Ken Feng might have a lot more spending money these days thanks to his dad’s connections, and with Thomas Liu heading up this project, Ken’s status at school has shot up quite a bit.
But when it came to talking about those Oceanport kids, even Ken didn’t dare run his mouth too much.
"Come on, let’s drop the topic and figure out how we’re gonna have fun tonight!" One guy saw the mood getting weird and quickly tried to smooth things over. "Whatever those people are like, it’s not really our business. We’ll just do our own thing!"
"Yeah, yeah! If you really wanna know, just wait a few days and ask Max or Jason—they’ve been hanging out with those guys for days now. They must know something, way better than us just guessing here." Someone chimed in from the side.
Amelia Jiao took a sip of juice and kept glancing out the window. Sitting next to her was Ivy Deng, who smiled at Ken and asked, "The Hundred-School Joint Exam happened in Brightsea City too, right? How did Evan Lin do?"
As soon as Ivy asked, a bunch of people turned to look at Ken.
"Yeah, Ken, you and Evan are super close. Now that he’s the big brainiac at Brightsea City, he’s really making Whitewood look good. I heard Evan’s photo is up on the honor board at Brightsea No. 2 High’s front gate!"
"I bet he crushed it! He won first prize in the Math Olympiad, and with a brain like that, there’s no way his scores could be bad!"
Everyone started chiming in, one after another.
Back in the day, most of them wouldn’t have bothered to give Evan a second glance. But now, every single one of them was curious about him.
Back when Evan Lin was still at the bottom of the class at Brightsea No. 2 High, nobody cared about his grades. But last time he showed up, not only did he have the Math Olympiad champion title, he also totally put Harvey Yang, Max Ma, and Jason Jiang in their place.
That gave him this mysterious vibe all over.
"Don’t be so sure. Evan just won first in the Math Olympiad, which only proves he’s good at math. Who knows about his other subjects?" A guy nearby crossed his arms and said coldly, "Our school’s got plenty of kids who are only good at one thing. Some people are born math whizzes but their English and Chinese are a total disaster."
"I think this time, Evan’s score might not even beat Ivy’s. Ivy’s solid in every subject."
As soon as the guy said that, the people around him started agreeing.
"Yeah, Shuai’s got a point. Just because you’re good at math doesn’t mean your overall grades are great. Lots of people are only good at one subject."
"I heard Evan’s English was always terrible back at Brightsea No. 2. Math you can fix by doing more problems, but English takes years of practice. It’s tough to improve much in a short time."
A few people nodded along.
Ivy’s dad, Victor Deng, worked at the Education Bureau, and her mom Flora Huang made good money from her tutoring class. But now Joy Zheng had jumped in and stolen her business. Shuai had heard all this from Max.
Right now, Max was busy schmoozing with the Oceanport heirs, so Shuai was here specifically to keep an eye on anyone interested in Ivy—and then report back to Max later.
He still felt bitter about the last time Evan Lin showed off, borrowing Allen Ju’s crew’s clout to embarrass Max Ma. Now was his chance to speak up.
Ivy Deng, sitting there, finally felt a bit relieved. Lately, she kept feeling like Evan was beating her at everything, which made her uncomfortable. Plus, Joy Zheng—who used to be dirt poor—now seemed to be living in a villa, and Ivy’s mom Flora Huang had been complaining nonstop at home because of it.
Ivy figured, maybe she couldn’t beat Evan at math, but when it came to total score, she ought to be able to compete.
But just then, Ken Feng grinned, "You guys are way off. Evan’s not even at Brightsea No. 2 anymore. He—"
Ken didn’t get to finish. With everyone staring at him, curious, he suddenly stopped.
Ken’s phone rang. He glanced at it, picked up, and stood right up. "You’re here? Okay, wait for me at the door—I’ll be right there!"
Ken hung up and headed out the door.
The rest of the group was left sitting there.
"Why does he always leave us hanging like that?"
"So what’s up with Evan, anyway?"
Ken leaving them hanging really annoyed the group.
"What’s so special about Evan, anyway? Probably just another math award." Shuai Zhang sneered, "Or maybe he met some big shot, or beat someone up again?"
"Seriously, what else does he have to brag about?"
Shuai Zhang really didn’t like Evan, but he was also getting suspicious about Ivy’s attitude toward him.
Ivy had always had a bit of a thing for Max Ma—he knew it, but he kept her dangling, planning to play the long game.
But ever since Evan showed up at the resort that day, and Ivy saw him hanging out with Allen Ju’s crew, acting all cocky and taking down Harvey Yang and Max, she’d cooled off a lot toward Max.
Max was feeling seriously frustrated about it, and Shuai—who was always on Max’s side—couldn’t stand Evan either. To him, Evan was just a wannabe who used other people’s power to act tough.
"Hey Ivy, I heard your mom’s tutoring class lost a bunch of students to Evan’s mom, right? That’s gotta be costing her a ton each month." Shuai looked over at Ivy.
Ivy’s dad, Victor Deng, worked at the Education Bureau, and her mom Flora Huang made good money from her tutoring class. But now Joy Zheng had jumped in and stolen her business. Shuai had heard all this from Max.
As soon as Shuai said that, the mood in the room totally changed.
"Seriously? I thought Evan’s mom and Ivy’s mom were both teachers at Whitewood Elementary. How could she do something like that?" someone exclaimed.
"Not just at the same school—I heard they even co-teach. Ivy’s mom is the homeroom teacher and teaches Chinese, and Evan’s mom teaches math. Plus, Evan’s mom used to tutor kids at Ivy’s house. She must’ve secretly convinced the parents to switch over. Otherwise, how could so many students leave Ivy’s mom with a mess?"
"I’m telling you, she’s just shady. Bet she planned the whole thing just for the money!"
Shuai Zhang chimed in, dripping with sarcasm.
He’d barely finished when Ivy started to speak up, trying to stop Shuai from going further.
But before she could say anything, footsteps sounded outside the door behind them.
A second later, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.