“Hey, man up. Don’t tell me you have cold feet?Or you afraid your girlfriend will mind the intimacy?”
Lee Wei scoffed witnessing thesquirming Se Cai.
Egged on by Lee Wei’scondescension, Se Cai blurted out confidently, “I don’t have a girlfriend andwho said I’m afraid. Honey, let’s go!”
Se Cai regretted the moment thewords left his mouth.
Lee Wei was the ViceSuperintendent for the province station, even though he was just echoing herbut had he crossed the line calling her honey?
“Now, that’s more like it!”
Lee Wei smiled satisfactorily.
She adjusted the car seat andleaned back down. She continued, “Let’s go. Leave everything to me later, trynot to draw unnecessary attention and help me block the view of the camera.”
Se Cai was relieved that shedidn’t seem to take offense to him calling her honey.
Lee Wei should be a power workertype or she wouldn’t have become a vice superintendent at your young age. Shewouldn’t be petty enough to care about small things like that.
Se Cai convinced himself. Heslammed on the oil pedal and the car sped towards the northern side of thecounty.
There sat Blue Sky OnlineAddiction Rehabilitation School!
Blue Sky Rehab sat at the northernoutskirts of the county. It was far from other modern amenities, practicallyhidden in the middle of the jungle.
According to the school’s promoflyer, its secluded location decreased distraction and helped its students tofocus on their rehabilitation.
Se Cai parked the car and walkedto the school with Lee Wei.
From a distance away, he couldsee the school’s signboard, a giant banner hung between the pillars that decoratedthe school’s entrance.
“Is your child reluctant tostudy because of online game addiction? Blue Sky Rehab is here to solve yourproblem!” it read.
Furthermore, on the schoolcompound walls were the school’s promo posters. They featured before-and-aftershots of their students. The before shots all showed teens in sallowcomplexions and wiry frames. In the after shots though, they lined up in armyfatigues, flashing smiles that were usually reserved for toothpastecommercials.
If Se Cai was an actual parent,he would be appropriately impressed by now.
After all, which parent doesn’twant the best for their child? And this school presented an image that it wouldhelp accomplish that.
This was Lee Wei’s first timevisiting the school, she looked about curiously, adding, “This place lookspretty standard for an internet addiction school.”
Se Cai nodded, adding, “Thenumber of teen afflicted with internet addiction is on the rise in our countryand schools like these are earning higher and higher paychecks, the schoolneeds to look good to beat out the increasing compet.i.tors.”
Blue Sky Rehab was a famousschool of its kind. According to the tipper, its monthly fee could reach up to4000 RMB, higher than even international schools.
In other words, most of thestudents here were from good family background. The addiction started becausethere was a lack of parental supervision.
However, a small section of thestudents came from families whose parents needed to scrounge up an exorbitantamount of money each month for the fees, which was a pity.
At the end of the day, all theschool did was to suppress the addiction that would eventually exacerbate aftergraduation. The school had no intention of nipping the problem at its bud, itonly relied on so-called a military school style education to force out theresult to reap monthly fees. What happened after graduation was none of theirbusiness.
The rich could afford to wastesuch money but for the poor, it was heartbreaking.
All these information was given by themysterious tipper. They tried to trace the tipper but he or she used a publicphone and refused to leave his or her name and address. The person probablyfeared retribution from the school.
Viewed from outside the steelfence wall, they could see quite a fair amount of students playing badminton onthe field.
A female student swung her battoo strongly and her shuttlec.o.c.k flew over the wall and landed beside Se Cai.
The freckled girl ran to the fenceand waved at Se Cai.
“Uncle, please help me pick upthe ball!”
Se Cai realized with a startthat she was talking to him. He forgot he had an appearance of a middle-agedman.
He looked at the girl andsmiled. He bent down to take the shuttlec.o.c.k.
“There you go. Be more carefulnext time.”
Se Cai tossed the ball back overthe fence with a smile but after the girl departed, his face dimmed.
“What’s wrong?”
Lee Wei saw the change in hisexpression and she asked softly.
Instead of answering, Se Caiopened his hand to reveal a piece of neatly folded paper.
“Save me, but don’t tell theteachers, my parent’s phone number is 1862365548.”
“I want to go home because theinstructor likes to hit me, my mum’s number is 138531788.”
“My name is Lin Lin, aged 15. Myfather is Lee XX, phone number 1501553155, tell him to come save me!”
“15722153245, please call mymum. I’m scared.”
The piece of paper appeared tobe torn from an exercise book, and it was filled with students’ SOS messages.
Se Cai did a cursory count andthere was at least 30 of them.
“Is this place even a school?”
Se Cai cursed. His determinationto expose the school became firmer.
The school is a place forstudents to learn and grow but this Blue Sky Rehab obviously didn’t share thatphilosophy. The place was h.e.l.l on earth for these students!
Lee Wei said after a longsilence, “The fact that the parents are willing to send their children to thisschool is also a chilling thought.”
The pair of them had been standingat the gate for quite some time, and had attracted the attention of the admin.
“Hey! What are you two doinghere?”
A man in army uniform yelled rudelyas he sauntered over.
The man had a slicked back hairand a pot belly. It was someone Se Cai recognized, Security Manager Wong thatled the gang of ruffians to visit him at the hospital.
“Are you a teacher from this school?”
Lee Wei said hurriedly, likerepeating from a memorized script, her words kept tumbling out, “Our friendsrecommended us here. You see, we have a son that’s obsessed with online gamesand we’re at our wit’s end. Hopefully your school can help us.”
“Of course, please follow me. I’llgive you a tour of the school compound.”
The moment w.a.n.g heard the twowas potential customer, his tone became referentially immediately.
As mentioned above, the fees at thisplace was not cheap and the admin was given solicitor’s fee if they brought inbusiness.
“I am w.a.n.g, the school’ssecurity manager. Our school has been graded by the Ministry of Education as aprofessional reformation center. Currently, the school has more than 1000students, it is the best school in the whole Town Z and even Province X. Ia.s.sure you your child will receive the best education here!”
Manager w.a.n.g opened the schoolgate and waved Se Cai and Lee Wei in.
Se Cai was worried his coverwould be blown but Lee Wei’s technique was so good that he was unable to seethrough his disguise.
Lee Wei leaned on his hands,like an old married couple.
“Don’t panic, and cover for me.“
She whispered into Se Cai’sears.
Se Cai felt tickled by herbreath and he almost forgot why they were there.
With Se Cai blocking the view,she unzipped the side of her bag for a bit to allow the camera to poke through.The recording had officially started.
Manager w.a.n.g was too occupiedwith selling the school to notice what was happening behind him.
“Good afternoon, sir!”
Along the way, they met manyschool in blue and white striped school uniform that actively greeted Managerw.a.n.g.
The students’ discipline greatlyimpressed Se Cai. The atmosphere of the school was not one he expected, it waspeaceful and orderly.
If Se Cai hadn’t known better,he would definitely be tricked by the show that was put on.
“This is our school’s facultybuilding. All our teachers are retired military men. Using military training,the faculty is able to bond with the students while ensuring their utmostdiscipline…”
Manager w.a.n.g kept on praisingthe school and since it would make for good footage, the pair didn’t interject.
“Err, Manager w.a.n.g, since allthe teachers are retired military personnel… What about the non-physicalcla.s.ses like math and science? Do the teachers have teaching certificate?”
Lee Wei found a flaw in Managerw.a.n.g’s pompous speech. This was after all a school, not a military camp. Theteachers could tackle physical education but who would be responsible to teachthe more technical subjects?
“This…”
Manager w.a.n.g stammered, this wasthe first time someone had asked him such a professional question.
After some time, he floundered, “Sincethey’re teachers, I’m sure they can teach those subjects as well as physicaled.”
“I suppose you have a point. Afterall, our son is only 8 years old. He wouldn’t be able to focus with hisinternet addiction anyway. The only thing he talks about is LOL!”
Lee Wei smiled and said, “speakingof which, do you mind if we inspect some of the cla.s.ses?”
“Of course, please follow me!”
Manager Wong led them to acla.s.sroom on the first floor. It was math cla.s.s.
The teacher was wearing the sameuniform as Manager Wong but instead of using books and blackboard, the cla.s.swas watching an educational film.
“Overcome yourself, held strongand believe in yourself!”
The moment the teacher raisedhis hands, the students launched into a rehea.r.s.ed act.
“Choosing Blue Sky is choosingquality! Choosing Blue Sky is choosing change! Choosing Blue Sky is choosinggrowth!”
The students yelled out in aclear voice complete with synchronized hand gestures.
The teacher noddedsatisfactorily. He said, “Alright, our next cla.s.s will be physical training.Anyone here didn’t finish their daily morning 800 meters run? Raise your hand!”
The originally slightly rowdycla.s.sroom went quiet instantly. Every student appeared to be frozen to theirspot.