Chapter 159: The Top Scholar's Brush

Starry Education had truly mastered the rules of the examination economy. The brand utility of Wen Xiaocheng, the Olympiad champion, was pushed to its absolute limits. Not only did all their promotional posters feature "Be Classmates with the Olympiad Champion" as a gimmick, but they even renamed the elite class Xiaocheng had enrolled in to the "Champion Class," directly doubling the price.

Today was the opening ceremony of the first summer pre-contest training camp. Starry had specially rented out the building's auditorium, which could hold hundreds of people. Apart from the students who had signed up for the training, the institution, in order to expand its scale, had flooded the area with promotional posters. Many parents with age-appropriate children dragged their kids along by any means necessary just to listen in.

The so-called opening ceremony felt somewhat like a product launch event, except that Starry Education's products were rather special—various kinds of training courses. Such products were not absolute necessities, but this year's Mathematical Olympiad was a fantastic stimulus for consumption, especially since it had produced a monstrous prodigy who handed in his paper and got a perfect score in just fifteen minutes.

As soon as Xiaocheng entered the school, he was pursued like a celebrity. At first, parents and students merely pointed and whispered from the sidelines, their eyes filled with envy. But after the very first fan rushed over for an autograph, requests for group photos and signatures became endless! Most of those wanting photos were girls, while those coming for autographs were almost entirely parents.

Autographs had to be written with the pens provided by the parents. A mother rushed over holding a scratchpad and asked Xiaocheng to sign it. Fortunately, the three characters "Wen Xiaocheng" required very few strokes, and nobody cared if the handwriting was messy. After obtaining the signature, that mother casually tossed the tattered notebook bearing Xiaocheng's name onto the ground, turned around, and walked happily back to her child. "Here, child, take this pen! Used by the champion!"

On the floor, the scratchpad with the name Wen Xiaocheng already had several large footprints on it.

Hearing the news, Principal Ding personally came out to greet him, accompanied by four or five teachers. Breaking through the crowd of parents with great difficulty, she was met by Principal Ding, who rushed forward and gave him a big hug. "Xiaocheng! I've been waiting for you for ages! Why don't you ever come visit your Principal Ding?"

Her wide mouth split into a smile so broad it looked like she was about to bite someone.

Xiaocheng thought to himself: *Business is business, we weren't that close before, were we?*

With so many people watching, he couldn't actually say that out of loud. Xiaocheng quickly wriggled out of Principal Ding's embrace and introduced her, "Principal Ding, this is my classmate, Yang Liushan, who is also here to join the summer special training, and this is Yang Liushan's mother."

Principal Ding's mind wasn't on Yang Liushan at all. She gave the girl a light nod, shook hands with Yang's mother, and said, "Xiaocheng is my proudest student now. Any child he recommends, I will definitely instruct the teachers to take extra good care of. As for the tuition..."

The moment Principal Ding brought up tuition, Xiaocheng's eyebrows shot up. They had previously discussed this: Yang Liushan's tuition would be entirely waived, and everything had been settled smoothly. However, it was her assistant, Rixiang, who had taken the call at the time, and when Rixiang relayed the message to Principal Ding, the latter had been too busy and forgotten about it.

"As for the tuition, it will definitely be the lowest discount!"

Xiaocheng couldn't keep a straight face anymore. It had already been agreed with the family that it would be free of charge, and he had heard a basketful of grateful words. But now she was talking about a "most preferential rate." At this point, he couldn't worry about saving face for Principal Ding; after all, his prospective mother-in-law was far more important. Xiaocheng leaned forward, blocked the space between Principal Ding and Yang's mother, and said, "Principal Ding, didn't you say that both Yang Liushan and I would be free of charge?"

"Huh?" Principal Ding was momentarily stunned.

Xiaocheng stared wide-eyed. "You even said that as long as we could come, you would reimburse our travel expenses!"

"Huh?"

"You said that the purpose of Starry Education is to allow more children to receive advanced education, and that making a profit is not the sole objective. Our Dongfeng Town is too far from the school; taking the bus requires transferring three times and takes over two hours, making it exceptionally difficult to come to class. You even said you would give us each a hundred-yuan scholarship per day as an incentive. Have you forgotten?"

Hearing this, Principal Ding finally remembered. Assistant Rixiang had indeed mentioned earlier that Xiaocheng was bringing a classmate, that the tuition would be waived, and that they needed to do the kid a favor. Her mind had just been too occupied with cooperation and commission percentages, which was why she hadn't connected the dots. Waiving tuition was one thing, but a 100-yuan daily scholarship—wasn't that basically paying them to attend?

Seeing Xiaocheng glaring at her, and then glancing at Yang Liushan's lovely appearance, Principal Ding grasped eight or nine tenths of the situation and hurriedly nodded without stopping.

"Right! If you hadn't mentioned it, I really would have forgotten! Free tuition! Travel expenses reimbursed! And a scholarship! These are all minor details. Teacher Jia, come and guide the students and parents over to the main auditorium, and make sure Yang Liushan and her mother are seated in the front row. I have a little matter to discuss with Xiaocheng here!"

Yang's mother took Yang Liushan by the hand, and the two were led away to the auditorium by Teacher Jia. Yang's mother lowered her head and whispered to her daughter, "Shanshan, was Principal Ding just being extorted by Xiaocheng?"

Yang Liushan smiled with her lips pressed together. "Mom, he even helped us extort an extra portion!"

...

Previously, Starry and Sunflower, two educational and training institutions, had stood neck and neck. The two sides were roughly equal in teaching staff, financial strength, and school scale. However, this year, because Xiaocheng had stirred up the waters, it directly caused Starry to form a crushing momentum, pushing its market share to a staggering 70% or more. Even many students who originally belonged to Sunflower had flocked to Starry.

This was just within a single year. One had to know that once a brand effect was formed, the gap would only widen further, and the root of all this stemmed from the legend written by Xiaocheng.

Having navigated the business world for many years, Principal Ding naturally understood this logic, which was why she spared no effort to win Xiaocheng over. Wen Xiaocheng was currently her cash cow and her golden signboard. If she failed to cater to this God of Wealth properly and Xiaocheng, in a fit of anger, defected to Sunflower, the blow dealt to Starry would be immeasurable.

Inside the principal's office, Principal Ding wore a face full of smiles. On one hand, as a teacher, she genuinely liked smart children; on the other hand, it carried a utilitarian sort of flattery. Every word she spoke was filled with excessive praise, making Xiaocheng break out in goosebumps.

"Xiaocheng, you see, we've been cooperating for a while now. You didn't let us down; you fought a brilliant battle in the preliminary rounds. Needless to say, the rerun rounds will definitely be no problem either. After that is the national specially-recruited Olympiad training team. With your strength, capturing the ultimate grand championship shouldn't be a problem at all. When that time comes, don't forget your Teacher Ding here!"

Xiaocheng didn't like communicating in this manner, so he just nodded and hummed in agreement.

"Earlier, when you called me saying you urgently needed money, I didn't hesitate for a second before advancing you fifty thousand yuan. Including this matter with Yang Liushan today, I've certainly given you plenty of face."

Xiaocheng remained silent. Fawning like this definitely had a purpose.

"I won't beat around the bush with you anymore. I called you here today to discuss our contract. The one-hundred-thousand-yuan scholarship—I've already advanced fifty thousand to you. During the opening ceremony shortly, we'll present the award and settle the rest. You might be asked to say a few brief words later, so prepare yourself mentally."

"A contract? No problem at all!"

The awards ceremony happened to coincide with both his girlfriend and prospective mother-in-law being present. This was a chance to save face and show off; what was there to object to?

"Those things are all fine. The crucial part is the revenue-sharing contract we signed previously!"

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Would I tell you that Xiaocheng was brewing up another wave of mischief?