Chapter 30
Chapter 30: Funding His “Wife” and the Passionate Supremacy Tournament
Jiang Tea Tea listened to the school cafeteria head chef. She suddenly felt like a big fat bug that wanted to gnaw her tree bark had crawled onto her, making her whole body itch. She could not help questioning him: “Is that real? That Chong Ming, that Your Highness, said he is going to support me?”
[That big golden dragon shoved me toward a Mutant Tiger just to test if I had awakened a supernatural ability. How could he suddenly be so kind and say he will support me? Who is he trying to fool?]
“I am curious too. Did my idol really call you by name and say he wants to support my Sister Tea?” Huang Da Zhuang was even more excited than Jiang Tea Tea. His puppy eyes turned into starry eyes, like his idol had said he would support him instead.
Sui Xuan Chu raised his hand and asked the school cafeteria head chef: “I am curious too. Has Commander in Chief Chong Ming become this careless now, openly favoring people and naming someone to support?”
The school cafeteria head chef looked even more kind. He smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits and said: “Here is how it is. After Your Highness Chong Ming inspected the academy, he paid special attention to the poor students of the academy.”
“Among all the poor students, classmate Jiang Tea Tea’s situation was especially outstanding. She is poor to the point of having nothing. I heard there is not even a single star credit in her account. Just to eat, besides studying, she has to work three part-time jobs.”
“Your Highness told the headmaster that students who enter the academy are the pillars of the Empire. If a pillar of the Empire has difficulties and no one helps, and they have to rely on part-time work just to afford food, then that is the Empire’s failure and the academy’s dereliction of duty.”
“Because of that, after hearing Your Highness’s words, the headmaster quickly redrafted the subsidy plan for poor students at top speed. Besides waiving all kinds of tuition and fees and giving extra monthly subsidies, room and board are now completely free. If there are other special situations, students can submit a report directly to the academy’s finance office.”
“In order to let poor students directly feel the care from Your Highness and the academy, the headmaster used you, classmate Jiang Tea Tea, as an example. He sent a notice to every school cafeteria telling us that poor students represented by you can eat for free.”
“So, classmate Jiang Tea Tea, are you not being supported by Your Highness? Did I say anything wrong? I did not say anything wrong at all!”
The cafeteria staff all nodded kindly and agreed: “That is right, classmate Jiang Tea Tea. You are one of the subsidized military academy students personally named by His Highness Chong Ming. It is equal to Your Highness allocating funds to support you.”
“From now on, do not go out and work part-time anymore. Put all your time into studying. Try to graduate as an outstanding student, enter a top army corps of the Empire, and serve the Empire and Your Highness. That is what you should be doing.”
Jiang Tea Tea finally understood. It was not that big golden dragon wanting to personally keep her. He simply could not stand seeing anyone in poverty. On top of that, she had stood out in front of him and the headmaster.
The headmaster had directly picked her up as a typical example to tell the other poor students that they should be grateful to the big golden dragon.
[Fine. Since the benefits walked up to my door, I would be stupid not to take them.]
Jiang Tea Tea tipped the steak from her tray into the big basin full of grilled beef and said: “Since His Highness Chong Ming says he will support me, I will not be polite.”
The school cafeteria head chef grinned from ear to ear: “You do not need to be polite. Open your stomach and eat. Just do not waste food.”
Jiang Tea Tea picked up the basin full of grilled beef in one hand and the basin of braised donkey meat in the other. She still did not forget to say to Sui Xuan Chu and Huang Da Zhuang: “You two help me carry the stewed venison, braised lamb, spicy chicken, spicy duck, and crispy fried pork.”
Sui Xuan Chu and Huang Da Zhuang answered crisply at once: “Okay.”
The three of them carried two basins each. One trip was six basins, two trips were twelve basins, three trips were eighteen basins, and four trips were twenty-four basins. Every basin was piled high with meat. Besides a bit of green onion and cilantro on top, there was not a trace of green to be seen.
This was only Jiang Tea Tea’s second meal in the school cafeteria, and once again she took the whole academy by storm, rushing onto the top of the academy’s internal forum hot search.
The girls who saw it were crying with envy, their eyes red. She ate so much, yet her stomach did not bulge at all. It was enough to make a person die of anger.
The boys who saw it gave her a thumbs up. In their eyes, she had the bloody big mouth of a prehistoric beast, teeth like a megalodon, and a deep-sea stomach. She was like a spaceship among girls and a black hole among boys. Awesome, powerful, never seen before.
After eating, Jiang Tea Tea, Huang Da Zhuang, and Sui Xuan Chu split up. One of them went to the Combat Department teaching building. The other two went to the Pacification Division teaching building.
Jiang Tea Tea sat down, took out her books and all kinds of soothing tools, and started to study them. Just then, a bright red apple was placed on her desk.
She looked up along the apple and saw six little girls standing in front of her desk, led by Lin Feng Feng.
She opened her mouth and asked: “You brought me an apple to invite me to the bathroom so I can treat you to toilet water again?”
Lin Feng Feng quickly waved her hands and shook her head: “No, Jiang Tea Tea. Before, we listened to Jiang Yi Zhu and wronged you. We thought you were a vicious girl who stole other people’s parents, hit and scolded people, and stole other people’s boys.”
“After what happened with Jiang Yi Zhu today, we now know she framed you and misled us. We beat you and bullied you. We know we were wrong. We came to apologize and ask you to forgive us.”
When Lin Feng Feng finished, the other five girls bent at the waist with her and bowed to Jiang Tea Tea, sincerely apologizing.
Kids around ten years old were really cute. When they made a mistake and realized it, they would run over and apologize.
The Fake Young Miss had really been aggrieved and really cowardly. If she had adjusted herself and fought back when facing bullying, cold violence, and dislike, she would not have been bullied so badly, and her heart would not have held so much resentment.
Jiang Tea Tea grabbed the red apple on her desk, casually wiped it with her hand, lifted it to her mouth, and took a big crunchy bite.
After she chewed and swallowed, she finally said slowly: “You apologized, so I forgive you. I hope you take this as a warning. Next time, do not act like dogs that bite wherever someone points.”
Huang Da Zhuang: “???”
[Why does that sound so uncomfortable and indirect? Did she forget that this dog-type boy is sitting right in front of her?]
Lin Feng Feng and the others had thought Jiang Tea Tea would have to beat them up or scold them hard to get rid of the resentment from half a year of bullying.
They did not expect her to forgive them so easily.
For a moment, they were so ashamed that they could not lift their heads. They promised her: “Jiang Tea Tea, do not worry. From now on, we will never bully anyone again. Later, we will set up an anti-bullying squad.”
“We will help anyone who is being bullied or picked on. We will tell the bullies that bullying is wrong. Everyone should be united and kind, and become useful people for the Empire and for society. We cannot let our idol ‘husband,’ His Highness Chong Ming, be disappointed!”
When she listened to the first half, Jiang Tea Tea felt they were reflecting very sincerely, with a great attitude. But when she heard the last sentence, the apple in her mouth suddenly tasted bland.
Jiang Tea Tea shoved the half-eaten apple into the cubby under her desk and waved her hand, sending them away.
That afternoon, the teacher came to class. He walked into the classroom, turned on the projector from his light-brain wrist terminal, and announced the first piece of news: “Classmates, I have good news. Imperial Military Headquarters has joined with the top thirty army corps to hold a three-month training Supremacy Tournament among thirty military academies, including our school.”
“It will involve as many as 1.8 million students currently enrolled in military academies. The academy will be the large unit, and squads will be the small unit that compete for first place.”
“In order to get good results in this Supremacy Tournament, students can freely choose teammates from other departments’ senior male and female students or from your own class. You can form a team of ten, a team of twenty, or even a one-person team.”
“If someone does not form a team, the monitoring system will match them into one. Whatever teammates you get matched with will be your teammates.”
A student raised a hand and asked: “Teacher, how much time do we have to form teams?”
The teacher answered: “Three days. Two days for students to form teams by themselves, and one day for the monitoring system to match teams. The departure date will be decided later.”
Another student asked: “Teacher, if we crush the other Imperial academies, knock down the other military academy students, and win first place, what rewards do we get?”
The teacher smiled and said: “If you win first place in the Supremacy Tournament, the first reward is that the students of the winning military academy will have the right to enter one of the top thirty army corps for six months of training.”
“The second reward is a prize of one million star credits. The third reward is the most advanced custom-made skeletal mecha armor.”
“The fourth and most important reward is this: the Supremacy Tournament will have Commander in Chief Chong Ming as the chief commander. He will inspect you, command you in battle, and personally hand out all the rewards to you!”