Chapter 1288: Chapter 1288: The First Lady’s Academic Journey (7)
Tang Li found herself in a fog.
Even though she recognized every word on the email, when combined, they formed content she couldn’t comprehend.
At that moment, she was in the nursery room.
Song Jingtian was accompanying Song Xiaohua with stacking blocks and noticed Tang Li staring at the laptop for quite some time without moving. He couldn’t help but ask, "What’s up?"
Tang Li sat cross-legged on the crawling mat and snapped back to reality upon hearing him, "It’s nothing, just received a scam email."
Scam email?
Song Jingtian’s curiosity was piqued.
He tossed the blocks aside, hugged Xiaohua, and approached Tang Li: "Show me."
Given Song Jingtian’s vocabulary reserve, reading this kind of admission notice was somewhat challenging, but it didn’t stop him from continuing the topic with Tang Li: "How do you know it’s fake?"
It was an obvious matter.
She hadn’t applied to any foreign university’s graduate programs.
Tang Li suspected she might have mistakenly entered a scam website when she was researching online.
If she took the email sincerely and replied, the next step would be them asking for ’tuition fees’.
"Why didn’t you download the anti-fraud app?"
Song Jingtian genuinely felt that Tang Li was less cautious than even him, a primary school student. With such low anti-fraud awareness, she could easily be scammed right at the doorstep.
When registering online accounts and filling in email addresses, he just made them up randomly.
Only someone as honest as Tang Li would write the real email address.
Since it was junk mail, Tang Li casually deleted it.
A week after she deleted the email, she received another call starting with ’0047’.
isn’t the area code for S Country.
Tang Li didn’t answer.
When the same number called again in the evening, Tang Li hesitated for a few seconds before picking up.
Once the call was connected, there was an English-speaking female voice on the other end.
Tang Li understood seventy to eighty percent of what she said.
For instance, why hadn’t she replied to the email.
For another instance, whether she was dissatisfied with the academic advisor.
And the phrase that caught her attention initially, ’This is the University of Oslo’, made Tang Li involuntarily grip her cellphone, handing Song Xiaohua to the nanny, and walked to the bedroom window.
The woman continued, saying although Tang Li’s application was cross-disciplinary and she wasn’t a graduate from a prestigious university in S Country, the two articles attached to her application email caught the favor of a professor from the Faculty of Humanities.
The professor thought she was a student with great potential and was willing to make an exception and accept her.
So, they hoped she could respond soon.
When Tang Li replied, ’I haven’t applied to your graduate school’, there was a short silence on the other end, followed by ’Just a moment, please’.
A few minutes later, the voice resumed, informing Tang Li that she submitted the application in mid-August.
And the application email screenshot had been sent to her.
Ending the call, Tang Li immediately opened her laptop.
The newly received email indeed had a graduate application screenshot submitted in her name.
The CV listed her graduating school as the Art College she attended, ruling out any possibility of mistaken identity due to same-name individuals.
Tang Li also noticed attachments in the screenshot, two compressed files named "Artistic Study on Representative Church Frescoes during the Italian Renaissance" and "Research on the Transformation of European Universities during the Renaissance and Reformation Periods".
These two articles were all too familiar to Tang Li.
The originals were even lying on her laptop desktop at the moment.
These were things she wrote in July and August.
She had never shown them to anyone.
To access these articles, one would have to go through her computer.
However, in this household, there were very few people who could use her laptop.
And this person would also need to be knowledgeable about computers.
The University of Oslo, Norway’s top academic institution, though not as renowned as Stanford, Cambridge, or Oxford, presented an excellent choice for Tang Li.
Offering her the acceptance was the Faculty of Humanities.
Her prospective tutor is a tenured professor in literature, regional studies, and European linguistics.
Tang Li researched briefly online and quickly found the tutor’s personal webpage.
A sixty-something German elderly woman.
Tang Li stared at the offer she had restored from the ’Trash’, her mind contemplating other things since the offer clearly stated the graduate course would be two years long.
Which meant, if she accepted the offer, she’d need to stay in Norway for two years.
During that period, she could return to S Country occasionally, but returning every week wouldn’t be feasible.
When overwhelmed by coursework, visiting once every two or three months might be possible.
Song Baiyan’s position also meant he couldn’t visit Norway to see her.
Tang Li turned to look at Song Xiaohua, sitting on the Imperial Consort’s Couch, with a pacifier in her mouth, playing rough with the ginger cat. Although mother and daughter often bicker daily, leaving the child to go to Northern Europe was ultimately unbearable. Two years could be enough for the child to forget her mother.
Taking advantage of the nanny going to the restroom, Tang Li removed Song Xiaohua’s pacifier: "If mom goes abroad to study, would Xiaohua want to go with mom?"
Song Xiaohua hugged the ginger cat, her eyes like black grapes looking at her mother.
The child couldn’t yet form long sentences, only uttering one word, ’Dad’.
No matter whether the child understood her, Tang Li added, "No dad, dad’s not going, only you and mom."
Song Xiaohua answered her mother with actions.
Turning around, she continued playing with the plump ginger cat.
Tang Li: "..."
It was once again proven that Song Xiaohua didn’t love her mom.
Regarding the matter of her being applied for graduate school, Tang Li didn’t delay and sought confirmation from the prime suspect that night.
When she asked the question, she had already planned how to ’press further’, yet unexpectedly, seeing the Offer on the laptop screen, Song Baiyan confessed without prompting.
He even seemed a bit proud: "Not being rejected means the efforts during this time weren’t in vain."
Tang Li’s emotions were rather mixed.
To say she wasn’t tempted by the offer would be a lie.
She had never thought she could enter a public university abroad.
After failing her college entrance exams back then, studying abroad never entered her life plans.
Now, this opportunity lay right in front of her.
If she decided to go to Norway, it meant temporarily giving up certain things, including her duties and obligations as a wife and mother, along with her mission as the First Lady.
It was irresponsible.
Song Baiyan, however, said: "Going to study for two years could be good; gaining knowledge on one hand and relieving the restlessness on the other."
"I’m not restless." Tang Li couldn’t help but object.
"I used the wrong word." A smile line appeared at the corner of Song Baiyan’s eyes, showing an excellent attitude in admitting his mistake: "Everyone at home is a bachelor’s graduate, having a master’s holder would be a good example for the child."
Tang Li listened and began to waver.
But—
Concerns followed one after another.
Her fingers laid on the laptop keyboard, were held by a warm, large hand.
Tang Li looked up and heard Song Baiyan say: "Go out and see, then you’ll know how big the world is. Everyone has the right to pursue their own; one shouldn’t be shackled by others’ restraints in their life; as a husband, there’s only one request, after seeing, remember to come home."
In this instant, the shackles binding Tang Li unraveled.
She didn’t use words to promise, but tightly clutched Song Baiyan’s hand in return.
Once a decision was made, surprisingly, some matters became easier.
When Xiao Minglan learned Tang Li was going to Norway for graduate school, she was silent for a moment, not protesting, only stating: Xiaohua should stay in the country.
The first year of graduate school would undoubtedly be busy.
Not only busy with coursework but she’d need to adapt to the local lifestyle.
Thus, Tang Li didn’t plan to take Song Xiaohua.
——
Goodnight!
