17: I told you not to mess with him, now look what you've done!

That silent mouthed word, "trash," drifted through Lin Que's field of vision.

He didn't even bother to twitch an eyebrow; in fact, he found it somewhat amusing.

Trash?

A third-prize winner flaunting a red certificate in front of an author who had earned sixty-three thousand in royalties.

Who exactly was the trash here?

Lin Que didn't respond, merely shifting his gaze away slowly.

That lazy posture of his was more lethal than any sharp retort.

The feeling of punching cotton caused half of the superiority Zhang Ya had painstakingly built up to collapse instantly.

The remaining half transformed into humiliated rage.

"What are you looking at? Not convinced?"

The short-haired girl beside her immediately jumped out, her voice shrill.

"If you're so capable, why don't you go win a third prize too!

Oh, I forgot, you only got an Honorable Mention. You don't even get any prize money. How pathetic."

Wu Di stood up abruptly, his chubby face flushing bright red.

He pointed at the girl and roared:

"What do you know! Is the stuff Brother Que writes meant for ordinary people?

That's art! It's because the judges weren't skilled enough and couldn't understand it. It's not because Brother Que's writing is bad!"

"Oh, they couldn't understand? Was it the judges who couldn't understand, or is what he wrote just a pile of incoherent trash?"

Another girl chimed in with a sarcastic tone.

"Wu Di, hanging around people like this has even made your grades drop, yet you're still speaking up for him?"

"You guys!"

Wu Di was so angry his whole body trembled. He was clumsy with words and couldn't manage a complete sentence for a long time.

"What are you doing! Making all this noise! Do you think this is a wet market?"

The Dean of Students finally couldn't listen anymore and scolded them with a stern face.

"Wu Di, sit down! Students should be friendly and help each other, and learn from one another!

Student Lin Que should consult Student Zhang Ya more on how to write good articles with lofty themes and healthy thoughts!"

These words were no different from placing an official seal of approval on Zhang Ya's victory.

Zhang Ya's chin lifted even higher.

The air in the classroom was awkward and oppressive.

Just then, the steady sound of high heels approached from a distance.

Shen Qingqiu walked in.

Her appearance instantly caused the temperature in the classroom to drop a few degrees.

Seeing her, the Dean of Students squeezed out a smile:

"Teacher Shen, you've come at just the right time. I was just praising Student Zhang Ya."

Shen Qingqiu's gaze swept over Zhang Ya,

lingered briefly on Lin Que, and finally turned to the Dean of Students.

Her expression was as cool as ever, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Dean, regarding the results of this competition, I have some supplementary information here."

The whole class looked over curiously.

Shen Qingqiu ignored everyone's inquisitive gazes and spoke slowly.

"There were a total of five judges for this essay competition."

"I'm sure everyone knows who they are!"

Shen Qingqiu paused, scanning the circle of curious faces below the podium.

Receiving nods from everyone, she continued.

"I personally had great doubts about the evaluation of this Honorable Mention.

However, just now,

I received a message from Professor Li Yuanchao, which happens to clear up our confusion.

In the final scoring stage, for Student Lin Que's 'firefly', aside from the zero points insisted upon by Chairman Wang Shouyi..."

She paused.

"The other four judges all gave first-prize scores.

Among them, Professor Li Yuanchao and Teacher Zhao even gave perfect scores for both literary quality and ideological depth."

These words were like a bomb exploding in the classroom.

Everyone's eyes widened in shock.

The girls who were mocking Lin Que just moments ago

saw their expressions freeze instantly. They looked at Zhang Ya with their mouths agape, then at Lin Que.

As for Zhang Ya, she froze on the spot, the color in her face draining and returning in patches of white and red.

She stared fixedly at Shen Qingqiu,

as if trying to find any trace of a joke on the other's face.

But Shen Qingqiu's gaze drifted seemingly unintentionally toward the back row.

She was looking at Lin Que!

The Dean of Students' mouth was half-open, so embarrassed he could have dug out a three-bedroom apartment in the floor with his toes.

He had just told Lin Que to learn from Zhang Ya,

only to be told in the next breath that Lin Que's essay was a universally acknowledged first prize, except for the Chairman!

And that so-called "highly prestigious" third prize instantly became a joke.

"This... how is this possible..."

Zhang Ya muttered to herself, her voice trembling.

After a brief moment of daze, a wave of immense ecstasy flooded Wu Di's heart.

He slapped his thigh hard and erupted into earth-shattering laughter:

"Hahahaha! I knew it! I knew it!

Did you hear that? First prize!"

He pointed at those girls, laughing so hard tears almost came out.

"What about now? Why aren't you talking?"

"Oh my, why have your faces grown so much rounder?"

The girls looked at Wu Di's smug face and didn't know what to say.

Shen Qingqiu ignored the commotion in the class

and continued in her steady tone.

"Additionally, Professor Li also said that he believes a work like 'firefly' should not be buried because of one person's prejudice."

"Therefore, he has already decided, in his own name,

to recommend 'firefly' for publication in the city's literary journal, 'jiangcheng literature and art'."

If the previous news was a slap in the face, then this was a heavy hammer blow!

Publication!

And in an official pure-literature journal like 'jiangcheng literature and art'!

This was no longer in the realm of student essay competitions!

This was true recognition that only professional writers could obtain!

The whole class was in an uproar!

"Holy crap! It's going to be in a magazine?!"

"For real? Lin Que is way too beastly!"

"Damn, we're still worrying about getting a few dozen points on an essay, and he can already get published directly?"

Countless gazes mixed with shock, envy, jealousy, and even awe

all converged on Lin Que at once.

And the person at the center of the storm merely raised his head slowly and let out a yawn.

Zhang Ya was trembling all over.

That third-prize certificate she had cherished like a treasure just moments ago

now felt like a red-hot iron burning in her hand.

She frantically tried to hide the certificate, but her arm knocked over her water cup.

With a splash,

the water from the cup instantly soaked her books and pant legs, leaving her in a miserable state.

Under the dead silence and the gaze of countless eyes,

she rushed out of the classroom in disgrace.

...

After school, the discussions on campus had not yet ceased.

Lin Que's name spread to every corner of First High with unprecedented popularity.

Lin Que turned a deaf ear to the rumors on campus.

Carrying his backpack, he walked straight out of the school gate.

Compared to bickering with a bunch of brats, he had more important things to do now.

He took out his phone and dialed his mother's number.

"Mom, how's the house hunting going?"

On the other end of the phone, Wang Xiulian's voice sounded a bit hesitant and troubled.

"Little Que, we've come to see it ten times already. The houses in Xisheng Mansion are really good, big and bright,

and the neighborhood is like a park. It's just... it's just..."

"Mom, just what?"

From nearby came his father Lin Jianguo's somewhat helpless voice:

"Your mom thinks it's too expensive. She heard the total price is 3.8 million, and she refuses to agree no matter what!

She says this money must be saved for your wedding and insists on looking at old, broken apartments worth a few hundred thousand!

Hurry up and come here, she's about to give me a heart attack from anger!"

Hearing this, Lin Que couldn't help but laugh out loud.

This was indeed his mother's style.

She had lived frugally her entire life.

Even though he had told her repeatedly that he had more than two million,

asking her to spend such a huge sum of money was probably harder than taking her life.

Persuading her over the phone would definitely not work.

"Dad, are you guys still at the sales office?"

"We are. The salesperson's face is almost frozen from smiling, but your mom just won't budge."

"Okay."

Lin Que's tone became firm.

"Don't go anywhere, just wait for me there."

"I'm coming over right now."