263: Chapter 263 Uncompromising Fairness

The off-road vehicle sped along the smooth asphalt road of Glorious Academy.

Chen Fan sat in the back row, looking at the tablet Chen Haoyu had handed him. On the screen was a face covered in mud. This was Lu Xiaoming, an orphan from the Daliang Mountain exam district. Eight years old, a perfect score on the mathematics paper.

Below it was a comparison chart. The exam number and name had been forcibly overwritten and replaced with a fair-skinned, chubby boy. The youngest son of the Liu family in the capital, Liu Zixuan.

"The Liu family is in the building materials business," Chen Haoyu reported from the passenger seat. "Their assets are around one billion. They transferred five million US dollars into an overseas account under the name of the Admissions Office Director, Sun Chengkang."

Chen Fan tossed the tablet onto the seat.

"Sun Chengkang was recruited from the District Education Bureau half a month ago," Chen Haoyu continued. "He has seniority and extensive connections. He felt that Glorious Academy needed him to keep up appearances since it's just starting out, so he developed some crooked ideas."

The off-road vehicle braked sharply and stopped in front of a temporary two-story building for the admissions office.

Chen Fan pushed open the car door and stepped out. Su Wanqing followed closely behind.

Two Shadow Guard members stepped forward, pulling open the glass doors from either side. The lobby was filled with parents checking information. No one recognized Chen Fan, who was wearing an old sweatshirt.

Chen Fan walked straight toward the private office on the second floor. The doorplate at the end of the corridor read 'Director's Office.' The door was locked from the inside.

Chen Fan stopped. A Shadow Guard member stepped forward, raised his right leg, and kicked the solid wood door.

With a loud 'bang,' the lock snapped. The entire solid wood door slammed heavily against the wall, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Inside the office, Sun Chengkang was leaning back in a leather swivel chair making a phone call. He held a cup of goji berry tea, and several admission notices with red seals were on his desk. When the door was kicked open, his hand jerked, and tea spilled all over his crotch.

Sun Chengkang hung up the phone, stood up, and pointed at Chen Fan at the door, cursing loudly.

"Who are you people? How dare you cause trouble at Glorious Academy! Where's security!" Sun Chengkang slammed the desk.

Chen Fan walked in, pulled out the chair opposite the desk, and sat down.

"My name is Chen Fan," Chen Fan stated his name.

Sun Chengkang froze in place. He hadn't seen the chairman before, but he knew who had built this school. His legs began to wobble as he slowly sat back down. The hand holding the tissue was trembling.

"Chairman Chen," Sun Chengkang forced a laugh. "What brings you here in person? Admissions work is busy right now; I just sent out notices to several top-tier students."

Chen Fan pointed at the documents on the desk. Chen Haoyu stepped forward and picked up the top admission notice. The name was Liu Zixuan.

"The Liu family's building materials business isn't that big, but their reach is quite long," Chen Fan leaned back in his chair. "Five million US dollars to buy the life of an eight-year-old child. You made quite a profit on this deal."

Sun Chengkang's forehead was covered in sweat. He propped his hands on the edge of the desk, still trying to argue his way out.

"Chairman Chen, that orphan named Lu Xiaoming—I checked his paper. A perfect score is good, but our Glorious Academy wants comprehensive quality. He can't even speak proper Mandarin; he'd just be a burden if he came in." Sun Chengkang lowered his voice. "This child Liu Zixuan has received a bilingual education since he was little, and his parents are entrepreneurs. Running a school is about social etiquette and connections; I did this for the good of the group."

"Shut up," Chen Fan interrupted him. "My rule is to ignore family background and look only at talent. You treat my rules like scrap paper?"

Sun Chengkang swallowed hard, not daring to respond.

Chen Fan stood up without another word and turned toward the broadcasting room in the second-floor lobby. He pushed the announcer aside and pressed the button for the school-wide broadcast.

"All faculty and staff on campus, and all parents in the first-floor lobby, gather at the main playground immediately," Chen Fan spoke into the microphone. "I am Chen Fan."

Ten minutes later, the three-thousand-mu playground was filled with people.

Chen Fan stood on the podium. The Shadow Guard dragged Sun Chengkang down from the second floor and threw him at the base of the steps. The crowd below erupted in an uproar. No one expected the chairman of the Huihuang Group to be dressed so plainly.

Liu Zixuan's parents were also in the crowd. The head of the Liu family, Liu Gang, was wearing a suit, looking at Chen Fan on the stage with a face full of astonishment.

Chen Haoyu handed a megaphone to Chen Fan.

"On the first day Glorious Academy was founded, I set a rule." Chen Fan looked at the thousands of people below. "Absolute fairness. Today, someone used five million US dollars to buy away the perfect score of an orphan from Daliang Mountain. They stuffed an idiot who can't even figure out basic arithmetic into my school."

The crowd below fell into a dead silence.

Chen Fan took out a gold-embossed admission notice. It had Liu Zixuan's name on it.

"This notice is void." Chen Fan gripped the notice with both hands, tore it directly in half, and threw it on the ground.

Liu Gang grew anxious, pushed through the crowd, and rushed to the front of the stage.

"Chairman Chen! You can't do this!" Liu Gang shouted. "We paid money! You're breaking a contract!"

Chen Fan looked down at Liu Gang from his high position.

"Paid money?" Chen Fan's voice was calm. "Chen Haoyu."

"Present." Chen Haoyu stepped forward.

"Notify the group's business department," Chen Fan issued the order. "Cut off all of the Liu family's building material supply chains. From today on, no construction site under the Huihuang Group is allowed to use anything from the Lius, not even a single brick. Hand over the ledgers of Liu Gang's tax evasion, along with the evidence of Sun Chengkang's bribery, to the Economic Investigation Bureau."

Liu Gang's legs went weak, and he knelt directly on the plastic track of the playground. With one word from the Huihuang Group, the Liu family would be in bankruptcy liquidation by tomorrow.

The sound of sirens drifted from the distance. Three police cars drove onto the playground. Fully armed police rushed out of the cars, handcuffed Sun Chengkang and Liu Gang, and led them away.

Chen Fan stepped down from the podium and went to Su Wanqing's side.

"Is the person here?" Chen Fan asked.

Su Wanqing nodded and pointed behind the podium.

A boy wearing a worn-out blue jacket stood there. The yellow rubber shoes on his feet had several holes, and his toes were frozen red. He tightly gripped a faded canvas schoolbag. This was Lu Xiaoming. He had traveled alone for three days and three nights on a slow train to reach the Imperial Capital.

Su Wanqing walked over. She didn't mind the sour smell on the boy. She took off her own coat and wrapped it around the boy's thin shoulders.

"Come, Auntie will take you to have a hot bath and change into some new clothes." Su Wanqing stroked the boy's dry hair.

Lu Xiaoming looked at Su Wanqing, then at Chen Fan in the distance. He hugged his schoolbag even tighter.

"Thank you, Auntie." The boy's voice was very small, but his pronunciation was clear.

Three days later.

Glorious Academy officially opened. Lu Xiaoming sat in the first row, wearing a brand-new custom school uniform.

In the natural science introductory class, an old professor who had won a Nobel Prize in Physics wrote a fluid mechanics formula on the blackboard. He just wanted to demonstrate the charm of physics and didn't expect anyone to understand it.

Lu Xiaoming raised his hand. He walked to the blackboard, picked up the chalk, and used three different problem-solving approaches to completely write out the evolution of the formula.

The textbook in the old professor's hand fell to the floor. That night, he sent an email to Chen Fan, claiming he had discovered a once-in-a-century scientific monster.

Eleven o'clock at night. Longwan No. 1 Courtyard.

Chen Fan had finished his shower and had just lain down in bed to rest. Su Wanqing was folding clothes nearby.

The secure phone by the bedside suddenly rang. Chen Fan pressed the answer button and turned on the speakerphone.

Chen Muyang's frantic voice came from the other end, accompanied by the roar of an accelerating car engine.

"Dad!" Chen Muyang's voice was trembling. "Wanqiu's stomach hurts terribly! There's blood everywhere! The doctor says it might be a premature birth; I've already rushed her into the emergency room of the Pangu Biology First Hospital!"

Chen Fan sat straight up in bed. The clothes in Su Wanqing's hands fell to the floor.