Twenty minutes later, Ning Li finished answering the last question and capped her pen.
She looked up at the clock in the classroom.
“Class monitor, I’m handing in my paper.”
She turned her head to look at Pei Song.
The papers for the tests were basically the responsibility of Pei Song and the representatives for each subject.
Pei Song looked at her.
Ning Li always completed her tests papers very quickly. However, she rarely handed in her paper in advance for tests during the evening self-study classes. Usually, she would just put it aside and wait for it to be collected when she was done.
He asked, “Do you have something else to do?”
Ning Li nodded.
“I asked for leave from the class teacher this afternoon.”
Initially, she had not intended on attending the evening self-study session. However, before she could pack her things and leave, Pei Song had arrived with the test papers.
She had decided to complete it anyway.
Pei Song nodded and took her paper.
“Okay.”
Since the Ye family was currently in a special situation, it was very easy for her to apply for leave.
Ning Li handed in her papers and simply packed her backpack.
Many people in the classroom turned to look at her.
First of all, Ning Li’s results were impeccable. Secondly, it had been confirmed that the Ye family had been involved in the leaked papers incident today. No one found it strange that Ning Li was leaving early.
Ning Li left through the back door of the classroom.
…
As she walked out of the gate of Second High School, Ning Li heard a familiar voice.
“Sister Li!”
Ning Li turned her head and saw Wei Songze walking over from not far away. He asked with a grin, “Sister Li, why did you only just come out?”
Ning Li’s reply was brief and concise.
“There was a chemistry test.”
Wei Songze’s smile froze. “Just pretend I didn’t ask.”
Actually, he had only waited for an extra twenty minutes or so, so it had merely been a casual question.
But since this was Ning Li’s answer, he did not know how to respond to it.
‘Was your chemistry test really that short?
‘You’re just embarrassing yourself.’
“Where’s the painting?” Ning Li asked.
Wei Songze scratched his head.
“It’s in the studio.”
His own house was relatively small, and the environment was noisy. Later, he had rented a small apartment to act as his own studio.
In the past, he had always carried his paintings to Ning Li to ask for her advice. It had become much more convenient when Ning Li had come to Yunzhou.
However, she had been very busy lately, so he did not mention this.
This time, he had specifically waited until she had gotten the results of the competition.
“Sister Li, if you have something else to do, you can go another day.”
Ning Li raised her eyebrows.
“What else do I have to do?”
Wei Songze coughed.
“Just… the matter regarding the Ye family.”
Although Sister Li and the Ye family had never had a good relationship, it was unlikely that it would not have any impact at all.
Right now, not only was there an uproar on the Internet, it was also a mess in real life.
“There’s no need to be concerned.”
Ning Li raised her chin.
“Let’s go take a look at your paintings.”
When Wei Songze heard her say this, he also felt relieved and smiled again.
“Sure!”
…
When they arrived at Wei Songze’s studio, he took out four paintings for Ning Li to see.
“Sister Li, these are all recent paintings. Please take a look.”
Wei Songze placed the paintings in order and stood to the side.
Ning Li nodded.
A moment later, Wei Songze suddenly thought of something and could not help but ask, “Sister Li, I didn’t ask before. How did you know Qin Guang’s phone number?”
Ning Li said lightly, “Isn’t it posted on the Xijing University of Technology’s official website?”
“Eh? Is that so?” Wei Songze was stunned. “No, what I meant was… there are so many teachers listed. How did you pick him?”
Some time ago, Ning Li had asked him to write a small program.
This small program would pop up on Ye Ci’s computer web page. The content was very simple. It was a small advertisement about the sale of the physics competition test papers.
The ad was the kind that looked very inferior.
Most people would choose to ignore such things.
That had been the case for Ye Ci. At first, she had not bothered about it at all and had clicked it off.
However, after the Winter Camp, she had realized that her level was not even close to the others.
She had been at the bottom of several tests, and her scores were extremely embarrassing.
It was also because of this that the Winter Camp teacher had suspected that there was something wrong with her preliminary results, and had even revealed the matter of Ning Li and the notebook.
After this incident, she had felt very regretful, but Ning Li was obviously not willing to lend her the second notebook.
The pressure on her had increased day by day. Finally, she had found a way to find the page again.
The moment she tried to contact the number on the page, Wei Songze knew.
Then, he had quickly sent a message to Ning Li. Ning Li had rushed back to Yunzhou from the Capital.
This had only been the beginning. Things had not gone very smoothly after that.
After all, Qin Guang had not sent that small advertisement himself.
For security reasons, Ye Ci had initially contacted him using a new number.
However, after waiting for a long time, there had been no reply.
Ye Ci felt that this must have been a lie, so she had simply given up.
By this time, Ning Li had already returned. She had resolutely and cleanly rejected Ye Ming’s request for the second notebook and had stated that she would not help tutor Ye Ci anymore.
Both Ye Ci and Ye Ming were in a difficult situation.
In desperation, that number had finally replied to the message.
She had asked Ye Ming to look up the number. Only then did she realize that this person was actually an Associate Professor in the Physics Department of Xijing University of Technology. He was also one of the members of the organizing committee of the National Physics Competition this time.
He had full access to that final exam paper.
After confirming this, Ye Ming had stepped forward and taken over the rest of the matter.
No one knew exactly how they had discussed it, including Ye Ci.
However, on the third day, she had received an email.
It was an email with the final exam paper attached.
That had led to the series of things that had followed.
Ning Li smiled as she surveyed his painting.
“Who asked this Associate Professor to be so ‘famous’? I was just giving him a way out. If he wanted to do this himself, then he can’t blame anyone else.”
Qin Guang was a very interesting person.
He had come from a humble background and relied on his own hard work. At the age of thirty-five, he had been awarded the title of Associate Professor at Xijing University of Technology. It could be said that he was young and promising, with a bright future ahead of him.
However, he was too radical and greedy.
Perhaps it was because he was afraid of being poor, or perhaps it was because he had lived a life of being looked down upon by others in the past. He had self-esteem issues and was very prideful, and especially valued money.
The title of Associate Professor of the Physics Department at Xijing University of Technology sounded very decent, but his research direction was more theoretical. This resulted in him not having any projects that could make money on his hands.
He would easily fall for any temptation that he was offered.
In his other life, he had been exposed as causing a leak in the competition two years later.
After the matter had been exposed, everyone found out that he had been secretly collecting money through various means.
It could be said that he was insatiably greedy.
Ning Li had used the simplest, most rudimentary method to casually throw a floating board into the middle of the river.
As long as Qin Guang was not greedy, or if the Ye family had not cared about their reputation, or were not concerned about a guaranteed entrance to the competition, they would not have been able to step onto this floating board at the same time.
Now, the floating board had overturned, and all the people who had been standing on it had fallen into the river.
