Top Student at Their Peak
Chapter 92 - 72: The Return of the Gold Medalist_2

Chapter 92: Chapter 72: The Return of the Gold Medalist_2

A sad emoji was sent in reply.

Qiao Yu laughed softly, then on a whim, he created a group chat, adding Yu Wei and Yu Yongjun into it.

He then changed the group name to "2024 Little Alibaba Gold Medalist and His Friends".

After all, bus rides were pretty boring.

The effect was immediate, in less than two seconds, Yu Wei replied with a message: "?"

Yes, just a question mark.

Qiao Yu quickly replied: "Didn’t you say seeing my WeChat motivates you? Now that you see this group name, do you feel a stronger urge to improve?"

Feeling that this teaser might not be considerate enough, he followed up with a cheeky giggling panda head emoji.

Just as they finished chatting, Yu Yongjun sent a message: "Eh? Boss, who is this Chu Buzhi?"

Chu Buzhi was Yu Wei’s WeChat name, while Yu Yongjun’s WeChat name was spelled out in pinyin—dayu. Since the two hadn’t added each other on WeChat, they naturally didn’t know who the other was.

"Let me introduce you. Chu Buzhi is Yu Wei, and dayu is Yu Yongjun. You’ve met each other offline, so you should know each other, right?"

As soon as the message was sent, within a second, dayu replied in the group with three huge exclamation marks.

"!!!"

Then a private message from Yu Yongjun popped up, with a triple message in one go.

"Boss, why did you add that guy on WeChat?"

"That guy always acts like he’s above everyone else, as if everyone owes him millions. Can you really tolerate that?"

"Trust me, if you befriend this guy, it’ll shorten your lifespan!"

Qiao Yu replied directly in private chat: "He’s a rich second-generation!!!"

dayu: "So what if he’s a rich second-generation? What does that have to do with me?"

Qiao Yu: "He has an Olympic Competition gold medal coach with him, available 24/7. If you have questions that you can’t solve and can’t find a teacher immediately, you can ask him directly."

dayu: "Can’t I just ask you?"

Qiao Yu: "I’m expensive, not cost-effective. He’s a rich second-generation, he’ll answer your questions for free."

dayu: "Expensive?"

Qiao Yu: "Yeah, my principle is knowledge requires payment! So I charge for tutoring; the whole Railway First Middle School Olympic Competition class knows it."

dayu: "!!!"

Seeing those three exclamation marks, Qiao Yu smiled and then took a look at the group.

Good, Yu Wei hadn’t left the group immediately, which, knowing his difficult personality, meant he accepted the existence of this group.

Then Qiao Yu logged out of WeChat.

Now it was up to these two who didn’t quite see eye to eye to see if they could become good friends.

Life was pretty boring; you had to find your own fun.

...

The high-speed rail must be thanked for its speed; the journey of nearly nine hundred kilometers took only over four hours.

A little after 1 PM, Qiao Yu returned to the familiar Star City.

Although the weather in Star City was often criticized, either too cold or too hot, with comfortable temperatures lasting only two or three months, and it rained most of the time, causing clothes left out to get moldy,

However, the moment he got off the high-speed rail, Qiao Yu felt a burst of relief.

At that moment, Qiao Yu couldn’t tell whether it was nostalgia for his hometown or because Qiao Xi was still in Star City.

Anyway, Qiao Yu carefully hid that little bit of sentiment.

This kind of emotion had a slight touch of weakness, which Qiao Yu didn’t like to let others see in him.

...

"Knock knock knock..."

"Coming."

Qiao Xi opened the door, seeing Qiao Yu, slightly puzzled: "Why are you back after just two days? And not even telling me in advance? I didn’t even buy groceries!"

Qiao Yu walked into the house and said, "Not telling you on purpose for a surprise attack, to see if you’ve secretly been drinking while I’m out."

After changing his shoes, Qiao Yu really did look around the house.

Hmm, not bad, worthy of praise; there wasn’t a single bottle of alcohol in the house, and he was satisfied as he lifted his bag and went into his room.

Leaning against the door of Qiao Yu’s room, arms crossed over her chest, watching as Qiao Yu tidied his room, she asked, "How did the finals go?"

"Do you even need to ask? I went to Xiao Zhou specially, so it’s definitely a gold medal, no doubt! The professor marking the papers said it himself; his exact words were even if this year’s Algebra competition exploded, my answer level could still earn a gold medal, got that? He indirectly told me I’d surely get a full score."

In front of his mom, Qiao Yu dropped all his outside caution and boasted wildly.

"Oh, congratulations then, got your prize money." Qiao Xi showed no sign of pride, casually replying.

"Hmm, it’s a pity the results won’t be announced until August, and the prize money probably won’t be available until then. Only eight hundred people’s answers to review, don’t know why they can’t grade them faster." Qiao Yu complained casually.

But these details didn’t really matter.

The Qiao Family wasn’t in such dire need of money that they couldn’t make ends meet, more so it was that certain young man’s habit of wanting to have his small-minded assurance.

"Ambitious! They have their processes, Little Alibaba isn’t concerned about your small prize money." Qiao Xi habitually retorted Qiao Yu.

As Qiao Yu finished tidying up his stuff, he shrugged and suddenly asked: "By the way, mom, I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s that man’s last name?"

Clearly in the Qiao Family, that man had a specific meaning, and Qiao Xi immediately understood who Qiao Yu was talking about, giving her son a vigilant glare, asking: "Why the sudden interest in asking this?"

"This time in Xiao Zhou, I met a Professor Xue, similar experience to that man; also went abroad for study after high school. Went to Princeton International School, then directly to Princeton University, studied all the way to a Ph.D., and returned to the country. But I checked specially, he’s from Coastal City."

Qiao Yu explained.

Qiao Xi understood, saying, "When he was in China, he wasn’t surnamed Xue, and he should have settled in the United States, his last name must have changed long ago. Besides, why bother? Your grandfather’s told you many times, just consider him dead!"

Qiao Yu retorted: "How can that be? In the past, maybe. But now I’m part of the academic circle! Teacher Lan even said I’ve unknowingly completed a very impressive academic research, getting famous is just a matter of time.

You also said he was a top student then, maybe he’s also in the academic circle now! If we’re so fortunate to meet, I must show off and put him under my foot, getting back at him for you!"

"Ha..." Qiao Xi chuckled, then scrutinized Qiao Yu, saying: "No worries, if you do meet him, you should recognize him. You two looked quite alike back then."

Qiao Yu went silent, then commented: "Alright then, though you might not be good at judging people, you do appreciate external beauty."

"Heh..." Qiao Xi scoffed, putting down her arms, turning to leave.

"What’s his last name, please tell me, I’m fifteen already!" Qiao Yu relented toward his mom’s back, then pleaded.

"Feng." Finally a syllable drifted from Qiao Xi’s mouth.

"Feng? The ’Feng’ with two dots of water and a horse?"

"What do you want for dinner? I’ll go buy groceries!" Qiao Xi didn’t answer but started changing shoes at the door.

Qiao Yu knew, this meant he had gotten it right, and he replied obediently: "I want your fried chicken drumsticks."

"Okay!"

With that, Qiao Xi walked out of the house.

Listening to the sound of the door closing, Qiao Yu muttered: "Feng, huh? Glad I took mom’s last name, Feng Yu sounds awful."

...

For Qiao Yu, besides the confirmed prize money, the biggest gain from the Xiao Zhou trip was probably learning his father’s last name.

But it had no impact on this summer vacation.

Lan Jie didn’t require Qiao Yu to go to school every morning like the other Olympic Competition classmates, taking classes and doing problems. So he maintained his own rhythm, watching videos during the day, absorbing knowledge, and expanding its breadth.

In the afternoons, he began to review past IMO problems.

On weekends, he was occasionally dragged around by that girl Xia Keke.

Honestly, Qiao Yu felt that since he had set his sights higher, this stress-free summer vacation had started to feel a bit boring.