Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 155 - 55: College Entrance Examination

Chapter 155: Chapter 55: College Entrance Examination

Having a meal with Mrs. Tian is a very pleasant thing—the old lady introduced by Old Man Bai has the surname Tian, and she jokes about herself saying that it’s because of this surname, she has tilled fields all her life.

She is not what one could call a looker.

Her hair is kept short at ear-length for easy maintenance, and her skin is not fair, but rather shows the dark tan of long hours of farm work, mixed with a sickly, waxy pallor.

It’s apparent that even in her youth, she probably wasn’t considered a beauty.

Yet her laughter has a different kind of infectiousness.

It’s that hearty, slightly boisterous, and even, at times, somewhat indecorous laugh—her mouth opens wide, her head tilts back ever so gently, and sometimes you can even see her upper jaw.

Mrs. Tian is a talkative person.

Not to mention between good friends like Old Man Bai.

She can also chat with Tang Lingwu; the two can go from discussing their favorite milk tea to the latest styles in dresses.

She seems young at heart.

Upon hearing that Zheng Fa’s parents had passed away early, Mrs. Tian’s reaction was not like most people—instead of the condescending sympathy commonly shown by others, she said gently: "Things will get better from now on."

It’s just one sentence.

But Zheng Fa could sense the simple and sincere blessing within those words.

This old lady also has quite an appetite. At first, when Zheng Fa and the other two saw her order so much food, they thought she might be a wasteful person—only to find out that she can eat from start to finish.

Noticing the surprise from Zheng Fa and his friends.

Mrs. Tian laughed and said carelessly, "I used to do a lot of physical work, so I got accustomed to eating a lot... and now, every extra bite is a gain."

Old Man Bai’s smile slowly faded, a touch of worry appearing in his eyes.

"What exactly is the illness?"

"There’s something growing in my liver; it’s been cut out once, but it grew back," Mrs. Tian explained briefly, shrugging. "The doctors dare not treat it anymore, saying that at my age, there could be complications... I can’t very well bother them, right?"

Old Man Bai glanced at Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa nodded slightly.

He had already thought of several Spirit Talismans that might dispel the illness, though he would have to do more research in the Xuanwei Realm to be sure.

Mrs. Tian glanced at Old Man Bai and suddenly said, "Whether I live or die isn’t up to me to decide, but there is one thing I’d like to ask you to do."

"Hmm?"

"My mother..."

Old Man Bai was taken aback.

"Since I got this illness, the person who’s suffered the most isn’t me, it’s my mother... After I meet with you, I’ll have to go back and accompany her for her final days," Mrs. Tian spoke slowly. "I’m not worried about her retirement fund; I’ve saved a good sum for her, and with her pension and all, it should be enough. Just one thing—if you have the time, please visit her more often."

"...Okay."

Mrs. Tian gave a rueful smile, "I always thought that in my lifetime I’d see my mother off on her last journey, but now it seems she will have to see me off instead. I’m not really bothered by the thought of dying, but with my mother losing her husband and now a daughter, she’ll be all alone... I have no other relatives, so I can only ask a few friends for help."

Old Man Bai nodded gently.

"Let’s not talk about this anymore; it’s not good for the kids to hear about death," Mrs. Tian said with a smile, picking up her drink and speaking to Zheng Fa, "I heard you’ll be taking the college entrance exam soon?"

"Yes."

"Well then, I wish you success and high marks!"

Looking into Mrs. Tian’s eyes, brimming with laughter, Zheng Fa paused, then drained his cup in one gulp.

...

Sitting in the car, watching Mrs. Tian waving goodbye from the hotel entrance, Old Man Bai looked at Zheng Fa and asked:

"Do you think it’s possible?"

"We can give it a try."

Zheng Fa thought for a moment before answering.

Today, they hadn’t mentioned healing Mrs. Tian; firstly because it was their first meeting and she hadn’t considered such a possibility.

The second reason was even more important—

Admitting Mrs. Tian into the nursing home required stricter considerations than with Mrs. Ye.

The secret of cultivation could not be kept from Mrs. Tian; otherwise it would be difficult to utilize her talents.

"I asked you guys to come today to have a chat with her," Old Man Bai shared his thoughts, "I’ve considered the criteria you mentioned for recruiting staff to the nursing home, and I think there’s another aspect."

Zheng Fa looked at Old Man Bai.

"Compatibility of temperaments."

"..." Zheng Fa nodded.

This was indeed something he hadn’t thought of.

"A team, even if it’s full of good people, can run into trouble if their personalities don’t mesh well. We’re doing quite well at the moment," Old Man Bai shook his head. "If someone can’t get along with the others, it could ruin everything, so I wanted you to meet her first. What do you think?"

Zheng Fa thought about the various details of having a meal with Mrs. Tian and said with a smile, "So far, so good."

He finally understood why Old Man Bai had wanted him and Tang Lingwu to meet Mrs. Tian first.

Mainly, it was for them to see what kind of person Mrs. Tian was and whether she was easy to get along with.

"Right, she’s really a good person; otherwise, I wouldn’t have considered this," Old Man Bai agreed. "As for her professional ability, even though she’s not top-tier, she has led national-level projects. I don’t really understand her field, but she must be quite competent."

"Right."

"Lastly, about her character..." Old Man Bai paused for a while before slowly continuing, "Character is something I find the hardest to judge... Having lived so many years, the number of people whose character I truly trust?"

"Is merely one or two."

"...," Zheng Fa’s expression became more solemn upon hearing this.

"Everyone says mathematics is hard, but in my opinion, human nature is even harder."

...

Zheng Fa thought about Old Man Bai’s words on his way home.

Among the four Spirit Talismans he had planned to condense next, there would definitely be a spot for a medical class Spirit Talisman - even if he hadn’t run into Mrs. Tian, he would still need to condense such a talisman.

It was the cornerstone of maintaining the nursing home.

On the way back, Old Man Bai probably didn’t want to make Zheng Fa feel awkward, so he didn’t ask him for a favor again.

But in every word he spoke, he was pleading on behalf of Mrs. Tian.

Not to mention the value of Mrs. Tian as a person, just considering the relationship between her and Old Man Bai, the help he had provided her—even just looking at the Three Child Talismans laws that Old Man Bai stayed up all night for last month to make as a gift for him.

Zheng Fa was willing to lend a hand.

What made Zheng Fa reflect was Old Man Bai’s discourse on personal character.

Old Man Bai had seen a lot of people in his life, including many academic leaders, but character was indeed a tricky matter.

He recommended Mrs. Tian, on the one hand, certainly to give Mrs. Tian a chance to be healed.

But on the other hand, it was really because there was no one else to recommend.

Zheng Fa understood Old Man Bai’s caution—this was his responsibility towards their small group.

But on the other hand, he also understood that this shouldn’t all depend on Old Man Bai.

Zheng Fa must have some methods to test human nature or to prevent leaks.

"Illusion Talisman."

This was the first choice that came to his mind—after all, as the sole disciple of the Sect Leader, he was quite familiar with Illusion Talismans.

Now that he thought about it, among the remaining four Sub-talismans in the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method, two had already been decided—Healing Talisman and Illusion Talisman.

...

Three days after returning from the provincial city, the college entrance examination began.

Zheng Fa’s exam site was not at Qingshui High School but at Experimental Middle School.

This was a junior high school, not too far from Qingshui High School, just twenty minutes’ bus ride from his home.

On the morning of the first day of the college entrance exam, Zheng Fa, carrying a clear document bag with his admission ticket and stationery checked, boarded the bus to Experimental Middle School.

That day, the entire city seemed to make way for the college entrance examination.

The road in front of Qingshui High School was closed off.

Passing vehicles rarely honked their horns.

On the bus that Zheng Fa took, there were parents taking their children to the exam and students preparing for the college entrance exam.

The bus driver was quite considerate—playing an inspirational song throughout the journey.

However, Zheng Fa could clearly see that this made the expressions on the faces of the students on the bus even more tense.

When he arrived at Experimental Middle School, it was still not time to enter the examination room.

Zheng Fa stood at the school’s entrance with other examinees, waiting to go in.

Soon, he realized that he seemed rather conspicuous—other examinees all had parents accompanying them, whereas he stood alone with a document bag.

He appeared somewhat desolate.

Zheng Fa didn’t mind. There was a rather thin boy standing next to him, who seemed quite outgoing and, after giving Zheng Fa a couple of glances, suddenly asked him, "Dude, are you here by yourself?"

"Yeah."

"Where are your parents?"

"They’re not available," Zheng Fa replied indifferently.

"Your parents are really cool..." the boy seemed to envy Zheng Fa’s freedom, with a hint of showing off his pampered status, and said to Zheng Fa, "Not like my parents, who got up at five or six in the morning and have been fussing around since, more nervous than me... Look, even my grandparents came."

Zheng Fa looked in the direction the boy pointed, and sure enough, there were four adults constantly watching over here, nodding and smiling kindly at him as he looked back.

"Zheng Fa, why haven’t you replied to Tang Lingwu’s message in the group?"

While the two were chatting, a girl from Zheng Fa’s class passed by, apparently also about to take the exam at this school.

She called out to Zheng Fa as soon as she saw him.

"Message?" Zheng Fa was taken aback: "I didn’t bring my phone."

He found it inconvenient to have to surrender items in the exam room, so he brought nothing but examination supplies, not needing to contact anyone as he intended to head straight home after the exam.

"No phone?" The girl from Zheng Fa’s class said, "Then I’ll tell her you’re here."

After a while, Zheng Fa saw Tang Lingwu running over.

He had never seen Tang Lingwu like this before, as her school attire was quite ordinary.

Most of the time, it was regular T-shirts or shirts, sometimes the kind of uniform that was least popular with young boys and girls.

She mostly wore jeans on her lower body, and seldom wore skirts.

But today, Tang Lingwu wore a small cheongsam, her figure exquisitely accentuated, whether due to her natural assets or the fine tailoring of the dress.

Her arrival while running attracted quite a few glances.

The boy next to Zheng Fa couldn’t help but watch her the whole way, not drawing his gaze away until Tang Lingwu approached, when he then shyly looked away.

"I’m here to see you off to your exam!" Tang Lingwu came up close, smiled up at Zheng Fa, and even spun around on purpose, saying, "Look, it’s a successful start!"

Zheng Fa saw the boy glance at his own somewhat large escort group, then take a look at Tang Lingwu—as if he wanted to trade places.