At eight o’clock on Monday morning, Jiang Lai and Jiang Shan stood at the entrance of the police station. Since Jiang Shan started work at nine, the mother and daughter had deliberately arrived as soon as the station opened to handle their business.
After taking a number inside, Jiang Shan went to the restroom. But Jiang Lai’s number was called very quickly, and she sat alone at the window.
The officer at the household registration window was a man in his early thirties. He took the household register and ID card and glanced at them. “What business are you here for?”
“A name change.”
The officer opened the household register. “Young lady, where are your parents?”
“My mom went to the restroom. You can check the documents first.” Jiang Lai pointed at herself. “Jiang Lai, changed to Jiang Lai—taking my mom’s surname. The ‘Jiang’ from ‘river.’”
The officer looked at her, then at the father’s column in the household register. “Does your father agree?”
“We can’t reach him.”
The officer paused. “Minors need both parents’ consent for a name change. This—”
“He ran off,” Jiang Lai said flatly. “He left with someone else and isn’t coming back. I live with my mom.”
The officer was speechless. His professional smile froze on his round face. His mouth opened and closed before he finally managed a comforting remark. “Don’t be sad, young lady.”
[Keyword detected, triggering Compensation. WeChat payment received: 5,000 yuan.]
Jiang Lai lowered her eyes. The money had arrived.
Jiang Shan returned from the restroom. The officer lowered his head and began flipping through the materials, his movements noticeably faster than before. He seemed unsure of what to say but felt he should say something. “You’re quite sensible, young lady.”
“Thank you.”
Jiang Shan happened to miss the earlier conversation. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, Mom. The officer is reviewing the documents.”
The name change procedure was simpler than expected. They filled out two forms, submitted copies of the household register and ID card, and took a new ID photo.
Jiang Lai signed her new name on the name change application form.
Jiang Lai.
After finishing the last stroke, she put down the pen and looked at it. It was indeed just a change in the radical component of the character, pronounced exactly the same but looking completely different.
Jiang Shan watched her daughter sign without saying a word, reaching out to stroke her hair.
When they received the new household register, Jiang Lai opened the first page. Name: Jiang Lai. Relationship to Head of Household: Mother and Daughter.
She closed the register and put it in her bag.
“Mom, I’d like to open a bank card while we’re here.”
“What do you need a bank card for?”
“I want to do some part-time work during the summer vacation,” Jiang Lai said. “Earn some money at a bookstore to buy study materials, and I also want to spend more time reading there. My classmates said some part-time jobs pay via bank card transfers.”
Jiang Shan’s expression shifted slightly. Jiang Lai could tell her mother wanted to say, “Children should focus on their studies,” but the words died on her lips. Thinking about how she was now the sole breadwinner and how sensible her daughter was, she couldn’t bring herself to discourage her and swallowed the words.
“Alright.” Jiang Shan took her to the nearby bank.
They opened a savings card linked to Jiang Lai’s own phone number. The teller handed over the new card, and Jiang Lai took it, flipped it over, and placed it in her cardholder.
Although WeChat Pay was convenient, her money was difficult to explain to those around her. When necessary, she would need to withdraw cash, and a bank card would still be very useful.
During the first week of summer vacation, Jiang Lai sorted out the household affairs. How to pay for water, electricity, and gas bills, the monthly mortgage amount, and the balance in Jiang Shan’s salary card. She added a few more columns to her Excel spreadsheet, marking numbers for each item.
Before Jiang Wei left, he had tampered with the family’s savings account. Jiang Shan only found out after checking at the bank—there were just over three thousand yuan left in the current account. The fixed deposit certificate remained untouched, with fifty thousand yuan set to mature at the end of the year. When Jiang Shan mentioned this, she was on the verge of tears again. Jiang Lai poured her a glass of water. “It’s okay, Mom. We won’t starve before the end of the year. You still have your salary, and I can earn enough for my own pocket money through part-time work.”
The money from the System was far from spent, but she had to withdraw it gradually.
That afternoon, Jiang Lai finally sent Zhang Yue a message: “Are you free tomorrow? Want to go out for a meal?”
Zhang Yue replied instantly: “!!! I’ll book a table right away!!”
Even after chatting for a week, her messages still came with at least three exclamation marks.
The next day at noon, the two met at a newly opened creative cuisine restaurant in the city center. Zhang Yue had picked it, saying she’d seen it recommended multiple times on Xiaohongshu. Every dish looked especially photogenic, and several of her female classmates had already posted pictures from there on their social media.
When Jiang Lai arrived, Zhang Yue was already seated, wearing a floral dress with her hair cut slightly shorter. Two glasses of pink sparkling water sat on the table—clearly Zhang Yue’s pre-ordered “check-in” drinks.
Zhang Yue slid the menu over. “You order. My treat, as promised.”
Jiang Lai glanced at the menu, silently calculating the prices. It wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t extortionate either. She ordered two signature dishes and handed the menu back to Zhang Yue. “You pick two more.”
While waiting for the food, Zhang Yue talked about her new school. She had already registered at Mingde High School. The campus was huge, the dormitory building looked like a hotel, and each student had their own wardrobe. The library had six floors, with a café on the first level. Midway through, she paused, poking the ice cubes in her sparkling water with a straw, her tone shifting.
“I wish you were there too.”
Jiang Lai looked up.
“Really,” Zhang Yue said, not meeting her eyes, focused on the ice cubes. “After I registered, my younger brother asked which classmate was going with me. I said none. He told me, ‘Then make new friends.’ But I thought, I already have my best friend.”
Jiang Lai set down her glass. “Has the registration deadline passed?”
Zhang Yue was taken aback. “Why do you ask?”
“Just curious.”
“Not yet. It ends this weekend.”
Jiang Lai nodded. “So… is the tuition paid for the whole year at once?”
Zhang Yue thought for a moment. “No, it’s paid per semester—sixty thousand yuan. You pay ten thousand when registering, and the remaining fifty thousand is due at the start of the semester. For the next semester, the full sixty thousand is paid on the first day of school.”
Jiang Lai thoughtfully poked the ice cubes in her glass with her straw.
After the meal, the two went shopping at a nearby mall. Zhang Yue bought two hair ties and gave one to Jiang Lai—a long-standing habit between them. Whenever one bought hair ties, she’d always get an identical one for the other. They had been best friends since middle school.
When they parted at the mall entrance, Zhang Yue waved from the bus window as the bus pulled away.
Jiang Lai stood at the bus stop, took out her phone, and looked up Mingde High School’s official website.
Inspired by Zhang Yue, she realized that now, with her circumstances improved, it was time to start planning her future properly.
To her surprise, the website showed that besides the Mingde International Division where Zhang Yue had registered, Mingde also had a regular division—classes focused on preparing for the college entrance exam. The tuition was far more affordable than the international division.
However, as a top-tier institution, Mingde High School still boasts one of the highest college admission rates nationwide. This means that aside from the wealthy heirs who rely solely on their families’ financial power to secure a spot, anyone who meets the academic threshold for admission essentially has one foot already inside a top-tier university.
The tuition for the general program is 24,000 yuan per semester. Pre-registration requires a deposit of 8,000 yuan, with the remaining 16,000 to be paid before the start of the school year.
This delighted Jiang Lai. Although the tuition was undoubtedly steep for an ordinary family, she was not the least bit worried, as she currently had over 50,000 yuan provided by the System.
But Jiang Lai was well aware that if she simply took the money and told her mother, Jiang Shan, that she wanted to attend an elite private school, Jiang Shan would not only refuse out of concern for the expense but would also grow anxious about the source of such a large sum of money.
Since she wanted to attend Mingde High School but couldn’t arouse her mother’s suspicion, she had to take the initiative and devise a flawless plan—one where Mingde would “actively recruit” her and offer a substantial scholarship.
Once her mind was made up, Jiang Lai wasted no time. Leveraging her now fully developed, calm, and meticulous adult mindset, she took a taxi directly to the city’s largest high-end domestic service and outsourcing agency.
“I need to hire a temporary actress, female, aged between forty-five and fifty-five. She must have an elegant demeanor, a strong scholarly air, and speak like a highly educated intellectual,” Jiang Lai stated directly to the agency manager as she sat in the VIP reception room.
Driven by the promise of a high commission, the manager quickly brought in three candidates who met the criteria.
Jiang Lai picked up her teacup, her gaze sharp and discerning, and it settled precisely on the woman seated in the middle. This woman had a kindly face, wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and had her hair neatly combed. She naturally exuded the stern yet intellectual aura of a head teacher from a prestigious high school.
“You’re the one, Auntie Wu.”
Jiang Lai walked over, pulled out a neatly printed procedure sheet and a script from her bag, and handed them to Auntie Wu. “Your task is simple. First, act as my parent and take me to Mingde High School to register. Then, tomorrow at three in the afternoon, pretend to be the director of Mingde’s admissions office and conduct a ten-minute ‘fake home visit’ at my house. The script is all here. You just need to memorize these lines and hand the admission letter to my mother. Once the act is over, you’ll receive 2,000 yuan in payment on the spot.”
Auntie Wu took the meticulously organized script, which even included notes on emotional shifts, and a flicker of astonishment crossed her eyes before she smiled readily. “Young lady, your plan is more solid than some professional scripts. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure this performance is flawless.”