Qin Yichen watched Rong Yue retreating back as she entered the ministry before making a call.
"Tell the minister that I don't want the picture of the winner in the news...." Qin Yichen said as soon as the person on the other end picked up the call.
"P..president Qin.." the instruction was a difficult one, and even with his identity, the person on the other end knew that it was going to be hard to do that.
"Find a way around it. I don't want her face on the news and I don't want any negative news either.." without waiting for another reply, he hung up, his brows creasing slightly from the call.
Since he had already guessed that her mother was hiding from some people, Qin Yichen had the intention of keeping her from too much public eye until he knew who the enemy was.
Or at least until her mother was willing to talk. But at the same time, he didn't want to alert Rong Yue.
Even though he knew it was going to be hard, he still wanted to do it. To protect her.
The whole way, he kept thinking about a solution himself, afraid that those ones wouldn't be able to get the work done.
Eventually, he found a solution and sent one of his men to handle it.
On the other side, after getting to the ministry, Rong Yue saw Teacher Lu and the others already waiting and hurried over.
"Student Yue, welcome," one of the ambassadors greeted her as soon as they saw her.
"How are you feeling now?" Teacher Lu asked, the concern on his face obvious as day.
"I was able to rest this week even though I missed out on the tour. I guess I'll get to experience America, maybe as an exchange student later," Rong Yue said with a soft smile.
Her reply also made the two ambassadors happy as it meant that she planned to stay in the country to study. This meant that they had accomplished the task the higher-ups gave us.
"Student Yue might become a star very soon. With her looks and her grades, she could very well be the country's princess,"
The other two boys and Wu Hao smiled, silently agreeing with his words. In their hearts, she was already a goddess. They didn't think that it would be hard for her to become a country princess.
While they were talking, the secretary of the minister of education came to meet them and led them inside.
Even though they would be awarded global awards, the country had also made plans to award them for bringing them the honour that hadn't come in more than six years.
The presentation of gifts was the main highlight, and the picture was just what they were going to present to the rest of the world.
As all of them prepared to leave, he called Rong Yue back.
"Student Yue, to not bring unnecessary attention and rumours, I think it is better you are dressed a little similar to how you looked for the competition," Minister Zi said, his tone coaxing, making one not feel like they were being compelled to do something.
Rong Yue agreed, making Minister Zi sigh in relief at the successful mission, and she went to the room that had been prepared into a styling room.
Despite the change in her dressing, she was still the star of the show and so when the five representatives were to take a picture, Feng Ya hurried and took the middle spot.
The photographer frowned and looked at Rong Yue, that stood beside Wu Hao.
Since the secretary already gave him instructions before, he didn't mind anyone's identity and changed the arrangement.
"She's the winner and the one people want to see first, let Rong Yue take the middle spot with this man beside her," the photographer instructed and pointed at Wu Hao.
After taking the group pictures, he also took a picture of just Rong Yue that was going to be on the front page before allowing them to join the minister in the small hall that the award ceremony was going to happen.
As they had already been rewarded with a tour, the government didn't have any plans for the other three and only Rong Yue and Wu Hao were called up.
Feng Ya stood at a corner in the small hall, her eyes filled with envy as she watched all the camera lights that shone on Rong Yue.
As Rong Yue stood on the stage, receiving cheers and applause from the crowd, Feng Ya seethed with jealousy. She couldn't stand to see someone else bask in the success that she felt was rightfully hers. The way Rong Yue smiled and waved to the crowd only made it worse.
"This is ridiculous," Feng Ya muttered to herself, scowling. "Why is she getting all the attention?"
As she watched Rong Yue accept the gifts and pose for pictures with the event organisers, Feng Ya felt a sense of rage boil up inside her. She wanted to scream in anger and even felt like she would do anything to replace her!
Unfortunately, no matter how much she glared at her, the program ended without her being called up to the stage.
Just before she turned to go, Wu Da, that was beside her and had stayed silent the whole time, finally spoke up.
"Rong Yue is not the type to engage in mindless competition. But she also seems like the kind of person that would repay people according to how they treat her," he advised and walked away.
Feng Ya, however, felt he was mocking her and sneered.
Even if she was just from the side branch of the Feng Family, she had an identity that was better than Rong Yue. Also, in the future, she was definitely going to be the Young Miss of the Qin Family.
Why did she have to care about a mere Rong Yue?
Thinking up to that, she scoffed and walked out, disregarding his words.