To her dismay, the Old Madam only snorted derisively and turned away. “What is there to be proud of? You haven’t even checked Tangtang’s scores yet. Didn’t she take part in the same competition?”
Yao Ran stiffened where she stood.
She was the one facing the Old Madam at that moment, yet all the latter ever talked about was Yao Tangthis,Yao Tangthat.
No matter how well she did, she could never compare to Yao Tangin her grandmother’s eyes.
Was it because Yao Tanghad the same blood running in her veins, and notYao Ran?
Yao Ran thought it to be a ridiculous mindset.
Qin Man grimaced at the Old Madam’s comments. Since the matter had been brought up, she begrudgingly toldYao Ranto checkYao Tang’s results, too.
“Go on and search for her score. Grandma wants to see how well her granddaughter did.”
She nodded encouragingly at Yao Ran. This might be the push that the old lady needed. Once they established the stark difference between the two girls, she might finally realize thatYao RanandYao Tangwere worlds apart.
“All right,” Yao Ransaid in a quiet voice.
She was still a little disconcerted after finding out that she had only ranked second, but it wasn’t enough to completely rattle her. There was still a chance that the first placer had been given a wrong score.
With the way the Olympiad was structured, the students were not allowed to check each other’s results. They devised a system that required a student’s name and admission ticket number in order to open their personal file.
Fortunately, Yao Ranhad managed to memorizeYao Tang’s details when the admission tickets were distributed.
She tapped on the home page and entered Yao Tang’s name and ticket number.
Then she tapped on the search button.
When the page redirected, Yao Ran’s eyes widened in shock.
Refusing to believe the numbers on her screen, she closed her eyes and shook her head. But when she looked at her phone again, the numbers were still the same.
100 points! How was that even possible?
It was a very difficult test, and if Yao Ranhadn’t gotten her hands on a cheat sheet in advance, she knew she wouldn’t be able to score even 80 points.
And yet, Yao Tangsomehow got a full score.
There must be some mistake. Maybe the website was glitching. Maybe she just needed to refresh the page. With that thought, Yao Ranlogged out, refreshed the page, then logged in again.
To her horror, Yao Tang’s score was still the same.
Yao Ran’s fingers tightened around her phone. The color slowly drained from her face, and her breathing grew heavy.
“Ranran, what’s wrong? Quick, say something to Mommy.”
Qin Man rubbedYao Ran’s back and crooned to her as if she were coaxing a toddler.
“Now, Ranran, don’t worry aboutYao Tangor her reputation. Since your grandmother wants to know her results, just tell her and don’t think about anything else…” She drifted off as her eyes wandered toYao Ran’s phone.
Qin Man’s eyes bulged out of their sockets, and her nostrils flared. She snatched the phone from Yao Ran’s hands before she could help herself, then brought it to her face for a closer inspection.
She wasn’t mistaken! It indeed said 100 points!
Qin Man didn’t want to believe it. She rubbed her eyes comically and looked at the screen again. When the number still didn’t change, she could only drop her jaw in shock.
How in the world could Yao Tanghave gotten a full score?
‘Impossible! Absolutely impossible!’
At this point, the Old Madam had already caught onto the mother and daughter’s weird behavior.
“What’s wrong with the two of you?” she demanded. “Both of you are acting like you just had a stroke. Hurry and tell us already, how many points did Yao Tangget?”
Yao Yuan nodded in agreement as he looked at his wife.
Qin Man raised her head then, her face filled with confusion. “Yao Tang… She… She—She scored 100 points. The perfect score. That means that she ranked first.”