Rebirth of a Top Student's Handbook

"That's still better than you. At least he's younger and smarter. Think about yourself. How much effort have I put into you all these years?"

Hearing Gu Ze constantly contradicting her opinions, Gu's mother said resentfully.

Of her three children, she spent the most time and energy on her youngest. Her first two children were raised by her in-laws. However, with the arrival of her third child, her in-laws went abroad for treatment because her mother-in-law's health was poor, so she raised the youngest child herself.

The eldest and second sons were both outstanding, graduating from prestigious universities and enjoying smooth careers. The youngest, however, was a good-for-nothing during his school years, skipping classes and getting into fights every day. He caused the family to apologize countless times and pull strings to get ahead!

After joining the army, he performed only moderately. Although his rank was not low, he was far inferior to his second brother. His second brother, also in the army, was several levels higher in rank and position.

Even though she was unwilling, the strong-willed Gu's mother had to admit that she was not as good at taking care of children as her in-laws, just by looking at the difference between her third son and his two older brothers.

Of course, she also felt that the main reason why the third son was not well-behaved was because she was busy with her career at that time, and the third son was unruly and undisciplined, which led to a certain gap between the third son and his brothers.

If Gu Ze knew what his mother was thinking, he would feel extremely wronged. His second brother was in the border troops, where there were many missions and a high degree of danger, so the chances of making meritorious contributions were naturally greater. In contrast, his own troops were all doing basic missions and there were not many opportunities for promotion.

After Gu Ze stirred up his mother's dissatisfaction, there was no way to calm her down. By the time he got home, his mother's dislike had turned into a mixed dislike from both men and women. Even someone as self-assured as Gu Ze was dealt a devastating blow.

"If this girl is really as outstanding as you say, I think it's a good idea." Mr. Gu knew that his wife liked girls, so he was very supportive of his wife's desire to adopt a goddaughter.

"Don't you trust my judgment?" Gu's mother, who had not gained any approval from Gu Ze, tried her best to garner votes for Zhou Min in front of Gu's father.

Mr. Gu knew Mrs. Gu's fiery temper; she was the type who only saw the good qualities in someone she liked and only saw the bad qualities in someone she disliked.

For example, the eldest son's wife is also a graduate of a prestigious university and has a good character and appearance. However, because she doesn't meet Gu's mother's standards, Gu's mother still dislikes her to this day, to the point that she almost never lets the eldest son's family into the house.

When Gu's father saw that his wife liked a girl so much, he would have liked to introduce her to his son if the girl wasn't too old.

“Then you should invite that girl over for a visit sometime, so I can meet her too,” Mr. Gu said cheerfully. He was also very curious about what kind of girl could catch Mrs. Gu’s eye.

It's well known that Gu's mother has always had a bad temper and isn't well-liked. In fact, Gu's father has always heard her complain about others and rarely hears her praise anyone.

"It hasn't come to that yet. That girl is quite wary," Gu's mother sighed.

"Mom, I think you should just stay in our compound and become a goddaughter. Don't bother other people."

"What do you know? Every girl in our compound is cunning and scheming. I just hate those kinds of girls." Gu's mother immediately rejected Gu Ze's words.

Speaking of this, Gu's mother thought of the blind date she had arranged for Gu Ze.

Gu Ze's mother was furious when the girl turned out to be uninterested in him. Seeing Gu Ze's nonchalant attitude, she couldn't help but scold him: "Look at you! Didn't you try to date back in high school? Now that you're serious, you're completely useless."

You should know that back then, her parents were called in by the school many times because of Gu Ze's early romance. Now that she's at the age to get married, she's become a "difficult household" (a term used to describe a family facing financial difficulties).

"Don't follow your second brother's example. Settle down and start a family before you can focus on your career," Gu's father advised from the side.

"Okay, I understand. You two sit down first. I have to go upstairs." Gu Ze hurriedly ran back upstairs. At this moment, all he wanted to do was sew Yu Cheng's big mouth shut.

It was because Yu Cheng made a fool of himself last time that he was forced to go on a blind date, and to make matters worse, he wasn't even accepted by the girl. As a result, he gets scolded by his mother every day for a while these days.

"Third Brother, did you need something?" Yu Cheng was now afraid of Gu Ze, all because his aunt had overheard him spouting nonsense last time!

Later, unable to resist his aunt's expectations, he made up a whole story for her, and he could already guess Gu Ze's miserable situation during the New Year.

"What do you think!" Gu Ze was in a bad mood and just wanted to take it out on Yu Cheng. After all, Yu Cheng was the fuse that set off his recent tragedy!

"Third Brother, let's talk this out. Why don't we get together and have a get-together?" Yu Cheng thought he could get a few more people to share the burden of his third brother's anger.

"Okay, you wait here." Gu Ze also felt bored at home, so he simply went out.

When Gu Ze arrived, the others had already arrived as well.

"Third brother, you've finally arrived. Come, let me apologize to you." Yu Cheng said, taking a sip of wine.

"Stop putting on airs." Gu Ze wasn't buying it.

"Hehe, Third Brother, this really doesn't belong to me. I was just talking nonsense, and Auntie overheard me by accident. You know Auntie's temper." Yu Cheng also felt very wronged.

Looking at his pathetic state, Gu Ze was too lazy to argue with him any further.

Turning to see the dejected Zhuang Xian, she asked curiously, "How about you, Zhuang Xian? How have you been lately? Have you met someone in real life yet?"

"No, girls are more shy."

"It's been a year already, hasn't it? And we still haven't even seen each other?!" Yu Cheng asked in surprise.

Yu Cheng found it unbelievable. After all, for someone like him who could change seven or eight girlfriends a year, it was a joke that he hadn't even met her after a year of dating.

Zhuang Xian was also disappointed. He met this girl in the game last spring. At the time, he only thought that she was fresh, unpretentious, gentle and considerate.

Later, when they were doing tasks together as a group, Zhuang Xian had more and more contact with this girl, and was gradually attracted by her unique wisdom and insights, and they gradually developed feelings for each other.

It has been more than half a year since the two confirmed their relationship, but unfortunately the girl still refuses to meet, making Zhuang Xian wonder if she is really too ugly to be seen, or if she is actually a man.

"You didn't even turn on the video?" Shen Ye asked incredulously. Among their childhood friends, Zhuang Xian was considered the smartest, and he never expected that something like this could happen to Zhuang Xian.

"You didn't actually get scammed online, did you?" Yu Cheng asked gleefully. He had said long ago that online dating was unreliable. Zhuang Xian rolled his eyes at Yu Cheng and didn't say anything.

"Hey, do you want me to help you? I'm serious. It'll put your mind at ease if you check, right?" Yu Cheng had previously said he would help Zhuang Xian investigate people.

Zhuang Xian, who had been somewhat hesitant before, later rejected him outright, so he stopped caring about it.

Zhuang Xian pondered for a moment, but in the end, his doubts prevailed.

"Then can you help me find the information address of the account 'Feng Xiaoxiao'?"

"Region 1, right?" Yu Cheng said, taking out his phone to contact the person in charge of the company's game project.

Yu Cheng knew it was server one because when the game was first released, Yu Cheng, as the boss, also went to the game and visited it twice. At that time, he also met Zhuang Xian's online love interest in the game.

Before long, the account information was sent over.

Wow, she's a top student!

"From Capital University?" Zhuang Xian also leaned closer.

"You know?" Yu Cheng glanced at Zhuang Xian. He thought Zhuang Xian knew nothing, but it turned out that Zhuang Xian knew, he was just a bit suspicious.

"I guessed it from what she said. She was recommended for admission to university in high school, and the academic workload in university is very heavy, so it's probably the Capital University."

"That's not necessarily true. There are so many good universities in the capital that also accept students through direct admission." Yu Cheng felt that Zhuang Xian's reasoning was illogical.

Although Zhuang Xian did not answer, his expression clearly showed his indifference.

"You two are both in the capital, less than half an hour's drive apart, yet you haven't been able to meet up. You're such a failure," Yu Cheng said, deliberately trying to rub salt in Zhuang Xian's smug look.

"They're still students, they're very busy with their studies. Do you think everyone is like you, taking six years to graduate?" Zhuang Xian retorted without backing down.

Yu Cheng was a typical poor student back then. But his father donated two teaching buildings to the school and managed to get Yu Cheng into an unpopular major at the Capital University.

Even so, Yu Cheng was held back for two years by the teachers at the Capital University before he was allowed to graduate, which made him lose face.

"Speaking of which, she was my junior from elementary school." Although Yu Cheng rarely mentioned Capital University, he didn't care about losing face now in order to take advantage of the banker.

"Come on, you got in through connections." Zhuang Xian mocked Yu Cheng mercilessly.

"That's still better than you, who didn't even take the college entrance exam." Zhuang Xian went to study in the UK before finishing high school.

"I took the exam, don't look at me." Shen Ye, who was also a returnee from overseas, quickly distanced himself from the situation. Shen Ye's major was a 2+2 Sino-foreign cooperative program with two years in China and two years abroad.

"Anyway, you're the only one here who didn't take the exam. Even though you're attending a world-renowned university, I don't recognize it," Yu Cheng, the academic underachiever, said cheerfully.

"So you're still the real academic star here," Shen Ye retorted sarcastically.

"That's right, I graduated from the Capital University. I look down on all of you Oxford and Cambridge graduates. The only one here who can compare to me is you, my online boyfriend, hahaha..."

Although graduating was difficult, Yu Cheng is still quite proud of his alma mater.

"You really know how to pat yourself on the back." Gu Ze felt that the university was being tarnished by the fact that Yu Cheng, with his grades, could get into the capital university.

"You're all just jealous." Getting into a university in the capital isn't that easy; money alone isn't enough, you also need connections.

Although all of them came from well-off families, only Yu's father was willing to swallow his pride.

"Speaking of which, Zhuang Xian, aren't you being a bit too much of a 'cow eating young grass'? She's only 19 years old." Yu Cheng chuckled to himself after saying that.

"It is indeed a bit smaller than I expected." Zhuang Xian has always preferred intelligent and reserved girls, and this girl perfectly matched his preferences in their daily communication.

Zhuang Xian had always assumed this girl was around his age, so even though she hinted several times that she had just started university, he hadn't paid any attention. Now it seemed he had been overthinking things.

"That's quite a unique name, Feng Pinling. It sounds like a talented woman," Yu Cheng said with a chuckle.