Mocking voices rose almost instantly.
“I doubt she forgot–more like she’s afraid of embarrassing herself.”
“Jade, you go ahead and check the results first. Let some people see what it means to overestimate themselves. A peasant’s daughter dreaming of Stanford or Harvard University? What a joke!”
“Exactly! Stop wasting our time. Let us see what a real top scorer looks like. Who knows, the school might send over a celebration banner any minute!”
Egged on by the flattery, Jade smiled confidently and entered Vivian’s exam information into the system.“]
Everyone leaned in toward the screen, eyes wide with anticipation. Some even pulled out their phones to record this “historic” moment. But the next second, the score that popped up had jaws dropping.
“Zero?!“D
No way–maybe it hasn’t refreshed yet. Or the system’s glitching from traffic. How could it possibly be all zeroes?“}
“This can’t be right! That’s not my score!” Vivian panicked. “Mom, are you sure you entered the right ID number? Try again!“}
But no matter how many times Jade refreshed the page or logged in and out, the result stayed the same–Zero points.
Hayden’s face twisted with rage. Without warning, he slapped Vivian across the face.
“This is what you call ‘Stanford material‘? I spent hundreds of thousands hiring the best tutors every year for this? This is how you repay me?“D
“You said your score would help me keep my assets–now you’ve made me a laughingstock!”
Vivian crumpled to the floor, pale and stunned, while Jade had lost all composure.
“This–this can’t be her score… Hayden, you have to believe me. There must be some kind of mistake!”
I had no patience for their little family drama. Raising my voice, I intoned coldly, “Well, zero isn’t all that bad. Just a bit off from the number you confidently guessed earlier.”
“Looks like you’ve lost the first two rounds. Now let’s see my daughter’s score. Oh–and wouldn’t you know it, I just remembered her exam number.”
Hearing that, Jade’s eyes flickered. She quickly turned to Hayden and whispered, “Hayden, even if it looks like we lost, think about it. She guessed zero both times. She can’t win either.”
“Unless her daughter handed in blank papers for every subject, it’s impossible to score ali zeroes. Even guessing randomly gets you some points.“}
“So if her daughter scored anything at all, she still guessed wrong, and that fifty percent stays yours.“>
“And about that university guess–if her daughter’s grades are poor, there’s no way she’s getting into Stanford. If she does get in, there’s still a whole month before official acceptance. A lot can happen at that time…”
Honestly, Jade’s logic was sound. Their scheme was airtight.
But they wanted me to walk away with nothing?”
Then I’d make sure they walked away with even less.
Soon, the system returned my daughter’s score. And when it appeared on the screen, the room fell into stunned silence. Everyone turned to stare at me and my daughter in disbelief.
“This… how is this possible?”
