Business After the Story

"A month later, that reporter came to Jiuyou Academy again to continue her interview."

"This time, having learned from their previous mistake, the staffers at the Jiuyou Academy Student Union office became a little smarter. They no longer arranged a special welcoming ceremony. When entertaining her, they served only 'ordinary home cooking,' 'a balanced mix of meat and vegetables, three meals and a soup.' They no longer provided rare delicacies, nor did they hire male fairies for company. The attendants were all little sprites from the School Labor Committee. As for the reporter's questions, the Student Union staffers accompanying her answered every question she asked, but if she asked nothing, they said not a word. From beginning to end, they adhered to the principles of 'working honestly,' 'receiving guests cleanly,' and 'leaving absolutely no room for criticism.'"

"By all rights, that should have been proper and flawless."

"But after returning, the reporter quietly published another article: 'A Visit Under Surveillance—Revisiting Jiuyou Academy's Unhealthy Academic Culture.' This time, she did not attack Jiuyou Academy's standards of hospitality. Instead, she focused on the Student Union staffers who had accompanied her."

"According to her, from the moment she entered the academy, several cold and distant Student Union staffers had followed at her side. Wherever she went, they followed her, monitoring her every move and artificially separating her from the vast number of Jiuyou students into two different worlds—'Whenever the students answering my questions spoke, they could not help but cast timid glances at the Student Union officers beside them, as though they were terrified of saying the wrong thing!' 'And the answers from these Student Union staffers seemed like they were reciting preprinted responses: uniform, formulaic, and utterly devoid of independent thought.' From this, she concluded: 'I saw real people, yet felt false