Chapter 458: Chapter 458: A Stack of Contracts
Chapter 458
At the sight of Principal Hong the moment she opened her eyes, a feeling of imminent doom surged in Ji You’s heart!
No!
It wasn’t merely bad—it felt like a serious disaster was about to strike.
Ji You’s heart pounded, and she was utterly baffled: When had that wretched old man, Principal Hong, come over?
And what for?
Principal Hong shook his leg and said, "Yo—Does the stirrer not welcome me?"
Ji You: "..."
Ji You’s expression switched in a second, her face lighting up with a smile as she rushed over with eagerness, fawningly saying, "Principal Hong, the tea on your desk has gone cold, let me brew you a fresh pot."
Principal Hong glanced at her and jested with a laugh, "Brownnoser, off you go and cool off somewhere else."
Ji You chuckled "hehe," responding, "Being a brownnoser for you is also something I’m willing to do. Please wait a moment; I’ll go brew the tea for you right now."
Having said that, Ji You scuttled to the side of the tea table, swiftly prepared a fresh pot of tea, then scurried back, eagerly placed it in front of Principal Hong, and respectfully said, "Please, have some tea."
Principal Hong verbally refused but did not decline the tea when it was set before him, picking it up and taking a sip, then chuckling, "The tea brewed by a brownnoser is indeed not bad."
Ji You: "..."
One reference as a brownnoser after another, that’s quite enough feeding.
If it weren’t for fear of this crummy old man’s imposing manner, she wouldn’t be serving him at all.
Here, Ji You was diligently making tea and pouring water for Principal Hong, but she also did not forget Teacher Mu Jianling and Doctor Luo—immediately moving over, she brewed and poured tea for them as well—
Doctor Luo took the tea cup, gently sipped, and with a smile said, "Hmm, not bad."
Mu Jianling quietly drank a sip of tea without a word.
Ji You scurried next to Mu Jianling, warmly calling out, "Teacher Mu, does your shoulder hurt? Do you want me to give you a massage?"
Mu Jianling set down his tea cup, raised his hand, and pointing to the seat across, said, "That’s enough fussing, sit over there and let’s go over the accounts."
Ji You: "..."
The corner of Ji You’s mouth twitched as she thought: Here it comes! Here it comes! It’s finally arrived on a rainbow cloud!
A weakling and poor as dirt, Ji You didn’t dare spout nonsense. She obediently and honestly took a seat, sitting upright with her head raised, batting her wide eyes and looking at Mu Jianling.
Mu Jianling’s eyelid twitched as he cursed, "Reel those eyes back in, blink wildly again, and I’ll gouge them out right away."
Ji You: "..."
So ferocious.
Thus, Ji You didn’t dare throw any ’flirtatious eyes’ at Teacher Mu Jianling anymore, sitting both obediently and docilely, quietly awaiting instruction, quietly waiting for the accounts to be produced.
Then—
Mu Jianling raised his hand and pointed at the Light Computer screen on the table, saying, "Here, look through this yourself, then sign."
Ji You craned her neck, cautiously sneaking a peek, but to her dismay, she couldn’t see it clearly. Left with no choice, she moved the Light Computer screen a bit closer, plucking up courage, she leaned forward to look—
In a flash—
Ji You’s eyes bulged: "!!!"
One zero.
Two zeros.
Three zeros.
...
She couldn’t even count how many zeros there were in the end. Ji You, incredulous, asked, "Teacher... there isn’t a mistake, right?"
Mu Jianling glanced at her sidelong, his tone serious, "There isn’t."
Ji You opened her mouth, "But..."
But this number doesn’t seem right.
Mu Jianling furrowed her brows and asked, "Are you going to sign or not?"
Just looking at the string of zeros that followed made Ji You’s heart quiver. She didn’t have the courage to sign and, with great trepidation, said, "Teacher... may I have some time to consider this?"
Mu Jianling snorted lightly and said nothing.
Beside her, Dr. Luo said with a smile, "Ji You, regarding the amount of your debt, if you’re worried or don’t believe it, you can check the detailed list of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures you used."
Ji You almost covered her ears, saying, "I won’t listen, I won’t listen, I can’t bear to hear it..."
But she didn’t have the guts to.
Because Ji You knew that even without seeing the list, in the short few minutes she had already used a massive amount of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. Just Candy Beans and Butterfly Honey alone were countless.
Not to mention, many of them were quite valuable.
Just the thought of it made Ji You’s heart pound uncontrollably...
Perhaps it was her natural cowardice, or maybe it was a lifelong fear of poverty, but under the intense gazes of Principal Hong, Mu Jianling, and Dr. Luo, Ji You mustered her courage and asked a question that left everyone speechless:
"Teacher... do you still want a contract?"
Mu Jianling: "..."
Dr. Luo and Principal Hong both looked up at Ji You’s face, particularly Dr. Luo, who was secretly gauging just how thick that skin must be.
Seeing that they remained silent, especially Mu Jianling with her intimidating gaze, Ji You said with a bitter face, "Teacher... it’s not that I don’t want to sign. Even if I went into indentured servitude to repay the debt, I still couldn’t afford it."
While listening, Principal Hong, his leg shaking, smiled and scolded, "The 500 million of debt you owe is not just to Teacher Mu alone; Dr. Luo and I are also involved. These things represent our entire life’s savings, and you’ve squandered them all in one go. What do you say we should do about this?"
Ji You: "Yingyingying..."
She really didn’t know what to do.
That’s right.
million!
In addition to the pile of debt previously owed to Teacher Mu Jian, Ji You had accumulated another 500 million in debt in just a little while.
It was a rollercoaster of life and death, thrilling beyond measure.
Principal Hong continued with his leg shaking, grinning, "Well... I’m not concerned with how you’re going to do it, but if you want to leave this room, you’ll have to sign, whether you like it or not. Otherwise—"
Ji You shuddered all over.
Principal Hong continued, "As for repaying the debt? You like signing contracts, right? How about this: considering you can’t pay up right now, we’ll talk about the repayment slowly later. Just sign your name now, and sign a few more contracts for us."
Ji You: "..."
Can this even be negotiated later?
Is it really negotiable?
Once Principal Hong gave his decision, what else could Ji You say?
In this world, nothing is more important than the creditor.
So, with tears in her eyes, Ji You signed.
Then—
Principal Hong raised his hand and grabbed a stack of contracts from the table. Like a person handing out flyers on the street in the 21st century, he pulled out a bunch and directly handed them to Mu Jianling, saying earnestly, "You are her teacher, so you should take a few more. Fire prevention, theft prevention, and especially prevention from wasteful behavior!"
With that, he glanced at Ji You. The "wasteful behavior" clearly referred to her.
Ji You was dumbfounded.
Next.
Principal Hong pulled out another stack of contracts and gave them to Dr. Luo, grinning, "You are her attending physician, take a few more to cultivate your morality and live a long life."
After distributing them to the two individuals, Principal Hong swung the remaining stack in his hand, counted them one by one, and said, "Nine left, I’ll keep them myself. These things are useless to me, I’ll just use them to paper over the walls or paste them up like a Gate God charm!"
Ji You: "..."
Watching all this, Ji You was at a loss for words.