The autumn night breeze was particularly gentle, dispelling the summer heat, with a coolness that permeated the skin.
Sheng Tang wasn't asleep.
She rummaged through her room and found a document labeled with the "Jiali Garden Group".
She looked it up online and found that Jiali Garden was a listed snacks company, known for its candies, sachima, chocolates, and jellies.
"We have such snack companies over there too, like Xu Fuji. Is Jiali Garden as big as Xu Fuji?" she muttered.
This should be the company that her father referred to when he mentioned her "grandfather's" business.
Sheng Tang researched further.
Jiali Garden was a company founded by the current chairman Sheng Yi. It has been established for more than twenty years and is one of the top 500 private enterprises in the nation.
Sheng Yi has two sons, the eldest, Sheng Siyu, who serves as the general manager of Jiali Garden Group, and the second son, Sheng Siming, who serves as the financial director.
Sheng Tang read a lot of gossip about the Sheng Family, but none mentioned her father, Sheng Sidong.
"...It seems that father is an illegitimate child," Sheng Tang thought, "It's quite good actually, our family is very happy now. Being too rich may not be as warm and cozy."
She clarified her own identity.
She also made a plan for herself.
First, she needed to improve her grades. Sheng Tang used to have good grades and exceptional memory when she was studying, and being young, she could quickly catch up with her studies.
Second, she needed to lose weight.
"I need to find a professional coach."
She used to work out frequently, but mostly boxing or running.
Sheng Tang had never been on a diet. She always managed her weight, never getting fat.
Even though she had no experience, she knew the basics. Aerobic exercises like running burn fat slowly. She was too overweight, running for a few days might wear out her knee joints before losing any fat, making it counterproductive.
Anaerobic exercises can quickly burn fat, but she didn't know how to use the fitness equipment and could injure herself without professional guidance.
However, professional trainers are expensive, with online rates generally being two to three hundred per session.
"Losing weight too fast would be unhealthy. In my situation, the best is to lose six pounds per month. To reduce to a hundred pounds, losing around fifty pounds, would take at least eight months." She calculated the cost.
Training three times a week, even at the cheapest, cost nearly more than twenty thousand.
"How much does dad earn? Does he still have to pay the mortgage? Mom's salary surely isn't high, and there's still my younger brother and grandma at home." Sheng Tang scratched her head.
Once upon a time, twenty thousand wasn't enough for a single meal for her, but now she had no idea where to gather such a large sum.
"What should I do?" She was at a loss.
Sheng Tang had never felt so anxious. She lacked money in the past too, but it was never a large amount; saving here and there used to be enough.
Where could she save now?
Carrying such worry, she barely slept the entire night.
The next morning, the dawn was misty.
With a headache from the sleepless night, Sheng Tang arrived at school at 7:30 a.m. for the morning self-study session.
Today's self-study session was for English.
Back then, Sheng Tang had practiced English rigorously to break into the international film industry.
She was naturally talented in languages and had taken a two-year break from acting to immerse herself in the environment, living in Los Angeles. She either attended classes or socialized.
After returning two years later, her new film achieved the third highest total box office in Chinese film history and the first of the year, adding a legendary touch to her learning journey.
To this day, she could speak very fluent American English.
In the early reading class, she read while being absent-minded, and eventually fell asleep when she couldn't hold on any longer.
Then, someone woke her up.
The English teacher stood in front of her.
The English teacher of Class 1, Grade 2 was a male teacher.
The teacher dressed casually, wore gold-rimmed glasses, had a face without many wrinkles, and bright, deep eyes. Only his half-gray hair betrayed his age.
He was in his early fifties, grew up in the United States, and spent his career in education, having translated many Chinese novels and was quite famous.
Huishi High School had hired him at a high price.
He was always very patient with students, even those who seemed hopeless.
He pointed to Sheng Tang's book, "Can you read this page?"
The book had traces of Sheng Tang's saliva.
She had flipped it open randomly in her haze of sleepiness. She quickly wiped off the saliva and touched her own mouth embarrassedly, then stood up voluntarily.
She didn't feel comfortable sitting while answering the teacher's question.
With her standing up, all the other students struggling in their early reading stopped and looked over.
Sheng Tang glanced at the book and nodded, "I can read it."
The teacher smiled, "Then read it aloud to wake everyone up."
The teacher remembered that Sheng Tang wasn't good at English, it was the subject that lagged the most.
"It is the summer of ..." Sheng Tang cleared her throat and began to read.
Her voice wasn't loud, but almost all the students in the class could hear her.
Her pronunciation was very American, with every sound standard. Although the five-line sentence was not short, she read it fluently without any stuttering.
Jiang Baocu, sitting next to her, was so shocked that his pen dropped to the ground.
Feng Yijin, sitting diagonally behind her, almost popped his eyes out in surprise.
The English teacher also heard.
He was very satisfied and continued in English, "You haven't studied this part yet. Did you prepare in advance?"
"Yes," Sheng Tang answered in English.
"Why prepare in advance? It's not necessary to put in such hard work."
"I want my classmates to see me in a new light," Sheng Tang said, "and I also want the teacher to value me, so I can get good grades at the end of the term. I'm in my second year of high school, the college entrance exam isn't far away, so I want to take it seriously."
The English teacher was deeply shocked.
If she had prepared the book in advance, then such a long, fluent conversation reflected her true level of English.
It was as if she had lived in the United States, expressing herself with a sense of the language rather than mechanically translating.
"Very good, you've prepared well." The English teacher gestured for her to sit down.
He knew that quite a few students in Huishi were preparing for IELTS or TOEFL, ready to study abroad after graduating high school, and many had good English.
But being this fluent was rare.
Thinking this, he returned to his office.
He had a private office, where he took out previous test papers from the filing cabinet.
He had been the English teacher for Class 1 since the first year of high school.
Sheng Tang's English was a complete mess, up until the final exam last term.
"Can one improve this much over a summer?" he wondered, "It's unlikely unless she's a genius!"
Filled with suspicion, the English teacher went to the class teacher to discuss Sheng Tang's case.
Unexpectedly, after he finished talking, the class teacher also furrowed his brows in thought.
"...Yesterday in my class, her performance was even more exceptional. If I'm not mistaken, she memorized the entire Chinese textbook," the class teacher said, "Let's keep observing. Maybe she's just putting on a show and will soon reveal her shortcomings."
"No, in English, she won't show any weakness," the English teacher said, "I want to make her the English class representative. The current representative failed the last mock test and isn't setting a good example."
The class teacher was taken aback.