Chapter 22: Contract

After Li Xue Lian recounted Zhang Yu's situation, a soft chuckle echoed from the other end of the phone.

"He's indeed not bad, but there's no need to recruit him."

Li Xue Lian inquired, "Why?"

True Person Xing Huo burst into hearty laughter, his tone brimming with delight, "I've already discovered a true prodigy!"

"Also a first-year high school student, only 15 years old, and mastered the Celestial Martial Heart Refining Art in just half an hour."

"And without any binding contracts!"

At this point, True Person Xing Huo couldn't help but erupt in laughter again.

Li Xue Lian exclaimed in surprise, "There's such a freak of nature?"

True Person Xing Huo chuckled, "I told you long ago, the first layer of Kunxu never lacks geniuses, only investors."

"Think of the top scorers in each subject, and the overall top scorers in every national college entrance exam. You should know how exceptionally talented they all are."

"But such geniuses, the Kunxu first layer has many of them every year, along with a group not far behind. They emerge year after year, like an inexhaustible crop of韭菜 (jǐucài, chives – metaphor for easily exploited people)."

"There are too many geniuses; it's just that I couldn't find them in the past, always beaten to the punch. But now, I've finally taken the lead."

Li Xue Lian cast a somewhat regretful glance in Zhang Yu's direction and asked, "Don't we sign this Zhang Yu as well, just in passing?"

True Person Xing Huo: "Forget it. All our resources will be invested in the true prodigy from now on. Let's not spread ourselves too thin."

...

Inside a conference room adjacent to the art exhibition.

Li Xue Lian looked at Zhang Yu before her, filled with apology, "I'm sorry, this classmate. My father has other important matters to attend to and cannot take you as a disciple for the time being."

She said with genuine sincerity, "However, you can use the Celestial Martial Heart Refining Art freely from now on. I'll personally grant you a copy of the usage rights."

Li Xue Lian's eyes were filled with appreciation as she looked at Zhang Yu, "Finally, I'd like to gift you ten thousand yuan in my personal capacity."

"Don't rush to refuse. This gift stems purely from my admiration of your talent."

"I hope when we meet again, you'll have already been admitted to a prestigious university."

"Oh, right, about those videos you recorded, they also involve the propagation rights of the Celestial Martial Heart Refining Art, so I need you to delete them..."

A moment later, watching Zhang Yu's departing figure, the smile on Li Xue Lian's face gradually faded.

Although True Person Xing Huo didn't intend to take him as a disciple, Li Xue Lian didn't plan to make an enemy of a young man with such promising talent.

In any case, the usage rights of the Celestial Martial Heart Refining Art or the ten thousand yuan were just a trivial matter to her.

She had given away similar small favors to young geniuses countless times, so many she had already forgotten them.

Most of them ultimately faded into obscurity and were long forgotten by her.

After resolving this matter, Li Xue Lian went to meet a few important guests and then couldn't wait to find her father.

She was extremely curious about the peerless genius True Person Xing Huo had mentioned.

...

On the other side, at the art exhibition that had not yet officially ended.

Bai Zhenzhen watched Zhang Yu emerge from the conference room and asked, "How was it? Did you refuse True Person Xing Huo? Did Li Xue Lian make things difficult for you?"

Zhang Yu recalled Li Xue Lian's admiring expression just now and shook his head, "She didn't make things difficult for me."

"Before I could even speak, she rejected me first, saying True Person Xing Huo had other important matters..."

"But she did give me an extra 10,000 yuan at the end."

Hearing Zhang Yu's explanation, Bai Zhenzhen curled her lip, "Standard excuses."

"Maybe she checked your information and found you weren't that exceptional."

"Like, your usual monthly exam scores are too poor, you have no sterilization record, your muscles aren't well-developed, and you owe a mountain of debt..."

Listening to Bai Zhenzhen's words, Zhang Yu curled his lip, "Ah Zhen, you lost but you're still not convinced, and you're resorting to personal attacks now?"

Seeing Zhang Yu's smug look, Bai Zhenzhen couldn't help but grab his shoulder and demanded, "What kind of cheat did you use?"

"Tell me quickly, did you bribe the staff and get a sneak peek at the Martial Art Diagram!"

Seeing Bai Zhenzhen's ugly face filled with jealousy, Zhang Yu chuckled.

Go on, Ah Zhen. Watching the pathetic state of you losers is my current pleasure.

Just as the two were talking, Qian Shen also walked over from not far away.

He looked at Zhang Yu with a solemn expression and asked, "Do you intentionally score poorly on your exams?"

The trial of the Celestial Being Martial Art Diagram allowed Qian Shen to become more resistant to those with high scores.

But for someone with low scores to have a performance surpassing him, he was utterly shocked.

Seeing Zhang Yu shake his head in denial, Qian Shen said unwillingly, "Impossible. If you weren't intentionally scoring poorly, why would your talent and scores be so mismatched?"

"Hmm?" Zhang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Exams can't fully reflect a person's potential, right..."

Qian Shen directly interrupted Zhang Yu, exclaiming, "Impossible!"

"The national college entrance examination and the six high school courses were定制 (dìngzhì, custom-made) by the Ten Great Sects specifically to evaluate high school students. Countless experts and powerhouses have verified and adjusted them. They are already the optimal, most scientific, and most仙道 (xiāndào, immortal path) system for evaluating a person!"

"Every subject, every point, perfectly reflects the comprehensive differences between people, including the superiority of bloodlines, the backwardness of regions, and the incompleteness of evolution..."

Seeing Qian Shen's incredibly serious look, Zhang Yu realized he had misjudged him.

This kid wasn't just a simple score-discriminator; he had evolved from score-discrimination to bloodline-discrimination, regional-discrimination, and even racial-discrimination. He had become a supporter of a score-based caste system!

In short, in Qian Shen's expression, high scores meant awesome, elite, and the right to superiority and confidence, while low scores meant trash.

This was the worldview he had built over the years, and the source of his confidence as a high-scoring student. It could even be said to be the rule in all key high schools.

"Hmph, you don't want to admit it, fine."

"But I'll report this situation to the school. I hope you'll show your true skills in the next monthly exam and not score a 550, which is an incomplete evolution score."

Watching Qian Shen's departing figure, Zhang Yu felt like he had been scolded and not scolded at the same time.

Bai Zhenzhen nodded thoughtfully, "There's one thing you should pay attention to in all that nonsense he said."

"The school will definitely know about the situation here. They might look for you to sign a contract."

"Sign a contract?" Zhang Yu looked at Ah Zhen curiously. He had vaguely heard about this before, but he ultimately didn't understand the details.

Bai Zhenzhen explained, "You know, not everyone in high school is as rich as Qian Shen's family."

"For many poor but academically strong and talented students, they need someone to invest in them."

"And the school itself is one of the investors."

"Generally, after the start of the second year of high school, they'll select a group of outstanding students based on their performance and scores in the first year, sign contracts with them, and invest money in them."

"Of course, there are also a very small number of students who are so outstanding and dazzling that the school will discuss contracts with them in the first year to prevent them from being snatched up by others."

Speaking of this, Bai Zhenzhen puffed out her chest, "Like me."

Zhang Yu, "Why haven't you told me about this before?"

Bai Zhenzhen rolled her eyes at Zhang Yu, as if saying, "Didn't you know how awful you were before?"

Bai Zhenzhen, "Based on your performance at the art exhibition, the school will definitely talk to you about a contract. As for whether you should sign it or not..."

Seeing the conflicted expression on Bai Zhenzhen's face, Zhang Yu asked, "Is it that hard to choose whether to sign it?"

Bai Zhenzhen sighed, "It's not that hard to choose. Actually, as long as you base it on your personal situation, it's easy to choose whether to sign it or not."

"But the difficulty lies in whether a person's understanding of themselves is right or wrong."

Bai Zhenzhen looked at Zhang Yu and asked seriously, "For example, when you comprehended the Celestial Being Martial Art Diagram, what kind of cheat did you use?"

However, halfway through, Bai Zhenzhen waved her hand, "Forget it. Mothers don't ask about cheats, and you don't need to tell me."

"In short, if you're really confident and determined to get into one of the top ten universities, then don't sign this contract now."

"Conversely, if you're not confident about getting into the top ten and just want to go to an ordinary university, then sign the contract as long as it's not too exploitative."

Hearing this, Zhang Yu was thoughtful and asked a few more questions about the details of the school and the contract.

Just as the two were talking, someone else found Zhang Yu, a delicate and lovable girl.

"Hello, classmate, you were so handsome just now. Can I add you as a friend?"

Similar things had happened many times since Zhang Yu comprehended the Celestial Being Martial Art Diagram. Even Lian Tianji from Ziyun High School had asked to add him as a friend.

Zhang Yu was gradually getting used to it. He sighed in his heart and added her.

"Hehe, even beautiful girls are taking the initiative to contact me?"

Zhang Yu asked, "Which school are you from, classmate?"

The other party said, "I'm Wu Qingqing from the Sacred Maiden Academy, in the honors class."

Zhang Yu's expression suddenly stiffened. In this Kunxu world, someone who looks like a man may not be a man, but students in the honors class of a girls' academy... they must have been men before.

Wu Qingqing seemed to sense the change in Zhang Yu's expression and smiled slightly, "Yo, your thinking is quite old-fashioned."

"Do you think our class is full of people who got into honors high school by taking advantage and have terrible grades?"

"Let me tell you, the top students in our class are no worse than you. You'll know next time in the city-wide unified exam."

Zhang Yu watched her departing figure speechlessly.

No, is that what I'm thinking?

Kunxu, even transgenders have to check their scores before anything else, right?

"Congratulations." Zhou Tianyi walked over from the side, "Did you sign a contract with the Golden Core True Person?"

Zhang Yu looked at Zhou Tianyi before him and suddenly remembered that he didn't seem to have any presence at all in front of the Celestial Being Martial Art Diagram just now.

Next, Zhang Yu worked as a security guard while chatting with guests he knew or didn't know.

As today's security work was completely done, his savings also increased by 1600 and 10,000 yuan, soaring to 13,300 in one go.

After paying off the remaining 5,000 loan for this month, Zhang Yu's account balance fell to 8,300. He was finally free from worrying about debt collection for the time being.