Chapter 172  : I Couldn’t Let You Leave with Zero Points

How can you get angry at a young girl? That’s not something to be proud of.

Ying Siyuan angrily shouted from the competitors’ seats. “Lin Zhenhui, are you a poor loser? How can you take it out on a young girl? If you’ve got the guts, have a go at me instead.”

Lin Zhenhui ignored him completely.

Lin Zhenhui was unwilling to admit that his defeat was his own doing.

He then heard Tan Mo say, “Senior Lin, are you blaming me for not pressing the buzzer that led to your loss?”

Lin Zhenhui wasn’t thinking about anything else at that moment. He clenched his teeth and spit out, “You did it on purpose!”

She had meant to embarrass him on purpose.

Tan Mo sighed. “I did do it intentionally.”

As he had expected.

“You admit it!” Lin Zhenhui looked toward his own team. “She admitted it!”

Then Tan Mo sighed again. “I had already fought for the previous nine questions and had gotten them right too. Senior Lin hadn’t even had a chance to answer a single question. I couldn’t let you leave with zero points. That would be too embarrassing for you.

“In addition, weren’t you the one who complained that I pushed the buzzer way too quickly on the third question?” Tan Mo placed her hands behind her back as she looked down in embarrassment. “You had a lot to say back then, senior Lin.”

Lin Zhenhui was speechless.

“That’s why I thought to leave the last question for you to answer.” Tan Mo laughed nervously. “Your speed was insane. You really managed to push the buzzer fast. It’s a shame that you saw through what I was doing. You’ve got sharp eyes, senior Lin.”

Lin Zhenhui remained silent.

What was this feeling? He felt as if he was being suffocated. Suffocated to the point that he wanted to vomit blood. But then again, he couldn’t say anything to counter her. What exactly was this feeling?

He had a gut feeling that if he said anything more, everyone else would look at him weirdly and think that he was a contrarian and didn’t know what exactly was best for him.

He just had this feeling. He didn’t know why.

“I had thought that senior Lin knew the answer since he fought for the buzzer. But you didn’t actually know the answer, I guess.” Tan Mo sighed once again, then turned around to look at the competitors from Tsinghua University. “A -one. What a shame.”

“You…” Lin Zhenhui was absolutely furious now. Not one single time in all his years of being alive had he ever wanted to scold someone like he wanted to scold her. “Despite being so young, you’re some schemer, aren’t you?”

“Senior Lin, why would you say that?” Tan Mo asked in a pitiful voice. “You first blamed me for pushing the buzzer too soon. Then when I then slowed down, mind you, and even let you push the buzzer, you got the answer wrong. How can you say that it’s my fault? Look at the other competitors. They didn’t fight for the buzzer.

“Who can you blame if you fought for it yourself?

“I didn’t know that you had no idea about the answer to the question. If you didn’t know the answer, you should’ve said so earlier.” Tan Mo pouted.

“So you’re saying you gave me an opportunity?” Lin Zhenhui was about to blow a fuse.

Tan Mo looked at him carefully and then avoided his gaze. “That’s it.

“I actually understand where you’re coming from. Your team did indeed win the championship for the past four consecutive years. You thought you had it pretty much secured in the bag this year too. Senior Lin getting off on the wrong foot in the opening round… I understand your frustration. I would be frustrated too.” Tan Mo slowly nodded her head in sympathy.

“…” Lin Zhen Hui blurted out, “You understand…?

“D*mn nothing…”

“Zhenhui!” Tsinghua’s teacher in charge yelled at him in an attempt to shut him up.

Lin Zhenhui was startled. Only then did he come back to his senses.

Thankfully, he hadn’t completed his sentence.

This girl was really trying to make him slip up in front of the entire crowd, huh?

“Get off the stage, won’t you? Stop disturbing the proceedings of the competition.” Tsinghua’s teacher in charge shouted at him.

Lin Zhenhui was unwilling to get off the stage. He stared maliciously at Tan Mo before begrudgingly turning around and walking off the stage.

The other four competitors warmly congratulated Tan Mo as they passed by. “You performed really well.”

“A worthy opponent then!”

“Seems like Beijing University is up to something this year!”

“Let’s wait until the competition’s over. We can have a proper discussion then.”

The atmosphere was getting increasingly intense now. First, there was Lin Zhenhui’s unruly behavior, and now the remaining four teams had displayed their open-mindedness.

The four professors of those four teams sat in the stands for distinguished guests. Despite losing the competition, at least they hadn’t lost face.

Relief could be seen on their faces.

Professor Wang from Tong University nodded and said, “Losing the competition is tolerable as long as we don’t lose composure and character.”

Immediately, everyone knew who he was talking about.

“Our students didn’t lose any face,” said Professor Yao from Nan University.

Lin Zhenhui had really lost face and no one had to even mention his name explicitly!

Professor Liu scoffed to himself as he eyed Professor Wang and Professor Yao, who were sitting next to each other.

Women were so close-minded.

Professor Liu looked at Professor Guo and said, “I would’ve never thought how much I misjudged this young lady. She really is quite talented.”

“No, not really,” Professor Guo replied. He had learned from Tan Mo too, and he’d gotten more professional.

Professor Guo laughed lightly. “She’s only quite strong in the preliminary rounds, which was why Mr. Lao sent her on stage so early. I’m sure the following rounds will be a lot more difficult.”

Professor Liu really believed him.

Not because he was naive enough to believe Professor Guo, but because he couldn’t fathom how one person could know everything.

In reality, the competition consisted of ten rounds, which included ten different research areas.

Tan Mo had put in a lot of effort so that she could do exceptionally well in the first round.

She must have used up all her energy.

Logically, she would have a much harder time in other areas.

Professor Liu thought that if a student could sharpen their skills to such an extent, they would surely not be able to hone their skills in every category, which was why he believed what Professor Guo had said.

He looked at Lin Zhenhui, who was walking back to the competitors’ stands.

Lin Zhenhui’s abilities were actually very strong.

If they hadn’t been, they wouldn’t have sent him on stage for the first round, where the questions were all unexpected.

One could consider him as an extremely talented, well-rounded individual.

Even if he couldn’t ensure success, he would’ve at least achieved as many points as he could for the team.

No one had expected someone like Tan Mo.

As Lin Zhenhui sat back down, he heard whispers from the crowd around him.

“He did lose some face during this first round.”

“Right? You’ve already lost anyway, don’t make it worse for yourself. It’s embarrassing for us from Tsinghua too.”

“I initially thought that we’d be able to crush our opponents, but it seems like we’re the ones who’ve been crushed.”

“He didn’t know the answer anyway, so he shouldn’t have pushed the buzzer. Getting a zero is a better point than getting a -one.”

Lin Zhenhui turned as red as a tomato. He angrily stared in Tan Mo’s direction, where she sat on the stage.

He saw her waving at the other students from Beijing University, looking extremely relaxed. She seemed as if she was completely unconcerned by the competition.

“For the second round, we’ll have Zhao Xiao Ou go on stage,” said the teacher in charge. “You specialize in this topic. I don’t think anyone is stronger than you in this specific field.”