Chapter 553: I Was Just Being Humble
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“I intended to ask you to partic.i.p.ate in the group compet.i.tions as well, but other students from the department don’t know you yet. They don’t know how good you are. Even if I were to tell them, I don’t think half of them will believe me,” Professor Yao said. “Distrusts between teammates can sometimes be costly to group compet.i.tions. It will be bad if that happens. That’s why I’m planning to let you partic.i.p.ate in solo compet.i.tions for now. That way, the students can personally see how good you are first. They won’t say no to you joining their team for the group compet.i.tions after that.”
“But there’s a problem with that plan, Professor,” Tan Mo said, realizing she needed to remind Professor Yao. “I’m a senior now. This will be my last year as an undergraduate student.”
Professor Yao was visibly shocked by that. He could not believe that after all that planning and calculations, he missed that. A few seconds later, Professor Yao turned to President Mu and asked, “Um… Is it possible to repeat another year?”
Both Tan Mo and President Mu were completely rendered speechless by the question.
“Yao, stop talking,” Professor Guo scolded him with his eyes twitching. “Do you intend to make her repeat her senior year forever?”
Of course, it wasn’t as if President Mu never thought about it, but it remained just like that, a thought and nothing more.
There was no way he could ask a student to repeat their senior year over something like that.
Everyone would’ve been shocked if that happened to Tan Mo as she was pretty much the most outstanding student in the university.
Professor Yao could only keep his mouth shut after that as he realized his request was too much.
“Well, this settles everything then,” President Mu finally said. “Tan Mo, make use of the remaining two weeks to prepare yourself for the compet.i.tion. I don’t want to pressure you, but if you can, please defeat the team from Hua University.”
“I’ll do my best.” Tan Mo nodded.
President Mu flinched at the reply.
‘Please don’t just do your best. You are our only hope to beat Hua University!’
“Every student is allowed to partic.i.p.ate in five categories. Every category has one gold medal, three silver medals, and six bronze medals,” President Mu coughed and explained. “The organizer will combine three of the best out of the five categories for each partic.i.p.ant. Winning a gold medal is five points, three points for a silver medal, and two points for bronze. The partic.i.p.ant with the highest combined points will win the gold medal for the S.-T. Yau Award, and then there will be three silver medals and five bronze medals. At the last compet.i.tion, Hua University beat us by six medals. Our team could only get the gold medals for the Chia-Chiao Lin Award and Pao-Lu Hsu Award. We only got two bronze medals for the S.-T. Yau Award. All the rest of the medals went to Hua University. It’s so evident that the difference between them and us in terms of mathematics talents is huge. We pretty much got owned all the time.”
The more President Mu talked about it, the more depressed he became.
“That’s why you have to win us the gold medal this year no matter what! We are all putting our hopes on you now!”
Tan Mo was at a loss for words now.
“Oh, right? How’re your brothers’ careers now?” President Mu asked. “Do they need anything?”
“My oldest brother is preparing to film a Xianxia drama. He still needs a few artists to help with the background designs,” Tan Mo said without holding back.
“No worries. I’ll send a few of our art professors to help him out.” President Mu agreed immediately while waving his arm.
“That’s all I’ll be needing.” Tan Mo nodded.
“That’s it?” President Mu asked, worried that it was not enough. “What about your two other brothers? Do they need anything?”
“Not really…” Tan Mo shook her head. “They are still learning from their masters. In the end, it all depends on how much they are willing to learn and absorb. What comes after that is their willingness to improve themselves. No one can help them after that. There’s no way you can help make my brothers’ music and art famous. Those things need people to admire them. If they are bad at it, then there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“There’s still something I can do.” The president grinned. “I can help advertise the music your brother has written and composed. Even if he’s good, he still needs a channel for people to notice him, right? And your youngest older brother’s art is amazing as well! All he needs is a place to showcase it, and people will come to admire the arts themselves.”
It was as if President Mu was the wolf that tried to coax the little red riding hood. His voice was as soft as it could get.
“Really?” Tan Mo widened her eyes, just as the president had expected.
“Come on. I’m still the president of one of the best universities in the nation, you know? I have a lot of connections who could help with what I had just said.”
Tan Mo immediately stood up and saluted. “President Mu, Professors! Don’t worry! I’ll win the gold medal back no matter what! I’ll even try to win the gold medals for all the categories!” She turned to the professors. “Is there anything else?”
Professor Guo could only blink innocently. He could not comprehend what had just happened as this was his first time experiencing it.
As for Professor Yao, as someone who worked in administration more than doing research, he was cunning and fast enough to understand the situation.
“President Mu is right! You can ask me for any help too! Of course, I can’t promise you so much, but you can request anything from me for your brothers whenever you want. How about that?” Professor Yao asked.
Tan Mo thought about it and found the offer acceptable.
Since the professor mentioned that she could make a request anytime, she could save it until the time when she needed it.
“Okay.” Tan Mo nodded.
Professor Yao let out a sigh of relief.
Because President Mu had pretty much given Tan Mo everything she needed, Professor Yao was worried that his offer would not be enough to convince the young lady to help him.
Professor Guo finally understood what was going on—the student was asking for something in return.
That was the main reason why her att.i.tude s.h.i.+fted from “doing her best” to “winning all the gold medals.”
Professor Guo started to rack his brain, thinking about what he could offer to the young lady.
Of course, he had connections. However, like Professor Yao, his connections wouldn’t be able to do much for Tan Mo after what President Mu had offered.
In the end, Professor Guo could only copy his colleague’s offer. “My offer is the same as Professor Yao’s. Just let me know whenever you need something from me.”
“Okay.” Tan Mo nodded. “I’ll go get myself familiarized with the compet.i.tion right away!”
The three adults looked at each other, wondering if Tan Mo was serious about it or only said that to coax them.
Tan Mo didn’t care if the adults were doubting her words and left the president’s office right away.
*
Sat.u.r.day arrived in the blink of an eye. Qin Murong was about to leave for Nacheng.
The Qin family hosted a small party at Shengyue Hotel and invited their closest acquaintances.
Tan Mo was the only guest from the Tan family.
Qin Muye had been waiting for her friend outside the hotel. When she saw Tan Mo getting out of the car, she quickly went and greeted her.
“Huh? Is Brother Zhiqian not with you?” Qin Muye asked when she realized Wei Zhiqian wasn’t in the car that Tan Mo just got out of.
“Uncle is still working. He’ll be late,” Tan Mo replied.
Even though Tan Mo was still addressing Wei Zhiqian the same way as before, Qin Muye could sense that the way Tan Mo talked about him had changed.. It started to sound like she was really his girlfriend now.