Chapter 31: Pretending to Understand Is the Most Fatal

Sabin City has twenty-two high schools. There are no middle schools here, only elementary schools, high schools, and universities.

Elementary students spend nine years in school before moving on to three years of high school. After completing twelve years of education, they can enter university.

However, not everyone can get into university. The current acceptance rate is less than 17%, for two main reasons.

First, university tuition is still too expensive for ordinary families. Unlike elementary and high schools, which cost less, not every family can afford four years of university.

Second, the current education system is essentially a joke. According to some consulting agencies, about 90% of university students come from private schools rather than public schools.

The failure of public education, combined with family financial problems, ultimately limits people’s chances of attending university. Lynch is one such example—he couldn’t get into university despite seriously filling out the application.

In other words, to get into university, good grades don’t matter as much as having a family that can afford the high costs or one with some power.

The current president of the Baylor Federation won mainly for two reasons. First, he promised to complete healthcare reform during his term, lowering medical costs so everyone could afford treatment.

Second, he promised a new round of education reform to increase the percentage of public school students admitted to universities from about 10% to around 20%. That’s why people voted for him.

Whether he will fulfill these promises remains to be seen. Some people naïvely hope things will improve at the last moment.

Of course, the education system is not entirely hopeless. Every school offers scholarships. Compared to the harsh competition at public schools, private schools’ scholarships are easier to get, as the school board can decide who receives them. This is why people sometimes say power is equal to or greater than wealth.

Michael’s son, young Michael, is one of those good kids who receives scholarships every year. Academic performance is only part of the evaluation; lifestyle, extracurricular, and after-school activities also matter. He meets scholarship standards in those areas.

Thanks to his family background, young Michael has many good friends at school.

One afternoon, he borrowed about three thousand Sol from friends, but it wasn’t enough. He still needed at least two thousand more. The school had lent him all the extra money they could.

Those who wouldn’t lend him money wouldn’t be persuaded, no matter what he said.

After a dull lunch, ignoring his girlfriend’s pleas, he drove home.

Mrs. Michael had not returned from the hospital yet. To prevent the criminal from coming back to harm her again, she stayed under police protection.

Many criminals have an irrational urge to silence witnesses; the chief was worried about this, so the hospital room was completely empty.

Back home, young Michael started searching for cash. Mrs. Michael is a full-time homemaker, so she kept lots of small change at home for emergencies.

He quickly found several hundred Sol in coins, but it wasn’t enough to pay the bartender. Hesitating, he opened the door to Michael’s study.

Michael did not allow young Michael to enter the study without permission. Sometimes there were case files or evidence left carelessly there.

Damage to these could seriously harm investigations and implicate Michael. But none of that stopped young Michael’s impulse to stand up for his mother and prove himself.

He stood at the door for a moment, then quietly entered, cautious even though he knew his father wasn’t home.

He glanced around and focused on the desk. He had seen Michael sometimes keep coins in the drawer—most people don’t like carrying many coins because they deform clothes and are uncomfortable.

He opened the drawers in order and found the money he wanted. Still unsatisfied, he kept looking until, in the second-to-last drawer, beneath a slightly lifted file, he found a gold ring.

He held the ring, intending to put it back, thinking it might belong to Michael or Mrs. Michael. But while returning it, he noticed an inscription inside.

Curiosity made him pick it up again and read it in the light: “To my beloved Katherine.”

Young Michael froze briefly. Clearly, Katherine was not Mrs. Michael’s name, nor would Michael be called that by anyone else. This ring undoubtedly belonged to someone else—someone it was meant for.

Mrs. Michael’s injury last night and his desperate desire to uncover the truth were shattered by this clear sign of betrayal in the ring.

A surge of anger rose from deep inside young Michael. They were under threat, and Michael, the head of the family, had betrayed them!

The thought of putting the ring back vanished. He clenched it tightly and after a moment of silence made a plan with his immature but pretending-to-be-mature mind.

He would destroy the ring that could ruin his family’s harmony. He was giving his father one last chance to save the family, just like in the TV dramas.

At that moment, he felt grown-up, mature, no longer childish. Naturally, he had to destroy the evidence.

If he sold the ring, he could almost gather enough money.

Later, young Michael appeared outside an antique shop. He learned from his father’s conversations that some antique shops often fence stolen goods.

They never ask about origins, label everything as antiques, buy them, and issue receipts.

He found a shop on the other side of town, far enough to avoid being recognized, a sign of his self-perceived maturity.

“A gold ring…” The shop owner, about fifty, balding and wearing a brown short-sleeve shirt, adjusted his glasses and examined the ring and its inscription before looking up at young Michael. “What’s your asking price?”

Young Michael was nervous; this was his first time doing something like this. Trying to seem mature, he said calmly, “At least five hundred Sol. It’s pure gold.”

The owner sneered, “Just because you say it’s pure gold doesn’t make it so. I need to burn it. Wait a minute!” Without waiting for consent, he took the ring and went into the back room.

Anyone truly experienced would find this suspicious—no one lets a ring out of sight except immature people pretending to be mature.

In the back room, the owner quietly made a call.

“Someone’s selling a ring… Yeah, the one you mentioned last time. Got it. I’ll stall him.”

The shop hung up calmly. Everyone knew antique shops fence goods openly because they cooperate with police and investigators.

They are informants for the police or investigation agents.

If young Michael had heard all of his father’s conversations with colleagues, he would know Michael’s focus wasn’t on the shop’s fencing but that they had found clues there.