Ruan Tian continued answering Yu Xiaxing’s question. “There was really no way for me to reason with people who were already prejudiced against me, so I didn’t resist at the time.
“I could only sneak away with that card in the middle of the night, take my daughter, transfer all the money into my personal account as quickly as possible, and flee to a major city ten thousand miles from my hometown so they would never find me.
Yu Xiaxing nodded silently. “That money should have been yours in the first place. A spouse is the primary heir, taking precedence over parents and children… But living expenses must be very high in Pu City, right?”
Ruan Tian nodded. “Yes. Big cities are really expensive, but I like them. They’re nothing like the village. If something happens on one day, the entire village will be gossiping about it behind your back the next day—and they won’t even listen to your side of the story.
“In a big city, no one is interested in interfering in other people’s lives. Everyone is too busy trying to survive.
“When I first arrived, I had a newborn child, no education, and couldn’t find any work. Once my daughter grew older, sending her to a special school was also very expensive. A hundred thousand yuan didn’t last long.
“Later, I followed a few clues and helped a little girl find her missing cat. She gave me five hundred yuan as a reward, and it suddenly dawned on me.
“Since I had a talent for investigating, I could become a detective and specialize in investigations!
“And then there was what I told you about… There are far too many crazy men and women among the clients in this line of work.
“Now that I’ve managed to save more money, I’ve finally put aside enough for my daughter to study vocal music. I’m desperate to nurture her.
“If I become unable to earn money someday, at least having a talent will give my daughter one more possibility when she looks for a job.”
At that thought, Ruan Tian lowered her eyes.
She used to think that once she had money, she could enroll her daughter in classes. Only now did she realize that sometimes, even if you had the money, there was nowhere to spend it…
Yu Xiaxing said nothing. Instead, she looked toward the little girl holding Diandian.
The girl was gently stroking Diandian’s ears and having a wonderful time playing with the puppy.
Shengde did offer vocal music classes, but back when Yu Xiaxing had wanted to run the school at a loss, she had spent a fortune poaching a notoriously ill-tempered retired artist named Liang Qiuyan.
In her day, the old woman had been a soprano who dominated the international vocal music scene. She had performed at La Scala and the Golden Hall of Vienna, and her artistry had reached the pinnacle.
But she was also harsh, sharp-tongued, and completely lacking in human warmth.
She had trained several major figures, but even more people in the industry had been verbally abused by her until they shut themselves away.
Many older artists with good people skills could still appear on all sorts of variety shows even in their fifties or sixties.
Liang Qiuyan was different.
She had offended far too many people. Many figures in the industry didn’t merely fear her—they hated her.
That was exactly what Yu Xiaxing had valued: Liang Qiuyan’s ability to drive people away perfectly suited the goal of discouraging students from enrolling.
Besides, Liang Qiuyan had been bored out of her mind after retiring and was delighted to accept the offer when Yu Xiaxing approached her.
However, when signing the contract, Liang Qiuyan had demanded one special privilege: the school was absolutely forbidden from interfering with enrollment for her vocal music class. She would personally choose students she believed had potential.
She had even said, “If I can’t find a single student I’m satisfied with, I won’t accept anyone into my class! I’d rather have no students than lower my standards!”
A class that was open but accepted no students—wouldn’t that mean losing money for nothing?
Yu Xiaxing had fallen in love with her on the spot and immediately agreed.
But because of that, even Yu Xiaxing, as a school trustee, had no way to arrange for students to join the class. Even though she wanted to help Ruan Tian and her daughter, there was nothing she could do.
Yu Xiaxing asked, “Does your daughter really like singing?”
Ruan Tian nodded. “Very much. She can’t see, but she truly has a gift. If someone downstairs plays the piano, she can hum the melody after hearing it just once.
“But because my daughter is blind, teaching her to sing would also require accessible teaching materials, Braille sheet music…
“For an ordinary institution, purchasing a set of teaching materials and finding a teacher qualified to use them might ultimately serve only my daughter as a single special-needs student. It simply wouldn’t be worth the expense.”
Yu Xiaxing’s eyes lit up.
The words “not worth the expense” had struck the very spot she cared about most.
She still had more than a million yuan in her account that she hadn’t spent. This was the perfect opportunity to purchase specialized teaching materials!
As for whether the little girl could actually get into Shengde, Yu Xiaxing truly couldn’t guarantee it.
She immediately said, “Actually, Shengde has a vocal music class too, and they happen to be enrolling students right now. Would you like to—”
For the past few days, Ruan Tian had been taking her daughter from one in-person center to another according to a list. She had only noticed that Shengde was being viciously criticized online and had never imagined that it would be opening a class at a time like this.
She nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, yes! I want to try every opportunity I can get!”
Not wanting to give them false hope, Yu Xiaxing added, “The teacher is very accomplished, but she has an extremely bad temper. I can’t interfere with her admissions either, so your daughter may not pass the audition.”
Ruan Tian didn’t hesitate for even a moment. “That’s fine. After all the setbacks we’ve suffered these past few days, our skin has become thick enough. We don’t mind suffering through one more.”
She hurriedly called toward the others, “Yingying! We’re going to the next audition.”
“Okay,” Ruan Ying replied, setting Diandian down from her arms.
Diandian ran two steps toward his owner, then noticed that Ruan Ying hadn’t followed. He turned back, bit gently onto her trouser leg, and led her toward his owner.
Yu Xiaxing asked, “Your daughter’s name is Yingying?”
Ruan Tian nodded. “Yes, Ruan Ying—Ying as in firefly. I’m not very well-educated, so I just wanted to find a character that sounded nice and represented light. That’s how I thought of the ‘ying’ in firefly. I hope my daughter can have a little light of her own too, even if it’s only as faint as a firefly’s glow.”
Yu Xiaxing said, “That’s a very cultured name. It’s quite similar to mine.”
Soon, the three of them and one dog climbed into Yu Xiaxing’s car and headed for Shengde.
It was Yu Xiaxing’s first time visiting the school on a weekend.
She would definitely have to arrange a compensatory day off for herself afterward.
It was the first time Ruan Tian and Ruan Ying had ever ridden in such a luxury car. The leather seats were incredibly comfortable, and there was soft carpeting beneath their feet, along with a faint fragrance in the air!
As soon as Diandian got in, he jumped onto his little cushion as if he knew the place by heart, spun around twice, lay down, and began wagging his tail.
Ruan Tian exclaimed, “This car is so big. Yingying, do you want to drive a car this big when you grow up?”
Ruan Ying ran her hands along the edge of the seat, carefully feeling it, then said with a bright smile, “Mom, I’m blind. How would I drive?”
Yu Xiaxing spoke from the front. “That may not necessarily be a problem. Self-driving technology is already very advanced. Cars can automatically identify road conditions and avoid obstacles, and many people have already started using it. The technology will only become more advanced in the future.”
Ruan Ying’s eyes widened slightly. “Really?”
“Of course,” Yu Xiaxing said. “And medicine will become more advanced too.”
Ruan Ying’s face filled with longing. Then she would definitely have a chance to be cured in the future!
Ruan Tian looked at Yu Xiaxing gratefully. Suddenly, she felt that her junior-high-school education was nowhere near enough.
She didn’t even know what “intelligent driving” was. How could she arrange a more convenient life for her daughter?
Once her daughter really had classes to attend, she would have to improve herself as well.
—
Half an hour later, they arrived at Shengde.
Yu Xiaxing had imagined that the school would be deserted today.
But when they reached the entrance to the arts examination center and she pushed open the glass door, she froze.
