I Don’t Want to Win Lying Down - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Why Is It Him?!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The headmaster of the school Xu Mang attended was called Mu Chaomei, and he was old friends with Xu Mang’s father. With that sort of relationship, there was no way he would expel the son of his good friend, but he had no other choice… the outside pressure was just too much to bear.

To solve this, Mu Chaomei used his power in the education field to get Xu Mang a spot in a somewhat decent private school. The school fees were high, but they were known as one of the better schools in their city. Xu Mang was set to start school there next week.

“Old friend… Do you think my son will be able to get into college?” Xu Jianguo was sitting opposite Mu Chaomei, sorrow dripping from his voice. “If he can’t get in, that would be so embarrassing for me!”

“Well… A lot of schools are trying to expand their reach, so if things don’t work out… just pay for a spot at a university,” Mu Chaomei said. “Otherwise, you could always send Xu Mang overseas after he graduates from high school, let him be exposed to some foreign air for a bit. People surely wouldn’t look down on an overseas graduate.”

“I want to send him off too, but if the little rascal left the country, he might just get himself killed. You know how he is.” Xu Jianguo sighed. “Especially with how unsafe it is overseas.”

“I understand. The safety of the country you send him to is an important factor, plus your son has quite a special way with words, who knows what sort of people he could accidentally wrong.” Mu Chaomei was out of ideas as well. “The only choice you have left is to spend a little more money seeing as high school graduates don’t really have much of a standing in society these days.”

Xu Jianguo nodded, having already made up his mind.

The telephone suddenly rang, and upon taking a look at the caller ID, Mu Chaomei was shocked. He quickly picked it up and answered in a formal tone. “Mr. He, what can I do for you?”

“I hear a student was recently expelled from your school?” The caller’s voice had been roughed up from decades of use, but it still commanded the listener’s attention.

“Ye…yes. It was Xu Mang, the one that slept during the essay competition,” Mu Chaomei said.

Xu Jianguo froze up when he heard his son’s name. What could they possibly be talking about? 

“I must say, Chaomei, you’re one of the veterans in this industry, how could you still make such a blunder?” The caller lamented. “I know the student made a mistake, but you can’t just expel him because of such a thing.”

“I… Well… Sir, there’s so much talk going on about it online, I had no other choice,” Mu Chaomei tried to defend himself.

“You would rather let the words of others guide you instead of following your own moral compass?” The elder chided him. “Bring that student back to school.”

“Huh? Oh…” Mu Chaomei nodded to no one in particular, his mind still in a daze.

Click.

Mu Chaomei put down his phone and faced his old friend, suddenly asking, “Xu, have you been using your connections again?”

“What? Of course not!” Xu Jianguo shook his head. “I’d like to find some connections too but you can’t do everything with just money these days.”

“Really?”

Mu Chaomei felt as though something was wrong, and so, he decided to withhold the situation from Xu Jianguo for now. The whole thing was too odd… why hadn’t he called earlier? Did something happen?

Could it be directly linked to Xu Mang?

Who did he go to?

“Actually, I’m going to go now, old friend. You carry on with your work.” Xu Jianguo had been climbing and crawling his way through society for so many years, and his eyes had grown sharp. After the phone call, his friend’s gaze had suddenly hardened, it was obvious that something had happened.

“You know where the door is.”

***

Wednesday afternoon.

Wang Xue had received some insider news earlier. The news was vague, but she knew at least one thing—the first place winner of the essay competition was from Senior 3 Class 1 of their school.

Senior 3 Class 1?

It had to be Yang Xiaoman!

“Mr. Lin!”

“Yang Xiaoman from your class won first place!” Wang Xue told Lin Yishan. “A friend told me that the first place winner was from Senior 3 Class 1 of our school, and the only person I can think of who could win is Yang Xiaoman.”

“Huh? Insider news?” Lin Yishan was stunned.

“That’s right! They’re probably going to announce the news soon, just you wait!” Wang Xue said excitedly. “I’m so happy, I can’t believe one of the students I taught was able to win first place!”

Lin Yishan wanted to argue that Yang Xiaoman was a transfer student so it didn’t really have anything to do with Wang Xue, but seeing how happy she was, he decided to bite his tongue.

“What about Xu Mang?” Lin Yishan asked.

“I… I don’t know.” Wang Xue shook her head. “Maybe he was disqualified.”

“Yeah.” Lin Yishan nodded. He hadn’t put much hope into Xu Mang, but he still used to be one of his students.

“I feel kinda bad for the kid.” Lin Yishan sipped his tea. “I heard that Xu Mang’s got a girlfriend now, she’s from our school too, I think.”

“What year is she in?” Wang Xue asked.

“I don’t know, it’s just hearsay,” Lin Yishan said. “I do hope it’s fake. At least let the trouble of dealing with Xu Mang pass over to Cheng Xi Academy or something.”

***

At two-thirty in the afternoon, the results were announced, and Wang Xue immediately received the news from her friend.

The 5th Annual Ning District High School Essay Competition 

First Place: “Love and Fire”—Xu Mang (One High)

Second Place: “Pain”—Yang Xiaoman (One High)

Third Place: “The Love Beneath Us”—Cai Hechong (Cheng Xi Academy)

Fourth Place: “Under the Lights”—Lin Feng (Three High)

What?!

Xu… Xu Mang had won first place?!

Wang Xue looked at the announcement and could barely believe her eyes. This series of events was just too much! Someone who had slept through the competition and had been expelled by the school had somehow managed to get first place in that competition.

What… What kind of movie plot line was this!

As shocked as she was, regret was the strongest emotion that Wang Xue felt. A young man had been able to achieve such feats through his own hard work, but alas, he was given the unfairest of treatments. Not only that, as his teacher, Wang Xue had done nothing to help.

“Mr. Lin… Um… The results have been announced,” Wang Xue said.

“Oh? Who’s in second and third?” Lin Yishan asked.

Wang Xue hesitated. “Second place was also from our school, third place was from Cheng Xi Academy.”

“What! Our school won 2 spots in the top 3?!” Lin Yishan was completely taken aback. “Which class was the second place from? What’s their name?”

“Yang Xiaoman!”

“… That can’t be!” Lin Yishan didn’t know how to react. “Wasn’t she first place? Why is she second all of a sudden?”

“I… I don’t know either.” Wang Xue admitted reluctantly.

“Then who’s first?”

“Xu Mang!”

Lin Yishan nodded wordlessly, and silence hung in the air for a few seconds before he bolted up from his seat, staring at Wang Xue in bewilderment. “Ms… Ms. Wang, you… did you just say that Xu Mang won first place?!”