Chapter 22: The Contract
After Li Xuelian finished explaining Zhang Yu’s situation, a light laugh came from the other end of the line.
“He is indeed impressive, but there’s no need to take him on.”
Li Xuelian asked in confusion, “Why not?”
True Person Starfire burst into laughter, his voice filled with delight.
“I’ve already found a true genius.”
“Also a first-year, and it only took him half an hour to master the Heavenly Martial Heart-Tempering Art.”
“And he isn’t bound by any contracts.”
At this, True Person Starfire couldn’t help but laugh heartily again.
Li Xuelian said in surprise, “A prodigy like that actually exists?”
True Person Starfire chuckled. “I’ve told you before, the first layer of Kunxu has never been short on geniuses, only on people to invest in them.”
“Think of the top scorers in each subject of the annual college entrance exams, not to mention the overall champion; you know how astonishingly brilliant those individuals are.”
“But geniuses of that caliber appear by the handful every year on Kunxu’s first layer, along with a whole crowd not far behind them, cropping up year after year like an endless field of chives.”
“There are simply too many geniuses out there. In the past, I just never found them, always getting beaten to the punch by others, but now, I’ve finally managed to be one step ahead.”
Li Xuelian glanced in Zhang Yu’s direction with a hint of regret and asked, “Shouldn’t we sign this Zhang Yu as well?”
True Person Starfire replied, “Forget it. From now on, our family’s resources will be invested in the true genius; let’s not divide our focus.”
In the conference room adjacent to the art exhibition.
Li Xuelian looked at Zhang Yu with a deeply apologetic expression.
“I’m sorry, my fellow student, but my father has other urgent matters to attend to and will likely be unable to take you as his disciple for the time being.”
She continued with utmost sincerity, “However, you can use the Heavenly Martial Heart-Tempering Art freely from now on. I’ll personally grant you the rights to its use.”
Li Xuelian’s eyes were filled with admiration as she looked at him.
“Finally, I would like to give you ten thousand yuan as a personal gift.”
“Don’t be so quick to refuse; this gift stems purely from my admiration for your talent.”
“I hope that by the next time we meet, you will have been accepted into a prestigious university.”
“Oh, and one more thing. Regarding the videos you recorded, they involve the distribution rights for the Heavenly Martial Heart-Tempering Art, so I’ll need you to delete them…”
A moment later, as she watched Zhang Yu’s departing figure, the smile on Li Xuelian’s face slowly faded.
Even though True Person Starfire didn’t intend to take him as a disciple, Li Xuelian had no intention of making an enemy of such a talented young man.
After all, granting the usage rights to the Heavenly Martial Heart-Tempering Art and giving away ten thousand yuan were trivial matters for her.
She couldn’t even remember how many times she had made similar small gestures to gifted youngsters.
The vast majority of them, however, ultimately faded into mediocrity and were long forgotten.
After settling this matter, Li Xuelian met with a few more important guests before eagerly seeking out her father.
She was incredibly curious about the peerless genius True Person Starfire had mentioned.
Meanwhile, at the art exhibition which had not yet formally concluded.
Bai Zhenzhen watched Zhang Yu emerge from the conference room and asked, “How did it go? Did you turn down True Person Starfire? Li Xuelian didn’t give you a hard time, did she?”
Zhang Yu, recalling Li Xuelian’s admiring expression, shook his head.
“She didn’t give me a hard time at all.”
“Before I could even say a word, she rejected me first, saying True Person Starfire had other urgent business…”
“She did give me an extra 10,000 yuan at the end, though.”
Hearing this, Bai Zhenzhen pursed her lips.
“A standard excuse.”
“Maybe she looked into your background and found you weren’t so great after all.”
“Like your monthly exam scores are terrible, you have no sterilization record, your muscle development is poor, and you’re drowning in debt…”
Zhang Yu pursed his lips as he listened to her.
“Zhen, you lost and you’re still not over it, so now you’re resorting to personal attacks?”
Seeing Zhang Yu’s smug expression, Bai Zhenzhen couldn’t resist grabbing his shoulder and demanding, “Are you going to tell me what kind of cheat you’re using or not?”
“Tell me, did you borrow money to bribe the staff so you could study the Heavenly Martial Scroll beforehand?”
Zhang Yu chuckled at the sight of Bai Zhenzhen’s face, contorted with jealousy.
Keep it up, Zhen. Watching the pathetic displays of you weaklings after your defeat is my new favorite pastime.
As the two were talking, Qian Shen approached from a short distance away.
He looked at Zhang Yu with a grave expression and asked, “Do you intentionally do poorly on your exams?”
The trial of the Celestial Paragon’s Martial Demonstration Scroll had prepared Qian Shen to face other high-scorers.
But for a low-scorer to outperform him was something he found utterly shocking.
Seeing Zhang Yu shake his head in denial, Qian Shen said resentfully, “Impossible. If you weren’t throwing your exams, why is there such a mismatch between your talent and your scores?”
“Hmm?” Zhang Yu thought for a moment before replying, “Exams can’t possibly reveal a person’s full potential…”
But Qian Shen cut him off, exclaiming agitatedly, “Impossible!”
“The college entrance exam and the six major high school subjects were established by the Ten Great Sects as a system specifically for evaluating students. It has been verified and adjusted by countless experts and powerful individuals, making it the most optimal, scientific, and Immortal Dao-aligned system for assessing a person!”
“Every subject, every single point, perfectly reflects the comprehensive differences between individuals, including bloodline superiority, regional backwardness, and evolutionary incompletion…”
Looking at Qian Shen’s incredibly earnest expression, Zhang Yu realized he had misjudged the guy.
This guy isn’t just a simple score snob. He’s evolved from score discrimination to bloodline, regional, and even racial discrimination. He’s become a believer in a score-based caste system.
In essence, according to Qian Shen, high scores meant you were amazing, an elite, someone entitled to feel superior and confident, while low scores meant you were worthless trash.
This was the worldview he had built over many years, the very source of his confidence as a top student, and arguably the unspoken rule in all key high schools.
“Hmph. If you won’t admit it, fine.”
“But I will report what happened here to the school. I expect you to show your true abilities on the next monthly exam and not score an evolutionarily incomplete 550 again.”
Watching Qian Shen walk away, Zhang Yu felt as if he had just been insulted, yet at the same time, not.
Bai Zhenzhen, however, nodded thoughtfully.
“Amidst all that nonsense, there was one thing you should actually pay attention to.”
“The school will definitely find out what happened here, and when they do, they’ll probably approach you with a contract.”
“A contract?” Zhang Yu looked at Zhen curiously. He had heard vague mentions of this before, but the details had always been hazy.
Bai Zhenzhen explained, “You know, not everyone in high school is as wealthy as Qian Shen’s family.”
“For many talented students who are poor but have good grades, they need investors.”
“The school itself is one such investor.”
“Typically, at the beginning of the second year, the school selects a group of outstanding students based on their first-year performance and grades, then signs contracts and invests in them.”
“Of course, for a small number of exceptionally brilliant students, the school will approach them during their first year to prevent others from signing them first.”
At this, Bai Zhenzhen puffed out her chest.
“Like me, for example.”
Zhang Yu asked, “How come you never told me about this?”
Bai Zhenzhen shot him a look, as if to say, Have you forgotten what a sorry state you used to be in?
Bai Zhenzhen continued, “Given your performance here, the school will definitely approach you about a contract. As for whether you should sign it…”
Seeing the conflicted look on her face, Zhang Yu asked, “Is it that difficult of a choice?”
Bai Zhenzhen sighed. “It’s not necessarily difficult. The choice is actually quite clear depending on your personal situation.”
“The hard part is knowing whether your perception of yourself is accurate.”
She looked at Zhang Yu seriously and asked, “For instance, what cheat did you use to comprehend the Celestial Paragon’s Martial Demonstration Scroll this time?”
But halfway through her sentence, she waved her hand. “Never mind. We’re close, so we don’t ask about each other’s secrets. You don’t have to tell me.”
“In any case, if you’re absolutely confident you can get into one of the ten top-tier universities, then don’t sign this contract.”
“On the other hand, if you aren’t sure you can make it into the Ten Greats and would be happy with a regular university, then you should sign the contract as long as the terms aren’t too exploitative.”
Zhang Yu grew thoughtful upon hearing this and asked a few more questions about the school and the contract details.
After they had been talking for a little while, someone else approached Zhang Yu—a charming young woman.
“Hi there. You were really cool earlier. Can I get your contact info?”
Similar things had happened several times since he comprehended the Celestial Paragon’s Martial Demonstration Scroll. Even Lian Tianji from Purple Cloud High School had asked for his contact details.
Zhang Yu was gradually getting used to it. He sighed internally and added her contact.
Heh, even beautiful girls are approaching me now?
Zhang Yu asked, “Which school are you from?”
“I’m Wu Qingqing, from the honors class at the Saintess Academy.”
Zhang Yu’s expression instantly froze. In the world of Kunxu, someone who looked like a man wasn’t necessarily one, but a student from the honors class of an all-girls academy… had to have been a man previously.
Wu Qingqing seemed to notice the change in his expression and smiled faintly.
“Oh? You’re quite old-fashioned, aren’t you? Do you think our class is just full of people who gamed the system to get into an key high school, but whose actual scores are a complete mess?”
“Let me tell you, the top students in my class are no worse than you, as you’ll see in the next city-wide exam.”
Zhang Yu speechlessly watched her walk away.
No, that’s not what I was thinking about at all.
Kunxu… in this blasted place, even transgender people are judged first and foremost by their scores.
“Congratulations,” Zhou Tianyi said, walking over from the side. “Did you sign a contract with the Golden Core True Person?”
Zhang Yu looked at Zhou Tianyi and suddenly recalled that he had barely noticed him in front of the Celestial Paragon’s Martial Demonstration Scroll earlier.
For the remainder of his shift, Zhang Yu continued to act as security, exchanging a few words with guests, both familiar and unfamiliar.
By the time his security work for the day was done, his savings had grown by 1,600 and 10,000 yuan, soaring to a total of 13,300.
After paying off the remaining 5,000 on his loan for the month, his balance dropped to 8,300, and Zhang Yu could finally stop worrying about collections for a while.