Zhou Weizhou nodded, looking at the other person with a firm gaze: "I also think that your decision this time was too arbitrary. Your idea still has many immature aspects. Her education is higher than ours, and she has more experience than us. Her spoken English was trained steadily abroad, which is much better than those of us who have only studied systematically in China. In addition, we are all aware of your past conflict with Comrade Xie Zhiyan. I think you also brought personal emotions into this. Comrade Zhiwei, you have always been a very rational person, but I still want to remind you that it is best not to be emotional in revolution, otherwise you will make mistakes."

Du Zhiwei swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue. The topic had shifted back to Xie Zhiyan, and she felt like she couldn't breathe properly.

Wu Linghua tapped the table with one hand and picked up the enamel mug next to him: "If you ask me, we should wait for the lady to arrive before making a decision. Since Comrade Jiang Yunzhou said that she has a high talent for languages, we can let her share her learning experience. We should welcome her with open arms. Why make things so unpleasant over such a small matter?"

Wu Linghua crossed her legs. Just as she finished speaking, a commotion broke out outside. Xie Zhiyan pushed the door open and entered, and everyone's eyes immediately fell on him.

Upon seeing him, Du Zhiwei glared at him with annoyance.

For many years, the two of them grew up together in the same compound, only two months apart in age, so they were compared by their elders from birth.

She had the advantage of speaking earlier than Xie Zhiyan. Even when they were little, the question of who ate more would become a topic of conversation among the adults.

Over time, the two naturally became mortal enemies.

This comparison between parents becomes even more pronounced when the two children start school. During exam week, they are naturally compared to each other.

Du Zhiwei disliked Xie Zhiyan's attitude that he could easily get good grades without doing anything. When she was in elementary school, she could compete with Xie Zhiyan on equal footing, and the difference between their grades was less than 5 points.

Whenever Xie Zhiyan surpassed her, she would study late into the night to make up for the lost points, but this situation began to reverse in junior high school.

Xie Zhiyan seemed to learn effortlessly, and he even grasped the key points and difficult points the teacher mentioned immediately. The gap between their test scores gradually widened, and her parents and grandparents were constantly urging her to learn from Xie Zhiyan.

"Look at Zhiyan next door. The teacher kept praising him at school today. How come your grades have dropped so much when I went to your parent-teacher conference? You were doing better than him in elementary school. Were you not paying attention in class?"

Du Zhiwei was so tired of hearing the same things her mother said on her way home from the parent-teacher meeting.

But she didn't know what was wrong. Even when she was paying close attention in class, the questions seemed to be deliberately going against her. They were so boring and difficult that she felt lost and couldn't find her direction in life.

Later on, she knew that ordinary efforts would not be enough to pass Xie Zhiyan's exams, so she put in all her effort and studied late into the night.

She force-fed in knowledge that wasn't originally in her head, and memorized the difficult mathematical formulas over and over again.

She did the same type of question no less than three times, and could almost figure out the solution at a glance. As for those awkward and sarcastic words and phrases, she memorized them to the point that her tongue was practically blistered.

She woke up earlier than anyone else and went to bed later than anyone else. It seems that no one remembers the days when she was the only one studying hard. She lost a lot of hair and became very thin during that time. Because of the high level of stress on her eyes, she started wearing thick glasses.

Just when she thought she was finally capable of competing with Xie Zhiyan, news came from the school that Xie Zhiyan had skipped a grade.

The distance between the two of them grew wider and wider. She tried helplessly to catch up with the so-called outstanding person in her family's eyes, but no one could see her efforts, and no one understood the pain of her struggle alone.

Xie Zhiyan always seemed to have everything with an air of nonchalance, and even the school teachers easily labeled him as a boy who would spur on later than a girl.

She was indignant; if boys could do it, why couldn't girls?

Because they were not in the same class, Du Zhiwei and Xie Zhiyan gradually had less and less interaction. However, the contrast that was always evident did not disappear. On the contrary, because of the latter's excellence, she was caught up in her studies even faster. During her student days, she dared not stop for a moment.

Later on, she herself became a little confused. She had already tried so hard, so why couldn't she beat them?

Who exactly is she trying to defeat?

But she knew very well that her original wish was never to be better than anyone else.

As she grew older, the girl's thoughts matured, but she was still compared to others from time to time. She had also secretly inquired about which university Xie Zhiyan had attended.

Originally, he wanted to compete with the person his family described as a literary genius, but the news he received was that Xie Zhiyan had been directly selected to join the army.

At this point, Du Zhiwei felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

Xie Zhiyan seemed to be her natural nemesis; he was born to be compared to her.

If Xie Zhiyan wanted to join the army, he could have easily used his family's connections to get a recommendation. He had the height and physique to do so. However, he chose to rely on his own abilities and extraordinary strength to reach a height that others could never reach.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!