Chapter 96: Teacher, Please Respect Our Decision, Okay?

I have always liked you, so I hope you live better than anyone else.

Huang Ying knew better than anyone about Yu Hang’s family circumstances. She also knew better than anyone how much money meant to him.

The opportunity given by the Qianyang Club was not something that came along every day, nor was it something just anyone could have. Yu Hang and Ming Han had, almost by sheer luck as well as ability, everything they needed to rise to a bigger stage.

If I can no longer like you, then I wish you good morning, good afternoon, and good night.

Seeing Huang Ying quietly sobbing, Ming Han walked over to comfort her. "When he is rolling in money, I’ll tie him up and drag him back to you."

Huang Ying laughed through her tears. "Ming Han, I hope the two of you will be all right. Someday, I hope you’ll both become unimaginably amazing."

Ming Han nodded hard. "Don’t worry! When I become a rich man, I’ll treat you to the city’s best hotel and order the biggest lobster there."

They were very young then, and no one knew what the future would hold. Maybe one day they really would all become formidable. But by then, the people around them, the scenery around them, might no longer look the same.

Chen Nuo did not like such a sorrowful atmosphere. She took Huang Ying’s hand and said, "Let’s go have dessert together! No matter how bad someone feels, dessert can melt all that gloom away."

Huang Ying did not refuse and left the two of them there with Ming Han and Chen Li.

Chen Li did not speak first, only sipped her milk tea.

"Are you angry?" Ming Han asked.

Chen Li shook her head. "Ming Han, I’m not angry. I know why you signed the contract. That night, you told me you wanted to become someone extraordinary. And now, aren’t you working hard toward that?"

Lin Zhengming’s appearance that day gave Ming Han the greatest shock of his life. Ming Han did not say much on the surface, but that did not mean he did not care.

Lin Zhengming looked at Ming Han with contempt and said scornfully, "You and Chen Li are people from two different worlds. You will never be together."

That look cut deeply into Ming Han’s pride. He suddenly understood that those old claims about a person’s origins not mattering were utter nonsense. For many people, the road they traveled in a lifetime might not even equal another person’s starting point.

And there was something else that mattered very much: Chen Li’s family. Though Ming Han had never asked, he knew it could not be ordinary. He only hoped that one day, when he stood beside this girl, it would be as her equal.

...

After the Lantern Festival came the start of the second semester of ninth grade.

On the first day of school, their homeroom teacher looked unusually excited. "Students, the time to test the results of our three years of study is almost here."

Ming Han looked at the teacher’s expression and thought he looked like a warrior, roaring at his enemy: Arise, you who refuse to be slaves.

"You must put all your energy into your studies and fully master every point of knowledge."

Da Xu, half asleep and groggy, stared at the podium. "So many homeroom teachers..."

Yes, he had been staying up too often; he was actually seeing double.

After that, the homeroom teacher picked up a piece of chalk and solemnly wrote on the blackboard how much time remained until the high school entrance exam.

"You all need to think carefully. Which school is your goal? City No. 1 High School, County No. 1 High School, or do you want to stay at this school?"

Ming Han had always had a clear goal, and now the focus was on Yu Hang. The Qianyang Club required that they attend the same high school, and that the school had to be in the city. The schools that met that requirement were City No. 1 High School, No. 6 High School, and City Linying Middle School.

According to Yu Hang’s grades, City No. 1 was unlikely, but No. 6 and Linying were both possible. So when the Qianyang Club made this demand, Yu Hang said apologetically to Ming Han, "Sorry, bro. I’m holding you back."

Ming Han waved a hand. "Idiot. If I go to City No. 1, then I’m not even a straight-up top student anymore. Let’s go to No. 6 together. I’m going to be number one in the grade, and I’m going to attract girls by the dozen."

Ming Han said it with complete indifference, but Yu Hang would not think that way. He might have been the person at school who understood Ming Han best, so he knew what this boy had always wanted.

In the very first lesson of seventh grade, Ming Han, who had entered school with the sixteenth-best placement score in the class, had very seriously stated his goal: after three years of hard work, I hope I can get into City No. 1 High School.

So Yu Hang made a startling decision: he would apply to City No. 1 High School as a student athlete. That way, as long as his physical education score was acceptable, his entrance-exam score would only need to reach the County No. 1 line.

The Qianyang Club also felt this was the best plan. It would ensure they entered the best school while allowing the duo to continue and build even more fame.

After class, Da Xu came running over and asked with a grin, "Is your company still hiring? Do you need a fresh new star like me, handsome and full of idol aura?"

Ming Han thought it over. "A couple of days ago, I heard Sister Fang say they still needed someone to clean the toilets. What do you say, Xu-ge, want to come and challenge yourself a little?"

Da Xu frowned. "This society makes no sense at all. The truly talented are always buried."

"Da Xu, which school are you planning to apply to?"

Da Xu’s grades made even County No. 1 High School somewhat difficult to reach.

"Stay at the school, of course!"

That was indeed the best outcome for him. Jinhua Middle School’s high school division was not as formidable as its middle school division, but it was still well known in the county.

While everyone waited for the next class, a certain top student who had just come back from the homeroom teacher’s office said to Ming Han, "The homeroom teacher wants you and Yu Hang to go see him. From the look of it, something big must be going on. Even the principal is here."

Ming Han could roughly guess why the teacher was calling for him at this moment.

Sigh.

Sure enough, the moment he stepped into the office, the homeroom teacher’s face was dark as night, and he came straight at him. "Ming Han, do you still want to take the high school entrance exam or not?"

Hearing that tone, Ming Han felt uncomfortable too. "Teacher, what’s wrong?"

"You’re only seventeen, and you go sign with some shady company. Do you mean to waste your youth on this? After a few years of doing that, making a little quick money, what else can it possibly bring you? This is irresponsible to your future."

Ming Han was not usually a arrogant or overbearing student, but that did not mean he would allow a teacher to casually judge his decision. "Teacher, first, I have not given up my studies. Second, this has not ruined me. And third, this decision has nothing to do with you."

There were many teachers in the office, and they all had a good impression of Ming Han, this excellent student. But none of them had expected that today Ming Han would directly contradict his homeroom teacher, giving him no face at all.

"Ming Han, that is going too far. The homeroom teacher is only doing this for your own good," snapped the Chinese teacher, who was also the grade head.

When Ming Han was about to argue again, Yu Hang caught his sleeve and signaled for him to calm down. Then Yu Hang gave a slight bow. "Please respect the choices we have made, all right?"

When it came to handling this sort of thing, Yu Hang was much smarter than Ming Han. Sometimes Ming Han could not control his temper, and once he got angry, he did not care who was standing in front of him.

The two of them really were, at times, perfectly suited to one another.