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