How can you ascend to heaven when you are a star?

Chapter 506 Leaves a Psychological Scar
Wang Weilin hurriedly returned to Jia Hua Art Examination Training Center.

"Knock, knock, knock!" He knocked on the principal's office door, then straightened his suit.

"Come in!" A deep voice came from inside, sounding somewhat angry.

Wang Wenlin's heart tightened. He gently pushed open the door and saw Principal Zhou Maoquan sitting in his executive chair with a gloomy expression, his hand tightly gripping his phone, his eyes fixed on the screen as if a ball of anger was burning inside him.

"Principal, what's wrong with you?" Wang Wenlin asked cautiously, moving forward slowly, afraid of getting in the principal's way.

Zhou Maoquan suddenly raised his head, his eyes blazing with fury. "I told you to disrupt Xingxiang's trial class, and look what you've done!"

After saying that, he threw his phone on the table, and the screen showed a live video of the Xingxiang Auditorium.

Wang Weilin leaned over and glanced at it. The video was showing a close-up of him craning his neck and questioning Zhang Wen, followed by Zhang Wen's resounding explanation.

The video was not only clear but also very complete, including Zhang Wen's challenge to Jia Hua about the "100 million bet," as well as the thunderous applause from the audience.

In the comments section, there were messages urging Principal Jia Hua to agree to the bet. Not a single person questioned the teaching ability of Xingxiang's acting class teachers, and some even supported Xingxiang and Zhang Wen.

Wang Weilin's face turned ashen, and he stammered, "Principal, I... I really have tried my best to stir things up."

"You call this meddling? I think you're just setting up a stage for that Zhang guy to put on a show."

Zhou Maoquan said irritably, his voice trembling.

“I told you to poke at his sore spot about his ‘top teacher leaving,’ but instead you forced him to admit that all the teachers who left were trained by him, and even dragged the boss into it. Now all the parents in Beijing know that Xingxiang has the backing, while Jiahua has become a coward who ‘only knows how to poach people’ and ‘is afraid to make bets’!”

After saying that, he slammed his hand on the desk to vent his anger.

Wang Weilin's face turned red as he protested, "Principal, it's not my fault. That Zhang guy is so eloquent. He can answer ten questions for every one I ask. Besides, you didn't tell me the inside story behind this. I only found out today."

By the end, his voice had become so soft that only he himself could hear it.

"Are you blaming me?" Zhou Maoquan's eyes flashed with malice. "Excuses, all excuses. Don't you have a mouth? Don't you know how to interrupt him? You are a student's parent, and hundreds of people in the audience are on your side. You don't know how to use such a huge advantage. You insist on following his rhythm and can even mess up such a simple thing. Have you forgotten how you patted your chest and guaranteed it?"

Wang Weilin lowered his head and dared not utter a sound, his heart filled with grievance.

How could he have imagined that Han Wanling and Zhou Min were actually Principal Zhang's 'students'? When Principal Zhou introduced these two teachers to them, he said they were senior training teachers from Tianxi Media.

Can you blame him?
If Principal Zhou had told him some details about the poaching earlier, he would have definitely interrupted that person instead of listening to what the other person was going to say.

Just as things were at a standstill, the phone on the desk suddenly started vibrating wildly.

Zhou Maoquan glanced at the screen and instantly jumped up from his chair. It was a call from his boss, Li Lehua.

'Oh no, the boss must have seen this video!'

Zhou Maoquan was so flustered that cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He quickly picked up his phone, took a deep breath, and then answered the call.

"Hey, Boss..."

However, before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the voice on the microphone.

"Did you send that idiot who asked questions during the Xingxiang trial class?"

Zhou Maoquan trembled. He wanted to deny it, but he knew the truth would eventually come out, so he answered in a low voice, "Yes, I sent them."

"Are you out of your mind? Who told you to send people to cause trouble? You're an idiot too!" Li Lehua cursed. If the phone could transmit not only sound but also hands, she would immediately slap the other person a few times and give them a head massage.

Her numerous experiences with conflict taught her that the only way to win against that Zhang guy was through underhanded tactics; if she confronted him face-to-face, she would only end up getting slapped in the face.

"Boss, I just wanted more parents to know about Xingxiang's situation," Zhou Maoquan said, feeling wronged.

“You can advertise on the street, you can advertise on social media accounts, why do you have to advertise at Xingxiang’s audition? You could have used the fact that you ‘poached their acting teacher from Xingxiang’ to recruit more art students for Jiahua, but now they’ve made it all clear. You’ve ruined a great opportunity!” Li Lehua said irritably.

I used to think Zhou Maoquan was a pretty shrewd person, but ever since Xingxiang snatched away his students last year, his IQ has plummeted, and now he's as stupid as a donkey.

"I'm sorry, boss, it was my fault. I was blinded by the success of poaching people. What should I do now?" Zhou Maoquan asked after admitting his mistake, mainly because he didn't know whether he should accept the bet.

If he accepts, that's a hundred million! If he wins, that's fine, but if he loses, he can't afford to pay it back even if he sells himself. But if he doesn't accept, the video has already gone viral locally, and parents of art students in Beijing will definitely think he lacks confidence and is a coward, which will affect Jia Hua's enrollment this year.

He's now in a dilemma and has no choice but to ask his boss for help.

"Now you don't know what to do? Why didn't you do this earlier!" Li Lehua said angrily.

"..." Zhou Maoquan lowered his head and remained silent, thinking to himself: Is the boss going to give up on him?

Wang Weilin, standing to the side, secretly glanced at Principal Zhou. He recognized that expression; it was exactly the same look he had just had.

Although Li Lehua said that, she was thinking of a way to deal with it. After all, it concerned Jia Hua's reputation. Her position at Tianxi Media was already unstable. If Jia Hua also had problems, wouldn't her career be over?

After a moment of contemplation, she finally spoke: "Don't respond yet. Pretend you don't know anything. Also, try to reduce your public appearances recently. Wear a hat, mask, and sunglasses. People will forget about this over time."

"Yes, boss." Zhou Maoquan quickly replied, then thought for a moment and asked, "What if someone comes to ask about the teacher?"

"Just say you don't know, or that you went to study outside. Think of your own reasons. Do I have to teach you something like this?" Li Lehua gripped his phone tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, looking like he wanted to hit someone again.

“Yes, yes.” Zhou Maoquan nodded repeatedly.

“Zhou Maoquan, listen to me carefully. From now on, anything related to Xingxiang, no matter how small, must be reported to me. If you dare to act on your own again, don’t blame me for being impolite,” Li Lehua said coldly.

"Yes, yes." Zhou Maoquan's forehead began to sweat again.

"Snapped!"

The phone hangs up.

Zhou Maoquan wiped the sweat from his forehead, then suddenly realized there were still people in the office. He quickly put his hands behind his back, sat down, and said, "You can leave now, this is none of your business."

Wang Weilin asked in a low voice, "Are we still going to Xingxiang's place?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Maoquan's eyes widened immediately. "Go to what? Go be that Zhang guy's straight man?"

Wang Weilin trembled with fright and quickly said, "Principal Zhou, I'm going home now." He then hurried away, afraid of being stopped and scolded by the principal again.

Zhou Maoquan watched his men's hasty retreat and couldn't help but snort coldly. Such a great advantage wasted like this; what idiots.

It seems it's time to optimize the staff at Jiahuali.

……

At this moment, the performance audition class at Xingxiang Art Examination Training Center came to an end, and the classroom was filled with applause.

Zhang Wen walked to the podium, raised his hand and pressed down to quiet the classroom. Smiling, he looked at the audience and said, "That concludes today's performance trial class. We'll have trial classes every day until the weekend. Everyone is welcome to come and try them out. Xingxiang is very confident in its teaching content; we're not afraid of you listening or comparing." *Clap clap clap!*

Applause erupted again.

“Principal Zhang, I believe in you. I’m enrolling at Xingxiang this year,” a middle-aged man in a shirt shouted, with one hand on his son’s shoulder.

“Principal Zhang, I was planning to register at Xingxiang School at noon today, but I was stopped by teachers from Jiahua School nearby. They kept trying to get me to register with them. If you hadn’t explained this to me, I would have almost fallen for their trick,” a female parent said.

"I also met Jia Hua's teachers on my way here. They came up to me and said that they had poached our acting teachers and that we don't have any good teachers now."

When this matter was mentioned, many parents started discussing it.

"You all encountered it too? Me too."

"It's supposed to be one of the top five art exam training institutions in Beijing, but it not only threatens teachers, but also slanders Xingxiang behind their backs. It has no professional ethics whatsoever. Even if you gave me money, I wouldn't go to such a training institution."

"That's right, it's smoking."

"Luckily, I didn't enroll my child at Jia Hua, otherwise they would have corrupted my child!"

"..."

Seeing this, Zhang Wen said in a serious tone, "I still maintain that when judging an art exam preparation institution, don't look at their advertising, but at their results. Xingxiang's confidence has never come from a few teachers, but from this complete teaching system. Next year, there will definitely be more children passing the art exam."

The parents present nodded in agreement, saying that just like top universities, they wouldn't become worse just because a few teachers left.

"Dear parents and students, you have just watched six teachers give lessons. If you have a favorite teacher, you can register with that teacher now, and you will be assigned to that teacher's performance class later. If you do not choose now, you will be randomly assigned to a class later," Zhang Wen said.

Upon hearing this, the parents grabbed their children and rushed to the front of the classroom, while some parents who were originally planning to leave turned back, afraid of missing this opportunity to choose a teacher.

A smile appeared on Zhang Wen's lips as he handed out registration forms to six teachers while maintaining order at the scene.

"Please do not push, please line up in an orderly manner. Xingxiang will not give up on any art student. We will not leave work until all registrations are completed."

"Principal Zhang!" a parent said, "I want to enroll my child in the full-course program, but I don't have enough money on me. Can I register tonight and pay tomorrow?"

"Sure, as long as it's submitted this week, because we'll be dividing into classes next week," Zhang Wen said.

Soon, six teams appeared in the classroom, with parents and students registering in front of each performance class teacher.

Registration continued until 10:30 p.m.

The six newly joined teachers were all bewildered as they looked at the thick stack of registration forms in their hands.

Having worked at Jiahua for so many years, they had never seen such a bustling registration scene. Parents were scrambling to register, rather than being tricked into registering. They were quite taken aback.

All things considered, Jia Hua is one of the major institutions in Beijing, but compared to Xing Xiang, it's really not that great now.

"Principal!" Xu Zining ran over carrying a stack of registration forms, her voice full of excitement: "We received more than two hundred registration forms for the music and dance classes tonight."

Zhang Wen nodded and took the registration form handed to him. With the registration forms from the previous two days added to the total number of students registered for music and dance classes this year, the number of students registered for Xingxiang alone has already exceeded the total number of students at Xingxiang last year.

“Principal, I have fifty-one copies here,” Chen Xiwen said as he walked over.

“I have forty-six copies here,” Du Zhengyang said.

"I have forty-five copies here."

"..."

The six acting teachers handed their registration forms to Zhang Wen.

Zhang Wen looked at the ever-increasing registration form in his hand. Although his face didn't change, he was very happy. According to the current situation, Xingxiang's students this year are very likely to exceed two thousand.

These students, along with their parents... will have thousands of people offering incense to him every day from now on. Just thinking about it makes me feel like I'm floating on air.

"Principal, do you think Jia Hua dares to take on that 100 million bet?" Xu Zining asked with a grin.

This is a positive challenge, and it has been uploaded to the internet by many parents, becoming a local hot topic. Even netizens from other places are discussing this matter.

While she was organizing the registration forms, she also took the time to go online and stir up some controversy, mocking Jia Hua for not daring to accept the bet.

Chen Xiwen and others were also very concerned about whether their former employer would accept the job.

"No," Zhang Wen said with absolute certainty.

"Why?" Xu Zining blinked, her eyes full of questions.

Even Chen Xiwen and the others were very curious: how could Principal Zhang be so sure that Principal Zhou wouldn't accept? Was he willing to be ridiculed as a coward?

“Because Li Lehua and Zhou Maoquan have never won against me,” Zhang Wen said confidently. “The people who know me best are not my friends, but my enemies. They know they can’t beat me, so why would they accept the challenge?”

"..."

Xu Zining and the others were all stunned. These words were so domineering. It seemed that Principal Zhang had already left a psychological shadow on Li Lehua and Zhou Maoquan.

"It's getting late. Everyone's had a hard night. Let's all go home," Zhang Wen said.

"Okay, Principal."

Xu Zining left happily, but Chen Xiwen, Du Zhengyang, and others stayed behind.

"Principal, could you tell us about your performance art exam teaching system? We want to learn from you and try to master it as soon as possible," Chen Xiwen said, taking the lead.

The other five nodded in agreement; they were eager to improve their teaching skills.

Zhang Wen's gaze swept across the six people's faces. He didn't have any teaching system; those words were just empty talk. His real trump card was his ability to eliminate the negative personality derivatives in his students and also to increase their skill points.

Since these six teachers had asked, and he couldn't tell the truth—that would damage his reputation as principal—he said, "It's too late. How about this, I'll organize the information into a document and send it to you later."

"Thank you, principal!"

The six teachers looked grateful.

Having just joined Xingxiang, I'm already receiving confidential information. Given Principal Zhang's trust in me, I absolutely must teach well and live up to his expectations.

……

(End of this chapter)