Chapter 1049: This Car Is Borrowed
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Pei Ziheng did not say anything more as he thought about the selection list—when she debuted in the future, she’d need an outstanding music composer, and maybe Feng Kun would be a good choice. But he needed to observe a little further first.
As for Li Bingman and Teacher Chen?
Very well, he’d remember them.
Xia Ling rested at home for a few days, learning about etiquette and meddling in the garden. When the official letter of selection came, she happily got Nanny Zhou to pack the luggage for her as she mentally prepared herself for the reporting. Nanny Zhou looked at the long packing list including a toothbrush, towel, slippers and so on as she hesitated to get packing. She decided to go to Pei Ziheng. “Mister, didn’t you say that Miss need not live in the dorm?”
Pei Ziheng glanced at the packing list. “Pack the luggage for her first. I’ve told the training school about it. When they’re done with the allocation of students into their dorms we’ll tell her that there aren’t enough beds. She’ll not be living in the dorm.” Through their interaction, he had realized that this little girl did not enjoy having privileges. As such, he would simply not let her know that she was enjoying privileges in the first place. Moreover… it was pretty embarra.s.sing to admit that he could not bear to have her live on campus.
Nanny Zhou nodded and went to pack Xia Ling’s luggage.
Xia Ling was overjoyed. She wrapped her arms around Nanny Zhou’s neck and planted a kiss on her. “Nanny Zhou is the best!”
Seeing this little girl’s bright smile lifted Nanny Zhou’s spirits. She stood at the entrance of the villa as she saw her off. As the car set off, she felt a strange sense of longing and missing her… maybe Mister felt the same too, having formed such an attachment with Miss over time.
Arriving at the training camp.
The sky was bright and the sun glowed.
All sorts of luxury cars were parked at the entrance of the training camp—BMW, Audi, Lamborghini… almost as if this was a branded car exhibition. Most people who could afford to send their children to such a camp were pretty wealthy. In order to conceal her ident.i.ty, Xia Ling arrived in a BMW of an ordinary model and did not appear outstanding at all in the midst of the others.
But a few girls in the final round were a little surprised—wasn’t Xia Ling a country b.u.mpkin? They were still mocking her for being a candidate from the Shabei district, and how she probably needed to apply for financial aid. Who would have guessed that she could afford to sit in a BMW!
“Pfft, she’s just trying to show off,” someone commented.
Although Xia Ling’s performance in the final round was extraordinary, and she had been awarded the Best Student of the Year, many still felt that she was simply a little more gifted than others. In terms of overall skill and performance, they still admired Li Bingman more. After all, Li Bingman’s family was renowned! She was the Diva’s sister! Would she even have any worry when she made her debut in the future?
Many of the trainees had already decided that they would suck up to Li Bingman, and naturally, that meant ostracizing Xia Ling.
One of the girls who arrived in a flamboyant outfit had her car parked beside Xia Ling’s, and both their BMWs were exactly the same model. She peered at Xia Ling who was a distance away and said to her father, “Dad, that girl is from Shabei, how could her family own such an expensive car? Our car cost a million yuan. Why don’t you go ask her if that’s really hers?”
Her father looked toward Xia Ling as well but said, “This is your first day here, there’s no point kicking a fuss over this. You’re all going to be cla.s.smates and you’ll find out eventually.”
“Hmph, who’s cla.s.smates with her?” The girl responded, “Dad, I already told you that I’m going to be on Li Bingman’s side during the training camp. Her sister is a Diva. If I’m her friend, I’ll stand to gain too when I make my debut. I’d better find more things to talk about with Li Bingman. That girl is Li Bingman’s nemesis. If I find out more about her, Li Bingman will definitely have a better impression of me.”
Her father wasn’t very willing to do as she said, but for his daughter’s future, he went ahead.
The chauffeur was busy helping Xia Ling with her luggage. As no parent or guardian was allowed to enter the premises, he had simply watched her disappear into the camp with her belongings.
“Hey buddy, sending your child?” The father walked over and offered the chauffeur a cigarette.
“I don’t smoke.” The chauffeur politely declined. “Mi… Xiao Ling isn’t my child.” He was about to address her “Miss”, but remembered how Xia Ling repeated time and again that she did not want her ident.i.ty exposed.
“Xiao Ling? What a nice name.” The father smiled. “I sent my daughter here. She’s Jiajia, they’ll all be cla.s.smates in the future. Oh right, what’s your relations.h.i.+p with her? Where are her parents? Why didn’t they bring her here on their own?”
The chauffeur was well-trained for this and would never disclose the Pei family’s secrets to outsiders. He simply smiled and kept quiet.
The father was not content. He tried asking again, “This car is maintained pretty well. Buddy, did you get this yourself? It’s the same model as mine over there. I got a little dent on mine last year and spent quite a bit on the maintenance.”
Like other men, it was hard not to be invested when talking about one’s beloved car.
The chauffeur smiled. “It’s a million yuan, how could I afford it? I borrowed it at the last minute. My own car is a little tattered, it isn’t suitable for sending Mi… Xiao Ling to camp.” He usually drove Pei Ziheng’s Rolls-Royce, while his own car was just an ordinary family model, and both were not suitable for such an event—the former was too expensive, the latter too cheap. Hence, they borrowed this BMW at the last minute from Secretary Zhou.
A hint of despise flashed past the father’s eyes.
He exchanged a few more words with the chauffeur before returning to his daughter. “You’re right, that girl from Shabei is a poor brat. This car was borrowed from elsewhere just to send her to camp today.”
His daughter scoffed. “A Shabei b.u.mpkin is a Shabei b.u.mpkin, indeed.”
With that, she got her luggage and walked into the camp premises with the crowd, satisfied with her find.
The head of the logistics department was Jiang Qin, a 30-odd-year-old lady. She was not in a good mood today and appeared in the office with a long face as she slammed the students’ particulars on the office desk.
“What’s with that temper? Who offended you?” Bao Xiuli, who was her friend and also the head of the performance department for this camp, asked with a smile.
Jiang Qin said, “Students nowadays are getting out of hand! I’ve no idea what reputation this person has that he could go to Princ.i.p.al Sha and request for the student to study off-campus!”
“Off-campus?” Bao Xiuli was surprised. “But no student in the history of this camp has ever been able to get away with staying on campus for training. Boss Mei’s daughter has asked for the same last year, but the Princ.i.p.al simply chuckled and rejected it. This student definitely isn’t going to get his or her way, what are you so angry about?”
Imperial Entertainment’s training camp had always required students to live in the dorm for the designated period, so as to facilitate management.
Living off-campus? They could only dream.
But Jiang Qin said, “This time is different. I don’t know what that student fed Princ.i.p.al Sha with, but he actually agreed to let her live off-campus! In fact, he didn’t just agree, he even reminded me time and again that I have to hide it from the girl herself. We are to tell her that there aren’t enough bed vacancies for her, so she has no choice but to live off-campus!”
“For real?” Bao Xiuli found it odd as well. “Did the Princ.i.p.al get drugged? Or is the girl his relative?”