Chapter 142 Perfect Victory
Cressida's face twisted.
The people beside her also looked at me with strange expressions.
Jacqueline tugged at the corner of my clothes and said quietly, "Bella, stop drawing all this hate."
Julie covered her mouth and laughed, "Bella, you sound like you're showing off!"
Marcus was quite proud though, "Bella has always been a quick learner since childhood, she's really smart!"
Brian was also pleased, but more tactful, "Marcus, what are you so proud of? Be a bit more modest."
At this point, the judges began grading the papers on site. My answer sheet and Cressida's were projected side by side on the wall in the middle of the banquet hall.
I stopped talking, but Cressida seemed provoked by me and kept glancing at me from time to time.
The main person grading was Gerald. He held a laser pointer and scored very quickly. In less than five minutes, he had reviewed all twenty basic questions. Cressida got only one wrong, but my accuracy was one hundred percent.
Karen sat behind me, leaning forward and excitedly whispering in my ear, "You're really stealing the show this time! Cressida answered too slowly. When you finished forty questions, she was still stuck on questions fifteen and sixteen. When you finished question one hundred, she had only reached question forty-nine."
Jonathan corrected her, "It's not that Cressida is too weak, it's that Bella is too strong."
Cressida was a traditionally trained academic doctor who had studied hard for over ten years, yet the gap between us was this large.
If I could have seen her answering speed during the competition, I would have controlled my pace a bit - being five questions ahead would have been enough.
Now I was a bit worried. If Cressida lost badly, she might resent me.
But there were already plenty of people who disliked me - one more wouldn't make a difference.
For the next forty questions, I still got them all correct.
More and more amazed looks fell on me.
Every time Gerald saw my answers, he would let out low sounds of praise and nod frequently, clearly very satisfied. When scoring for Cressida, Gerald's expression was less enthusiastic.
In these forty questions, Cressida lost points on almost every one. Roger, the last of the four judges, made a face at the audience below and looked at Cressida smugly.
Using her handbag as cover, Cressida gave him the middle finger with a fierce expression.
Even without looking at the remaining questions, I had already won for sure.
Karen pointed at the two people beside Cressida and said, "They're branch members of the Langford family. They've been in frequent contact with City Hall, wanting to secure a position in the Chaotic Zone early."
"What's John's relationship with them like?" I asked.
Previously, I had wanted to cooperate with the Langford family to open a pharmaceutical factory, and my chosen partner was John. But because I had turned Mason into a废物 who could never get it up again, there was a lot of disagreement about me within the Langford family.
Those in favor, like John, believed in putting profits first. Those opposed didn't really care much about Mason - they just thought my attitude was too arrogant and that I refused to apologize, so they wanted to give me the cold shoulder until I gave in.
So the cooperation had been delayed until now.
But I hadn't heard that John planned to cooperate with City Hall.
"They're all cousins, relationship is just so-so." Karen had already found out everything. "Those two are also against cooperating with you. As soon as they heard Cressida was going to compete with you, they rushed over to watch the excitement and see you make a fool of yourself."
Karen laughed dismissively.
Lucas quietly radiated coldness from the side.
Karen wasn't afraid of his cold face at all. Not only did she not hold back her conversation, she even dragged her chair closer to me.
"They were only smug at the beginning. After the competition started, they were stunned, completely amazed by you! The Langford family always thought Cressida was so great, but she's nowhere near as good as you. After today, let's see if they'll continue to stubbornly oppose cooperating with you."
I smiled slightly, "I guess the cooperation will be reached soon."
Karen said excitedly, "Congratulations in advance!"
Lucas finally waited until Karen had said her fill before leaning over to tell me, "You're amazing."
When I talked with other people, I couldn't pay attention to him. In my peripheral vision, although Lucas wasn't happy, he didn't interfere.
Because this was my home court, my moment to shine.
Jonas had also been waiting for an opportunity and quickly jumped in, "Bella, you're incredible! You might really become another legend after Miracle Surgeon!"
Lucas couldn't snap at Karen who was close to me, but couldn't he snap at Jonas?
He immediately mocked, "Everything you say is nonsense. Bella is destined to reach a higher position than Miracle Surgeon."
Jonas's expression didn't change, "So you finally understand how excellent Bella is? Then why did you neglect her for those three years of marriage? But thanks to your poor judgment, Bella is single again. Those of us pursuing her should thank you."
Lucas's face turned dark with anger.
They argued while the judging continued on stage.
The last forty questions were drawn from the difficult question bank. I tried my best to add clinical application details not required by the questions in my answers, but there were still many shortcomings.
Gerald scored while explaining. I made Lucas and Jonas shut up. With my ears finally quiet, I listened carefully to Gerald's explanations and took out a pen to take notes.
Cressida and Simeon were also writing furiously.
"Isabella is just young and lacks experience, but her answers are on point and she considers clinical applications. This kind of thinking is very rare! Cressida's answers are rather rigid. Knowledge can be memorized by rote, but practical application requires flexibility."
Cressida answered nervously, "Yes!"
The competition result was clear.
Gerald put away the laser pointer and announced loudly, "The winner of this competition is Isabella!"
Applause surged like a tide. My emotions stirred a bit, and I stood up with restraint, enjoying this moment of glory that belonged to me.
People surrounded me, and compliments nearly drowned me. I thanked them good-naturedly and promised to treat everyone. I finally broke free from the crowd and walked toward Gerald.
"You completely exceeded my expectations. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I couldn't have imagined there was such an excellent young person in the world." The appreciation in Gerald's eyes was so thick it couldn't dissolve. Clearly, he had developed a strong interest in me.
"You're too kind," I answered modestly. "I've been interested in medicine since childhood, so I've just had a bit more time than others to build my foundation."
"Do you have a teacher?" Gerald looked at me with sharp eyes.
"I did, but he wasn't famous and passed away many years ago," I answered calmly.
Gerald extended an olive branch to me, "Would you be willing to become my student?"
I was stunned for a moment, then after two seconds of thought, I shook my head. "Thank you for your appreciation, but with your reputation and status, having another student with a gang family background wouldn't be a good thing."
"Yes," Gerald's tone was full of genuine regret. "You really are very talented and deserve to be called a 'genius.' If only you hadn't been born into a gang family."
Gerald was a very upright person, but I was different.
I was first a member of a gang family, and only secondly a doctor.
When I was eight years old, I dissected a corpse for the first time under Doyle's guidance, using someone killed by our family.
It was also because the family provided a large number of injured people and corpses for me to practice on that I could far surpass my peers in surgery at such a young age.
Gerald looked at Cressida and encouraged her, "You're also excellent. I hope you won't be held back by today's setback."
"Thank you!" Cressida's eyes reddened slightly. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she stubbornly didn't cry.
She looked at me, her tone bitter, "Isabella, I lost. I accept my defeat."