Chapter 181: Comfort
Professor Liu slowly got up and smoothed out the wrinkles in his pants. "But, still, all in all, this loss is all my fault. I should not have underestimated you."
Professor Guo clicked his tongue the moment he heard that. He had never liked Professor Liu's arrogance.
"Underestimating me? Well, well, aren't you superb at making excuses? Did you really forget how old Tan Mo is? Or how old your students are? Seriously, how long have your students been preparing for this tournament? Five, six years? They lost to a freshman, and all you have to say is that you've underestimated us? You should find a better excuse..." Professor Guo sighed.
He was right. Professor Liu had completely forgotten that Tan Mo was only a freshman as she had shone so brightly on the stage.
"Guo, come on, spill the beans," Professor Liu laughed. "We're all curious. Why don't you tell us more about your new prodigy?"
Since Tan Mo was already part of his team at Beijing University, Professor Guo wasn't afraid that the other universities would try and encourage her to join theirs. Thus he didn't need to keep her identity a secret any longer.
"Tan Mo. She's a 15-year-old freshman at my university. As soon as she got in, she became part of my research team."
As for the fact that she was a student in the Finance Department and not the Chinese Department, Professor Guo decided not to mention it.
To be more precise, he'd forgotten all about it as well.
"Then, again, other than Shuang University, all of your presidents did head to B City personally and try to invite Tan Mo to your universities. Too bad their offers weren't good enough when compared to President Mu's," Professor Guo said.
Some people might call President Mu of Beijing University a sly person, but it was a useful trait when it came to things like this. Professor Guo always believed that it was the slyness of President Mu that had won Tan Mo over to Beijing University.
However, if President Shi from Tsinghua University had been the one who had successfully recruited Tan Mo, then the tournament would have had a completely different ending.
Then, again, when Professor Guo thought about it, even if Tan Mo had gone to Tsinghua University, Professor Liu might not even have noticed her talent.
Since Tan Mo had been the highest scorer on the College Entrance Exam, it was natural for Professor Guo to know about her. He had invited her to his research team as soon as she was admitted to Beijing University. He was always proud of himself for spotting her talent.
But if she had headed to Tsinghua University, Professor Liu would not even have known who she was. Her talent would have been wasted if she had studied there.
When Professor Wu from Shuang University heard that her president had not invited Tan Mo to their university, she almost went insane.
What the hell are you doing? How can you be so unreliable? Did you not know that the presidents of the other five major universities went to invite her personally? How could you not go? To show that you're not like them? I know she would never have come to our university even if you did go, but shouldn't you at least have shown some sincerity? Look at what you've done! We are like the weird kid in a family now... Why do you have to drag me down this embarrassing road with you?
Professor Wu kept insulting her university's president in her thoughts the more she thought all about this.
"Well, our President Mu spent a lot of resources to ensure Tan Mo would come to Beijing University. And it looks like it was worth it after all. Heck, Tan Mo is worth more than the resources we spent!" Professor Guo laughed as he walked out of the hall, not wanting to spend another second there.
The professors from the other five universities were all staring at Professor Guo, completely dumbfounded.
Did they regret not having been able to recruit Tan Mo to their universities? Professor Guo never learned whether they regretted it or not, and, to be frank, he didn't care.
The participants were all preparing to return to their home universities when Professor Guo joined his team.
Instead of tidying up with her team, Tan Mo had run up to Wei Zhiqian instead.
"Uncle!"
Wei Zhiqian welcomed her with a gentle look. It was as if there was a warm sun in his eyes.
He tenderly patted her head and said, "Looks like you're the star of the show today. Why don't you head back to your campus with your team?"
Wei Zhiqian was sure that Tan Mo would garner a lot of attention after what she had done in the competition.
"I also have to return to my company for a while," Wei Zhiqian apologized. "Seeing how well our Momo has done today, this calls for a celebration."
"Are you going to prepare a present?" Tan Mo asked with an innocent face.
"Is there anything you want?" Wei Zhiqian did not deny it.
"Not really." Tan Mo shook her head. "All I want is an uncle to celebrate with me... I accepted Beijing University's invitation because I thought you'd be around all the time. But it turns out you are barely at school, and I don't really see you at all..."
Wei Zhiqian knew that he'd been too busy lately. He'd had to get to know the inside and outside of the Weifeng Company in a short amount of time. From managing the company to gaining approval from the higher-ups and the heads of each department, he had had to prove that he possessed the ability to take over as the company's president in the near future.
What he wanted wasn't for people to acknowledge him but for them to bow down to him.
Naturally, there were those who had abused their positions in such a large company, which was why he had been so busy of late, and the stress he'd had to handle was immense.
He'd never told anyone about the pressure he'd had to face and bore it all alone.
It wasn't something a person should handle alone.
"Who was it who said that she was a grown-up now and wasn't going to stick to me like she used to?" Wei Zhiqian smiled.
"This is different! What I meant was that I couldn't let you hug me anymore, but I didn't say anything about not being able to see you."
"Okay, okay." Wei Zhiqian laughed. "I promise you I'll spend more time with you from now on, okay?"
Unexpectedly, she shook her head. "I'm not that immature, you know? You don't really have to pay attention to my rants. That's all I'm doing. You should take care of everything in the company so that you won't be this stressed anymore. And once you're finished, you'll have the time to spend with me, right? That's why you have to focus on the company, make sure you take it over correctly, and tell the rest of them who's their boss, got it?" Tan Mo said as she stared at him. Her eyes showed that she had complete trust in him, that she'd never doubted his ability.
Her words made Wei Zhiqian shiver a little.
He had never said anything about his stress to anyone before, yet Tan Mo could see the pressure he had to carry and what his goals were.
The only people who knew were his parents, and they never comforted him as Tan Mo did.
The truth was that he didn't want any people to sympathize with him, but for people to understand what he was going through.
That was why he was touched by Tan Mo's words. Everything he did and felt was seen and understood by her, and she was the first person who had ever comforted him.
Chapter 182: Request for Her Brothers
This 15-year-old teenager was able to understand how he was feeling in spite of the fact that he had never told her a word about it.
Obviously, he wasn't the only one who was paying attention to her. She was doing the same to him.
She had been watching him and observing him silently.
It was impossible for him not to be moved by it.
There were no words that could describe his feelings and emotions at that moment.
It really touched him, but it was so much more complicated than that.
It reminded Wei Zhiqian of the first time the two of them had met.
At that time, he had never thought that their relationship would mean something and would eventually turn out to be something so important in his life.
In the middle of feeling all these emotions, Wei Zhiqian realized that all the time he had spent with Tan Mo had been worth it.
It was then that Wei Zhiqian noticed that the team from Beijing University and Professor Guo were all waiting for Tan Mo in order to return to Beijing University.
"Why don't you head back to school now? The others are waiting for you."
"Okay..." Tan Mo didn't really want to leave Wei Zhiqian, but she still waved her hand and jogged back toward her team.
Wei Zhiqian smiled and waved her good-bye as well, before walking out with the rest of the audience.
Tan Mo followed her schoolmates back into the bus and returned to Beijing University.
Little did these students know that on their way back, President Mu of Beijing University was going to call President Shi of Tsinghua University.
"Shi, how are you?" President Mu greeted him with a laugh as soon as the call went through. "Did you watch the Ancient Text Competition today?"
President Shi had already known what the point of the call wa going to be when he saw it was from President Mu.
He had considered pretending to have not watched the competition, but quickly gave up on that idea.
Even if he had said that he hadn't watched and had no idea what the result was, President Mu would just have told him everything in detail.
There was no way he would have wanted to hear President Mu reciting everything that had happened during the competition, which was a huge embarrassment for Tsinghua University.
In the end, President Shi decided to pretend that he didn't care about the result. "I did. Congratulations."
SIGH! President Mu waved his arms around in spite of knowing that President Shi could not see him. "To tell you the truth, my team was really mediocre. Wait, that's not the right word. It's just that most of them didn't have the chance to prove themselves since Tan Mo single-handedly kicked everyone else off the stage."
Since Beijing University was one of Tsinghua University's biggest adversaries, President Shi realized that President Mu was saying that just to annoy him.
How can the president of one of the top universities say things like kicking people off the stage...?
President Shi sighed to himself.
"We can't even estimate the rest of the contestants' potential now. These juniors and seniors are probably going to be criticizing themselves for being carried by a freshman. They should. That's what I'm going to tell them once they get back," President Mu continued, not giving President Shi a chance to breathe.
"Now that I'm thinking about it, you almost got Tan Mo to go to Tsinghua University, right? You were just unlucky that I suddenly hopped into the race as well. It's like Usain Bolt suddenly joining a regional race, ha, ha, ha!" President Mu laughed really loudly.
In the end, he credited himself with the win since he had been the one who had spent many hours and resources to recruit Tan Mo to his university. He was glad that he was smarter than his peers.
President Shi remained silent on the other end of the phone while the President of Beijing University continued, "Now I finally understand why everyone keeps saying that there's no need for two geniuses in one world."
When President Mu said that, President Shi slammed the phone down. President Mu's voice was making him puke.
President Mu stared at his phone and clicked his tongue.
"Can he only handle this much? That's why I'm better than he is," he complimented himself before hanging up as well.
When the bus that Tan Mo was riding on stopped in front of the dormitories of Beijing University, they all realized that President Mu was personally waiting for them.
As soon as Professor Guo got off the bus, the president walked up and greeted him with a handshake. "Professor Go, thank you for your hard work."
The professor's lips twitched a little, but he didn't have the chance to say anything as the students were coming off the bus as well.
The president shook the hand of every student with a smile. "Good work out there."
Tan Mo was the last to get off the bus. The moment the president saw her, tears filled his eyes.
He grabbed Tan Mo's hand emotionally and shook it vigorously. "Tan Mo! Good job! You are the pride of our university!"
"I was just doing my job as a student." Tan Mo smiled.
"Well said! Well said!" The president could not stop smiling. "No matter what you think, you deserve to be rewarded. I've had a flag made with your name and the words, Pride of Beijing University, on it."
Tan Mo stared at the president wordlessly. You didn't have to go that far...
"Not only that," the president continued, "you'll also get a monetary reward and the title of Beijing University's Outstanding Student."
This last honor was the most important one, as it would help her a lot in the future.
"Tan Mo, as the one who carried us to this victory, do you have anything else you want?" President Mu decided to add another reward as he was having the best day of his life. "I'll give you one thing as long as it's within my power."
"You know what?" Tan Mo tilted her head. "There is something I might need your help with..."
"Oh?" She had piqued President Mu's interest.
He knew about the relationship between Tan Mo and Wei Zhiqian. There was no need for her to ask for another person's help if she had such a connection.
What was more was that this was the first time she had asked for a favor from him.
When he was trying to get her to attend his university, he'd told her if she needed anything else that was not included in the contract, he would be able to add it as long as it was within reason.
Despite such an alluring offer, Tan Mo didn't ask for anything else.
It was then that President Mu knew that Tan Mo was not a greedy lady.
If she had been, then she would never have caught Wei Zhiqian's attention.
"I have three older brothers. One of them is majoring in music and one in arts. Is it possible for you to use your connections and introduce a famous songwriter and producer to my brother? Or do you know any famous artists?" Tan Mo shyly asked. "If you do, can you introduce them to my third brother? Of course, either one is enough. It will be greatly appreciated."
Tan Mo had quickly taken the chance to help her brothers.
President Mu was completely stunned. He had never expected that that would be the request from the young lady.
A request that did not benefit her, but other people...
The president had heard from Professor Guo and Professor Zhao that the reason Tan Mo had refused to change her major was that she wanted to take over her family's business so that her brothers could be free from their duties to pursue their own dreams.
Chapter 183: Respect
She wanted to become her brothers' pillar and provide all the support she could give, everything from money to connections.
President Mu was slightly shocked by Tan Mo's sudden request, but he wasn't surprised by it.
All he could think of was how much she loved and cared for her brothers.
It also made him wonder how much the brothers had cared for her for her to willingly do so much for them.
"No, I don't have to choose. I'll do both for you." President Mu smiled, deciding to help the young lady fulfill her brothers' dreams. "I'll find some producers and artists and make a list for you. Then you can decide with your brothers who to choose. Once they've decided, all that will be left is for me to make the calls. The only problem now is that I might have to come up with a huge list as some of the people might not have the time or are currently working in another country. I'll have to check with them first."
"That will be more than enough. Thank you so much." Tan Mo smiled. Seeing how the president had accepted her request so easily, she decided to help Beijing University win more competitions in the future to repay the favor.
"You're welcome." President Mu smiled as if he were God himself.
Tan Mo wasn't even worried that the people that President Mu would find might be second-rate artists, when she considered that Professor Zhao had been able to involve a famous person like Director Hou easily.
Tan Mo could tell that President Mu was a person who had a lot of pride. He would never have accepted the request if he couldn't do it.
Since vehicles weren't allowed inside the campus, they had to walk back from the gate in front of the dormitories.
As soon as they started walking, they realized that a lot of students were lining the paths, cheering for them.
The moment they saw Tan Mo, they began to chant, "Wherever Tan Mo goes, the enemies perish!"
The cheers filled the school grounds instantly.
Tan Mo was rendered speechless once again as the slogan did not fit her personality. It made her seem like an arrogant and rude antagonist in a story.
"Tan Mo! We saw the livestream," someone suddenly shouted.
"I did too. You're our pride!"
"Well done!"
Everyone was extraordinarily excited after witnessing what Tan Mo had done in the competition.
She had completely outplayed her opponents and achieved a one-sided victory for Beijing University.
She was able to wipe out all the respect that Tsinghua University had been able to accrue for being dominant during the past few years.
"Thank you." Tan Mo smiled and bowed. "I will do my best to win more trophies for our university."
"You don't have to bow," the students said. "Go and get some rest. You deserve it!"
They were there to welcome their heroine back and not for Tan Mo to bow to them. However, when Tan Mo did that, the students all had the same thought.
What a kindhearted girl... There's not an ounce of arrogance in her after winning such a huge competition.
Tan Mo and the team finally returned to their research room. When they walked through the door, Tan Mo finally relaxed and let out a painful groan.
Wang Yuemu turned to Tan Mo and helped massage her back. She scolded, "Seriously, why did you have to bow all the way here?"
"They were all waiting for me to return. It's not like I'm some super-important person, but they still did that," Tan Mo replied seriously. "Isn't it normal to show respect to those who give you their respect?"
"Seriously...?" Wang Yuemu sighed.
It was impossible for people not to like Tan Mo when she had such a personality.
Not many people could do what she had just done.
If the other team members had been in Tan Mo's position and had just single-handedly won the competition, they would be full of pride. Only Tan Mo was able to not boast about her achievements and still remain true to her promises and goals.
Wang Yuemu shook her head, thinking to herself that even she wouldn't be able to do it. It was practically impossible.
When Wang Yuemu thought about it, she couldn't help but have more respect for this 15-year-old girl.
She turned to glance at Ying Siyuan, and the latter said, "Tan Mo, we've discussed this with the whole team on the way back. No matter how much the school is going to give us for winning the competition, we won't be taking a single dime from it. It's all yours."
Tan Mo turned to look at her seniors dumbfoundedly.
Ying Siyuan quickly explained, "We didn't do anything in this competition. The victory belongs to you alone. You're the only reason we won the whole thing. The reward should go to you alone."
Tan Mo turned to look at everyone else. "Did everyone agree to it?"
"We did." Pu Xinyan nodded.
"Me too," Wu Jiazhen said, as she scratched the back of her head. "I was just too embarrassed to say it out loud since I'm scared that the others might call me a softie or something... Ha, ha, ha..."
The rest of the team quickly turned to glare at Wu Jiazhen.
You are the only one who has that idea. Who's calling you a softie? Not us! Don't try to play the nice guy. And don't you dare drag us down that road with you.
"It was a huge relief when Siyuan and Yuemu brought the topic up. None of us hesitated, and we all agreed to it immediately," Wu Jiazhen said with a relieved expression. "All of us think that you should get all the reward."
"But I don't think that's right." Tan Mo shook her head and stood up. "Aren't you guys mistaking something? I didn't win the whole competition on my own. From the moment I joined this research team, every one of you accepted me into this family. I know that Wang Yuemu never told me about this, but she had told everyone a lot of good things about me before I even came here so that everyone would have a good impression of me..."
Wang Yuemu's mouth was open wide as she'd never thought that Tan Mo would ever know about this. It was true that she had never told her junior about it and had never planned to tell her.
Wang Yuemu was always focused on the research and never thought much about other things.
However, the more time she spent with Tan Mo, the more she was fond of the 15-year-old girl.
That was why she felt all the good things she'd said about the young lady were true and weren't something that necessitated any gratitude.
Never did Wang Yuemu expect that Tan Mo would know about this, especially since no one had ever brought it up.
She didn't really care if Tan Mo knew about it or not, but she was still happy to learn that Tan Mo was feeling thankful about it.
"From the moment I stepped into this campus, all of you were the first to accept me and make me feel like I was at home." Tan Mo smiled.
"But this is different," Ling Zimu argued. "It still doesn't mean that we should split the reward."
"I know this is what everyone thinks, but that's not the case, is it? The reason I can win is just because of my good memory. I can't take credit for all the research, the literature reviews, and the learning we all did together. It was you who taught me everything when I had no idea what was what. I was able to win because you were patient enough to teach me everything I needed to know and learn."
Chapter 184: We Are Softies
"What's more, the reason I was on stage the whole time was that we were trying to embarrass Tsinghua University, right? If we hadn't been trying to do that, you guys would have taken my place after the first round ended. I don't think you guys would have lost anyway," Tan Mo said. "And even if some of us had lost, all we had to do was get the highest total points. If you are giving me all the reward, you are also saying that those who lost their rounds shouldn't get theirs. If all of us went on the stage and some lost, there's no way you would say that they wouldn't get part of the reward, am I right?
Tan Mo was able to shut everyone up. What she said was right. It was impossible for them to give her all the reward.
"The concept is the same. Even if you guys didn't go on stage, it doesn't mean you guys don't deserve the reward." Tan Mo smiled. "Since I didn't lose a round, you guys just didn't get the chance to go on the stage. Also, I'm the one that benefited the most from the competition. None of you actually had the chance to show your talents on the stage. Do you still think it's fair for me to take all the money when I've already stolen all the spotlight? I'm sure everyone wanted the chance to embarrass the Tsinghua University team, am I wrong?"
"But..."
Some people wanted to argue, but no words came to mind. Tan Mo was completely spot on with her explanation.
"Looks like we don't have a choice but to take our share of the reward, huh? Or else we will all be called showoffs or something..." Ying Siyuan smiled broadly.
"Well, if you all really feel bad for accepting the reward, why don't you guys treat me to a meal after this?" Tan Mo smiled slyly.
"Sure thing!" Ying Siyuan agreed immediately. "Oh, right! We planned to celebrate our victory in the competition later anyway. What do you guys say? Should we treat Tan Mo to a meal later?"
"Of course!" The rest of the team agreed unanimously.
It was only then that Professor Guo finally spoke up. "And here I am, thinking about how to educate you. It looks like you guys clearly understood that we only won because of Tan Mo. Since you guys know that already, I don't have to say anything anymore."
Not only did they know that, but they were also ready to give up their share of the reward to Tan Mo.
When the competition ended, Professor Guo thought about educating the rest of the team as soon as they got back.
But, since the whole team knew that they shouldn't be given any credit for the win, Professor Guo decided not to go on with his plan or else it might affect their enthusiasm in the long run.
In the end, there weren't many geniuses like Tan Mo alive anyway.
Other than Tan Mo, the rest of the team were actually the best in their own fields.
"You kids should focus on your own research after the celebration, okay? Unless you all are planning to rely on Tan Mo in the future," Professor Guo said before leaving, not wanting to interrupt their celebration.
The students weren't even mad about what Professor Guo had just said, as it was a fact that Tan Mo was far superior to any of them.
It was that one simple reason that they willingly let Tan Mo go on the stage to take over the whole competition.
However, their professor was right. They shouldn't stop improving themselves just because they had a powerful addition to their research team.
"All right! Let's take a short break, and continue with our research after," Wang Yuemu said. "Just like Professor Guo said, we have to catch up to Tan Mo. You guys better not forget that she's majoring in Finance, not Chinese."
It was as if her words were a wake-up call for the rest of the team.
Sh*t! We totally forgot about that! Are we going to let a freshman from the Finance Department beat us? Of course not! We have to do better.
"Siyuan, do you have any recommendations for tonight's celebration?" Wang Yuemu turned to Ying Siyuan and asked.
"I'm still looking," Ying Siyuan replied as she waved her phone.
After a few minutes of searching on the internet, she finally decided where to hold the celebration. "All right. I've booked us a table at a hotpot place. They provide personalized hotpot, so that we can enjoy our favorites."
The moment the team members heard that they were going to have their favorite hotpots, they became even more excited.
For the rest of the day, they continued with their research until it was time for dinner. Surprisingly, none of them were really focused on their work as they were still reminiscing about their victory over Tsinghua University.
Hours passed. After checking the time on his phone, Ying Siyuan stretched and announced, "It's already 5:30. Let's go."
"Let's go!" Wu Jiazhen exclaimed as she put a bookmark into the book she was reading and closed it.
She then swiftly tidied up her work space and urged the others to hurry.
Once everything was tidied up, they left for dinner.
Ying Siyuan had also invited Professor Guo and Mr. Lao to come to dinner with them, but Professor Guo had turned them down. "Count me out. You guys won't be able to have a good time if I'm there."
The professor wasn't going to ruin the mood for the young kids, and Mr. Lao came to the same conclusion as well.
Ying Siyuan hailed three taxis, and all of them headed straight to the hotpot restaurant.
Despite being able to choose their own flavors, everyone went with the Mala Soup.
"Since we're having Mala hotpot and are here to relax, why don't we get some beer?" someone asked Ying Siyuan. "It's the weekend tomorrow anyway."
Since they were all in their early 20s, they were legal to drink alcohol.
"Sure thing. But don't drink too much. I don't want to carry someone home," Ying Siyuan laughed.
Everyone ordered a beer for themselves and a glass of sour plum juice for Tan Mo. Even Wang Yuemu ordered alcohol.
When the drinks finally arrived, Tan Mo stared at her own sour plum juice before turning to look at the beers everyone else had.
"Stop staring. There's no way we are letting a minor drink," Wang Yuemu laughed.
She was worried that if Tan Mo's family learned that they had actually let the underaged girl drink alcohol, the parents would ban Tan Mo from socializing with them in the future.
"I still have two years and four months to go before I can drink..." Tan Mo sighed.
Her birthday was in March, and it was only November.
When she said that, everyone stopped what they were doing.
They were literally being reminded that despite still having two years to go until she was 18, Tan Mo had already led them to defeat the Tsinghua University team in the Ancient Text Competition.
The rest of the team began to wonder what they had been doing for the past three to four years of their lives.
Even though Ying Siyuan warned them not to overdrink, their excitement about winning the competition made them drink more than they should have. The mood soon became very lively, to the point where everyone was talking in a loud voice.
Shen Hongshan even went and ordered a whole box of beers for the table in the end.
While everyone was getting intoxicated, Tan Mo quietly took Wang Yuemu's bottle and poured some beer into her own glass of sour plum juice.
Chapter 185: What the H*ll
The dark-red color of the sour plum juice hid the beer in Tan Mo's glass.
The liquid inside her glass was still dark in color.
When she took a sniff, she realized the sweetness of the juice had covered the malty scent of the beer.
She had always wanted to try and see what beer tasted like, but Wang Yuemu and the rest of the team had never allowed her to try it.
That was why she had to resort to another method.
Tan Mo took a sip of her drink and realized that there was an additional bitterness to the sweet and sour juice.
Naturally, the bitterness came from the beer that she'd just added.
Tan Mo licked her lips as she tried to experience the flavor of the beer.
However, she couldn't really tell what was so special about it and took another sip.
She continued taking sip after sip until her glass of sour plum juice and beer was empty.
She began to feel tipsy although she had only consumed half a glass of beer.
Her world was starting to spin. When the others tried to talk to her, her response would be delayed a little.
Wang Yuemu quickly noticed that something was off when she saw that Tan Mo's eyes weren't focusing.
That's weird... We didn't even give her any alcohol.
She then checked to see if Tan Mo was hiding a glass of beer anywhere, only to notice that her glass, which should have been just in front of her, had been moved to the side.
She raised her glass suspiciously, and, just as she had expected, it was lighter than she remembered. With just one glance, she could tell that the formerly full glass was half-gone.
"You rascal! Did you pour my beer into your glass?" Wang Yuemu scolded her. "Tan Mo, did you just drink some beer?"
"Hmm?" Tan Mo's cheeks were now completely red. Even her response was so slow that it took her a whole second before she nodded yes.
"How much did you drink?" Wang Yuemu sighed.
Tan Mo raised her glass and smiled like an idiot. "I mixed it with my sour plum juice... I think it was about half a glass...?"
Pu Xinyan slapped her own forehead dramatically. "Half a glass, and you're this drunk?"
Wang Yuemu quickly filled Tan Mo's glass with sour plum juice. "Seriously, you are forbidden to drink any alcohol if that's all you can handle. Hurry up and finish the juice!"
Tan Mo obediently took the glass of juice from Wang Yuemu. However, after taking a sip, she put the glass down and pushed it away.
Just as Wang Yuemu was about to force Tan Mo to drink more of the juice, Tan Mo picked her phone up from the table, found Wei Zhiqian's WeChat ID, and called him.
At that time, Wei Zhiqian was on his way to Beijing University.
He had his Bluetooth earbud in his right ear, and his phone was set up on the phone holder.
The moment he saw the call was from Tan Mo, he picked it up right away.
Before he could even say anything, Tan Mo spoke softly through the phone. "Uncle, didn't you say you were coming to pick me up tonight? Where are you? Were you lying to me?"
"I'm sorry. I'm on my way now." Wei Zhiqian apologized. "What's wrong with your voice?"
Wei Zhiqian could tell that Tan Mo sounded different. She sounded clingy, which was unlike her usual self.
"Me? I'm not at the campus now..." It was a miracle that Tan Mo could tell where she was.
Wei Zhiqian almost choked when he heard that.
This little... How dare she blame me for not picking her up when she's not even on the campus?
"Did you head home?" Wei Zhiqian thought she might have returned home since it was a Friday night.
"Nope... I'm having a celebration with my seniors." Tan Mo giggled. "They are treating little Tan Mo to dinner for winning the competition."
Little Tan Mo? What the h*ll?
Wei Zhiqian almost choked for the second time as Tan Mo had never spoken in such a manner, not even when she was still a six-year-old little girl.
He let out a sigh and asked, "Where are you guys celebrating?"
"At a hotpot restaurant!"
The longer the call went on, the more Wei Zhiqian could tell something was off with Tan Mo.
"What's the name of the hotpot restaurant?" Wei Zhiqian patiently asked.
If it had been another person on the other end of the phone, Wei Zhiqian would've exploded in anger by now.
"Hmm..." Tan Mo tried her best to recall the name of the restaurant, but couldn't. "That's weird...I'm usually good at remembering names... Why can't I remember the name of this restaurant?"
Tan Mo frowned, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't find the name of the restaurant.
In spite of not being able to hear the conversation, Wang Yuemu could tell that Tan Mo couldn't remember what the restaurant was. She leaned over and told Tan Mo the name.
"That's right!" Tan Mo exclaimed. "That's the name!"
Wei Zhiqian was now completely speechless.
So, what's the name?
Ying Siyuan quickly deduced that Wei Zhiqian was on his way to pick Tan Mo up. "Tan Mo, let me talk to Young Master Wei."
Tan Mo obediently passed her phone to Ying Siyuan. She coughed before placing the phone to her ear and said, "Young Master Wei? We are at Shuyuni Hotpot. I'll send the location to you with Tan Mo's phone."
"Got it. Thanks."
It only took a few seconds for Wei Zhiqian to receive the location sent by Ying Siyuan. He quickly opened the map and drove to the restaurant.
When Wei Zhiqian entered the Beijing University team's room, the first person he spotted was Tan Mo, who was sitting opposite the door.
Tan Mo also noticed him as soon as the door opened.
"Uncle!" The little girl threw her arms wide open as she remained seated.
Wei Zhiqian frowned as he walked over to her and noticed the slight glow on her cheeks. He then turned around and noticed everyone had a glass of beer in front of them.
"Did you guys let her drink?" Wei Zhiqian asked.
Did you guys let a 15-year-old girl drink alcohol?
"We ordered a glass of sour plum juice for her," Wang Yue explained apologetically. "I was careless, and she snuck half a glass of my beer into her own glass..."
"Just half a glass?" Wei Zhiqian turned to look at Tan Mo. Just half a glass, and she's this drunk?
Chen Shihua and the others quickly nodded. "She only drank half a glass. There's no way we would let a kid like her drink beer."
Tan Mo nodded obediently. "I only drank half a glass!"
In spite of feeling bad for not noticing, Wang Yuemu still couldn't help but laugh at Tan Mo's expression now. "When we noticed that she had actually drunk some beer, she was already like this. She even admitted to adding my beer into her glass of sour plum juice."
"I am not lying!" Tan Mo nodded again.
"I see..." Wei Zhiqian sighed. "Then I'll take her home."
"Okay." Everyone nodded.
The rest of the team could not believe how things had turned out in the end.
They were supposed to be celebrating happily, but the celebration resulted in Tan Mo, an underaged girl, getting drunk.
Even though Tan Mo was the one who snuck herself a drink, it didn't mean they didn't have to take responsibility for it.
Fortunately, Wei Zhiqian wasn't an irrational person.
Since Tan Mo did it to herself, he wasn't going to blame it on another person.
"Don't worry. I will educate her properly once she sobers up," Wei Zhiqian said.
Everyone turned to look at him, not believing a word the man had just said.
The reason was that it was basically impossible for Wei Zhiqian to get angry at the cute young girl.
Chapter 186: What a Con Man
"Uncle, carry me." Tan Mo raised her head and opened her arms toward Wei Zhiqian, just as she had always done when she was little.
When she was a little girl, she would often extend her arms for Wei Zhiqian to carry her.
Tan Mo was now sitting while he was standing.
As the man looked at her from this higher angle, it was as if they'd gone back to when they were children.
Wei Zhiqian couldn't help but smile warmly at her because this reminded him of how she would ask him to carry her when they were young.
The rest of the team sighed to themselves.
Didn't you just say you were going to educate her? Like h*ll!
Wei Zhiqian leaned forward and lifted Tan Mo off the chair. Then he turned to everyone else, "We will take our leave now."
Everyone waved good-bye as they walked out the door.
It had been a long time since Wei Zhiqian had carried Tan Mo.
Ever since she'd started to grow taller after she was about nine years old, she'd been embarrassed to ask Wei Zhiqian to carry her anymore.
But since she was drunk now, all her embarrassment had been thrown out the window.
She rubbed her head against his chest. It was a feeling that she'd missed and longed for.
Wei Zhiqian couldn't help but smile when he saw her reaction.
He carried Tan Mo back to his car to drive her home.
Seeing the state she was in, there was no way he was taking her back to the dormitory.
He put Tan Mo down in the passenger seat. She turned on her side and started to fall asleep.
"Weren't you wide awake just seconds ago?" Wei Zhiqian laughed. "Come on, put on your seatbelt."
Tan Mo reacted more slowly than she usually did. It took her a few seconds to turn around to grab the seatbelt.
However, then she missed the seatbelt and grabbed at the air instead. She tried again and again. She finally found it.
After putting her seatbelt on, she closed her eyes once again.
"Don't you dare drink again," Wei Zhiqian warned her. "Not a drop, you hear me?"
He was still surprised that Tan Mo could get this drunk with just half a glass of beer mixed with sour plum juice.
He wasn't sure if she had heard him or not. She was now lying on her side on the passenger seat. She was looking at him as she tried her best to keep her eyes open. It made her look both obedient and innocent at the same time.
SIGH. I guess I will talk to her once she sobers up...
Wei Zhiqian started the engine and drove toward the Tan Mansion.
On the way there, Tan Mo suddenly said, "Uncle, I'm not drunk..."
Wei Zhiqian turned to glance at her. Are you kidding me? Look at you, and you're learning how to speak like a drunk adult now...
He checked his watch and realized that 15 minutes had already passed since he'd warned her not to drink alcohol anymore. It had taken her a quarter of an hour to respond to him. Her reaction was way slower than usual.
"Do you think I'm lying?" Tan Mo asked again.
Wei Zhiqian turned to look at her again.
This brat had always been like this. She could never stop talking.
However, Wei Zhiqian did not find Tan Mo's talkativeness annoying. The only thing that surprised him was that she was still talkative even when she was drunk.
"Let me tell you a secret. I'm a little snow fairy who has cultivated for 1,000 years." Tan Mo nodded, but then quickly shook her head the next second. "Wait, no, not 1,000 years. It's 999 years and 364 days. What a waste."
Wei Zhiqian was completely speechless now. Why is she talking nonsense now?
"Did you read some fiction or watch some fantasy drama recently?" Wei Zhiqian asked.
"I am serious!" Tan Mo mimicked a sword with her fingers and waved it around. "Let me show you how I can force the alcohol out of my body!"
Wei Zhiqian was even more speechless now. It looked like she had been watching a lot of martial arts dramas... Look at her!
Tan Mo kept waving her arms around, trying to remove the alcohol from her body. Yet, no matter how much she waved them around, nothing worked.
She slumped back into her seat and whispered, "Looks like my power hasn't returned yet."
Never had Wei Zhiqian thought that Tan Mo would have such a side to her.
...
Just as Xu Mingzhen was pondering whether she should call Tan Mo and ask if she was coming back for the weekend and whether she needed her to pick her up at school.
It was then that the doorbell rang.
After checking the camera, Auntie Guo reported, "Young Master Wei is carrying Momo at the door."
"Carrying?" Father Tan, Tan Jinsheng, and Tan Jinyi all jumped off the couch and rushed to the door.
"Why is he carrying Momo? Did she get hurt or something?" Tan Jinsheng asked nervously, since it had been years since Tan Mo last let Wei Zhiqian carry her.
She wouldn't even let her brothers carry her anymore.
"Big bro will be devastated if that happens." Tan Jinyi said as he ran toward the door.
Tan Jinqi was still on set. If he were to find out that Tan Mo had been hurt, he would definitely rush back home.
However, when they opened the door, they did see Wei Zhiqian carrying Tan Mo, but she didn't look like she was hurt.
She even smiled at her family with a silly expression. "Brothers! Daddy! Mommy!"
"What happened to her?" Xu Mingzhen looked at Wei Zhiqian with a puzzled expression.
"She went to celebrate with her seniors for winning the competition," Wei Zhiqian explained as he entered the mansion. "She snuck herself half a glass of beer when they weren't paying attention and got drunk."
The whole Tan family couldn't believe what they had just heard.
Although it was wrong for a 15-year-old girl to consume alcohol, getting drunk after half a glass of beer was embarrassing.
"Let me carry her," Tan Jinsheng said as he opened his arms to carry his sister.
It had been years since he'd last done that, and he wanted to make use of the chance since she was drunk.
"No! I want uncle to carry me!" Tan Mo pouted and tightened her arms around Wei Zhiqian.
Others could instantly hear Tan Jinsheng's heart being shattered.
Wei Zhiqian let out a cough with a huge grin on his face. "Looks like Momo prefers me to carry her."
He knew the way around the mansion and walked up the stairs toward Tan Mo's room.
Tan Jinsheng and Tan Jinyi followed closely behind him. The former even clicked his tongue as they ascended the stairs.
Wei Zhiqian! What a con man...
Tan Jinsheng could tell that Wei Zhiqian had grinned at him purposely. There was no way Wei Zhiqian couldn't control his own expression if he was trying to take over his family business. It was clear that he had done it to show them that Tan Mo liked him more than her brothers.
They still remembered that when Tan Mo learned how to write from Wei Zhiqian, the first thing she wrote was his name. The whole Tan family was furious when they saw that, especially Tan Wenci, who kept cursing at Wei Zhiqian all around the mansion.
The first name his daughter learned to write wasn't her own, nor her parents or brothers, but Wei Zhiqian's.
It was clear that Wei Zhiqian had been trying to challenge them, just as he was doing now.
Wei Zhiqian decided to ignore the angry Tan family who were following behind him and opened the door to Tan Mo's room.
As he set Tan Mo down on the bed, Tan Jinsheng quickly moved forward and helped remove her shoes. He wasn't going to lose out to an outsider.
"All right. All of you, out!" Xu Mingzhen chased everyone out, including Wei Zhiqian. "I'll take care of her. You guys stay out of this."
Chapter 187: Jinyi Is Going to Cry
Xu Mingzhen had to change her daughter's clothes. There was no way she was going to let the men stay in the room.
"Mom, it's been some time since we saw her," Tan Jinyi tried to argue with his mother.
"And you can talk to her tomorrow as much as you want!" Xu Mingzhen scolded him. "Now, get out!"
Tan Wenci noticed why his wife was chasing them out. He quickly dragged Wei Zhiqian with his left hand and Tan Jinsheng with his right hand, while kicking Tan Jinyi with his foot. "Come on. Let's go."
It was as if Tan Wenci was a shepherd trying to move his sheep back into the barn.
After closing the door, Xu Mingzhen turned around and saw Tan Mo sitting up with a puzzled expression.
"Mommy!" The moment she saw her mother, she opened her arms to get a hug.
With Tan Mo continuing to grow up over the past few years, she stopped letting her three brothers and Wei Zhiqian hug her, but not her parents.
However, it seemed like Tan Mo was even more clingy when she was drunk.
She had always been clingy with her parents, but today it was even worse. She was clinging to her mother like a baby koala.
Xu Mingzhen hugged her daughter and caressed the young girl's hair. "Seriously, how did you get so drunk with just half a glass of beer? Look at how red your cheeks are. I'm going to get you your pajamas. Can you change into them on your own?" she gently asked.
Tan Mo rested her head on her mother's belly instead. She could smell the scent from her mother that she had always liked ever since she was a child.
Whenever she smelled the sweet scent of her mother, she would feel safe and happy. It was as if the aroma could temporarily shield her from any worries.
"Yes..." Tan Mo nodded as she rubbed her head on Xu Mingzhen's belly.
However, being hugged by her daughter like this made the mother not want to let go even for a second. She didn't even want to turn around, but to continue to enjoy her daughter's hug.
Xu Mingzhen let Tan Mo continue to hug her until the latter was almost asleep. Then she had no choice but to pull Tan Mo's arms away from her waist and say, "I'll go get your pajamas."
Tan Mo released her and proceeded to take a sniff of herself. She could instantly tell that the heavy reek from the buttery hotpot had followed her home.
"I want to take a shower first," Tan Mo said in a soft tone.
"Can you shower on your own?" Xu Mingzhen asked.
"Of course," Tan Mo nodded and got up. "See, I can walk in a straight line already."
Xu Mingzhen turned to look. Her daughter was indeed walking in a straight line.
"All right." Xu Mingzhen laughed. "Call me if you need anything."
Tan Mo nodded and did her best to walk in a straight line into the bathroom.
It didn't take long for Xu Mingzhen to hear the shower being turned on.
About half an hour passed, and Tan Mo came out of the bathroom in her pajamas.
Her hair was still dripping wet, but she had wrapped it up into a towel.
Xu Mingzhen pulled her daughter over to the dressing table and sat her down in front of it.
She then went into the bathroom and got the hairdryer to help dry Tan Mo's hair.
Since the sound from the hairdryer was very loud, Tan Mo decided to talk to her mother once her hair had dried.
Fortunately, the hairdryer dried her hair in just a couple of minutes.
Xu Mingzhen then set the hairdryer down and started to comb her hair.
It was something she would always do for her daughter a few years back.
Now that Tan Mo was all grown up, she rarely had the chance to do this anymore.
As she combed Tan Mo's hair, she couldn't help but remember how little Tan Mo would also sit in the same spot so that she could do the same thing.
It had been too long since the mother had last helped the daughter straighten her hair.
Especially now that Tan Mo was a college student, it was rare for the two of them to meet more than once a month.
Xu Mingzhen couldn't help but let out a sigh as the older her daughter got, the less clingy she became.
"That's right," Tan Mo said as she slightly tilted her head up and saw her mother's gentle expression. "We won first place in the Ancient Text Competition today."
"I know. Even though we couldn't be there, we still watched the live stream." Xu Mingzhen smiled as she continued to comb.
The mother noticed that instead of saying I, Tan Mo had used the word we.
Although she was the only Beijing University contestant to go up on the stage, Tan Mo still considered the victory as a team effort, an honor that belonged to the whole team.
It made her mother proud.
No matter how successful Tan Mo became, she never abandoned her conscience and would never get arrogant. It was something that not many people could do, especially considering the fact that Tan Mo was just a 15-year-old girl.
"Your dad even pushed all his meetings back so that he could watch the competition in his office. Jinyi and Jinsheng watched the whole thing at their school. Even Jinqi used his breaks to watch as much as he could."
Tan Mo was completely touched and smiled. "I should tell big brother to focus on his work first. He shouldn't get distracted or else the others might blame him."
"You do that." Xu Mingzhen laughed. "Your big brother only listens to you."
Tan Mo then recalled her conversation with President Mu that day and turned around. "Oh, right. Because we've won the competition, our President asked if there was anything I wanted as long as it was within reason. I asked if he could help find instructors for brothers Jinyi and Jinsheng. I'm pretty sure he can help find some famous people to help them, since even Professor Zhao was able to introduce Director Hou to big brother. President Mu agreed to my request and already has a list of people in his head. We just have to wait for him to contact them and see if brother Jinyi and Jinsheng are happy with the list or not. If they are, he can set them up immediately."
"Of course, they will be happy with it. President Mu will definitely find the best for them." Xu Mingzhen smiled warmly. "It would make us look bad if we rejected his list, right?"
"Of course not. Brother Jinyi and Jinsheng deserve the best instructors out there. There's no need to ask for the President's help if we are just going to find some normal instructors." In Tan Mo's eyes, her brothers were the best in their fields. "But, since President Mu isn't sure the famous people he knows have the time, we'll have to wait."
"I see." Xu Mingzhen smiled. "I'm sure Jinyi is going to cry when he learns of this."
When Tan Mo introduced Director Hou to Tan Jinqi, all three of her brothers were already embarrassed because it felt as if they were troubling her all the time.
Even though they were her older brothers, she was always the one who was worried about them.
If Tan Jinsheng and Tan Jinyi learned that Tan Mo was going to introduce them to a famous producer and an artist, they would probably have a meltdown.
Chapter 188: Copycat
"Well, Jinyi is an artist, after all. It's normal for him to be more emotional than others," Tan Mo said as her eyelids started to droop.
She let out a yawn and turned a little before falling asleep in Xu Mingzhen's arms.
The mother looked at her daughter speechlessly.
How could she fall asleep like this?
She sighed before carrying Tan Mo to her bed. After making sure the blanket was over her daughter, she quietly left the room.
Wei Zhiqian was still in the living room when Xu Mingzhen got there. They were still talking about the competition.
Tan Wenci was so excited that he was standing up and waving his arms around until he noticed Xu Mingzhen coming and stopped the conversation.
"She's asleep," Xu Mingzhen said.
"Did she take a shower and change into her pajamas?" Wei Zhiqian asked. "It wouldn't be comfortable to sleep in those clothes."
The mother turned to glare at the man. Wow! You sure are nosy. Do you really think you're her uncle now?
There was no way Xu Mingzhen was going to tell a man who wasn't in their family whether her daughter had showered and changed or not.
"Momo has taken care of everything. You worry too much," the mother explained.
"Should we get some diluted honey or some other hangover remedy for her?" Wei Zhiqian asked another question.
Xu Mingzhen became even more speechless now.
Dude, are you her mother? You're making me look like I don't know how to take care of her...
"No need," Xu Mingzhen frowned. "Momo is just tired. She isn't feeling unwell."
"I see." Wei Zhiqian nodded. "I had promised to celebrate her victory with her tonight. Who knew she would go and get herself drunk first..."
"We also thought of celebrating with her as well. It looks like we'll have to do it tomorrow." Xu Mingzhen sighed. Fortunately for them, it was Saturday the next day, and Tan Mo would definitely spend the rest of the weekend at home instead of returning to her dorm.
However, as soon as Xu Mingzhen said that, the males in the Tan family shot her a look.
Come on! How can you say that in front of Wei Zhiqian? What if he wants to come tomorrow?
Wei Zhiqian smiled and didn't say anything. Instead, he decided it was time for him to leave.
After he had left, Tan Wenci finally said, "Do you know how dangerous that was? What if he decides to join us tomorrow? Did you forget how long it has been since we really spent time with Momo just as a family?"
Whenever Tan Mo would return home, Wei Zhiqian would be there as well. If they really thought about it, even five fingers would be enough to count the time they'd spent with Tan Mo without Wei Zhiqian around.
Either Tan Mo would spend her time with Wei Zhiqian, or Wei Zhiqian would be at their home.
Xu Mingzhen finally realized what she had done. "But I think he realized what was going on. He didn't say he's going to come, right? W...we should be fine..."
"Who knows...?" Tan Wenci sighed. He wasn't going to bet on that. "Maybe he's just trying to get us to relax, and he'll suddenly show up tomorrow."
Xu Mingzhen's eyes got wide. T...that won't happen, right?
...
Tan Mo slept through the whole night and woke up around 8:00 the next morning.
Since she'd gone to sleep way too early the night before, she was able to wake up naturally at such an early hour.
She sat up in her bed and was still confused as to what had happened.
Wait... Why am I home? Didn't uncle promise me that he was going to celebrate with me?
It was only then that her memory slowly came back to her.
The memories appeared in her head as if she was watching a video in reverse.
The first thing she recalled was Wei Zhiqian carrying her home. Before that, he had gone to pick her up at the hotpot restaurant. And even before that, she had snuck herself half a glass of beer.
ARGH! "What did I do?" Tan Mo hit herself on the forehead. "Why did you have to go and try the beer and get yourself drunk? You should've celebrated with uncle instead when he had the time!"
Tan Mo knew that to celebrate with her, Wei Zhiqian had even emptied his schedule for that night, and she had wasted his time because she had wanted to see what beer tasted like.
Tan Mo went into the bathroom. As she brushed her teeth, she thought about whether Wei Zhiqian had any free time later that day.
After cleaning herself up, she left her room and went downstairs.
As soon as she got to the living room, she could hear people talking in the dining room.
Among the people that were talking, Tan Mo recognized Wei Zhiqian's voice.
She quickly shook her head, wondering if she was starting to hear things because she was missing Wei Zhiqian too much.
She took a deep breath before walking toward the dining room.
The moment she walked in, the first person she noticed was the guest who was sitting at the dining table. It was none other than Wei Zhiqian himself.
Tan Mo quickly rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
"Momo? Why are you up so early? Did you get enough sleep?" Tan Wenci asked when he noticed his daughter standing in the doorway.
"Uncle...?" the young lady asked.
She was sure that she wasn't seeing things now.
Her father immediately dropped his jaw. Uh...hello? Your father is talking to you. Why are you greeting Wei Zhiqian first?
The father could literally feel his heart break. He began to regret letting the two of them meet when Tan Mo was only six years old.
It was as if he had been inviting trouble into his home.
Just as the father was blaming himself, he felt a gust of wind rush past him.
Tan Mo ran toward Wei Zhiqian like a bird flying to their parent. "Uncle, why are you here?"
Wei Zhiqian pulled the chair next to him out for Tan Mo to sit down. "Didn't I promise to celebrate your victory yesterday? Since we couldn't do it last night, that's why I've come today."
"Yay! You're the best!" Tan Mo hugged Wei Zhiqian's arm happily. "And I was just blaming myself for getting drunk and wasting your time yesterday."
Since Tan Mo had brought the topic up herself, Wei Zhiqian's expression turned serious immediately. "You aren't allowed to drink from this day onward. Not even a drop."
"I know..." Tan Mo nodded obediently. "I won't drink a single drop of alcohol from now on!"
"So, were you curious as to how beer tastes?" Wei Zhiqian smiled at her.
Tan Mo would never lie to Wei Zhiqian, which was why she quickly admitted to it. "Yes...I was curious, but it tastes really bad."
Even she couldn't believe that she could get drunk from just half a glass of beer. There was no way anyone would allow her to drink in the future.
Seeing how sincere Tan Mo looked with her head lowered, Wei Zhiqian's heart softened immediately. "Well...if you are still curious once you grow up and want to try it again, just let me know. But you can only drink when I'm around. You are not allowed to drink when I am not."
Tan Mo raised her head in surprise and looked at Wei Zhiqian as if there were stars in her eyes. "Really? Yay! I knew it! Uncle is the best!"
Whenever Wei Zhiqian got serious with her, his heart would soften up the next second and change his opinion.
Tan Jinsheng became anxious right away since it was evident that Wei Zhiqian was stealing his spot in Tan Mo's heart.
"Me too!" Tan Jinsheng quickly shot his arm up. "You can drink when I'm around as well. Your older brother can take care of you."
Wei Zhiqian raised a brow and grinned. Copycat!
Chapter 189: No Apologies Necessary
Doesn't he know that it's best to be the first when talking about something like this?
Since Wei Zhiqian had been the first to say it, when Tan Jinsheng quickly followed up saying the same thing, obviously the effect wasn't going to be as good.
Instead of realizing that, just seconds after Tan Jinsheng had said it, Tan Jinyi rested his hand on his brother's shoulder and said the same thing. "Momo, you can drink when I'm with you as well."
Xu Mingzhen turned to glare at her two sons. Are you two trying to turn Tan Mo into a drunkard? Luckily Tan Wenci still had some common sense...
Yet, as soon as she'd thought that, Tan Wenci spoke up, "You can drink when Daddy's around as well!"
Xu Mingzhen immediately let out a deep sigh. The men in this family were ridiculous...
God did not answer the Tan family's prayers as Wei Zhiqian spent the rest of the day at their mansion, celebrating with Tan Mo for her victory in the Ancient Text Competition.
...
Tan Mo returned to her dorm on Sunday evening as she had class early the next day.
If she had stayed another night, she would have had to wake up very early just to make it to class on time.
Her family didn't want her to have to wake up that early.
So that was why they took Tan Mo back to Beijing University on Sunday evening.
Just like on the first day when she had started her university life, the family took her back to the university all together.
On her way back, Tan Mo got a message from Wang Yuemu, asking when she was returning to school.
Her seniors also asked how she was feeling after getting drunk on Saturday.
They were all anxious until she replied that she was fine.
"I'm heading back right now. Do we have anything to do today?" Tan Mo replied.
"Nothing. I'm just asking."
Not suspecting a thing, Tan Mo quickly shrugged it off.
When they arrived at Beijing University, they saw Tan Mo's seniors from the research club waiting for them before they could even park their car.
Once the car stopped and Tan Mo got out of the car, her seniors jogged toward her.
"Tan Mo!" Wang Yuemu was the first to greet her.
The research team members waited until the rest of the Tan family got out of the car, and Ying SIyuan greeted them. "Mr. and Mrs. Tan, we're Tan Mo's seniors from Professor Guo's research team. We were the ones having dinner with Tan Mo the other night."
"We're really sorry for not paying better attention to her," Wang Yuemu continued. "We should've taken better care of her as her seniors, but we let her get drunk instead..."
It was only then that Tan Mo realized that the reason Wang Yuemu had asked when she was coming back was so that the whole research team could apologize to her family.
As for why Wang Yuemu and the rest of the team knew that Tan Mo's family would come with her, it was because they knew that she was the treasure of her family.
Whenever Tan Mo would travel back and forth from Beijing University, her family would always be with her.
They believed that it would be the same this time as well.
And they were right. Almost all of the family members were there.
The whole team was worried that after what had happened on the Friday night the family would forbid Tan Mo from hanging out with them in the future.
"There's nothing for you kids to apologize for." Xu Mingzhen smiled warmly. "Tan Mo is the one who was in the wrong from the beginning. She told me everything. Even though you all did not allow her to drink, she still snuck herself half a glass of beer. It's clear that she's the one at fault here. As her seniors, you kids are doing really well. I'm not going to worry if she's spending time with you."
Ying Siyuan immediately let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much. But it's also part of our responsibility to look after her when she's with us."
"She's right. We were all worried that because of this, Mr. and Mrs. Tan would not allow her to spend her time with us anymore..." Wu Jiazhen smiled awkwardly.
"We are not that narrow-minded," Tan Wenci said, laughing. "Still, we never thought Tan Mo could actually get drunk from just half a glass of beer! Now, that's embarrassing."
The research team members were completely surprised by the Tan family's personalities.
They were all now relieved that the family wasn't going to blame them for Tan Mo getting drunk.
...
Time flew like an arrow...
Other than continuing her research with Professor Guo's team, Tan Mo had to complete the task set by Professor Zhao as well.
She would spend most of her days either in class, in the research room, or in the library, and she would always end her days in the library until the doors closed.
Tan Mo, who used to be lazy, realized that she had found a lot of things for herself to do.
She'd managed to finish the task set by Professor Zhao just before finals. It was done perfectly and professionally.
Tan Mo wasn't going to disappoint Professor Zhao and Professor Guo, who both had treated her like family.
Since the space that Professor Zhao had given her wasn't enough to answer each question, Tan Mo decided to use at least two A4 pieces of paper to answer each question instead.
That was why when she turned it in, it had become a huge stack of documents.
She had even noted from which part of which ancient text she had found the answers in minute detail.
When she was asked to discuss the effect of an ancient text on later civilizations, she would also include its effect on all past civilizations. She would include everything she could find.
It showed how focused she was on the work.
Professor Zhao had expected good answers from Tan Mo, but he'd never expected that she would do it so perfectly and diligently.
It was a form of showing her respect to the professor, to the questions, and to history.
"Very well done!" Professor Zhao praised her. "All of the students in the team had answered these same questions before they joined, but I have to say, this is the best I've ever seen."
It just showed why Tan Mo was a notch above everyone else, why she could win the Ancient Text Competition even when she went up against five other universities on her own.
Not only did Tan Mo have the talent, but she also had the brain capacity to achieve what she wanted.
And the most important thing of all that she possessed was that she was hardworking.
It was practically impossible for someone like her not to succeed.
Most would envy her talent, but they also rarely saw how hardworking she was.
Tan Mo did not rely solely on her talent, but respected it with hard work instead.
From that alone, Professor Zhao could even tell that Tan Mo had given her all in Professor Guo's team as well.
"Come with me." Professor Tan didn't waste any time and led Tan Mo to his research room.
When they got to the room, the professor asked her to wait outside first. "Wait here. Come in when I tell you to."
Tan Mo didn't ask any questions. She nodded and waited outside the room.
Professor Zhao almost couldn't hold back his urge to pat her head, seeing how obedient she was.
What a good little girl. She's smart, hardworking, and she even listens to her elders.
He was starting to blame himself for not letting Tan Mo answer the questions sooner and letting Professor Guo take her all for himself for a whole semester.
Professor Zhao clicked his tongue when he thought of Professor Guo as he opened the door.
"Professor Zhao!" The students stopped what they were doing and greeted their professor.
He nodded at them and turned to Wu Xiaoye. "Xiaoye, print this out and hand it to everyone to read."
Chapter 190: Arrogant Personality
Wu Xiaoye nodded and took the documents from Professor Zhao. When he noticed the name on the cover of the documents, he was stunned for a second before printing eight copies of the answers and handing them out to the rest of the team while keeping the original for himself.
"All right! Everyone, stop what you're doing for a bit and read the documents Xiaoye handed out first," Professor Zhao urged them, not wanting to make Tan Mo wait for too long.
"Tan Mo?" One of the research team members raised their brows when they noticed the name. "The same Tan Mo who won the Ancient Text Competition?"
The Ancient Text Competition that year was known by everyone in the university.
Usually, only those who were interested would follow the competition. Most that weren't Chinese Department students wouldn't even pay any attention to it.
But this year had been different as Tan Mo had crushed the teams of the other five universities all on her own.
She had even made a few of the Tsinghua University contestants cry as they left the stage.
Tsinghua University had changed the system of the Ancient Text Competition that year to an elimination system so that they could completely crush Beijing University.
Instead, they were surprised to discover that the changes had actually worked in favor of Tan Mo.
As soon as she stepped onto the stage, she never left until the whole competition ended.
She proved to everyone that as long as she chose to remain on the stage, no one could force her off it.
Not only that, she even embarrassed the whole Tsinghua University team. They lost the whole competition in utter humiliation.
The two universities had been rivals for years, and the Beijing University students were finally able to vent their frustration for always losing to their rivals. Thus, none of them thought that Tan Mo went too far with what she did at the competition.
Of course, there were some who thought that Tan Mo didn't have to resort to such extreme measures.
No matter what the students thought, Tan Mo's name was now known by every single student of Beijing University.
Even though they had no idea what she looked like, they would still react when they heard her name.
Since her name was a rare one, it was unlikely for them to confuse her with anyone else.
"That's right," Professor Tang nodded.
Yu Jianan began to go through Tan Mo's answer. The more she read, the more surprised she became. "It's already amazing for a Finance Department student to be better in Chinese than the Chinese Department students, but now she's also showing talents in our department as well? This answer is way better than the one I submitted years ago."
Shen Jingyi went through the answers for a while and suddenly said, "So, this is Tan Mo? It's a good thing that she won the competition, but isn't it a little too much for her to humiliate her opponent? For a young girl like her to be so impulsive, it shows that she has quite the arrogant personality."
"So, you think she's in the wrong?" Wu Xiaoye suddenly asked.
"It's not like I have the right to judge her. She did bring pride to the university in the end." Shen Jingyi smiled. "But I think that we should always respect our opponents. Being so arrogant at such a young age spells trouble. No matter what the reason was, I don't think it's good to embarrass your opponent so badly."
"Yet, that wasn't the situation," Zhong Liusi butted in. "I don't think any of you know this since you guys rarely interact with the Chinese Department students, but from what I've learned from them, the Tsinghua University team had been looking down on ours for years. I even heard from the students who went there in the audience that they weren't only looking down on us, but on all the other four universities as well. I think it's all right for Tan Mo to teach them a lesson so that they won't be so arrogant, that even though we might not be as good as they are, it doesn't mean they can trample over our pride. It's just karma doing its work, I guess."
"Is that so? Well, whatever," Shen Jingyi responded, pretending to not care.
Zhong Liusi frowned immediately as Shen Jingyi had made it sound like Tan Mo had been doing the bullying.
The relationship between these two had always been stiff. They would rarely converse with each other, or, rather, they could not converse with each other because of how different their personalities were.
Whenever they had no choice but to talk to each other, they would get straight to the point.
When Zhong Liusi heard Shen Jingyi's response, she couldn't help but sigh. That personality of hers is killing me.
Zhang Honghai raised his head after scanning through Tan Mo's answers and asked, "Professor Zhao, the reason you're showing us this is because you want to include Tan Mo on this team, right?"
"That's right," Professor Zhao nodded. "To tell you all the truth, I have thought of making her part of the team as soon as she was admitted to the university, but I was worried that you guys might argue since she had never proved how good she actually is. That's why, after consideration, I decided to have her finish these questions first. They are the same questions I gave every one of you to complete in a semester, but she managed it before the deadline I set for her, which is after the finals. It only took her half a semester to produce this."
Everyone exchanged quick glances with each other. It sounded almost as if Professor Zhao was complimenting his own child when he talked about Tan Mo.
He was pretty much showing how proud he was on his face, which was something natural since he was the first to notice Tan Mo's talent.
Now, he had proved that he had the eye to spot talent.
"So, does anyone have any opinion regarding this matter?" Professor Zhao asked.
He could have just made Tan Mo part of the team from the beginning, but chose not to do so because he wanted the team to accept Tan Mo wholeheartedly.
"I, for one, can't wait for her to be part of this team." Wu Xiaoye was the first to respond. "I heard from Wang Yuemu that ever since Tan Mo joined their team, everything has been going much smoother for them. The more I hear about her, the more anxious I am for her to join us. I even kept asking myself why Professor Zhao was so slow inviting her."
Instead of getting angry at his student for this honest remark, the professor laughed instead.
The others also agreed on having Tan Mo join them.
"Heck, there is no way we are going to refuse when you show us her answers," Liu Zhiqi sighed as sweat rolled down her face after reading the answers.
It was as if she hadn't put in any hard work when she did hers a few years ago, yet she knew she gave it her all at that time.
It wasn't easy to be part of Professor Zhao's team, and it was way too important for any of them not to take the questions seriously.
And, in spite of all the hard work they had put into their tasks, Tan Mo's answers were still far more superior than theirs.
Even after being part of Professor Zhao's research team for years and knowing they would answer the questions better now, they would still not give such outstanding answers to the questions as Tan Mo had.
"But...," Shen Jingyi had a worried expression. "she's a Finance Department student, right? And part of Professor Guo's team as well. If she joins us, can she handle the workload? Or, is she going to favor one party over another? There's no way she can equally distribute her time for all three different aspects, right?"