Chapter 71

Tian Yuxi’s parents and Song Haowen completed the formalities for the farewell, and they entered the airport terminal together.

The four of them tried hard to conceal their inner reluctance and nervousness, repeating countless words. Soon, the head teacher from Qingda, leading the  group scholars in abroad, and other international students began to call the roll for the gathering.

Tian Yuxi tearfully bid farewell to her parents and Song Haowen.

When Song Haowen shook hands with Tian Yuxi, he forcefully inserted an envelope containing ten thousand yuan into her hand.

Thinking that she was the first person he met in Beijing, and now they were going their separate ways, he couldn’t help but feel a pain in his heart. His nose twisted, and unable to hold back, tears flowed down his face.

Seeing Song Haowen in tears, Tian Yuxi, who already had teary eyes, couldn’t contain her emotions either. To avoid embarrassment in front of teachers and classmates, she struggled not to let her emotions get out of control, turned around, and quickly walked towards the group. She didn’t dare to look back until she entered the boarding aisle.

Until the plane took off and they could no longer see the aircraft, Song Haowen and the other two returned to the city, feeling lost. During the entire journey, the three of them hardly exchanged a word.

When the taxi arrived at Tian Yuxi’s home, Song Haowen declined her parents’ invitation to come in for tea, letting the taxi take him to the store.

In the following two or three days, Song Haowen remained in a low and listless mood. Zhu Hongyu and others understood his feelings and didn’t try to console him, waiting for him to break free from his emotions.

On August 31, the day before elementary school started, Song Haowen finally liberated himself from the suppressed emotions. That morning, he went with his second sister , Tian Nana and his two little siblings to register for school.

With the help of Tian Nana’s aunt, Principal Su Guo, the transfer process went very smoothly. The two of them paid a total of one thousand yuan for the transfer fee, plus two hundred yuan for textbooks, uniforms, lunch, and other expenses.

After registering Song Haowen’s siblings, Tian Nana left because she still had matters to attend to at the university.

The four of them then went to a department store to purchase school supplies. By the time they finished these tasks, it was already past lunchtime.

Song Haowen invited his second sister and siblings to a restaurant for lunch. In the evening, he slept in the house on Guihua Alley. At this point, the decoration of this house was mostly completed, and in another half month, construction would commence. Once it was available for rent, with tenants, the courtyard would become lively.

The next day, because it was his siblings’ first day of school, Song Haowen and his second sister took them to school. The school was not far from their residence, less than two kilometers away. In the future, with his siblings going to school, they would have to rely on their own “School Bus”

After dropping off his younger siblings at school, Song Haowen took his second sister to register at the Literature Department of Beijing University. Considering that the school was not far from home, although Song Huihua was assigned a dormitory, under normal circumstances, she would still return home to sleep.

In order to make it convenient for his second sister to go to school, Song Haowen, after registering her, went to the street and bought two bicycles—one for his second sister and another for his parents. He didn’t request one for himself as his school was very close.

On that evening, Song Huaisheng, along with Li Ying and their four-member family, celebrated at home. Song Huaisheng bought carp, pork, and chicken and duck.

Together with his wife, they prepared a table full of dishes, even more sumptuous than the New Year’s Eve dinner.

After the school started, Song Haowen could finally spare some time to deal with the matters of the newly purchased office building. He found a tile worker at the construction company and, as per the requirements of the general manager of the foreign trade company, built the courtyard wall and gate.

Later on, Song Haowen gave a set of keys to Su Yan and asked her to find a decoration company to remodel the office building according to the needs.

Song Haowen initially intended to bear the decoration cost separately, but Su Yan and Tian Nana strongly disagreed. They argued that he had provided the house free of charge, so the decoration cost should be borne by Tian Nana.

After a heated debate, they finally compromised, deciding to let the music studio bear all the decoration expenses.

At the same time, Su Yan had the paperwork for the music studio’s business license processed. It was the first music studio license issued nationwide, and it even got coverage in the “Capital Daily.”

After more than a month of intense renovation and acquiring musical instruments and furniture, the building had a completely new look. It was equipped with offices, recording studios, rehearsal rooms, a small theater, a lounge, a restaurant, a kitchen, meeting rooms, dressing rooms, bathrooms, showers, and heating fans.

Following that, the music studio published advertisements in newspapers to recruit staff. The response was enthusiastic. For this recruitment, Song Haowen completely delegated it to Su Yan and Tian Nana, leaving them extremely busy and disgruntled.

To appease the hurt feelings of the mother-daughter duo, after the recruitment was over, Song Haowen not only apologized by treating them to a meal but also promised to fully cooperate with the newly formed small band in the music studio and actively participate in song rehearsals.

For this treat, the dinner was arranged at a fishing restaurant mainly serving foreign guests. In addition to Su Yan and Tian Nana, his parents, and his second sister, Song Haowen also invited Tian Pengxiang, Tian Pengfei, Lin Min and her husband, and Tian Nana’s aunt, Principal Su Guo, along with her family of three.

Su Guo, upon hearing from Su Yan that Song Huaisheng and Li Ying, a rural couple, had raised two outstanding university students in the capital—one being the top science student in the province, and the other the top arts student in a prefecture-level city—couldn’t believe it.

Her husband even gave their son Xiaoqiang, who had little interest in studying and ranked at the bottom of the class, a stern lecture on the spot.

“Just look at yourself. You’re only a year younger than the older brother, and you’re only in the second year of junior high, while he’s already in his second year of college. He’s so sensible, and you still act like an ignorant child with no ambition.”

Song Haowen felt grateful to Su Guo and her husband for helping his fourth and youngest siblings get the opportunity to attend school. Seeing Xiaoqiang’s face turn red from his father’s words, he quickly stepped in to defuse the situation.

“In fact, not hiding anything from the uncles and aunties present, my second sister and I had average academic performance in elementary school and were not very interested in studying. Even in the first year of high school, we rarely made it to the top ten in the class. It was only in the second year of high school that, somehow, we suddenly became interested in studying. Our academic performance also improved dramatically, and it seemed like all the challenges became effortless, leading to our exceptional performance in the college entrance examination.”

Song Haowen’s parents naturally believed their son’s words. However, his second sister, Song Huihua, was not convinced. Although she was not sure why her younger brother’s grades had suddenly improved so much, she knew that her admission to a university in the capital was based entirely on the practice papers provided by her younger brother.

Otherwise, she couldn’t be certain if she would have made the cutoff. In front of outsiders, she wouldn’t expose her younger brother’s lie and could only modestly smile without saying anything.

“Brother-in-law, Su Guo, don’t worry too much. Boys mature later; it’s a common thing. After all, talents like Xiaosong are very rare,” Su Yan consoled.

 “Moreover, Xiaosong and his sister only developed an interest in studying in high school. In my opinion, if Xiaoqiang decides to study, with his intelligence, he can immediately climb to the top of the class.”

Su Guo sighed. “Sister, don’t comfort me.”

At this point, Lin Min interjected, “President Su, I think Xiaoqiang’s lack of interest in studying is related to you and your husband.”

Su Guo was surprised. “Chairman Lin, what do you mean?”

Before Lin Min could respond, Tian Pengfei hurriedly said, “Actually, you’re a bit impatient. Being too strict can easily make children develop a rebellious attitude. You can ask Brother Song and Sister-in-law how they raised two outstanding students.”

Song Huaisheng was introverted, especially in front of strangers, and most of the people present today were high-ranking officials. He was even more reluctant to speak, afraid that saying too much would embarrass his son. After hearing Lin Min’s words, he did not respond but simply glanced at Li Ying, signaling her to handle it.

Li Ying had never been in such a situation before and felt nervous, but she had a straightforward personality and was relatively bold. She did not appear to be flustered.

“Principal Su, please don’t learn from us villagers. In the countryside, there are many children, and they are raised freely. Once you send them to school, you don’t ask about anything; everything is left to the school to manage.”

“Yes, we have never seen our children’s report cards. We just listen to what they tell us,” Song Huaisheng bravely added.

After hearing Li Ying and Song Huaisheng’s words, the three urban couples at the table couldn’t help but share a knowing smile.

Song Haowen found a chair and sat next to Xiaoqiang, smiling at him. “Brother, let’s have a drink?”

Xiaoqiang glanced at his father but didn’t react.

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Song Haowen handed a small glass of red wine to Xiaoqiang, encouraging him as he watched. Xiaoqiang hesitated for a moment, then took a sip.

“Brother, if you trust me, and if there’s anything you need help with in the future, just let me know. I’ll do my best to assist you.”

“Thank you,” Xiaoqiang said quietly, lowering his head.

Xiaoqiang’s father advised him, “In the future, you should spend more time learning from Xiaosong. He really earned his title as the top student in the province.”

Admiration shone in Xiaoqiang’s eyes. “Brother, you have to help me improve my grades in the future.”

Song Haowen nodded earnestly. “Sure. Actually, studying is not that difficult. The hard part is making a firm decision. However, you can’t expect instant success, and you mustn’t give up when faced with difficulties. As long as you focus and study diligently, your grades will naturally improve.”

Su Guo, seeing that her son seemed to be listening attentively to Song Haowen, felt a sense of satisfaction in her heart. She couldn’t help but smile.

As it was the weekend and lunchtime, when Su Yan invited everyone to visit the music studio, they all showed great interest. Song Haowen immediately hailed four taxis, led the group, and took everyone to the music studio.

Now, the music studio had taken shape with over a dozen employees. Because it had just opened, none of the staff had the day off, and everyone was performing their duties, making everything look orderly.

Among these people, only Song Haowen and Su Yan’s family had actually visited the music studio. The others had at most heard about it but had not seen it with their own eyes.

Seeing the newly decorated four-story building, the luxurious and grand reception hall, recording studios, rehearsal rooms, and a small theater that could accommodate three hundred people, they were all amazed.

Especially when they later learned that Song Haowen had purchased the entire building for a hundred thousand yuan, they stared at him as if he were a monster, finding it hard to believe it was true.