Chapter 117 - 116: Tsinghua! I Choose You

Chapter 117: Chapter 116: Tsinghua! I Choose You

Around 10:30, Ji Wanqiu came home with Xiao Man, bringing a medium-sized watermelon that was just about right for the four of them to finish.

Since the two of them had just gotten up to no good, they were too embarrassed to stay in the bedroom and were now sitting on the living room sofa, watching TV.

"Brother Jiang Xia, I bought you some ice cream," Xiao Man said earnestly, sucking on her fingers.

"So, where’s my ice cream?"

"I was worried it would melt too fast, so I did you a favor and ate it for you. It was really yummy!"

"...Well, thanks for that," Jiang Xia said, his face twitching in exasperation. Xiao Man was so adorable and mischievous; it was impossible to get angry at her.

"Big Sis, I bought you ice cream too~"

Lin Yanwan looked at her little sister’s empty hands. "So, you were also worried it would melt too fast and did me the favor of eating it for me, is that it?"

"Nope! Mom said eating too much ice cream would give me a tummy ache, so she graciously ate it for you. She said she’ll buy you another one next time."

"..."

They exchanged a look of resignation. As expected of mother and daughter. They certainly had a unique way of "helping."

Later, Lin Xiaoman secretly found her sister and asked mysteriously, "Big Sis, while you were in your own little world, did you and Brother-in-law have fun?"

Lin Yanwan pouted. ’Happy?’

’That guy certainly seemed to enjoy himself. I’ve never seen him produce so much.’

"Your final exams are coming up. Have you finished all your review? Little kids shouldn’t meddle in adult affairs. Otherwise, I’ll have Teacher Xia give you a ton of extra summer homework!" she threatened, raising her fist.

"Boo hoo hoo! Big Sis, please don’t! Xiao Man was wrong! I’ll do everything I can to help you and Brother-in-law get together, QAQ!"

"? You said it!" Lin Yanwan solemnly extended her little finger. "Pinky swear..."

"...for a hundred years, no take-backs!"

◇

For lunch, her mother-in-law made a delicious stir-fried pork, but Xiao Man found it too spicy and ate a lot of mild egg custard instead.

"I need to go check on the factory this afternoon. Can you two look after Xiao Man for me?" Ji Wanqiu asked, looking up at them.

Jiang Xia spooned some egg custard onto Xiao Man’s rice. "Aunt Ji, just go take care of your business. I’ll look after Xiao Man, so don’t you worry."

"Make sure Xiao Man gets an afternoon nap. It’s hot outside, so don’t let her run around. She could get heatstroke."

"Okay, we won’t go anywhere. We’ll just stay home."

Hearing him say that, Ji Wanqiu felt relieved. This prospective son-in-law of hers was looking better and better every day.

After lunch, his mother-in-law left with a parasol, while Jiang Xia tied on an apron and cleaned up the kitchen.

Xiao Man watched TV on the sofa for a bit, then obediently went to her room for an afternoon nap, hugging the stuffed doll Jiang Xia had bought for her.

In the afternoon, while Jiang Xia was stressing over his college choices, he got a message from Wang Ming.

[L0rd_WhatCanUDo]: Old Jiang, what schools are you and the missus applying to?

[Qingfeng Fuyue]: Haven’t decided. We’re not really happy with the options.

[L0rd_WhatCanUDo]: With scores as high as you two have, shouldn’t you be able to pick any university you want with your eyes closed?

[Qingfeng Fuyue]: Alright, you pick one for us then. The requirements are: a good art program, a good humanities program, and it has to be in an economically developed area.

[L0rd_WhatCanUDo]: Tsinghua, duh! You’re an art student, so you go to Qingmei, and your girl can enroll in Tsinghua’s School of Humanities. You’d both be at the same university, see each other every day, no long-distance. Wouldn’t that be perfect?

[Qingfeng Fuyue]: Her score isn’t high enough for the cutoff for Tsinghua’s School of Humanities.

[L0rd_WhatCanUDo]: Tsinghua_University_Admission_Scores.jpg

[L0rd_WhatCanUDo]: See for yourself. Her total score is two points *above* the line, and she’s ranked 13th in the city. That’s a guaranteed spot, right? Then you two will be at Tsinghua, I’ll be at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and I can come hang out with you guys whenever I want. It’s absolutely perfect.

[Qingfeng Fuyue]: Holy shit?! When did this get posted! I’m going to check the university’s official website right now!

Staring at the latest announcement on Tsinghua’s official website, Jiang Xia’s eyes widened. He had been looking at the application guide booklet that morning, and all the scores in it were from last year’s cutoff lines. He never expected them to have dropped this year!

In that case, they didn’t need to agonize over the decision anymore. They could just put down Tsinghua and be done with it. This was the best possible outcome!

"Wifey! Wifey! Quick, come look at this!" Jiang Xia yelled from the bedroom.

Hearing the shouting, his little sister-in-law, who was sleeping in the next room, suddenly opened her eyes. She pulled the light comforter over her head and giggled. ’Big Sis and Brother-in-law really get along so well.’

"Don’t call me that! Stop calling me that! It’s too intimate. What are you up to? Are you asking for a beating?!" Lin Yanwan said, flustered and annoyed, as she walked in with a plate of watermelon and promptly stuffed a piece in his mouth to shut him up.

’If her mom had been home, she would have thrown her own "unladylike" daughter out on the street.’

"Hehehe, I won’t say anything. Just look at the computer and you’ll see," Jiang Xia said, biting into the watermelon. It tasted especially sweet.

Dubiously, Lin Yanwan put the plate down and walked over to the computer. She stared at the screen, stunned. Turning to look at Jiang Xia, she asked in disbelief, "I... I made the cutoff for Tsinghua?"

"Haha, that’s right! We can go to the nation’s top university together!" He nodded emphatically, in an absolutely fantastic mood.

"This seems a little different from what I remember," she said in a daze.

"Baby, don’t forget, this is a parallel world. A few small differences are normal. Think about it—even the top scorer from our past life was replaced by someone else, right?"

"That’s true."

Lin Yanwan took a deep breath, trying to calm her excitement. Getting into her dream university was thrilling, but what mattered most was that she could be with him.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t matter if Harvard itself called to offer her a spot right now.

"So, should we fill out our applications now?"

Jiang Xia grinned. "Right now! No hesitation!"

She carefully checked the admission score cutoffs one last time before logging into the national college application service platform. She entered their ID numbers and student ID numbers, then filled everything in, one by one: institution code, institution name, major code, major name.

Jiang Xia’s major was animation, and Lin Yanwan, just like in her past life, chose business administration.

’Her reasoning was simple. As the wife of the boss of Qitian Animation Company, she knew the boss himself was just a damn artist. What the hell would he know about running a company? When the time came, wouldn’t it be up to her to manage things?’

"Didn’t you use to say that business administration was a useless major?" Jiang Xia couldn’t help but laugh.

"How can a normal university’s program compare to one at Tsinghua? Besides," Lin Yanwan huffed, "you never gave me a chance to show off my talents in our last life."

"I’ll make it up to you in this life. I’ll be waiting for you to lead our company to new heights."

Jiang Xia pulled her into his arms and gently nuzzled her cheek. "Baby, what about music? Do you still want to pursue it professionally?"

"We’ll see. I may not have been professionally trained, but I’ve been studying it for years. I’m confident I’m just as good as any of those students from music academies. If nothing else, I can definitely handle little things like composing a tune or doing some voice work for you."

As she spoke, she gave his ear—which was starting to get restless again—a little pinch to prove her point.