Chapter 547: Chapter 547

After waking up in the afternoon, Mr. Zheng took her to visit his close friends, through whom she was introduced to several famous figures in the world of calligraphy and painting.

In her view, joining the Hua Country Calligrapher Association was already the highest honor.

In the evening, she followed Mr. Zheng for a meal, where she also met the apprentices of various masters. Being the youngest, she received special care from everyone, and no one underestimated her for making it to the finals at just thirteen years old.

Since the competition was held in their hotel, there was plenty of time. The next morning, after breakfast, she rested in her room for a while. Around ten o’clock, she went to her assigned category, entered, and sat down according to the seat number. The room had surveillance cameras, so cheating was impossible, making identity verification more strict.

The exam lasted two hours, and the content was a passage from the "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion." Initially, she had to choose between clerical script and Regular script, so she chose clerical script in Shanghai and Regular script here, meaning she only needed to participate in one competition.

The writing process was extremely quiet, with only the thick scent of ink wafting through the air, everyone focusing solely on their work.

After a tense two hours, the participants left while the works had to dry before they could be collected. The rest was not their concern; what followed was waiting for the final examination results.

There were four levels of awards in this competition: first, second, third, and special prizes. All finalists were eligible to compete for membership in the association.

"Our train ticket is at four in the afternoon. Let’s have a meal now, pack up, and head to the train station. If all goes well, we’ll be home by tomorrow afternoon."

Since they were located in the Central Plains, trains from all over the country passed through their province every day, so getting tickets was not difficult.

While the trip to the competition was made by the master and disciple alone, the return journey was made with a friend of Mr. Zheng’s from L City, who was also a master and disciple, living merely a hundred or so kilometers from their town, which was very close. They all felt a great deal of familiarity since they were from the same region.

Mr. Zheng had booked sleeper berths; at his age, he could not endure a hard seat. She had the upper berth and the older gentlemen the lower, which was perfect.

Since the booking was made with the master and disciple from L City, they were all in one corridor. During the return trip, she got to know them.

The older one was just slightly younger than Mr. Zheng, not only a member of the Hua Country Calligrapher Association but also the president of the L City Calligraphy Association—quite a prestigious identity. Their city, Y City, was under the jurisdiction of L City, so their skills were likely comparable.

Mr. Zheng had shown Teacher Yan her work, and he was extremely impressed with her. He was surprised to learn that she would be applying for high school this year.

"The girl is quite impressive! Not only is her writing good, but her academic performance is decent too. Have you thought about which high school you want to attend?"

"Naturally, it would be Y City’s only key high school, First High School. What about you? Do you think you can get my disciple into your L’s Experimental Middle School?"

Mr. Zheng was referring to the Experimental Middle School in L City, the best key high school, ranking in the top ten of H Province—a highly prestigious school.

Although Teacher Yan appreciated her, he truly didn’t know her overall abilities. Faced with Mr. Zheng’s question, this was his response.

"Brother Zheng, don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s wait for Yiyi’s exams and results. If the gap isn’t too significant, I will figure something out."

Mr. Zheng immediately beamed with joy, "Great, then I’ll have to trouble you, Brother Yan. My disciple is a poor child; we must help her however we can."

After nearly thirty hours of travel, they finally reached the provincial capital, where Mr. Yan’s son came to pick them up and also dropped Mr. Zheng and her back in Y City. The source of thɪs content is novel⟡fire.net

Oh yes, as I forgot to mention before, Y City is just a small county-level city, whereas L City is a national third-tier city and also a famous ancient capital of thirteen dynasties.

Thus, it’s normal that Y City is under L City.

Although both are cities, their statuses are worlds apart.

That evening, she ate at Mr. Zheng’s house, and after dinner, Uncle Zheng (Mr. Zheng’s son) sent her back to Wenlian.

Afterward, she dove into intense revision, not even having time to ponder whether she passed the competition or not.

Soon, July 7th and 8th arrived. While the others were dropped off by their parents, she rode her bicycle to school, left school on her own, found her own places to eat and rest, and after finishing one exam paper, moved on to the next. She had four exams in one day and her head ached from the stress.

But the two days passed quickly, and after the exams, she locked herself in her room and slept for a whole day.

Feeling much better, she immediately visited the old gentleman.

"How did the exams go?"

Yiyi modestly replied, "I performed steadily; getting into First High won’t be an issue."

"Oh, that’s excellent news! Yiyi is truly impressive. But we still haven’t received the final competition results. Let’s wait another two days. Come on, let’s continue practicing. Just because the exams are over doesn’t mean you should relax. As the saying goes, ’By reading a book hundred times, its meaning will appear,’ and the same goes for writing. The more you write and practice, the higher and further you’ll go."

After leaving Mr. Zheng’s house, she also visited a security firm and discovered her two thousand yuan had grown to over four thousand yuan. However, she wasn’t in a rush to sell since this bull market was expected to last at least until next year. She would see how things were by then. For now, with some cash on hand, she would let it stay in the account and see what happens.

After the middle school exams, the school was off, and all that was left was to wait for the results and notifications.

But she didn’t idle. In the evenings, she made gourmet food in her space, and the next morning, she was at the market selling pastries, pickles, twists, banana leaves, bread, and more. As long as conditions allowed, she made and sold them, so her liquid assets soon exceeded a thousand yuan—a result of hard effort after already saving two thousand yuan previously.

She also factored in her father’s pension and company salary. However, upon reflection, if she attended high school in Y City, she could still keep her job. If she went to L City for high school, she guessed she would have to resign. Fortunately, she now knew how to make money. Whether to keep the job wasn’t a big deal; what mattered was that she couldn’t board at school; that was crucial.

Yiyi, through her own efforts, sold goods at the market every morning and began preparing for high school courses in the afternoon. She strived so hard because she wanted to get into the highest educational institution in Hua Country someday. Only then would she truly have a claim to pride.

Now she could make seventy to eighty yuan in the mornings, and good days could earn over a hundred yuan. As time marched on to June 15th, she passed the re-exam in Shanghai. The final exam was scheduled for July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Her results from Beijing also came in, and, as the youngest contestant, she successfully won second prize in the event, with a prize of ten thousand yuan.