Ms. Wen hung up the phone, but before she even had a chance to put down her cell phone, Jiang Zhaoye's watch suddenly began to vibrate.
He looked down to see an incoming caller ID flashing on the small screen: Admissions Office of Huaicheng No. 2 High School.
Jiang Zhaoye froze for a moment, looking up at Ms. Wen.
Ms. Wen was also looking at him. The two exchanged a quick glance before Ms. Wen slightly tilted her chin, gesturing for him to answer.
Jiang Zhaoye nodded. "Xiao Ling, answer the call."
"Understood. Connecting your call in three seconds. Please be prepared."
He subconsciously sat up straight just as the call went through. "Hello?"
"Is this student Jiang Zhaoye?" A male voice that sounded somewhere between young adult and middle-aged came from the other end.
"Mm..." Jiang Zhaoye nodded, then immediately realized it was a voice call and the person couldn't see his movement, so he added, "This is Jiang Zhaoye. How can I help you?"
"Here's the situation, Student Jiang. This is the Admissions Office of Huaicheng No. 2 High School." The person spoke rapidly with a hint of urgency, yet clearly and fluently. "The school just received a portion of the psionic census results for this year's admitted students. We learned that over the two months of summer break, you persevered and cultivated diligently, making immense progress and undergoing a remarkable transformation, which led to a truly outstanding result in this morning's psionic census. First, on behalf of Huaicheng No. 2 High School, I would like to offer you our most sincere congratulations. Second, we fully recognize your excellence and potential, and we would like to speak with you and your parents about our subsequent training plans for you..."
Jiang Zhaoye was a bit dazed listening to such a long spiel, and even felt a little flattered.
The teacher on the other end continued his rapid delivery: "...The school is prepared to grant you a full waiver for tuition and fees, as well as a special scholarship of at least fifty thousand per year. We will assign you a dedicated psionic instructor for one-on-one guidance. You won't have to worry about cultivation resources during your three years of high school at all—we will throw our full support behind you..."
Jiang Zhaoye's brain went into slight overload. He knew his stats were currently a bit overpowered for Huaicheng, but he hadn't expected the school to go this far... For a moment, he could only offer meaningless interjections like "mm," "oh," "ah," and "okay" to act as a straight man playing along.
The caller's tone even carried an earnest, official weight: "The school considers it an absolute honor to admit a student like you. Principal Zhao just finished a meeting and specifically instructed me to make this call to you, saying you are one of the students he has high hopes for this year. The principal even said that on orientation day, he will personally show you around campus."
Jiang Zhaoye didn't know what to say, so he could only give another "mm" out of politeness.
Just then, Ms. Wen's phone rang again.
Ms. Wen glanced at the caller ID, raised an eyebrow, answered it, and turned on speakerphone right away. "Hello?"
"Hello, is this the parent of student Jiang Zhaoye? We're from the Admissions Office of Huaicheng No. 3 High School..."
Over on Jiang Zhaoye's side, the person on the other end seemed to hear the noise over here. His speaking speed accelerated sharply, and his tone grew even more impassioned: "Furthermore, our school just poached several famous teachers from the province this year who excel at guiding psionic-track students. One of them specializes in both Ice and Water elements. Once Student Jiang arrives, the school will directly assign this teacher to mentor you... As for the resources, teachers, and platform here at No. 2 High School, rest assured, we'll arrange everything crystal clear for you!"
"If you need it, we can also arrange a single dorm room equipped with Rank 3 spirit-gathering devices for you..."
Ms. Wen and Jiang Zhaoye looked at each other in silence.
The caller on his watch was still speaking with earnest gravity, while the caller on Ms. Wen's phone was persuasive and enticing. Holding their respective devices, the two stared at each other amidst two passionate sales pitches, making the scene turn quite absurd for a moment.
Half an hour later.
Jiang Zhaoye hung up the call with Huaicheng No. 2 High School with a sigh of relief, and Ms. Wen also ended the call with Huaicheng No. 3 High School. Before either of them could speak, Ms. Wen's phone rang again.
This time, it was the Affiliated High School of Huaihai University.
This was the school that had accepted Chen Tuizhi after the high school entrance exam. Backed by Huaihai Psionic University, it was the perpetual runner-up among local high schools.
It could go toe-to-toe with No. 1 High School, and its resources were even slightly richer than No. 1 High School's.
Ms. Wen picked up. This time, the caller wasn't as overly enthusiastic as the previous two, being rather reserved, much like No. 1 High School earlier. As a parent, she exchanged a few polite pleasantries before concluding with, "Alright, I understand. We will give it careful consideration," bringing the call to a smooth end and hanging up.
Yet barely two breaths later, her phone rang again.
Jiang Zhaoye's watch also began vibrating once more.
The two exchanged a look. Ms. Wen took a deep breath, flipped her phone over, and placed it face down on the table.
Jiang Zhaoye followed suit, unclasping his watch and laying it face down on the table alongside her phone.
The two devices rang for quite a while before finally coming to terms with the truth that no one was going to answer. They sheepishly stopped ringing, and silence descended upon the room at last.
Unfortunately, this tranquility did not last long.
Ms. Wen's phone began buzzing against the tabletop again, like an unyielding bee buzzing in circles on the glass surface.
Jiang Zhaoye's watch vibrated right along with it. The two sets of vibrations overlapped into a chaotic buzz, sounding as if a hornet's nest had been disturbed.
Jiang Zhaoye looked somewhat apprehensively at the two buzzing devices on the table, then looked up at Ms. Wen and couldn't help asking, "...Mom, what's going on here?"
Ms. Wen raised an eyebrow in silence, her mood brightening over how sought-after her son was.
She reached out, picked up her teacup, took a sip, and then spoke at an unhurried pace. "What's going on? You've gone viral in the local education circles, that's what. They're all practically begging to recruit you."
Jiang Zhaoye: "..."
The phone and watch on the table were still vibrating.
"We can't let this go on forever." Ms. Wen was starting to get a slight headache from the relentless buzzing, and she looked at Jiang Zhaoye. "You need to decide which school to attend as soon as possible. Otherwise, they probably won't stop at phone calls—they'll come knocking on our door directly."
At this moment, an immense wave of vanity and satisfaction at being fought over by schools that had previously been out of reach finally hit him. The corners of Jiang Zhaoye's mouth curled up uncontrollably. Trying hard to maintain his cool teen composure, he did everything he could to keep from grinning like an idiot.
Ms. Wen looked exasperatedly at her son, whose smile was about to reach the sky. "Your reaction time is a bit too long..." As she spoke, she couldn't help laughing herself, waving her hand with a chuckle. "Forget it. Let me list out the conditions and advantages offered by the schools that called me earlier, and you list out No. 2 High School's."
Jiang Zhaoye's eyes lit up, and he nodded in admiration. "Makes sense! Orders received, Queen Wen!"
Ms. Wen rolled her eyes at him and instructed her phone, "Xiao Yu, cast to the TV. Extract the main points from the calls I received after lunch and list them separately. Also, list the callers for the missed calls after those."
The phone lit up with a chime: "Understood, ma'am. Connected to the TV. AI Assistant Xiao Yu is happy to be of service."
The TV lit up right away, automatically opening a document. Rows of neatly arranged text quickly appeared on the screen.
Ms. Wen unhurriedly poured hot water into her teacup. Holding the cup in one hand and picking up her phone with the other, she walked over to the sofa, took a sip of the warm flower tea, and fixed her eyes on the TV screen.
Jiang Zhaoye watched in dumbfounded amazement. "You can do that?"
Is this what adults are like?
True to its role as an intelligent secretary that had long assisted Ms. Wen with her work, Xiao Yu helpfully divided the document into left and right columns: the left column was 【Completed Calls】, and the right column was 【Missed Calls】, making it extremely clear and intuitive.
Under 【Completed Calls】 on the left, the advantages and intentions of the three schools were listed in a well-organized manner:
【Huaicheng No. 1 High School】: Long-established key school in the city, ranked first overall, deep foundation, abundant alumni resources. Call intention: Inquiring if the parent is willing to enroll the child; somewhat subtle in tone, did not mention specific conditions, but implied everything is negotiable.
【Huaicheng No. 3 High School】: Municipal key school, strong upward momentum in recent years, excels in the direction of psionic technology. Call intention: Full waiver of tuition and fees, provides a special scholarship (exact amount unspecified, subject to in-person negotiation), promises a one-on-one psionic instructor, and can arrange a single dorm room.
【Affiliated High School of Huaihai University】: Backed by Huaihai Psionic University, an affiliated high school of a local university, rich resources, top-tier hardware facilities in the city. Call intention: Relatively reserved in tone, did not mention specific conditions, but proactively invited the parent and student to visit the campus for an on-site inspection and in-depth discussion.
Rate on N.U.
