Chapter 116: The Price for 300,000 Members

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Swish, swish, swish, swish.

In the quiet classroom, the only sounds were the scratching of pen points and the rustling of pages.

The second-year liberal arts placement examinations were under way.

Outside, the sun scorched the earth. Inside, the old ceiling fan seemed to have a problem with its capacitor. It turned even more slowly than a donkey pulling a millstone, producing hardly any breeze at all.

Zhang Tan lifted his teacup and gulped down a mouthful.

It was homemade orange juice, with several ice cubes floating in it. By now, the ice had melted to a thin layer. In order to enjoy genuine handmade iced orange juice, Zhang Tan had gone so far as to buy a small refrigerator solely for making ice. He was somewhat concerned that the drinks sold in stores were unhealthy.

Anyone with experience knew just how serious the state of food safety could be.

The cold orange juice dispelled the heat in his body, and Zhang Tan lowered his head and continued writing.

The invigilator seemed particularly interested in him. Every so often, he would walk over and stand behind Zhang Tan to see how he was doing. This was a history examination, and leaving aside how much of Zhang Tan’s answer was pure bluff, his handwriting alone was vigorous, powerful, and impossible to overlook.

Beautiful handwriting on an examination paper would give the grader a favorable first impression.

That was why practicing penmanship was so important.

Zhang Tan mainly practiced calligraphy with a brush. Once one had mastered one form, the principles applied to all forms, so writing with a fountain pen naturally came easily to him. In fact, even his chalk writing was excellent. In his previous life, he had been responsible for his class bulletin board and had even helped teachers copy questions onto the blackboard.

With the invigilator watching him from behind, Zhang Tan felt strange and inexplicably guilty.

“I’m not even cheating. Why do I feel guilty?”

He silently complained to himself, then turned to glance at the invigilator. The man was a homeroom teacher from the third year, though Zhang Tan did not know his name.

When the invigilator saw Zhang Tan turn around, he smiled at him kindly.

The sight made Zhang Tan’s entire body break out in gooseflesh. What on earth was going on? It was all rather eerie.

“Did I get an answer wrong, or is there a little cheat sheet stuck to my back?”

Zhang Tan clearly remembered that a student not far away had merely raised his head and stretched his neck a few times before the invigilator had snapped at him, “Concentrate on your paper. Don’t look around.”

Unable to figure it out, Zhang Tan decided to ignore it and continued answering the questions.

In truth, Zhang Tan was overthinking things. Given his current fame, all the teachers at Shuangdun High School were paying close attention to him. To this invigilator, Zhang Tan was like a celebrity—an object of endless curiosity—so he kept coming over to see how he answered his paper.

He also wanted to find out what Zhang Tan’s academic level was really like.

The invigilator had already heard plenty of news about Zhang Tan in the teachers’ office. He knew that Zhang Tan’s grades were merely mediocre and that, based on his performance in several previous examinations, entering the advanced class would be difficult. After discussing the matter, several teachers had decided to give Zhang Tan a little special consideration: when marking his paper, they would deduct points only when absolutely necessary.

They did not want a student as rare as Zhang Tan—someone who appeared only once in a century at Shuangdun High School—to be assigned to the weaker class.

Whenever a school produced a writer among its students, it was a source of honor. Zhang Tan was still enrolled there, to boot. One could say that it was no longer Zhang Tan who took pride in Shuangdun High School, but Shuangdun High School that took pride in Zhang Tan. Having a student like him brought luster to the teachers’ faces, so naturally they would favor him.

After standing behind him and watching for quite some time, the invigilator could not help nodding.

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He discovered that Zhang Tan’s answers were surprisingly good, with most of them striking the key points.

“He doesn’t seem to be as poor a student as they said.”

…

Chinese, mathematics, and English; politics, history, and geography.

Once all six examinations were over, the students had two or three brief days of rest while the teachers worked overtime marking the papers.

Some went online, some played football, and everyone indulged in a frenzy of fun before the approaching fork in the road. Zhang Tan also played two vigorous matches. Xu Weidong and the others were already making plans for the next football tournament. This year, however, Zhang Tan was not especially interested, because he was about to enter a liberal arts class. Given how far he had progressed through his summer tutoring, he should have no trouble getting into the advanced liberal arts class.

But in his memory, the advanced liberal arts class did not even have enough boys to make up a full football team, let alone any hope of winning the championship.

Zhang Tan naturally had no desire to be beaten senseless by weaker players.

Besides playing two football matches, Zhang Tan also went to the Yuanyi Golf Course next door. Now that he had money in his pocket, and with his mother no longer forcibly confiscating it, he had begun to feel as though he had more money than he knew how to spend.

He had to spend it!

One of his ambitions was to buy a villa worth more than two million yuan at the Yuanyi Golf Course and spend his days playing golf or fishing at Shuangfeng Lake. That sort of life was the very definition of high-class sophistication. And Zhang Tan was no longer far from achieving it. Once all the payments for his books had been settled, buying a small villa would be entirely within his means.

When he went to the reception desk to apply for a membership card, the receptionist told him that he could first practice at the course and then apply for a membership and play on the actual course after learning the basics of golf.

Zhang Tan therefore went to the practice area and called over a female caddie to instruct him.

At the practice range, each ball cost ten yuan.

The young caddie was quite conscientious. She patiently guided Zhang Tan, a beginner who did not even know how to hold the club, without showing the slightest trace of impatience.

“Like this?”

“That’s right.”

“And then like this?”

“That’s right. Keep the knee of your left leg straight.”

“Like this, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then I’m going to hit it.”

“Go ahead.”

Zhang Tan cleared his throat and adjusted himself into position. Following the caddie’s instructions, he raised the golf club, rotated his body, and swiftly brought the club down.

If he had looked at himself in a mirror, the pose would certainly have been a picture of perfection.

With a smug expression, Zhang Tan swung the club in a flawless arc—and then… it missed the ball entirely. His body followed through with the swing, twisting awkwardly, and he nearly stumbled to the ground.

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His old face flushed red, and Zhang Tan hurriedly tried to recover. “Ahem, a mistake. Just a mistake.”

The female caddie covered her mouth and smiled. “It’s all right. Most people do that when they’re just starting out. You’ll be fine with more practice.”

Zhang Tan rubbed his sweaty palms together, nodded, and threw himself back into training.

After hitting more than a dozen balls in succession, he finally grasped some of the fundamentals.

Especially the shot he had just taken: amid the crisp sound of the club striking the ball, the golf ball flew high and far.

Raising a hand to shield his eyes from the sun, Zhang Tan watched its descent and asked smugly, “How was that? I’ve reached the standard for playing on the course now, haven’t I?”

“That was a very good shot, but you still need more practice.”

Zhang Tan nodded. He had only been boasting casually. He knew that even now, he still missed the ball three or four times out of ten. So he continued practicing while asking, “How much do you charge here?”

The female caddie had somewhat dark skin and looked fairly ordinary. “Our practice range charges ten yuan per ball, and you can practice as much as you like. The fee is calculated by the number of balls you hit. The standard eighteen-hole course across the lake is open only to golfers. You can apply for membership here; annual membership costs just three hundred thousand yuan.”

Just three hundred thousand yuan.

Listening to the caddie, Zhang Tan almost wanted to ask her whether three hundred thousand yuan was really so easy to earn.

Then he caught the meaning behind her words. “Are you saying that nonmembers aren’t allowed onto the standard eighteen-hole course?”

“They are, as long as they’re accompanied by a member. But members get half-price rates. Visitors have to pay quite a lot. A single round costs at least two thousand yuan per person, including the green fee, cart rental, club rental, shoe rental, bag fee, caddie fee, and walking fee, among others.”

Either one had to become a member or be brought in by a member. Otherwise, one was not allowed onto the course.

Zhang Tan’s face darkened.

After all that, he could become a peerless master at the practice range, but without membership he still would not be able to play an actual round. If he wanted the carefree life he envisioned—playing golf whenever he had nothing else to do—he would have to work even harder to make money.

“Golf really is a sport only the rich can afford!”

“The prestige is certainly high!”

“I like it.”

“No need to say more. I’ll go home and keep making money!”

———

P.S. I recommend my friend’s new novel, Urban Playboy: The Greatest Scion in History.

———

Thanks to Jiang Bao Brothers and Ah, Go to Hell for their 1,888 Qidian coins; thanks to Zhu Yiyin, Rao Liang, This Summer Is a Little Hot, and Kou Tian Wendou Gui for their 588 Qidian coins; and thanks to the following readers for their generous rewards: Those Without Wives, Qiangqiang008, Made of Mud, Flowers Bloom on the Other Shore Awaiting Reincarnation, Shining O, Star-GGQ, Passing Child, Big Sage Brother, Zeroo7o7, Heart at Ease, Qu Jingming, Angel Chocolate, The Great Way Is Without Edge, This Space Spreads Style, Traveler 1990, I See and Understand, Tang Yazhou 2015, Z~Online, Where the Green Hills Remain, Dancing Phoenix Soaring Radish, Linglingjiu XYF, Trouble Upon Trouble, Love Life Love Divine Martial Arts, Wind Drifting Everywhere 12, Soliloquy, Empty Cup Facing the Sky and Singing, Yang Chen Kong, Ying Xia Shaokang, Suddenly the Sky Is So Blue, Tea Poetry Guest, Extreme Evolution, Admirer of Beautiful Women, Soldiers Pointing Across the Realm, Ivy in the Corner 1111, Tang Crocodile Poison Victim, Book Friend 131013104221265, Colorful Pumpkin Lord, and Book Friend 150611102043405.