Evan Lin and Joy Zheng saw Lucy Lu off.
They walked home together.
Whitewood County is much more prosperous now than it used to be.
On the way, Evan even ran into some of his old junior-high teachers.
Before Evan could even remember who they were, they were already greeting him enthusiastically.
Back in the day, having a teacher remember you and greet you first would have made Evan happy for ages.
Too bad.
Back when Evan hadn’t risen yet,
the only warmth he ever got came from Joy Zheng and Lucy Lu.
And from Hank Chu and Ken Feng.
As for everyone else, hardly anyone really cared about him.
Still, since the teacher greeted him, Evan didn’t show any attitude—he just nodded slightly, which counted as a response.
"Evan, you’ve really made something of yourself! But you’ve got to keep working hard, don’t get too full of yourself. Only then can you go even further."
"Next time you’re free, come over to my place and have a meal with me!"
After saying that, the teacher left, grinning from ear to ear.
In Evan’s memory, that guy taught him junior-high history—not even a main subject, so they didn’t interact much.
But nowadays, Evan isn’t just the first kid from Whitewood County to win a Seacrest City Math Olympiad first prize—he’s also the first to win the National Collegiate Math Modeling Championship.
To Evan, those two awards are nothing special.
But for these teachers who’ve spent their lives grinding away in education, they’re a huge honor.
"You probably don’t know, but recently Minghai No. 2 High School invited me to give a talk on how to raise talented kids."
After saying goodbye to that teacher, Joy Zheng walked beside Evan, her face full of satisfaction: "Now all the teachers call you a math genius."
"They all ask me for your secret to success, but honestly, I have no idea how you made it. Weren’t you pretty dumb back then?"
"I wasn’t planning to go, but they insisted, so I gave in and went—and just made up something random."
As she spoke, Joy Zheng walked along, her feet crunching in the snow, her face radiating genuine happiness.
But when Evan heard her, he couldn’t help sighing: "Mom, what do you mean I was pretty dumb?"
"Back then, I was just deeply hiding my brilliance, building up my power, flying under the radar—deliberately keeping my talent under wraps so I wouldn’t stand out and make people jealous."
Evan joked.
That made Joy Zheng smile even more with relief: "I never thought you were dumb, but what could I do? Your grades just wouldn’t go up."
"Starting from elementary school, you kept failing math. Once you hit junior high, your English never broke fifty. It really gave me headaches."
"Back then, I kept thinking I needed to earn more money and sign you up for more tutoring. That way, even if you couldn’t get into a good university or find a solid job, at least I’d have enough to support you and make sure you never went hungry or suffered."
"But thankfully, you turned things around and made me proud. That’s what matters."
Joy Zheng’s words were full of satisfaction: "Especially now—you even joke with your mom."
"You never used to joke with me, Evan. Seeing you like this now, I’m truly happy."
Joy Zheng’s happiness had nothing to do with money.
Joy Zheng never cared about material things her whole life, but when it came to her son Evan, her concern was all-encompassing and heartfelt.
Her greatest wish was for Evan to live a happy and peaceful life.
Other parents want their kids to become dragons.
But Joy Zheng never thought that way.
If being a dragon is too exhausting, what’s wrong with being a worm?
No matter what, he’d always be her son.