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Qin Yun looked embarrassed, his pale lips trembling…
“Brother Qin Jiang, one’s innocence will be proven eventually.”
“Why pretend to be crazy and play dumb to divert everyone’s attention and cover up your mistakes?”
“I’ve already forgiven you. Even if you did something wrong… as a younger brother, I wouldn’t hold it against you…“
Qin Yun’s words brought the contest back on track.
Yan Liang, after seeing the two almost identical designs, said nothing and returned to the judge’s seat that had been prepared for her.
The other two professors on the judges’ panel were already displeased with Qin Shuyun, given that she was not a professional in any scientific field, yet she had taken the stage at a research competition to seek attention.
Of course, they also sneered at Yan Liang, the seemingly “young and unreliable” Professor Yan.
This university research competition was held at Huajing University, so naturally one of the judges’ seats belonged to a Huajing University professor.
The other three seats were for professors from other universities, although one had been bought out by Qin Shuyun.
The remaining two were professors who focused on research and weren’t familiar with Yan Liang’s name.
But no matter how unfamiliar, once mention of the Yan Group, or the Yan financial clan, came up, they couldn’t help but be startled.
Yan Liang sat back and gave a slight nod to the two professors beside her.
She had always respected talent in the academic research world.
The two professors were surprised by her polite attitude toward them.
This young woman actually seemed rather likable.
Rumors really couldn’t be fully trusted.
“Now we enter the product presentation time for each participating school; three minutes per person.”
“Participants may introduce the invention’s uses to the audience.”
“Of course, the final product must be practical and market-ready — an invention that can benefit and make life easier for the people!”
This competition had a theme.
That is, the product’s core commercial competitiveness.
Simply put, your invention had to be sellable, have a market, and truly make life more convenient for the public.
The phrase “convenience for the people” in polite terms meant addressing widespread public needs. But bluntly put, it meant having the commercial ambition and feasibility to capture markets and build nationwide or even global distribution.
University students are at the age of flexible thinking and abundant creativity.
Even if current research products have flaws, if the idea is recognized it can be a huge asset.
Business bigwigs who understand the market wouldn’t refuse such a good “research competition” opportunity.
Typically, the CEOs wouldn’t come in person. They’d send their project teams to attend.
If there’s a highly feasible invention or idea, they’d buy the patent on the spot for a big price.
A patent held by a student often offered much better value compared to external offers.
Qin Jiang had deliberately entered this national student research competition because he knew among the participants was someone who, despite failing before, would become an unmatched industry leader in the AI tech circle.
Such talent was exactly the rare human resource he currently needed.
Some contestants took turns explaining their research products.
Members of various companies in the audience were estimating budgets. For highly feasible products, they’d discuss a top bid to prevent rivals from snatching them.
Soon, it was Qin Yun’s turn.
Qin Yun walked onstage and began to introduce his “power bank” concept.
Qin Jiang watched this coldly.
In his previous life he was expelled from Huajing University before he could attend this national research competition, though he had actually completed a preliminary plan three months earlier and finished the product’s overall design direction.
Even if it wasn’t fully polished, it was an extremely creative research design with broad consumer coverage.
At that time, Qin Yun personally approached him and said it was a pity such a good design would be buried.
So he volunteered to enter the competition under his own name instead of Qin Jiang’s.
Later on, Qin Jiang was trapped in Liangyue Manor the whole time.
Only three days after the event, he received a $2,000 transfer from Qin Yun.
He was also told that the “power bank” design was deemed too simple and, compared to the hardcore science contestants’ designs, was dismissed as nothing…
This $2,000 was Qin Yun’s personal way of consoling his older brother, Qin Jiang, in hopes that his Brother Qin Jiang would not be discouraged.
At that time Qin Jiang was deeply moved, thinking that compared to the $300 allowance he could only get from the housekeeper at the Qin family, $2,000 was indeed a considerable consolation.
That was until he finally managed to escape one time to Song Jie’s home.
He then learned that because his idea was simple to use and had broad consumer appeal, many companies wanted the patent.
Qin Yun had companies bid high, and it ultimately sold for $2 million.
At that time, he only half-believed Song Jie’s words.
He couldn’t believe his own brother would deceive him after he had poured so much of himself out. He couldn’t believe his younger brother would betray and cheat him.
Besides, Qin Yun had always been kind… hadn’t he?
After being reborn, Qin Jiang revisited each event. After understanding Qin Yun’s true nature, Song Jie’s words from years ago struck him straight in the heart…
“That concludes my presentation. I believe my creative design, the ‘power bank’, can become a reliable aid for citizens’ convenient travel!”
“Thank you, everyone!!”
Qin Yun ended his speech full of spirit.
Corporate executives on-site were vigorously debating the feasibility of the idea.
A professor on the judges’ panel showed hesitation, “This design is indeed unusually simple from a research perspective, but the creativity and the concept of convenience for citizens are unique.”
Seated in a corner on the other side of the field by the school management, Qin Shuyun could only watch the contest through binoculars.
But after watching Qin Yun’s performance, she couldn’t help smiling with satisfaction. “Yun really is the best.”
“Qin Jiang, how dare you blatantly copy your own brother’s design! Let’s see how you can still survive at Huajing University…”
Suddenly, a dark figure blocked Qin Shuyun’s view.
“Number four, what are you doing at Huajing University?”
Qin Moyun was the one who had stood in her way. Leaks of internal corporate information and the destruction of several secret files had become a thorn in her side.
Upon learning that Qin Jiang might have the original file on a flash drive, she wasn’t comfortable letting Qin Yun go retrieve it alone.
So she decided to make the trip herself.
For some reason, after that meeting with Qin Jiang at the hospital the last time, she remembered that three years ago he fell down the stairs and had nearly pulverizing fractures all over his body.
And the banana peel found at the bottom of the ladder… it made her uneasy.
Especially the image that kept appearing in her mind: that day Qin Shuyun had been leisurely eating banana salad in the living room…
Was there really no connection between those things?
The more she thought about it, the worse her headaches became.
Now, as the eldest sister of the Qin family, she had to personally solve this mystery.
“Eldest Sister? You’re just in time. That Qin Jiang, basking in Young Mistress Yan’s favor, is becoming more and more lawless — he even dares to ignore me, his Fourth Sister…” Qin Shuyun complained through sneering sarcasm.
She made no attempt to hide her dislike for Qin Jiang. Everyone in the Qin family knew that the person most at odds with Qin Jiang was Fourth Sister Qin Shuyun.
When Qin Jiang was punished, Qin Shuyun was the most eager to participate.
She would volunteer to be the one to discipline Qin Jiang, using whips and rulers to teach him a harsh lesson…
Of course, in the eyes of the Qin family, Fourth Sister had an overflowing sense of justice and strict, high expectations for her younger brother Qin Jiang.
It was only because Qin Jiang was hopeless and failed Fourth Sister’s expectations that she reprimanded him so harshly.
No one would think a sister would make use of these opportunities to intentionally torment her brother.
“Wait, number four, I have something to ask you.”
Qin Moyun held the most prominent position among the younger generation in the Qin family. As the eldest sister, she had absolute authority and the right to discipline her siblings.
Therefore, when Qin Moyun asked her a question in such a solemn tone, Qin Shuyun became serious as well.
Qin Moyun recounted her doubts.
“Did you deliberately throw a banana peel at the bottom of Qin Jiang’s ladder back then?”
“Tell me the truth.”
Qin Shuyun thought it was a very serious matter. But seeing it was such a small thing, she shrugged without concern and said, “So what if I threw it? It’s only one floor high, it wouldn’t kill anyone.”
“I was just playing a joke on him. After all, he did wrong to me first…”
If that jinx of a Qin Jiang hadn’t suddenly come back to the Qin family, how would she have accidentally fallen and ruined her whole pretty face?
Grandma was right! It was all because of Qin Jiang’s bad luck affecting her!
Moreover, Qin Jiang had plagiarized her script and sold her hard work cheaply. If Qin Yun hadn’t stopped her, she would have sent that wild kid to prison long ago.
Throwing that banana peel had just been a petty trick to get back at him.
Besides, wasn’t Qin Jiang still alive and well?
Truly a tough little jinx! He somehow refused to die!
Almost the moment Qin Shuyun admitted she had no remorse about causing Qin Jiang’s fall, Qin Moyun, as the eldest sister, lost patience and slapped Qin Shuyun across the face.
Smack!
A vicious slap.
It knocked the loosely fitted mask off Qin Shuyun’s face onto the ground.
“Qin Shuyun, no matter how useless Qin Jiang is, he is still our blood brother!”
“You can scold and discipline him, but you must not have intent to harm a family member.”
“That day you had to leave early for work and only learned that Jiang had fallen much later… but do you know? He was in the hospital for two full months! Glass shards pierced his skin and he had fractures on almost his entire body!!”
“Is this what an elder sister should do to her younger brother?”
Qin Moyun’s face looked extremely ugly.
She had thought it was just an accident, but… it turned out that her younger sister had intentionally played a prank on him.
That changed the whole nature of the incident.
“E… Eldest sister, I… I really didn’t mean it.”
“I just wanted to teach Qin Jiang a small lesson. Besides, he landed on the lawn downstairs and only fell two floors—he’s acting so severely to gain sympathy, right?”
“Anyway, it won’t be the first time Qin Jiang has schemed to compete with Yun for our parents’ and family’s attention…”
Qin Shuyun froze in place. Though she complained and speculated outwardly, she felt her chest tightening as if she couldn’t breathe.
Her limbs felt icy, her lips bitten white. Even when her mask fell off she didn’t immediately pick it up.
It was true that she truly couldn’t stand Qin Jiang.
But she never intended to actually kill him.
Moreover, no matter how awful he was…she agreed with Qin Moyun. He was still their brother.
“I knew you’d be suspicious.”
“Look, these are the fracture reports and billing statements I specifically obtained from the hospital at the time…”
“Qin Jiang didn’t lie. That fall had nearly killed him because of you!”
“They even issued a critical condition notice.”
“But there was not a single family member at the hospital who could sign for Qin Jiang…”
“Number four, you’ve really gone too far this time!”
“As Eldest Sister, I want you to personally apologize to Qin Jiang. He’s just disappointed in us for now.”
“But after all, as siblings related by blood… I believe he still wants to return to the Qin family. He’s just waiting for us to give him a way back…“
…
“Qin Yun truly is the young master the Qin family spent big money grooming as their heir.”
“His creativity is far more valuable than his research results. This type of competition is essentially a platform for students to pitch research designs to investors.”
“In effect it’s also a way for students to step into society early with their abilities. I declare that Qin Yun’s market insight will ensure he achieves remarkable results in business in the future.”
“Hah, as for Qin Jiang — kept by rich women and counting on his looks, blatantly stealing his own brother’s work… he’s such trash… he’ll only become a tumor to the rest of society in the future!“
“Qin Yun really is a talent. I truly don’t understand how someone like Qin Jiang became student council president… does he deserve it?”
“It’s only because Qin Yun’s health is poor. Otherwise Qin Jiang would only be allowed to do odd jobs in the student council!“
“Am I the only one who sees it… Qin Jiang’s ‘power bank’ looks identical to Qin Yun’s, but in fact its materials and design seem more refined?”
“And his seems to include portable Wi-Fi. We all know with current tech, combining power storage and conversion with wireless portable Wi‑Fi would be impossible at that size.”
“Perhaps Qin Jiang’s design actually has many ingenious elements.“
A professional contestant couldn’t help but blurt out his analysis.
Both Qin Jiang and Qin Yun were cross-discipline entrants. To the specialized physics students, they were hardly worth noting.
However, ironically, Qin Yun’s design was indeed original enough that many professional contestants on site couldn’t help but glance at him.
A finance student catching a glimpse of the research threshold was already impressive. Moreover he combined market insight and future citizen behavior trends to strategically design a “power bank” himself.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him exceptionally gifted.
Soon it was time for the segment everyone eagerly anticipated.
That was to see Qin Jiang humiliated.
This young man had just brazenly beaten his sick brother — truly a vile man.
They believed the judges would call out his plagiarism and make him slink away in disgrace.
Qin Jiang walked up onstage confidently.
He took out his “power bank”, raised an eyebrow with full swagger, giving off a provocative vibe right from the start.
“Prepare to be disappointed. Once I’m done, you’ll be lining up to apologize to me.”
“But I wouldn’t care for any of them!”
That tone was arrogant and obnoxious.
Qin Yun still looked haggard and worried on the outside, but inside he was already imagining countless scenes of Qin Jiang’s downfall and disgrace.
Heh, Qin Jiang, be arrogant while you still can.
I’ll see how long you can stay cocky.
The industry is watching now*, *even if Young Mistress Yan is keeping him safe.
Your* wickedness, your character, t**hat you stole your *brother’s work — these will become stains on you that can never be washed away…
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