Chapter 269: Discrimination

At the sound of Ms. Lily's shout, everyone froze, including the security guard named Smith, who was still kneeling on the ground, but was no longer shouting, as if he had forgotten the pain.

Smith widened his eyes and looked at the scene in disbelief. He couldn't believe his eyes. He couldn't figure out why Ms. Lily knew the Chinese guy. Could it be that they really came to see the headmaster to apply for admission? But even if that was the case, Ms. Lily shouldn't have known him, right? You have to understand that every year so many people apply to Harvard, if she had to know each and every one of them, her head would have exploded long ago.

In fact, not only Smith couldn't figure it out, even Zhou Ming and the others didn't expect it. Zhou Ming looked at her in surprise and asked, 'I am Zhou Ming. Does Ms. Lily know me?'

'Yes, Mr. Zhou Ming, you are a special guest of the principal. He said that you might come in the next few days. I was also fortunate enough to see your photo at the principal's place. I was originally going to go to the hotel to welcome you, but I didn't expect you to come so early. I'm sorry,'

Ms Lily replied apologetically, having recovered from her initial surprise. She also noticed Smith kneeling on the ground and asked in surprise, 'Mr Zhou Ming, what happened?'

'Nothing, just a little misunderstanding. It's fine, I don't mind,' Zhou Ming said, then turned to the security guard on the ground and said, 'Am I right, Mr Smith?'

Smith was about to argue back, but then he saw the look that Ms Lily had given him, and immediately nodded, saying, 'Yes, Ms Lily, just now Mr Zhou Ming and I had a little misunderstanding. It's really good that Mr Zhou Ming doesn't mind. Please take him to see the headmaster. If anything important is delayed because of me, then I'll go to hell!'

Ms Lily looked puzzled, not believing a single word they had said, not even a punctuation mark. But Smith was right about one thing: it was now more important than ever to take Zhou Ming to see the headmaster. So she didn't dwell on these things and said to Zhou Ming, 'Please follow me, Mr Zhou Ming.'

Lili said and led Zhou Ming and the others into the principal's building. As they watched them enter the principal's building, Smith slowly crawled up from the ground, mumbling in frustration, 'What's going on? These damned yellow-skinned people, they're only worthy of eating shit, how are they qualified to meet with Mr. Principal? These yellow-skinned little bitches, they must have used some unscrupulous means, they're just so evil!'

Smith cursed and swore, but he had no choice because he had just been injured, yet he had to pretend to be grateful to Zhou Ming for not minding, as if it was a great favour to him. How could he not be annoyed?

But while he was cursing, he suddenly felt a piercing pain coming from his lower body. As if in retaliation, he immediately reached down to cover himself.

'Damn yellow-skinned bitch, don't let me see you again next time, or I'll definitely push you into the Charles River to feed the fish. Oh grass, it hurts so much, my balls...'

While Smith was worried about whether he could still be considered a man at the door, on the other side, Zhou Ming and the others had already followed Ms. Lily to the principal's office. Ms. Lily first knocked on the door to report the situation, and after a while, she came out and invited Zhou Ming to go in. Zhou Ming nodded to her in thanks and then pushed the door open and went in.

According to the information obtained beforehand, the current president of Harvard University is named Lawrence. Since 1970, he has been the president of Harvard for 20 years. Perhaps because he is from the history department, this old president can be a bit serious and rigid.

The president's desk was not directly opposite the door, but was separated into two rooms by a partition. Zhou Ming followed Ms. Lily around the partition before he actually entered the president's office.

Lawrence was sitting behind his desk. He was short and stout, and did not wear glasses. When he saw Zhou Ming, who had followed Ms. Lily, he asked, 'You are Zhou Ming from China, right? Where are your students? As far as I know, you should still have 25 students.'

Zhou Ming was taken aback. Lawrence was indeed a pedant from the history department, as rumoured, and he was serious and rigid. Not only did he not smile, he didn't even invite Zhou Ming to sit down. Of course, this was because Zhou Ming didn't have any status in front of him.

Zhou Ming would think about these things naturally, not because he was dissatisfied with Lawrence's performance, but because after spending a long time in the business world, Zhou Ming had become accustomed to adopting different ways of speaking according to the other person's character, so that it was less likely to cause misunderstandings.

'Hello, President Lawrence, I'm Ming Zhou. I did bring twenty-five students with me, but I left them outside because it was inconvenient,' Ming Zhou replied concisely.

'But if you don't bring them here, how do I know how many students you have to complete the procedures?' Lawrence asked.

Zhou Ming shrugged and said, 'Okay, if Mr. Lawrence insists, I can call all my students over, but I don't recommend this because the constant coming and going is not good for you, so I would rather you criticize me for being ignorant.'

Lawrence thought for a moment and said, 'Since it's inconvenient, forget it, I believe you.'

From Lawrence's words, Zhou Ming had a bottom line in his heart. From Lawrence's performance just now, which lacked even an invitation, Zhou Ming guessed that Lawrence was a very strong person. With this kind of person, you can only stroke the fur in the right direction, but if it doesn't go his way, he will be very unhappy.

'Thank you very much for Mr Lawrence's trust,' Zhou Ming said.

Lawrence then took out a document from the drawer and handed it to Zhou Ming, saying, 'This is your admission document, personally signed by President Walsh.'

'What? President Walsh personally signed the admission document? Does admission to Harvard still require the approval of the President?'

Although he had experienced many surprises after arriving in the United States, this time, Zhou Ming was still surprised.

'This is indeed a document personally signed by the President. Because Harvard University has always been very strict in admissions, I'm sorry to say that we have never admitted more than five Chinese at the same time. So this time, when your country suddenly sent 26 of you, if it wasn't for the President personally signing the order, I don't think either I or the Board of Trustees would have allowed it.'

Lawrence paused for a moment before continuing, 'Of course, there is one more thing I need to remind you. I don't know what kind of dirty deal your country made with the White House to send you here, but Harvard is a sacred university, a place for learning. We will give the President face, but if you do anything bad, or if your studies are unsatisfactory, the university still reserves the right to expel you at any time!'

After Lawrence finished speaking, Zhou Ming did not respond immediately, but paused for a moment before saying, 'Please rest assured, Mr Lawrence, we will not let you down. Then we will take our leave.'

After Zhou Ming finished speaking, he picked up the document on the table that was personally signed by the President of the United States. As he was about to leave, Lawrence spoke again: 'One more thing. According to the President's orders, we at Harvard University will only accept 26 Chinese students. If the number exceeds this, then I'm sorry, I will expel all of you. So please don't try to be clever.'

In response to this final warning from Lawrence, Zhou Ming's reply was the same as before: 'Please rest assured, Mr. Lawrence, we will not let you down.'

When they walked out of the principal's building, the security guard named Smith was nowhere to be seen. However, no one cared. Huang Yi was more concerned about the document in Zhou Ming's hand. He said excitedly, 'This is really incredible. It turns out that we came to the principal's building specially to get a document personally signed by the president. This is amazing. You guys are like getting a special admission to Harvard!'

Zhou Ming glanced at him but didn't say anything back. Instead, he turned to Ye Ning on the other side and asked, 'What do you think?'

Ye Ning shook her head slightly and said, 'This president really looks down on people. The last thing he said was basically discriminating against us, saying that we would take advantage of any loopholes, as if we were precious.'

What Ye Ning said was actually what Zhou Ming was thinking. From the first sentence Lawrence said about the strict admissions process, every word he said annoyed Zhou Ming. What did he mean by never admitting more than five Chinese people, and what did he mean by giving the president face? What does it mean by a dirty political deal? And that sentence about the right to dismiss at any time, isn't every word of it a form of discrimination against the Chinese? Just like Smith at the door.

It's just that Lawrence, as the president of Harvard, has to speak more tactfully and nicely than Smith, but in the final analysis, discrimination is discrimination.

Huang Yi also heard the anger in Zhou Ming and Ye Ning's voices, and he sighed and said, 'Mr. Zhou, Ye Ning, there is nothing you can do about discrimination.'

After hearing Huang Yi say this, Zhou Ming and Ye Ning turned to look at him. Huang Yi continued, 'After all, the United States is the most powerful country in the world, and Harvard University is the world's top university. The world's top knowledge is now in the hands of Westerners, and in their propaganda, our China is barbaric, ignorant, poor, and backward. It is normal for them to discriminate against us.'

'We are backward now, but does that mean we will be backward for the rest of our lives?' Ye Ning said immediately.

Zhou Ming raised his hand to stop Ye Ning from speaking, because he could hear the helplessness in Huang Yi's tone. Zhou Ming said to him, 'It seems that you and our Chinese compatriots here are not doing well. But just as Ye Ning said, we are behind now, but we will not always be behind. We are here now to work hard to become self-reliant, to catch up with or even surpass these Western countries, so that they will no longer dare to discriminate against us. Are you willing to work together?'

Zhou Ming said, extending his hand to Huang Yi. Huang Yi was taken aback at first, but then shook Zhou Ming's hand firmly and nodded, saying, 'Yes!'

Zhou Ming was very happy with Huang Yi's positive attitude, but at this time, he could not imagine that the goal they had just set would encounter a major blow in the near future.

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