Translator: Fringe Capybara

Chapter 67 - Scholarship and Dinner (1)

They walked further down their path and Zhao Wan noticed that Chi Ying was no longer the center of attention. All of the students who were junior to them who had been following them stealthily suddenly rushed ahead of them. 

She was curious. “Was there some sort of announcement on the bulletin board ahead of us? Why were there so many people surrounding it?”

Chi Ying and Zhao Wan exchanged a look and said at the same time, “Let’s go take a look.”

The students who were crowded in front of the bulletin board noticed that Chi Ying was there and all parted ways for her and quieted down. Zhao Wan, holding Chi Ying by her hand, quickly saw the content of the announcement. 

Zhao Wan read it out loud, “Star of Oushi scholarship? $20,000 for third place, $30,000 for second place, and $50,000 for first place. Oh my gosh! Even third place gets $20,000… that’s more than the national scholarship. I can’t believe it!”

A young girl on one side said to Zhao Wan, “Oh, you haven’t seen it all.”

Zhao Wan was curious. “Oh? What is it?”

“Look at the fine print there. Special bonus for first place – dinner with Lu JingYan.”

Zhao Wan, “!!!”

Chi Ying, “……”

The girls signed in regret. “Having dinner with Lu JingYan meant being able to exchange contact information with Lu JingYan. Exchanging contact information with Lu JingYan meant being accepted immediately into his friends’ circle… Had I known earlier, I would have studied a lot harder.”

Zhao Wan patted Chi Ying on her shoulder and said to the girl. “That’s alright. This opportunity would be taken up by this weirdo who scored in the 95 points range.”

Chi Ying whispered into Zhao Wan’s ear, “WanWan, you are actually a black fan of mine?”

After Chi Ying and Zhao Wan had walked away, the crowed that had been super quiet livened up all over again. 

“OOOOOOH, the school flower was for real. She’s so gorgeous!”

“Did you see her skin? And she looks so kind and tender. It wasn’t all just rumors!”

“The girl that was with her was pretty too! All of them in the Performing Department are gorgeous.”

“I think I am going to die. Somebody, please help.”

“……”

“I always get the misimpression that I am a big star when I walk next to you,” said Zhao Wan as she perked up her ears and listened to all the walking from the crowd. She covered her face up in excitement and asked, “Ying, you are going to apply for the scholarship, right?”

“Probably not,” replied Chi Ying calmly. 

“Even if you can’t meet with Lu JingYan, you can at least get $20,000. I have never seen you frowned upon money like this,” said Zhao Wan as she rocked Chi Ying’s arm back and forth. “Besides, I had already trash talked for you. It won’t hurt if you just put in your application, right?”

Chi Ying didn’t even have a chance to respond to her before her phone buzzed inside the pocket of her down jacket. 

It was a text from her class instructor. “Chi Ying, I have already recommended you as a candidate for the Oushi scholarship and sent you the application via Wechat. This is a rare opportunity and you should put some work toward it and preferably win one of the three prizes and make us proud.”

***

Chi Ying quickly submitted her application and related documents. 

The film academy was very well known and there were a lot of different scholarships being offered. None of them, however, offered an amount as high as Oushi’s ones. 

Chi Ying knew that the Chi’s haven’t been doing late and she did, in fact, need money. At the very minimum, she could earn her living expenses and alleviate Chi Yu and Chi YanQing of some of their burdens.

A few days later, she made it through the initial screening successfully. 

The next part was the Q&A section for the scholarship. Chi Ying, as a student of the Performing Department, both the way she carried herself and her pronunciation were very up to par. That, in addition to her outstanding performance in the graduation play, had earned her the unanimous approval from the judges.