Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Having chatted happily with this amiable group of people, by the time she realized it, it was already very late.
She, thus, bid these people a hasty goodbye and went offline to get ready for bed.
What she was unaware of, however, was that her group of foreign friends were still chatting excitedly about… her.
[bill: How did Hani succeed in registering? Registration is still not open even now.]
[Abby: Yeah! Hani’s a young lady from China, too; how did she manage to access this site?]
[Gloria: I went to check earlier. Our registration actually has a loophole. It seems that transnational users have a 5% success rate in registration.]
[bill: Oh, man. Just based on this 5% probability rate, Hani managed to get in. She even did it through transnational browsing! She’s so mysterious and way too lucky to boot!]
[Abby: Yeah! This must be a friend sent to me by the gods!]
[bill: Shoo, shoo! What has this got to do with you?]
[Abby: Scram!]
[Ada: What I’m curious now is how Prof William will react to his newly registered member, especially since she’s someone from China.]
[Gloria: I’m really curious, too.]
[Abby: I’m super curious!]
[bill: I’m the most curious!]
…
Pei Ge was, of course, unaware of this exchange between her online friends. After washing up, she lay in the bed and went straight to sleep.
When she woke up again, it was already the other day. At this point, her successful registration to a tutorial class online the day before had totally slipped her mind.
It was not until she got back from studying at Bauhinia Court that she recalled having joined a tutorial group chat yesterday.
Unable to forget about Egger, she was driven into accessing the website again.
When she logged into the website this time, she was greeted by a fascinating message.
Curious, she opened the message and read its content. Her face had an awkward smile thereafter.
Upon seeing that it was signed by a person called ‘WILLIAM’…
“Ah! It’s the professor Abby and the others talked about!” With everything making more sense now, she mumbled, “No wonder… This professor is really interesting.”
It’s no wonder Abby and bill are so odd.
Rereading the message from the perspective of that teacher, she came to realize that the said professor was quite an amiable and humorous fellow.
Unbeknown to her, shortly after she replied to his message, Professor William, who appeared to be a big shot from how Abby and the others revered him, actually wanted to take her in as his student.
Out of boredom and interest in her newfound, online friends, as well as the professor’s friendly message, she agreed.
This was merely a spontaneous decision on her part, but never did she expect to be entranced by the professor’s tutorial after sitting in just once.
She totally did not anticipate Professor William, this humorous fellow, to be so charismatic in class.
What was more surprising was that this website she had stumbled on by accident had such a great teacher.
She only managed to understand a little of the professor’s teaching in this first session.
However, with the help of Abby and the others, especially with the vast quantity of past lectures provided to her, it was as if she had opened a portal to a new world.
Instantly, she found herself in this other world.
This new world was one about finance; it was fascinating.
In this new world, she forgot about Ji Ziming who had left abruptly and all the inconsequential stuff in her life.
If not for Li Qi picking her up on time every day, she would probably be stuck before her computer desk, entranced by this sea of knowledge.
“Oh, Hani, you’re really great – and gifted to boot! I think your position as a small assistant is a waste of your talent. Would you be interested in coming to Harvard? I can write you a letter of recommendation.”
Looking at this spirited elderly man, with his crown of white hair and his fair skin, she helplessly smiled.
For reasons untold, this humorous teacher of the group lecture she barely attended was trying to cajole her into pursuing a master’s degree in the US.
“Yeah, Hani, come! I’d love to meet you in person!”
What amazed her the most was the appearance of that voice memo button, which previously did not exist on this website, in the chat window whenever it was time for the tutorial.
It somewhat resembled Waiwai’s voice chat room.
Hearing Abby’s sweet voice coming from the computer, she could only laugh. “Prof William, Abby, please stop kidding me. I’m too old to be a graduate student, not to mention at Harvard. Please let me off the hook; even if you want to praise someone, this isn’t how to go about doing it.”
She shook her head while laughing. God knew that she had only attended the professor’s tutorial for a week.
She could barely be called a student, yet these people were already trying to convince her into studying abroad.
If she did not know better, she would think that this was a networking group, and this was their marketing strategy to tempt people into availing their products; their behavior paralleled that of the networking orgs in China, after all.
“Oh, honey, I’m not kidding you! You’re truly very gifted. Trust me, Hani; your capabilities are greater than what you think,” said the professor. He was smiling at her through the video chat window. His voice was so sincere and so serious that she wavered for a split second.
There was a time when she, as a starting student, made a promise to her classmates to attend Harvard with them.
That was but a pipe dream, though, as somewhere along the way, it had become a hopeless pursuit. Eventually, she relegated it to just that – a mere dream of a child.
Now, this professor of such merit was telling her that it was possible for her, so how could she not waver?
“Hani, come; you’re a dazzling diamond that shouldn’t be buried. If you wish it, you can conquer the world.”
When foreigners talked, it was always so passionate and exaggerated. Still, sometimes, one had to admit that their words could move a person and tempt their heart.
“I…”
Looking at this good-looking professor in the video and her chat-room pals, who all seemed to be waiting for her reply with bated breath, she opened her mouth.
She… wanted to go, but…
Before could say it, she heard a flurry of footsteps, followed by an altogether familiar, male voice.
“Pei Ge, who are you talking to?!”
Upon hearing that cold, deep, male voice, she froze in an instant, and a flustered look descended on her face.
Oh, no! How could she have forgotten about this annoying fellow?!
