The Unveiling of Secret Queen

Chapter 676: Securing the Title of Provincial Top Scholar_1

"Let’s go," Shawn Norton was getting a bit impatient, too, having heard their polite small talk end, he breathed a sigh of relief and then softly said to the girl beside him, "Time to eat."

The girl nodded her chin slightly and followed the two inside at a leisurely pace...

*

Derliand Gober watched the three of them enter before he finally reined in the smile on his face, turned back rather unhappily, and asked Ivy Wilmar, "Mr. Wilmar, what was that just now? Weren’t you planning to invite Mr. Wafford to dinner? I passed the invitation on for you, and you didn’t take it, almost causing me to be unable to smooth things over."

Yes, it was he who had initiated the invitation, but Ivy Wilmar had acted as if she was reluctantly participating, making it seem like it was his own presumption.

With a twitch of her facial muscles, Ivy Wilmar rubbed her temples and apologized to him, "Sorry, Professor Gober, I was just distracted."

"..." Derliand Gober wasn’t sure whether to believe her reason.

Ivy Wilmar had good connections in Beijing’s circle and came from a reputable family. Even though he was seething with anger, he wisely kept his patience, taking her words at face value, assuming she had indeed been distracted.

"Now that we haven’t managed to invite Mr. Wafford this time, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to later. Looking at the situation between Mr. Wafford and Mr. Norton, it seems Nathalie Quinlan will probably stay at Tsinghua University and not be poached by another school," Derliand Gober said, not loudly, looking in the direction of the restaurant entrance and continuing, "Mr. Wafford’s visit to McKinney was precisely to ensure Nathalie Quinlan stays, to prevent her from being lured away by Southern University or Calypso University. Once the matter is settled, he won’t linger in McKinney for long. I reckon he will leave in a day or two, all depending on Mr. Norton’s schedule."

Southern University and Calypso University, prestigious institutions when spoken of by others, seemed like third-rate schools coming from his mouth, weightless and inconsequential.

Nathalie Quinlan’s joint exam scores must have been so outstanding for Derliand Gober to speak so casually.

Ivy Wilmar’s heart felt as though it was being tightly squeezed by an invisible hand, struggling to catch her breath.

That morning, Ghania Quinlan had also received invitations from several universities, the best of which was from a key university in Zenley province.

She had been happy about it in the morning.

Now, looking back at her earlier joy, Ivy Wilmar felt like she had swallowed a mouthful of bitter medicine, unspeakable bitterness welling up within her.

It took her a long while to mentally prepare herself before she could bring herself to ask the man who was completely unaware, "Professor Gober, do you know how many points Nathalie Quinlan scored?"

"Hmm?"

She barely managed a smile, with only the muscles of her face moving, "I only heard you say she was the top scorer of this joint exam, but I don’t know her actual score."

She wanted to know just how much higher Nathalie Quinlan had scored than Ghania!

If the difference wasn’t too large, she could grudgingly accept it.

After all, Ghania was an art student, and Nathalie wasn’t.

Art students inherently have lower academic scores than regular college entrance examinees, and Ghania’s score of 589 was definitely high among art students.

If the gap wasn’t wide, the two scores could be considered virtually the same.

"How many points did she actually score?" Ivy Wilmar asked, somewhat nervously.

Derliand Gober turned his head, his pupils sparkling, radiant with light, and in front of a large crowd of the Quinlan family along with their relatives, he raised a finger, "650 points. Full score!"

Ivy Wilmar: "..."

Emilia Sullivan: "... How is that possible, there must be some mistake with her score."

She cut herself off midway when Jeff Quinlan forcefully pulled her, causing her to stagger and just stopping herself from saying what she shouldn’t in front of Professor Gober.

But the remaining half of her sentence festered inside, contorting her face into a twisted, purplish mess, worse than had she actually spoken.

The Quinlan family’s third uncle, who had just been discussing Ghania’s results with Emilia Sullivan, upon hearing Derliand Gober reveal Nathalie Quinlan’s score, couldn’t help exclaiming, "Nathalie Quinlan scored 650 points? A full score on Tsinghua’s exam? Sheesh! Isn’t that a whole 60 points higher than Ghania? Such an exceptional score, if it were the national college entrance exam, she’d undoubtedly be the top scholar of the province."