Chapter 181: Retribution – 1
The man's cheeks turned red when he heard what Zhou Tingting had said. Then, he replied, "Are you sure? She looks like a goddess, but she doesn't look like an easy girl to me. You and I could maybe make a good couple, but I'm not sure about her. She's totally out of my league..."
Zhou Tingting was speechless.
Her colleague hastily went forward and smacked her cousin's head. "Shut your mouth if you don't know what to say. She's just an orphan who has to rely on her foster family. She is the one who doesn't deserve you. She could not even survive by herself. Tingting is so much better than her!"
The man shuddered after being reprimanded by his cousin and nodded gloomily.
Zhou Tingting felt much better now. She shot a glance at the man and said, "Anyway, just go for it if you like her. Don't worry too much, you're worthier than her!"
As she was talking, she pushed the man toward Fu Zhi. "Go say hello to her. Remember to smile and make a good impression on her."
The man hummed and hawed for a while before slowly inching toward Fu Zhi. When he was close enough, he mustered up his courage and said, "Erm, hi..."
Fu Zhi had noticed the man a long time ago. She did not know what he was up to, but since he had not done anything, she had decided to pay him no mind. However, just as she turned her head around, the man approached her. She spun back and stared at him. Then, in a cold voice, she asked, "Yeah? How can I help you?"
"No, no... It's nothing..." The man's face turned red from shame.
He had known she was as beautiful as a goddess when he'd been looking at her from a distance, but she looked even more beautiful in close proximity.
She was wearing a casual outfit: a white t-shirt and a pair of baggy pants. Her skin was as fair and tender as a white lily in a pond.
He knew Fu Zhi came from the countryside as well, but despite their similar origins, Fu Zhi gave off the vibe of a goddess, so he knew she was definitely not a good match for him.
"I, I was just passing by." The man simply found an excuse and then rushed out of the banquet room with a crying face.
It seemed as if he was commemorating his love getting nipped in the bud.
Zhou Tingting, who was dumbstruck, gritted her teeth in exasperation. She turned to stare at her colleague and hissed, "What the hell is wrong with your cousin?"
Her colleague was equally stunned. She replied, "How the hell should I know?"
She had no idea why her cousin would run away from such a good opportunity. If he married Fu Zhi, then their entire family would be able to share the wealth of the Lu Family as well!
'The hell is wrong with him? Is he out of his mind?' Zhou Tingting's colleague cursed her cousin inwardly.
Zhou Tingting did not want to waste her time on her colleague anymore. She decided that after the banquet, she would go seek another man for Fu Zhi.
In any case, she had to kick Fu Zhi out of the Lu Family.
After a few minutes, the emcee arrived, followed by the manager of the five-star hotel who had served the dishes earlier on.
Mr. Zhou was still bragging about her daughter and was clueless about the fate that was going to befall him. After the manager greeted Xu Wei, he walked up to Mr. Zhou and said seriously, "Mr. Zhou, we didn't collect a deposit for this banquet, but we have our own rules as well. You have ordered 14 sets of meals, and the total payment is 10,000 yuan after the discount. Please make the payment before the banquet starts."
Mr. Zhou was stunned. "What, what payment? You want me to pay for this? Are you kidding me?"
There was no way he could pay for the meal. He would not have enough money even if he sold everything in his house.
"I don't have any money. Go look for the Lus!"
"I apologize for the inconvenience, but it seems to me that you don't understand the situation. You're the one who placed the order and you signed the order form. Therefore, we can only come looking for you. If you can't pay up, I guess I'll have no choice but to call the police."
"Yes, I'm the one who placed the order, but the Lus are with us!" Mr. Zhou cocked his head and looked anxiously at Xu Wei, only to see that Xu Wei was not looking at him at all.
Just as he was about to say something, a sharp female voice erupted in the banquet room.
Chapter 182: Retribution – 2
"Zhou Tingting, you b*tch!"
Mrs. Wang's voice reached Zhou Tingting's ears before she could even see her.
Zhou Tingting's face turned pale as she rushed to Lu Yumo's side, seeking his protection. "Yumo, Yumo, she's crazy. We're going to get married, so you have to protect me!"
"When did I say that I want to marry you?" Lu Yumo replied, looking emotionlessly at her.
Zhou Tingting sensed a hint of anger in his voice and was stunned. She thought her ears or her mind were playing tricks on her.
'What is he talking about? Isn't this banquet held to celebrate our engagement? If he doesn't want to marry me, then why did he show up here?'
"How dare you! You defiled my daughter, and now you're telling me you don't want to marry her? Also, what the hell is wrong with that stupid manager, huh? Why did he say I have to pay up for this banquet? Isn't this banquet supposed to be paid by your family? Are you gonna go back on your word? Do you not fear that I will expose everything you did to the world?!"
"Go ahead then. Let the world know how far your daughter has stooped. Tell them about all the dirty deeds she did behind her classmate and all the lies she told! I want to see who they will support when they know the truth, you or me?" Lu Yumo shouted back, his eyes flared with anger.
Mr. Zhou was fuming with so much rage that his body was shaking. Just as he pulled his phone out and was about to start a live streaming session, he saw a woman in a red blouse and a man with half of his face swollen appear at the banquet.
Zhou Tingting immediately took two steps back and asked Liu Jun for help. "Mr. Liu, Mr. Liu, what is your wife doing? She's crazy. Don't just stand there, hurry up and stop her!"
However, Liu Jun did not make a move. He just stood there with his head held low in dejection, looking like a dog who had just received a beating from its master.
Zhou Tingting's heart skipped a beat when she saw that Liu Jun was not making an attempt to stop his wife. Before she could react, Mrs. Wang rushed up to her and gave her a hard slap across her cheek. "How dare you, you shameless rat! I thought you were still young and you might stray from your path due to temptation, so I decided to go easy on you. I didn't expect that the moment you dropped out of school, you would sleep with my husband. Did your parents not teach you what shame is?"
Mrs. Wang was a woman with plenty of strength. Zhou Tingting felt as if she had been hit by a truck. Her teeth had loosened a little, and she fell to the ground with a plop.
She stayed on the ground for a long while before she finally snapped back to reality. Her heart raced, and she began to explain as she covered her cheek. "No! No! I'm engaged to Lu Yumo. I'm not the one who fornicated with your husband! I am not!"
"Oh yeah? Do you really think I don't know anything? How are you going to explain the photos and recording that my detective gave me, huh? Do you have the guts to tell everyone that you didn't lie about the baby in your stomach?"
The more Mrs. Wang talked, the angrier she felt. She turned around and gave Liu Jun a slap on his cheek as she snarled, "I really feel sorry for your parents for having a shameless jerk like you for a son. Don't you feel disgusted for doing this kind of thing behind my back?"
On the other side, Zhou Tingting was trying to pull herself up from the ground, hatred filling her eyes and blood lining the corner of her lips. Even though the flow of news in the countryside was not as rapid as it was in town, she did not like that Mrs. Wang had slapped her in the face in front of everyone. It had hurt her pride. Mustering up some courage, she snarled back, "No, I didn't! You're slandering me. I'm the daughter-in-law of the Lu Family!"
Mrs. Wang harrumphed. She pulled a stack of photos out of her purse and smacked Zhou Tingting's face with them. "A home-wrecker like you will never know her place. You're nothing but a flea in our eyes. Do you think he really loves you?"
After she finished talking, she shot daggers at the man standing behind her. Feeling her gaze, Liu Jun slapped himself in the face and fell down on his knees. "Please forgive me, honey. This was all part of Zhou Tingting's plan. If it had not been for her, I would never have betrayed you!"
Chapter 183: Retribution – 3
Zhou Tingting's blood ran cold when Liu Jun's words flitted into her ears.
"Mr. Liu, how can you put all the blame on me?" Zhou Tingting cried. "You're the one who said your wife was being too overbearing and you could only feel loved by my side. How can you say it was all my fault?"
"Shut your d*mn mouth! I swear to God I've never said anything like that before. You have to believe me, honey! It's all Zhou Tingting's fault! She's the one who made a pass at me!"
Everything that Liu Jun had now had been given to him by Mrs. Wang. To put it bluntly, he was her dog. If she decided to cast him away, his life would be over.
Fu Zhi then chimed in, "Can you tell us what happened between my eldest brother and Zhou Tingting at the hotel that day?"
Liu Jun wiped a tear off his eyes and replied, "Nothing! Nothing happened between them at all! Zhou Tingting only went into the room in the morning!"
Zhou Tingting knew that Liu Jun was a man of straw, but she had not expected that he would sell her out at a moment like this!
Besides Zhou Tingting, everyone in the banquet was stunned as well. It turned out that Zhou Tingting and her father had planned this farce all along. The Lu Family had never intended to take Zhou Tingting in as a wife.
'How shameless they are...'
Mr. Zhou's face turned grim. It had now occurred to him that it was not Lu Yumo who had defiled his daughter. It had been Liu Jun all along.
People always said that if one wanted to uproot a tree, one should go for the root. It was just like solving a problem. Thus, Mr. Zhou directed his anger at Liu Jun and shouted, "You son of a b*tch, how dare you! If you have the guts to do it, then you have to have the balls to admit it! Give me a bride price and marry my daughter right now, or I'm calling the police!"
"Bride price?" Mrs. Wang sneered. "A bride price is bestowed upon women that are married into somebody's house in an open, appropriate manner. As for her..."
Mrs. Wang paused for a moment and looked at Zhou Tingting with vicious eyes before shouting back, her voice becoming louder and louder with every syllable that escaped her lips, "She is a despicable home-wrecker who ruined someone else's family, so she doesn't deserve that at all! Besides, I'm sure she didn't only sleep with my husband. Every man in this city could be the father of the baby in her stomach. Everything in the Wang Family, including this man, is my property. You'd have to get over my dead body if you wanted to get anything from me!"
Mr. Zhou was so angry that his body was shaking. Just as he was about to fight back, he saw a group of bodyguards rush into the banquet room.
At the same time, the manager of the hotel along with his staff went up to him and said with a smile on his face, "Sir, please make the payment as soon as possible..."
"I don't have any money. Either take my life right now or get the f*ck away from me!" Mr. Zhou yelled furiously before he threw himself on the ground, brandishing his arms and legs in the air like a little kid throwing a tantrum in the mall after his mother refused to buy him a toy. After a short while, an idea suddenly popped into his mind and he jerked up from the ground. "I get it. I get it now. No wonder you guys didn't say anything about my demands. It turns out that you just wanted my money!"
Xu Wei had been watching a lot of palace dramas recently and was particularly into a character named Lady Hitara, the empress consort of Qing. She tried to imitate her imposing manner, straightened her back, and said, "If you hadn't been so greedy, you wouldn't have fallen into the trap. Besides, it's your own vanity that caused your fall. As a father, not only are you not a good example, but you also led your own daughter astray. You should be ashamed of yourself!"
Mr. Zhou nearly vomited blood upon hearing Xu Wei's accusation, but the crowd thought that everything she said was right.
"How could they do something like this? Do they not know that what they're doing right now is practically destroying the future of a good young man?"
"Yeah, right. His daughter's future too. She should be studying right now, and look at what she has done to herself. I seriously don't know what the hell she is thinking."
"How can they be so shameless? They are virtually destroying the reputation and integrity of that kid from the Lu Family!"
The people from the village were honest and kind-hearted. In their opinion, reputation and integrity were equally important to a man, and they felt that it was really a tragedy for Lu Yumo to be beset with a stigma like this for the rest of his life.
A few of them who had brought their kids began to leave the banquet, as they did not want their kids to pick up the bad habits of the Zhou Family.
Everyone would have their retribution day, and it seemed that today was Mr. Zhou's day.
He started to feel anxious and hastily said, "My daughter just stepped into society, so it's normal for her to make a mistake. She and Lu Yumo had a relationship before. It doesn't matter if she still has her chastity or not, as long as they love each other, they could overcome every hurdle in their lives!"
Chapter 184: Retribution – 4
Xu Wei was devastated by Mr. Zhou's twisted view. She opened her mouth several times, but she did not know what to say.
The commotion was getting louder, and most of the villagers left, as they could not bear to watch the scene anymore.
Mr. Zhou wanted to run away, but the manager saw through him and nipped his intention in the bud. He had his men hold him and then took his phone out as he said, "I'll give you until this afternoon. Either you will make the payment or I'll call the police."
'How can they do this to me? My wife was just put in prison not long ago, and now they are sending me to jail as well?'
Mr. Zhou felt that the entire world was too harsh and mean to him. He threw himself on the ground and began to throw a tantrum like a kid. "I wouldn't be able to get enough money to pay you even if I sold my blood. Hold on, how about this? You take the dishes back with you, and we'll forget everything that happened today."
"Hah!" The manager scoffed and moved his phone to his ear.
Mr. Zhou got even more nervous when he realized the manager was calling the police. He looked around, attempting to seek help, but to no avail. The Lus were watching him coldly from the sidelines, while his relatives all turned their heads away. Unable to accept his current situation, he flew into a rage and unleashed all his anger on Zhou Tingting.
"This is all your fault, you piece of sh*t! If it were not for you and your mother, how would the Lu Family have found out that you were scamming them and retracted your sponsorship? Besides, what's so good about this sponger? He's nothing but a worthless idler who can't even feed himself, so I don't understand how you could take a fancy to a man like him! How come you're so stupid?!"
Mr. Zhou often went to the casino, and it was normal for him to beat up his family. He sent a kick in Zhou Tingting's direction, and her face turned pale.
"Look who's talking! Who do you think pushed me into this situation, huh? It was you! If you hadn't drowned our family in your gambling debt, do you think we would have ended up like this? Mom is right, you're a goddamn loser!"
Zhou Tingting's face had swollen after being beaten by Mr. Zhou. Even though she understood that not all people had the same fate, she still felt resentful. If she was as lucky as Fu Zhi, she would not have fallen so low or ever come across Liu Jun.
However, now that everyone knew what she and her family had done, there was no way she could set this right anymore. Her fate was sealed, and she was doomed.
The alcohol that Mr. Zhou had consumed earlier had gone to his head, and he got even angrier after he heard Zhou Tingting's comments about him. He brandished his arms and legs even more fiercely as he showered Zhou Tingting's body with a barrage of punches and kicks.
"Ahh!"
Suddenly, Zhou Tingting felt a kick in her stomach and all color instantly drained from her face. She covered her stomach with her hand and whimpered, "My stomach... It hurts..."
Zhou Tingting's colleague quickly called the hospital. Very soon, an ambulance and the police arrived.
Xu Wei handed the information on the Zhou Family to the police.
Zhou Tingting was taken to the hospital, so the police left her alone for the time being. However, that did not mean that she would not need to bear any consequences. Like her father, they were going to put her in prison for at least 5 years after she was discharged from the hospital.
*
The incident with the Zhou Family finally came to an end. Lu Jingqing only came back home from his business trip that night. The moment he stepped into the house, he ordered Xu Wei to take Fu Zhi upstairs. Then, he picked up a bat and began beating Lu Yumo.
Xu Wei gave Fu Zhi a pair of earplugs to spare her from getting frightened by the scene. However, her worry was totally uncalled for. Fu Zhi was not perturbed by the scene in the slightest bit, and she and Lu Yushen were watching their father beat their eldest brother from the stairs.
Xu Wei was exhausted both mentally and physically after dealing with the Zhou Family, so she ordered Mama Zhang to prepare dinner. Then, she pulled her daughter to the side and said seriously, "You are still young, so you must not learn from your brother. Going to bars is not good."
Fu Zhi nodded and replied, "I can practice disco dancing at home. I won't spend my money unnecessarily."
Xu Wei was left dumbstruck by Fu Zhi's reply. She believed her daughter was somewhat right, but when had her daughter learned disco moves?!
Before she could ask anything, Fu Zhi, who was watching her brother getting beaten, asked, "So what should we do about my eldest brother?"
Chapter 185: Yumo Cried – 1
"Don't mind him. He is fully aware of our house rules. He knows he shouldn't go to bars and that we have a curfew, yet he still chose to have fun with his friends. Do you know how much they spent in one night? A whopping 80 million! He must be made aware of his mistake, or he will never learn!"
That said, Xu Wei's eyes were red around the rims as she watched the scene downstairs. It was apparent to Fu Zhi that she still felt distressed about punishing her eldest son. Then, she said, "If he died, then there would be one less person to take care of you when you grow old."
Xu Wei was stumped, as she found Fu Zhi's statement irrefutable. She tilted her head up at 45 degrees to prevent her tears from falling from her eyes as she said seriously, "I don't care. He has to pay for his actions, or he will never learn from his mistake. Besides, have you ever seen a brother who needs his little sister to help him clean up his mess? He's the only one and, seriously, that's not cool at all."
"But he's also a victim. He just wanted to celebrate his friend's birthday, and I'm sure he will be more careful next time."
Fu Zhi took a glance at the scene downstairs and said, "If dad doesn't stop now, his legs are going to break and we'll have to spend money to send him to receive treatment at the hospital."
"That's not good. If his legs break, this will become a domestic violence case!" Xu Wei did not want anything to happen to her family again, so she craned her neck and shouted, "Jingqing, I guess he's already understood his mistake! You can stop now. Zhizhi said she isn't going to pay for his medical fees if his legs break!"
Fu Zhi was dumbstruck.
The sound coming from downstairs was drowned out by the pitter-patter of the rain.
Lu Jingqing was not using too much strength. After all, he just wanted to teach Lu Yumo a lesson. Toward the end, he gave him a slap on the cheek and said, "You should learn from your sister. You're a mature young man now, so you should stop hanging out with those fair-weather friends of yours. As the eldest son, you should be an example for your younger brother and sister, not a bad influence! I hope you've learned your lesson this time."
Lu Yumo rubbed his back and legs in pain, and his eyes looked red. He had become more mature after this incident, so he nodded and said, "It's all my fault, dad. I'll cut ties with those guys. I'll reflect on myself and I promise you I won't make this kind of mistake ever again."
"It's fine for you to be good to your friends, but you have to make sure they're worthy. Write me 3,000 words of self-criticism and send them to my email tonight!"
Truth be told, Lu Jingqing did not blame his eldest son for being framed by Zhou Tingting. After all, he was the one who had gotten the short end of the stick. He had just gone to have fun with his friends in a bar. He had not expected that Zhou Tingting would be waiting for him to fall into her evil trap there.
Be that as it may, none of this would have happened if he had known how to differentiate between bad and good friends and he had come back home on time. Thus, he still had to punish him.
After seeing that his eldest son had learned his mistake, he nodded and walked toward the dining table. At the same time, he said, "We're a family, and a family should not be divided. I know you've created several WeChat groups without me in them, so I'll give you a chance now. Delete those groups and I'll forgive you."
Lu Jingqing had the goods on Lu Yumo, so the latter could not do anything but comply with his demand. After he deleted all the groups, he asked carefully, "What about you?"
"What about me? I didn't create any WeChat groups. I'm not as childish as you." Lu Jingqing denied it. "From this day onward, you will follow me to the company after school. It's about time you learned how a corporation works."
"Alright," Lu Yumo answered as he kept his head low. He sniffled and buried his head in his bowl. He did not dare to eat, nor was he in the mood to eat anything right now.
Fu Zhi looked at the last sweet and sour pork rib on the plate. Her long eyelashes veiled her pretty eyes, and nobody could read her expression.
After a short tussle in her heart, she picked up a pork rib and put it in Lu Yumo's bowl. Then, in a soft voice, she said, "Eat."
Lu Yumo, who had buried his head in his bowl, was stunned. He looked blankly at his sister as a surge of warmth flooded his heart.
Chapter 186: Yumo Cried – 2
Lu Yumo's eyes were red. Even though he tried his best to hold his tears back because of his pride as a man, it was a wasted effort. Tears slowly welled out of his eyes and streamed down his cheeks.
Xu Wei looked at him worriedly and asked, "What's wrong, sweetie?"
Lu Yumo did not reply. Seeing that her brother was fighting back tears, Fu Zhi chimed in, "He's fine. I guess he's just got bricks in his eyes."
What a reasonable and logical answer.
Thanks to Fu Zhi, Lu Yumo allowed two more tears to fall from his eyes, and Lu Jingqing nearly laughed.
At night, before he went to bed, he pulled Xu Wei aside and handed her a gaming console. Then, he said, "Go check on him and comfort him. I don't want him to keep thinking about it, or he might get depressed later."
*
It was 10 o'clock at night by the time Zhou Tingting came out of the operation room. She had lost her baby, but the silver lining was that she was going to survive.
That said, she was still plagued by a deep feeling of resentment. Even a bad person like Fu Zhi could have a bright future. Why did she have to get the short end of the stick and get plunged into the miserable mess she was in right now? She knew her life was over, but she did not condone going down just like this. Therefore, she went to the toilet by making an excuse and escaped through the window.
The moon was bright and the air was cold.
While walking in the alley behind the hospital, Zhou Tingting called her colleague. "I need your help. Please help me get a knife. Don't ask me why. Just help me get it. I promise you I will remember your generosity."
Her colleague did not know what she wanted to do with the knife, nor did she want to know. She told Zhou Tingting that her phone was running out of battery and then swiftly hung up the call.
There were not many pedestrians in the alley right now, and it took her roughly 10 minutes to walk to the main downtown street.
Zhou Tingting sniffled. She was on the verge of crying when she saw that there was only 10 yuan in her savings account.
Just as she was about to curse the world for being unfair to her, she heard a series of footfalls behind her. She jerked her head back, but other than the gloomy streetlight at the other end of the street, she could not see anything.
She thought her ears were playing tricks on her, so she paid no attention. However, as soon as she resumed walking, the footsteps rang out again. This time, the sound was clearer, and she could even hear the susurration of clothes in the air.
Zhou Tingting froze, her feet cemented on the ground as her heartbeat picked up its pace. She spun her head around once more, but there was no one behind her.
The moon disappeared suddenly, the darkness deepened, and the wind began to howl. Leaves fluttered about in the air, and Zhou Tingting felt her blood turning cold. She gulped a mouthful of saliva and asked in a faltering voice, "Who... Who's there? Come on out now. I'm not scared of you!"
Suddenly, a silhouette blitzed past her. Before she could even do anything, she felt a strike on the back of her head and she slowly fell to the ground.
Before she completely passed out, she squinted her eyes, making one last effort, and looked at the face of the assailant with the help of the dim light.
It was a face that bore a great resemblance to Fu Zhi's. It was so delicate it seemed like a masterpiece created by God. There was nothing but pure darkness in the depths of her eyes, and the mole at the corner of her eyes was the last thing Zhou Tingting saw before she was consumed by darkness.
*
The next day, the results of the national Physics competition would be published on the government's website at 1 o'clock sharp.
All the students that had participated in the competition were exceptionally excited save for Fu Zhi.
She was not playing with her phone. Instead, she was reading a historical book.
Su Xing, who was sitting beside her, felt as restless as if there were ants in her pants. She pushed a cup of bubble tea toward Fu Zhi and asked, "Zhizhi, how do you think you did in this exam?"
"I think I did pretty well," Fu Zhi replied as she snapped a few photos of the relics in the book. After doing that, she sent them to Fu Zhao and added, "I'm expecting a full score, but who knows..."
The other three students were talking with Zhou Zihuai about the competition. When they overheard the conversation between Fu Zhi and Su Xing, one of them couldn't help chiming in, "Sister Zhi, I know you're very good at guessing questions, but can you please stop beating around the bush and answer Su Xing's question?"
"..."
Fu Zhi did not know what to say and was too lazy to explain everything. Instead of wasting her time talking to them, she figured that it would be better for her to make use of that time to earn money.
Chapter 187: A Student From No.1 High School Scored Full Marks
All the leaders and teachers of No.1 High School were excited about the results of the competition.
Since each class had sent in its respective representatives, all the teachers gathered in front of the computer and waited for the results after having lunch.
As the group leader of the Physics group, Ma Mingquan was tasked with computing the grades and ranking of each student from every class.
The group of teachers stared at the website with a worried expression on their faces. One of the teachers said, "The last four structured questions were way too difficult. It took me nearly half a day to complete two of them."
They were fully aware of how difficult the questions of the qualifying round could be and they'd initially thought that the students could at least score some marks by predicting the style of the questions. However, little had they expected that the association would take an unusual approach and create the question paper by taking sample questions from the question bank. As a result, all the students had been thrown off guard, and most of them had not even answered the last four structured questions.
As they were waiting in front of the computer, Director Liu arrived. He gestured at the teachers and then took a seat as well. After roughly 10 minutes of waiting, the phone rang.
It was a call from the Education Bureau.
It was quiet in the office. All the teachers waited with bated breath as Director Liu answered the call. Suddenly, he jerked up from the chair and shouted excitedly, "Ah? Oh, we didn't expect this either. Well, it is all thanks to our teachers' effort..."
Very soon, he hung up the call. Qian Wenrui sensed something and looked anxiously at Director Liu.
"Good news!" Director Liu grasped his phone tightly and announced, his voice laced with great merriment, "One of our students scored full marks in the paper, and only one participant across the entire nation got all the answers right!"
As if he was the participant who had scored full marks, he brandished his fists in the air.
About 100 schools had participated in this competition. The fact that the Education Bureau would take the initiative and call them showed how important this competition was to the people in the capital. Every teacher in the office was filled with exhilaration. Then, one of the teachers asked, "Director Liu, do you know which student it is?"
"About that... They haven't told me yet, so..."
That said, everyone in the office had a rough idea about the identity of the student. They turned to look at Qian Wenrui, and one of them said, "Ms. Qian, I'm sure it's either Lu Chuwan or Lu Yubai from your class, right?"
Well, there was a reason why they would think that. No.1 High School had taken in the top 100 students in the province, and nearly half of them had been put into Qian Wenrui's class.
All of them had inborn advantages over the others and, in combination with Qian Wenrui's effective guidance, the teachers just could not think of any other student who would be capable of achieving such a feat other than the students in Class 1.
"Lu Yubai didn't manage to finish the paper," Qian Wenrui answered as she gripped her cup tightly. She also remembered Lu Chuwan's face when she had come out of the examination hall, and it did not give her a good feeling.
However, she could not bring herself to deny this while facing the expectant gazes of the crowd of teachers. Therefore, she gave an ambiguous reply. "So it's not him."
Another teacher chimed in, "So it's Lu Chuwan then? I have to say, she's really a girl full of surprises. Even though her grades are pretty good, I didn't expect her to... Anyway, if she's really the one, then our school is going to become even more famous!"
Qian Wenrui glanced at Ma Mingquan.
Since there was some time left, she made up an excuse and went out of the office to look for Lu Chuwan. When she found her, she pulled her aside and asked, "One of our students scored full marks on the paper, so did you finish all the questions of the paper or not?"
*
On the other side, Fu Zhi did not know that all the teachers were discussing who had gotten all the answers right in the office.
Right now, she was talking to Lu Ning on the phone.
"If you want to get a license for the patent, you can drop that thought right now. The research on this medication is sponsored by the government, not to mention that some of the materials are hard to find. They demand really specific living conditions to grow and they are endangered species.
"It isn't something you can grow, and even if you obtain the prescription and the required materials, your team will never be able to produce the same medication anyway."
Lu Ning was standing in the hall of a hotel. She put her phone on speaker mode, while Dong Cun was standing behind her with a dark face.
After she hung up the call, Dong Cun sneered, "And you said she's reliable? Does she know what an anti-cancer drug is? Does she know our team?"
Chapter 188: Fu Zhi Is Taken Away By The Police
"If she doesn't want to help us, then she should say it. There's no need to give us such a bullsh*t excuse and mess around with us as though we are fools!"
Lu Ning explained, "Professor He is her teacher. Perhaps he had mentioned it to her before, so she's very familiar with the medication..."
"Alright, enough of your excuses. There's no way Professor He would mention something so important to his student, and you should stop giving her so much credit!" Dong Cun interjected forcefully. He kicked the coffee table in frustration before adding, "I know exactly what she is trying to do. She thought that I would submit to her if she brought Professor He out? No way! I'd never do that!"
In the meantime, a group of policemen was approaching No.1 High School. Before Director Liu could recover from his reverie, he received a call from the entrance guard, who said that the police was there to investigate a case.
After the police ran him through the situation, the police chief, Sheriff Zhao, followed Director Liu to Class 21 to get the person that they had come for.
"You're Fu Zhi, right?" Sheriff Zhao asked softly, looking at the quiet young girl before him. He showed her his badge and added, "We're from the Yu City Police Station and we'd like to ask you to follow us back to the station. There are a few things that we need you to clarify."
Why had they come for Fu Zhi? Because Zhou Tingting had been found dead in an alley behind the Yu City Hospital that morning. The tendons in her right arm had been severed, and the cause of her death had been a heavy blow to her head.
They had also found Fu Zhi's fingerprints and her student ID on the scene. Therefore, due to the severity of the matter, Sheriff Zhao had taken the case into his own hands and decided to investigate it himself.
Fu Zhi was required to give a statement at the police station.
The policemen were all in uniform, and the students from Class 21 were studying them through the window.
Fu Zhi nodded in assent. She turned around and saw that Director Liu's face had turned pale. There was sweat budding on his forehead, and his hands were shaking. He said, "Don't worry. I already called your parents."
Truth be told, Director Liu's worry was totally uncalled for. Fu Zhi was not perturbed at all and even reassured him instead. "I'll be back soon."
Director Liu did not know what to say. His anxiety began to ebb away as he cursed Fu Zhi inwardly for her nonchalance. 'Do you have any idea what you're talking about? Do you think the police station is your home?!'
Fu Zhi passed by the other classrooms as she followed the police.
Lu Chuwan was talking to Qian Wenrui when she noticed the commotion. She turned her head toward the source and a surprised expression dawned on her face. She looked at Fu Zhi but soon averted her gaze.
She had no idea whether her ears were playing a trick on her or something else was happening, but she seemed to have caught the word "deceased" during their conversation.
She thought for a moment and then called Madam Lu after Qian Wenrui left.
"Bad news, grandma. You have to stay calm and listen to me. Fu Zhi seems to have been involved in a murder case."
On the other side of the phone, Madam Lu was playing mahjong with her friends. When she heard what Lu Chuwan had said, she froze.
She excused herself and exited the room with the phone in her hand. After she ascertained that no one was within earshot, she asked, "What the hell is going on?"
Lu Chuwan was not very clear. She said, "There are police officers at school, and I heard that someone has been killed."
*
When Fu Zhi arrived at the police station, a gentle-looking female police officer interrogated her.
"Were you familiar with the deceased?"
Fu Zhi nodded. "Yeah, I knew her."
The female police officer scribbled something on the paper and said, "We found out that you had a conflict with the deceased. Is that right?"
It had not been a difficult task for the police to find out about this, especially since Zhou Tingting and her family had been admitted to the hospital yesterday because of a scam.
Fu Zhi had been on bad terms with Zhou Tingting at school, so she was at the top of the suspect list.
"Yeah, we did, but let me make myself clear. She was the one who kept picking on me," Fu Zhi replied calmly. Then, she asked the police officer back, "So you guys think that a good student like me, who's loyal to her country, is the murderer just because of some fake evidence you discovered on the scene?"
Chapter 189: The Crime Of Intentionally Harming A National Treasure
"Please don't get us wrong. Even though the scene evidence points to you, we won't rush into a decision before the situation is clear."
The female police officer paused for a while, looked at Fu Zhi, and thought, 'She's so adorable.'
Then, she comforted her. "You're still young, not to mention that you're a student. No matter the circumstances, we believe that you had nothing to do with this case."
"Okay."
Since they had chosen to believe that she was innocent, Fu Zhi replied, "Can I go now?"
The female police officer was stunned by Fu Zhi's calmness.
Just as she was about to say something in return, a few black off-road vehicles stopped on the road in front of the police station.
Then, a group of six to seven men jumped down from the vehicles.
All of them were international policemen hired by the government to protect Fu Zhi. The moment they had gotten wind of the news that Fu Zhi had been taken away by the police, they had come all the way from their training camp, which was several kilometers away from the city, to assist her.
The door to the police station was opened by a pair of strong, powerful arms. The man walking in the front of the team had a pair of sharp, piercing eyes, and there was a scar at the corner of his eye, just below his temple. He threw a stack of documents into Sheriff Zhao's hands and said firmly, "The murder of Zhou Tingting is an international case, so hand Fu Zhi over to us. You guys don't have to follow up on the investigation."
Sheriff Zhao was stunned. He did not check the documents before he said, "But it's happened in Yu City, so it's our duty to see this to the end and give the public the truth."
'Your duty to see it to the end?'
Captain Jiang scoffed as he glanced at Fu Zhi, who was sitting in the hall.
'Hmm. My dear Zhizhi is still looking great.'
She could probably put a cow down with a punch.
When he thought of what he was going to ask Fu Zhi later, he let out a sigh of relief. Then, he turned to Sheriff Zhao and said in a stern voice, "According to a person briefed on the matter, you guys took an innocent person who has nothing to do with the case into custody, and you are suspected of harming a national treasure intentionally. All in all, you guys lack competence, so you are not allowed to participate in the investigation anymore."
Sheriff Zhao looked at Captain Jiang with a face full of confusion.
'What? National treasure? I don't remember coming across any pandas recently. Why is he saying that we harmed a national treasure?'
Be that as it may, Captain Jiang was not going to explain anything else. After taking Fu Zhi, they left the police station.
*
The result of the Physics competition was released on the government website at 1 p.m. sharp.
All the teachers in the Physics group rushed to their computers and began to search for their students' names out of the 1,000 candidates on the list.
Qian Wenrui was so nervous that she nearly stuck her face against the screen of her computer.
She typed in the number of her team, 101, and five names soon appeared on the screen.
The first one to appear was Lu Yubai's result. He had gotten 91 points.
The teachers had met up for a review session after the competition. Given the short amount of time and the difficulty of the questions, they had all concluded that only excellent students would be able to score higher than 80 points.
As expected, Qian Wenrui scrolled down a little and saw that Lu Yubai's result was the 3rd highest in the province. Her heart skipped a beat, and she heaved a sigh of relief.
After all, Lu Chuwan's results had always been better than Lu Yubai's results. Therefore, other than Lu Chuwan, she could not think of any other students who could pull off this feat.
'Way to go, Chuwan. I knew you could do it!'
Qian Wenrui could barely hold the excitement that filled her to the brim. When she was about to click into Lu Chuwan's name, Ma Mingquan's travel mug dropped to the floor with a loud bang.
Even though the mug did not break, Qian Wenrui was still startled by the sound.
She turned her head around and saw a bewildered expression on Ma Mingquan's face. His eyes were also fixed on the screen. A surge of exhilaration welled in her heart as she scoffed, "What's wrong, Mr. Ma? Could it be that your student got last place?"
Ma Mingquan did not reply. His eyes bulged widely, and he seemed stunned. Qian Wenrui then added, "How well did that student of yours named Fu Zhi perform? I heard she was taken away by police officers because she murdered somebody? Could she not even have passed the cut-off scores?"
Chapter 190: Fu Zhi Won First Place
Grinning like a Cheshire Cat, Qian Wenrui walked up to Ma Mingquan to check the results of Class 21.
"In my opinion, there's no way a bad student like Fu Zhi would get a good result."
As she was talking, she lowered her head and started to look at the screen from top to bottom. Then, she froze.
The first thing she saw on the screen was not the result. Instead, on the first row was the provincial ranking shortlist notice.
Each province would only select three teams to proceed in the competition, and Ma Mingquan's class was the second team to be shortlisted!
'How is this even possible? How could they be so lucky? Just how many marks did Zhou Zihuai score to be able to even out the results of his teammates?'
Qian Wenrui felt as if someone was clawing at her heart. She hastily looked down, and her eyes shone when she saw Fu Zhi's name.
She quickly shifted her gaze to the right and saw something she would never forget in her whole life. The number "100" was sitting on top of the thin black line. She was so startled that she shouted out loud, causing the rest of the teachers to turn their heads toward her. "Full marks?!"
"Who got full marks? Is it Lu Chuwan?"
"She's really your best student!"
"I knew we could depend on her! She has a stellar record of performing extremely well in all sorts of examinations, especially in Physics! She's really the glory of our school!"
All the teachers chimed in and began praising Lu Chuwan. Even so, some teachers who were closer to Qian Wenrui and Me Mingquan craned their necks forward and looked at the computer.
"Lu Yubai, 91, 3rd place, Lu Chuwan, 79, tied with... Huh?" A female teacher who had started reading out loud the results out of curiosity was stunned, and a weird expression formed on her face.
'Hold on a second. If it isn't Lu Chuwan, then who's the one that scored full marks?'
As she was immersed in her own thoughts, someone beside her shouted, "It's Fu Zhi! She's the one that got full marks! The 2nd place went to Zhou Zihuai, who scored 93 marks in total!"
Another teacher interjected. "What did she grow up eating? Fish brains? This is so incredible!"
"Most importantly, none of us received the shortlist notice. Only Mr. Ma's class did, which means that only your class survived the examination..."
Everyone in the office began to congratulate Ma Mingquan, who still could not come back to his senses.
On the other side, Qian Wenrui's face was grim.
She snatched a document from her desk and stormed out of the office. She barged into Director Liu's office and, without giving him a chance to say anything, she shouted, "All the students in Class 1 are good students! It's simply unacceptable that none of my students made it into the final round. Since Fu Zhi is involved in a murder case, we can't keep her at our school anymore. Why don't we ask Mr. Ma to hand over the spot and Zhou Zihuai and let my class merge with their team? I'm not suggesting this for my own benefit. This is the best way to promote the reputation of our school to a whole new level!"
*
When Fu Zhi got into the car, Captain Jiang handed her a laptop and said, "Our team is currently facing trouble. The information of our team members has been exposed, and one of our member's parents were taken away by a group of mafia men. Our technical support guy is trying his best to locate them, but he needs some time to do it."
Captain Jiang, who was also known as Jiang Ningbei, was the leader of the capital inspectorate bureau. Three years ago, he and his team had come to prominence after successfully raiding an international drug lord.
That was also the same year he had been sent to protect Fu Zhi by the government.
Fu Zhi leaned against the cushion and took her ultra-thin phone out of her back pocket. After doing that, she connected her phone to the laptop. Then, she squinted her beautiful eyes and said apathetically, "Give me 10 minutes."
Her fingers tapped a few times on the laptop, and her face was grim. She looked rather agitated as she ordered, "Help me send my mom a text message. Tell her that I'll join you guys to save someone."
"Oh yeah, there's something I need to tell you first. It's about the 2nd generation test subject. According to President Li's people, even though she seems to be after you on the surface, it seems to us that she's protecting you as well..."