236: Chapter 237 I once thought of ending it all.

In just one night, all public information about Zhou Yun on the internet had been dug up.

Although the nation had immediately blocked some content involving family addresses, details of old cases, and sensitive relationships.

Yet, ordinary resumes, school experiences, family backgrounds, and early photos were still pieced together into a clear timeline through the searches and reposts of countless people.

The accessible information showed that Zhou Yun was born into a main branch of the Zhou family in the Great Han Nation that was not simple.

However, his immediate family had almost no connection to that massive main branch.

No abundant resources.

No specialized training.

No path paved from birth as the outside world imagined.

Earlier information showed that Zhou Yun's mother had passed away when he was three years old.

For a long time after that, it was just Zhou Tianhao alone, guarding that old street fruit shop and raising the child bit by bit.

Someone dug up news from over a decade ago about the old street renovation in Jianghai City.

In the corner of a photo, Zhou Tianhao was wearing a washed-out short-sleeved shirt, standing behind the fruit stand weighing oranges.

Beside him, a Little Boy sat on a low stool, holding an old book in his hands, head lowered, reading very intently.

The photo was very blurry.

Only half of the Little Boy's face was captured.

Yet, this very unremarkable old photo was reposted hundreds of thousands of times at three in the morning.

"Is this Duke Zhou when he was a child?"

"So cute!"

"I originally thought he was someone piled up with resources from a top-tier noble family since childhood, but it turns out his dad really sold fruit on an old street?"

"Don't say selling fruit is shameful; his father raised the child all by himself, that is what is truly amazing."

"So Duke Zhou was able to reach where he is today, really by relying on himself?!"

"Conferred as a Duke in half a month, the youngest in history, and with such an ordinary background... this is what you truly call a Genius!"

"So what? Are kings, nobles, generals, and ministers born into their positions?! Duke Zhou! My idol!!"

...Similar comments became more and more frequent.

Someone dug up his college entrance exam score of 372.

Others dug up a post in a forum, likely posted by a classmate of Zhou Yun, mocking him for being assigned to an F-grade small city.

That post had originally sunk to the very bottom of the forum.

In the post, some expressed pity, some mocked, and some said in an extremely dismissive tone that an F-grade small city was basically equivalent to being eliminated early, and that Zhou Yun's life would just be like that.

But when it was bumped back up, the new replies underneath were already densely packed across dozens of pages.

"Archaeology in the front row."

"Brother, are you still there, the one who said back then that Duke Zhou's life would just be like that? Come on, come out and walk a few steps!"

"From an F-grade small city, conferred as a Duke in half a month. Looking at this post now, it smells too strong."

"Bark! Keep barking! Don't blame the road for being uneven if you can't walk! Duke Zhou has fought his way out, what about you guys who can only bark like dogs?"

"+1, everyone, you Geniuses assigned to E-grade, D-grade, C-grade or even S-grade small cities, where are you working now?"

"Laughing to death, not one of them is making a sound now, knowing how to be a coward."

...At four in the morning, the discussion about Zhou Yun had already spread from Jianghai City to the whole nation.

Some media outlets worked through the night to create a special feature.

The title was very restrained: "From F-grade Flower City to the Seventeenth Duke of Great Han: Duke Zhou's Half a Month."

But after clicking in, the comment section was completely unrestrained.

Some were discussing the historical records he had created.

Some were guessing what exactly had happened in Flower City.

Some were repeatedly watching the old street video, just to capture the frame where Zhou Yun accepted the post.

And even more people fixed their gaze on that dusty fruit shop.

An old shop.

A few rows of wooden shelves.

A gray roll-up door.

A father who raised his son alone.

Such a background, placed together with the word "Duke," had too great a contrast.

So great that many ordinary people, while watching, suddenly found themselves unable to speak.

In the Great Han Nation, royal titles and dukedoms had always been too far from ordinary people.

They were names in the news, proclamations on the sky screen, and figures sitting at the highest positions in meetings.

But Zhou Yun was different.

He came from an old, not-so-spacious street in Jianghai City.

His family had run a fruit shop.

He, too, had sat beside an old stall reading books, had once been judged to have reached the end of his path, and, like countless ordinary students before the new recruit trial, had waited for that distribution that would determine his fate.

This made many people feel for the first time that the high-and-mighty "Duke" seemed to have suddenly become a little closer to them.

His status remained distant.

But his origins suddenly had traces that ordinary people could understand.

Thus, the emotions that were originally just shock and admiration slowly changed flavor over this night.

Some started making collections of Zhou Yun's old photos.

Some wrote long essays in the comment section.

And some just posted a very simple sentence:

"I, too, once wanted to end it all. Now I am incredibly glad that I survived. Look at Duke Zhou, then look at myself. Life is actually not that bad."

This comment had no flowery language.

Yet, in just ten minutes, it was pushed to the number one spot on the hot list.

...On the second floor of the fruit shop.

The bottle on the table was more than half empty.

Zhou Tianhao had gone to sleep early.

Zhou Yun sat by the window, the faint light of his phone screen reflecting on his face.

He had originally just wanted to take a look at the relevant arrangements for the Congress of Kings and Dukes, but he hadn't expected that upon opening the news, his name would be everywhere, overwhelmingly.

Those praises, those exclamations, those long essays attributing his step-by-step journey to today to talent, resilience, and unyielding spirit, kept scrolling across the screen.

Zhou Yun watched for a while and couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle.

Outside the window, the lights of the old street had dimmed significantly.

Downstairs, one could occasionally hear security personnel lowering their voices while handing over shifts.

He lowered his eyes, looking at that blurry old photo on the screen.

Zhou Tianhao in the photo was still very young.

He himself in the photo was just a child sitting beside the fruit stand reading a book.

Half a month.

From F-grade Flower City to the Seventeenth Duke of Great Han.

What outsiders saw was destiny, miracles, and the fastest conferral of a dukedom in history.

But Zhou Yun himself knew very clearly that Flower City was able to reach where it was today because of the System, and because everyone worked together to pave the way.

If Lei Lie hadn't helped him build up the first military unit.

If Wan'er hadn't cleared up the household registrations and grain records book by book.

If Strategist Zhu Ge hadn't helped him consolidate the chaotic military intelligence into one map within the Ten Cities line.

If not for Minister Wang Fugui, Tieshan, and everyone...

The little aspiration in his heart would likely have been ground to dust by the wind and sand of the City Lord World before it even had a chance to land on the ground.

"Buzz!"

Accompanied by a vibration, another comment popped up on the screen.

"At the Congress of Kings and Dukes in two days, Duke Zhou will surely bring new hope to the Great Han Nation, right?"

Zhou Yun looked at that line of text, not scrolling for a long time.

After a moment, he turned off the screen.

The room went dark again.