Chapter 9

No wonder their sponsor had repeatedly warned them that this interview subject was extremely difficult to handle.

"Do you think all the online comments are rumors?" One of the reporters seized on Weng Shao's wording and pressed sharply. "Then how do you view the opinions of your biological parents, your adoptive father, and your biological grandfather? From some video clips leaked online, we can see that they seem to disapprove of what you've done and have even criticized you harshly. Are the things they said themselves also rumors?"

Weng Shao countered, "So you believe that someone who wants to strive upward, work hard for a better life, and ask his biological parents to pay his university tuition deserves criticism and moral condemnation from his family?"

The reporter clearly hadn't expected Weng Shao's response to be so swift and tricky, leaving him momentarily speechless. Still, he refused to give up and tried to steer the conversation from another angle. "So, in order to live a better life, you can abandon without hesitation the adoptive parents who raised you for eighteen years, and feel no shame about it. Don't you think your values are flawed?"

A parent of one of the examinees, who had struggled into the crowd, craning his neck and standing on tiptoe to watch the spectacle, suddenly recognized Weng Shao. He turned to his daughter and said, "Sweetheart, doesn't that interviewee look like the top student in your school year?"

"I heard!" A City No. 1 High School student assigned to the same exam site was anxiously pacing outside the crowd. She didn't know what had happened, but she instinctively sensed that those reporters meant no good.

Thinking of the subject notes and mind maps she had pored over every day for the past month, even memorizing them by heart, the girl turned and rushed into the exam building.

What that parent had said to his daughter was also overheard by several other City No. 1 High School students scattered around the outskirts of the exam site.

A few tall, strong male students forced their way into the circle. "What are you doing? Haven't you reporters had enough? Why did you even come to the exam site?"

Caught off guard, the reporters were shoved about until they staggered in all directions, yet they still insisted on their right to conduct news interviews. "...Please do not interfere with our normal work."

"But you can't harass our classmate either! Why can't you wait until he finishes his exam before interviewing him? You had to pick a time like this..."

Weng Shao looked somewhat surprised at the students standing before him, blocking the reporters completely.

Some wore City No. 1 High School uniforms, while others wore simple T-shirts and jeans. Their youthful faces were filled with anger toward the reporters and determination to defend him.

"Weng Shao is a good person. He's nothing like what they say online. All that talk about being ungrateful and heartless is just nonsense."

"Didn't a magazine report on this before? It said Weng Shao's biological father made his fortune from nothing and turned cruel and ruthless, and that a big boss had helped him, only for him to repay kindness with betrayal. Why don't you interview him?"

The reporters stared blankly at the examinees standing before them and speaking up for Weng Shao. They all realized the situation was going badly. They hadn't expected so many students to defend him. This was nothing like what they had been told.

Weng Shao patted one student on the shoulder, then stepped out from behind him and curled his lips at the embarrassed-looking reporters. "It seems right and wrong will be judged by the public. Just like how you, for the sake of a headline or greater profit, surrounded a student about to take the National College Entrance Examination on exam day, trying to silence me in the crudest way possible..."

As he spoke, Weng Shao pointed to the lip that had been painfully struck by a microphone. "You used such words to provoke me and disrupt my state of mind, completely disregarding what effect your actions might have on an eighteen-year-old National College Entrance Examination candidate..."

Weng Shao smiled at the reporters, whose expressions suddenly changed. "If you think your actions conform to morality and ethics, then I can also believe that asking my biological parents, who abandoned me as a child, to pay my tuition so I can attend university is entirely in line with public order and good morals. Even if my actions aren't noble, they should not be condemned by the media or by the secular morality you speak of."

"My request at least didn't hurt anyone." By the time Weng Shao said this, his voice was already trembling slightly.

Tears moistened his eyes, making his deep-set features seem even brighter and gentler. The clear whites of his eyes had also been tinged with red from emotion.

Clearly, as an eighteen-year-old high school student who had yet to leave the school gates, even though Weng Shao possessed clear self-awareness and stronger mental resilience than his peers, he still felt wronged by the ignorant questioning and thoughtless scolding he had endured.

As if acting out of spite, Weng Shao, who had been battered by public opinion for some time, stared into the camera with reddened eyes. "Actually, I never insisted on acknowledging them! I just thought that, as my biological parents, if they could sponsor other people's children through university, why couldn't they sponsor their own biological son to attend the best university? I never expected them to react so strongly, and I never expected so many people to curse me. I don't know whether those people were misled, manipulated, or driven by some other reason, but I've changed my mind now."

"I don't need Weng Yingjie to sponsor my university education anymore. My homeroom teacher, Teacher Chen, said that someone in my situation can apply for student loans..."

Weng Shao carefully controlled his expression and tone. He had to make his grievance and the others' ill intent clear, while still fitting his age and experience, and subtly cast out a hook to lure people in. The details truly weren't easy to manage.

Just then, the examinee who had rushed into the exam building first came running out, dragging an invigilator with her.

"What are you doing?" The invigilator, dressed in a black polo shirt and beige casual pants, hurried over. He struggled through the layers of onlookers and immediately spotted Weng Shao and several other examinees surrounded by reporters.

He stepped in front of the students and separated Weng Shao from the reporters. "This is an exam site. Loud noises are not allowed, and harassing examinees for no reason is even less permitted. Which organizations are you from? Leave immediately!"

The reporters exchanged glances and slunk away.

After composing himself, Weng Shao softly thanked the examinees and teacher who had helped him. Yet the smile on his face somehow made people feel terribly sad.

The invigilator sighed silently. He escorted the despondent Weng Shao into the exam building and patted him on the back. "Don't overthink it. Don't let those reporters affect you. The exam is what matters most."

Weng Shao's situation had become widely known. Though this teacher did not teach at City No. 1 High School, he had heard about it. Looking at Weng Shao sympathetically, he knew that at a time like this, there was little he could say to comfort him. He could only patiently remind him, "Do your best on the exam. Read the questions carefully. Finish the ones you know first. Don't rush to hand in your paper after you're done; check it several times. And don't forget to write your name and exam number..."

The teacher repeated his reminders uneasily. As far as he knew, this was a promising student capable of competing for the title of top scorer in this year's National College Entrance Examination. If Weng Shao was truly thrown off by those gossip reporters and performed poorly, it would be such a pity.

Weng Shao nodded dejectedly and thanked the teacher in a choked voice. But after the teacher left with a sigh, his reddened, aggrieved eyes swiftly turned cold—like two icy, inorganic glass beads. Since he kept his head lowered as he walked, however, no one noticed anything unusual about him.

Author's Note:

Chapter 9

Weng Shao climbed the stairs one step at a time.

There had been a small hiccup in the plan.

Weng Shao hadn't expected so many students to step forward and speak up for him while the reporters were interviewing him. Someone had even brought over an invigilator to help him out.

None of this had happened in his previous life. It was likely because, a month ago, Weng Shao had selflessly "donated" his study notes and mind maps, moving his fellow City No. 1 High School students who were also facing the National College Entrance Examination and causing a minor butterfly effect.

This slight change brought Weng Shao a faint sense of long-forgotten annoyance. He had shared his organized study notes and mind maps for free as a small bit of groundwork for his later counterattack against the Weng family. Yet before he could even carry out the follow-up plan, the enthusiastic students who had come to help had disrupted the plan already in progress.

He wondered whether the Weng family would still release those videos after seeing today's interview.

Expressionless, Weng Shao walked into the classroom and found his seat according to his exam number. Seeing an unopened bar of chocolate and a bottle of cola on the desk, he paused in slight surprise.

"I heard eating chocolate improves your luck. You'll definitely get into Jinghai University." The girl seated diagonally across from Weng Shao clenched both fists and said energetically, "Good luck!"

Weng Shao recognized her as the girl who had brought the invigilator to help him. He smiled faintly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The girl waved a hand. "It was nothing."

"The cola is from me." The boy seated behind Weng Shao grinned. "I heard carbonated drinks can make you feel better~"

Although Weng Shao had never expected any particular classmate to repay him when he shared his subject notes, most of the students who had read them remembered his kindness. They simply had never had an opportunity before. This time, being able to help Weng Shao made them happy as well.

Looking at their bright, radiant smiles, the curve of Weng Shao's lips involuntarily rose by one pixel.

Having lived another life, those despicable tricks could no longer hurt him. Yet every sudden kindness around him, especially the kind freely offered rather than carefully plotted for by Weng Shao, even a piece of candy or a bottle of water, could stir his emotions in an instant.

"President Pei, our people discovered that Weng Zhen had his assistant contact a group of reporters to block Weng Shao outside the exam site on the day of the National College Entrance Examination and interview him. But something unexpected happened during the interview. It seems they no longer intend to release those videos."

Inside the low-key yet luxurious office, a tall figure sat in a leather-backed chair, admiring the scattered lights of countless homes beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows while idly playing with a lighter in his hand.