From child prodigy to chief scientist

Chapter 112 I implore you to give him a chance

Sui Guang is usually a fairly steady person, and it's rare to see him act so rashly as he did today.

But if someone really scored 742 points, wouldn't that mean Wang Zhou wasn't the top science student in the province at all?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look at Hong Chuan with some anger.

"Director Hong, please explain what exactly is going on."

Hong Chuan felt somewhat innocent after being questioned like this by Yuan Zonglin.

"Principal Yuan—I really don't know! I have checked the scores of all the applicants to Tsinghua and Yenching Universities across the province, and I have also checked the scores of students from other key high schools in the province. There really isn't a student with a score higher than 710!"

Hong Chuan was confident that with his experience and connections over the years, accomplishing this task would not be difficult.

Yuan Zonglin didn't doubt Hong Chuan's professional abilities, but when faced with this kind of situation, he still had to find an explanation.

"You mean, this student who scored 742 points didn't apply to Tsinghua or Peking University, and might not even be from a top-tier high school?"

Hearing Yuan Zonglin say this, Hong Chuan still wanted to explain, but in the end, he was speechless.

After all, this is indeed unreasonable. Even if Liaoning Province now adopts the method of estimating scores before applying for universities, it is unlikely that there would be such a serious error in the estimation of scores.

As for the fact that this student is not from a top-tier high school, that's even more impossible.

Those ordinary high schools only have a handful of students who get into top-tier universities each year. If a student from one of them gets into a 211 or even 985 university, they will hang banners on campus and use loudspeakers to publicize it.

A top scorer in the province comes from an ordinary high school —

Even the school's leaders and teachers wouldn't dare dream of such a scenario.

After a moment of silence, Hong Chuan finally spoke, "Principal Yuan, please rest assured, I will investigate this matter thoroughly and report back to you immediately."

Yuan Zonglin also knew that there was something fishy about this matter, so he did not deliberately make things difficult for Hong Chuan.

"Okay, then go check it out as soon as possible. Call me immediately if you find any new information."

After thinking for a moment, Yuan Zonglin added, "Let's put the publicity preparations for Wang Zhou, the top science student in the province's college entrance examination, on hold for now."

Promoting this matter before it has been thoroughly investigated undoubtedly carries risks.

If an even higher score comes out, wouldn't they be "self-proclaimed champions" and become a laughing stock?

"Okay, Principal Yuan, I'll go and stop this right away."

In the following period, Hong Chuan immediately used his extensive network and resources to search for information behind this matter.

He quickly found out, through part of the candidate number information, that the student's candidate number corresponded to Yucai High School.

However, when I inquired about this matter with friends at Yucai High School, they said that there were no students in this year's graduating class who scored 742 points, and the highest score in science was only 708.

This left Hong Chuan somewhat puzzled, but his friend was indeed a good friend of his, and it wasn't exactly a secret, so there was no reason for him to deliberately keep it from her.

Afterwards, Hong Chuan confirmed with Tsinghua University and Yanda University again that there were no students from Liaoning Province who scored 742 points in the science stream this year who applied to these two top universities in China.

To determine whether the student had applied to other universities for some reason, Hong Chuan contacted several other C9 universities, but received similar responses from all of them.

Left with no other choice, Hong Chuan had to relay this new information to Yuan Zonglin.

After listening to Hong Chuan's report, Yuan Zonglin not only failed to resolve his doubts, but became even more perplexed by the matter.

"So, your conclusion is that a student from Yucai High School scored 742 points on the college entrance exam without Yucai's knowledge, and didn't even apply to any C9 universities?"

Any one of these points is highly unreasonable, let alone putting them together.

Hong Chuan knew that this sounded ridiculous, but it was all reliable information he had collected.

"Principal Yuan, do you think it's possible that this student filled in the wrong candidate number, or forgot to submit their application?"

"Do you think a student who scores 742 points would make such a basic mistake?"

"That's true. This whole thing is really hard to understand."

"Forget it, let's not rush to investigate this matter. The truth should come out in a couple of days."

Such a big thing can't be kept secret, and he believes the authorities will definitely give an official explanation.

Just as Yuan Zonglin had predicted, besides them, others were also paying attention to the fact that a student in Liaoning Province had scored 742 points in the college entrance examination.

Some media outlets that reacted very quickly have already reported on this matter on their front pages.

"The Mysterious 742 Points! This Year's Highest-Scoring Science Student in Liaoning Province Didn't Apply to Tsinghua University and Yenching University!"

"Top-scoring student in the national college entrance examination mysteriously disappears, and no school claims responsibility!"

"Is it willfulness or a mistake? The highest scorer in the province may miss out on a top university!"

Upon seeing these news reports, many people couldn't help but discuss them.

"No way—742 points and still not applying to Tsinghua or Yenching University? Does he have a gold mine or something?"

"Did you miscalculate your score? Did you think you didn't do well on the exam and just randomly chose your university?"

"Maybe this student is already preparing to study abroad and doesn't even consider schools in China?"

Even during a live broadcast on local television, an education expert was specially invited to discuss the topic of the mysterious student who scored 742 points.

"What a pity—what a pity! 742 points, that's a score that so many students can't even dream of after twelve years of hard work and studying."

"If this student fails to get into the best university due to a mistake in filling out their application, it will be a major loss for us."

"I earnestly request Tsinghua University and Yenching University to give this student a chance and admit him through a special admissions process —"

Normally, Tsinghua University and Yenching University would not easily make exceptions for students, as their admission procedures are very strict.

But if there really were a student who scored 742 on the college entrance exam, the outcome would be completely different.

Even if this candidate made a major mistake in the college application process, they would still be extremely interested in him because of this score.

Universities including Tsinghua University, Yenching University, and Fudan University have begun trying to find this candidate and contact him privately, hoping to give him a special admission opportunity.