36: Chapter 36 Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road

Seeing them like that, Chen Guangke felt even more certain that there was something going on between the two of them. He cleared his throat and said to Shen Yan, "Didn't you say you were leaving? Can't bear to part now?"

Shen Yan knew Chen Guangke was teasing him. He shot Chen Guangke a glance and said to Liu Hui,

"It's getting late. I'll head off now. You should go back early too."

Liu Hui nodded and raised her phone. "Let's keep in touch later."

Shen Yan nodded, said goodbye to Liu Hui, and left with Wu Ya and Chen Guangke.

Back at the hotel, Chen Guangke rushed into Shen Yan's hotel room to start gossiping.

"Quick, quick, quick! Spill the beans. What exactly happened between you and that beauty?"

Shen Yan sighed helplessly. "Nothing happened. She's Grandma Liu's niece. Grandma Liu wanted to introduce her to me before."

Chen Guangke nodded, leaned close to Shen Yan's ear with a gossip-filled expression, and asked, "Be honest with me, what do you think of her?"

Shen Yan's face flushed, and he let out a 'tsk' sound.

"What do I think? Have you finished preparing the data and materials?"

Chen Guangke rolled his eyes and stated the plain truth.

"I think you're just being defensive! You clearly have the hots for that beauty!"

Shen Yan didn't reply and directly ushered Chen Guangke out of the room.

"The competition opening ceremony is tomorrow. Get some sleep early!"

Chen Guangke waved his hand. "You sleep early too, okay? Don't dream about people you shouldn't be dreaming about tonight~"

Seeing that Shen Yan was about to lash out, Chen Guangke quickly made his escape.

"Leaving, leaving!"

Seeing this, Shen Yan couldn't help but laugh in exasperation.

"You rascal!"

...

The next day was the day of the competition opening ceremony.

The three of them woke up early and went to the venue.

"Today is just the opening ceremony. We just need to show up."

Wu Ya and Chen Guangke nodded and sat down with Shen Yan.

When it hit ten o'clock, the opening ceremony officially began.

The Host walked onto the stage and started introducing the competition.

Since what the Host said was mostly filler, the three of them were getting drowsy.

It wasn't until the Host started calling the competition organizers and judges up that they became a little more alert.

"Alright, now we invite our organizer to say a few words!"

After speaking, the Host handed the microphone to the organizer.

Immediately after, the organizer began another long segment of pointless talk.

Just as the three of them were starting to doze off again, Shen Yan suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"Excuse me, I'm late..."

Shen Yan and Chen Guangke looked up at the same time.

Sure enough, the familiar voice on stage belonged to Chen Ling.

"Scum!"

Shen Yan held back the agitated Chen Guangke.

"I know. Don't say anything now. We can talk after the opening ceremony ends."

Chen Guangke gritted his teeth and agreed.

Not long after, the opening ceremony concluded.

Shen Yan took Wu Ya and Chen Guangke back to the hotel room.

As soon as they got back, Chen Guangke declared, "Let's leave. Withdraw from the competition. We're not participating anymore."

Liu Hui was completely bewildered.

They had just finished the opening ceremony; why were they suddenly withdrawing?

She voiced her confusion.

Chen Guangke glanced at Shen Yan. Seeing that he wasn't stopping him, he told Wu Ya Chen Ling's identity.

"What? The judge is Brother Shen's Ex-wife?!"

Chen Guangke sneered mockingly, "Calling their relationship enemies wouldn't be an exaggeration!"

"With her here, there's no way we can win the competition."

Seeing that Wu Ya still didn't understand, Chen Guangke sighed and pulled her aside, telling her everything that had happened to Shen Yan recently.

After learning everything, Wu Ya wholeheartedly agreed with Chen Guangke's idea.

"Brother Shen, I agree with Chen Guangke. We should withdraw!"

Shen Yan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

"Why are even you starting to mess around?"

"No matter what you all think, I am absolutely not agreeing to withdraw. This is a great opportunity for us."

Chen Guangke argued back, "With Chen Ling as a judge, there's no way we can make it to the finals. Instead of wasting time, we might as well head home now."

Shen Yan opened his laptop while replying, "Since we're already here, leaving without doing anything isn't my style. I am definitely participating in the competition."

Since the victim himself said so, what could the bystanders say? Of course, they could only support him.

On the other side, Chen Ling had also noticed that Shen Yan had come to participate in this competition.

"Heh! Shen Yan, oh Shen Yan. If you want to make a comeback, you need to see if I agree!"

Putting down the list in her hand, Chen Ling picked up her phone and dialed the numbers of the other few judges.

"Hello, President Li? This is Chen Ling! Regarding tomorrow's competition, I have something I need to discuss with you..."

The next day.

Shen Yan and the other two woke up early again and went to the venue.

Since the competition hadn't started yet, the three of them waited at the site first.

"Did the two of you go robbing last night? Your dark circles are so heavy you could cosplay as ghosts."

The second oldest yawned and replied, "We didn't sleep well because of what happened yesterday..."

Shen Yan shook his head. "I think you guys are worrying more than necessary. I'm not nervous, so what are you all tense about?"

Liu Hui pouted, unwilling to accept it. "We aren't nervous, we're fighting for justice for you!"

Shen Yan didn't want to continue the topic. He glanced at the time and said, "The competition is about to start. Let's familiarize ourselves with the PPT first."

Chen Guangke and Wu Ya nodded and complied.

Half an hour later, the preliminary round officially began.

"Hello everyone, I am the Host, Xiao Ming. Thank you all for coming to our Internet Competition."

"First, I'll explain the rules for this preliminary round. Everyone whose name is called needs to come up and present their software. You can elaborate on your software's advantages, data, content, etc."

"The time limit is five minutes, so please try to be concise."

"Alright, without further ado, let's invite the first speaker—Xu Yu!"

Shen Yan's assigned number was fourteen.

He was expected to present about forty minutes later.

"So, is it just you going up later?"

Shen Yan nodded. "That should be it. It's fine, no need to panic."

Although he said 'no panic,' Shen Yan was actually a bit nervous.

After all, he had never participated in this type of competition before and lacked experience.

Time passed quickly. In a blink of an eye, forty minutes had gone by.

"Okay, the previous speaker presented excellently. Now, let's invite the next speaker—Shen Yan!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Chen Ling immediately looked up.

It's finally your turn, Shen Yan...

You think you can make a comeback in front of me? Dream on!

Although Shen Yan couldn't hear what Chen Ling was saying, he could guess what she was thinking at that moment.

It was nothing more than her desire to suppress him again.

Unfortunately, he would not let Chen Ling have her way.