Chapter 145 Digging Holes and Filling Them

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"Oh—uh... What?" Shi Tiexin was somewhat bewildered. "What exhibition, what award? What are you talking about?"
"I am talking about the calligraphy competition, of course! My comrade just called me—you've been shortlisted!" Bald-headed Situ beamed with radiant joy. "Not bad, kid! You secretly went and entered the city-wide calligraphy competition, and by sheer dumb luck, the judges actually noticed you and shortlisted you for this afternoon's exhibition and review session. This is a first in the history of the Orphanage!"
The old bald man slapped Shi Tiexin on the shoulder repeatedly, looking immensely excited. "If you can actually win an award this time, I'm going to put you straight into the Orphanage Hall of Fame! Come, take a few more photos of him—make them good, make him look handsome!"
Snap, snap. A half-grown kid wielding an old-fashioned camera circled Shi Tiexin, capturing the majestic posture of the Iron Overlord from all angles.
After a few shots, however, Shi Tiexin waved his hand and told the kid, "That's enough. You can step outside for a moment."
The kid paused for a second, but without hesitation, he turned and walked out of the office.
The highly repulsive grin on Bald Situ's face slowly faded. He caught a hint of something serious in Shi Tiexin's expression. As soon as the kid closed the office door, Situ reacted: "I was talking about the calligraphy competition. What were you talking about just now?"
Even though the old bald man apparently hadn't received the news yet, Shi Tiexin had no intention of hiding it from him.
"I have two pieces of news to tell you, one good and one bad. Which one do you want to hear first?"
The old bald man grew annoyed. "What the hell? One good and one bad? Are you playing games with me? Spit it out!"
"So, do you want to hear the good news first, or the bad news?"
"The bad news first—forget it, no need, I can already guess." Situ Zhennan put on a perspicacious look. "Kid, you shouldn't have come back at this time today. According to your schedule, you should still be on duty. So—you got fired by the security team, didn't you?"
Without waiting for Shi Tiexin to answer, the old bald man immediately put on a heartbroken expression: "You little wretch, do you have any idea how much effort I spent getting you in there for a trial shift, and now you get yourself fired and come back like this? What am I supposed to do now~~"
Shi Tiexin immediately interrupted him: "No, I wasn't fired. I'm doing just fine there."
Situ Zhennan's expression instantly reset, calm and breezy. "Then it's nothing. What's the bad news? Let's hear it and give me a laugh."
"During today's Preliminary Imperial Examination qualification test, I beat several students from the Star-Worker Children's School into the hospital, directly stripping them of their chance to participate in the examination. Furthermore, I directly clashed with He Chong. It's unlikely that He Chong's old man will lose his dignity to the point of acting personally, but I'm telling you in advance so you won't be caught flustered." Shi Tiexin patted Situ Zhennan on the shoulder. "Just a minor matter like that."
Situ Zhennan's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
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For a long time, eyes wide with shock, Situ Zhennan finally managed to pick his jaw back up. A vein pulsed wildly on his forehead, his face turned beet red, and he opened his mouth to roar: "You little turtle-spawned brat! Did you use your brain at all before doing something like this?! You—"
"I thought about it, but it had to be done."
"My ass! Get lost! What did you even think about—?!" *Thud.* Situ Zhennan slumped dejectedly into the sofa. Not even his beloved sofa could salvage his mood, leaving him sprawled out inside it, sighing heavily: "Sigh... It's over... All mouth and no judgment, a little bear cub is just a little bear cub, always stirring up trouble for me... What are we going to do about employment quotas this year? It's over, completely over..."
Seeing Situ Zhennan in such a state of utter despair, Shi Tiexin couldn't bear it and said, "There's no need to be so pessimistic. I'll take full responsibility for my own actions. If the He family really wants revenge, they can come straight after me alone."
"Get lost! Who do you think you're trying to impress? Take full responsibility? What kind of society do you think this is?" Situ Zhennan irritably clawed at his hair. "Fifteen is fifteen, a minor is a minor—easy to let hot blood rush to the head without considering the consequences. Sigh, I'm to blame too. I actually keep forgetting that you're not even thirty years old yet..."
Hey! What do you mean by that? Do I really look that old?!
"Right, isn't there good news?" Situ Zhennan was practically melting into a puddle of slime inside the sofa, speaking with the feeble breath of someone in cardiac arrest: "Spit it out. Tell me together, let me have a cardiac defibrillation..."
Seeing Situ Zhennan like this, Shi Tiexin felt a pang of guilt. He understatement said, "I passed the Preliminary Imperial Examination qualification test."
"Oh," Situ Zhennan nodded with the finality of a dying man. After a moment, he raised his head again: "What did you say? You passed?"
"Yes, I passed. I'll take the Preliminary Imperial Examination in three days."
"What the—hell!" Situ Zhennan flipped out of the sofa with a carp-like spring, staring eagerly at Shi Tiexin with burning eyes. "You actually passed the qualification test? Excellent! I finally have an angle to hype this up... Wait, what are your odds of passing the actual exam?"
Odds?
Shi Tiexin calculated in his mind: "Fifty-fifty."
"Fifty-fifty odds of passing the Preliminary Imperial Examination?!" Situ Zhennan's voice pitched up by an octave. "Are you that badass?"
No, I don't mean a fifty-fifty shot at passing the exam. I mean a fifty-fifty shot at finishing He Chong off and placing at the very top of the Golden List.
However, Shi Tiexin didn't feel like correcting him. A thousand words couldn't compare to a single action. He simply asked: "Those are the two things—one good, one bad. What do you want to do now?"
The previous misunderstanding was cleared up; everything was out in the open now, with no ambiguities left.
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Old bald-headed Situ, what are you going to do?
Are you still going to put me in the Hall of Fame? Or are you going to take my memorial portrait instead? Or perhaps tie me up and go beg the Vice President He for mercy?
Hearing this, Situ Zhennan was reminded of the bad news just moments ago. He paced anxiously in place for two steps: "You little wretch, couldn't you have consulted with me before doing something?"
Shi Tiexin fell silent.
As for today's actions, he had indeed thought them through. The moment Shi Tiexin appeared in front of the testing apparatus for the Preliminary Imperial Examination—regardless of whether he bruised He Chong's ego or competed with him for first place—He Chong would definitely have targeted him. Given He Chong's temperament and the dazzling brightness of Shi Tiexin's crystal sphere shining in all directions, He was one hundred percent guaranteed to lead another gang beating to keep him away from the examination hall.
Instead of giving the other party time to muster manpower and devise an ambush, it was better to strike first and disrupt their rhythm. This concerned his future and destiny, so he had to act without hesitation.
He truly hadn't thought of discussing it with Situ Zhennan. Having fended for himself since childhood, he was accustomed to relying on no one.
Moreover, he always felt that if he really consulted Situ Zhennan, the old man would likely try to stop him, and that would sever the last bit of emotional ties between himself and the orphanage.
Situ Zhennan was, after all, the person who had raised him; he didn't want to lose that bond.
Besides, no matter how physically imposing Shi Tiexin was, he was still a fifteen-year-old youth, prone to surges of hot-blooded impulse.
Now, what was done was done. It all depended on how Situ Zhennan reacted.
Situ Zhennan paced in circles, scratching his head in frantic anxiety. After a moment, he came to a sudden halt, hardened his resolve, and snapped: "Let's go. Right now, come with me to the Uptown Cultural Exhibition Hall! Being shortlisted isn't enough—you have to win an award! Only if you win an award will I have leverage to speak, find a way to compensate elsewhere, and smooth over the fallout from this!"
No sooner said than done, Situ Zhennan grabbed Shi Tiexin and bolted out the door, shouldering his camera and heading straight for the maglev transit station.
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