Chapter 11 - New Schoolmate (2) (2/2)

Liu Chaoyang wasn’t aware of the reason of his “exile” initially, but overtime, he’d heard from the grapevine that it was because of the “smudges” in his resume. Didu’s core group only want “3Ds”. “3Ds” stand for all three degrees – Bachelor, Master, and phD all from Didu. Even though Liu Chaoyang was also from a very prestigious college, it still was half a notch below that of Didu. He wasn’t able to get into Didu until his master degree.

Liu Chaoyang bought that explanation, as did Lin Xiuping. The two of them were so distressed over that. Watching their incredibly bright future slipped away between their fingers for a reason like that. Being demoted from capital city to a remote small town, one could imagine the difference in the quality of their lives.

Feeling unreconciled, the couple turned their attention to Liu Kaiyan, who was barely 3-year-old then.

And that was the beginning of Liu Kaiyan’s nightmare.

Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, he had to get up at 5 AM to study and go to bed exactly at 9 PM every night. Toy? Confiscated. Friends? It’s a distraction, not allowed. TV? Don’t even think about it. Even his clothing were only of black, white, or grey his entire life; as his parents believe that colors would also affect one’s mood.

Those aside, for every examination, regardless of its level of difficulty, for each point that he missed he’d be made to kneel for an hour. Within 10 points, he knelt at home; 10 to 20, outside the door; 20 plus, in the middle of the street downstairs.

And that was Liu Kaiyan’s childhood. No entertainment, no friends, no self-esteem, just studying, day after day and year after year of studying.

The result of this kind of upbringing was obvious. Liu Kaiyan had been #1 of his class ever since he was a kid and never #2. It was only one time during his second year of high school when he underperformed due to illness, he earned #2. Lin Xiuping slapped him in front of all the students of the school and took away his only entertainment – his basketball.

His one and only entertainment that he begged and begged for.

Since that incident, Liu Kaiyan continued to keep his #1 place academically. Just when the school as well as his parents thought he’d no doubt get into Top2 and made his ancestors proud, he did something utterly unimaginable.