Chapter 40 You Have a Good Son
Yet Xu Yi actually wanted to apply to MIT?
He had to admit Xu Yi\'s grades were indeed quite good, but applying to MIT was still far too fanciful.
St. Anna\'s High School was not exactly a prestigious school. It had become famous for its expensive tuition fees and aristocratic education, not for academic achievements.
While Xu Yi could rank at the top at St. Anna\'s High School, he would only be considered average among schools known for their academic excellence.
"You haven\'t fried your brain, have you? No one from St. Anna\'s has ever got into MIT," Hardy said, looking worriedly at Xu Yi.
"If no one has before, then I\'ll be the first," Xu Yi said calmly.
Had this been before, he certainly would have lacked the confidence, but now he felt he could give it a try, and the odds were in his favor.
[Scholar Entries, Current Progress: 90/100.]
He was only ten percentage points away from achieving the Scholar Entries!
With only a few days left before the exam, he planned to concentrate on unlocking the Scholar Entries first. With that in his grasp, he would stand a much better chance at the test.
Hardy could feel Xu Yi\'s determination and didn\'t try to dissuade him further, "Anyway, why insist on applying to MIT? Wouldn\'t it be great to apply to Cornell University with me?"
Hardy was also an outlier at St. Anna\'s, where most aristocratic students just came to pass the time.
But Hardy was passionate about learning, belonging to the group of top students—after all, Cornell University is one among the Ivy League schools.
"MIT\'s biology program is very famous, and I plan to major in biology," Xu Yi did not hide his intentions.
He had his reasons for choosing biology over more lucrative fields like computer science or economics.
First and foremost, it was because of the mysterious bloodstains on the shattered glass.
To research the effects of the bloodstain and explore the mysteries of the "Holy Descendant" golden entries, biology was naturally the first choice.
The world was a profound place, teeming with all sorts of bizarre creatures. Werewolves and vampires were no longer mythical; even three-year-old kids on the streets knew they existed for real.
What secrets were contained in werewolf cells, and how could vampires be immortal?
These were all questions worth exploring.
Others might find it difficult to make significant breakthroughs in biology, but he was different—with the system\'s assistance, he stood apart.
If he could someday gain entries like "Mad Biologist" or "Modern Orochimaru," then research the flesh and blood of various Supernatural Creatures, wouldn\'t that be a meteoric rise?
Xu Yi was always clear that money was just a tool to becoming stronger—the most important aspect was one\'s own power.
That\'s why the goal of his studies was also to enhance his own strength.
…
After school, as soon as Xu Yi stepped through the front door of his home, he was stopped by his father Xu Changrong.
"Dad, is something the matter?" Xu Yi asked, perplexed, looking at Xu Changrong, who seemed serious, as if there were an important issue at hand.
Could his father be experiencing a renaissance of youth and was about to embark on a twilight romance, now intending to tell him?
"I have something I want to discuss with you, the house next door, Aileen\'s, is going up for sale—do you think we should buy it?" Xu Changrong asked softly.
"How much is it?" Xu Yi breathed a sigh of relief—so long as it wasn\'t about finding him a stepmother, everything was negotiable.
"Twenty thousand US dollars, and if we negotiate a little, it could be even less."
"Twenty thousand?" Xu Yi was stunned for a moment, "As I recall, Aileen\'s house had two storefronts, right?"
Even though it\'s in Chinatown, where real estate isn\'t expensive, a house with two storefronts for less than twenty thousand is ridiculously cheap, isn\'t it?
That\'s practically a steal!
"Exactly, each storefront is about 30 square meters, so two would make it around sixty square meters. Since it\'s next to our place, if we knock down all the walls, we could have a large storefront of ninety square meters."
Xu Changrong had clearly already looked into the situation thoroughly.
"Dad, what do you plan to do with it?" asked Xu Yi.
"Our Xu Family Restaurant is too small, right? I\'m planning to expand the business. After some good renovation, with my cooking skills, I\'m sure to make a splash in Chinatown!"
There was a sparkle in Xu Changrong\'s eyes as he spoke about it.
Xu Yi suddenly felt a sense of pride for his father\'s entrepreneurial spirit, almost as if he was seeing the dragon rise before his eyes.
"That\'s great, I\'m all for it! It\'s just that I\'m a bit short on money right now, it might take a while," Xu Yi said. He hadn\'t received any money-making assignments recently and only had a few thousand dollars left.
"No! I didn\'t come to you for money, I have savings of my own, and with a bit of frugality, it should be nearly enough."
Xu Changrong leaned into Xu Yi\'s ear and lowered his voice, "What I want to know is, can we buy Aileen\'s house? They say she was killed by an evil spirit, and now that evil spirit is still wandering around the house!"
No wonder the price was so low; the story about the evil spirit had already spread!
A realization dawned on Xu Yi, but immediately new questions arose in his mind. Why was his father specifically asking for his opinion?
In his father\'s eyes, he was just a high school student whose main task was to study.
For such "big matters," not to mention seeking his opinion, his father probably wouldn\'t even discuss them with him.
What could cause such a big change in his father\'s attitude?
Xu Changrong also felt a bit awkward; it was the first time he had consulted his son about such an important matter.
Originally, he had planned to mull it over by himself, and chances were he wouldn\'t have bought the house, because after all, it was a haunted house, and he couldn\'t risk his life\'s savings on such a gamble.
He remembered what had happened a few hours earlier, it felt like a dream.
Though busy until two in the morning, he still opened up early for business—the food industry is tough like that. Fortunately, it was quiet in the afternoon, so there was time to rest.
Just as he opened the door, someone he never expected showed up.
Chen Feihe, the heavyweight of the Qinghe Society, a group that ranked within the top three among the many societies in Chinatown.
What was he doing at his little restaurant? Could it be that he had offended Chen Feihe unwittingly?
Xu Changrong was originally very nervous, but the other man\'s demeanor was very friendly, which reassured him.
After ordering a bowl of noodles and finishing his meal, Chen Feihe didn\'t leave. Instead, he struck up a conversation with Xu Changrong, offering cigarettes and praising his cooking skills.
Xu Changrong, who was naturally cheerful and straightforward, hit it off with Chen Feihe, who was deliberately trying to make friends. They drank and chatted so freely that they were almost ready to swear brotherhood!
Xu Changrong felt lightheaded.
How could a small restaurant owner like himself become chummy with a gang leader in just an hour or two? What had he done to deserve this?
It wasn\'t until they finished a bottle of liquor that Chen Feihe revealed his true intentions, pulling a newspaper from his pocket and sighing, "Old Xu, you\'ve got a good son!"