13: 13. College Entrance Examination Begins

The next day, June 7th, 6 AM.

Lu Feng woke up early, rubbed his eyes, the English words still echoing in his mind, the simultaneous interpretation ability having been thoroughly digested.

He yawned, quickly washed up, changed into his school uniform, stood in front of the mirror for a while, then, satisfied, took his things and left.

The college entrance exam did not require wearing school uniforms, but Lu Feng had been working at the construction site for over a month, and all his clothes had become old and worn, leaving only his school uniform in good condition.

After grabbing a quick bite at a breakfast shop downstairs, Lu Feng headed towards the school.

A month later, walking this familiar path again, Lu Feng felt a little dazed; along the way, he could see many classmates walking with worried expressions, muttering something to themselves, seemingly still reciting knowledge points.

He was quite lucky; his exam hall was at his own school, which felt like home turf, and with the college entrance exam questions and answers full in his mind, he felt very relaxed.

Upon arriving at the school entrance, the line of students was already very long, orderly passing through security gates to enter the school.

“Huh, isn’t that Lu Feng? He actually came?”

“It really is him, oh my, he’s so tanned, I almost didn’t recognize him.”

“Alas, he’s also pitiful; he had to drop out to work for his sick family, but now he’s here for the college entrance exam... can he even get a good score?”

At the back of the line, several of Lu Feng’s classmates were whispering, their eyes occasionally glancing forward.

Although they weren’t close with Lu Feng, his story had been circulating among students, and everyone admired him quite a bit.

Just then, an untimely voice spoke up, with a hint of arrogance: “Don’t even think about it; working at a construction site is exhausting every day, there’s no time to study. Coming to the college entrance exam is just deceiving himself. If you ask me, he might as well not come at all, otherwise, once the results are out, he’ll be the one making a fool of himself.”

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice; it was a student wearing glasses.

The few people present frowned and said discontentedly, “Liao Sunan, you can’t say such sarcastic things just because Lu Feng’s grades always used to be better than yours. If it weren’t for his family’s misfortune, could you have surpassed him?”

“Exactly, exactly, don’t be so pleased with yourself!”

Liao Sunan’s thoughts were exposed, and his face immediately flushed red. He said somewhat indignantly, “What are you talking about? I worked my way up to the top five in the entire grade through my own efforts, what does that have to do with him? What do you all know?!”

“Alright, alright, you’re so amazing, okay?” The others didn’t bother to argue with him further and one by one walked through the security gate into the exam room.

Lu Feng didn’t know he was being discussed, and even if he did, he wouldn’t care.

After finding his classroom and seat, Lu Feng quietly waited for the exam to begin. Soon, answer sheets and test papers were distributed, with Chinese being the first subject.

Upon receiving the test paper, Lu Feng immediately scanned through the different sections, then glanced at the final essay question.

He felt a great sense of relief!

It’s stable, it’s stable! It was exactly the same as what was in his mind.

Lu Feng calmly took out his pen and wrote his name, then began filling in the answer sheet according to the standard answers in his mind. Of course, he wouldn’t just fill it in foolishly; he still had to put on a basic show.

Especially since the reading comprehension passages for Chinese were very long, he had to pretend to be focused, occasionally frowning in thought, before slowly filling in the answer sheet.

After all, the surveillance cameras in the exam room were on.

Lu Feng’s target score for this college entrance exam was around 680 points; he didn’t want the title of top scorer to stand in the spotlight.

A score of 680 was already enough for him to attend Jiangcheng University, which was a nationally renowned 985 school.

Therefore, when answering the questions, he inevitably had to control his score, and the large essay question in Chinese was an excellent way to do so. After all, essays are always subjective; as long as he stayed on topic and didn’t write too well, a score of thirty or forty points would be sufficient.

On the platform, the invigilator kept a close eye on everyone. When his gaze fell on Lu Feng, he only remarked that the student was a bit tanned, but he didn’t notice anything unusual.

Soon, a morning passed quietly, and when the bell rang for the last fifteen minutes, Lu Feng had already finished answering and was quickly checking his work.

It wasn’t until he walked out of the exam room that he let out a sigh of relief: “Now, I just need to proceed as planned.”

...While Lu Feng was fully engrossed in the college entrance exam, in the Xu Family in the capital, undercurrents were stirring.

Still in that elegant tea room, Old Master Xu sat at the head, his eyes narrowed as if asleep.

Beside him, Second Uncle Xu Jianfang looked grimly at the two people sitting at the lower end.

One was his most beloved son, Xu Wenjie, and the other was his elder brother’s only daughter, Xu Ting.

“...That’s how things are.”

After explaining the full story, Xu Ting looked directly into Second Uncle’s eyes, with a hint of vengeful satisfaction.

You wanted to trip me up? Sorry, but it’s your son who slipped and got hurt now.

Xu Jianfang hadn’t expected Xu Ting to pull off such a “big deal” so soon after leaving; he was truly shocked!

Xu Wenjie, beside him, now had messy hair and looked utterly disheveled, completely lacking his former aristocratic demeanor. After being arrested by the police, he had been held in the detention center for two days.

He had never experienced such painful and desperate things in his life; that place was simply not fit for humans, so he hated Xu Ting with a passion.

He looked at Xu Jianfang and said unwillingly, “Dad...”

“Shut up!”

Xu Jianfang snapped, then explained to Old Master Xu beside him, “Wenjie is young and was momentarily confused.”

“Heh... Embezzling public funds, transferring 500 million to a private account, and his subordinates collectively embezzling over ten million, not to mention all the projects after my father’s death involved shoddy work and substandard design and construction... Second Uncle, my cousin’s ‘confusion’ seems to be quite significant, wouldn’t you say?”

Xu Jianfang slammed the table and stood up abruptly, saying, “Xu Ting! You sent people to investigate your own family’s accounts?! Do you even have me, your Second Uncle, in your eyes?!”

“Second Uncle, I’m merely stating the facts as they are.” Xu Ting sat calmly, her fingers caressing the rim of her teacup.

She thought again of that peculiar young man; if not for him, she wouldn’t have been able to secure such a favorable position.

“You...”

“Stop arguing, Wenjie, let me ask you, who signed off on those projects, and who approved the funds?” Old Master Xu opened his eyes, his voice flat.

Xu Wenjie was speechless, lowering his head in silence.

Indeed, he had orchestrated everything, and he knew the character of the people under him, but thinking that this company used to belong to his elder uncle and was now taken over by his own family, he became even more reckless in his corruption. He never expected... Xu Ting to disregard family ties like this!!

Seeing his demeanor, Old Master Xu looked at Xu Jianfang and said, “Jianfang, how do you plan to handle your son’s matter?”

Xu Jianfang’s face was ashen. This matter could be big or small, and Old Master Xu’s question was also making him choose.

Save his son? Or save the company?

Without hesitation, he practically squeezed out the words from between his teeth: “I will cover the deficit of over 500 million myself... Additionally, Wenjie will be transferred to an overseas branch for training. As for the matters of Donghai Group... they will be fully managed by Tingting.”

Xu Ting picked up her teacup, watching the misty steam carrying the tea’s fragrance rise, and couldn’t help but let a slight smile curl her lips.

She won!

She won decisively!