Chapter 6 — The Scholar's Return: Saving My Sister, Crushing Foes, and Carrying the School

That evening, the banquet commenced right on schedule. Seeing that both my sister and I were dressed precisely according to our parents' strict demands, the couple nodded in profound satisfaction, their faces beaming with approval. They paraded us around the room, introducing me to every influential guest in sight, boasting loudly at every turn: "This is our biological daughter, directly admitted into Tsinghua University without even needing the entrance exams!" As for my sister, Trinh Thu... she was merely mentioned in passing, brushed aside and practically ignored as if she were a non-entity.

Throughout the entire evening, I kept my eyes peeled, scanning the crowd anxiously to see if the professors from Tsinghua and Peking University had arrived yet. It wasn't until I caught a series of subtle "OK" hand signals from the group of dyed-blonde youths stationed near the back that my racing heart finally settled. Glancing around the hall, I spotted the blonde crew, all wearing baseball caps pulled low, scattered strategically across every corner of the venue, each one firmly in position.

Moments later, every light in the grand banquet hall clicked off in unison. A single, piercing spotlight descended from the ceiling, bathing Trinh Thu in a brilliant, isolating column of white light. A collective murmur of awe swept through the room. I looked over at my sister, my lips forming silent words without making a sound: "Don't be afraid."

The corners of my parents' mouths curled upward into triumphant smirks. "Trinh Thu... is the absolute star of tonight's banquet," my father announced into the microphone. "She is the precious pearl we have nurtured since childhood. Her college entrance exam score was a staggering 727, and professors from both Tsinghua and Peking University are fighting tooth and nail to claim her. Not only is she breathtakingly beautiful, but she is fiercely brilliant. Bidding starts at thirty million!"

Acting as though she had been entirely kept in the dark, tears welled in Trinh Thu's eyes as she confronted them publicly. "Father... Mother... didn't you promise me you wouldn't force me into an arranged marriage? I want to go to university!"

They glared at her with venomous fury. "Shut your mouth! Giving you this chance to repay the Trinh family is the highest honor you'll ever know! Even if you managed to get into Tsinghua, wouldn't you just end up married off to some wealthy family later on anyway? I am simply saving you the trouble of taking the long way around!"

Every single gaze in the hall locked onto Trinh Thu. Greed, filth, and shameless entitlement were blatantly etched across every face in the audience. Her cheeks burned bright red with humiliation. "I want to study! I refuse this forced marriage! Besides... I am only eighteen years old; I am not even of legal marriage age!"

Her desperate plea was instantly swallowed by a wave of cynical, mocking laughter.

"Oh please, what a massive drama, ha ha ha! The law is designed to punish the destitute peasants, what on earth does that have to do with any of us here?"

"So she's eighteen? Her body certainly doesn't look like an eighteen-year-old's..."

"Indeed, just looking at her makes my blood run hot. I bid forty million!"

"Me! I'll pay fifty million!"

My parents burst into laughter as well, mocking the sheer, pathetic innocence of Trinh Thu's resistance. "My dear daughter, tomorrow morning Mother will simply alter your identification records to make you twenty years old."

I — who had remained completely silent until this exact moment — stepped directly into the center of the blinding spotlight, my voice slow and measured. "Is that so?"

My parents let out a contemptuous, cold laugh, clearly dismissing my interjection as a pathetic trick that held no weight. But the very next second, the sharp, continuous sound of clicking shutters erupted throughout the hall. Countless flashbulbs went off simultaneously, flooding the room with blinding, relentless light. By the time the wealthy guests realized something was terribly wrong and scrambled to shield their faces with their hands, it was already far too late.

My parents had always despised the fiercely loyal gang of brothers who had walked through fire and water with me. The moment they spotted the blonde youths at the door, they naturally would have denied them entry. Therefore, those boys had brazenly disguised themselves as professional journalists and had even initiated a live stream from the very beginning.

Filming continuously while adopting pompous, professional tones, they began firing questions: "Mister Trinh, as the wealthiest tycoon in this city, yet you openly auction off your biological daughter right in the middle of a social gathering—how would you like to comment on that?"

"Was your previous public statement an explicit display of your defiance of the law?"

"Do you honestly believe you stand above the legal system?"

"Coercing someone into marriage against their will—surely you are aware that constitutes a serious criminal offense?"

At that exact moment, the professors from Tsinghua University also surged forward in righteous fury. They stepped directly in front of Trinh Thu, shielding her with their bodies as their voices rang out sternly. "Trinh Thu is an independent individual with the absolute right to determine her own future! Whether she chooses to pursue higher education or enter a marriage, no one has the authority to make that choice for her!"

"Oh, so you're a powerful corporate titan, is that it? Such a booming voice! Well then, allow me to help your daughter retain the finest defense attorneys in the country to drag you straight to court! Let us see whether your arrogance outweighs the law of the land!"

"To force a young girl to wear a sheer dress in front of a crowd of strangers—such malice is truly beyond comprehension!"

My sister's reputation and dignity mattered more to me than anything else in the world; I dared not take a single risk. *Rip!* With a sharp sound, I tore right through the outer layer of her dress in full view of the audience, revealing a modest camisole and athletic sweat shorts underneath.

"What you lot were just staring at was merely a visual illusion created by lighting projected onto a sheer overlay! Do you rotten, degenerate men honestly think you have any right to point your filthy fingers at her?"

One of the blonde youths deliberately shoved his camera right up close to Trinh Thu's face. "Everyone watching, take a good look! The so-called see-through dress was nothing more than a trick of the light. If a single unauthorized, sensitive photograph of her appears anywhere online, we will hunt you down and sue you until your pockets are entirely empty!"

"I suggest you clean out your mouths before you dare speak to a pure, innocent university student."

"And as for that netizen whose username is *Mad Mother Cockroach*, what the hell? Aren't you a woman yourself? Do you really think I won't trace your IP address and show up at your doorstep tonight?"

The corners of my mouth twitched uncontrollably... Weren't these guys supposed to be acting like professional journalists?! What kind of reporters behaved like absolute hoodlums straight off the streets?!

My parents, who had been panicking frantically, suddenly realized these were not genuine reporters after all, and their expressions twisted instantly back into cold arrogance.

"Trinh Than Y!! Is it you playing tricks again?! This is clearly the work of those good-for-nothing blonde hooligans!"

"I knew you would eventually cause trouble! Before I even had the chance to properly discipline you, you pulled off a stunt this massive! Are you trying to utterly ruin your own parents?!"

Just then, one of the elderly professors unbuttoned his own jacket, draping it gently over Trinh Thu's trembling shoulders. "The two of you are the only ones destroying yourselves!"

However, my parents merely scoffed coldly. Once they confirmed that no real journalists were present, all fear vanished from their eyes. "You little punts! Truly lacking all respect for the heavens and the earth! Shut that damn live stream off right this instant!!"

Yet... the moment those words left my father's mouth, the heavy main doors of the banquet hall were violently kicked open. A squad of solemn, uniformed police officers marched firmly into the room.

"We have received multiple citizen reports regarding suspected illegal human trafficking and illicit auctions taking place on these premises. Everyone present at this scene must accompany us back to the station to assist with the investigation."

My father's face drained of all color, turning a sickly, ghastly gray as he roared in absolute disbelief, "Who reported us?! Was it you, Trinh Than Y?!"

My parents bellowed in unadulterated rage, but the blonde youths—who had just been cursed out a moment ago—simply grinned from ear to ear. "You're old, but you're profoundly stupid! We aren't journalists, but we *were* live-streaming the whole thing!"

"Our live stream currently has over a million concurrent viewers! As a big shot tycoon, you've never been famous enough to reach numbers like this, right?"

Not only were my parents promptly handcuffed and hauled away by the police, but they were also subjected to scathing condemnation from every single guest in the hall. None of the wealthy attendees felt the slightest shred of guilt for participating in a human auction; instead, they directed all their fury at my parents for dragging them into such a humiliating public farce.

After the chaos finally subsided, Trinh Thu—who had forced herself to remain strong throughout the entire ordeal—finally broke down, burying her face in her hands as she wept bitterly.

The professors from Tsinghua swarmed around her, desperately trying to offer comfort. "Don't cry anymore, my child! Come to our university, and our most distinguished professors will personally guide your studies!"

"We will provide complete, comprehensive legal backing, and your entire university tuition will be waived entirely!"

"Stop crying, consider our institution early!"

"Choose our school instead!"

"No, pick us!!"

With tear-rimmed, swollen eyes, Trinh Thu looked between us before speaking in a soft, resolute voice: "Wherever my older sister goes, I go."

The Tsinghua professors froze, furrowing their brows in utter confusion. As the group of blonde youths casually introduced themselves one by one, the professors' expressions shifted instantly... transforming into wild, frantic excitement. "Wait a minute, aren't these the exact top-tier prodigies I was tasked with recruiting for this admissions cycle?!"

Just moments ago, they had been standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the same frontline; now, the prestigious academics were on the verge of starting a full-blown physical brawl over who got to claim these students.

The scandal surrounding Trinh Thu sent massive shockwaves across the entire internet. My parents' vile actions enraged netizens to such a degree that even with the immense financial influence of corporate elites trying desperately to bury the story, the truth refused to be suppressed. Citizens across the country swarmed the comment sections, digging up every single dirt-filled secret of the Trinh family household.

Under crushing public pressure, the Trinh family was brutally stripped of their title as the city's premier corporate dynasty, followed immediately by relentless, compounding investigations from multiple state regulatory bodies.

The guests who had attended that fateful banquet were severely implicated as well. Countless businesses collapsed overnight, and a few particularly notorious figures even had angry netizens show up at their corporate headquarters to pelt them with rotting eggs.

Although my parents' illegal actions had caused immense distress, they had not resulted in irreversible physical harm, leading the court to sentence them to a relatively lenient three years in prison—meaning after serving a portion of their time, they would eventually be released.

The assets of the Trinh family empire had largely evaporated, leaving behind only a handful of functioning subsidiary companies, all of which ultimately fell completely into the hands of my sister and me.

With reddened eyes, Trinh Thu looked at me and said, "Sister, I don't need this much. For the rest of my life, I'll follow wherever you lead—I swear I'll live and die as your little shadow!"

I glanced sideways at the girl, letting out a cold, unimpressed snort before dropping two words: "Stop talking nonsense."

Without the slightest hesitation, I split the entire remaining fortune precisely down the middle, giving her exactly half.

Two months later, we walked side-by-side through the grand gates of Tsinghua University. The moment we stepped onto campus and spotted that familiar pack of dyed-blonde hair waiting ahead, a terrible sense of impending doom washed over me.

Before I even had a chance to turn around and pretend I didn't see them, a unified, thunderous roar echoed across the grounds: "BIG BOSS!!!"

Every single pair of eyes belonging to the surrounding university students snapped toward us in unison. I clenched my fists tightly, gritted my teeth, and dragged my feet forward, marching up to deliver a resounding slap to the back of each and every one of their heads.

"Show some respect, this is Tsinghua University! This isn't the headquarters of our local beggar's sect!!"

"Move! All of you, go get your hair re-dyed immediately! If you walk around with these ridiculous blonde heads of hair, I'll literally die of embarrassment!!"

[The End]