Chapter 2

For the first two weeks, I was almost invisible. I huddled in my corner and worked through problem after problem. The teachers liked me more by the day because I was the only person who studied in class. I listened, answered questions, and kept them from suffering through awkward silence.

But hunger was making it harder to concentrate. I was so hungry I wanted to gnaw on the desk.

Tuition was free, but I still needed somewhere to live. The grade director refused to let me stay in the dorms. My family background was too poor, she said, and the young masters and heiresses would object.

So I rented a tiny attic far from school. After I begged, the landlord grudgingly accepted six months’ rent in advance. My ten thousand yuan vanished, leaving five hundred. Water and electricity swallowed the rest.

My scores were not yet good enough for Tsinghua or Peking University, so I did not dare ask the director for more scholarship money. My family had always stolen most of my study time. Even after working myself raw to catch up, my last exam in junior year had only put me within reach of one of China’s elite 985 universities.

I was not the heroine of some wish-fulfillment novel who could date, glance at a few exercises, and stroll into a top university with perfect marks.

I had eaten nothing for more than eight hours. Breakfast had been a piece of fried steak and half a tuna sandwich scavenged from a school trash can. Delicious, but nowhere near enough.

As classes ended, my classmates discussed golf and yacht parties. I pinched myself hard, summoned every ounce of courage I possessed, and asked in a tiny voice, “Does anyone need their homework done? It’s only five yuan per assignment.”

I had never seen any of them do homework. Whenever teachers assigned it, I alone wrote it down, then finished it beneath a discarded desk lamp in my sweltering attic.

The room went silent.

Cen Yue stared at me. “Class president, you actually do homework?”

The teachers had made me class president after showering me with praise. Naturally, all the classroom cleaning had come with the title.

My reply was barely louder than a mosquito. “Yes. I’m fast, neat, and usually right. If you want someone to do your homework, you can try me first.”

“Five yuan per worksheet. Buy five and get one free.”

Remembering that all their families ran businesses, I hurried to add, “The price is negotiable.”

Horror cracked across every face. Then they reacted all at once.

“Five yuan? Who do you think you’re insulting? Five hundred—I’m first! I’m going to show my father that his son loves studying too!”

“You have the nerve to offer only five hundred? I’ll pay five thousand!”

“Fifty thousand dollars! Money is the one thing I never lack!”

“I’ll top every bid! Let’s see who dares fight me for first place today!”