Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
The sound of wine cups crashing to the floor echoed one after another. Everyone stared wide-eyed, as if they'd seen a ghost. Some even dug at their ears, afraid they'd misheard.
Zhang Heng stepped forward. "Professor Jade Evans, Louis Lee is talking nonsense. He must've angered you—please, don't lower yourself to his level."
Lily Evans looked at Zhang Heng and spoke slowly, "I'm not angry with him, nor am I speaking out of spite. Every word I'm saying now is the truth, so listen carefully: I, Professor Jade Evans, am a woman. I am female."
Zhang Heng saw the look on Professor Su's face and heard her tone—she didn't seem to be lying. Shocked, he stumbled back two steps.
Then Su Li cleared her throat, coughed lightly, and switched from her disguised male voice back to her natural female voice. "I've been using a false voice all along. This is my real voice."
The moment her female voice rang out, the shock in everyone's eyes turned to terror. They stared at this paragon of talent, the so-called number one genius in the world, and when she spoke—it was a woman's voice!
"Th-this can't be!"
Some officials with weaker nerves collapsed to the ground, muttering in disbelief, "Impossible! Professor Jade Evans is a prodigy—a once-in-a-lifetime genius, the founding ancestor of Mathematics. How could she be a woman? No, it can't be! Absolutely impossible!"
Lily Evans sighed softly and said, "I've always believed in honesty. I never intended to deceive anyone by living as a man, but the world's prejudices forced me to hide my gender to avoid endless trouble. Think about it—if I were a woman, how could I teach in the classroom, how could students accept a female teacher, how could I represent the scholars of Jin against Chu, or have men across the nation study my Mathematics? As a woman, I had no choice but to disguise myself. Now that Louis Lee has exposed my identity, I no longer wish to hide."
Lily Evans stepped forward boldly. "Just as you've heard—I am a woman."
The crowd could hardly believe what they were hearing. For centuries, women had been barred from public life, confined to the inner chambers, expected only to marry and bear children. Yet the genius they all revered, the prodigy whose name was sung by all—Professor Jade Evans—was actually a woman, someone men had always looked down upon!
A flicker of surprise flashed across Louis Lee's face. He hadn't expected Lily Evans to admit it so readily—he'd thought it would take a lot more effort to expose her true identity!
Louis Lee burst into mocking laughter and flipped the table. "A Teacher Appreciation Banquet for a woman? As a proud man, I refuse to accept this! Miss, you pretended to be a man to teach us—it's an insult! Hmph! How could a woman be the Dean of Phoenix Academy and the Mathematics Institute? You? Worthy? Today, all the outstanding students of Phoenix Academy are gathered, and the scholars of the court are present. Look, all of us men have been fooled by a woman! As a woman, you are unfit to teach, unfit to be Dean, and should be stripped of your position!"
Lily Evans looked at Louis Lee, her expression cold and severe. She slammed the table. "Unfit to be Dean? On what grounds? Is it because my scholarship is lacking, or my abilities fall short? To be a teacher, to be a Dean, is for the capable! Tell me, is there anyone in this world whose mathematics surpasses mine? Since no one is better, I am the best—I have every right to teach, every right to lead! Phoenix Academy was entrusted to me by the late Dean, and the Mathematics Institute was founded by my own hand. Tell me—why shouldn't I be Dean? Is it only because I am a woman that I am unworthy? Ridiculous! What utter nonsense!"