Professor Liu slowly got up and smoothed out the wrinkles in his pants. “But, still, all in all, this loss is all my fault. I should not have underestimated you.”

Professor Guo clicked his tongue the moment he heard that. He had never liked Professor Liu's arrogance.

“Underestimating me? Well, well, aren't you superb at making excuses? Did you really forget how old Tan Mo is? Or how old your students are? Seriously, how long have your students been preparing for this tournament? Five, six years? They lost to a freshman, and all you have to say is that you've underestimated us? You should find a better excuse…” Professor Guo sighed.

He was right. Professor Liu had completely forgotten that Tan Mo was only a freshman as she had shone so brightly on the stage.

“Guo, come on, spill the beans,” Professor Liu laughed. “We're all curious. Why don't you tell us more about your new prodigy?”

Since Tan Mo was already part of his team at Beijing University, Professor Guo wasn't afraid that the other universities would try and encourage her to join theirs. Thus he didn't need to keep her ident.i.ty a secret any longer.

“Tan Mo. She's a 15-year-old freshman at my university. As soon as she got in, she became part of my research team.”

As for the fact that she was a student in the Finance Department and not the Chinese Department, Professor Guo decided not to mention it.

To be more precise, he'd forgotten all about it as well.

“Then, again, other than Shuang University, all of your presidents did head to B City personally and try to invite Tan Mo to your universities. Too bad their offers weren't good enough when compared to President Mu's,” Professor Guo said.

Some people might call President Mu of Beijing University a sly person, but it was a useful trait when it came to things like this. Professor Guo always believed that it was the slyness of President Mu that had won Tan Mo over to Beijing University.

However, if President s.h.i.+ from Tsinghua University had been the one who had successfully recruited Tan Mo, then the tournament would have had a completely different ending.

Then, again, when Professor Guo thought about it, even if Tan Mo had gone to Tsinghua University, Professor Liu might not even have noticed her talent.

Since Tan Mo had been the highest scorer on the College Entrance Exam, it was natural for Professor Guo to know about her. He had invited her to his research team as soon as she was admitted to Beijing University. He was always proud of himself for spotting her talent.

But if she had headed to Tsinghua University, Professor Liu would not even have known who she was. Her talent would have been wasted if she had studied there.

When Professor Wu from Shuang University heard that her president had not invited Tan Mo to their university, she almost went insane.

What the h.e.l.l are you doing? How can you be so unreliable? Did you not know that the presidents of the other five major universities went to invite her personally? How could you not go? To show that you're not like them? I know she would never have come to our university even if you did go, but shouldn't you at least have shown some sincerity? Look at what you've done! We are like the weird kid in a family now… Why do you have to drag me down this embarra.s.sing road with you?

Professor Wu kept insulting her university's president in her thoughts the more she thought all about this.

“Well, our President Mu spent a lot of resources to ensure Tan Mo would come to Beijing University. And it looks like it was worth it after all. Heck, Tan Mo is worth more than the resources we spent!” Professor Guo laughed as he walked out of the hall, not wanting to spend another second there.

The professors from the other five universities were all staring at Professor Guo, completely dumbfounded.

Did they regret not having been able to recruit Tan Mo to their universities? Professor Guo never learned whether they regretted it or not, and, to be frank, he didn't care.

The partic.i.p.ants were all preparing to return to their home universities when Professor Guo joined his team.

Instead of tidying up with her team, Tan Mo had run up to Wei Zhiqian instead.

“Uncle!”

Wei Zhiqian welcomed her with a gentle look. It was as if there was a warm sun in his eyes.

He tenderly patted her head and said, “Looks like you're the star of the show today. Why don't you head back to your campus with your team?”

Wei Zhiqian was sure that Tan Mo would garner a lot of attention after what she had done in the compet.i.tion.

“I also have to return to my company for a while,” Wei Zhiqian apologized. “Seeing how well our Momo has done today, this calls for a celebration.”

“Are you going to prepare a present?” Tan Mo asked with an innocent face.

“Is there anything you want?” Wei Zhiqian did not deny it.

“Not really.” Tan Mo shook her head. “All I want is an uncle to celebrate with me… I accepted Beijing University's invitation because I thought you'd be around all the time. But it turns out you are barely at school, and I don't really see you at all…”

Wei Zhiqian knew that he'd been too busy lately. He'd had to get to know the inside and outside of the Weifeng Company in a short amount of time. From managing the company to gaining approval from the higher-ups and the heads of each department, he had had to prove that he possessed the ability to take over as the company's president in the near future.

What he wanted wasn't for people to acknowledge him but for them to bow down to him.

Naturally, there were those who had abused their positions in such a large company, which was why he had been so busy of late, and the stress he'd had to handle was immense.

He'd never told anyone about the pressure he'd had to face and bore it all alone.

It wasn't something a person should handle alone.

“Who was it who said that she was a grown-up now and wasn't going to stick to me like she used to?” Wei Zhiqian smiled.

“This is different! What I meant was that I couldn't let you hug me anymore, but I didn't say anything about not being able to see you.”

“Okay, okay.” Wei Zhiqian laughed. “I promise you I'll spend more time with you from now on, okay?”

Unexpectedly, she shook her head. “I'm not that immature, you know? You don't really have to pay attention to my rants. That's all I'm doing. You should take care of everything in the company so that you won't be this stressed anymore. And once you're finished, you'll have the time to spend with me, right? That's why you have to focus on the company, make sure you take it over correctly, and tell the rest of them who's their boss, got it?” Tan Mo said as she stared at him. Her eyes showed that she had complete trust in him, that she'd never doubted his ability.

Her words made Wei Zhiqian s.h.i.+ver a little.

He had never said anything about his stress to anyone before, yet Tan Mo could see the pressure he had to carry and what his goals were.

The only people who knew were his parents, and they never comforted him as Tan Mo did.

The truth was that he didn't want any people to sympathize with him, but for people to understand what he was going through.

That was why he was touched by Tan Mo's words. Everything he did and felt was seen and understood by her, and she was the first person who had ever comforted him.