After the fake young master left home, he discovered that it wasn't raining at all outside.

Bright lights from the ceiling illuminated every corner of the venue, and the contestants, from all walks of life, were more or less nervous.

Of course, many people weren't focused on the competition; their eyes were glued to the empty center position on the podium.

Time passed by, and soon it was time for the match to start, but the main seat, where everyone's attention was focused, remained empty.

The host was so anxious that he jumped up and down and immediately called Lin Yun.

"Secretary Lin, is the Chairman... still coming? Is the competition still going to take place?"

Lin Yun, on the other end of the phone, glanced at Zhu Qian, who was checking the surveillance footage, and paused for a moment before saying, "The chairman said, don't bother him."

"..."

The host's heart shattered instantly.

What do you mean, "leave him alone"? All eyes are on me right now, how can I tell them to leave me alone?!

At least give us an answer about whether they're coming or not, or whether the event is starting.

"Don't wait for me, let's begin."

Zhu Qian's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Yes, Chairman." His heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down.

The host briefly explained the situation and then announced the start of the event.

"No one came..." Wen Chen stared blankly at the podium, his face full of dejection.

Of course, he wasn't the only one disappointed. Many prestigious families that he wanted to befriend clearly lost interest in the competition.

But Zhu Yan didn't care about any of that. He wasn't interested in the chairman of Qianyi Group. If he was interested in anything, he was only interested in the bonus.

Once the competition started, Zhu Yan's hands flew across the keyboard, and a bunch of code flew around the computer screen.

The first round is a problem-solving competition where contestants need to solve problems to earn points. The problems are of varying difficulty, from easy to medium. Therefore, contestant teams are required to allocate their resources reasonably.

Generally, there are 2-5 people in a team. Of course, there are also teams with only one person, but the difficulty is undoubtedly greater. So most teams consist of 5 people, and Wen Chen is one of them.

Zhu Yan attended the banquet with Lu Ze. Lu Ze had previously asked Zhu Yan if she wanted to recruit more people, and Zhu Yan's response was:

"Are you lacking confidence in yourself, or in me?"

So the two of them formed a team, ready to give their friends on the track some stimulants.

"Brother Yan, you just focus on solving the difficult problems; leave everything else to me!"

Even without Lu Ze saying anything, Zhu Yan didn't want to answer the easy questions, as they required no skill from him.

The match had only been going on for 15 minutes when Wen Chen stopped what he was doing, looked up at the big screen, which showed the real-time updates of the team rankings.

Their team's first place score was 500 points, while Zhu Yan's team only had 300 points.

Ha, I thought you were something special, but you're just average. My team consists of the top players in their age group.

Zhu Yan, when will you understand that you can only be trampled under my feet?

Wen Chen's skills were actually just average. He didn't score a single point out of 500, relying entirely on his teammates to carry him. Seeing that Zhu Yan's team wasn't that strong either, he simply put on a show.

But not long after, the changes on the big screen left the surrounding audience dumbfounded.

In the blink of an eye, the score of Zhu Yan's team reached 1300, putting them in first place.

"Wow, this team has some geniuses! They solved a difficult problem in just 20 minutes!"

"Yes, yes, the contestants here are probably only 20 years old at most. They have a bright future ahead of them!"

"The Zhu Yan team? I need to go meet them later; I'm determined to get talent like them."

The audience erupted in excitement, everyone marveling at how the younger generation was surpassing the older. Only Wen Huai clenched his fists, staring intently at the big screen.

"Are you all so sure? What if the two of them solved a medium-difficulty problem at the same time? They'd only get 1000 points combined."

Because Zhu Yan had changed his name, the wealthy businessmen in the audience did not know that this Zhu Yan was Wen Rang, who had been making headlines these past few days but had been kicked out of the Wen family.

But everyone here is a cunning old fox in the business world, and their ability to read faces is unparalleled. Just by looking at Wen Huai's dark face, you can tell that Zhu Yan's team definitely has a grudge against him.

"Ah, right, right, Mr. Wen is right. It must be luck. What is Zhu Yan's team? I think the young master of the Wen family's team is much stronger and will definitely win the championship."

"Wen Chen is the young master of the Wen family. No wonder, I always said that this young master Wen has an extraordinary temperament and a celestial appearance."

"..."

A barrage of flattering words immediately assaulted Wen Huai's face, which softened his expression somewhat.

Amidst the flattery, there were also a few disdainful glances, coming from the Song, Shen, Qin, and Gu families, the five great families of the capital.

"Load the goods." The first to object was Song Lian, the head of the Song family.

People from other families all cast admiring glances their way.

They usually disliked the Wen family the most, as they were full of vulgarity and lacked the refinement and humility that a large family should have. Yet, they could never beat them in business, and they always felt that the Wen family had some kind of mastermind behind them.

"Patriarch Song, it seems you didn't suffer a crushing defeat last time." Wen Huaiping cared most about his reputation, so he naturally had to retort when someone insulted him.

"Tch." Song Lian rolled his eyes at him, not wanting to talk to him anymore.

"Young Master Wen, it seems you're getting too cocky." Shen Yan, the eldest son of the Shen family, turned his gaze to the big screen.

Then, Wen Huai also took a look.

What happened?!

Wen Huai was greatly alarmed.

At this point, the Zhu Yan team, ranked first, had reached 3000 points, leaving Wen Chen and his team 1900 points behind.

Just over 40 minutes into the game, Zhu Yan's team had already pulled ahead in the score.

"Young Master Wen, if I'm not mistaken, this Zhu Yan is the fake young master you kicked out of the family, isn't he?" Shen Yan looked at Wen Huai with schadenfreude. "It seems this fake young master is more capable!"

Upon hearing this, everyone whispered amongst themselves, their gazes towards Wen Chen and Zhu Yan varying in different ways.

"So what if he is? But without the Wen family, he is nothing."

Wen Huai was clearly flustered, but he calmed down soon after.

He made grand promises, but reality didn't live up to his expectations.

Three hours later, the competition ended, with the Zhu Yan team crushing the other teams with 9800 points to win first place.

"Are you all useless?! I spent so much money to invite you here, and this is how you answer the questions? Only 3200 points, you're all useless! You're all a bunch of useless people!" Wen Chen was furious when he saw the final score. Zhu Yan had actually pulled them up by more than 5000 points.

What a disgrace! What a disgrace!

So as soon as the match ended, Wen Chen dragged them to the bathroom and started yelling at them. The others all lowered their heads and didn't say a word, but they were probably thinking quite a bit inside.

You're the one who's useless. You solved a simple problem in three hours. Garbage.

All you do is curse and yell! What are you yelling about? You're just trying to show off in front of us. If you're so great, why don't you go and yell at the number one player?

Hypocritical, pretentious, and mad.

Go ahead and curse, curse until you're satisfied. If you don't pay me, I'll curse you until you're completely disoriented. Oh, you won't be able to find your way even if I don't curse you, you idiot.

……