Chapter 94: The Second Place Won by Stealth

The heavy snow fell all night, and by the next morning, the entire Financial College campus seemed covered by a thick white blanket.

At eight in the morning, Chen Hanxing was woken up by the alarm. Lying in the warmth of his blanket, he silently counted to five, then suddenly held his breath, sat up quickly, and rushed to get dressed.

There was no choice; it was too cold in the winter, and the dorm didn't allow electric heaters, so he had to force himself out of bed with his "no breathing until I get up" trick.

The others in room 602 were also woken up. Guo Shaoqiang shouted, "Old Fourth, you only want to be ambitious at the end of the semester? It's too late to compete for the 'Three Good Student' award now!"

Chen Hanxing didn't respond, continuing to get dressed. After finishing, he slowly exhaled. "I'm not competing for that damn award. I probably have no points left anyway. Today is the semifinal of the college debate competition. Lao Guo, you're going, right? I need to show my face."

"Oh, right. Bai Yongshan from our class is on the Humanities team," Yang Shichao mumbled as well.

After Chen Hanxing finished washing up, he reminded them, "The debate starts at 9:30 in the big lecture hall. You guys better not be late. Make sure to cheer for Bai."

After Chen Hanxing caused a ruckus, they couldn't fall back asleep. Someone started talking, and before they knew it, the conversation had carried on.

"Time flies. I didn't even realize the winter break is almost here," Guo Shaoqiang sighed.

Yang Shichao sat up straight, lit a cigarette, and said, "This semester feels like it's been spent playing games. It's such a waste. Damn it, Guo Shaoqiang, don't ask me to play next semester."

Guo Shaoqiang was unhappy: "It was Lao Liu who has the worst internet addiction. Why are you blaming me?"

Jin Yangming, who was afraid of the cold, buried his head in the blanket and replied, "Don't blame me. Remember the first time we skipped class? It was Old Fourth who tricked us into it. Otherwise, I wouldn't even be talking about a first-class scholarship, but a third-class would have been a sure thing."

Yang Shichao spat in disgust at Jin Yangming's pretentiousness, but after thinking about it, it made sense. After all, after Chen Hanxing got others into online games, he quickly switched to part-time business ventures.

It seemed like things were going well; the "Rocket 101" publicity bags were pretty common on campus in the Financial College.

Yang Shichao then asked Li Zhenan, "Ah Nan, you've been hanging out with Old Fourth lately. Is he making money?"

Li Zhenan, having received instructions from Chen Hanxing, replied honestly, "He gets a commission of a few cents per parcel, but after deducting electricity and labor, it's basically break-even. Yang Ge, do you want to join the part-time job?"

Yang Shichao shook his head, "I plan to study hard next semester, so I'm going to pull a few all-nighters this semester and get all my nets done."

Jin Yangming suddenly leaped out from under the blanket: "Ge, I'm thinking the same. Let's go all out tonight and finish everything."

...

Chen Hanxing bought breakfast from the canteen and walked toward the startup base, the snow crunching under his feet.

There were quite a few people at Rocket 101. Shen Youchu was there, and it wasn't surprising, as well as a few debaters from the Public Administration Class 2 and Hu Linyu, who seemed to be preparing for the final debate in the lecture hall, likely because the room hadn't opened yet.

The four finalists in the debate were the Humanities Department, the Accounting Department, the Insurance and Actuarial Science Department, and the Information and Finance Department. The Accounting and Insurance teams were well-established, Humanities was also a stable contender, while Information Finance had emerged this year.

The debate was a "battle royale," meaning each team would face each other once, and the final positions would be determined based on performance. The competition was intense.

Bai Yongshan was the first speaker for the Humanities team. She had an important role in the opening statement, and her backup speakers, Tan Min and Dong Xiuxiu, were helping her prepare.

When Chen Hanxing entered the room, everyone was already busy, so there was no need for greetings. He walked over to Shen Youchu and asked, "Have you had breakfast?"

"Just had some porridge," Shen Youchu said softly.

He then asked the other debaters from the Humanities team, "Have you eaten?"

They nodded.

Chen Hanxing didn't continue asking. Just as he was about to eat his breakfast, Hu Linyu walked over angrily, "Why didn't you ask me?"

Chen Hanxing looked up, "Because I saw you didn't eat."

"You…" Hu Linyu seemed ready to throw something, but Chen Hanxing smiled and handed her his breakfast, then went back to the canteen to buy another one.

Soon, their instructor, Guo Zhongyun, arrived, and Chen Hanxing chatted with him for a while. When it was almost time, everyone headed to the lecture hall.

On their way, there were many students heading to cheer for the teams. Suddenly, Chen Hanxing spotted a familiar face— it was the Insurance and Actuarial Science girl he had bumped into at the canteen while drinking milk tea.

Back then, he had introduced himself as from the Accounting Department, but he wasn't sure if she had remembered.

He decided to remind her. Old grudges couldn't be forgotten.

Chen Hanxing told Guo Zhongyun, "I'm going to play the behind-the-scenes hero. You guys pretend not to know me."

Before Guo Zhongyun could react, Chen Hanxing quickly walked over and intentionally bumped into the girl.

"Hey, why are you running so fast?" the Insurance girl frowned.

Chen Hanxing didn't apologize but merely glanced at her and kept walking.

"Isn't he that Accounting guy from the other night?" someone nearby recognized him.

The girl debater stared at Chen Hanxing's retreating figure for a moment, adjusted her glasses, and said, "Do you remember what we said? We have to defeat the Accounting team!"

To play the part, Chen Hanxing found an acquaintance from the Accounting team, Shang Bing, who was also working as a part-time student.

"Shang Bing, I need to talk to you for a minute."

Shang Bing turned around, "What's up?"

"No rush. Let's sit down and talk."

The lecture hall could hold around 1,000 people. Chen Hanxing and Shang Bing found their seats among the Accounting team. On the way, they bumped into Hu Xiuping and Zuo Xiaoli.

The three didn't greet each other. After passing by, Zuo Xiaoli muttered, "This guy is a traitor. In ancient times, he'd be a turncoat. Now he's a department traitor, actually joining the Accounting team."

Hu Xiuping ignored Zuo Xiaoli's nonsense and suddenly said, "Rocket 101."

"What?" Zuo Xiaoli didn't hear it clearly due to the noise.

Hu Xiuping pointed to a banner in the lecture hall, "Rocket 101, that's Chen Hanxing's stuff."

Zuo Xiaoli looked up and saw the banner advertising Rocket 101 courier service on the side wall.

Hu Xiuping sighed, "This is a debate hosted by the Youth League and Student Union, but the fact that Chen Hanxing's stuff is hanging here means we weren't wronged in our loss last time."

As for Chen Hanxing, he had told Shang Bing they would talk, but once they sat down, he said nothing. Shang Bing thought he was organizing his thoughts, but as soon as the debate started, Chen Hanxing left without a word.

Shang Bing was confused and frustrated.

When lunchtime came, all the students from Public Administration Class 2 gathered at the startup base, each one looking pleased.

"It seems like the results were good," Chen Hanxing smiled.

"Second place, a historic achievement," Guo Zhongyun shook his head in disbelief, "This year, the Insurance and Actuarial Science team has been like a mad dog. They beat the Accounting team with an unreasonably strong combo. The two strong teams battled each other, and our department took advantage, unexpectedly finishing second."