Chapter 67 No, This Calls for a Beating

“Then do you like this gift?” Chen Huihong asked with a smile.

Qin Huai nodded very honestly. “I like it.”

Of course he liked it. Shuanghai High School’s annual tuition was 600,000 yuan. This “gift” from Chen Huihong was essentially equivalent to handing him a 1.8 million yuan check that had to be spent in a designated way.

Not to mention the follow-up “after-sales service” of sponsorship for studying abroad. Qin Huai decided that over the next three years, he would properly supervise Qin Luo’s studies and strive for her to go abroad to study at a high cost—earning a substantial return in the process.

This was probably the closest Qin Luo would ever come in her life to the idea that “within books there is a golden house.”

“I’m curious—will this gift directly appear on your game interface?” Chen Huihong asked.

Hearing that, Qin Huai became curious as well and opened his system panel to check.

Name: Chen Huihong
Species: Bai
Status: Awakened
Dreams: 3/3
Recipes: Tree bark, fermented rice buns, locust flower buns, longevity noodles (click for details)

Gift: Shuanghai High School specialty student recommendation quota ×1

It really appeared!

The game system had personally verified it—authentic and reliable.

“Yes,” Qin Huai nodded firmly. “I’ll come up with a reason and tell my parents later. Luo Luo should be able to enroll when school starts.”

“Sister Hong, are there any special considerations for attending an international high school?” Qin Huai asked sincerely.

He truly didn’t know—given the Qin family’s financial situation, no one at home could afford such an expensive school.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Huihong offered a sincere suggestion: “Don’t go study in Germany.”

Their conversation basically came to an end.

Qin Huai still had to go back and make pastries. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and stopped.

“Sister Hong, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask you.”

“Didn’t I tell you I have a system? All the memories I’ve obtained come from completing side quests or main quests. To be honest, I still have a side quest related to Grandpa Luo. Can I infer from that that he’s also a spirit?”

After hearing this, Chen Huihong thought carefully for a moment, then shook her head decisively. “I don’t know.”

Qin Huai: …Seriously? Why do you plant spirits know nothing?

“Even though I’ve awakened now, that doesn’t change the fact that I’m currently human. In my first life, I could only recognize other beings undergoing their first life trials. Now that I’m in my final life, it’s even harder to tell,” she explained.

“Of course, it’s also possible that our identification ability is just relatively weak. Stronger beings in their first life might be able to recognize me at a glance.”

“Oh, right, I’ve also heard a saying,” Chen Huihong added. “At the final stage of our trials, spirits will instinctively attract one another and eventually encounter each other.”

“I never really believed that. In my first life, I spent seven years in the human world and only recognized one fellow spirit. The chance of meeting others seems very low.”

“But since I’ve awakened, maybe that saying does have some truth. Perhaps there are many of my kind around me, but I simply can’t recognize them.”

Qin Huai made a reasonable deduction: his game illustrated 1/12—which meant there were still 11 left…

There were quite a lot of spirits around here.

The ecology of the Classic of Mountains and Seas was surprisingly thriving.

“So Grandpa Luo…” Qin Huai suspected that Luo Jun was most likely one of them.

“I can help you test him,” Chen Huihong said. “Isn’t he coming to the cafeteria tomorrow to drink tangerine peel tea? I’ll find a chance to probe him. After all, I have a decent relationship with him.”

“That works. I’ll leave it to you,” Qin Huai said. “I still haven’t finished making pastries, so I’ll head back down to the kitchen.”

Chen Huihong nodded and reminded him, “Don’t forget to make fermented rice buns this afternoon. I promised my brother I’d bring two bags back. Also, for tonight’s chicken soup noodles, just make regular noodles. Huihui’s birthday is June 28 and already passed—let’s wait until next year’s birthday before giving her longevity noodles.”

“Alright,” Qin Huai agreed.

To him, regular chicken noodles and longevity noodles made no difference anyway—he couldn’t produce any buffs regardless. Whatever he practiced was still practice.

Qin Huai went downstairs, while Chen Huihong watched him leave from the second floor.

When he returned to the kitchen, Qin Congwen was still chopping meat filling.

“Dad, it’s already past 11—why haven’t you gone home to sleep?” Qin Huai asked in surprise.

Yawning as he chopped meat and rubbing his eyes, Qin Congwen replied, “It’s all because of Luo Luo’s high school. The school’s admissions office just called your mom and said Luo Luo’s exam scores were too low and we’d have to pay more. Your mom wasn’t happy and argued with them on the phone.”

“I’ll wait for your mom here and chop meat while I’m at it. Huaihuai, I’ve placed the ingredients for sesame cakes over there for you.”

Qin Huai walked over, retrieved the materials, and began kneading the dough. “I actually have good news about Luo Luo’s high school—”

Before he could finish, Zhao Rong stormed into the kitchen angrily.

“What kind of thing is that? Does he think his school is that great? Would they even accept our Luo Luo if it were a good school? Our Luo Luo only passed two subjects in the entrance exam! And they’re saying she has to pay more—that’s not ‘a little more’! The tuition is 60,000 a year, and they doubled it! Absolutely outrageous!”

“Luo Luo! Qin Luo! How did you even take your exams? You couldn’t even pass one more subject? You failed Chinese too?!”

Amid Zhao Rong’s roar, Qin Huai knew a storm had erupted.

If he didn’t say something now, Qin Luo was definitely going to get a beating.

Although her exam results did deserve a punishment, it was admittedly a bit late.

“Mom, it’s fine. We don’t have to go to that school. I’ve got a better one here,” Qin Huai said loudly, explaining the news—that Chen Huihong’s brother had donated a large sum to Shuanghai High School, creating an extra specialty student quota that now belonged to their family.

This “pie falling from the sky” stunned Zhao Rong.

She even stopped being angry about Qin Luo failing Chinese.

“Why would Chen Huihong’s brother donate money if he doesn’t even need that specialty quota?” Zhao Rong asked in confusion.

“Rich people are like that. Donating money improves their child’s school environment, and the quota just comes along as a bonus,” Qin Huai explained casually. “Think about it—her uncle even got scammed out of 200,000 before. It’s normal for him to donate to schools.”

Both Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen were instantly convinced.

“But… I remember that Shuang… something high school costs 600,000 a year. If our Luo Luo can attend for free with everything waived, doesn’t that mean we owe a huge favor?”

“Mom, don’t worry about that. Our cafeteria is here. Sister Hong and Huihui’s uncle both like our pastries. In the future, they can eat here freely for life. That way, we’ll repay the favor eventually.”

Zhao Rong was convinced again.

She looked at Qin Huai, her eyes turning red.

What a wonderful son—so considerate and thoughtful.

Then she thought about Qin Luo.

Zhao Rong took a deep breath.

No—this definitely calls for a beating.

How could she fail Chinese in the entrance exam too?!