Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency. This week, we've got a powerful, satirical story about a young man who is, quite literally, a "testing genius." He did everything right: top student every single year, culminating in scoring the highest in the province on the college entrance exam—the Zhuangyuan. But his success came at a cost. His life was completely mapped out by his high-achieving parents, treating him more like a project than a person. The heart-wrenching twist comes after the final exam. When his mother finally offers him freedom—TV, games, going out—he can only stare blankly and reply: "没意思" (méi yìsi), "It's boring." Join us as we explore this story about an exam-obsessed culture and the devastating moment a mind brilliant at tests loses the ability to live. Comment below and share with us your thoughts. Btw, did you tell the difference on the sound quality ? 😊 Simeng ************************************************************ Support Our Podcast If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us continue creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $7 a month. As a patron, you will enjoy: ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience. 📜Access to all story and story walkthrough transcripts. 📚 Comprehensive vocabulary lists. 🎧 Exclusive patron-only episodes. 💬 The opportunity to join our member community for weekly online meetups. Your support means the world to us and allows us to keep delivering the content you love. Thank you for considering becoming a part of our community! 💖 - LCTS ************************************************************ Check out our playlists on Spotify Chinese for Intermediate-Playlist Chinese for Intermediate High-Playlist Chinese for Advanced-Playlist Chinese for Superior- Playlist Chinese for Beginners-Playlist