The Scorned Heiress's Hidden Empire (by Jade Quinn) novel Chapter 173

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Chapter 173 Doesn’t Mean Others Can’t

“Bottom of the class for three years straight, then suddenly scores a 1599 on the SAT, just one point away from a perfect score? Do you think we’re idiots?” someone shouted.

The crowd started buzzing, everyone began questioning Natalie’s score.

“Yeah, this can’t be real! Everyone knows how tough the SAT was this year! How could anyone be just one point short of a perfect score?”

“I went to the same high school as her. She never studied and was always at the bottom in every exam!”

“From 23 to 1599? That’s a jump of over 1500 points! Who are you trying to fool? Maybe she’s so out of it she doesn’t even realize how hard the test was.”

“I was in the same SAT testing room as her! She slept through both days. The rest of us couldn’t even finish the questions, and she not only slept but scored almost perfectly? Don’t you think that’s hilarious?”

“Redvale University doesn’t want cheaters!”

The crowd’s agreement snowballed, growing louder and louder.

Up at the front, the school board members looked pretty grim.

Seeing things about to get out of hand, the principal got ready to stand up and say something to calm everyone down.

But just as he reached for the microphone, Natalie spoke up again.

Natalie pulled out her phone and scrolled through the latest posts on the forum.

“I assume we’re all adults here, so you’d better be ready to take legal responsibility for what you just said,” Natalie said, her voice steady.

She locked eyes with the ones making the most noise. “Bring out your proof. If you can’t prove I cheated on the SAT, then you’d better be ready to deal with the fallout.”

Those people felt uneasy at her words, but they were convinced Natalie was just trying to scare them, and still believed she had cheated.

“Evidence? Isn’t your SAT score report posted on the forum proof enough?

“And aren’t the people from your school and exam room witnesses?” one of them shot back.

Natalie narrowed her eyes. “Heh, who says you can’t sleep after finishing the SAT? Since when does sleeping count as cheating? Or are you trying to claim my irrelevant high school grades are supposed to be evidence I cheated?”

“You’re just twisting things! Everyone here knows how tough the SAT was this year. How could anyone possibly have time to sleep?” the man kept arguing.

Natalie let out a soft laugh. “Just because you can’t, doesn’t mean others can’t.”

The guy was pissed off by her blatant mockery. After all, everyone who made it into Redvale University was a hometown prodigy. No one here was about to let someone else look down on them.

“Alright! You claim you could sleep through the SAT and still score 1599? Then show us, prove it right here, right now!” he shot back, his voice brimming with defiance.

His voice climbed even higher, refusing to back down for a second.

“Everyone here has taken the SAT. We’ve all seen this test before. If you’re really that good, get up on stage and show the whole school what you’ve got!” he challenged.

The crowd went wild.

“Yeah, talk is cheap! If you’re so good, do it right now!”

“This year’s math section, the last question was so tough, hardly anyone in the whole state could solve it. And you expect us to believe you could sleep through it and still nail it?”

“Anyone can talk big!”

Isabelle sat in the audience, a slow smirk spreading across her face.

She hadn’t expected the guy with glasses to be so bold, actually pushing Natalie to solve the problem right then and there

No matter what Natalie chose, she was stuck in Successfully unlocked!

If she backed out, everyone would see it as weakness, anu dinner earner words would look like nothing but empty bragging

If she tried and couldn’t solve it, or messed it up, she’d get publicly embarrassed, way worse than just backing down

Chapter 173 Doesn’t Mean Others Can’t

Isabelle lounged back in her chair, a lazy grin on her face as she watched the stage, just waiting for Natalie to make a fool

Pherselt.

Natalie stood up on stage, staring at the guy whose face was burning red, holding his gaze in silence for two seconds. “What exactly do you want me to prove?” she finally asked, her voice calm.

“Just prove what you said the guy shot back, pushing up his glasses.

“Do the last problem on this year’s SAT math section, right here in front of everyone!” he demanded.

“You got perfect scores on everything except literature. Doesn’t that mean you solved this problem? If you could do it in your sleep during the SAT, then it should be a piece of cake for you now that you’re wide awake, right?” he taunted.

The crowd went wild, everyone shouting at once.

“Yeah! Show us the last math question!”

“If you can solve it, we’ll believe you’re the real deal!”

“If you can’t, just admit you cheated!”

“Alright,” Natalie said, her voice calm and steady.

She shot the guy a look, barely hesitating. ‘Just one question, she thought, totally unfazed.

Her words were soft, but everyone in the hall heard them clearly.

All of a sudden, the crowd quieted down for a moment.

The principal frowned, wanting to intervene. ‘Having a student solve a test problem right in the middle of the opening ceremony? Is this really appropriate?‘ he thought.

But the elder board member beside him reached out and pressed his hand down again.

“Let her do it,” the elder board member murmured.

“It’s the only way to resolve this mess right now,” he added quietly.

Natalie turned to the school board members seated at the side of the stage.

“Can a teacher put the last math problem from this year’s SAT up on the screen?” she said.

A math professor stood up, pulled a copy of the test from his briefcase, and hurried over to the equipment table. He projected the question onto the big screen in the gym.

Everyone in the gym lifted their heads to look at the screen

It was the final question, a beast that combined calculus and inequalities. The problem was short, but packed with

information.

Three parts, each one harder than the last, and the final question was so tough that only one or two people in the whole state managed to crack it this year.

A lot of people in the crowd let out a sharp intake of breath when they saw the problem.

‘Man, I spent half an hour on this and still had no idea what to do.”

‘She got a 23 in math. How’s she supposed to solve this?”

‘She’s just blowing smoke now. Watch, she’s gonna get kicked out or even end up in jail!”

Natalie glanced at the problem on the screen, then headed to the side of the stage and grabbed a marker and a whiteboard handed to her by a staff member.

She set the whiteboard up next to the podium, uncapped the marker, and began to write.

The whole place went dead silent, and a thousand eyes locked onto her hand.

Natalie’s handwriting was striking, not the neat, textbook kind, but sharp and full of edge, every stroke crisp and decisive.

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