Chapter 248: Quirky

The day the results of the Business Competition were to be announced.

Grade 2 Class A first tallied their internal scores; when the results came out, the room erupted in an uproar.

No one expected that, aside from Mu Youyu's team, the team that had multiplied its initial 10,000 funds the most was not the Knowledge and Action team led by Bai Yun.

It was Luo Yi's team.

It's also amazing—their team had just three people and 30,000 in startup funds.

They quietly achieved revenues over ten million, fought their way out of a tough encirclement, and became the dark horse of Class A, second only to the first-place team.

The bespectacled boy first looked stunned, then blurted out: "Damn, are we in this class really that bad?"

After a friendly exchange...

The bespectacled boy surrendered, waving his hands: "My bad, my bad—I shouldn't have said our Lan Lin Class A is the worst. This is what they call true talent lying low, quietly getting big things done!"

"Stop mocking us—one month isn't enough for us to accomplish big things," someone said, rolling their eyes.

"Forget it—our team is completely done for!"

"I thought it would be simple, but all four teams in our class broke the rules..."

"This isn't fun at all, not even a bit—what a lousy competition."

"..."

The classroom was filled with sighs; the short-haired girl turned to the bespectacled boy beside her and said, "You weren't just saying that the business world is unpredictable and a quick start doesn't guarantee final victory, were you?"

The boy gave a hehe smile, smug, and said, "Or maybe not—who's laughing last now?"

The girl ignored him, turned to Luo Yi's seat, sat down properly beside her, and exclaimed, "Hey, Yi Yi is still awesome!"

"..."

Mu Youyu felt like laughing a little.

Why say they broke the rules?

It's all because Class A had so many teams breaking the rules this time, each one outrageous when you hear about it.

There was a team of four in the class that secretly had their family members buy several small companies.

They kept it hidden from everyone the whole time, originally planning to stun the crowd when the results came out.

But before submitting their materials, the competition committee discovered it and directly ruled it a violation.

What was meant to be a pleasant surprise turned into a shock.

Another team was even more extreme: four of them brainstormed a crooked idea and directly applied to their family in advance to inherit the family's subsidiary company.

When filling out the materials, they confidently pointed to the rulebook and argued: "The competition rules say you can't monetize existing fame directly; you must start from zero in business!"

"We were just students before; now we're learning company management from scratch—what's wrong with that?"

"Honestly, our team is practically genius—we didn't spend a single cent of our 40,000 startup funds!"

Song Zeyi held up the photo they took of signing the inheritance documents at the company, refusing to let them nitpick, and directly confirmed their disqualification for violating the rules.

Hearing this, Mu Youyu couldn't help but give those four a thumbs up, sincerely saying, "You really dare to think and dare to act."

Jiang Liangjin also felt a bit admiring of them.

Everyone in the class wanted to bring glory to the class, so nobody teamed up with students from other classes.

The competition rules clearly state that for cross-class teams, the final prize money and revenue must be split evenly by headcount, and nobody wants to give away their share to outsiders for free.

In the end, out of thirty-six people, a full sixteen were disqualified for various outrageous rule violations, cutting the class nearly in half.

Yu Ci slumped over the desk, unable to stop laughing, "I'm dying laughing—our own people knocked out half the class; we don't even need to compete with Nan Feng, the internal strife is lively enough! This is so fun!"

For this whole month, he's been completely carried by the other three—he doesn't need to lift a finger, he's totally been carried!

Gu Xingnan chimed in, "Fun."

Bai Yun turned, sighing, "Hey, we used to mock Lin Ning for losing money, but we've lost even more than she has!"

Mu Youyu froze for a few seconds upon hearing that, then quickly asked, "What happened to your team?"

She had only glanced at a few teams' brief introductions and materials that were either scant or just for fun.

She hadn't finished reading Bai Yun's team's materials; she only saw that the statistics section totaled two thousand characters, and she didn't know who wrote it.

Moreover, the longest video was an hour long.

Among all the teams, it was considered detailed—anyone who saw it had to say it was made with care.

Bai Yun gave a light cough and said, "I went back and forth, and accidentally donated several million."

She participates in charity events every year.

Also, as the team's finance officer, thinking it would be convenient, she linked the startup fund card given by the competition to her usual WeChat.

She had many cards herself and usually couldn't tell them apart.

She didn't even notice which card it was.

A few days ago, she accidentally donated half of it—the startup funds and earnings from the Business Competition!

The forty thousand in funds was on that card, and the amount earned was also tallied from it.

Later, when Mo Song and Leng Yueyou tried to use it, it showed zero.

Xia Chaoyi didn't even want to say more, "The class monitor really is... a big spender."

That hour-long video was actually a joint donation drive for impoverished students that he and Bai Yun organized.

They used to love recording their lives, so they spliced together several videos and added a few tracks of music.

They just hoped the higher-ups would pity them.

Mu Youyu was convinced by her.

Bai Yun looked at Mo Song, feeling a bit guilty, "Song Song, you short on cash? How about I make you a pure gold medal and also give you the 500,000 prize?"

Back when they formed the team, they'd agreed that if they won, the entire prize would go to Mo Song, whose family is of average means.

Mo Song heard this, shook his head helplessly, and said in a gentle tone, "No thanks, class monitor—I know you didn't mean it, just keep it for yourself, don't overthink."

Leng Yueyou sat to the side, also nodding lightly, without any hint of blame.

Here it was lively, and footsteps came from the back door of the classroom.

Liu Yunmi held a preliminary review list, walking in with steady steps, instantly quieting the noisy classroom.

"Good morning, young masters and misses, have you checked the other teams' earnings?"

She swept her gaze over the whole venue, finally landing on Mu Youyu's group of four, and gave a slight nod.

"First, congratulations to our Lan Lin's strongest Team One, which passed the preliminary review, met the data requirements, and entered the final defense round."

Yu Ci immediately cheered: "Yeah! It's set!"

Liu Yunmi then looked at Luo Yi's team, with the same relieved tone: "There's also a sure-win team that passed the preliminary review and advanced as well."

Luo Yi and her companions exchanged a glance, a flicker of joy in their eyes.

When it was Bai Yun's team's turn, Liu Yunmi looked at the documents in her hand, paused, and said helplessly: "The flow of funds is clear; although there is no profit, there is no violation, so under special circumstances they are allowed to advance, but they must explain the situation during the defense."

Bai Yun exclaimed in surprise: "Wow."

Liu Yunmi nodded, then announced the other qualifying teams, adding: "The final defense is jointly held by the two schools, right here in our school's grand hall; the opponents are still the strong teams from Nan Feng, especially the team led by Mu Xi, whose data is quite impressive."

As soon as she said that, the classroom instantly erupted.

"How much is 'quite impressive'?"

"Just give an exact number; I'm too lazy to check the official website."

"Right, right, hurry up and say—how does it compare to our Team One?"

Mu Youyu's eyes lit up; she exchanged a glance with Jiang Liangjin beside her and said, "A Jin, you go to the defense."

Jiang Liangjin, who always doted on her, had no objection: "Okay."

Gu Xingnan took over: "I've organized all the materials; just read them aloud when the time comes."

Yu Ci patted his chest: "I'll handle livening up the atmosphere during the defense, guaranteeing the judges will be in a good mood!"

The crowd: "... No need to go that far."

Bai Yun turned and suggested: "Or maybe Xiao Yu should go?"

"Exactly, I also think XY Corporation is Xiao Yu's family!"

Mu Youyu waved her hand: "That works too."

"Let's go, let's go, first let's check out the grand hall!" Yu Ci, the most impatient, pulled several people and headed out.

The group arrived at the grand hall.

It was almost full.

Looking around, the hall was filled with students from Lan Lin and Nan Feng, buzzing with voices.

Mu Youyu looked at the sea of people and whispered to Jiang Liangjin: "With so many people, this defense might take several days to finish."

Jiang Liangjin: "Not necessarily; there are other rules."

Mu Youyu didn't ask further; her gaze quickly swept the whole venue and soon locked onto a figure at the entrance of the hall.

That person wore a black mask covering most of the face, revealing only a pair of ice-blue eyes—it was Mu Xin.

Mu Youyu immediately broke free of Jiang Liangjin's hand, hurried over, smiled and waved, her voice clear: "Big brother! Why are you here?"

Jiang Liangjin had already seen him and added: "Hello, big brother."