Chapter 30: Tang Xiao’s Results, Quite Mysterious

Tang Yuan was still puzzling over what Tang Xiao had meant by his words.

Meanwhile, Tang Xiao had already walked up to Wei Changhe.

The three of them—Tang Xiao, Wei Changhe, and Liu Zihao—walked briskly away, leaving behind a group of people staring at each other in confusion.

Liu Zihao, walking behind Wei Changhe, whispered, “Principal, why not just call the police directly?”

Before Wei Changhe could reply, Tang Xiao interjected, “Calling the police won’t help… even if the police come, they won’t do anything to them.”

Wei Changhe nodded in approval. “Exactly. They haven’t committed any crime. They’d just get a little reprimanding at most.”

Before long, the three of them arrived at the entrance of the Youth Palace.

A familiar car appeared—it was Xin Ling’s BMW M4.

Xin Ling parked the car by the roadside and, along with Xia Yuxi, angrily got out of the vehicle.

“How dare they bully my little brother!” Xin Ling rolled up her sleeves, grumbling and swearing.

Tang Xiao and the others were left speechless, trying to stop her. “Teacher Xin, calm down, calm down. The matter’s already resolved.”

It turned out that after Xia Yuxi had handed in her test early, she went on to inform Xin Ling.

Her plan had aligned with Liu Zihao’s—both of them had wanted to get help for Tang Xiao.

Upon receiving the news, Xin Ling rushed over, but parked her car further away and arrived a little late.

“No way! I’m going up to get revenge for Tang Xiao!”

“Alright, alright…” Tang Xiao and the others managed to persuade her to stop.

It took a while, but eventually they calmed Xin Ling down.

Though she was persuaded, Xin Ling couldn’t swallow the grievance. In her heart, she silently vowed: “Alright, Tang family, you dare to bully my little brother? Just wait!”

Tang Xiao looked at the group—Xin Ling, Xia Yuxi, Wei Changhe, and Liu Zihao—who had supported him unconditionally today.

A warm current seemed to surge within him.

Then, comparing how the Tang family had treated him—blindly labeling him as a villain, even using their power to humiliate him—it made the contrast even starker.

The difference was like night and day.

Tang Xiao sincerely said, “Thank you… all of you, today.”

“Ugh~ So cheesy, I’m getting goosebumps,” Liu Zihao grumbled, rubbing his arm as if trying to get rid of the chill.

“Uh…” Tang Xiao felt embarrassed. “How about this? I’ll treat everyone to a meal. Let’s go to Jianhu Xuan.”

“Jianhu Xuan? Never heard of it,” Liu Zihao replied, clearly unfamiliar with the place.

“This sounds good. Let’s go, we’ll go to Jianhu Xuan,” Xin Ling agreed.

After all, Tang Xiao had a 500,000 yuan meal voucher with a 50% discount—definitely a great deal.

…

The next day, in the Tang Group’s towering office building, in the CEO’s office.

Tang Yuan, dressed in a perfectly tailored, form-fitting pencil skirt suit, exuded an elegant yet queenly aura.

She was listening to a report from one of her employees.

The employee nervously reported, “Chairman, our company’s stocks were attacked last night. The market value has evaporated by over thirty million!”

Tang Yuan asked, “Do we know which force attacked us? Have we figured it out?”

“It… was the Hongchang Consortium.”

“Tch…”

The office fell silent.

Hongchang Consortium was a large regional business organization, a commercial alliance made up of several conglomerates and families. It was a giant in the surrounding provinces.

Currently, all they knew was that the attack had come from Hongchang Consortium.

Within Hongchang Consortium, there were multiple factions. It would be difficult to pinpoint exactly which one was responsible for the attack.

However, the loss of over thirty million seemed more like a mockery or a provocation.

Tang Yuan was thinking: Could it be the Wei family? But no, the Wei family had no ties to Hongchang.

And besides, the incident from yesterday hadn’t escalated much; they had even left the other side some face and hadn’t directly offended Wei Changhe.

There was no reason for Wei Changhe to target them.

If it wasn’t Wei Changhe, then who could it be?

Tang Yuan felt like she had been blindsided. It was perplexing and uncomfortable.

Yet, there was nothing she could do. She had to swallow the bitter fruit herself.

She waved her hand. “You can go back to work now. Secretary Zhang, arrange for a driver. I need to go out.”

Secretary Zhang responded, “Yes, Chairman. Where would you like to go?”

Tang Yuan said, “Take me to the Jiang’an City Cultural Palace.”

Whenever she was in a bad mood, she would visit the Cultural Palace and have a chat with Ge Juan. Plus, she was curious about the results of yesterday’s competition.

Tang Yuan arrived at Ge Juan’s office.

Tang Yuan apologized, “Teacher Ge, I’m sorry for causing you trouble yesterday.”

“Not at all. We invited you to be a guest,” Ge Juan replied. “Besides, it was just an investigation into a cheating incident. If it weren’t for Wei Changhe, it wouldn’t have gotten so complicated.”

They had investigated students many times before, and yesterday’s situation was a first. Most of the examiners didn’t blame Tang Yuan, and Ge Juan certainly didn’t.

Tang Yuan apologized again, “Thank you for your understanding, Teacher Ge. By the way, have the competition results come out yet?”

Ge Juan replied, “Just wait a few minutes, it’ll be out soon. The electronic grading system is pretty fast.”

Just then, a teacher rushed in. “Teacher Ge, Miss Tang, the competition results are out. Someone has broken the record—scoring over 900 points! In fact, they surpassed it by a wide margin!”

Ge Juan and Tang Yuan were both surprised. The questions had been difficult, and they had assumed no one would break the record.

To their astonishment, there was an expert among the participants.

Ge Juan was pleased. “Not bad, not bad. There’s always someone younger who can surpass us. This is a good thing…”

Tang Yuan nodded as well. It was always a good thing when young talent surpassed older generations.

“But the problem is…” The teacher seemed hesitant, not sure how to continue.

Ge Juan asked, “What’s the problem, Teacher Chen?”

“The student who broke the record… is Tang Xiao.”

“Tang Xiao!”

At that moment, both Tang Yuan and Ge Juan wore incredulous expressions.

Ge Juan didn’t believe it. “Teacher Chen, are you sure?”

Teacher Chen was caught between laughter and frustration. “Tang Xiao’s score… is a bit strange. Teacher Ge, Miss Tang, you should take a look at Tang Xiao’s paper.”

Since it was computer-graded, all of the contestants’ papers were uploaded into the system as soon as they were collected. This ensured fairness and transparency in the grading process.

They went to the grading room, where several other teachers were waiting for Ge Juan’s arrival.

“Teacher Ge, you need to see Tang Xiao’s paper!”

The teachers opened the grading room’s big screen and clicked on Tang Xiao’s paper.

Final Score: 993.

Tang Yuan and Ge Juan both gasped.

Out of a total of 1000 points, Tang Xiao scored 993!

He had answered every single one of the super-difficult questions correctly!

One of the teachers whispered, “Tang Jie’s record was 893 points, and Tang Xiao’s score surpasses that by 100 points…”

Everyone began to feel something was off.

It seemed like someone was sending a clear message!

Tang Yuan was dumbfounded, and her heart was in turmoil.

Ge Juan could hardly believe it. “Are you sure about this score?”

Teacher Chen and the other teachers all gave bitter smiles. “We’ve all double-checked Tang Xiao’s paper. It’s confirmed—993 points.”

“And,” Teacher Chen added, “the 7 points Tang Xiao lost were from the easiest seven questions. He didn’t make mistakes; he just didn’t answer them, which is why he lost those points.”