Chapter 156: Chapter 141: Lu Fan Intervenes Behind the Scenes Again! A Reversal
"This is none of your business," Teacher Zhu said, panting. "Even if he’d submitted his application, it never would have been approved. We’ve never had a freshman’s application pass before. Nine out of ten freshmen are just messing around. If you ask me, your only mistake was getting caught after you threw it away. I’m going to find his counselor. This kid has no manners."
After leaving the administration building, Jiang Sifan cursed in anger. ’I’ve never seen a university teacher be so unreasonable, blindly siding with his student like that.’
Just then, Wen Wan called him.
"Hey, Wen Wan." Jiang Sifan did his best to compose himself.
Wen Wan asked in a small voice, "Class President, where are you?"
"I just came from the administration building."
"Was it about the startup?" Wen Wan asked.
"Yeah," Jiang Sifan replied. "Where are you now? I’ll come to you."
"I’m at the entrance to the library."
"Okay, wait there."
A short while later, Jiang Sifan arrived and met Wen Wan.
"Come on, get on. I’ll take you back to your dorm," Jiang Sifan said, gesturing.
After getting on, Wen Wan could clearly tell something was wrong with Jiang Sifan’s mood. "Class President," she asked, "did the application not go through? It’s okay if it didn’t."
"It’s not about whether it went through or not. Our startup application was thrown straight into the trash by that Minister Xu."
"What?" Wen Wan was stunned.
Jiang Sifan had to get it off his chest. "If I hadn’t accidentally kicked the trash can and seen our startup application inside, I would’ve just kept waiting there like an idiot. And when I confronted him and took him to see the teacher in charge at the Dual Innovation Department, the teacher actually took his side!"
"I demanded an apology from him, but the teacher told me to just drop it and not make a big deal out of it. I couldn’t stomach that, so I ended up arguing with the teacher, too."
Wen Wan grew worried. "Is that teacher going to cause trouble for you now?"
"I’m not the one in the wrong. I’d say the same thing even if I were in the president’s office," Jiang Sifan said resolutely.
"But... but he’s a teacher, after all," Wen Wan said, still a little scared.
Jiang Sifan shook his head. "So what if he’s a teacher? I’m not afraid as long as I’m in the right. Still... after offending Teacher Zhu, I don’t think there’s any hope for our studio now."
Faced with this predicament, Wen Wan asked quietly, "Maybe we could ask Uncle Lu for help..."
"No," Jiang Sifan cut her off. "Absolutely not. I’m not asking him for help, and neither are you. I’m going to do this myself."
"Besides, this is an internal matter at the School of Science and Technology. How could he get involved? The business with Lin Qiang was different. The evidence was ironclad, so he just had someone contact the leadership, and they followed procedure."
"This is about applying for a startup studio. It’s not like he can just call up the leadership and get them to open a studio just for me. I don’t believe he’s that influential."
Wen Wan hesitated after hearing that, then mumbled, "Maybe Uncle Lu really is that capable..."
"Even if... even if he is, I’m still not asking him," Jiang Sifan said, holding on to his pride.
Soon, he had dropped Wen Wan off at the women’s dormitory.
He said, still confident, "Don’t worry. Even if Teacher Zhu goes to our counselor, I’m sure the counselor will take my side."
"Okay." Wen Wan nodded and was about to leave.
But a second later, Jiang Sifan’s phone rang.
He answered the phone and saw that it was his counselor.
"Hello, sir." Jiang Sifan hadn’t expected his counselor to track him down so quickly.
The counselor asked from the other end of the line, "Sifan, I heard you got into an argument with a teacher from the Dual Innovation Department?"
"Sir, let me explain." Jiang Sifan recounted the entire story from beginning to end.
After listening, the counselor was silent for a few seconds before chuckling. "Sifan, you’re in the right."
Hearing this, Jiang Sifan shot a triumphant look at Wen Wan, his expression clearly saying, ’See? I told you he’d be on my side.’
But in the next second, the counselor said, "But sometimes, life isn’t about being right or wrong. It’s about knowing when to sidestep a conflict. Think about it. You want to apply for a startup studio, but applications can only be approved by the teachers in the Dual Innovation Department. If you make everyone unhappy over this incident, even if you get an apology, have you really maximized your gains?"
"Of course, you’re still a student, so you probably don’t have strong feelings about this yet. But once you’re out in the real world, you’ll find this sort of thing is perfectly normal. I’m not telling you to just bottle things up and swallow your pride, but if it’s not a life-or-death battle, then you should consider how to achieve the best possible outcome."
"Even if I were to support you this time, you might lose your chance to get the startup studio because of it."
"The reason I’m telling you all this is because I hope that in the future, you’ll learn to look at things from different angles. What I just said was probably a bit hard to hear."
Jiang Sifan felt a mix of emotions after hearing his counselor’s words.
He knew the counselor meant well and was giving him a heart-to-heart.
But his personality had always been this way—stubborn and uncompromising.
When he encountered injustice, he had to fight it to the very end.
Just as his counselor said, he was bound to hit a lot of walls once he entered the workforce.
But if he didn’t get that apology, he felt like the fire of his youth would be extinguished.
For a moment, Jiang Sifan was lost.
Still, he expressed his gratitude. "Okay, I understand. Thank you, sir."
"Don’t worry about it. I can see your potential, Sifan. I just don’t want to see you get held back by trivial things. As it stands, getting a startup studio would be a huge opportunity for you to grow," the counselor hinted.
"Okay, sir. I get it now," Jiang Sifan replied.
After hanging up, he looked at Wen Wan and said awkwardly, "Well, it seems I was a bit overconfident."
Wen Wan comforted him, "It’s fine. You just have to know that he was in the wrong and you were in the right. Don’t feel bad."
"Haha, I’m not going to feel bad about it," Jiang Sifan said with a wave. "Alright, I’m heading out."
With that, Jiang Sifan hopped on his electric scooter and sped away.
Wen Wan watched his dejected figure disappear into the distance. Biting her lip, she whispered, "I’m sorry, Class President."
Then, she sent a message to Lu Fan: "Uncle Lu, are you there?"
