Chapter 114 - 113: I’ll Sit You to Death

Chapter 114: Chapter 113: I’ll Sit You to Death

After finishing her noodles, Lin Xiaoman took her language arts book and sat on the balcony, reading aloud.

After Ji Wanqiu finished cleaning the kitchen, Jiang Xia handed her a glass of water. They both stood in the living room, looking at Xiao Man.

"Xiao Man has her final exams in two days. My mom said her grades are usually great, she has a solid grasp of the material, and she basically gets a perfect 100 on every test. The finals shouldn’t be too hard for her."

"That’s because Teacher Xia is a great teacher." Ji Wanqiu chuckled. "I also hope Xiao Man does well on her very first final exam."

"Xiao Man is smart. She picks things up faster than others and isn’t careless. Don’t worry, Aunt Ji, she’ll definitely bring home first place in her grade for you," Jiang Xia said.

After all, the Xiao Man from his past life had been a straight-A student from childhood, the classic "perfect kid next door," who had won so many awards she could hardly hold them all.

"Xiao Man is indeed very mature and rarely gives anyone cause for worry. The two sisters just have a large age gap, but their personalities are cut from the same cloth."

Ji Wanqiu turned to look at Jiang Xia, her eyes filled with sincere gratitude. "Lately, Yanwan’s father and I have both been busy with work. Xiao Xia, thank you for picking up Xiao Man from school so often."

"Aunt Ji, I really do see Xiao Man as my own little sister," Jiang Xia said with a smile.

’More like a future sister-in-law than just a little sister, right?’

Ji Wanqiu thought to herself.

"Alright, don’t you and Yanwan still need to discuss how to fill out your college applications? Go on and take care of that. I’ll watch Xiao Man."

She pressed her lips together and continued, "I just hope that before you two make a decision, you think it through very carefully. Your personal futures are not something to be careless about. A good university offers a higher quality of teaching, a more intense academic atmosphere, and access to circles that ordinary people can’t reach. It’s not like a couple has to be together every single moment during their dating phase. Giving each other some space might actually be better."

Of course, Jiang Xia understood this logic. Couples who are together constantly can easily get tired of each other. It’s best to have a good balance of closeness and distance in a relationship for it to last.

But he and Lin Yanwan weren’t just a couple; they were husband and wife. They had already passed the so-called "adjustment period" in their past life.

Jiang Xia nodded slowly, a bright smile on his face. "Yes, Aunt Ji, please don’t worry. I’m not the type to only care about short-term gains. Life is long. If you’re short-sighted and only focus on immediate pros and cons, you’ll pay for it dearly later on."

"Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease."

Ji Wanqiu let out a soft breath. ’For his grades to improve at rocket speed while he’s in a relationship... if it weren’t for his great wisdom and immense willpower, an ordinary person could never pull that off.’

’Many people get good grades from a young age but end up failing in life.’

’Jiang Xia, on the other hand, is outstanding in every aspect and has high emotional intelligence. In a way, he already has the foundation for success. The moment he seizes an opportunity, he could soar.’

’For Yanwan to be with him... maybe, out of 1.3 billion people, he is the one and only solution.’

Ji Wanqiu walked over to the balcony and patted her younger daughter’s head. "Xiao Man, have you memorized the lesson? Let Mommy test you. How does ’Ode to the Goose’ go?"

◇

The toilet flushed. When Lin Yanwan came out of the bathroom, Ji Wanqiu raised a hand and pointed, indicating that Jiang Xia was in her room.

She pushed the door open and went in, seeing Jiang Xia looking up official university websites. But it seemed they didn’t meet their requirements, as he just glanced at them briefly before closing the pages.

Jiang Xia pulled her onto his lap, wrapped an arm around her slim waist, and asked, "Babe, we agreed we wouldn’t separate, right?"

"What do you think?" Lin Yanwan looked at him with a half-smile. If this guy dared to say a single word to the contrary, she would sit on his face right now and suffocate him.

If Jiang Xia knew what she was thinking right now, he would have said anything, even lied, just to experience being suffocated to death by his wife’s butt.

"I was just looking. There aren’t many top-tier universities that both of us can get into. We have to pass on all the pure art universities, which only leaves comprehensive universities with strong art programs."

Lin Yanwan frowned slightly. This meant that Jiang Xia would have to be the one to compromise for her. But since he was making a career in animation, of course it would be better for him to have access to stronger art resources.

"Like what, for example?" she asked.

Jiang Xia slowly typed the names of two universities into the search bar.

"Tsinghua School of Fine Arts and Tsinghua University?"

In his past life, because of various scandals involving "slanted eyes" and "high-fashion faces," Qingmei’s online reputation was terrible, to say the least. But even so, it couldn’t hide the fact that Qingmei was a top-tier art academy.

"Right. Qingmei is a school within Tsinghua, and they’re on the same campus. Although Qingmei’s academic score requirement is probably higher than the National Art Museum’s and the Central Academy of Fine Arts’, I was lucky enough to just meet it. But Tsinghua’s cutoff score for humanities seems a little higher than your score. We can only say there’s a chance," Jiang Xia said.

But Lin Yanwan just shook her head. "No chance. I remember very clearly how I fell short on the exam that year. In ’09, Tsinghua didn’t admit many humanities students from Yu, and my rank in humanities was 13th."

Jiang Xia pressed his lips together. "There’s also Peking University. Your score is good enough for Peking University, no problem."

"And what about you?"

He hesitated for two seconds before answering honestly, "Peking University’s art school is definitely a lot weaker compared to the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the National Art Museum, Qingmei, and others. But don’t worry about me. That difference doesn’t matter to me."

"I’m not going," Lin Yanwan said without hesitation.

"Really not going? This is Peking University we’re talking about, on par with Tsinghua!"

"I’m not going."

Jiang Xia’s face twitched slightly. He knew Lin Yanwan was thinking of him, but if they both kept deferring to each other like this, they probably wouldn’t be able to pick any school.

"Let’s not rush the decision. We can just keep the ones we disagree on as options for now, okay?"

After a slight hesitation, Lin Yanwan nodded. "Okay."

Jiang Xia drew a circle around Peking University on his list, then continued, "The third option is Tongji University in Shanghai. Although the school’s national ranking isn’t at the very top, the good thing is its animation and design programs are world-class. And as for the humanities cutoff score, you can just make it."

"What do you think?" Lin Yanwan looked at Jiang Xia. His opinion was very important.

"Actually, there’s also Shangda, Chongqing University, Nanda, and others. But compared to Peking University and Tongji, they’re still a notch below. And if we’re talking about development potential, I even think Tongji is the best," Jiang Xia said.

After the global financial crisis, Shanghai rode the tailwinds of the country’s Olympic Games and developed with exceptional speed. Especially after the information age officially entered the 4G era, countless new internet companies took root and grew in Shanghai.

If Jiang Xia wanted to make Qitian Animation famous worldwide, he truly felt that Shanghai was a better choice than the Imperial Capital. The Imperial Capital is the nation’s political center, while Shanghai is its economic center, and all he wanted to do was make money.

Therefore, there was no better place than Shanghai to start a company.

...

(This Chapter took a bit of time to research. I was almost entirely looking up the situation for various universities in 2009. Good night.)