CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER 38: EXPULSION CRISIS

"Failing French means being held back or expelled?" Su Ziceng has just started school and has no grade to be held back, so expulsion seems to be the only option.

Never considered a top student, Su Ziceng never thought she would be forced to withdraw. Su Ziceng might not be academic material, but with the help of "inside information," she always just barely passed her finals, occasionally even receiving good marks. Her overall grades were always slightly below average. She scored just enough on her college entrance exam to scrape into a third-tier college; who would have thought she would be facing expulsion in university?

"I said it before, Kelly Women’s College isn’t a university." Yan Wuxu, with Miss Lin’s words still in mind, felt a bit anxious herself. Her English foundation was decent, and she had more or less learned about six or seven French phonetic sounds after the twenty-six letters. Next, she needed to start learning about genders and specific grammatical terms.

Su Ziceng’s wails interrupted Yan Wuxu’s rapid learning plan, "If Kelly isn’t a university, what is it doing so close to Daoquan University? Why does its name include the word ’school’? Could the fortune teller have been right? Am I really not going to live past twenty-five? If I stay any longer in Kelly Women’s College, I’m afraid I won’t survive to eighteen. One month, what can I do in a month? Can I eat French for food?" The only two teaching buildings at Kelly Women’s College echoed with her cries.

"Ignorant," Wen Maixue snorted with a smile, mocking with a smile on her face, "French is the second official language of the United Nations after English and is mostly used for social interaction in international settings."

"Sounds nicer than it is," Su Ziceng retorted with a short nasal hum, "it’s not like you have to learn it; your courses don’t even include French."

A string of trilled sounds penetrated Su Ziceng’s ears. "I could recite Baudelaire’s original poems by heart when I was five. All the courses on your timetable like posture, etiquette, horse riding, tea ceremony, poetry appreciation, flower arranging, abacus, and so on, I have already learned long ago."

Listening to the continuous list of courses from Wen Maixue, envy flashed in Yan Wuxu’s eyes: "Miss Wen Maixue is indeed very impressive."

"What’s so great? It was all arranged by others," Su Ziceng couldn’t help feeling a surge of fury upon hearing Wen Maixue’s sense of superiority and was not going to let it slide.

"What’s bad about that?" Yan Wuxu stammered, Wen Maixue’s world was exactly what she aspired for. Born into the best family, receiving the best education every day, wearing the most luxurious clothes, having meticulous hairstyles, and always a trim figure.

"What’s there to envy? She was born to be managed by others. How many grains of rice she eats a day, how many hours she sleeps, how many years she studies, when to get married, when to have children, even her smiles are customized," Su Ziceng said breathlessly in one go.

Wen Maixue, unfazed, simply looked on. In her eyes, Su Ziceng was just a wild, uncultured nouveau riche. She decided to save even the scoff, leaving them with only an elegant back. But Su Ziceng’s words drilled into her brain, causing her footsteps to tremble slightly.

In the teaching building, the spiraling staircase descended endlessly into the abyss. Upstairs, Yan Wuxu was still blaming Su Ziceng for not asking for tips on learning French and for offending Wen Maixue.

On the stairs, Wen Maixue took the final step. Just as she was about to touch the ground, a loud crash sounded, and she fell.

The two people upstairs were startled, and when they ran down, there was no one on the stairs; it was empty. Only the echo of the crash seemed to linger in the corridor. Deep down, Su Ziceng felt somewhat guilty. What she actually wanted to say was that at one point in time, her own life was arranged by others, which is why she had thoughtlessly vented all her frustrations.

When she saw Wen Maixue again, she would surely have reverted to being the untouchable noble young lady—the loud crash would eventually disappear amongst the rows of mahogany staircases.

At lunch the next day, in the cafeteria of Kelly Women’s College, Su Ziceng finally saw what normal student meals looked like and met the "repeat students" mentioned by Yan Wuxu.

The repeat students of Kelly Women’s College constituted the most spectacular sight that Su Ziceng had seen since her enrollment, with ages ranging from eighteen to forty-eight. It was said that the oldest repeat student was studying together with her daughter. Kelly Women’s College employed a dismissal system. Out of fifty freshmen, ten students would be sequentially dismissed during the French language course at the initial phase; these ten students would be directly expelled. In the second and third academic years, the school would conduct another assessment, eliminating additional students who could choose to repeat the sophomore courses or transfer to Quan University. Only those who pass the final graduation assessment in their fourth year would officially obtain a diploma from Kelly Women’s College. Generally, no more than twenty students graduate in the end.

"Now you understand why the number of students enrolled at Kelly doesn’t correspond with the number of students admitted," Yan Wuxu especially loved to talk about the various historical aspects of Kelly. Therefore, although Kelly only admits fifty new students each year, there are consistently no less than five hundred students studying on campus for extended periods.

"Just why, when failing to pass, one could transfer to Quan University, are there still so many choosing to stay at Kelly Women’s College?" This was what Su Ziceng couldn’t comprehend; if she didn’t qualify, she would immediately request a transfer to Quan University.

"Have you ever visited the teachers’ apartments at Kelly Women’s College?" Yan Wuxu found another topic of conversation. She was never stingy about anything other than money. "Kelly has more than a hundred teachers, many of whom are part-time teachers who are senior students. Many students, unable to pass the assessments, opt to specialize in one subject. Even if they don’t graduate from Kelly, the experience they gain here can help them get a respectable job. Moreover," Yan Wuxu’s voice unconsciously softened, "most of those unqualified students come from wealthy families; they never worry about livelihood or clothing and aren’t in a hurry to graduate even if they are to be married."

"I think not. Those people are probably bored out of their minds and just want somewhere to go every day," Su Ziceng thought to herself that most of her past life had been like that—regularly going to beauty salons, fitness centers, not for anything else, but to wake up to fewer scandals about Hang Yishao, fewer reprimands from Su Qingzhang, and fewer brown-nosing faces of the Chang Chi mother and daughter.

Her gaze fell upon the lawn in the distance, where the mother-daughter pair from Kelly Women’s College was sitting. The daughter appeared to be in her early twenties, holding a pink rose-colored schedule, while her mother, probably in her forties, was also holding a pink schedule. The two snuggled together, discussing the new courses for the semester, with no hint of estrangement, showing a warm intimacy.

"Forget it, at least I know of big French brands like Louis Vuitton and Chanel. French vocabulary isn’t that hard," Su Ziceng had intended to contact Qiu Zhi to inquire about the latest conditions at He Daoquan University. But, thinking about the exam next month, she instead dutifully discussed with Yan Wuxu how to arrange the courses on her schedule.

After consideration, Su Ziceng decided to specialize in French for the next month, which she designated as French Month. However, within the remaining time of less than a month, could she really break free from the surrounding siege of those damn guttural r’s?

Hearing Su Ziceng’s arrangements, Yan Wuxu echoed in agreement. She was not worried about the French exam; with her foundation and "his" assistance, everything will fall into place. With these thoughts, Yan Wuxu smiled sweetly.