Chapter 56: Senior, what's wrong with you?

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Chapter 56: Senior, What’s Wrong With You?

Song Qingqing followed Zhang Yang into the office.

After Zhang Yang poured her a cup of tea, she sat down in a chair, curiously observing everything inside the office.

A sleek LCD monitor, something she had only seen on TV before, sat atop a desk still redolent of packaging scent. The desktop was cluttered with a dense array of various chaotic project plans and resumes.

Besides these, a bookshelf nearby was neatly arranged with a large collection of books by different famous authors. Judging by their pristine condition, these books seemed to have just been bought and placed there for decoration. Looking up a bit further, behind Zhang Yang’s desk hung a crookedly framed calligraphy scroll inscribed with the phrase "Purple Qi Comes from the East." The script was unlike regular running script, cursive, or clerical script—its brushstrokes were peculiarly strange.

Fixating on the signature at the bottom of the calligraphy, Song Qingqing stared for a long time before finally recognizing the name: “Zhang Yang.”

“Senior… when did you change your name?”

“After consulting a fortune teller, who said that the name Zhang Lin didn’t suit my birthdate and would bring lifelong misfortune, I changed it to Zhang Yang,” Zhang Yang replied seriously, looking at Song Qingqing with earnestness.

In his vague memories, about four or five years ago, he had secretly spent weekends or spare time tutoring math with a perfect score.

Back then, his living expenses had been covered by the money earned from tutoring.

He recalled having tutored many students who admired him greatly; one of them was named Song Qingqing.

But the Song Qingqing in his memory was a shy, unsophisticated country girl prone to silly mistakes, completely different from the lively, fresh, and somewhat fashionable girl before him now.

Zhang Yang kept recalling until their appearances aligned in his mind.

She had changed immensely over the four or five years—was it plastic surgery?

“Oh…” Song Qingqing nodded, then looked at Zhang Yang and asked a question she had harbored deep inside for years: “Senior, all these years, I’ve wondered: why did you suddenly drop out? You were so smart and talented, we all thought getting into Yanjing University was a sure thing for you. Some even thought you might be the county’s top scorer. Why did you just stop attending school in your senior year?”

Song Qingqing took a sip of water.

Her mind drifted back five years.

Five years ago…

Zhang Yang, or rather Zhang Lin then, had extraordinary grades, ranking in the top five in every exam throughout the entire school.

Their small tutoring group didn’t care about their own exam results as much as they fixated on Zhang Yang’s. The notoriously difficult math tests with full scores of 150 had never seen Zhang Lin score below 140—a near-superhuman feat.

The kids in their group worshipped Zhang Lin, seeing her as a literary star descended to Earth, impressively brilliant.

They dreamed she would top the college entrance exam someday, so when interviewed, they could proudly say, “That’s my senior, who once tutored us in math and English.”

Yet…

When they were entering their final year of high school, a sudden change occurred.

Song Qingqing brought some pocket money and went with others to the small grove where Zhang Lin used to tutor math.

But the grove was empty; no one came.

It was September 1st.

She rushed to Zhang Lin’s classroom to ask the homeroom teacher, only to hear that Zhang Lin had dropped out.

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She still remembered the homeroom teacher’s helpless and regretful expression.

He said he had earnestly talked to Zhang Lin about the importance of education and future employment prospects, even offering financial aid or to pay tuition upfront with repayment later if money was tight.

He genuinely hoped Zhang Lin would stay for the final year.

But Zhang Lin had completed the withdrawal paperwork with her father and left school just as everyone else returned.

“Maybe she transferred,” the teacher said with a hint of hope.

But after that, Song Qingqing never heard any news of Zhang Lin again.

On weekends, she sought out Zhang Lin’s village but found no trace of her.

It seemed Zhang Lin had been deceiving them all along; the village she had mentioned during tutoring wasn’t even hers.

Eventually, she vanished without a trace, as if erased from the world.

Years later, Song Qingqing spotted a familiar figure in the news—named Zhang Yang.

With a tentative hope, she came to this tech company…

The morning sun shone brightly.

The clock on the wall ticked steadily.

Song Qingqing watched Zhang Yang intently, waiting for his answer.

But Zhang Yang didn’t look at her; he wiped his sweat.

“It’s a bit hot… I’ll turn on the air conditioning first.”

She saw him turn on the AC, and when he turned back, his hair was tousled by the breeze, his face beaming.

“Song, well… honestly, I thought studying was useless and wanted to start a business. Look at foreign entrepreneurs like Zuckerberg—he dropped out in his sophomore year and now has the Microsoft empire. Or Steve Jobs in the mobile phone industry—he saw a new opportunity and dropped out too,” Zhang Yang smiled brightly, citing famous global business magnates, then gestured around. “See? I’m doing well now, have my own company with quite a few people. The future is limitless.”

“But senior, you once said your dream was to become a lawyer, to understand the intricacies of law and put many loan sharks behind bars. You sounded so sincere back then,” Song Qingqing said, her voice growing heavier upon using “senior.”

“Haha, being a lawyer sounds fancy, but how much money do they really make? If I hadn’t lied to you, how would I have gotten you to pay for my tutoring? Sorry for that. Actually, I even lied about my village. I just liked tricking you adorable, naive juniors because I enjoyed seeing your trust and admiration. Thinking back now, it’s pretty funny…” Zhang Yang’s smile was mischievous but not mocking.

“…” Song Qingqing was speechless.

She felt a strange mix of anger and confusion—whether from being deceived or something else, she wasn’t sure.

But she shook her head and looked out the window.

“Being a lawyer isn’t just about the money, and lawyers do make good money!” she said firmly.

“Making games is even more profitable! Since you’re here for an internship, I have time now; I’ll show you around the company,” Zhang Yang said with a grin, standing to lead her on a tour.

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Song Qingqing followed behind as Zhang Yang explained future trends, the company’s thriving state, and some core philosophies.

But she was distracted, disappointed.

She watched quietly the entire time.

Finally, after returning to the office, Song Qingqing lowered her head.

“Senior…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I feel like you’ve changed, but also haven’t… it’s like you’re very tired, desperately hiding something.”

“Yeah, I am pretty tired… there’s a lot to manage with the new company.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“If possible, I’d like you to help draft contracts. Our company will definitely need a legal advisory team in the future. If you’re interested, I’d like to hire you. Don’t worry about salary—after all these years, I wouldn’t shortchange you.”

“…”

After seeing Zhang Yang’s expression, Song Qingqing nodded instinctively.

“Senior, can you be honest with me?”

“What?”

“Did you really dislike college? Think it was useless? That a degree didn’t matter?”

“…”

Song Qingqing noticed his expression falter, then he shook his head with a smile. “It’s useful, definitely useful. By the way, I need to plan the content for our new game ‘God of Strategies.’ If you don’t have anything else to do, familiarize yourself with the other departments’ workflows. Thanks for your hard work.”

Zhang Yang closed the office door behind him.

The moment he entered, his smile vanished; a shadow crossed his eyes as he looked out at the raindrops.

“How could it be useless?”

………………………………

Evening.

After getting accustomed to the workflow, Song Qingqing arrived at the dorm assigned to her by the company.

While logging onto her computer, she saw two news headlines online:

“‘Beating the Damn Grass Mud Horse’ Reported by Parents… Contains Too Many Negative Violent Elements, Harmful to Children’s Growth…”

“Zhang Yang, Head of Universe Technology, Exposed as a Dishonest Person…”

“…”

(The End of This Chapter)