Wen Ying’s hand was still clasped with Professor Shen’s.
Far away in Beijing, Xie Qian had not rushed to fill out his form on the 24th like Wen Ying.
He had deliberately spread false information to mislead Zhang Zhijun, making him believe he would choose Huaqing. If he submitted on the 24th, Zhang Zhijun would immediately know he had lied.
Even if he went to Shanghai later, Zhang Zhijun would eventually find out.
But dragging it out even a little was better. Xie Qian truly didn’t want extra complications!
More importantly, he didn’t want Zhang Nan to follow him to Shanghai.
First, he didn’t like Zhang Nan. Second, she was Zhang Zhijun’s own niece.
When Xie Qian and Zhang Zhijun inevitably became enemies, Zhang Nan caught in the middle would be extremely awkward!
Whether Zhang Zhijun actually believed Xie Qian wanted Huaqing was hard to say. Zhang Nan completely believed it, and Huaqing’s admissions teacher believed it even more.
745 points. For a perfectionist like Xie Qian, it was painful. Everyone else saw it differently.
That was 745! Beijing’s science provincial top scorer this year, and with no competition bonus points, the title was pure gold!
Full marks in maths and comprehensive science, only losing points in Chinese and English. This kind of elite talent was born for Huaqing!
They barely had to lift a finger. The candidate himself wanted Huaqing. How easy!
Huaqing’s teacher desperately wanted Xie Qian to submit immediately. Xie Qian pretended to be torn. “Jingda’s teacher contacted me too. Now I think Jingda is pretty good… Sorry, I need a few more days to think.”
A bolt from the blue!
No one knew what conditions Jingda had offered to shake the provincial champion’s resolve!
Unacceptable. They had to secure the top scorer. They couldn’t let Jingda steal him!
It was an unspoken rule: science champions chose Huaqing, liberal arts champions preferred Jingda. This was simply the strength of each school’s disciplines.
Huaqing’s teacher tried to correct Xie Qian’s thinking, while Jingda’s teacher saw an opening. The two sides were now in a real showdown.
As for Aurora University, the school Xie Qian actually intended to attend… their admissions teacher had only gone through the motions, treating it as routine. The chance of Xie Qian giving up Huaqing and Jingda for Aurora was minuscule.
Only Professor Shen from the school had hinted to the Beijing recruitment team that Xie Qian would choose Aurora.
Word was Professor Shen had personally gone to Rongcheng and snatched the bestselling author Wen Ying from under the noses of Huaqing and Jingda.
Professor Shen was amazing! To think he secured such a top student!
Should they apply to the school to let Professor Shen lead next year’s recruitment?
While Huaqing and Jingda fought fiercely, Aurora paddled along with formalities, and Xie Qian remained “undecided,” mainland candidates had recently been enthusiastic about Hong Kong universities. Seeing Xie Qian delay, HKU felt they had a shot and jumped into the fray, waving massive scholarships.
Xie Qian became the hottest commodity everyone wanted.
Peng Guoqing had no such troubles. Like Wen Ying, he submitted early. Once Beijing’s science cut-off came out, it was 531, exactly as Xie Qian predicted.
Peng Guoqing was 8 points above the first-tier line. Barring accidents, he would definitely become Wang Shuang’s schoolmate.
After submitting, Peng Guoqing specially called Wang Shuang. “Wait for me in Shanghai. Young Master Peng is coming at the start of term!”
When it came to bickering with Peng Guoqing, Wang Shuang never backed down. “When you arrive, you’ll still be my junior. Good little junior, call me senior first~”
“Pah!”
Peng Guoqing refused to lose. “What’s the big deal about getting into a 211 early? Did you actually learn anything real?”
That hit Wang Shuang’s sore spot.
He suspected Peng Guoqing knew about his failed business and brushed him off before hanging up.
Damn it. He had to clear his clothing inventory before Peng Green-Hat started school. No way he’d let that guy laugh at him!
Li Mengjiao’s 582 was normal performance.
Wen Ying’s 671 was unexpected yet reasonable.
Xie Qian’s 745… heh, even 750 wouldn’t have been surprising. Losing five points? Wang Shuang thought the markers had questionable taste!
Heaven was blind. Even Peng Green-Hat scored 539. The 211 Wang Shuang had studied so hard for suddenly felt less prestigious.
Wang Shuang looked down on Peng Green-Hat, but Xie Qian looked down on both these slackers equally.
In the entire Xie family, only Xie Yuping and Zou Weijun knew Xie Qian’s real choice. Even Hou Zhixiu believed he was going to Huaqing.
When Xie Qian’s score came out, in the past Xie Jinghu would have nitpicked. Now, with his mistress pressing him, he was desperately trying to repair relations with Zou Weijun and forced himself to congratulate Xie Qian.
Afraid Xie Yuping would use this to pressure him for more shares, Xie Jinghu preemptively announced he had ordered a car for Xie Qian. “Once he turns eighteen and gets his license, he should have his own car!”
Xie Jinghu put on a great show of fatherly affection.
Xie Qian accepted the gesture but made his own request. “Cars aren’t appreciating assets. A student like me rarely needs one. If you really want to reward me, buy me an apartment in Beijing instead.”
A car from Xie Jinghu? Xie Qian wouldn’t dare drive it.
Property was better than a car.
It appreciated.
And once Xie Qian opened his mouth, he wasn’t going to let Xie Jinghu fob him off with just any flat.
The place Xie Qian had in mind would make Xie Jinghu bleed!
Zou Weijun had been treating Xie Jinghu like air, but now she backed her son. “Which property do you like? Mummy will buy it for you.”
Whether Zou Weijun or Xie Jinghu paid, it was joint marital property anyway.
The difference: once the apartment was in Xie Qian’s name, the money instantly became his sole asset. Xie Jinghu knew Zou Weijun was openly transferring wealth but couldn’t stop her.
Sara Zhuo had returned with the children. Zou Weijun had said nothing, but Xie Jinghu was the guilty party.
He was the one who cheated.
He had spent a fortune on his mistress and illegitimate children.
That money was also joint property. Zou Weijun wasn’t pursuing past expenditures, so Xie Jinghu couldn’t complain about her current transfers.
If he showed even slight hesitation, the whole Xie family would question him.
Not willing to buy a flat for Xie Qian? Trying to save money for the bastard son?
Not buying a flat was fine. He could always transfer more shares instead!
Xie Jinghu forced an unnatural smile. “The point of a gift is to make the recipient happy. We’ll do whatever Xie Qian wants.”
Xie Qian was genuinely pleased. Watching Xie Jinghu’s heart bleed while pretending to smile happily doubled Xie Qian’s joy.
…
When Wen Ying returned to Beijing and heard about it, she laughed until her sides hurt.
Making Xie Jinghu haemorrhage at every opportunity had become the consensus of the entire Xie family.
Compared to Xie Jinghu reluctantly losing an apartment to Xie Qian, Wen Dongrong using his own manuscript earnings to fund an overseas family trip was truly precious!
“No wonder for a while Dad kept shutting himself in the study, secretly chatting on the computer.”
Wen Ying actually felt a rare twinge of embarrassment.
She had even suspected Old Wen was having an online romance.
Now the truth was out: Old Wen had been chatting with editors and revising manuscripts!
Though Old Wen had announced his “graduation gift” with smug pride, claiming he passed on the first try, Wen Ying didn’t believe a word.
Passed easily?
Who was he kidding!
Even a reborn person had manuscripts rejected. Old Wen couldn’t possibly have passed on the first submission!
But thinking of Wen Dongrong earning an entire overseas trip with his royalties, Wen Ying felt touched and didn’t expose him.
Since when had talking about her parents stopped feeling heavy?
It didn’t matter.
What mattered was that right now, Wen Ying was very happy.
Xie Qian heard the pride in her voice and played along. “Mm, you did the right thing. Sometimes we should let the elders save face.”
Wen Ying huffed. “I’m already giving my dad plenty of face! I have no idea what genre he wrote. He’s guarding his pen name like a state secret. Probably embarrassed because it’s not very good?”
Sigh!
No matter how things changed, one thing stayed the same: Old Wen’s love of face~
Actually, Wen Ying was wrong about this. Wen Dongrong would never think his writing was bad.
He was extremely confident in his work.
If he had gone professional, winning a Mao Dun or Lu Xun Prize would be trivial. He even had the chops to aim for a Nobel!
The reason he hid his pen name was that he was afraid Wen Ying would notice the number of published articles didn’t match the royalties. He could fool Chen Ru because she didn’t understand the industry, but fooling Wen Ying? Impossible. She ate from that very bowl!
The Wen family’s overseas trip was scheduled for August. After Wen Ying attended the small publisher book-signing and the lucky readers enjoyed their luxury cruise, Wen Ying would travel Europe with her parents.
Xie Qian thought the timing perfect.
Rest a bit after Europe, and it would almost be university start time.
“Because of my application, Professor Shen personally went to Rongcheng. He heard we were going to Europe and asked my parents if he and Auntie Wu could join. They both said yes. So in August, it’ll be our family plus Auntie Wu’s family travelling together.”
The trip was still a while away, but Wen Ying was already excited.
In her previous life, she had almost no memories of a full family vacation. She was really looking forward to it.
Teacher Kang had told her to look forward. Wen Ying thought Teacher Kang was absolutely right.
Xie Qian racked his brain but couldn’t think of an excuse to tag along to Europe, so he reluctantly let it go.
Wen Ying had taken leave to submit her university choices.
When she returned to the literature college, Mu Fan had already spread the news far and wide that she scored 671 and ranked 31st in Sichuan science.
Classmates congratulated her when she came back.
Some didn’t understand why she hadn’t chosen Huaqing or Jingda.
Mu Fan understood perfectly. “To each their own. Everyone has different plans for their future. No regrets!”
Exactly.
It was Wen Ying’s own business. No one else had the right to judge.
Teacher He Xin had already given up on salvaging this “hopeless wood.” Hearing Wen Ying chose finance and recalling her bold claim of writing only for money, He Xin could barely look at her.
But did that affect Wen Ying at all?
She couldn’t care less!
Two days after returning to Beijing, Wen Ying received another call from Zhang Nan. She was coming to the literature college that evening. “I’m treating you to dinner!”
