Chapter 59: I’m s.h.i.+pping This Couple!
Outside the examination hall, the person in charge of maintaining order stood there with Xue Xi and Liu Liyuan.
The venue was held in a school and there were surveillance cameras in the cla.s.sroom.
The person-in-charge replayed the CCTV footage for Old Liu and Liu Liyuan’s teacher-in-charge, Mr. Zhang. He explained, “From the CCTV footage, Liu Liyuan struck the first blow while Xue Xi merely acted out of self-defense and pushed her. However, according to the rules, both parties who fought are to be disqualified.”
High schoolers were young and tend to go to the extreme. Therefore, some fights originated from quarrels, and it could not be determined who was at fault. Regardless of who struck the first blow, the compet.i.tion’s rules mandated that both parties had to be disqualified.
From the footage, Xue Xi grabbed Liu Liyuan and the latter struggled while moving back. She pretended to be pushed by Xue Xi, and based on the CCTV footage, it was impossible to determine whether Xue Xi had pushed her or she fell on her own.
Liu Liyuan’s waist hurt even more as she stood up. Gritting her teeth, she said, “Right, I fought and I’ll accept the punishment!”
She stared at Xue Xi. Since she could not get any award, she would drag the latter down with her.
Xue Xi kept a straight face and pursed her lips. She was infuriated.
Old Liu became anxious. “Teacher, have a good look. Liu Liyuan clearly hit her and Xue Xi defended herself. She merely pushed Liu Liyuan gently. How could she have used such great force?”
Mr. Zhang cut in, full of grudge, “Old Liu, what do you mean? Are you trying to say our school’s Liu Liyuan was pretending?”
Old Liu nodded. “She’s harbored much hatred for Xue Xi since the last examination. They didn’t even speak this time around, so it’s very obvious that she did it on purpose!”
Mr. Zhang sighed. “I have no idea about the actual situation, but the rules are written and Xue Xi fought back. Old Liu, are you trying to go against the rules?”
Old Liu continued to plead with the in-charge.
Xue Xi’s phone was originally handed in when she entered the examination hall, but it had been returned to her.
At this moment, her phone vibrated.
Omnipotent Boss: “Has the compet.i.tion started?”
Xue Xi sighed and replied: “No.”
The compet.i.tion had already started and Xue Xi actually replied to him. Xiang Huai immediately sensed that something was off.
Omnipotent Boss: “What happened?”
Xue Xi angrily drafted a simple message to explain everything that happened.
The moment her message was sent, Omnipotent Boss replied to her: “Give me 20 minutes.”
Xue Xi paused for a moment. Taking a look at the time, she saw that it was already 8 AM.
She did not reply to the message.
Old Liu refused to relent and continued arguing with the in-charge. He pestered him for another 20 minutes, and seeing that the latter was unwilling to give in, he was on the verge of giving up—
A man sporting a crew cut suddenly dashed toward them from afar. Wearing a jumpsuit, he was fair and appeared adorable. When he got to them, he gasped for air and looked at his watch. “Twenty minutes and not a second late.”
Having said that, he lifted his head, and when he saw Xue Xi, he nearly addressed her as “Sister-in-law.” Thankfully, he stopped in the nick of time. “The incident has been explained clearly over the phone. Right now, please extract the CCTV footage.”
The in-charge and Old Liu were startled to see him. Mr. Zhang asked, “Who are you?”
That man paused and hit his head. “Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m a police officer.”
He then took out his ident.i.ty card and showed them. “Give me the footage.”
n.o.body reported to the police…
The in-charge was confused. He dazedly replayed the CCTV footage for the man.
After getting hold of the computer, the man tapped on the keyboard and played the footage eight times slower. “Look here, after this student had been pushed, she clearly froze for a moment. She had regained her balance before falling. It’s not obvious when played at the normal speed, but when this is slowed down eight times, it’s clear, right? My sis… Xue Xi did not retaliate at all. This entire incident is clearly staged by this student. Does Xue Xi still have to be disqualified?”
He took only three minutes from the moment he got hold of the CCTV footage to when he presented it to the rest.
Seeing that the evidence was irrefutable, the in-charge bellowed at Liu Liyuan, “Liu Liyuan, you’ll be disqualified from all official compet.i.tions from now on for obstructing the compet.i.tion’s order!”
He dipped his head and looked at the time. “Xue Xi, I can let you return to the examination hall, but because there’s another exam following this, I can’t make up the lost time. Are you fine with it?”
The compet.i.tion was split into the first and second parts.
The first part would last from 8 AM to 9:20 AM while the second part would begin at 9:40 AM and end at 12 PM. He really could not afford to make up the lost time.
Xue Xi expressed her understanding.
Old Liu comforted her. “Xue Xi, don’t feel fl.u.s.tered! The spirit of compet.i.tion is to never give up. All the best!”
She nodded, and as she ran back to the examination hall with the in-charge, the plain-clothed police officer shouted, “Sis… Xue Xi, I’m Jingfei! Please remember my name! We’ll meet again in the future!”
Xue Xi shot another glance at him. This man was standing at the same spot and jumping as he waved. He appeared really adorable, just like a little pigeon.
Since Xue Xi got delayed for some time, when she got back to the examination hall, she had 30 minutes less time than other compet.i.tors.
After finis.h.i.+ng the compet.i.tion, with the papers having been collected, Xue Xi heaved a sigh of relief. She sat dazedly on her chair, and, at this moment, it turned dark.
Lifting her head, she saw a tall, skinny boy standing in front of her. He was wearing Haicheng High School’s uniform and looked das.h.i.+ng. He grinned. “Xue Xi?”
Xue Xi was a little stunned.
That person continued, “I’m Li Xuekai. In order to be fair, I’ll wait for you for 30 minutes during the second part.”
Before Xue Xi could say that he need not do so, the boy had left and sat in the first row.
When the second part of the compet.i.tion started, the boy really slept on his desk for 30 minutes before starting.
When it ended, a new thread appeared on the National Mathematical Olympiad’s forum: “Ah ah ah. I’m s.h.i.+pping this couple! Both curve-wreckers, Li Xuekai and Xue Xi are really sweet! I can imagine an entire campus romance novel!”
Following the popularity of this thread, the incident whereby Xue Xi had been delayed for 30 minutes spread like wildfire.
Immediately, in the other thread regarding who was to be the winner, Li Xuekai and Xue Xi’s votes plummeted. Sun Jie now had the highest votes.
Xue Xi was not bothered by things happening on the Internet.
After the compet.i.tion had ended, she had a lot on her plate, along with Teaches Math.
He’d found a reliable person to help her with the thesis and uploaded her drafts onto the computer. However, there were some details that she was required to edit and confirm.
They used more than a week in total to complete the thesis. Feng Xingshen helped her to submit it to international journals, and it was pending checks and replies.
At the same time, the National Mathematical Olympiad’s results came out.