Chapter 180: Chapter 180: A Powerful Woman
Liu Wenjun, my current classmate, although not surnamed Zhuo, is also a young man with a long Adam's apple at the moment. Feng Yiping feels that he still has some feminine qualities. For example, he is particularly fond of gossip and takes pleasure and pride in it.
He makes full use of his strong points of being very approachable and easy to get along with, collecting news from all walks of life, acting like a busybody.
These gossip lovers, of course, love to gossip the most. For example, at the moment, Feng Yiping is listening to him ramble while he packs his notebook and water bottle into his bag – having learned his lesson in junior high school, he is now afraid to leave his notebook in the classroom. 'Did you know that we didn't have to pay such high tuition fees? A few years ago, when we were at the old campus, the tuition fees were very low, and there was some sort of subsidy each semester.'
At times like this, you still have to consciously laugh at the joke. 'Why?'
'It's all the fault of the previous ambitious headmaster. She didn't want to use the old campus, which was quite good, and spent a lot of money building the new campus. Then she was appreciated by the higher-ups and was promoted to deputy mayor, leaving our school with a mountain of debt. It's said to be tens of millions of yuan!'
The former headmaster Feng Yiping knew all about it, as it was in the school newspaper. She was a very determined lesbian, but I didn't realise she was so determined that in this day and age she dared to run up tens of millions of yuan in external debt to build a new school.
I just don't know how many construction-related companies have been ruined by her.
'So, in order to pay off the debt, the school had to find a way to generate income,' said Liu Wenjun.
'That's why our tuition and fees are so high,' added Feng Yiping.
'And that's not all! Do you know why we have so many classes in this year's intake?'
'To collect more tuition?'
'Tuition is nothing. The main thing is to recruit self-funded students. Those with a score of 550 or above can pay to come here. Those within two points of that score pay 10,000 yuan, and the rest pay 150 yuan for every point they fall short. Do the math and see how much that is!'
My goodness, this is really something! If you fall short by 20 to 30 points, you'll have to pay 30,000 to 40,000 yuan at once. With a little bit more, you can buy a house in the city.
This is what we call a business that makes a fortune with a small investment.
'That's not all. I heard that the school plans to co-operate with other schools in other places to offer some classes, but under the guise of our school, so that they can charge high tuition fees, which is another way to generate income.'
Haha, so, the education industry is really worthy of being one of the earliest marketised industries in our country. The means to make money are just constantly being reinvented.
'So, now everyone in the city is saying that this has ruined a prestigious school and made a deputy mayor,' concluded Liu Wenjun.
Feng Yiping really didn't know that there was so much involved here. No wonder the student who ranked first in the city's middle school entrance exam had to find a way to go to the provincial school.
The main criteria for judging a prestigious school are not only how many provincial champions it has produced and how many Olympic trophies it has won, but also how many students are accepted by universities, especially top universities, during the college entrance exam. So, to put it bluntly, the foundation of a prestigious school is its high-quality students.
Now, in order to generate income, they have recruited so many self-funded students, which naturally lowers the overall level. For example, if you have 200 graduates, 50 of whom go to the top 10 universities in the country and 100 to other 211 universities, you can certainly be considered a prestigious school.
However, with such results, if you have 500 graduates, it is only slightly better than an average school, but the cost is also much higher than an average school.
The two people were talking and turned to walk out, when suddenly a glass of water splashed in their faces.
Liu Wenjun, who was carrying cutlery to the cafeteria, was the main target of the attack, with water all over his head and face, while Feng Yiping was caught in the crossfire and got a little splash on his face.
The culprit was the girl in the back row, who, at that moment, leisurely tightened the lid of the cup, put it in her bag, and walked out with a swagger.
There were quite a few people gloating around, but none of them came forward to stop her.
Liu Wenjun, who had suddenly been splashed with water, was a bit dazed. After a while, he reacted, wiped the water off his face, and yelled at the female classmate, 'Zheng Jiayi, are you sick?'
Okay, Feng Yiping remembered the name of the classmate this time, and he was also a little annoyed. This girl is crazy, isn't she!
Liu Wenjun chased after her, but the always-nervous Zheng Jiayi was not slow. He chased to the top of the stairs, but he could not catch up. He could only hatefully come back to find a tissue to wipe the water. 'I'll go find Teacher Li.'
Feng Yiping took his hand, 'If you're going to see Teacher Li, why bother wiping it off? You go ahead, and if Teacher Li wants a witness, I'll testify for you.'
'You're right, this is ironclad evidence.'
Zheng Jiayi finally lowered her head this time, and walked quickly to the school gate. The Audi was already waiting for her there, and the driver watched her walk out of the school gate and went to help open the car door. 'Uncle Zhang, no need, I'll open it myself!'
'Haha, I'm used to it.'
The Audi drove smoothly all the way, finally pulling into a yard guarded by armed police, and stopping in front of a small three-storey building in the middle.
Zheng Jiayi pushed the door open and entered the house. A middle-aged man in an apron, with glasses and a scholarly appearance, poked his head out from the kitchen. 'Oh, my daughter is home. Go wash your hands first, dinner will be ready soon.'
Zheng Jiayi didn't help, didn't wash her hands, dropped her school bag, walked to the backyard, sat on a deck chair, and remained angry.
After a while, the sound of brakes was heard again in front, followed by the sound of footsteps. Zheng Jiayi's father asked again, 'You're back!'
'Yes, where's Jiayi?'
'She's in the backyard.'
'Jiayi, come and give me a back massage. I had a meeting all afternoon and my back is aching.'
Zheng Jiayi walked in a little reluctantly. There was a middle-aged woman sitting on the sofa, with short hair, a determined face, a mole below the right corner of her mouth, wearing a short-sleeved shirt with a collar from a light blue suit. She was rubbing her temples with her hands.
Zheng Jiayi walked over and gave her a light but firm back massage. 'You little brat, lighten up! What, what's wrong?'
'Nothing,' Zheng Jiayi softened a little in front of her mother.
After a moment's thought, she added, 'Mom, someone at school said...,'
'What did they say?' her mother asked nonchalantly.
'Oh, nothing, I heard that there might be an autumn outing,'
'Well, school is still better!' her mother exclaimed.
'Alright, let's eat!' Zheng Bozhen walked out with a plate of braised prawns.
Zheng Jiayi went to help set the table, while her father served her rice and put a few prawns on her plate. 'How was school today?'
'It was fine.'
'And you?' Zheng Boxun turned to his wife.
'Not good!'
'Still about the bridge?'
'Yes, Mayor Sun is a long way short of the funds needed to repair the bridge, and he's told all the departments to chip in. Where's there going to be any spare money? He's finally given the order that all staff on the payroll, including those on the education payroll, will have 10% of their salary deducted each month. I don't know what the consequences of this will be.'
'There has been a lot of fundraising in recent years, but the situation is not good in other areas. In the education sector, which you are in charge of, some township schools cannot even pay their staff on time, and now this deduction is going to happen. What's going to happen?' Zheng Bosong ladled some soup into a bowl for his wife.
'We'll just have to wait and see!'
During evening study hall, Feng Yiping still walked into the classroom a little unsteadily. He found Zheng Jiayi sitting in her seat reading as if nothing had happened. Liu Wenjun was also there, but it didn't look like she was reading; she looked like she was in a daze.
He touched him, nudged his head towards the back of the classroom, and asked him in a low voice, 'What did Teacher Li say? Do you want me to testify?'
Liu Wenjun, however, didn't say a word, just looked at him with a sad face.
Feng Yiping was very puzzled, what was going on?