How can I justify myself as a Magnate if I don't indulge myself?

March 15, 2024.

After staying at the State Guesthouse for two days, Gu Heng returned to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel...

Inside the spacious private dining room, Gu Heng was relishing his fritters with the fragrant Beijing soybean juice, with Kim Jisoo sitting beside him, occasionally wiping his mouth, completely in the posture of a maid...

The indescribable sour and stale smell of the soybean juice lingered in the dining room for a long time; although Xu Ying strongly disliked the smell, she had no choice. For some unknown reason, Gu Heng actually enjoyed this flavor that most people found difficult to accept...

She could only try to withstand the discomfort as she stood in front of Gu Heng's table and reported his schedule for the day...

"The Emerson Headhunting Company that you asked me to contact has sent us a message, they've scheduled a meeting with you in the next few days. What time do you plan to meet them?"

Gu Heng pondered for a moment upon hearing this, "Do I have any other arrangements today?"

"Yes, you said before that you wanted to buy an apartment in Beijing, and you preferred to exclude villas, so I contacted both Sanlitun No. 1 Residence and Huaguo Zun's top-floor apartment. Sanlitun No. 1 Residence has responded, and the final viewing is scheduled for 10 a.m., which is half an hour from now.

If you are not satisfied with this timing, I can communicate with them right away and change it."

Gu Heng finished off the soybean juice and lazily took the warm towel prepared by Kim Jisoo to wipe his hands, then asked, "No need to change it since it's already arranged. Since I have plans today, let's set the meeting with the headhunting company for tomorrow."

"Alright."

This feeling of not having to think about anything, where clothes come extended on a hand and food arrives open-mouthed, and even what needs to be done doesn't require his own involvement, was just fucking amazing...

For the past few days, whatever he thought of, he just had to tell Xu Ying, and she would arrange everything based on the priority of the matters, and he only needed to wait for her to have everything arranged...

A salary of 600,000 a year might not be low...

But with Xu Ying handling the matters of daily life, he could at least save half his energy to do other things...

One word...

Worth it.

Suddenly, Xu Ying seemed to remember something, took a document bag from a cabinet on the side, and handed it to Gu Heng: "This was delivered by President Lu today."

"What is it?"

Xu Ying shook her head: "I haven't opened it without your permission, but it's quite light, probably some documents."

Gu Heng promptly tore open the document bag and two envelopes appeared before him...

"Making it so mysterious?"

He casually opened an envelope and found a graduation certificate inside.

Looking at the certificate, Gu Heng opened it, puzzled, and then saw his own one-inch ID photo pasted inside the certificate...

"Student Gu Heng, from March 2021 to March 2024, studied part-time in the Organization and Management program, completed all the subjects required by the degree upgrade plan, and is qualified to graduate.

Graduating institution: Beijing University."

Below it was the department's seal and the dean's signature...

Looking at the adult higher education graduation certificate, Gu Heng called Lu Yuan with a befuddled expression...

As soon as the call connected, before Gu Heng could speak, Lu Yuan's voice came from the other end.

"Hello, Gu Heng, did you receive the graduation certificate and the enrollment notice I sent you this morning?"
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"I've received them, but what's all this about?"

Lu Yuan on the other end chuckled: "The conditions were quite relaxed this year, so I donated an extra 1.5 million and got an EMBA graduate spot from Peking University. I thought since you're free anyway, I went ahead and arranged it for you.

The degree you'll get after graduating will be legitimate, and if you study hard, you can actually learn something. I have taken care of the 1.5 million for using connections, but you'll have to pay the 820,000 tuition fee yourself."

"And what's with this graduation certificate?"

"To enroll in a master's program, you need an undergraduate degree. You little rascal only graduated high school. How could I get you into the program? I don't have the clout to get you an official undergraduate degree in the country, so I had to settle for an adult undergraduate one.

But it serves the same purpose; it's just a threshold anyway.

Alright, I'm about to board a plane back to Yangcheng City, so I won't talk much now; we'll chat when there's time."

With that, Lu Yuan hung up, leaving Gu Heng staring at the adult undergraduate diploma in front of him with a face full of question marks...

As Gu Heng unfolded it, a big red admission notice came into view, looking no different from the diploma lying aside...

Opening the admission notice...

The content was almost the same as the diploma...

[Dear Student Gu Heng, our school has decided to admit you as a master's graduate student at the Guanghua School of Management, specializing in Executive MBA (EMBA), with a part-time mode of study. Please report to the school with this notice on March 16, 2024.] (PS: Specialized master's students typically report in late March.)

Gu Heng looked at the admission notice, somewhat dazed...

Being only a high school graduate, a modern-day illiterate, and going straight to graduate school without even attending university?

It seemed so simple...

But the 1.5 million donation that Lu Yuan mentioned earlier had already proved everything...

A 1.5 million donation was needed to secure a gold-plated spot...

This one threshold had completely blocked out 99.999% of people.

There may be many who could afford 1.5 million, but definitely not many willing to spend that much just to get gold-plated credentials...

No wonder they say knowledge is money...

If I had studied properly before, maybe I could have saved myself the 1.5 million... and I wouldn't have owed Lu Yuan a favor...