In the dead of winter, sweat appeared on Deputy Director Tang’s forehead.

He couldn’t counter Grandmother Zhou’s words, not only because of her eloquence but because she had grasped the core issue. The Higher Education Department was clearly in the wrong. Wang Guangping’s sneaky behavior—whether he was trying to “pull strings” for Xia Xiaolan or harm her—was obvious to anyone.

Grandmother Zhou wasn’t afraid of making a big deal of it, keeping her grip on Deputy Director Tang.

Deputy Director Tang now felt like chopping Wang Guangping into pieces and feeding him to dogs.

Wang Guangping had crossed a line!

How could Deputy Director Tang allow someone to steal food from his bowl?

“Yes, yes, let’s hear what Student Xia has to say. Perhaps there’s some misunderstanding here.”

Deputy Director Tang couldn’t withstand Grandmother Zhou’s onslaught and quickly grabbed onto his lifeline. Xia Xiaolan didn’t take advantage of Grandmother Zhou’s presence to throw her weight around. With the judges and leaders present, she spoke directly to the point:

“I don’t know why Director Wang did this. Besides seeing him once from afar during the Hong Kong businessman’s scholarship fund donation to Huaqing University, I have no personal connection with Director Wang, and we’ve never met or talked privately. I can’t understand why a leader would show such concern for an ordinary student like me.”

Compared to Grandmother Zhou’s aggressiveness, Xia Xiaolan was incredibly gentle.

Deputy Director Tang’s head had been aching from the noise, but as Xia Xiaolan spoke softly, he immediately began thinking more deeply.

Thinking suspiciously, Wang Guangping wasn’t targeting an ordinary student—he was waiting for a scandal to break out in the English competition to target him as the person in charge!

Veins bulged on Deputy Director Tang’s forehead.

“Professor Xu, is there any dispute about Student Xia Xiaolan’s award?”

Xu Guozhang and others had been waiting silently nearby. Except for the British expert Katherine, all four judges were present.

“Regarding the oral section, Xia Xiaolan’s score is undisputed. The emergency replacement questions were agreed upon between me and two other judges. We were worried that Little Zhan might have been approached by Director Wang, so we didn’t even tell her. After confirming the question change, we had no contact with Student Xia Xiaolan—the three of us can testify to this.”

For parts beyond the oral exam, whether Xia Xiaolan had cheated would need Deputy Director Tang’s own investigation.

But from what Xu Guozhang knew, this female student was highly praised by Huaqing’s teachers. Even with family connections, it wouldn’t make Professor He and Teacher Lin vouch for her so desperately.

Teacher Lin was someone purely dedicated to academics—such people were the hardest to buy off.

It was just an English competition—why go to such lengths to pull strings for Xia Xiaolan to win? With that much effort, why not just arrange a government-funded study abroad position?

After all, the Education Department’s reward for winning was just becoming an exchange student abroad!

Deputy Director Tang’s expression turned ugly. “Thanks to Professor Xu’s quick decision, the competition wasn’t affected. This incident shows our work was inadequate. We owe Student Xia Xiaolan an explanation and must ensure a fair environment for the competition, especially since this is just the first year.”

Deputy Director Tang’s imagination ran wild.

From Xu Guozhang’s meaning, Xia Xiaolan could win the special prize regardless. Never mind her surname—if Grandmother Zhou said she was the Zhou family’s girl, then the Zhou family was responsible for her. The normal back-door procedure would be for the Zhou family to approach Zhan Aiqun, who would then bridge to him… No, no, stop—he wouldn’t agree to back-door dealings anyway!

Was Wang Guangping doing this harmful act because he didn’t understand Xia Xiaolan’s abilities, or did he understand and was waiting for the judges to be prejudiced, suppress Student Xia Xiaolan, have her protest, escalate the matter, and then pin the blame on him as the competition’s supervisor?

If the competition became a mess, officially, the Director would be very disappointed in him—Deputy Director Tang felt half his career was cooling already!

Privately, would this old revolutionary comrade from Student Xia Xiaolan’s family, with her explosive fighting spirit, let him off?

The other half would cool completely, his future dimming, transforming from a beloved Deputy Director to a pitiful bench-warmer!

Deputy Director Tang wasn’t afraid to guess Wang Guangping’s intentions with the worst malice. Whether Wang Guangping’s scheme succeeded or failed, it would affect Deputy Director Tang personally. Fortunately, Professor Xu and the other judges were responsible enough not to let the situation worsen, achieving a happy ending from an unfavorable start—but this matter wasn’t over. Thanks to Professor Xu and others’ quick thinking, the competition had ended, but his issue with Wang Guangping was just beginning!

“Hmph, you better not cover for each other. I see this person knows nothing about educational work—how can he hold such a high position? I’m going to write a letter reporting this situation!”

Deputy Director Tang wanted to raise both hands and feet in support of Grandmother Zhou reporting the situation. Wang Guangping was a returned cadre reassigned to the Higher Education Department who had barely done any real work—Deputy Director Tang had always disliked him.

Could someone with no experience just jump into educational work?

It was preposterous!

Verbally, Deputy Director Tang still had to say some diplomatic words:

“Ah, please don’t get too excited. Our department will resolve this matter…”

Xia Xiaolan wanted to cover her eyes. Every cell in Deputy Director Tang’s body screamed support for Grandmother Zhou reporting upward—he was just waiting for her to help eliminate his rival.

“Grandmother, we should trust Deputy Director Tang. If he says he can resolve it, he surely can.”

Grandmother Zhou was elderly, and Xia Xiaolan couldn’t bear to see the old lady personally fight battles for her sake. This incident might be because the Wang family disliked her, but someone like Wang Guangping, once he acted, always tried to hit multiple targets—Wang Guangping’s move hadn’t brought down Xia Xiaolan but had instead scraped Deputy Director Tang.

Though Xia Xiaolan was angry, she had won first place and the special prize. With Professor Xu Guozhang’s backing, no one would dare say she won through connections.

Now Deputy Director Tang had suffered the greatest loss.

He had been set up by Wang Guangping. If he didn’t get even, with Zhan Aiqun in the Higher Education Department and Professor Xu Guozhang’s committee attached to it, with so many people listening, if Deputy Director Tang didn’t react, wouldn’t morale collapse?

Once morale scattered, the team would be hard to lead!

Deputy Director Tang didn’t blame Xia Xiaolan for interrupting, grinding his teeth while thinking of dismembering Wang Guangping—that dog Wang was trying to harm him!

Guan Huie, watching all this time as the old lady and Xia Xiaolan played good cop and bad cop, also wanted to leave Deputy Director Tang a way out—otherwise, how difficult would it be for Zhan Aiqun?

“We must also thank the judge professors for being so responsible, treating everything as it should be, fair and just, uninfluenced, and not letting our child suffer wrongly. We’re truly grateful to all of you.”

The earlier slight resentment had completely disappeared. That Wang Guangping could stoop so low to deal with a young girl showed the Wang family’s character.

If the father was no good, the son wouldn’t be either. The previous incidents with Xia Xiaolan in her hometown couldn’t be blamed on the girl!

Professor He and Teacher Lin took turns expressing their dissatisfaction:

“Deputy Director Tang, we at Huaqing can’t pretend this didn’t happen. As rumors spread, people might say Huaqing pulls strings and uses connections to win prizes for our competing students!”