Chapter 3

The student advisor's face darkened. He slammed his palm on the desk and roared.

"Thomas, you think you can play games with me?"

"Don't imagine that having some big connection behind you means you can do whatever you please!"

"All I have to do is rally the whole school to report you and put the whole thing online. However powerful your connections are, you'll still pay for it!"

I shook my head.

"I don't have any connections. If my grandfather and my father hadn't forced me into it, I never would have wanted this lousy job in the first place."

Both the student advisor and Lowell froze, as if they hadn't caught my meaning.

"My grandfather and my father have spent their whole lives out in the remote western highlands managing bison. They have to keep the bison from trampling the sheep."

"When a bison blocks the tourists, they have to charge in and deal with it, to keep the tourists safe."

"It's grueling, dangerous work. My father even wrecked his back from fighting with those bison day after day."

"A job that hard, I wouldn't want it even if you handed it to me for free. Why on earth would I pull strings and fake my way into it?"

Lowell let out a scornful snort.

"And who's going to believe that garbage?"

The student advisor couldn't be bothered wasting more words on me. He grabbed my arm.

"Come on, you're coming with me to see the president. I'd like to see how long you can keep up this tough act!"

I gave a light shake of my arm, and he flew off like a paper cutout.

He stumbled a few steps and nearly fell.

"You don't need to drag me. I'll walk on my own."

I really did want to see the look on their faces the moment the truth came out.

Out in the hallway, the student advisor instantly changed his tune, announcing loudly to the students crowding around.

"I spent a long time trying to talk sense into Thomas, telling him to withdraw on his own, give up his civil-service position, admit his mistake and apologize."

"But he refuses to repent, and his attitude is absolutely appalling. I have no choice but to take him to the president for serious disciplinary action!"

The moment the students heard this, they started pointing at me.

"Ungrateful, and still this arrogant after cheating!"

"Expose him, so he can never hold his head up again!"

I gave a small smile. A pack of fools being used as someone else's weapon wasn't worth my anger.

At the president's office, the student advisor immediately laid out his complaint.

"President Caldwell, Thomas cheated on the civil-service exam, bribed a competitor, his character is corrupt, and the impact is extremely damaging. He must be severely punished!"

The president's face was dark enough to drip water.

"Thomas, you got in through the vice president's special-recruitment admission. I never thought it was proper to begin with."

"And now you've caused a mess this big, dragging the school's name through the mud."

"I hereby declare it: we're calling a full school assembly immediately, expelling you, and canceling your civil-service placement!"

I gave a cold laugh. My family had managed bison out in the remote western highlands for decades, making an outstanding contribution.

To let me lawfully inherit that dangerous post, the highland authorities had specifically filed it with the Department of Education and added twenty points to my college admissions score.

After explaining the situation to the vice president, they brought me in through special recruitment. Every step was proper and lawful.

But I knew perfectly well that the president had never gotten along with the vice president.

He wanted to use my case to strike at the vice president and bring him down.

Unfortunately, they'd miscalculated.