Chapter 202: One Beats Four

At the same time, in the meeting room of Nan Feng Middle School.

The heavy blackout curtain blocked most of the outside daylight, leaving only the cold white light from the ceiling lamp, which fell on the faces of the teenagers sitting around the long table.

They held in their hands a Business Competition application form identical to Lan Lin Middle School's, their expressions grave as if facing a tough battle.

With a 'pa', a boy slapped the application form onto the table, proposing what he thought was a brilliant solution…

Everyone fell silent.

Song Lujing reacted fastest, raising his hand to punch his close friend Lan Xing, and said in an annoyed tone: "We still have forty people and 400,000 startup funds, Lan Xing—why didn't you say one hundred people and one million?"

Lan Xing objected indignantly: "That's exactly it, isn't that reasonable? We said we could form teams freely!"

Another person also thought it made sense, looking at Song Lujing: "Exactly, exactly, Class 1 has over forty people, everyone goes up, more people means greater strength, by then our funds will crush everyone!"

Mu Xi, seated in the chief position, didn't even lift his eyelids, obviously too lazy to deal with these two who hadn't even read the rules fully.

Song Lujing was almost laughing in anger, he snatched the application form from Lan Xing's hand, pointed at one clause, and said in a tone full of speechlessness: "Rules are rules—do you think you're joking? If we really did it your way, a hundred people would each have their own ideas, we couldn't unify opinions, and what entrepreneurship are we talking about?"

We'd probably fall apart from internal strife before the project even got off the ground!

Lan Xing didn't see what he was pointing at, choked up for a moment, his momentum weakened, his voice gradually softening: "Well, well, we could all just follow your and Xi Ge's commands… democratic centralism, right…"

Song Lujing: "…" He rubbed his forehead, wearing an expression of "no hope."

Ye Zeli, who had been silent all along, also followed his point and pointed to a line at the bottom of the application form: "Did you see that the number of participants in a competing team is limited here? It cannot exceed four."

This made Lan Xing and those who had agreed with him shut up.

The others resumed their discussion.

"The people inside the school can't beat our Class 1; only the Lan Lin side…"

"Over there next door are Jiang Liangjin, Mu Youyu, Gu Xingnan, and Yu Ci—if these four join forces, they'd be tough to deal with."

Someone frowned and analyzed: "Each of them has their own specialty; taken individually… they all look like strong opponents, and working together they'd surely be in sync."

"Right, and there's Bai Yun, Xia Chao Yi, Luo Yi, and Leng Yueyou too!"

Everyone chatted back and forth, the atmosphere grew increasingly solemn.

"What are we afraid of? Our Nan Feng isn't a pushover!"

Han Mo slammed the table, his eyes sharp: "Besides, who among us here is inferior to them? In this Business Competition, we must definitely beat Lan Lin!"

His enthusiasm stirred some people.

"Right! We can't be timid before the battle!"

"Nan Feng will surely win!"

Amid the room's enthusiastic echoes, only Mu Xi showed no reaction, his eyes lowered, unknown what he was thinking.

Lin Yu saw this, reached out and patted the silent Mu Xi beside him, trying to pull him into the discussion: "You agree, right, Xi Ge? With your ability, you'll surely think of a way to counter them!"

Mu Xi finally lifted his gaze, gave him a glance with his pale eyes devoid of emotion, and uttered two words lightly: "No."

Lin Yu froze, his face full of question marks: "Huh? No what?"

Song Lujing sat to the side, lazily swiveling his chair, his tone light and teasing with a hint of watching the spectacle: "You forgot my sister is next door?"

The guy who had just slammed the table and shouted about beating Lan Lin, Han Mo, instantly let out a wail.

He slumped in his chair, a look of utter despair: "……We're doomed, it seems the application form doesn't say we can't form cross-school teams, right? Can I join Lan Lin's team?"

As soon as he said that, the meeting room burst into laughter, the solemn atmosphere vanished completely.

"Han Mo, you've got some spirit! You haven't even started the competition and you're already kneeling?"

"Xi Ge, look at him!"

Amid the laughter and chatter, someone cleverly tried to patch things up, bringing the topic back: "No problem, no problem! Everyone, don't panic! The champion quota isn't unspecified, right?"

"We have Xi Ge holding down the fort, Jing Ge and Ye Shao assisting—definitely a champion team! Even if Xi Ge gets a tied first place, it's still a championship!"

"Exactly, exactly, exactly!"

Everyone chimed in, the laughter full of confidence: "Come on, Xi Ge! Xi Ge steps out, one beats four!"