s paper.
Hua Jie was dumbfounded.
Shaking Hua Jie’s paper, the homeroom teacher didn’t catch her for forging, but instead showed the paper to the student behind her, angrily reprimanding him:
“What kind of scribble is this?”
“It’s like a dog’s crawl!”
“And the signatures on several papers are all different, obviously, you just scribbled them yourself!”
“If you’re going to cheat, at least practice more seriously, okay?”
“Do you think the teacher is stupid?”
“Do you think we can’t see through your tricks?”
“Look at Hua Jie’s mother’s signature, each one is identical, compare it with other parents’ signatures!”
“Still being stubborn? Huh?”
Faced with solid evidence and strong logic, the student behind her finally confessed, apologizing with a dejected look and reluctantly taking back the papers, promising to complete the task of getting his parents’ signatures by Monday.
Only then did the teacher leave satisfied, still holding onto Hua Jie’s papers.
Watching the teacher’s back, Hua Jie’s heart was stuck in her throat, feeling trapped.
Embarrassed to the point of suffocation, ears burning, face purple-red.
Hua Jie stared at the homeroom teacher’s back and rubbed her face forcefully.
She suspected the homeroom teacher was mocking her, but she had no evidence.