The Zero-Score Top Scorer

He Qingshan, 18, the top student in the county, scored zero in all four subjects and was publicly shamed on a livestream. That night, the Education Bureau summoned him for "counseling" and casually fed his rough drafts into a shredder. On the back of the page caught in the machine's mouth was the outline of an essay he'd written, along with the only assignment his late mother had ever corrected. If he fails to get it back, he must decide within 24 hours: turn himself in, or let his mother's handwriting be lost forever in the pulp.