Things had come to this point, so Qiao Ying decided not to make things difficult and smiled at Feng Teng, who was beaming at her like a sunflower, "Thank you Mayor Feng for taking the time to come here."
"You're too kind, it's my duty," Feng Teng was even happier than if he had won millions in the lottery.
In order to keep an eye on Qiao Ying at all times, Feng Teng had arranged for people at the school to report any movements to him immediately. So far, the results had been remarkable.
"Miss Qiao, if you encounter any problems in the future, feel free to come to me. Please don't stand on ceremony with me," Feng Teng successfully handed Qiao Ying his business card, "You're also welcome to visit my home anytime."
Xu Mingchen, the school's heartthrob, was on his way to the teachers' office to pick up some materials when he ran into Feng Teng coming down the stairs on his way out of the school.
"Uncle Feng?"
Xu Mingchen's father was the deputy mayor. The two families had always been on good terms, so Xu Mingchen had always respected Feng Teng.
However, the children of the two families - Xu Mingchen and Feng Wenzhong - could not stand each other.
"Mingchen!" Feng Teng was in an exceptionally good mood and laughed as he walked over and patted Xu Mingchen on the shoulder.
"Uncle Feng, what brings you to my school? Are you here on an inspection?" Xu Mingchen was curious about what had put him in such high spirits.
"Yes, work. Oh, I remember you're also a third-year student. Do you happen to know..." Feng Teng stopped mid-sentence as a thought occurred to him.
Xu Mingchen: "Know who?"
"Oh, no one, it's nothing."
Feng Teng had wanted to ask Xu Mingchen to look after Qiao Ying for him. They were the same age and classmates, and Xu Mingchen was outstanding, so Qiao Ying would definitely be happy. Then...then Xu Mingchen could get close to Qiao Ying...and he would go from being the mayor to the deputy mayor.
He was too excited and muddled to think straight.
Feng Teng thought to himself: That was close, I almost ruined my own future prospects.
Feng Teng suddenly remembered he had a son, although useless, with poor grades, bad temper, incompetent in every way.
But if he could win Qiao Ying's favor, he would be set!
At this time, Feng Teng still didn't know that his incompetent son, at Huo Chengdong's command, was looking for Qiao Ying at Seventh Middle School.
"Never mind, I have to get to the Education Bureau. Keep studying hard!"
Xu Mingchen watched Feng Teng chatting and laughing with his assistant, completely confused.
At that moment, the school broadcast sounded:
[Dear students, this is your principal Fang Li. I'm here to clarify something.]
The teachers immediately quieted the students down to listen to the broadcast.
[Qiao Ying, a third-year student in Class 8, received a perfect score on her math exam yesterday, but was wrongly accused of cheating by her math teacher. After investigation, it has been verified that Qiao Ying was falsely accused. Her score has been corrected to 150 points. On behalf of myself and the school, I solemnly apologize to student Qiao Ying...]
Xu Mingchen stopped in his tracks and looked toward the broadcast room.
After the principal's apology, the math teacher spoke: [I am Qiao Ying's math teacher, Chen...]
After the math teacher ran out chasing Qiao Ying, the students in Class 8 were left unattended. They all craned their necks, listening to the commotion outside.
They wanted to see what a bloody mess Qiao Ying would look like after being berated.
But after waiting a whole class, Qiao Ying had not come back looking ashamed, and the math teacher's whereabouts were unknown. Instead, they heard from students of other classes that several school leaders had gone to the principal's office for some kind of meeting.
They guessed it must have been about Qiao Ying's cheating. They couldn't help but admire Qiao Ying's guts for actually going to the principal's office.
Even if she ended up suspended or faced even more severe consequences, just having the courage for that moment was enough to gain their admiration.
So when the principal's apology was broadcasted, not a single one of the 50+ students didn't drop their jaws in shock, and all doubted whether their ears were working properly.
After a brief, bizarre silence, the class erupted in chaos, at one point uncontrollable.
The teacher's tapping on the podium was drowned out by the heated discussion.
"Holy crap, can someone tell me what Qiao Ying did?"
"Qiao Ying is awesome! Old Fang is usually so harsh, yet she got him to personally apologize to her in front of the entire school. This is absolutely unprecedented in history, it should be recorded in our family lineage to glorify our ancestors!"
"Does anyone know what went down in the principal's office over the last few dozen minutes? I'm willing to pay a month's worth of breakfast money to hear the gossip."
"How did she pull it off?"
"Qiao Ying scored 150 points? Haha, this is definitely the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life."
In addition to the timid Qiao Ying brazenly going to the principal's office and ultimately making the principal and teacher apologize, which was as shocking as idiocy, the claim that the infamous school dummy Qiao Ying scored a perfect 150 was equally unbelievable.
"She got 150 points? I heard Qiao Lingling from the class next door say she finished the exam and left in under 20 minutes. Can someone explain to me how she could complete the entire test and get a perfect score in just over 20 minutes? Even copying the answers directly wouldn't be that fast."
"The principal said it was verified after investigation. What kind of investigative method was that? Did they check the surveillance footage?"
"Not sure, but I just saw the police show up, so..."
"So can Qiao Ying tell me how to perfectly cheat while evading monitoring and the police? This failing student urgently needs to know."
"Having been classmates with Qiao Ying for almost three years, Qiao Ying's intellect tells me it's impossible for her to score 150. But the principal and math teacher's statements in person, along with the police who just left, tell me she did in fact get 150. The only possible explanation is that this is a supernatural event."
"That's impossible. How could Qiao Ying's pig brain possibly get a perfect score?" Qiao Lingling was the most agitated.
When she learned that Qiao Ying had not only talked back to the teacher for cheating, but also went to the principal's office to kick up a fuss, the long-suppressed Qiao Lingling felt a sense of vengeance, keeping her in a state of excitement. So when she heard the broadcast, she immediately lost control of her emotions.
Coming to her senses, she found the whole class looking at her while the teacher frowned.
Qiao Lingling instantly turned red from her face to her neck.
She hurriedly lowered her head and sat down. Never having lost face like this before, she just wanted to crawl into a hole.
Qiao Ying!
Qiao Lingling gnashed her teeth, wishing she could chew Qiao Ying up into pieces. She clearly blamed everything on Qiao Ying.
Xu Mingchen was about to return to class with the materials the teacher asked for, but saw Qiao Ying standing downstairs talking to a refined, distinguished-looking businessman.
The two were chatting happily, and the mature gentleman even handed something to her.
Standing on the stairs, Xu Mingchen looked at Qiao Ying's back facing him, standing casually with her hands in her pockets. His first thought was that Qiao Ying seemed different from before.
But thinking of the recent broadcast, he couldn't help feeling aversion.
Like everyone else, Xu Mingchen absolutely did not believe the school dummy known as Qiao Ying could get a perfect score.
He also didn't know what method she had used to evade both the monitoring and proctors.
Cheng Jinyan said, "I hope we meet again."
Qiao Ying: "We will."
Qiao Ying spoke with great certainty. It was unclear whether this was just her manner of speech, or meant something more.
