He was a disabled military officer who doted on his research work in the Northwest.

In the corridor.

Shen Tang caught up with Dr. Chen, took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, and then said, "Dr. Chen, I need your help."

"What's the matter?" Dr. Chen turned around.

"Does the laboratory have fluorescent labeling reagents? The kind that have strong adhesion, are invisible to the naked eye, and develop color under ultraviolet light."

Dr. Chen adjusted his glasses, somewhat surprised: "Yes, we do. It's used in the lab for labeling microbial cultures. What do you need it for?"

"Don't worry about what you're doing," Shen Tang smiled, her tone light but not open to further questioning, "It's not a bad thing anyway. Just consider it helping me out."

Doctor Chen looked at her—this little girl's eyes crinkled when she smiled, looking innocent and harmless, but there was clearly some wicked idea hidden in those eyes.

He wanted to ask more questions, but seeing her like this, he swallowed his words.

"Fine." He shook his head, turned and walked towards the lab, muttering to himself, "What a weirdo."

"Mu Qinghan is doomed for life."

His voice wasn't loud, but Shen Tang, with her sharp ears, heard it, yet pretended not to.

Dr. Chen took her to the laboratory and handed her a small bottle of sealed powder from the reagent cabinet.

"This stuff is invisible to the naked eye when applied to a surface, but it adheres to the skin after contact—it can't be washed off with ordinary handwashing; you need a special solvent. It fluoresces under ultraviolet light." He gave a couple of instructions on usage, then changed the subject, "Oh, by the way—"

He leaned against the reagent cabinet, adjusted his glasses, and his tone became serious: "Could you teach me that acupuncture technique—the acupressure combination you used on Mu Qinghan last time?"

Shen Tang was stunned for a moment.

"I've studied your technique," Dr. Chen said. "It's not ordinary massage—the combination of acupuncture points and the changes in pressure you apply each time are very systematic, like some kind of systematic plan for nerve regeneration. Mu Qinghan's recovery speed over the past few months has far exceeded my expectations, and your acupuncture technique has played a crucial role."

He looked at Shen Tang: "I won't ask where you learned it. But if you're willing to teach me—even just a part of it—it would be a great help to other patients with spinal cord injuries."

Shen Tang's heart stirred slightly as she looked at Dr. Chen's serious expression.

In her previous life, she studied agriculture, while traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture were family traditions. But why not help more people?

"Okay." She nodded, "But I'll have to wait until I'm done with this busy period—something's come up at school. Once I'm done, I'll write you a chart of acupoints."

Doctor Chen's eyes lit up: "Deal!"

Shen Tang put the bottle of fluorescent agent into her pocket, said goodbye to Dr. Chen, and turned to leave the laboratory.

……

The next morning, Shen Tang handed a sealed bottle and two pairs of medical gloves to Sun Xiulan.

"Put on gloves and spread this evenly on the surface of the new math worksheet. Just a thin layer," she said. "Make sure you don't get it on your hands."

Sun Xiulan looked at the bottle of unknown powder, hesitant to speak.

"You'll see when the time comes," Shen Tang smiled. "Trust me."

Sun Xiulan looked at the little girl in front of her, took a deep breath, and said, "I understand."

……

December 8th. Citywide mock college entrance exam.

The exam schedule was similar to the last mock exam—it started at 1 p.m. and consisted of five subjects. The difference this time was that the standards were higher: each student had their own desk, the spacing between desks and chairs strictly followed the standards for the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao), and the invigilators were rotated from other schools.

Because of the need to set up the exam room, students were not allowed to bring their backpacks into the classroom. All backpacks were placed on the long table in the hallway outside the classroom.

Shen Tang placed her canvas backpack on the table in the corridor along with everyone else's.

Five subjects exam.

The tricky bonus question set by Sun Xiulan was about the level of university-level mathematical analysis, and very few high school students could solve it independently.

The substituted premise in the "standard answer" is impossible to spot without solid logical reasoning skills.

Shen Tang solved the problem using her own method and wrote the correct answer—completely different from the standard answer that was used as bait.

At 3:15, she handed in her last exam paper.

When she left the classroom, the corridor was empty. She walked to the long table, picked up her canvas backpack, and was about to sling it over her shoulder—

Excuse me, excuse me!

A figure suddenly rushed over from the side.

Zhao Liang.

He ran from the direction of Class 1 at great speed and bumped headfirst into Shen Tang.

The impact was considerable. Shen Tang staggered from the impact, and her loosely held schoolbag fell to the ground with a "thud."

The backpack, its zipper undone, was wide open, its contents scattered all over the floor: pencils, erasers, notebooks—

There was also a folded piece of paper.

The paper slid out from the outermost compartment of the backpack, fell to the ground, and automatically unfolded a corner.

It clearly reads: "Citywide College Entrance Examination Simulation Test - Mathematics Paper".

Shen Tang looked at the piece of paper on the ground; it wasn't hers.

It seems they not only stole the exam papers to cheat, but also tried to frame them and pin the blame on themselves.

"oops!"

A gasp rang out from behind—perfect timing, perfect volume.

Shen Yao appeared in the corridor at some point. She half-squatted down and reached out as if to help Shen Tang pick something up—then "accidentally" touched the exam paper and flipped it over.

"Sister... what is this?" Her voice trembled, and her expression changed from concern to shock—her acting was worthy of an award-winning actress.

"This...this is the exam paper?!"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to carry in the quiet corridor.

Several students who had just left the exam room looked back—

Then more people gathered around.

After bumping into Shen Tang, Zhao Liang stepped back and, standing in the crowd, shouted at the top of his lungs, "Shen Tang has an exam paper in her bag! She cheated!"

Like a drop of water splashing into a pan of oil.

"Cheating?"

"Exam papers?! In her schoolbag?!"

The crowd quickly expanded, spreading from the corridor to the stairwell, and then from the stairwell to the lobby of the teaching building.

"No wonder he always gets first place..." someone said in a low voice.

"I knew it—how could someone from the countryside possibly get a perfect score?"

"Was it the same in the last diagnostic test—?"

Shen Yao stood in the crowd, her eyelashes lowered, her lips trembling slightly, her face showing a heartbreaking expression of "disbelief but having no choice but to face it."

"Sister..." Her voice choked with emotion, "I know you're eager to prove yourself to everyone... You've just come to this school, you have no foundation, and I understand your desire to catch up... But... cheating is wrong..."

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall—she carefully maintained the image of someone heartbroken but forced to sacrifice their own family for the greater good.

A murmur arose from the crowd of onlookers.

Gu Bei squeezed his way through the second-class classroom and, seeing the commotion, his expression changed: "Nonsense! You're the ones who started this false accusation—"

"What happened?"

Ma Decai's voice interrupted Gu Bei's words as he strode over from the stairwell.