Chapter 829: Su Li Wins
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Gu Jun was seething with frustration. “Su Li,” he exclaimed, “you’re our leader. How can you be so mild-mannered? Sun Wei is practically trampling all over you!”
Su Li remained silent, his gaze shifting to the class monitor. The monitor had already seen Su Li’s ranking and total score, only second to the top student, Gao Ming. It took him a moment to recover from his surprise. Swallowing hard, he announced, “In this competition, Sun Wei ranks fourth in total score, while Su Li ranks second. Su Li is the winner.”
This revelation stunned everyone, both on Sun Wei’s side and Su Li’s. It took them a moment to process the information, and they rushed forward to confirm the results.
Once they had, they fell silent. Su Li had indeed secured the second rank, his total score a full ten points higher than Sun Wei’s. He placed within the top five of their class, this was a crushing victory.
Gao Ming’s spirits lifted entirely. “My dear second brother, you’re incredible,” he exclaimed. “Sun Wei, hurry up and call him ‘brother’. My second brother is generous. All your past actions can be forgiven with a simple ‘brother’. From now on, we’re all brothers.”
Gu Jun no longer held any resentment towards Su Li. His face flushed with embarrassment, he apologized, “I’m sorry, Su Li. I was too hasty earlier. You’ll always be our respected leader. I, Gu Jun, am completely convinced and will follow you from now on!”
Sun Wei was pale, unable to accept the reality before him. How could he have lost to Su Li academically as well? It was impossible. After a long silence, he turned to Su Li. “Did you cheat?” he accused. “You must have known the answers beforehand!”
For the first time, Sun Wei’s lackeys didn’t immediately echo his words. They knew that the school’s exams were highly confidential, and there had never been a case of leaked questions. The school would never allow such a thing to happen. Sun Wei’s current behavior was clearly a result of his inability to accept the truth, hence his baseless accusation that Su Li had known the answers.
In contrast, Su Li had initially been looked down upon because he was from a rural area. Yet, he never held a grudge against anyone. He was skilled in martial arts, kind, and upright. In times of crisis, he would discard the symbolic red flower of honor to save his rival, Sun Wei. Even when Sun Wei woke up, he didn’t even thank Su Li. However, Su Li didn’t seem to hold any grudges, he didn’t even seem to care.
The wager between the two, Sun Wei was determined to drive away Su Li, while Su Li merely wanted Sun Wei to be his subordinate. Particularly, even in academics, which Sun Wei excelled at, he could not outdo Su Li.
At this moment, both of them, along with the other students who stood with Sun Wei, felt somewhat embarrassed to have Sun Wei as their leader. They began to shuffle their feet, creating distance between themselves and Sun Wei.
Facing Sun Wei’s skepticism, Su Li stepped forward and said, “Sun Wei, you are indeed excellent. If I were at the level I was when I first entered school, I would indeed lose to you in academic performance. Although I come from a village, I also want to strive to fit in. So, I told myself that I must study hard, to be an outstanding student like my brother, like Gao Ming, like the class monitor, and like you.
“Whether you acknowledge me as the leader is not important. Because when I bet with you, I just wanted to tell you that we rural children can also be ambitious. Having good conditions from the start is an advantage for you children who grew up in the city, but it’s not a reason for you to look down on rural children.”
After these words, Su Li’s image suddenly grew taller. The students felt that this child from the countryside was simply too cool. The people in Sun Wei’s camp defected on the spot, “Brother Su Li, we’re really sorry for our past behavior. We didn’t know how to judge people. You are our chosen leader!”
“Brother Su Li, can I still play with you? My family owns a toy factory, and we have many, many fun toys. If I can play with you, I will give you many new toys. I heard you have a sister, my family has many dolls that she can play with.”
Su Li was surrounded by students who originally belonged to Sun Wei’s camp. Everyone on the spot recognized him as their leader. After a while, they heard Xiao Tian exclaim, “Sun Wei, Sun Wei has fainted, quickly call the teacher!”
After school in the afternoon, Su Li brought home two large bags of snacks. Gu Zi was stunned and joked, “Little Boss Su, did you win the lottery today?”
Su Li ran over, took out the largest bag of snacks from inside, and handed it to his mother, proudly saying, “These are my spoils of war. There should have been as much as two truckloads, but I shared them with my classmates and only brought these back. Mom, I did the right thing, didn’t I?”
Gu Zi tore open the snack packaging, took a snack to eat. It was sour and sweet, a fruit preserve. She looked at her son curiously, “Spoils of war? Please tell me your story.”