“Can’t you tell them?”
“Cough, cough, yes, go ahead and tell them!”
Wen Ying felt no need to keep her estimated score a secret.
She was open and above-board anyway. Whether her parents believed it or not was up to them.
Manager Chen would probably believe it.
Old Wen… would probably want to believe it but not dare to?
When it came to messing with her dad, once was never enough. Do it a few times and it becomes addictive. Just imagining Old Wen’s tangled expression (wanting to believe yet too scared to) instantly doubled Wen Ying’s good mood!
Lin Lin was infected by Wen Ying’s joy and felt genuinely happy for her. “Three years ago, if someone had told me you could score this high, I wouldn’t have believed them. Most of us aren’t geniuses like Xie Qian, but we can give everything to chase after them… Having a student like you makes me really proud.”
“Having a teacher like you is the whole class’s good fortune~”
Wen Ying spoke from the heart. Minutes ago Lin Lin had been a nagging Xianglin’s wife; now she felt everything had been worth it.
Teaching isn’t a high-paying job. Compared to salary, the sense of duty and fulfilment in educating people is what keeps teachers going.
Lin Lin’s greatest satisfaction today was learning Wen Ying’s estimate. Now she was off to tackle the last stubborn holdout in Class 16 who refused to estimate: Li Mengjiao!
Oh, and she still had to report the good news to Chen Ru and Wen Dongrong.
The first person Wen Ying wanted to tell was Xie Qian.
“660?”
“…You think that’s not good enough?”
Wen Ying wasn’t trying to humble-brag. When it came to studying, Xie Qian was her teacher, and she felt a kind of awe towards him.
She didn’t even dare ask Xie Qian’s estimate.
Xie Qian probably didn’t need to check the model answers at all. For subjects like maths, his paper could probably serve as the model answer!
Xie Qian heard the cautious note in her voice and couldn’t help smiling. “The exam is already over. Even if the score were low, what could I do about it? Besides, 660 is more than enough.”
If Wen Ying only had her eye on Tsinghua or Peking University, 660 was indeed a touch short of being able to pick any department she wanted.
But compared to Beijing, Wen Ying preferred Shanghai.
With 660, she could choose freely among all the top universities in Shanghai!
To prove that 660 was an excellent estimate, Xie Qian dragged Peng Guoqing out as a negative example. “Peng Guoqing can’t even estimate his own score.”
“…!”
What did it mean to be unable to estimate your score?
Wen Ying was shocked. Xie Qian, however, was used to it. “With his brain, it’s perfectly normal that he can’t remember his answers once he leaves the exam hall.”
That was a bit exaggerated.
Wen Ying considered herself a poor student, but clearly she still didn’t understand true academic disasters.
Half of Peng Guoqing’s problem was that he genuinely couldn’t remember his answers. The other half was nerves.
Teacher Liang had said Peng Guoqing could get into a 211 university in Shanghai. His family told him not to worry too much. His dodgy friends mostly teased him. Everyone’s attitudes were all over the place, and Peng Guoqing’s mood was like a rollercoaster.
In that state, he could neither estimate his score nor relax and have fun.
“So that’s why he didn’t come to the Magnolia Awards?”
Peng Guoqing loved lively events and was even a Jiaxin shareholder. It was already odd that he hadn’t shown up.
Wen Ying felt she had cracked the case. Xie Qian confirmed her guess.
Xie Qian wasn’t omniscient; he couldn’t see Peng Guoqing’s paper from afar, so of course he couldn’t estimate for him. Whether Peng Guoqing got into the same university as Wang Shuang would only be known when scores were released!
After talking about one hopeless case, Peng, it was inevitable to think of another hopeless case, Wang Shuang.
All day Wang Shuang still hadn’t contacted Wen Ying. Looks like he still hadn’t figured things out?
…
Actually, Wang Shuang had started to figure it out.
He wasn’t stupid.
His family was well-off, and he had never been the type to keep score. He might have been genuinely dumb before, but he wasn’t anymore.
After hanging around Wen Ying and Xie Qian for so long, and interning at Tianjiao for ages, constantly dealing with workplace people, how could Wang Shuang not have grown at all?
He just had a big heart and didn’t care about petty things.
Among friends, there was no need to be too calculating.
Other people’s families were ordinary and couldn’t produce startup capital?
Perfect, Wang Shuang happened to have that money.
Before starting the business, he hadn’t dared touch the 400,000 his mum had given him.
This university startup reminded Wang Shuang of the summer of 2004, when Wen Ying had recruited them to sell crayfish. Back then Wen Ying didn’t have much capital either, yet everyone willingly let her take the largest share!
Wang Shuang had put in money and effort, happily running around following Wen Ying’s orders, washing dozens of jin of crayfish a day, exhausted but ecstatic.
Alright, Wang Shuang admitted it: he was just bored studying alone in Shanghai and wanted to recreate the joy of that summer in 2004.
Wen Ying’s harsh wake-up call shattered the dream he had built for himself.
Hang Xiaowen was not Wen Ying.
And among the others, there wasn’t a second Xie Qian.
When it came to business, these university classmates weren’t even as good as Wang Shuang!
Back when they sold crayfish, Wen Ying took the biggest share because she provided the braising technique and set the sales strategy. Everyone genuinely admired her ability.
Plus, including Wen Ying, every single friend had put in startup money. The business belonged to all of them. Everyone was a boss and took responsibility for “Crayfish King.”
But this time was different.
Apart from Wang Shuang, no one had put in any startup capital!
In name he was the boss, but most decisions were made by Hang Xiaowen.
Wang Shuang paid everyone’s salaries and even gave out shares… Startups always hit difficulties; they should solve them together.
Whenever money was tight, everyone looked to Wang Shuang to fix it.
That wasn’t right. Everyone had shares. The business belonged to all of them. Why wasn’t everyone out looking for investment together?!
The more Wang Shuang thought about it, the angrier he got. He couldn’t help slapping himself twice. “You deserve it, you big idiot!”
After the two slaps, Wang Shuang decided to give Hang Xiaowen and the others one last chance. He called everyone together.
The boy who had gone with Hang Xiaowen to see Wen Ying was incredibly excited, saying he had watched the live stream of the Magnolia Awards.
“Wang Shuang, your friend is amazing! All the reporters were fighting to interview her. She must make a ton writing novels, right?”
Money was good. With money she could invest in their startup!
Once he started, the others chimed in.
They all thought Wang Shuang getting Wen Ying to invest was a done deal. Only Hang Xiaowen looked worried. “Your friend doesn’t want to invest in our project?”
Wang Shuang nodded gravely. “Exactly. She thinks our team management is too chaotic and isn’t optimistic about our prospects. She turned me down.”
“Huh?”
“No way, how could she refuse?”
“What do we do now—”
“We won’t even be able to pay salaries next month. Are we supposed to work for free?”
“We can delay salaries, but without money for promotion, selling clothes one by one on the platform, that pile in the warehouse will take forever to shift!”
Everyone panicked and talked over each other. After a long discussion, the conclusion was still: Wang Shuang should think of something.
Some told him to ask his family for help. Others suggested he approach other rich friends. A second-generation rich kid like him must have more than one wealthy friend, right?
