Chapter 4: She was Extremely Blessed (Part 2)
Zhao Yuan Qing originally had a poor impression of Lin Can as she had heard some rumors about her. She had been one of the original members, while Lin Can had only joined as the third line-up.
Upon meeting her, she realized Lin Can wasn’t the same as what the rumors had said. She had on a stern face as she asked for the Wi-Fi password, had excellent dancing skills, and was beautiful.
Zhao Yuan Qing walked over and patted Jiang Bao’s shoulder. “I realized you are quite amusing.”
Jiang Bao: “……”
She thought about her current penniless self. Although it was difficult to say, she still tugged the person and asked seriously. “Can you lend me some money?”
Zhao Yuan Qing was stunned. “Did you not bring any money with you?”
Jiang Bao nodded her head. She had never begged a person before. She had always solved all of her difficulties on her lonesome, so she despised the people who sought her help. Why couldn’t they solve it themselves?
Jiang Bao had always remained aloof and condescending. This was the first time she had ever asked for help.
That man’s help in recharging her phone bill this morning didn’t count. After all, Lin Can had brought many benefits to the company, so it should be a mutually beneficial relationship.
Zhao Yuan Qing laughed. “Sure, I was just about to eat. Let’s go together.”
“Okay.” Jiang Bao, who only had jianbing in the morning, was starving and couldn’t care less about being modest.
Zhao Yuan Qing led her downstairs and walked toward the right alley. They entered a restaurant selling steamed food and ordered four dishes for each of them.
Watching as Jiang Bao was getting herself a second bowl of rice, Zhao Yuan Qing asked, “What do you think about the taste?”
Although she ate rapidly, it wasn’t unseemly. Rather, her manners were quite refined.
Jiang Bao: “It’s pretty good.”
It was about the same level as the Chinese cuisine chef at home, or maybe she was just too hungry.
Jiang Bao had always believed herself to be self-reliant. But only now did she realize, after taking away all those halos, that she could hardly do anything.
She assessed her former self and finally understood Lin Can a little better.
Zhao Yuan Qing paid the bill as she opened her wallet and said, “I only brought 250 yuan with me. I’ll give you 150.”
Jiang Bao received it. “Thank you. I’ll also pay you back for the food.”
Zhao Yuan Qing laughed. “We don’t have to be strangers. Count it as me treating you.”
This girl was easier to get along with than those rich young ladies. She was also better than her former self. Jiang Bao thought for a moment and said, “I’ll treat you to a big feast next time.”
Zhao Yuan Qing nodded and assented.
Jiang Bao waited for her to leave. Afterward, she hesitated for a while, before finally choosing to squeeze in the bus and gave up on taking a taxi. She still needed to eat with this money.
She absolutely wouldn’t ask the Lin family for money. Not only she would not get any she would also suffer humiliation.
Lin Can was a performing arts student. When the Lin family took leave for her, they would say it was ‘specialized training’, but she had missed far too many classes. Even the class teacher had something to say about this.
Jiang Bao had just entered the school when she picked up a call from the class teacher to go to the teacher’s office. Jiang Bao hung up the phone as she headed towards the teacher’s office.
Before the evening self-study period, the office was packed with teachers. The class teacher didn’t seem to want to give any face to Lin Can.
She had given several warnings. Whenever the Lin family called to ask for leave, she would disagree and hang up the phone.
Isn’t this taking a fait accompli leave?[1]
Lin Can’s grades during the entrance exam weren’t bad, but her last semester’s final exams were a disaster. She wasn’t putting any effort into her studies at all.
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“If you want to be a celebrity that bad, why are you still studying? It’s better if you talk to your parents about dropping. Look at your attendance rate.” The class teacher was determined to persuade her to quit.
Jiang Bao took a glance. A month and a half from the beginning of September when the new semester began, she had taken leaves for a total of 18 days. This was excluding weekends. It was a bit too much.
Jiang Bao didn’t try to explain herself as she thought for a while and said, “I want to finish my midterm exams. I will also try to come to school in the future.”
The class teacher thought if Lin Can still bowed her head and stayed silent as before, no way would she give in. Unexpectedly, Lin Can’s attitude was surprisingly good, and she only asked to complete her midterm exams.
The class teacher couldn’t say anything about it now, so she criticized her for a bit and allowed her to leave the office.
Jiang Bao was pondering about her next move, she couldn’t let Lin Can drop out of school at any cost. No matter how difficult this country’s education was, it wouldn’t be a problem for her.
She didn’t return to the dormitory but went to the classroom for evening self-study.
Jiang Bao just entered the classroom when everyone looked her way. She was rather calm as she walked toward one of the girls’ front desks in the first group and asked. “Where’s my seat?”
Seeing the girl wasn’t answering, Jiang Bao repeated her question. The girl then pointed to a table in the back row.
After Jiang Bao sat down, she casually flipped through the textbook.
Fortunately, Lin Can had also chosen to study science. Otherwise, she would have had to change her major, which would be troublesome.
She had grown up abroad, so Mandarin[2] was a bit incomprehensible to her. But she could still handle natural science and English.
The selection of local college students was made through the national college entrance examination[3]. It was unlike applying for the Ivy League, which required excellent grades and also active participation in extracurricular and sports activities.
Jiang Bao had taken part in numerous competitions and had even won first place in an international physics competition during high school. Her initial intention in learning these was to apply to the Ivy League and increase her leverage.
She recalled that there were similar competitions here as well. When she met with China’s team, they had been quite the formidable opponent.
Jiang Bao later analyzed the reason she could win was that she had hired a professional coach at a high cost. The coach was simply a quiz machine.
After all, as the competition had developed, the human wave attack strategy[3] lost its advantages. They had to improve themselves through other methods to keep up.
China had also begun to overwhelm the Olympiads in recent years. Many pros were also uninterested in going for the overly commercialized competitions.
In short, she was willing to use the money for the best educational resources.
If she took part in competitions now, it was nothing more than just walking the same path as before again. Basically, being selected for the national team meant she could get into a good university.
Jiang Bao had decided. Although she didn’t know when she could contact her second brother or switch back to her body, she still had to take care of the situation at hand.
Jiang Bao never understood why Lin Can chose to drop out of high school. It seemed foolish to her and it was immature as well.
Now that she was put in her shoes, she finally understood. Lin Can had a terribly busy schedule. There was simply no time to study. She repeated this cycle day after day, as if she was caught up in a vortex, and felt powerless to change anything.
It turned out there were many times she never had a choice at all.
Jiang Bao used to think that everything she had was earned through hard work. She only realized now that, compared to Lin Can, she was extremely blessed.
Footnote:
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[1] fait accompli leave: A thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept it.
[2] Mandarin as in the language, comprehension and literature exams.
TL: It’s really hard for me too (ಥ﹏ಥ)
[3] 高考(gaokao): an examination that is taken by Chinese students in their third and final year of high school typically from June 7 to June 8 or 9. It is also the lone criterion for admission into Chinese universities. Learn more here⬇️
[4] human wave attack: no idea what this means here ╮(￣ω￣;)╭