The Monroe Competition Champion

When the principal arrived, the students gathered around quickly made way for him.

The principal only wanted to settle things as soon as possible, lest the school lose face in front of an outsider like Teacher Qin. He immediately shooed them away. "Class is about to start. What are you all standing around here for? Go back to your classrooms."

Wang Shining was naturally unwilling to let the matter end like this. After hearing what Xia Yue had said earlier, he felt that she had made quite a bit of sense.

How could he possibly be inferior to trash like Lu Yao? There could only be one explanation: Lu Yao had used underhanded methods.

The Lu family was wealthy and influential. If Lu Yao wanted to obtain the test questions in advance, it was not impossible.

Looking indignant, he angrily told the principal what had happened and wanted him to investigate the matter thoroughly.

After hearing this, the principal's face darkened. There was an outsider here, yet such an embarrassing incident had occurred at their school. He intended to deal with it after seeing Teacher Qin off, so he said, "I understand. Go back to class first."

Wang Shining became even more furious upon hearing that. He thought the principal wanted to minimize the issue and quietly sweep it under the rug. With his neck stiffly raised, he was about to demand an explanation when Teacher Qin, who had remained silent behind the principal, suddenly spoke.

"Student, from what you just said, I did not seem to hear any crucial evidence. The claim that Lu Yao cheated appears to be nothing more than your own speculation. Based on what I know about Lu Yao, with his intelligence, I doubt he would do something as thankless and laborious as stealing test questions."

After saying that, he smiled and greeted Lu Yao, who stood calmly to one side.

"Lu Yao, long time no see."

Lu Yao nodded and briefly returned his greeting.

Seeing that the two seemed to be old acquaintances, the principal's eyes revealed some confusion. How did Lu Yao know Teacher Qin from the Monroe Club?

The Monroe Club was a world-famous high-IQ club. Teacher Qin was the Monroe Club's chief representative in Hua Nation.

The principal looked at Teacher Qin and voiced his confusion. "Teacher Qin, you and student Lu Yao knew each other before?"

Teacher Qin smiled. Just as he was about to answer the principal's question, Wang Shining abruptly interrupted in a blunt tone. "Teacher Qin, you know Lu Yao, so of course you're speaking up for him. You say I have no evidence, but do you have evidence for what you're saying?"

Teacher Qin smiled faintly. "I do not think the overall champion of the Monroe Competition would be unable to handle a monthly exam with ease. Of course, this is merely my personal judgment based on past experience. Since this matter is disputed, Principal, you should investigate it thoroughly afterward."

The principal looked shocked, and his voice rose several decibels. "The overall champion of the Monroe Competition?!"

Teacher Qin nodded. "Yes. What, did student Lu Yao not tell you when he transferred here?"

Upon hearing that Lu Yao was the Monroe Competition champion, everyone nearby widened their eyes in shock.

The Monroe Competition was an online quiz competition jointly launched by the Monroe Club and the Ministry of Education last year.

The questions covered everything from ancient to modern times, China to foreign countries, literature to science, and astronomy. The time allotted to choose an answer for each question was extremely short. Many people had not even understood the question before they had missed their chance to answer.

Since it was the Monroe Club's first time holding the competition, they had only invited students from prestigious high schools in each province. Huiying High School was naturally among those invited. If students from ordinary schools wanted to register, however, the organizers welcomed them as well and turned no one away.

The champion's prize was as high as two hundred thousand yuan, so the competition had attracted not only countless students last year, but also plenty of attention from online users, all eager to see who would ultimately take home the money.

Among the many students who participated last year, the one who had drawn the most curiosity was the final champion, "Sun."

The participant IDs of students from invited schools like Huiying High School had their school names attached, so it had been easy for everyone to guess that Jiang Bai was the runner-up.

But the champion's ID was simply the English word "Sun," without a school name attached. That suggested his school was probably some obscure institution.

When the finals results had come out, many prestigious schools had been eager to recruit the mysterious student with generous offers. Yet no matter what they did, they could not learn anything about his personal information. Even when they asked the Monroe Competition staff, the staff refused to reveal a single word.

And now, someone was actually saying that Lu Yao was Sun, the mysterious and intriguing champion from last year's competition!

Wang Shining had not even made it into the top twenty last year, placing only twenty-fourth. Now that he had suddenly learned Lu Yao was last year's champion, aside from shock, he simply did not want to face that fact.

Stubbornly refusing to admit it, he questioned, "How could he possibly be Sun?!"

Wang Shining was unwilling to admit that he was inferior to Lu Yao. The more smug he had been before, the more embarrassed and mortified he felt now.

Hearing Wang Shining's shrill voice, Teacher Qin spoke with a trace of barely perceptible impatience. "Student, I am the chief person in charge of the Monroe Competition. I believe I should know better than you who the competition's participants are?"

The principal was already delighted beyond measure. Thinking about how their school had both Lu Yao and Jiang Bai, he had already begun rubbing his hands together in anticipation of next year's college entrance examination results.

In a mild tone, he tried to smooth things over. "All right. Let's leave things here for today. The school will investigate the matter in detail afterward and definitely give everyone an explanation."

Though that was what he said, he had already decided that Lu Yao had earned those grades through his own ability. With that level of intelligence, why would he need to steal exam papers? It would have been completely unnecessary.

After speaking, he raised his hand to look at the mechanical watch on his wrist and said to Teacher Qin, "Teacher Qin, don't you need to catch a flight later? How about we discuss this year's Monroe Competition in the office first? Once we're done, I'll have someone take you to the airport."

Teacher Qin said, "All right. I'll follow your arrangements, Principal."

Before leaving, the principal did not forget to turn back and remind them, "Everyone, disperse. Stop standing around watching."

The moment Lu Qi learned that his younger brother Lu Yao was actually the Monroe Competition champion, he had been overjoyed. He happily patted Lu Yao on the shoulder. "You brat, you actually managed to keep something like this hidden for so long!"

Back then, the Monroe Competition had trended online because of the difficulty of its questions. Online users had said that the questions were not something normal people could answer, much less with such a short time limit. It practically seemed as though the organizers had deliberately wanted to make things difficult for the students.

Lu Yao remained calm. "That happened so long ago."

It would have been strange to go around announcing that he was the Monroe Competition champion.

The reason Lu Yao had entered the competition in the first place was because of the prize money. At the time, he was still burdened by the gambling debts left behind by his adoptive parents. Winning the two hundred thousand yuan had helped ease a great deal of his burden.

Standing nearby, Ye Muqing asked curiously, "Lu Yao, you're already so capable. Then why did you say before that you wanted Lu Qi to tutor you?"

Lu Yao glanced at Lu Qi, who was still grinning foolishly. "If I hadn't done that, would someone with his three-days-fishing, two-days-drying-nets attitude have studied properly?"

Ye Muqing burst out laughing and deliberately patted Lu Yao's shoulder in consolation. "It must be hard having an older brother like that."

After thinking it over carefully, Ye Muqing now realized that Lu Yao had probably intentionally performed so poorly on his first monthly exam in order to let Lu Qi win.

After hearing his explanation, the people around them also understood why Lu Yao's grades had fluctuated so dramatically between the two exams. So Lu Yao had simply been willing to indulge his older brother. He had not cared about the exam scores at all.

After confirming that Lu Yao was Sun, even Wang Shining knew that Lu Yao had absolutely no need to steal test questions, let alone the other students.

Noticing that Lu Yao was talking with Lu Qi and the others, Wang Shining tugged Xia Yue along and quietly stepped back a few paces, intending to sneak away while no one was paying attention.

"Wang Shining, where are you going?"

Jiang Bai's cool voice suddenly rang out from outside the crowd.

He had reached the classroom entrance earlier and, seeing so many people gathered there, had simply stood outside the crowd and observed Wang Shining and Xia Yue, hoping to spot some clues from their words and actions. Thus, Wang Shining and Xia Yue's attempt to flee had not escaped his notice.

Earlier, when Wang Shining had the upper hand, he had been so aggressive toward Lu Yao. Now that he knew he had lost, he wanted to simply walk away. How could things possibly be that easy?

At Jiang Bai's words, the students all turned to look at Wang Shining.

Seeing Wang Shining seemingly trying to retreat into the classroom with Xia Yue, many people showed disapproving expressions.

Setting aside their bet for the moment, should Wang Shining and Xia Yue not apologize for falsely accusing Lu Yao earlier?

"Wasn't Wang Shining so arrogant just now? Why has he become a coward now?"

"What kind of nonsense is this? If Jiang Bai hadn't stopped them, wouldn't they have just left as if nothing had happened?"

"I think Wang Shining is the one who really can't accept losing. No one had thought there was anything wrong with Lu Yao's grades in the first place. Wasn't it Xia Yue who kept fanning the flames and leading everyone into misunderstanding Lu Yao? If that teacher hadn't come out to speak for him, even if the school eventually found that Lu Yao had not cheated, everyone would still have suspected that the Lu family had bought off the school."

Hearing the students around him pointing and whispering, Wang Shining's face flushed red with shame, anger, and embarrassment.

Lu Yao's gaze was sharp as a blade as it swept over Wang Shining. With a cold face, he strode toward him.

Seeing Lu Yao's icy gaze, Wang Shining could not help shrinking back.