After seeing Stella Sinclair off, Master Sinclair stared at the jewel box for a long ti before turning to Butler Sinclair.
"What’s the situation with Hailey Gordon?"
"We’ve sent soone to bring her back. Linton is dead set on divorcing her..."
Master Sinclair’s expression was unreadable. He asked grimly, "How old is the illegitimate child?"
"Six months old. That woman is trouble. The pregnancy was an accident."
"...Give her so money to send her away. As for Hayden Linton, have him leave with Stella!"
anwhile, Virelle Cheney, who was waiting to beco the First Lady of the Sinclair House, was not t by Linton Sinclair. Instead, the Sinclair family’s bodyguards unceremoniously evicted her, leaving her with nothing but a Golden Card.
Linton Sinclair was summoned to the old residence by Master Sinclair.
Master Sinclair gave him two choices: if he wanted to be with Virelle Cheney, he would have to renounce the Sinclair family’s fortune. If he wanted the Sinclair family’s fortune, he had to leave Virelle Cheney.
Linton Sinclair chose the Sinclair Family.
* * *
A few days later, following the departure of Linton Sinclair and Stella Sinclair, the results for the college entrance exams were finally about to be announced.
The teachers at Kingsford No. 1 High School were incredibly nervous. Leon Barron rushed to the school’s computer lab first thing in the morning. Nearly all the senior year teachers had gathered there, clutching their students’ exam admission tickets and waiting anxiously by the computers.
The scores were scheduled to be released at 9:00 AM. Gloria Alden was right on ti, refreshing the results page.
"Alden, it’s nine! Quick, look up Zeke Quincy’s score."
Schools all over the country must have been checking scores at that exact mont, because the website was lagging horribly. After a long while, only Zeke Quincy’s na had loaded.
"Oh my god, this website is so slow! The suspense is killing ."
"Almost there, almost there... Chinese: 150... Math: 150... English: 150... Science Comprehensive: 298... Total score: 748!"
"Oh my god! That has to be first in the city!"
Hearing the other teacher, Gloria Alden’s face filled with an indescribable excitent. Her eyes were glued to the screen, waiting for the last column to load.
The last column was the city-wide ranking.
After five minutes, struggling against the school’s terrible internet connection, the final column finally loaded—
No. 2
"Second? How can a score this high only be second place?" Professor Warren pushed up his glasses in disbelief.
Gloria Alden sat stunned in front of the computer, staring at the "second place" ranking, at a loss for words.
"Don’t tell first place went to First City High School again this year."
Over at First City High School, the teachers were also checking Gideon Alden’s score, but his rank ca out as third place, with a total of 745 points.
The principal of First City High School was livid. "Go find out which school took first place!" he ordered, his face grim.
It took a long ti for the teachers at Kingsford No. 1 High School to recover from the shock, finally resigning themselves to the fact that one of their students had once again failed to beco the top scorer.
Leon Barron wasn’t under as much pressure as Gloria Alden, so after a few words of consolation, he started checking the scores for his own class.
He picked up the list of admission ticket numbers for Class Six and began entering them into the system one by one to check their scores.
The students of Class Six did quite well this ti, all performing at their usual level.
Luna Jennings had the highest score so far with 689, ranking 86th in the city.
Even the problem student, Ethan Lowell, managed to score over 400 points this ti, more than 100 points higher than his mock exam score.
Finally, it was Aurora Sinclair’s turn. Leon Barron took a deep breath, carefully typed her admission ticket number into the search system, and quietly waited for the results to appear.
The internet was so slow it took several dozen seconds to load each subject. After three minutes, Aurora Sinclair’s full results finally appeared:
Na: Aurora Sinclair
Scores: Chinese 150, Math 150, English 150, Science Comprehensive 300, Total Score 750
City-wide Ranking: No. 1
Leon Barron’s eyes had already widened in shock at the first 150. After seeing all the scores, he was completely dumbfounded and couldn’t utter a single word for a long mont.
When he finally ca to his senses, he slamd his hand on the desk and shot to his feet. The chair behind him crashed to the floor with a loud bang. The other teachers turned to look, only to see Leon Barron’s eyes wide, his mouth agape in a huge grin, his face flushed with excitent.
"First place! Aurora Sinclair is first in the entire city!"
"What—"
All the teachers rushed over, crowding around Leon Barron’s computer to see.
A perfect 750. Ranked number one in the city.
The room erupted.
"Quick... quickly, go tell the principal!"
* * *
After receiving the congratulatory call from Leon Barron, Master Sinclair stood frozen in place. He patted Butler Sinclair’s shoulder with a trembling hand. "Forrest, stop checking. Aurora’s scores are out..."
"What did she get?"
"A... a perfect score. 750. First place in the city!"
Butler Sinclair was thrilled. He imdiately pulled out his phone to call Aurora Sinclair.
But at that mont, Aurora Sinclair was in a lab coat, sitting obediently beside Alvin Morgan and watching him conduct an experint.
Alvin Morgan held an acetylene torch, carefully cutting so kind of unknown tal.
Because electronic devices weren’t allowed in the lab, Aurora Sinclair’s phone was in the lounge area outside. Since Butler Sinclair couldn’t reach her, he called Beta Morgan instead.
Beta Morgan was at the Warner Family’s estate. The mont he heard the news, he shot up from his chair, grabbed a notebook from the table, and dashed outside. He spoke excitedly into his phone as he ran, "I’ll go back and tell the Master right now! Please tell Mr. Sinclair to stay calm and not get swayed by those principals. Aurora is definitely going to the College of Physics..."
Emil Warner watched Beta Morgan’s retreating figure, a sharp glint in his eyes. He said to the butler beside him, "Go and check Aurora Sinclair’s college entrance exam scores."
* * *
The news that Aurora Sinclair was the top scorer of the Kingsford college entrance exam spread like wildfire. All the universities in Kingsford were in an uproar, and the admissions offices of Arcadian University and Kingsford University nearly blew up the Sinclair Family’s phone line.
Chester Greene and Erin Archer had been keeping a close eye on Aurora Sinclair’s scores. When they learned she was this year’s top scorer, they were grinning from ear to ear.
They both tried calling Aurora Sinclair, but when no one answered, they imdiately called Alvin Morgan. When he didn’t pick up either, they instantly pinpointed his location.
The only ti Alvin Morgan didn’t have his phone on him was when he was conducting an experint.
To the astonishnt of their students, the two professors sprinted out of their classrooms and headed straight for the physics laboratory building.
Erin Archer’s Academy of History was farther away from the physics lab building, so she flagged down a student on a bicycle and had him give her a ride there.
The oblivious Aurora Sinclair was holding an acetylene torch, carefully cutting the tal under Alvin Morgan’s guidance.
It wasn’t until Chester Greene rang the doorbell of the physics lab that the two of them noticed the excited man outside.
Alvin Morgan chuckled softly and turned off the acetylene torch. "Aurora, your college entrance exam scores are out."
Only then did Aurora Sinclair rember that her scores were being released today. Her eyes widened, making Alvin Morgan shake his head in amusent.
"You did well, I assu?"
Aurora Sinclair nodded straightforwardly. "I answered everything."
Alvin Morgan removed the protective shield from Aurora Sinclair’s face, carefully tucking a stray strand of her hair into place. He smiled and asked, "Think you got a perfect score?"
Aurora Sinclair shook her head uncertainly. "I don’t know what I got on the essay."
"Let’s go take a look..."
* * *
Just as the two of them finished cleaning up the lab station and taking off their protective gear, Erin Archer finally arrived, out of breath.
The mont they opened the lab door, Erin Archer grabbed Aurora Sinclair’s arm, her face alight with excitent. "Aurora, you have to apply to the Academy of History for your college major! I’ve already picked out a specialty for you..."
Chester Greene’s expression changed. He grabbed Aurora Sinclair’s other arm and said, "Aurora, you got perfect scores in Math and Science Comprehensive. You have to co to the College of Physics. The Academy of History has many majors that don’t even accept science-track students."
"Greene, Aurora got perfect scores in Chinese and English too! Our academy can make an exception for her."
Chester Greene grew even more displeased. "If Aurora were a humanities student, I wouldn’t argue with you. But the key is, she’s a pri candidate for the sciences. Wouldn’t it be a waste for her not to study physics and do research?"
"Greene, now I don’t like the sound of that. What do you an, ’a pri candidate for the sciences’? Aurora has a photographic mory! She can morize a history book after reading it just once or twice. If she had taken the liberal arts comprehensive exam, she would have gotten a perfect score on that too..."
The two renowned professors from Arcadian University were arguing heatedly at the entrance to the physics lab. Fortunately, this was where Alvin Morgan conducted his experints and few people ever ca by. Otherwise, the two of them would have been the front-page headline on the Arcadian University forums by the afternoon.
When neither could convince the other, they both turned to Aurora Sinclair. Their gazes were intense as they asked, "Aurora, which major are you going to choose?"
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