When the judges and the representatives of the Big 5 families came back to their seats, the audience was in awe and shock as they saw Shen Yi take the spot where Shen Xue previously seated. He was talking with Madam Li in hushed tones.
“Your wife is an interesting woman.” Madam Li told him, “It was my first time to meet Sun Meixiu’s daughter.” She confessed.
“She can be a handful at times, but Lu Xinyi is a great woman. She knows what she wants and wouldn’t think twice if she knows she’s right. I’ll never ask for anything except her.” Shen Yi prided that his connection and trust with his wife was better than any man who chose to agree with an arranged marriage.
“Ah, I heard she chose to marry you over my Yuren,” Madam Li laughed, clearly amused by the irritation that crossed on Shen Yi’s face when she mentioned her son. “Lu Xinyi might have been a good addition to our family if she hadn’t declined the marriage proposal, but what can I say? I wanted you to become my son-in-law back then and welcome Lu Xinyi as Yuren’s bride, but we can’t force fate to change what was already written on the stars.”
Shen Yi chose to keep his silence and didn’t respond to Madam Li’s words. Maybe he was selfish for keeping Lu Xinyi to himself, but other people’s opinion of her didn’t matter to him. He knew she was Li Yuren’s fiancee when Qiao He ran a background check on Lu Xinyi, but it was too late for him to stop himself from signing their marriage contract. There was no turning back to their marriage vows.
“Thank you for waiting! Now, it’s time to announce the examinees who made it and will be joining Silver Leaf’s family in two months! They all did their best to overcome the challenges of the compet.i.tion, and I’m proud to announce to you the newest members of our family!
“First, on behalf of Silver Leaf Academy, let me thank our sponsors for their continuous support to our students and our academy! Let’s give them a round of applause!”
Huo Meili’s cheeriness went back as if nothing bad happened behind the stage. She knew that Tong Yan had been caught and would pay a huge price for putting Silver Leaf’s reputation in jeopardy. Not only her employment had been terminated, but the Shen family had also blacklisted her name to any restaurants and business establishment. No one would accept her within their team. She would be just an outcast in her own hometown.
Praises and applauses were heard from the crowd. The tension had been cleared, and everyone’s antic.i.p.ating the result of the third round.
“Before we proceed to reveal who are part of the ‘Cream of the Crop’ for this year’s batch, let me present to you the scores from the last round.”
The monitors flashed the names of the examinees and were sorted from the highest scorer.
1. Lu Xinyi (SY Holdings) 5.00
2. Tang Liang (Griffin Entertainment) 4.80
3. Surya Rath.o.r.e (Independent) 4.80
4. Tang Lilou (Griffin Entertainment) 4.70
5.Meng Jiao (Sun Corporation) 4.70
6. Yan Chen (Liu Electronics) 4.70
7. Ye Xieren (Li Corporation) 4.60
“This is unbelievable! Ye Xieren fell down on the ranks!” One of his supporters exclaimed, not believing what he was seeing! Ye Xieren should’ve been the one to dominate this year’s entrance exams!
“That’s fine. We have yet to see the final scores for this compet.i.tion. I’m sure he did well and pa.s.sed it.”
Surya Rath.o.r.e’s jaw dropped when he saw his name number 3 on the ranking list. He couldn’t believe that he was able to beat the other sponsored examinees in the last round.
“I—!” He was so lost for words that he barely felt Lu Xinyi’s hand smacking his back from behind.
“Congrats, you did well.” Lu Xinyi grinned at him.
His mind felt like it had short-circuited. It took moments before he realized what Lu Xinyi told him.
“Thank you, Sister Lu. It’s all thanks to you.”
Lu Xinyi waved a hand.
“Nope, it was you who made a delicious cake that the judges enjoyed.” She countered.
“Now, are you excited to meet the newest ‘Cream of the Crop’ of Silver Leaf?” Huo Meili turned her mic to the audience. Their cheers echoing with the stadium.
“Yes!”
“Show us! Show us!”
Everyone was excited about different reasons. Some were excited to see if their loved ones pa.s.sed the exams, some were just antic.i.p.ating to know if they’d made money from the bets they played. This compet.i.tion involved a lot of money, and this first round of compet.i.tion for this school year would set the next games and bets that will happen sooner or later. No one had antic.i.p.ated that the Shen family would become the dark horse this year, the bets for Lu Xinyi wasn’t too high compared to Ye Xieren and Yan Chen.
Lu Xinyi was now considered as a cream that would rise to the top.