The school I attended was private, but it was one of the better private schools. It was easy to get into but strict about graduation, and it offered just one major: accounting.
We were studying for the International Certified Accountant Certificate, also known as ACCA, which was fairly well recognized internationally.
The exam pass rate was very low, though, so graduating wasn't easy.
There were fifteen subjects in total, including required courses and electives.
Since some students had a weaker foundation, the school also offered a preparatory program, called CAT for short. Its certificates were also issued by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Sun Qirui, Du Le, and the others all started with CAT.
CAT was divided into three stages: A, B, and C.
Of everyone who had come over together, I was the only one who started directly with ACCA.
"Sanhe, I never knew you were so amazing. I'm calling you big brother from now on. You've got to look out for me," Du Le said with a goofy grin.
The ACCA courses were also divided into three parts.
Passing F1-F3 qualified you to apply for the Certificate in Business Accounting.
Anyone who had passed CAT was exempt from those three exams.
Thanks to my C9 League background, I qualified for those exemptions too.
"Wow, you can even get exam exemptions?" Du Le was green with envy.
Passing F4-F9 qualified you to apply for the Advanced Certificate in Business Accounting. After passing CAT, you started directly at F4 and worked your way up.
"Well, once I pass CAT, that'll basically mean I'm exempt from the first three subjects too," Du Le said, consoling himself.
After passing all of P1-P4, you could apply for the ACCA Affiliate Certificate. Only after gaining three years of work experience could you apply for the full ACCA Membership Certificate.
An accounting certificate was a professional qualification, not an academic degree.
To make up for that shortcoming, anyone who passed F1-F9 could also apply for a degree from Oxford Brookes University, roughly equivalent to a bachelor's degree in China.
"Sanhe, we're studying in Singapore, but we can get a degree from a British university too! Aren't we incredibly lucky?" Du Le was beside himself with excitement.
As far as I was concerned, if I could get a bachelor's degree from the University of Oxford, that would have been something.
After all, Oxford ranked higher globally than the C9 League universities. Even if it was another bachelor's degree, at least it would have been a step up.
But this was Oxford Brookes, not Oxford.
It was like graduating from Tsinghua or Peking University, then being sent off to study at a private college.
What a rotten deal. They were really taking advantage of me.
I couldn't share Du Le's excitement.
Looking back now, I had only myself to blame. I hadn't been the slightest bit wary of anyone and had believed whatever they told me. Before coming, I hadn't even had enough doubt to look into it.
Still, I already had my visa and a student pass valid for three and a half years. I was new here and completely in the dark, so I could only take things one step at a time.
To my surprise, on the very first day of class, I discovered I'd struck gold!
This school had one huge advantage: there were so many beautiful women!
Back in university, our class had only two women. Like me, they had come from small towns, and none of us paid much attention to our appearance.
Over those four years, we had all gotten along like brothers. It was hard to think of them as women.
The women studying accounting were a completely different story. Every one of them wore exquisite makeup, each more gorgeous than the last, bewitching me like enchantresses.
On that first day, I felt as though I didn't have enough eyes to take them all in. Looking around left me dizzy!
With every class taught entirely in English, my ears were reeling too.
So was my head. I couldn't tell whether it was because I couldn't understand the lectures or because all those beauties had dazzled me senseless.
Before long, I found someone like me among that crowd of enchantresses.
He was a fellow Chinese guy who, just like me, already looked utterly intoxicated by the view.
I discreetly studied him. He was fair and clean-cut, of medium height-about 178 centimeters, by my estimate. His skin was thin and loose over the flesh beneath, with lots of fine little lines around his eyes.
In physiognomy, people with thin skin were sensitive and easily swayed by their emotions.
It was hard to find prominent figures in politics or business with that sort of face. People who achieved great things generally didn't sweat the small stuff.
Although there were ways to address all sorts of physiognomic issues, I wasn't in the mood to ponder any of that just then.
During the break, I hurried over to say hello.
He seemed excited to find someone like himself here too. Humans were social animals, after all.
"My name's Bai Zhigao," he introduced himself proudly.
"I'm Wang Sanhe," I said cheerfully.
Maybe he was just too excited, but something about him struck me as a little sleazy.
Maybe I looked just as sleazy myself and simply couldn't see it.
While the two of us were grinning away, a timid voice drifted over. "Excuse me?"
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