Chapter 720: Tsinghua and Peking University fight over the students!
Chapter 720: Tsinghua and Peking University fight over the students!
Translator: Legge Editor:
The next day.
Sunday morning.
In the guest room of Old Wu's house, Zhang Ye lay in bed sleeping, snoring loudly. Yesterday night, he had discussed with Old Wu many topics regarding calligraphy and even made a few pieces. When it got late, Zhang Ye decided to stay over, though he didn't intend to leave in the first place. It wasn't easy to have matched his schedule to Old Wu's days off, so Zhang Ye definitely wanted to spend more time with her.
At 8 AM.
"Are you up?" Wu Zeqing came into the guest room from outside.
When Zhang Ye heard her voice, he opened his eyes. "Old Wu."
Old Wu said, "Let's go downstairs and have something to eat. I've already prepared breakfast."
"What time is it now?" Zhang Ye asked.
"8 o'clock," Old Wu said, dressed in her nightie.
"It's only 8? Let me lie down a little longer." Zhang Ye drowsily stayed under the covers and yawned twice in succession. "I don't know why I've been so tired for the past few days."
Old Wu smiled. "Then do you want to eat?"
Zhang Ye smacked his lips together. "Of course. Why wouldn't I want to eat the food you've cooked?"
Old Wu said, "Then shall I bring them up to have in bed?"
"Ai, that sounds great." Zhang Ye felt extremely pampered. If he were at his parent's house or the rented apartment and dared to make such a request, he would surely be given a good beating. However, at his girlfriend's house, Zhang Ye was clearly enjoying his days being treated like a young master, waited upon with great care.
Soon after, Old Wu carried the tray into the room. "Here, eat it while it's still warm. It won't be as good once it turns cold." She bent over and pulled aside a grandfather clock, then proceeded to place the tray on the bedside table beside Zhang Ye.
When she did that, Old Wu's nightie drooped down at her chest and revealed something for a second. Zhang Ye did not purposely wait for this, but subconsciously turned his sight towards her nightie's neckline. He took in the view of a pair of jiggling white and a nude-colored bra with dark undertones. Within a second, Old Wu stood straight up again and Zhang Ye couldn't see anymore, leaving him itching for more.
If only there wasn't a bra!
Ai, just tell me, which bastard invented that lousy thing called a bra? What the hell was it good for? Where was the most basic level of trust between people?
"Have you eaten yet, Old Wu?"
"Not yet."
"Then let's eat together."
"Yes."
Wu Zeqing pulled over a chair and sat beside him.
Zhang Ye was sitting up on the bed, staying under the covers as he ate from the side of the bed. With every bite, he remarked on how good it was. He was full of praise for the breakfast Old Wu had prepared, not flattering her but rather because it was truly delicious. Old Wu's culinary skill was surely not just a level or two above his mother's. "Staying at your place for two days has surely made this bro gain five kilos."
Old Wu asked, "You're not going to work today?"
Zhang Ye nodded. "I have the next few days off."
"Peking University should be recruiting students soon. How was it this year? Are there many good students?" Old Wu asked while slowly chewing her food.
Zhang Ye took a pork with scallions bun Old Wu had steamed and said, "The admission cutoff score for Peking University hasn't been announced yet, but they should have started the recruitment already. The top scorers should be quite difficult to recruit, so they must have taken preemptive action already, but I'm not too sure about those details. I do not have a role at Peking University since I'm still suspended and haven't been back to the school yet."
Old Wu said, "Regarding your suspension, I'll ask around for you later."
"Don't worry about that," Zhang Ye said indifferently. "I'm fine with it as is, so just let nature take its course. Even if I were reinstated now, I might not have the time to go back to teaching. There's still enough things to keep me busy with on The Voice, and after that I have to think about the next show."
After breakfast.
Zhang Ye suddenly remembered something. Seeing that Old Wu had gone downstairs to do the dishes, he took out his cell phone and made a call to Dean Pan of Peking University. "Hello, Dean Pan? Has the admission cutoff grade been released yet?"
Dean Pan: "It's not out yet, but it should be out anytime now. There's probably going to be some fluctuation. What about it?"
Zhang Ye laughed: "It's like this. Do you know Huang Lingling?"
"Huang Lingling?" Dean Pan said: "The examinee who had a perfect score on the Beijing Math section?"
Zhang Ye said: "Yes. That girl might not have done too well on her other subjects and I'm afraid we might miss out on a good student if she doesn't qualify for Peking University."
Dean Pan suddenly said: "Don't worry about that. She won't slip through the net. The student recruitment team has already gone to meet with the top scorers of the exam and Huang Lingling's name is also on that list."
"Alright then, I understand."
After hanging up, Zhang Ye got up from bed and went downstairs to look for Old Wu to talk.
……
Meanwhile.
In the outside world, this year's student recruitment began and immediately spread like wildfire!
Peking University's student recruitment team had been established early on. Like in previous years, Peking University had activated many student recruitment staff members and resources and cast their net out to various key focus schools and the homes of the examinees. Most of the student recruitment teams were made up of female teachers and staff. It was still in line with the previous years' approach policy in which they would play the emotions card to appeal to the examinees. If and when necessary, they could promise the examinees scholarships and other preferential treatments.
Su Na was a member of the Peking University student recruitment team this time. On this morning, she had come alone to a small district in Chengxi. She went upstairs to the apartment building and knocked on a door.
The door opened, revealing a middle-aged woman who had come to answer it.
Su Na gently smiled and said, "You must be Auntie Song?"
That woman asked, "You are?"
Su Na said, "I am from the Peking University student recruitment team. I contacted you last night over the phone."
"Ohhhh, you're Teacher Su," the woman spoke very politely.
Su Na looked into the house and smiled. "Is Little Chen around? I would like to chat with him."
The woman looked a little embarrassed. "My son, he…some of the Tsinghua University teachers just came over to pick him up."
Su Na was stunned. "Didn't we make an appointment yesterday?"
The woman said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, Teacher Su. I wanted my son to wait for you as well, but the two recruitment teachers from Tsinghua University had arrived at my place at 6 in the morning. They insisted on taking my son away with them. It felt a little forced, but my son and I don't want to offend anyone, so…"
Su Na was flustered. Tsinghua??
……
Elsewhere.
No. 4 High School.
Han Henian from Peking University's Math Department had just led his team here when he was stopped by the security guards and two of the school's teachers at the gates.
The security guard asked, "What are you all doing here?"
Han Henian got out of the car. "Hello, we're from the Peking University student recruitment team. We would like to speak to your students, Zhang Zhipeng and Su Xiao, for a while. Could you please open the gates for us?"
The teachers from No. 4 High School stared at them. "It's our students' graduation ceremony today and we're having an assembly right now. You all can come back in the afternoon."
A female staff member from the student recruitment team said, "We'll just be having a quick chat with those two students and will not disrupt the graduation ceremony. We're doing this for the future of the students, aren't we?"
The No. 4 High School teacher gave a wave of his hands impatiently. "Not today, please go back."
It didn't seem like their team could get through to this school's teachers. In the end, Han Henian and the others could only park their cars on the side of the road and wait there. The two students they wanted to meet today were the sixth and eleventh place scorers of this year's Beijing college entrance examination. Peking University had already indicated that those two students must be recruited no matter what. Han Henian also had his eyes on the student named Zhang Zhipeng as he was just 5 marks short of a perfect score in the Mathematics exam. He was not only strong in math; all his other subject exams nearly scored full marks as well. That was the reason why Han Henian personally had come down today to see if he could persuade him to become their student.
After waiting for quite a while, the security guards were still unwilling to let them in.
Suddenly, a small sedan car drove over and stopped at the gate for a moment before being allowed to enter the school grounds.
Han Henian and his team thought that this might be a car belonging to the school or a school teacher and thus did not pay much attention to it. But after around 15 minutes, when this car reappeared and drove out, one of the eagle-eyed female teachers suddenly let out a scream.
"It's Zhang Zhipeng and Su Xiao!"
"Ah?"
"They've been taken away!"
"Was that Tsinghua University's Old Xu sitting in the passenger seat?"
Several members of the Peking University student recruitment team suddenly realized what was going on and immediately went up to the people from No. 4 High School to ask, "What's that about? Didn't you say that no one could enter because of the graduation ceremony?"
That teacher from No. 4 High School plausibly retorted, "The assembly is over, so they could enter."
Han Henian raged. "You!"
They finally understood that the student recruitment team from Tsinghua University had colluded with some of the teachers from No. 4 High School. They denied all entry to the Peking University student recruitment team so that they wouldn't have a chance to talk to the exam's top scorers!
……
The same thing happened at No. 8 High School.
A press conference was being held at No. 8 High School today because their school had produced a top scholar, along with five other students ranked within the top 100 scorers of this year's Beijing college entrance exam. There was also a student who had defied all logic and scored full marks on the Beijing Mathematics exam, the only one to do so in all of Beijing. Naturally, the press conference attracted a lot of people, such as newspaper reporters, people from TV stations, parents of examinees, as well as the student recruitment teams from Peking and Tsinghua University who were poised to attack.
Once the press conference was over, four male teachers from the Tsinghua University student recruitment team rushed forward.
One of those teachers was from this year's Beijing college entrance examination's question setting team, the teacher who had a conflict with Zhang Ye and competed with him in a poetry contest, Liao Qi.
"Student Huang Lingling, we're from Tsinghua University!"
"Student Zhou Zheng, let's have a chat. Our car is waiting outside and the Tsinghua University professors are already waiting for you at the school. Let's chat about your aspirations."
Several of those top scorers were suddenly surrounded by the people from Tsinghua University's student recruitment team.
The Peking University student recruitment team had only sent three teachers, one in her forties and two in their twenties. They were also all female teachers, so couldn't shove aside the Tsinghua team. They could only stand frozen on the outside of the crowd.
A female teacher from Peking University said furiously, "What are you guys trying to do! Huang Lingling and Zhou Zheng's first choice is our Peking University! What has it got to do with you people from Tsinghua?"
Tsinghua University's Professor Liao Qi looked at her coldly. "Everyone has a chance. Are there any rules that state that if they filled in Peking University as their first choice at the start that they must definitely go to Peking University? We have to respect the examinees' choices!" Having said that, they pulled both Huang Lingling and Zhou Zheng aside and walked out of the school. "Make way, make way!"
While Huang Lingling was being pulled away, she said alarmed, "I-I've already applied for Peking University."
A Tsinghua University male teacher pointed at Liao Qi and said, "That is Professor Liao from our institution. Professor Liao has come personally to pick you two up, so that clearly shows how sincere we are. Your filled-in intentions are not important for now. As long as you are willing to join Tsinghua University, we can accept you. Let's go. We'll chat once we're at Tsinghua University. There will be teachers there to explain to you two in detail."
Huang Lingling anxiously said, "I really don't want to go, I…"
The 3 female teachers from Peking University said in anger, "Is this even respecting the wishes of the examinees?!"
When the reporters saw that the teachers from Peking University and Tsinghua University fighting, they all looked at each other with some surprise. They had not expected that this year's competition for the top scorers would be this intense.
In previous years, the top two institutions in the country had always played the emotions card. It had always been so in recent years as well. No one had expected Tsinghua University to change to such a strong-arm tactic this year, totally foregoing the emotional side of things. They even mostly sent in their bigger and physically stronger male teachers for this specific reason—to physically get the top scorers back to the university first above all else! This tactic caught the Peking University student recruitment teams off guard!
The Peking University female teachers shouted, "They are our students!"
Liao Qi stared coldly at them. "Go away!"
The Peking University female teachers said, "Are you guys still being reasonable here?"
The male teachers of Tsinghua University did not bother with them and just continued pulling the students out of the crowd!
The teachers of No. 8 High School were all dumbfounded. They did not know whether they should intervene in the situation or not, but they were totally helpless to do anything about the situation!