Chapter 899 - 901: Deception_1
Bai Ruozhu saw that the judges were no longer acting nonchalant and thought to herself, are these people really the type who only respond to force, not persuasion?
Mr. Qiu furrowed his brows and suddenly spoke up, "Competition scores should indeed be transparent. Have them checked and then order someone to post the rankings and points for each subject."
Bai Ruozhu glanced at Mr. Qiu. This man was indeed as upright and reliable as the dean had said, and he must have sensed something was wrong.
Old Deng listened and did not object, calling someone to fetch the record book. However, the person previously in charge came over with an anxious face and said, "Didn’t a servant come over before, saying that the judges wanted to see it and took it away?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion, wondering how could the record book simply go missing. Could it really be problematic?
Bai Ruozhu quietly looked at Old Deng, the record book, which directly recorded the rankings of each event, could not be altered, so it had to "disappear," right?
"The judges have been sitting here and have not left. No one has taken the record book. Call over all the organizing committee’s servants; have them identify which one took it," Old Deng said with a stern face, clearly blaming the manager for not keeping an eye on the record book.
The manager wiped the sweat off his forehead; such an incident had never happened before. When the servant took the record book, he hadn’t thought much of it, but now it seemed he was in trouble.
Soon, the organizing committee’s servants present at the scene were called over for the manager to identify, but after he looked from one to another, he shook his head, a gloomy expression on his face as he said, "It wasn’t any of them."
"Could it have been stolen by someone from the outside?" asked Mr. Qiu. "But the overall rankings have come out, and the ranks for each subject have been recorded. What use would stealing the record book be to anyone?"
Bai Ruozhu sniggered inwardly; Mr. Qiu probably hadn’t considered that someone with enough influence to cover the sky could have changed the scores.
She thought for a moment and then suggested, "Why don’t we let the students check the recorded subject rankings first? It would help us clarify whether we made a mistake with the points."
Mr. Qiu pointed to the bright red paper on the side with black letters on it, which was likely to be posted soon. Bai Ruozhu stepped forward to take a look.
After examining it carefully, Jiang Yichun also came over to look. He had not been as focused on the competition as Bai Ruozhu, so he didn’t find any clues and had to ask in a low voice, "How is it?"
Bai Ruozhu shook her head slightly. She didn’t understand, the points for the events of Beiyu Academy did not have any major issues; there was only one person whose points had been omitted, and it was just one reward point for placing in the top ten. After tallying the award-winning list for Chang’an Academy, their points were correct, with no extra points added, so Beiyu Academy was still trailing behind Chang’an Academy by a difference of three points.
Bai Ruozhu pointed out the one missing point for Beiyu Academy, and the staff immediately apologized, saying they would add it right away, but the mood of the three of them from Bai Residence was not good. Could it really be that they had made a mistake, thinking too highly of their team?
"Now that you’ve looked it over, you may go wait downstairs and not disturb our summary meeting," Old Deng said.
The head of the academy hurriedly composed himself, bowed to Old Deng and Mr. Qiu, and said, "We have disturbed you all, so we will take our leave now."
Bai Ruozhu felt somewhat dejected. Was she really being overly suspicious? Just as she turned to leave, Dengdeng suddenly yelled out wanting to touch the red paper. His little hand got stained with red as he touched it. She pulled back her son’s hand and glanced at the paper out of instinct, her eyes widening in shock.
She opened her mouth but quickly closed it again. No, Old Deng must have already made his preparations; she couldn’t afford to spook him.
She exchanged a glance with Jiang Yichun, and both of them followed the Dean in paying their respects and saying their farewells before leaving the room.
Behind them, Old Man Deng turned his head for a look at her, a trace of fierceness hidden in his eyes.
Once outside, Jiang Yichun saw that no one was nearby and turned to Bai Ruozhu to ask, "What did you discover?"
The Dean had already been disappointed, but upon hearing this, he immediately turned to Bai Ruozhu, hoping that she had uncovered something.
"I happened to see that someone from Chang’an Academy took fourth place in painting, but I remember a student from Jinhua Academy won that place. I didn’t pay attention to the specific name, but I’m certain it wasn’t Chang’an Academy who got fourth in painting. That spot alone is worth four points," Bai Ruozhu whispered.
"What? They are three points ahead of us; if we remove those four points, they would actually fall behind us," the Dean said, both shocked and delighted.
"Moreover, I suspect it’s not just this one name. In my memory, Chang’an Academy should have been five or six points behind us. There’s probably been a switch between sixth and tenth place, but most people generally don’t pay attention to those rankings, so it’s easy to pull the wool over people’s eyes," Bai Ruozhu said, her eyes showing contempt. "I didn’t dare to speak up in public just now because I was afraid they were already prepared. If they called the person from Jinhua Academy to confront him, he would definitely say he didn’t take fourth in painting, and the judges of the painting competition might have been bought off as well."
The Dean slapped his head, "There are the least number of judges for the painting competition, only two."
Hearing this, Jiang Yichun snorted coldly, "In that case, let’s investigate in secret and gather sufficient evidence before striking back hard."
Bai Ruozhu didn’t stop him this time; the situation had escalated to the point where they were bound to offend the organizing committee.
Jiang Yichun bid farewell and left to find the evidence secretly, promising to seek justice for Beiyu Academy by the next day.
Watching Jiang Yichun’s retreating figure speed away, the Dean said with some emotion, "Ruozhu, we’re really lucky to have met you and your husband this time. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have achieved such good results, and if we were bullied, I’m afraid other leaders wouldn’t want to bother with this trouble."
Bai Ruozhu gave the Dean a grin and said, "I am, after all, a student of Beiyu Academy. Shouldn’t I stand up for our academy instead of letting others bully us?"
Amused by her expression, the Dean’s mood lightened considerably, and he laughed, "Good, I was indeed not wrong about you. The decision I made back then was very wise."
"Haha, Dean, aren’t you just patting yourself on the back rather than praising me?" Bai Ruozhu joked with the Dean, now much more relaxed in her manner.
The two of them continued to talk as they walked until they saw the slightly frail figure of Bai Zepei appear on the path, clearly concerned and having come to check on them.
Facing her brother’s inquiring gaze, Bai Ruozhu didn’t hide anything and recounted the whole situation. A cold light flashed in Bai Zepei’s eyes as he nodded and said, "Indeed, it’s time to seek justice."
Despite his cool and detached demeanor, the Second Brother wasn’t one to be trampled upon.
As evening came and the lamps were lit, Jiang Yichun returned from the outside, covered in dust. As soon as he entered, he said to Bai Ruozhu, "I’ve found out everything. The uncle of Chang’an Academy’s Jin Guangqi who replaced their rankings, Jin Mingcheng, is the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. He promised to arrange a position in the Ministry of Rites for Liu Dong’s father from Jinhua Academy. Liu’s father, indeed a Juren by examination, was relegated because he was third class, and also has no backing and a too gentle temperament, now serving merely as a scribe."