(eighteen)

In this life, there's no Lin Tingfeng to pay her tuition! She declined Lin Tingyue's invitation to the Lin family banquet. In this life, she doesn't know Lin Tingfeng, nor does she want to. Lin Tingfeng is like a giant sugar-coated bullet; the front is sweet, but the back is a terrifying shell that will shatter her into pieces, leaving her utterly ruined. Therefore, in this life, she must rely on herself to overcome this difficulty!

Ye Wenyu pulled her thoughts back from their flight, which had been drifting like a kite, and made up her mind. Relying on her memories from her previous life, she found the principal's office. She stood outside the principal's office, sweating profusely from her forehead and back because of the hot weather. The sun felt like fire. She kept encouraging herself, telling herself to muster up the courage to go to the principal. As the saying goes, you can't rely on yourself when you need help from others. In this world, only you can rely on yourself.

Just like in the previous life, the area outside the principal's office was an open space without any shelter. In the distance stood a camphor tree that was decades old, and cicadas lived in the tree, hysterically announcing to the world, "It's so hot! It's so hot!"

Beads of sweat the size of soybeans seeped from Ye Wenyu's forehead. She was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, mentally encouraged herself again, and then mustered her courage to take a step forward and knock on the principal's office door.

"Please come in—" came a dignified male voice.

Ye Wenyu took a deep breath, then mustered her courage and went inside. A middle-aged, obese, balding man looked up from behind his desk and glanced at Ye Wenyu expressionlessly.

Initially, the knocking was met with a businesslike, emotionless tone, but seeing that it was just a female student looking for him, he couldn't help but feel impatient. Who was he? So busy with work, how come just anyone could come looking for him and find him?

Ye Wenyu stopped in her tracks. In her previous life, as soon as she entered the principal's office, the chubby principal immediately stood up and greeted her warmly as if she were seeing a close relative. But in this life, the principal was expressionless, and his eyes even showed some annoyance. Perhaps it was because the weather was too hot, and there were a lot of people coming to him for help.

The reason why her attitude was so different in the two lives was because of Lin Tingfeng. In the previous life, Lin Tingfeng was her backer, and the principal gave him face, so he was very enthusiastic towards her. In this life, she did not know Lin Tingfeng, and Lin Tingfeng did not greet the principal. So, when she stood in front of the principal, she was just a poor girl who could not afford tuition. She was a freshman in college, without power or influence, without a backer, without a support system, without money, and without a family.

Ye Wenyu felt a pang of sadness; her courage, like sand slipping through her fingers, was constantly slipping away. She stood there silently, her heart pounding wildly with tension and pain, almost as if it would cramp.

Seeing a strange female student standing blankly in his office, not saying a word for a long time, the principal became even more displeased. The phone on his desk kept ringing, which made him even more irritable. He thought that no matter what, he had to reiterate to the security guard at the door that no random people should be allowed to come in! His time was precious and he couldn't afford to waste it, so he asked coldly, "Excuse me, do you have something to say?"

Ye Wenyu snapped out of her daze, abruptly raising her head. Seeing the principal's extremely impatient expression, she knew he no longer welcomed her. This was a rare opportunity, and time was of the essence. If she didn't make her request this time, she feared she would never have another chance to see the principal. Therefore, Ye Wenyu immediately calmed herself down. She cleared her throat and said respectfully to the principal, "Principal, I am a freshman majoring in finance. My name is Ye Wenyu. I heard that Q University offers tuition waivers, and I would like to apply. However, a sudden change in my family situation has occurred; my mother—"

Like someone participating in a 100-meter sprint in the cold, once she started talking, she talked non-stop, recounting the whole situation in one breath. She talked until her mouth was dry, she was out of breath, and she was drenched in sweat, her legs trembling.

But when she finished speaking and stood silently in front of the principal, hoping for his nod of agreement, the principal coldly said, "This matter is not under my jurisdiction. Go find the person in charge of this area in your economics department." Then he waved his hand, and a person who looked like a secretary walked in.

Ye Wenyu didn't know what the woman said to her. She only felt like a piece of wood, being pushed and turned around, then being pushed and swayed involuntarily, dizzily walking out of the principal's office. Then the woman who looked like a secretary said to her, "Student, go find the leader of your department. Each department has a student affairs office that is responsible for providing financial aid to students in need. However, I'm worried that it's too late for you to apply now, but you can still give it a try." After saying that, she waved her hand and disappeared.

Ye Wenyu could only say thank you to the air and then mustered her courage to walk towards their branch.

Upon arriving at the student affairs office of the branch campus, she had just stepped inside, intending to reiterate her family situation, when she heard a series of thumping footsteps. She hesitated, swallowing back the words she was about to say. Just then, there was another knock on the door. With a "Come in," a short, plump girl entered. She had fair skin and wore black-rimmed glasses. Behind her were two people carrying video cameras. A woman who looked like a reporter, holding a microphone, walked up to the office manager, handed him her business card, and said, "Hello, we are from S City TV Station. This girl—" She pointed to the short, plump girl with glasses. Ye Wenyu had somehow been pushed against the wall by an invisible force.

The female reporter pointed to the girl and said to the office manager, "This girl is a freshman majoring in finance. She's very unfortunate; her family was already struggling financially, and this year, her father was diagnosed with cancer. Her mother is a housewife, and her father can't even afford treatment to support her university education. She heard that your university has a policy of waiving tuition fees for freshmen, so she contacted us. We felt this matter deserved public attention, so we brought her along today during freshman registration. We want to do a report on university freshman enrollment—"

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