Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The results arrived two weeks after the exam.
Reading: 30. Listening: 30. Speaking: 29. Writing: 29. 118 marks total.
I didn’t get full marks?
1 mark off for writing is understandable but speaking…
Lu Zhou was curious about what made him lose that 1 mark for the speaking session.
However, it did not matter that much, as a 118 TOEFL was already insanely high given that most universities required only 100. If he wanted to study abroad for his master’s, he could definitely use this as a qualification.
The day after he received the transcript from TOEFL, Lu Zhou received an email from the embassy to inform him to go sign a contract.
Lu Zhou sat on the train to Shanghai with his identification documents.
Speaking of which, it was his first time going to Shanghai.
He booked a hotel room near the embassy and stayed the night.
The next morning, Lu Zhou took his documents and went to the embassy.
As it was a peak holiday month, the building was packed with people, and there were people lining up on the street. There were white-collar workers, families who were planning for trips, and students who were traveling abroad for summer camps.
Lu Zhou waited in line for the entire morning. He got some lunch before he finally squeezed into the building in the afternoon.
However, when he got into the building, he realized that there was an even longer line inside…
…
Getting a visa was torturous.
Lu Zhou could not play on his phone, and he did not have any friends around. All he could do was to look around at girls to pass the time.
Suddenly, he heard from a man and a woman who were behind him discussing studying abroad. Even though Lu Zhou was not particularly interested, with how loud the guy was speaking, Lu Zhou was able to hear him.
The guy was tall and thin, and he was probably an international student.
The girl standing next to him was probably his girlfriend who was staying in China.
The guy spoke with a sense of superiority and arrogance.
“… While I was studying in Virginia, I realized that you become the environment around you. Universities’ environment in China is trash, so you’ll become trash. When you come to America, I’ll show you around my school. After listening to a few lectures, you’ll realize that American Uni’s are on a completely different level.”
That’s kind of judgemental, dude.
It’d be fine if you whispered, but you spoke so loudly.
Lu Zhou could not help but interrupt him, “Not necessarily, I think you still have to look at the individuals.”
When the guy heard Lu Zhou, he stopped talking.
He then turned around and looked at Lu Zhou. With his eyebrows raised, he asked impatiently, “Oh, which university are you from?”
“University of Jin Ling”
“University of Jin Ling? Oh, not bad,” said the guy as he laughed coldly. With a hint of sarcasm in his tone, he said, “It’s alright domestically, but it’s probably ranked lower than 100 worldwide? You look like you’re going on a vacation. You’ll know when you go abroad. Your 600 high school exam score is worthless.”
Lu Zhou was bored, so he smiled and said, “Actually I got the offer from the University of New York’s mathematical department to do research, but I didn’t go.”
The guy smiled, “Hilarious, you didn’t apply to them, and instead, they asked you? Dude, can you at least make your lies realistic?”
Lu Zhou said, “I didn’t apply, they sent me the offer.”
The guy looked at Lu Zhou and said, “Oh yeah, I got an offer from the White House as well. Obama personally asked me to be an international relations consultant… Two can play this game!”
Motherf*ck!
Lu Zhou could not be bothered to argue.
A rational debate would be interesting, but talking sh*t was boring.
According to Lu Zhou, when it was about studying, it depended on the person. The environment might have an effect, but it was not absolute. As long as the person was willing to work hard, he or she could become a genius student. It did not matter if the person had the system, or if he or she was talented. It was about hard work.
This applied to study abroad as well.
Finally, it was his turn.
A young blond lady was behind the counter window, and she looked like a summer intern. Even though she was Caucasian, her Mandarin was extremely fluent.
The lady asked without any emotion.
“Why are you going to America?”
Lu Zhou replied, “I was invited to participate in Princeton’s mathematics academic conference. I’m doing a thirty-minute presentation there.”
“Academic conference at Princeton?” asked the lady. When she heard Princeton, she was surprised. She then looked at Lu Zhou and asked, “Can I see your invitation?”
“Of course, it’s right here.”
Lu Zhou took out the invitation letter from his bag and placed it on the counter.
The lady took the letter and carefully checked it before she typed a few letters on the computer.
It was probably because she could not confirm it herself, so she found a co-worker and asked for his opinion.
After a while, the authenticity of the invitation was finally verified.
When the visa officer lady gave the letter back to Lu Zhou, she smiled and said, “I wish you a pleasant trip.”
“Thank you.”
Lu Zhou nodded and left.
The guy standing behind Lu Zhou was stunned.
Princeton…
Even though he was unfamiliar with mathematics, he studied in America for many years, so he knew what the Ivy League Princeton was.
Princeton was unlike Virginia Tech. No one could buy their way into it, nor into any Ivy League for that matter.
Not to mention, Lu Zhou was being invited to the conference.
Invited…
After ten seconds, the girl next to him whispered weakly.
“I think I’ve seen him before…”
The guy asked, “Where?”
The girl quietly said, “On Weibo… HIs name was Lu or something? He was the undergraduate student from University of Jin Ling who solved a math problem.”
The guy blushed. He did not want to be embarrassed in front of his girlfriend, so he said, “It’s just a mathematics question, who cares, it’s useless…”
The people around him laughed out loud.
A man in the queue smirked and said, “It is useless. All he did was get on Everyone Daily and received a million yuan award.”
The guy blushed and after that, he stopped speaking.
He realized that he was no match for his opponent.