Direct recommendation to Clearwater University's Department of Mathematics!
Hearing Old Man Liu say this, Mia Chen, who was working on a problem, suddenly froze, her pen stopping midair. She looked up, utterly shocked.
Victor Zhou, sitting next to her, also thought he must have misheard, his face blank with confusion.
All of them turned to look at Evan Lin, who was calmly sipping hot tea.
"My homeroom teacher already told me about this, but honestly, I might not go to Clearwater."
Evan Lin shook his head, a hint of apology in his eyes.
"Not going to Clearwater? Why?" Old Man Liu looked completely baffled.
Mia Chen couldn’t hold back either; she gripped her pen tightly, her eyes on Evan Lin filled with shock and doubt.
Clearwater University—countless students dream of getting in!
A university like that can change your whole life after graduation!
In Mia Chen’s eyes, Evan Lin’s family wasn’t well-off at all. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have worn the same few sets of clothes all through high school.
"He’s just showing off, right? Who wouldn’t want to go to Clearwater?" Victor Zhou muttered.
"Is it that you don’t want to major in mathematics? If that’s the case, I can talk to Professor Gordon Gu. With your talent in math, you could choose another department—like cloud computing or finance, anything that needs mathematical ability."
Old Man Liu’s eyes were full of regret.
Evan Lin wasn’t related to him at all, but Old Man Liu had spent his whole life teaching for one purpose: to help students use their grades to rise up and change their fate.
"Is it a problem with tuition? If that’s the issue, I’ll help you solve it!"
Old Man Liu thought of this possibility and spoke up right away.
"It’s not that. I just haven’t made up my mind yet—I still need to think about it."
Seeing Old Man Liu like this, Evan Lin couldn’t help but feel a little emotional.
Next to him, Mia Chen bit her lip hard, her eyes locked on Evan Lin the whole time.
This kid actually wants to turn down Clearwater!
Mia Chen’s heart was pounding. Seeing Old Man Liu earnestly trying to persuade Evan Lin to choose Clearwater, she was left completely shaken.
For the first time, Mia Chen realized she might not really know Evan Lin at all.
She wanted to chat with Evan Lin a bit more, to ask him some questions, but Old Man Liu was so caught up in the conversation, she didn’t get a chance to butt in.
"It’s good to think it over—really, it is. You young people should choose your own path. But Evan, no matter what, I truly hope you don’t give up your studies. If you ever have any financial trouble, you must tell me."
Hearing Evan Lin say that, Old Man Liu nodded again and again, not insisting that Evan had to go to Clearwater.
Evan Lin didn’t stay long at Old Man Liu’s place before he left.
When Evan Lin left, Mia Chen and Victor Zhou still hadn’t finished their problems.
Mia Chen looked up at the direction Evan Lin disappeared, her gaze complicated and hard to read.
It took Mia Chen two hours to finish the last three problems. By the time she was done and Old Man Liu had finished explaining them, it was already past ten at night when she left his place.
“Mengmeng, that old classmate of yours sure likes to brag. Back when he was in your class, how were his grades?” Victor Zhou asked, noticing Mia Chen was distracted while working on problems and listening to explanations. He grew more wary inside.
He was actually a bit worried that Mia Chen might really be interested in that guy.
In Victor Zhou’s mind, now that Liu Tianyu wasn’t in the picture, all he had to do was finish the college entrance exam and get into the same university as Mia Chen. Then, their relationship would naturally fall into place.
“He… used to be pretty bad. As for now, I’m not sure,” Mia Chen shook her head.
In the past, Mia Chen would’ve thought Evan Lin’s grades weren’t that great either. But Old Man Liu’s words—direct admission to Clearwater, personally recommended by Professor Gordon Gu for the Department of Mathematics—carried a lot of weight.
“So, is he pretty close with Mr. Liu?” Victor Zhou suddenly thought of something.
“I guess so. He won first prize in the math olympiad and gave the certificate to Mr. Liu. It’s only natural Mr. Liu started seeing him differently,” Mia Chen thought it over and nodded.
“Exactly!” Victor Zhou clapped his hands, looking smug. Seeing Mia Chen’s curious and puzzled look, he finally explained, “I bet Mr. Liu overheard what we were saying earlier.”
“Think about it. If he’s close with Mr. Liu, then of course Mr. Liu would side with him, right? What we said just now probably made him uncomfortable, and then Mr. Liu happened to hear it—so that’s why he came out and brought up the direct admission to Clearwater!”
Victor Zhou looked like he’d just discovered a whole new world, his face full of excitement.
As long as that guy’s grades weren’t as good as his, Victor Zhou could rest easy.
“You mean Mr. Liu is lying for him?” Mia Chen was stunned.
“Of course! I mean, come on, is there really anyone dumb enough to turn down direct admission to Clearwater?”
“I bet when Mr. Liu suddenly brought it up, he totally caught him off guard—that’s why he said he didn’t want it!”
Victor Zhou insisted, “His grades can’t be that great. At best, he’s good at math. Let’s say he gets a perfect score of 150 in math, he’d still need 500 in the other subjects to reach the 650 for the direct admission cutoff Mr. Liu mentioned. Do you really think he can pull that off?”
Victor Zhou’s words made Mia Chen start to waver inside.
She thought it over carefully and realized Victor Zhou’s argument did make some sense.
“Forget about him! Anyone who shows up bragging like that—claiming he’ll score around 700 on the Hundred-School Joint Exam without batting an eye—is just talking nonsense!” Victor Zhou snorted, spotting a barbecue stand. “Come on, let’s go grab some barbecue.”
Mia Chen was still thinking about Evan Lin, his calm face lingering in her mind. Compared to before, Evan seemed to have gotten a lot more handsome without her even noticing.
“No, it’s getting late. I need to start dieting.”
Mia Chen shook her head. “I just want to hurry home, shower, and sleep. My head hurts from all these problems today.”
“All right then.” Victor Zhou thought it over and agreed. Then, as if something occurred to him, he added, “Oh right, in a few days, how about we go hike at Three Thousand Mountain?”
“I heard there’s something exciting happening there these days, a lot of people are going. Let’s go check it out too!”