Zhang Han's family rented a place in an old building on the outskirts of Tokyo.
When he returned home, the neighbors would greet him with friendly nods and smiles. Most of the people renting here were migrant workers from other countries: some from China who arrived over a decade ago, others from smaller countries like the Philippines and Indonesia. Because everyone was struggling and working hard for a living, mutual support was essential. Their relationships were good.
Zhang Han's mother came here to work at the turn of the century, after graduating from a vocational school, along with an older sister from her hometown. By now, almost twenty years had passed.
Zhang Han had never heard his mother mention his father, but he could imagine that in this place, such situations were not uncommon. It was nothing more than a man and a woman living together, only to go their separate ways later. Many children from these situations were left uncared for and sent to local orphanages. However, there were also some, especially those led by Chinese women, who chose to raise their children themselves. Zhang Han's mother was one of them.
Their rented place was a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment. Zhang Han had one bedroom to himself, while his mother, Lan He, and his younger sister, Lan Yu, shared the other.
From a very young age, his sister received endless doting from their mother; anything good in the house went to her. When they were young, Lan He couldn't take care of both children at once, so she had to send one of them back to their hometown. Zhang Han was the one sent back. He stayed in the urban-rural fringe near a small coastal city until he started elementary school, when his mother brought him back.
While Zhang Han was in his hometown, he heard a saying: "Raise sons poor, raise daughters rich." It meant that sons should be raised to be frugal, so they would know to strive for themselves in the future. Daughters should be raised lavishly, to prevent them from being shallow-minded and easily deceived by trifles when they grew up.
His mother must have loved him, and the unequal treatment between him and his sister was probably because of this philosophy. Overall, wasn't the money for his schooling and daily life always there? Perhaps his mother wasn't as financially strapped as he thought; maybe she was secretly wealthy. Honestly, not many families could afford to rent a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment in the area they lived in.
It wasn't until Zhang Han returned to Tokyo and lived with his mother for a few years that he realized he had been overthinking. That kind of scenario only existed in some amateur web novels. In real life, how could such a thing happen?
Zhang Han entered the room. The pre-rehearsed emotional drama began on time.
"Mom!"
"My darling!!"
"Mom, you work too hard! How about I just don't go to school anymore!"
"How can that be? Even if I have to sell everything, I can't let you not go to school!!"
The two women closest to him were embracing and weeping bitterly. Zhang Han felt a terrible ache in his brain.
He looked speechlessly at the two women in front of him, took a deep breath, and pretended not to see them. After changing into his slippers, Zhang Han prepared to go back to his room.
"You ungrateful boy, didn't you see your mom crying?"
Zhang Han had no choice but to stop, turn his attention back to the sofa, and look at the mother and daughter weeping together. He found his seat in the corner, pulled it over, and sat opposite them, adopting an attentive posture.
Seeing Zhang Han's face, the mother and daughter, who had just been weeping, immediately did a 180-degree turn.
"As the only man in this family, have you never thought about making some sacrifices and contributions for this family?"
"Having a brother like you, I really feel very disappointed!"
"The school selection fee for just one of you is 3 million. For two people, it's 6 million. As the eldest son of this family, why can't you make a sacrifice and sign the contract? They're not asking you to do anything outrageous, it's just to be..."
At this point, Ms. Lan suddenly got stuck.
"If I call Grandpa and tell him you want me to be a male actor, do you believe he'll break your legs?"
Ms. Lan looked embarrassed.
"What can I do? With your current grades, even if you go back home for the high school entrance exam, it's impossible for you to pass, right? Besides, if we don't say anything, how will your grandpa know?"
Their hometown was in Qilu, which, even within all of China, was the place with the highest difficulty for exams. With the abundance of talent in their small county, the admission rate for the high school entrance exam was less than 40%. That is to say, out of 10 people, it would be good if 4 could successfully get into high school.
Zhang Han's grades were originally good when he was in his hometown; it was said that getting into high school or even a second-tier university shouldn't have been a problem. But he had been away from his hometown for a full four years. He had been studying in Tokyo for four years, and the specialized cultural knowledge, especially in subjects like history and biology, was vastly different from that in China.
With what he had learned now, if he returned to China to take the exam, it would be a miracle if he scored anything above zero besides on multiple-choice questions. How could he possibly get into high school?
Currently, the only way out for Zhang Han and his sister Lan Yu was to attend high school in Tokyo and then successfully get into university. Getting a Tokyo diploma would make it much easier to find a job in Tokyo or develop his career back home in the future. Otherwise, his future would be completely ruined.
And Tokyo also had its own rules. Firstly, their high schools were divided into public and private. Public high schools had cheaper tuition fees, but one must have local household registration. Actually, this was the same in China; for schools supported by the state, the state had to pay a large sum of money. This taxpayer money, of course, was spent on taxpayers, not on outsiders, right? Let alone foreigners like Zhang Han, even people from other provinces were absolutely not allowed.
Private schools, relatively speaking, did not have the strict rules and regulations of public schools, but these schools required money. Even for local residents, the tuition fees would not be cheap. For foreigners like Zhang Han, an expensive school selection fee was even more necessary. 3 million per person—equivalent to Lan He's total income for a year without eating or drinking. How could she, a single mother raising two children, possibly have that much savings?
All the money in the family, even with careful calculation, would only be enough for one person's school selection fee.
"You don't need to worry about my school selection fee; I'll figure it out myself."
Before returning home, Zhang Han had heard from his team's coach that several high school team scouts and head coaches were interested in him. He figured he should be able to lighten some of his mother's burden.
After saying that, Zhang Han returned to his room.
Lan He wiped away the non-existent tears from her eyes and smiled at her daughter beside her.
"See, it's solved!"
Lan Yu, however, was a little disappointed, "Brother, it's such a waste that he won't be a male actor!"
Lan He looked at the closed room door and nodded in agreement, "Indeed!"
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Author Note:
Hey Guys, This is the first time i am trying something like this. I love Diamond No Ace and the fanfics created from it. Noticed this particular gem is missing from WebNovel and so decided to give it a shot.
If Anyone has any suggestions or found any irregularities please do leave a comment, as i will be keeping a look out
Release Schedule- 2 Chapters A Day