Chapter 317: Face-Slapping – 1
Jiang Zong was the reason Gu Yan could be so dauntless.
After Fu Zhi exposed everything, Jiang Zong felt that he should do something. From the moment he got the news, he unfollowed Gu Yan and posted a 200-word article on his Weibo, telling a sentimental story of how a good and pure-hearted young man had come across a scheming woman and gotten exploited by her.
In some ways, as long as one gave a reasonable answer, the internet was more tolerant of men than women.
No people would scold the weak and frail Jiang Zong, but Gu Yan was different.
At the moment, Gu Yan’s body was trembling vigorously. Even though she was the friend and teacher of Sheng Hua, no one was going to stand on her side anymore.
Unable to accept the truth, she pushed the camera away and rushed back to her room.
*
The incident with Gu Yan had gone viral, and it seemed like it would not end anytime soon.
Gu Yan enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention, but she did not want to enter the entertainment industry at all. Thus, she had not signed a contract with any company and did not have a professional public relations team to back her up. She felt alone at sea when this kind of thing happened and did not know how to divert the attention of the internet at all.
She only knew how to spend money to cover things up. Unfortunately, this was a bad call. After all, she was up against Fu Zhi this time, and the person backing Fu Zhi up was Fu Zhao, the current head of the Fu Family, which was the wealthiest family in their country right now. For every million she spent to cover the matter, Fu Zhao would spend another 10 million to counter her, causing her effort to go to waste.
...
Fu Zhi and her team would go to Country M the next afternoon.
Before they left, she was summoned by the Physics a.s.sociation to discuss Gu Yan’s partic.i.p.ation in the international compet.i.tion, as well as the exchange meeting.
Inside the meeting room, Sheng Hua was sitting in the main seat, while Fu Zhi was sitting on his right.
She bobbed her head in greeting at the people present when she arrived.
Since both Gu Yan and Fu Zhi were present in the meeting room, the atmosphere was a little awkward.
“Zhou Zihuai, Yu Zui, and Fang Ming’s overall performance is good. We can allocate three days for them to have a training session with Gu Yan, and the one with the best performance will get to partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion,” Fu Zhi said after the meeting started.
Even though Fu Zhi did not like Gu Yan because she was unreliable and liked to play mind games, the international compet.i.tion was different from the friendly match. Each of the partic.i.p.ants would need to complete their own set of test papers, so they needed to pick the best fit if they wanted to win.
Gu Yan had been banned from leaving the country, so she might not be able to partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion.
Everyone in the meeting room looked at each other.
“Just do what Fu Zhi said,” Sheng Hua said. He paused for a moment before adding, “Since Gu Yan is not able to do it, Fu Zhi, you will be in charge of communicating with the team from Country M.”
Although it was just a small exchange meeting, if they were observant enough, they would still be able to notice the strengths and weaknesses of their opponent, which would be very helpful during the compet.i.tion.
However, it was not easy to set up a meeting with the team from Country M, and were it not for Gu Yan, there was a good chance that the exchange meeting would not occur.
Everyone in the meeting room knew this. Gu Yan was supposed to be in charge of the matter. The Physics a.s.sociation had announced that she was the vice team leader and she would be leading the team to the exchange meeting with Country M. However, Fu Zhi had appeared out of thin air and stolen her thunder.
Initially, the vice-president thought Gu Yan would throw a tantrum. After all, she had become a laughing stock during the friendly match with Country R, and she had just been stripped of the chance to take part in the exchange meeting. After Fu Zhi won the compet.i.tion, no one would remember that she had initiated the exchange meeting with Country M.
However, after sleeping for one night, Gu Yan had already calmed down. Even though her eyes were swollen, her rage had dissipated, and there was only a serene expression on her face. Then, in a calm voice, she said, “I’ve done a lot of homework for this exchange meeting. I even prepared information on them and a few question papers they took in the past. If you need this, you can come and get it from me later.”
She reminded the others in a plaintive way that Fu Zhi had robbed her of the results she had worked so hard to get, which was more effective than being vociferous.
Truth be told, Fu Zhi found the exchange meeting rather unnecessary. In her opinion, if they had the time to have the exchange meeting, listening to her lecture and reviewing the revision material that she had prepared would yield a better result.
It was just that after she took a glance at this crowded and confined environment, she knew that if she told the truth, there would inevitably be a lot of objections.
She did not want that to happen, so she just nodded. “Okay. I appreciate your hard work.”
Most of the people in the meeting room knew Gu Yan. They were all more senior than her, and since Gu Yan was quite sophisticated, she had won their favor. They often talked with each other through WeChat in private. Therefore, they had been kind of displeased when Fu Zhi had suggested kicking Gu Yan out of the team and had stolen her spotlight.
However, they did not dare say anything because Sheng Hua was obviously on Fu Zhi’s side.
Fu Zhi knew what they were thinking but did not care. After she had taken care of everything, she turned to Sheng Hua and said, “It’s about time. I have to head to the airport now. You will continue to observe and follow up with the partic.i.p.ants here.”
“Alright. Let me walk you to the door.” Sheng Hua stood up. Then, he followed Fu Zhi along with the vice-president.
*
The members of the Physics a.s.sociation had not dared say anything in the meeting room due to the presence of Sheng Hua. After the meeting ended, most of them gathered in the restroom and began ranting.
“No matter how much Gu Yan has regressed, she’s still much better than the three boys that Fu Zhi named just now.”
“Seriously, I have no idea what she’s thinking. There’s no question that Gu Yan should still take part in the compet.i.tion in three days. I don’t understand why she wants to train those three boys. It’s completely redundant.”
“There’s nothing we can do. She has a lot of connections, not to mention that Master Sheng Hua likes her a lot. He even gave her the chance to lead the team to the exchange meeting.”
“It’s supposed to be Gu Yan’s effort, but Fu Zhi took all the credit.”
“Gu Yan is one of us, and although she has done something wrong, I still feel bad for her considering that she’s been stripped of all the credit.”
After they finished washing their hands, they left the restroom.
It was only then that Gu Yan emerged from one of the cubicles. She looked at her own reflection in the mirror and grinned.
The Physics a.s.sociation put a lot of emphasis on the exchange meeting with the team from Country M.
‘Hah. Fu Zhi, oh, Fu Zhi. How foolish of you to think that you can replace me in the exchange meeting. I’ll let you experience what it feels like to be humiliated by everyone in public. I want you to experience what I’ve experienced. I want you to come and beg me to go to Country M to save you! Just you wait!’
*
:00 p.m.
By the time the plane landed, Fu Zhi felt as if her head was swimming.
Lu Yubai was airsick. His face was sickly pale, and he was dry heaving. Fu Zhi handed him a piece of plum candy and said, “I will rent a convertible car to take you to the hotel later.”
Lu Yubai nodded. Before he could say anything, Jiang Zong went up to Fu Zhi listlessly and pointed at the candy in Lu Yubai’s hand. “I want some too.”
He was wearing a hoodie, and there was a scar on his face.
Fu Zhi paid him no mind. Jiang Zong approached her again and said, “If you give me some candy, I will strip down and sleep with you tonight.”