ECG -Chapter 88 Directly Entering Graduate School

After the introductory section ended, the music began to grow bold starting from the middle register. The slow and solemn melody was filled with passion.

Then, Fan Gang, Li Bohai, and Zhou Wenyin seemed to sense a tremendous grief and indignation from the music. The melody gradually rose, and after repeatedly changing in the high register, it began to become light and lively.

That cheerful, bouncing sound seemed to portray people singing and dancing. It was a passionate and joyful scene.

Immediately afterward, the tempo began to accelerate. The music went through variations, with the harmony of the tonic and dominant repeatedly alternating.

The speed became faster and faster, while the intensity grew stronger and stronger. The three of them seemed to see a wild and unrestrained dance scene appear before their eyes. The melody began to boil.

Suddenly, there was a sharp pause. Then the music started again, finally ending the entire piece in a burst of frenzy.

Lin Hao stood up and bowed to the three people who were staring at him in stunned silence.

“Teacher? Dean? Auntie?” Lin Hao felt something was strange. Could time have stopped? Why were these three people completely motionless?

Zhou Wenyin murmured, “Old Fan, you really picked up a treasure!”

Li Bohai turned his head to look at Fan Gang. “Old Fan, you didn’t lie to me. This kid really has been hiding his abilities all along! Right? ‘Keeping a low profile’ is the right phrase, isn’t it?”

Fan Gang nodded, but he didn’t answer Li Bohai. Instead, he looked at Lin Hao and asked, “Original?”

Lin Hao knew that this world didn’t have this piano piece. There was no way to explain it without plagiarizing, so he could only shamelessly nod.

Fan Gang slapped his forehead and turned to Li Bohai. “Bohai, hurry up and let him graduate from undergraduate school. His age is a precious thing! We can’t waste any more time. Let him go directly into graduate school!”

Li Bohai also nodded. Yes, someone at this level couldn’t be delayed like this.

He thought for a moment and said, “This year’s graduate entrance exam starts on December 23rd. There’s less than half a month left. Help him arrange things and make up whatever he needs. Then he can directly start graduate school in September next year!”

Lin Hao’s thoughts spun rapidly. He had originally planned to finish his undergraduate studies before taking the graduate entrance exam, but at this moment, he felt that what Li Bohai said made sense too. Age really was precious. He had too many things he wanted to do. If he finished undergraduate studies and then spent another two years in graduate school, he would already be twenty-five by the time he graduated.

If he could finish graduate school two years earlier, it actually didn’t sound bad.

The only regret was losing two years of university life.

Sigh! Once again, my plans have been disrupted!

Fan Gang shouted, “Brat, what are you thinking about?”

Lin Hao was startled and casually said it out loud. “I was thinking whether I should study or not…”

Fan Gang’s face immediately darkened. “Brat, do you think letting you graduate two years early is easy? Do you think the graduate entrance exam registration deadline has passed and helping you make up for it is simple? Do you think…”

Li Bohai chuckled and pushed him aside. “Stop it. Don’t scare the kid!”

“Kid? Only you people treat him like a kid?” Fan Gang curled his lips. This brat was smarter than a fox once you got to know him. A kid?

To let him graduate earlier, Fan Gang had gone through a lot of trouble. And this brat was actually still hesitating.

Lin Hao chuckled and quickly jogged over two steps. He bent down, grabbed Fan Gang’s arm, and said with a smile, “Teacher, you can’t really be angry, right? Isn’t this just happiness arriving too suddenly? I haven’t even processed it yet! Come, let me help you over to have a drink. I’ll toast you later and apologize properly!”

“You brat, that’s more like it!” Fan Gang laughed and cursed.

Looking at Fan Gang laughing and joking with Lin Hao at the dinner table, Zhou Wenyin couldn’t help sighing inwardly.

This Old Fan… After his divorce, Xiangjun took their daughter Xiaoqing abroad. In the blink of an eye, several years had already passed. No matter what, he refused to find someone else.

She had even introduced him to a few women, but in the end, he stood them all up.

This was the kind of life he was living. If he didn’t cook something tasty himself or if Old Li didn’t call him over, he would spend every day just making do with cafeteria food. When would this ever end?

Just as Old Li had said, this Old Fan still had feelings for Xiang Jun. The incident back then had originally been a misunderstanding, but Xiang Jun had always been too hot-tempered. Why hadn’t she listened to Old Fan’s explanation?

Ever since that incident happened, Old Fan had not dared to take on even a single female graduate student. Sigh, truly, once bitten by a snake, one fears even a rope for ten years.

After finishing their drinks, Lin Hao first sent Fan Gang home. He had been happy today and drank a little too much, so along the way he talked to Lin Hao about many things.

Lin Hao helped him take off his clothes and trousers, covered him with the quilt, then went to the living room and poured a glass of water, placing it by the bedside.

As he was about to leave, he noticed a photo frame on the vanity table. He picked it up and took a look—it was a picture of a family of three.

The little girl in the photo should be Fan Gang’s daughter, because she was the same person as the photo on top of the piano.

The girl looked to be around twelve or thirteen years old. It was obvious that she would grow up to be an absolute beauty. She was holding a glittering golden trophy in her hands. Because of the reflection from the flash, Lin Hao could only vaguely make out a few words on the trophy: something like “piano competition gold award.”

Behind the little girl were a younger-looking Fan Gang and a very beautiful woman.

Looking carefully, this woman and Fan Gang’s daughter looked six or seven parts alike. It seemed this woman should be Fan Gang’s wife.

The two of them were also smiling with satisfied expressions. Looking at it this way, they really seemed like a happy family of three. But why weren’t his teacher’s wife and child at home? It made his teacher look like a bachelor.

Lin Hao shook his head, gently put the photo frame down, and turned to leave.

……

The days that followed became even busier. Before the graduate entrance exam, Fan Gang brought him a copy of the Application Form for Early Graduation of Regular Undergraduate Students from Long Province Arts Academy and asked him to sign it.

But after he signed, there was no news for several days.

One day, he saw Li Bohan’s wife Zhou Wen Yin on campus, and only then did he learn that early graduation for undergraduates in Long Province required that students must have studied on campus for no less than three years. Because of this, Dean Li Bohan and Fan Gang had both been running back and forth to the provincial authorities.

That night, after hesitating for a long time, he still took a large envelope and went to Fan Gang’s home.

The envelope contained a full fifty thousand yuan in cash.

Although he explained very sincerely that China was a society based on personal connections, and nowadays handling anything required money, so he couldn’t let his teacher spend money on his behalf…

But before he could finish speaking, Fan Gang gave him a thorough scolding and kicked him out together with the money.

At the moment he closed the door, Fan Gang said to Lin Hao:

“Your teacher still has a bit of influence. Don’t worry about this matter. Also, in the future, stop doing these crooked things.”

On the way back to the dormitory, Lin Hao sighed inwardly. He admired people like Fan Gang. His generation lived too purely; they didn’t know that many times, connections and reputation really weren’t as useful as money.

After another three days, the matter was finally completed smoothly. Although Lin Hao didn’t know how it had been handled, he knew it definitely hadn’t been easy.

Fortunately, Lin Hao’s credits for every course were very high, and he had already met the credit requirements for early graduation.

After that, things became much easier. A few days later, he received his graduation certificate. Two days after that, his graduate entrance exam admission card was also issued.

Lin Hao didn’t tell anyone about these things. He didn’t even tell Wu Xiaozhou. Mainly because he felt that before everything was finalized, it was better not to let Wu Xiaozhou—the big mouth—know.

Next came the graduate entrance examination. Luckily, the exam location arranged by Fan Gang was at their own school; otherwise, it would have been even more troublesome.

The initial exam subjects included politics, English I, Chinese and Western music history, art theory, and professional courses.

Two days later, Lin Hao finished the exam. Fan Gang told him that the second round would not take place until April of next year. The retest included a professional interview, professional written exam, foreign language speaking, listening, and other parts, so he should prepare well.

By this time, Wu Xiaozhou and the others had also found out that he had taken the graduate entrance exam. Facing their “complaints,” Lin Hao was helpless and could only set up another dinner at Hu Da Mashao Stewed Dishes Restaurant.

It was still the same people.

Still the same dishes.