Chapter 200: Chapter 127: Hard Work Pays Off—Or Does It?

"No," she whipped her head around, her face practically pressed against the computer screen as she stared at the error message in the GIS software. "How could this happen?"

This was supposed to be a street map of Brooklyn, overlaid with color-coded patches representing air pollution concentrations.

But now, the Brooklyn in the center of the screen was completely clean. All the data points representing high morbidity rates were clustered together, densely packed in the lower-left corner of the map—right in the mouth of the Hudson River, hundreds of kilometers away.

She opened the layer properties and carefully examined the erroneous data.

"I’m so screwed. I think I messed up," she said, slumping to the floor in defeat. "My conclusion now is that air pollution from the highway is giving all the fish hundreds of kilometers away asthma."

"Can you fix it?" Li Wei asked, looking at the layer description. "It looks like the coordinates were plotted incorrectly."

"The base map I used is in feet, but the data I collected is in latitude and longitude degrees," Anya said, her fingers digging deep into her hair. "The software didn’t align them automatically... I get it. The numerical values were so small they were interpreted as being only a few dozen feet away, so they ended up in the ocean at the map’s origin point."

"There are... five and a half hours until the application deadline," Li Wei said, checking his watch. "Is that enough time?"

She collapsed into her chair, tears already welling up in her eyes. "It’s not enough. I spent two days just to make a useless piece of paper that gives fish asthma."

Seeing Anya looking so dejected, Li Wei comforted her, "You did your best. Just submit what you have, it’s probably fine."

But Anya didn’t seem ready to give up. She took a deep breath, wiped her eyes, and sat back down at the desk.

"There’s still a little time," she said stubbornly. "Let me try again."

She rushed back to the computer and started manually plotting the data points.

Li Wei walked over to her side and watched her plot the data. Then he quietly took her hand.

"Want me to help?" he asked as he slipped the [Ring of Smooth Success] onto Anya’s hand. "It looks like you’re having a hard time plotting those points."

"It’s okay," Anya said, looking at Li Wei and suddenly feeling a strange sense of calm. "Just sit next to me. I always feel calmer when you’re here."

Li Wei glanced at the ring, which hadn’t started glowing or taken effect yet. He didn’t say anything, just sat quietly beside Anya and casually picked up a book to study.

Perhaps it was because Li Wei was there, or perhaps the ring was working its magic, but Anya’s manual plotting and corrections went much more smoothly than she’d expected. At 11:47 PM, with just thirteen minutes until the application deadline, Anya clicked the ’Upload’ button.

"Please, please, please," she muttered, watching the loading spinner on the screen. "I hope it works on the first try this time. Don’t torture me anymore."

She was so nervous that she closed her eyes, clasped her hands together, and started to pray.

"Don’t worry, I saw it say ’Upload Successful’," Li Wei said from the side. "You’ll definitely be fine."

"This is just the first step," Anya said, opening her eyes and letting out a sigh of relief. "I probably won’t get the results until early March."

"Don’t worry," Li Wei said, glancing at the ring on her hand without a hint of concern. "It’ll be fine."

It seemed Anya was only just now realizing how hungry she was, and her stomach started to rumble.

"Let’s go get something to eat," Li Wei said, closing his book. "I’m sure Auntie Kaja has already had someone prepare food."

When the bedroom door opened and Anya walked out, Kaja couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. She immediately had the chefs and maids serve the meal.

High-end residential communities like this all have dedicated teams of private chefs on call 24/7, at least two tiers above where Li Wei lived in Battery City Park.

Li Wei was invited by Anya and Kaja to stay and eat with them.

"Screw it," Anya said during the meal. "I’m making an announcement!"

"An announcement about what?" Li Wei asked, taken aback.

"I’m so tired. I did my best," Anya said, pointing to the dark circles under her eyes and stretching luxuriously. "If I get rejected this time, I’m just going to call my dad and have him donate a building to Yale."

Li Wei nodded in satisfaction. ’This is what a super-rich kid should be doing. Why bother trying so hard to prove yourself?’

Anya was like that, and so was Elizabeth Mellon, it seemed. His social standing had been too low before, so he never understood why so many rich heirs tried to prove themselves by starting businesses.

He still didn’t understand.

Two days later, Anya’s project was printed out, and the file was placed on the desk of the admissions officer who had interviewed her.

He looked at the supplementary materials Anya had submitted and found himself in a dilemma.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

There was a knock on his office door, and Edward, the vice director of the admissions office, walked in.

"Mr. Edward?" The officer, startled, stood up and shook his superior’s hand. "What brings you here?"

"I finished up what I was doing and thought I’d drop by," Edward said. "Are you reviewing supplementary materials for early action?"

"Yes," the admissions officer said, taking a file from his desk. "It’s for a girl from Russia named Anna Sergeyevna Volkova."

"Let me see..." Edward took Anya’s file. "From Horace Mann School, and her father is Sergey... the Russian energy super-oligarch?"

"Yes."

"Do you have any idea what Sergey’s rank is on the Forbes list?" Edward asked, flipping through the supplementary materials. "You rejected her? Did you know the headmaster of the Horace Mann School is a Yale alumnus?"

"But... her nationality..." the admissions officer hesitated. "I felt it might be inappropriate."

"What’s inappropriate about it?" Edward said, flipping casually through the pages without even glancing at the map Anya had made. "I think it’s perfectly fine. She seems like a good fit for the art school. I’ll go speak with Ms. Kimberly Piety myself. It’s not like it’s the law school, where they’re so difficult to deal with."

With that, he handed the file back to the admissions officer.

Not wanting to butt heads with his direct superior over the matter, the admissions officer nodded and placed the file in the ’accepted’ pile.

"Alright," Edward said. "I’ll be going. You can get back to work."

After leaving the office, he made a call to Coach Tony. And just like that, the matter was settled.

...

More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and before they knew it, March had arrived.

The snow melted, life returned to the world, and a new batch of homeless people appeared on the streets.

Some of New York’s citizens had shed their winter clothes, swapping them for windbreakers and light jackets.

And for the Horace Mann School, March was also a time of harvest.

"Miss Anna, Miss Tiffany," Ms. Wood said, leading the applause. "Congratulations. We’ve received official confirmation from the Yale undergraduate admissions office. You’ve both been accepted to Yale. Miss Anna, you’ve been accepted to the School of Art. Miss Tiffany, you’ve been accepted to the sociology department."

"I know your goal was Yale University and you aren’t considering other schools," she said, adjusting her glasses, "but I still have to mention that the other Ivy League schools will be opening their regular decision applications throughout March. If you’re interested in Harvard, Columbia University, Brown University, or others, please contact me before the end of the month."

After hearing the news, Anna let out a huge sigh of relief, almost cheering out loud.

"Miss Jessica, congratulations," Ms. Wood said. "Columbia University is willing to extend you an offer."

Jessica let out a cheer as well.

"But, but," Ms. Wood said, placating Jessica and Tiffany slightly, "I must remind you, ladies."

She looked at Tiffany very seriously. "Especially you, Miss Tiffany Rockefeller. You have a considerable following on Instagram and TikTok. During this time, you absolutely cannot be seen in a romantic relationship with any boys. If Yale University finds out, the academic ethics committee could rescind your offers on the grounds of application fraud."

"We know, Ms. Wood," Tiffany said with a grin, exchanging a look with Jessica. "I’ll definitely be on my best behavior until the official offers arrive."

"The official offers will be sent out in April," Ms. Wood said, her expression softening as she looked at Anya. "Miss Anna, I saw your materials. You did an excellent job. You’ve earned this."

「After school.」

Anya’s G800 roared past. Tiffany Rockefeller found Jessica. "Let’s get a table at 1OAK in a few days to celebrate. Find some hot guys."

"Isn’t 1OAK a little too expensive for us right now?" Jessica asked, worried. "And it’s a bit too high-profile, isn’t it? What if we get photographed?"

"It’ll be fine. I haven’t had a drink in days," Tiffany said, paying no mind to Ms. Wood’s warning. "I heard Drake is going to be at 1OAK in a few days too. Weren’t you asking me how to build your initial fanbase? Getting a picture with a celebrity is the first step."

Jessica was tempted. Seeing that Tiffany was taking the lead, she agreed.

At the same time, Li Wei also got a call from Sebastian.

"Hello! Li Wei!" His voice was full of excitement. "I finally finished all my client visits, and my exams are pretty much done. Do you have any time lately? Let’s go grab a drink and relax!"

"I’m not legal drinking age yet," Li Wei said, feeling that this rich French heir was a bit too enthusiastic. "Won’t the bouncers stop me?"

"Don’t worry," Sebastian laughed heartily. "I’m a regular at 1OAK. Even the janitors know me—I’ve thrown up there at least five times. If you’re with me, no one will stop you."

"By the way, is your girlfriend coming?" he asked. "We can all hang out together."

"She’s not going," Li Wei said, declining for Anya. "It’ll just be the two of us."

Sebastian was a little disappointed. It wasn’t that he had any designs on Anya; he had designs on her father—a super-oligarch, the kind of man his own father would have to step aside for. This was a man who could make the oil prices in all of Europe tremble just by stomping his foot.

"Alright then," Sebastian said. "I’ll drive over to your place this weekend to pick you up."