Rejecting Cambridge, Rejecting Oxford, Rejecting Harvard, Rejecting Stanford

Blah, blah, blah!

Except for initially speaking in Chinese with Chang Lu, Huo Qitai communicated entirely in English with the bearded man, Time.

His fluent spoken English immediately caused the noisy kids in the shady internet café to shut their mouths and look over with curiosity.

"Holy cow! Who is this? Did he come to the internet café to study? Was he speaking English?"

"He's the friend Fei brought along, so badass! If I could speak English like that, my parents would gladly top up my internet café card even if I told them I was coming here to study."

"Look at the screen, is he video chatting with a foreigner? Laughing and chatting away. Turns out some people can actually communicate with foreigners entirely in English!"

...

Just like people back in a few years ago would eagerly take photos and strike up conversations whenever they saw a foreigner, the kids in the shady internet café—all in their early teens and mostly from rural towns—did little besides study and play. Many of them had never even left their home city in their lives.

Seeing Huo Qitai converse with a foreigner naturally filled them with a mixture of awe and envy.

Several kids stopped playing their games, gathered around, and cautiously watched Huo Qitai converse with the foreigner.

Little Meng Lei felt an immense sense of pride by association and boasted, "This is my genius senior brother, just admitted to Peking University in this year's National College Entrance Examination. Speaking a bit of English to a foreigner is absolute piece of cake for him."

Although Little Meng Lei's English listening skills were terrible and he couldn't understand a word of the exchange between Huo Qitai and the bearded man, it didn't hinder his desire to show off in front of others in the slightest.

"Alright! Goodbye, my friend Time. You are welcome to visit China whenever you have time, and I will be sure to host you well."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with the bearded man, Huo Qitai signed the documents sent by Chang Lu and ended the call.

Then, Chang Lu took over the video feed. Looking at the chaotic background on Huo Qitai's end, she asked with puzzlement:

"Qitai, where are you? Why does the background look so messy, and why are there so many kids around?"

"I had a lecture in Zhaowu County today. It was the final session, and it's finally over. I was in a rush, so I just found the nearest shady internet café..."

After Huo Qitai briefly explained, Chang Lu gave him a slightly resentful look.

With so many kids standing behind him watching, many of her more intimate words became inconvenient to voice.

"You've been in the United States for over a week now, how does it feel? As a pretty girl like you, you must pay attention to safety when going out, carry a bit of extra small change to hand over promptly if you get held up by a robber, and if you encounter a shooting, hide immediately. Free America, shootings every single day. Just look at their own statistics, an average of over a hundred people die from gun violence every day..."

Huo Qitai naturally recognized the lingering affection in Chang Lu's gaze as longing for him.

Therefore, he quickly offered her a few words of concern and advice.

"It's indeed not as wonderful here as imagined. Not only is most of the street dirty, messy, and poorly maintained, but the subway also reeks of urine. I drive whenever I go out during the day, so it's generally not very dangerous. I did hear gunshots in the neighborhood the day before yesterday, though they were quite far away.

These past few days I've been busy with your purchase of the domain name, followed by preparations for enrollment at UPenn..."

At this mention, Chang Lu asked with a hint of excitement, "Right! Qitai, have you really not considered coming to study in the United States? Although you've been admitted to Peking University, I feel the domestic educational environment might not be quite suitable for you. American universities have always been a paradise for entrepreneurs, and it would definitely suit you very well.

Besides, do you know? Through my uncle and the others' promotional efforts, your reputation in the European and American investment circles is enormous. Several top universities have already contacted my uncle, extending an olive branch and offering you full-tuition scholarship admission.

The day before yesterday it was Oxford and Cambridge, yesterday it was Harvard and MIT, and this morning I just spoke with my uncle on the phone; he said Stanford and Yale have also reached out to him. Furthermore, several heavyweights in the European and American investment circles have publicly declared to the media that they hold you in extremely high regard and are willing to write recommendation letters for you to attend any top university in Europe or America."

Originally, because of the many kids standing behind Huo Qitai, Chang Lu had held back a bit, but now she grew increasingly excited and thrilled.

These were all the top-tier prestigious universities in the world. When she applied to UPenn herself, she had gone to great lengths and asked her uncle to secure recommendation letters from several professors.

Yet now, all of this was completely within arm's reach for Huo Qitai. Even those universities had lowered their noble heads to actively send invitations just to ride on his coattails and secure his enrollment.

Chang Lu truly wished that Huo Qitai could also come to study in America. That way, even if they were at different schools, they could be very close to one another.

However, faced with the temptation of so many top-tier prestigious universities, Huo Qitai shook his head with a smile and said, "Forget it! I was born with a love for rice; I'm simply not cut out for bread and milk."

"Is that so!"

Though Chang Lu had anticipated this, she couldn't mask her disappointment and muttered dejectedly, "Then I'll let my uncle help you turn them down. You better think carefully, those are world-class prestigious universities!"

"Mm! I'll be fine just going to Peking University."

With a faint smile, the air of supreme confidence radiating from Huo Qitai was practically overflowing.

The kids gathered around him, including Little Meng Lei, were all deeply and utterly shocked.

What did this genius senior brother just do?

He rejected the University of Cambridge!

He rejected the University of Oxford!

He rejected Harvard University!

He rejected Stanford University!

He rejected every single top-tier university that had extended an olive branch to him...

Perhaps the names of other universities were quite unfamiliar to them, and they didn't know their exact standing.

Yet as long as "Harvard University" was mentioned, almost all of these kids knew it was a world-class top university.

After all, over the past decade or so, a book titled *Harvard Girl Liu Tingting*, published starting in 2000, had swept through domestic parenting circles everywhere.

Even parents who had never bought or read the book had seen news about the Harvard girl, naturally holding her up as a role model in front of their children.

Consequently, more naive children had known from an early age that Harvard University was a top-tier world university, and that getting admitted to Harvard would make parents deliriously happy and cause their ancestors to dance in their graves.

Yet today, these young boys witnessed Huo Qitai casually and effortlessly turn down a slew of world-class prestigious universities spearheaded by Harvard. It felt simply too incredible to fathom.

"How could anyone not want to go to Harvard? Peking University is the best in the country, but Harvard is the best in the entire world!"

"Could he be bragging? It's a video chat anyway, odds are he's purposely putting on a show for us to see."

"I don't think so. Look, he was chatting with a foreigner earlier; maybe they were actually talking about going to college."

"I recognize him now! He's that genius student from Jian'an City who got into Peking University, they showed him on the news a couple of days ago. It's him for sure! If it's him, then he definitely isn't bragging. The guy genuinely has that kind of capability and strength..."

"I hope that when I turn eighteen, I can be as awesome as him. But right now I only know how to play games; if I studied to become like him, would I have to stay awake twenty-four seven?"

"Is it still in time for me to start studying now? I don't even dare to imagine what kind of praise I'd get from my mom and dad if one day I could get accepted by Harvard University..."

...

No child didn't want to receive the praise and admiration of others, and even fewer didn't want to attend a good university, possessing the academic qualifications and knowledge that others envied.

Most of these kids addicted to games were actually much smarter than those rote-learning "fake geniuses."

It was simply because they loved to play, were restless, and couldn't settle their minds—compounded by various family and social factors—that they had drifted onto this dead-end path of internet cafés and gaming.

Meanwhile, standing on the side, Little Meng Lei looked at the looks of envy and adoration toward Huo Qitai from the kids around him, and a profound realization dawned deep within his heart.

It only strengthened his resolve to study hard, improve himself, and get into a good university in the future.

Just imagine if a "Harvard Genius" Han Xin in Honor of Kings showed up stealing towers in the future—who on earth could possibly defend against that?

"Alright! Lulu, if there's a chance, I'll come to the US to see you. Take care of yourself, I have to head back."

Unable to bear the agonizingly envious gazes and flattery from the young boys one after another, Huo Qitai abruptly hung up the video call and logged off the computer.

Fortunately, no unexpected mishaps occurred; the 55.com domain name was successfully acquired by him for two hundred thousand euros. With taxes and other fees included, it translated to roughly two million RMB.

Now he needed to figure out how to sell it to Wowo Network for three million US dollars, just like Liu Yi did in his past life.

At this very moment, on the coastal beach of Yalong Bay in Hainan Province, domestic domains investor Liu Yi was lying under a parasol, enjoying two young ladies applying tanning oil all over his body.

His cell phone rang at this precise moment. Lazily answering it, he instantly exploded upon hearing the voice on the other end:

"What? How is that possible? 55.com was sold? Who bought it? At what price?"