Study System: I'm a 38-Year-Old Student-Chapter 159 - 117: Reward Limit! Old Shen Hits the Jackpot!
Wang Zhixin just felt dizzy and lightheaded, cursing wildly in his heart:
Our student Shen Qiushan??
Now he’s suddenly "our student," huh!
Just a moment ago they were all saying it was only a visiting status!
Still, with both the education bureau and Sanjiang High School issuing congratulatory messages, this obviously can’t be fake.
Wang Zhixin leaned back in his chair; originally, since today was Gaokao results release day, he was hoping to ride one last wave of traffic!
But now it’s like he just got his face slapped swollen!
Shen Family.
At this moment, the living room was already packed with people.
Besides the journalists Zhou Ruolin and Xu Fang, there were also admissions reps from Qingbei and Sanjiang University—three top schools altogether.
The admissions folks from these top three universities run into each other every year fighting over top students, so they’ve gotten to know each other too.
Especially those of Qingbei—they’re sworn enemies.
Zhao Kainan from Peking University was the first to inform Shen Qiushan he’d topped Sanjiang Province, and the first to arrive at the Shen Family home, so he figured his chances of successfully recruiting him were better.
The admissions teacher from Qinghua, Liu Junqiang, was also head of the Sanjiang Province admissions team—but since Qinghua’s liberal arts programs are a bit weaker than Peking University’s, he wasn’t feeling too confident facing Zhao Kainan this time around.
Sanjiang University’s representative had the highest rank—the vice principal and admissions director, Liu Hongyu, came in person to the Shen Family home.
Although Liu Hongyu was just a regular vice principal, not the executive one, he was in charge of admissions and logistics at the university, so had quite a bit of clout.
By this time, Shen Qiushan had already finished talking with Zhao Kainan and Liu Junqiang.
The offers from the two schools were basically the same: a 100,000 yuan scholarship, plus all tuition and fees waived, and choice of any major.
When dealing with provincial highest scorers, the perks from both schools are nearly identical. Only if the candidate has other standout achievements do they tweak the offers a bit.
But given that Shen Qiushan was an older top scorer, both universities admitted it was mostly symbolic.
Because since the Gaokao resumed, Shen Qiushan is the oldest top scorer ever—it’s basically certain nobody else will break that record.
So, whenever the topic of "who was the oldest Gaokao top scorer" comes up, you can’t avoid talking about Shen Qiushan.
And then a new question would naturally follow: which university did Shen Qiushan, the oldest top scorer, end up attending?
This, essentially, was why Qingbei wanted so badly to recruit this mature student.
As for whether he would go on to bring honor or fame to the school like the younger students—they honestly didn’t have much hope there.
Shen Qiushan is already 38 years old, would be graduating in his forties; how could you expect him to chase after a career or academia like a youth?
Way too unrealistic!
So to both schools, Shen Qiushan was more like a "mascot"!
That’s why both schools offered very standard conditions—no real difference from what a regular top scorer would get.
The last one to arrive at Shen Qiushan’s house was actually Liu Hongyu from local Sanjiang.
The reason he was later than Zhao Kainan and Liu Junqiang is that those two are themselves the heads of Sanjiang Province admissions groups.
When they got the results, they were already waiting in Sanjiang City center.
Because, based on past experience, Sanjiang Province’s Gaokao top scorer always comes from Sanjiang City.
So as soon as they got the results, they could immediately contact Shen Qiushan and arrive at his house.
Liu Hongyu, though, had to come over from Sanjiang University. As mentioned before, Shen Qiushan’s home and Sanjiang University are on opposite ends of the city—a one and a half to two hour drive.
So, Liu Hongyu ended up a bit late.
But for Shen Qiushan, his timing was just right—just in time for him to see both Zhao Kainan and Liu Junqiang present, and thus feel a healthy dose of competition.
Since there were so many family members present,
Shen Qiushan had been taking each school’s rep individually into Shen Yixiao’s room to chat.
Now, Shen Qiushan invited Liu Hongyu into the room.
"Principal Liu, you can see both Qingbei folks are here, so let’s just get straight to the point!"
Once seated, Shen Qiushan cut right to the chase.
"Xiaoshen, I watched your first ever interview."
"I remember you said back then you wanted to take our university’s entrance exam—now you can finally make that dream come true easily!"
Liu Hongyu’s opening was quite clever—he was politely nudging Shen Qiushan to "stay true to his original intention."
After all, Shen Qiushan himself had said before that he wanted to get into Sanjiang University!
Shen Qiushan was having none of it, laughing out loud: "Back in that interview, I thought getting into Sanjiang University would be tough enough."
"Who knew my potential was so great, that I’d accidentally become the provincial liberal arts top scorer."
"Now I have way more options than I imagined..."
After hearing that, Liu Hongyu just shook his head and, inwardly, was roasting him: Older students really aren’t easy to dupe!
Younger high schoolers usually get hyped up after just a couple of words.
But Liu Hongyu had come well-prepared; for this high-achieving older student, he was determined to win! 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
"We can offer a 200,000 yuan scholarship, full tuition and fees waived, and you can choose any major—including all STEM fields."
"Also, besides the dorm room, after admission, we can give you a teacher’s apartment as well."
Liu Hongyu laid all his cards on the table.
As a veteran, he knew roughly what Qingbei would be offering.
They’d most likely offer 100,000 yuan—everything else about the same.
So, he just doubled the scholarship right off the bat!
Went for a complete win!
But he also understood that just 100,000 more in scholarship might not be enough. So he added: "As far as I know, your kids are also interested in applying to our university."
"If you come to our school, I’ll do what I can to make things easier for them too, assuming their scores are within ten points of the cutoff."
Compared to scholarships and waiving tuition, this bit at the end was the most tempting to Shen Qiushan.
Because his daughter might just miss the cutoff by around ten points.
"Principal Liu, can I ask something unrelated?"
"How long does your university keep student records on file?"
Shen Qiushan didn’t respond right away, instead tossing out a seemingly random question.
Liu Hongyu was momentarily startled; he hadn’t expected such an odd question.
After thinking a bit, he replied, "Once students graduate, their files are transferred—to the household registry office, the talent center, or an employer."
"So what if they don’t graduate?"
Shen Qiushan pressed on.
"In that case, the files stay at the university."
"What I mean is, say a student dropped out many years ago—could their files still be found at your university?"
"How many years is ’many years’?"
Liu Hongyu eyed Shen Qiushan curiously. Asking this kind of question clearly meant he wanted to track down a former student’s record.
"Eighteen or nineteen years ago."
"I’d have to check, but, since I’m in charge of logistics and the archives are under me, it should be easy to look up."
Though he didn’t know exactly what Shen Qiushan was after, Liu Hongyu sensed this must be important to him.
He said right away: "If you come to our school, that won’t be a problem."
"Any records you want to consult—as long as it’s not some classified file, I’ll help!"
Shen Qiushan nodded. "One last question."
"If you find the dropout’s records, could you issue her a graduation certificate when I graduate?"
"Uh..."
Liu Hongyu frowned. Researching old files was one thing, but issuing a graduation certificate to a dropout—that’d go against policy and count as a violation!
"Principal Liu, that student has already passed away."
"So, what I really want is the symbolic value of a graduation certificate."
Seeing Liu Hongyu hesitate, Shen Qiushan explained quietly.
"Passed away?"
Liu Hongyu had worked at Sanjiang University for more than a decade; over the years, a handful of students had passed away before graduating.
Now that Shen Qiushan was making this request, it was obvious he knew one of them.
But if they were to issue a diploma for a deceased student—
That could actually work; as Shen Qiushan said, at that point it’s just symbolic.
Not like they’re forging a student record or issuing a fake diploma.
"That shouldn’t be a problem!"
"It’s really just printing an extra diploma, after all!"
Liu Hongyu nodded, essentially agreeing.
"Alright!"
"I’ll be relying on your support, Principal Liu, from now on!"
Shen Qiushan stood and extended his right hand proactively.
"Huh?"
"You’re saying you agree to enroll at our university?"
The sudden twist caught Liu Hongyu flatfooted with happiness.
He thought Shen Qiushan was still going to weigh his options some more!
After all, besides Qingbei, there’s Fudan, Nanda, University of Science and Technology of China, and others.
"Didn’t Principal Liu just remind me?"
"I said in my interview that I’d apply to Sanjiang University, remember?"
"Of course I’m sticking to my original intent!"
Shen Qiushan smiled, shrugged, then asked, "Everything we discussed just now—we’ll get it in writing, right?"
"Absolutely!"
Liu Hongyu grinned broadly. "But after the contract’s signed, when you fill out your university preference form, you aren’t allowed to list any other school!"
No matter if it’s Qingbei or another university, after negotiating terms with top-scoring students, they all have them sign contracts—just to make sure they don’t back out.
"No problem!"
Shen Qiushan never intended to apply to Qingbei in the first place.
Even if Sanjiang University gave him nothing special, he still would’ve applied there.
He’d already promised his late wife Lin Chuxue when visiting her grave—he’d attend Sanjiang University and finish the degree she couldn’t complete.
A man’s word is his bond; no backing out once it’s said!
Especially since the one he promised is already gone!
The two of them came out of the room.
The time was just turning to exactly noon sharp.
The Gaokao results were officially released.
Sitting impatiently at the computer, Shen Yixiao couldn’t wait to click open the "Sanjiang Provincial Education Examination Network."
But right as he entered his candidate number, the page went totally white.
Kao!
The website crashed!
Shen Yixiao swore under his breath.
And just then, that long-unheard system notification popped up in Shen Qiushan’s mind.
Ding!
Congratulations to the host for defeating 400,000 contestants in the Gaokao math exam!
Earned Scholar Index: 1,000,000 points!
(Note: Maximum Scholar Index achievable in a single exam is 1,000,000 points)
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