Chapter 70: Withdrawal

Translator: virtual group, EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: virtual group, EndlessFantasy Translation

Truth be told, Zhou Tingting had become calmer and her confidence had escalated as more and more people had joined her to crusade against Fu Zhi.

Just as she had thought everything was going according to her plan, Du Min had appeared.

Only a small group of hot-tempered students supported her, while most of the students just stayed silent, as they did not know the whole picture yet.

However, things began to change after Du Min stepped forward.

Zhou Tingting could sense the subtle changes in the students’ eyes when they looked at her.

From the moment she’d stepped into this school until now, she had strived for perfection. She had worked extra hard, and she had never lagged behind anyone in her studies or other interests, such as music and painting. She had been the babe of her school, and many students had looked up to her. However, the perfect goddess image that it had taken her 17 years to build was shattered by Du Min when he accused her of being an empty-headed, jealous person.

“Mr. Du, please don’t get me wrong. I’m not questioning Fu Zhi’s ability at all. Anyway, I’m willing to apologize if you were offended by something I said,” Zhou Tingting said in a choking voice.

She could not fathom why Du Min would stand up for Fu Zhi, a girl who had nothing but good looks. Besides, she could not explain the strange feelings that stirred inside of her heart either.

“Mr. Du, you’re someone Tingting respected a lot. Of all people, you’re the only one who can’t question her. She just wants a fair and just competition, that’s it. What’s so wrong with that?” Tian Nuo pressed on defiantly. “Besides, no matter how good Fu Zhi’s performance was, it still doesn’t prove that her speech wasn’t prepared by an outsider.”

“The topics were randomly drawn from 600 topics on the computer 10 minutes before the competition started. Are you saying that the Lu Family bought the computer off?” Director Liu replied as he held a USB drive in his hand. Tian Nuo’s tenacity had finally ticked him off. “Xiao Ma, go retrieve the dressing room footage from security. Choose the timeframe when Zhou Tingting was presenting her speech on the stage while Fu Zhi was still in the dressing room and put it on the projection screen.”

Zhou Tingting finally realized where her strange feelings stemmed from.

On the projection screen, Fu Zhi and Xu Wei did not do anything other than eat milk candy for six minutes straight. Both of them looked very calm and did not seem like they were cheating.

Du Min shot a cold glance at Zhou Tingting and said, “I don’t accept your apology. The reason our institute invests in No.1 High School is that we want to create a fair field for all the students to present their best side in front of everyone. I’ve come across a lot of people in my life, and you’re the worst kind I’ve ever encountered. Not only do you not work hard to improve yourself, but you are an imbecile who only knows how to sow discord amongst people. A person like you only desires to see the world plunge into chaos.

“Xiao Liu, I don’t want the prize sponsored by the FZ Research Institute to fall into the hands of a person like Zhou Tingting. Therefore, I’m retracting her prize. Besides, from this day onward, she, along with the group of students that supported her, will be forever blacklisted by the FZ Research Institute!”

The entire hall fell silent. Even Tian Nuo was tongue-tied.

Zhou Tingting looked at Du Min, disbelief filling her eyes.

Du Min was hot-tempered. Fu Zhi had been raised in the laboratory for 16 years.

They all doted on her. She had never gone through any hardships in her life, and no one had said anything harsh to her before.

She was very caring, especially when it came to her own family.

However, all sorts of bad things had happened to her ever since she had left the laboratory two years ago.

Du Min was very angry, and his expression was dark.

Nobody spoke in the hall.

“I hope No.1 High School will take action against the bullies that Fu Zhi mentioned earlier. A school is a place meant to teach and educate people. It’s not a place for people to gather and fight.” Du Min picked up his jacket from the chair and said decisively, “I shall expect a very satisfactory answer from you. Otherwise, I’ll see you in court!”

An eye for an eye had always been Du Min’s style of doing things. Since they had the guts to bully Fu Zhi, he would show them what it was like to be bullied.

Director Liu could feel cold sweat forming on his back. “Understood. I’ll definitely give you a satisfactory answer.”

After saying that, he walked Du Min out of the hall as the students looked on in awkward silence.

It was only after they disappeared from their sight that Tian Nuo approached Zhou Tingting.

“My access card and my 30,000 yuan...” Zhou Tingting just wanted to get back what had originally belonged to her. She had never expected things to turn out this way.

She had planned to use the 30,000 yuan to buy herself some new clothes!

“Tingting, push those things aside for now. I have something even more urgent to tell you. I just overheard Mrs. Lu’s conversation. She said that she’s taking back your scholarship! You should go look for Lu Yumo now and see if he could do something about it!”