Chapter 38: Unfair Treatment

Unlike most people, waking up is the most enjoyable moment of the day for Su Ziceng, particularly last night, when Pello’s unintended remark reminded her of a future she had forgotten. The unpredictable future, where the fortune teller initially claimed she wouldn’t live past thirty-five—did it also mean he could be right again, predicting twenty-five as her end? The lifespan shortened by ten years did not equate to a complete seventeen years from Red Love, but rather a truncated seven. Staring at the white ceiling, with the bedside lamp that stayed on all night, Su Ziceng listened to the soft sound of Yan Wuxu opening the door and entering, while the wall clock pointed at half-past seven—in the early morning, she had apparently already gone out and returned. After a while, Yan Wuxu called out beside her bed several times before Su Ziceng turned over and got up, only to see a bowl of porridge and a few buns placed on the small table. "I bought them from Daoquan University." Yan Wuxu was still dressed in the uniform, with slightly messy bangs revealing a fair forehead. Su Ziceng knew she bought porridge again, probably because last night’s "porridge incident" led Yan Wuxu to mistakenly think she had a special fondness for porridge. Nevertheless, she verbally expressed her thanks—she asked Qiu Zhi to deliver breakfast in return for her kindness. Surely, Daoquan University’s breakfast must taste better than Kelly Women’s College’s. Although they missed the opening ceremony, thanks to Zhang Yanwuxu’s diligently translated map of Kelly, Su Ziceng and Yan Wuxu managed to make it to the academic buildings before the bell rang. After four years of getting used to the modern academic buildings and spacious classrooms at Daoquan University, Su Ziceng had some complaints about the two academic buildings of Kelly Women’s College that she was now seeing. Kelly Women’s College had only two academic buildings used for students’ daily theoretical learning. Besides these, all practical courses were conducted outdoors. In terms of overall area, the green space of Kelly Women’s College far exceeded that of its buildings. This information was explained by Miss Lin, the class advisor for Su Ziceng and Yan Wuxu. Each of the two academic buildings had four floors, which were spacious enough for both new and old students at Kelly. Including Su Ziceng, there were only fifty new students that year, making up just one class, which meant that Su Ziceng and Yan Wuxu were in the same class; unfortunately, Wen Maixue was also in this class. The all-mahogany desks and doors and windows built in imitation of the Victorian Era, coupled with the stone fireplace that would be lit only in winter, left Kelly Women’s College’s classrooms with not many modern facilities, only a small sliding whiteboard. There was no sign of chalk and no roll call book on the teacher’s desk; instead, there stood a teacher’s thermal mug and a pot of Persian chrysanthemums wet with morning dew. Fifty people in one class did not necessitate a roll call book. Looking at the eight-thousand-dollar tuition noted on the fee statement, Su Ziceng wondered how Kelly Women’s School could possibly sustain its daily expenses with such an enrollment size; yet, since its establishment, Kelly has remained firmly standing. Su Ziceng thought of the twenty-five thousand annual tuition at Daoquan University and figured that in the next four years, she must find out why it had been "lagging" behind Chang Chi. Now that she’s adjusted herself to match Chang Chi, she should be able to hold her head high with pride. The class advisor, Miss Lin, was a British woman in her early forties who spoke decent Chinese, occasionally dropping words with a London accent. She had a serious face but was a meticulous thinker. Considering some students missed the opening ceremony, she briefly reiterated the details succinctly. After a brief introduction of the class and the students, she distributed course selection sheets to each student to choose their courses for the first academic year. Line after line of indecipherable script made Su Ziceng’s head begin to swell. She simply stopped trying and waited, for at any school, there would be a diligent and studious good student by her side. Yan Wuxu had already taken out a pocket-sized French dictionary, quickly cross-referencing entries. One was buried in arduous translation while the other twirled her pen, aimlessly looking around the room. Tired from gazing at the scenery, Su Ziceng glanced at the timetable. Kelly’s timetable was designed as a multi-petaled rose. The schedule for freshmen was cut out in the shape of a white rose, the second year a yellow rose, the third a pink rose, and the fourth a red rose. Su Ziceng looked at the multi-petaled white rose in her hand, then glanced at Yan Wuxu’s similarly sized rose timetable, hesitating over which classes to select, when Wen Maixue stood up and submitted her rose-shaped schedule. While Miss Lin was busy instructing a student on how to fill out the schedule, Su Ziceng quickly snuck up to the lecturer’s desk, wanting to check out the intelligent Wen Maixue’s courses. Without looking, it would not have mattered, but upon seeing, she immediately cried out, "That’s not fair; hers is a single-petaled schedule." Looking at the schedules that were roughly the same size, the ones handed out to Su Ziceng and Yan Wuxu were stacked, complicated multi-petaled roses, with over twenty courses to choose from, whereas Wen Maixue’s schedule consisted of just five petals making up a single rose layer, meaning she only had to pick five courses. In the classroom, aside from Yan Wuxu, who had stopped writing, and Su Ziceng, who remained glued to the side of the lecturer’s desk, the other six students were simply ticking off courses they wished to take, with several girls in the front row showing difficulty in their faces. "What do you think? Should I choose early or late? I’m so jealous of those two, getting to choose from so many classes; they’ll meet Teacher Pello so much more often." "What’s there to be jealous of? Do you also want to be kept after school?" As the sound of pen scratching on paper resumed, Miss Lin finished explaining and looked at the two who dared not write carelessly and still holding that single-petaled rose. Su Ziceng: "Both of you, stay after class." Yan Wuxu felt somewhat wronged. She had always been a hardworking student, and the map of Kelly was the best proof. It took her two days, but she had managed to make sense of the French labels and the confusing campus layout. Unexpectedly, on the very first day of classes, she was punished to stay after school. Su Ziceng was very dissatisfied. She had studied at Daoquan for four years and had never once been ordered to stay after class. Wen Maixue was the first to stand up, giving a courtesy bow to Miss Lin before walking out of the classroom without looking back, followed by the several girls who had spoken earlier, giggling and trailing behind her. Apart from the wood grain, the mahogany desk bore not a single unnecessary scratch. "Kelly Women’s College has always maintained strict academic standards. As underachieving students, you both need to put in double the effort to catch up." Miss Lin’s tone carried a hint of frustration, as if to hammer into shape stubborn iron. Su Ziceng and Yan Wuxu exchanged a glance. "The school stipulates that French is a compulsory subject, and you both must pass the school’s French test within a month." After Miss Lin spoke, there was an additional scratch on the mahogany desk—the tip of Su Ziceng’s fountain pen had pierced through the desk surface. In Kelly Women’s College, students like Yan Wuxu were not common, and even rarer were students like Su Ziceng—perhaps only one or two in a hundred years.