Zhao Wenchang figured that this woman must be Shen Youan’s aunt and immediately introduced himself.
Zhou Qin walked over to the single-seater sofa opposite Zhang Jian and sat down, crossing her legs. Her black silk stockings, paired with her flaming red lips, exuded a sense of cheap sexiness.
“Let’s get straight to the point. Wende High School offered 300,000 yuan plus the highest-level scholarship every year. Anything less than those conditions is non-negotiable.”
Zhou Qin crossed her arms, her attitude arrogant and domineering.
Zhang Jian’s expression changed, and he suppressed his anger. “What nonsense are you talking about? What are you treating the child as? A tool for making money?”
Zhou Qin jumped up, pointed at Zhang Jian’s nose, and cursed, “Zhang Jian, let me tell you, I have the final say in this house. If you say one more word against me, I’ll make life miserable for all of you.”
“You…” Zhang Jian’s face turned red, and his neck bulged with anger. He snorted and turned his head away.
Zhao Wenchang kept his gaze lowered and smiled. “Student Shen’s excellence cannot be bought with any amount of money. How about this: our school will provide 200,000 yuan, but Student Tianci will have no problem entering First High School directly. Furthermore, all tuition fees for both middle and high school will be waived. We can discuss the specific conditions further. Ultimately, it’s all for the child’s education, don’t you think, Mrs. Zhang?”
Li Shan looked at Zhao Wenchang in shock. Good one, he thought. This ‘undercutting’ tactic hit the Zhang family’s sweet spot perfectly.
Zhang Tianci’s grades were terrible; he loved skipping classes, fighting, and bullying female students. Zhou Qin was summoned to the school almost every day. A student like him couldn’t even get into an ordinary school, let alone a key high school. Zhou Qin was currently fretting over this very issue.
Shen Youan, whom she looked down on the most, had become the top scorer in the high school entrance exam. For the past few days, admissions teachers had been visiting daily, offering 300,000 yuan the moment they opened their mouths. Zhou Qin was both surprised and jealous. Although she was reluctant to admit it, she had to acknowledge that this girl, Shen Youan, was incredibly good at studying. If she could give half—no, even a tenth—of that to her ‘Little Treasure,’ she wouldn’t be so worried.
Sigh, why wasn’t this girl born from my own womb?
Now that this teacher named Zhao had taken the initiative to solve this problem for her, Zhou Qin was secretly delighted, but she still maintained a stubborn facade. “How much is Tianci’s tuition for a year? You’re quite the calculator. Believe it or not, if I go out and say the word right now, plenty of schools would fight over our Tianci.”
Zhao Wenchang was speechless. How could she say something so shameless? As if Zhang Tianci were some hot commodity. If it weren’t for his talented cousin, with his behavior, no school would take him even if they were paid to do so.
However, Zhao Wenchang kept his cool, guessing that this woman still had a trick up her sleeve. “Whatever requirements you have, feel free to mention them.”
Zhou Qin thought to herself, In the end, you still have to listen to me. She said haughtily, “My cousin’s son is also taking the high school entrance exam this year. This child usually has good grades and is very hardworking. It’s just that he caught a cold the night before the exam and had a high fever on the day of the test. He wasn’t in top form and underperformed, missing out on First High. To be honest, it’s your school’s loss to lose such an excellent student.”
By this point, everything was crystal clear. It was a “buy one, get two free” deal.
What did she think First High was? A garbage dump?
The smile on Zhao Wenchang’s face was beginning to falter. He resisted the urge to splash the water from his cup into her face; he really wanted her to clear her head.
Li Shan suddenly piped up, “As far as I know, Student Shen fainted in the examination hall during the high school entrance exam. I heard she had a fever of 39.9 degrees and still managed to become the top scorer. It’s a miracle. By the way, what was your cousin’s son’s score?”
This sentence was like a slap to Zhou Qin’s face. Shen Youan indeed fainted in the exam hall, but it wasn’t as exaggerated as 39.9 degrees. The cause was that the night before the exam, Shen Youan went downstairs to take out the trash and forgot her keys. Zhang Tianci intentionally locked her out all night. It was cold that night, and Shen Youan was dressed thinly, so she naturally caught a cold.
As for her cousin’s son catching a cold, they had used that excuse for years. Zhou Qin wasn’t a fool; she didn’t believe it for a second. But her cousin held a secret over her and threatened to make it public if she didn’t get Pipi into high school. She couldn’t afford to lose face like that.
Zhou Qin’s face fell. “Yours isn’t the only high school around. There’s bound to be a school that agrees to my terms.”
She thought that by maintaining a tough stance, the other party would yield. Unexpectedly, the fat man named Zhao snorted coldly. “While our First High isn’t a hundred-year-old prestigious institution, we have our own integrity. We’re not a recycling center. A final word of advice: a parent like you will only delay the child’s future.”
For the first time, Li Shan looked at him with respect, thinking that although this fat guy was full of schemes, he was quite principled.
Zhou Qin’s face turned the color of pig liver, and she was on the verge of exploding. Zhang Jian quickly stood up to block her, growling, “Haven’t you embarrassed us enough? Get back in the room!”
He immediately apologized to Zhao Wenchang, “I’m sorry, please don’t take offense at her behavior.”
Just then, the door clicked open. A tall, slender young girl walked in.
Zhao Wenchang narrowed his eyes. This was the legendary Shen Youan.
The girl was tall, wearing a white T-shirt and light blue jeans, her legs long and thin like those in a manga. Her hair was very short, neatly tucked behind her ears, and a light chestnut color. Her thick bangs covered her full forehead.
The girl had a delicate, palm-sized face. Her skin was very pale. Zhao Wenchang noticed that her exposed skin was a flawless milky white, like a peeled egg, incredibly tender and smooth, with even the fine pores clearly visible. A pair of black-framed glasses rested on the bridge of her nose; the lenses reflected light, so Zhao Wenchang couldn’t see her eyes clearly, finding them misty and obscured, as if hidden by clouds and rain.
At first glance, the fourteen-year-old was taller than most girls, with thin arms and legs, incredibly slender.
So this was Shen Youan. Zhao Wenchang was quite curious about her. She looked very well-behaved, somewhat like the girls on the covers of his daughter’s shoujo manga—a “paper-thin” girl.
“An An, you’re back. Is it hot out?” Zhang Jian greeted her with a smile, taking the bag of bananas from her hand. “These two are teachers from the admissions offices of First High and Experimental High. They’re here to talk to you about high school.”
Shen Youan glanced at the two of them indifferently and gave a slight nod as a polite gesture.
After changing her shoes, Shen Youan walked over and stood in front of Zhou Qin. With just a cool glance, Zhao Wenchang was amazed to see that the previously arrogant Zhou Qin instantly became like a defeated rooster, tremblingly standing up and yielding her seat to Shen Youan.
Zhao Wenchang arched an eyebrow, looking at Shen Youan with a hint of interest.
When Shen Youan sat down, Zhao Wenchang noticed she was holding a book—an original English edition.
Coincidentally, before transferring to the admissions office, Zhao Wenchang had been an English teacher. The book was titled Sweetbitter, an English novel. Reading it effortlessly would require at least CET-4 proficiency and a vocabulary of over 6,000 words.
He remembered that Shen Youan’s English score on the high school entrance exam was a perfect mark.