The Grand Hall of the Binary Empire Headquarters was packed with international tech journalists, old Shenghua alumni, and the "Seven Stars" sitting in the front row. The air was thick with the hum of cameras and the scent of expensive lilies.
Li Yan stood behind the podium, his posture as straight as a line of perfect code. I sat beside him, my hand resting on the table, our matching peridot rings catching the flashbulbs.
"For six years," Li Yan began, his voice echoing with a gravity that silenced the room, "the world has known us as the '98.2% Club.' A tie that defined a generation of students. But today, before I take the most important step of my life—my marriage to Xiao Xing—the logic must be corrected."
The room went tomb-silent. Su Lan stopped her live-blogging. Zhang Wei leaned forward, his jaw tight.
"On the night of graduation in 2018," Li Yan continued, "I accessed the school database. I manually reduced my own score from 99.8% to 98.2%. I didn't do it to cheat the system. I did it because I was a boy terrified of standing at a peak where the girl I loved couldn't reach me."
A collective gasp rippled through the press corps. The "Cold Prince" had just confessed to a six-year-old act of digital self-sabotage for love.
"But I realized," Li Yan said, turning to look at me, his eyes softening in a way that made the cameras go wild, "that Xiao Xing didn't need my protection. She needed my honesty. She is my equal not because of a number, but because she is the only person who can solve the equations of my heart."
The Mysterious Gift
As the press conference dissolved into a frenzy of questions, my assistant, Jia Yi , hurried onto the stage. She wasn't carrying a press release; she was carrying a small, wooden box wrapped in faded silk.
"This just arrived at the front desk," Jia Yi whispered. "No return address. Just a wax seal of a Ginkgo Leaf."
I opened the box. Inside was an old, battered USB drive and a small, hand-painted ceramic figurine of two kids playing on a slide.
"Professor Chen?" Li Yan muttered, leaning in.
We plugged the drive into the main projector. The screen didn't show a legal document or a secret file. It showed a hidden folder titled: "The 0.2% Variable."
The Ultimate Truth
A video began to play. It was from the 2018 grading room. Professor Chen was sitting at his desk, staring at my (Xiao Xing's) final Calculus paper. He was holding a red pen, hesitating.
"Xiao Xing's logic on the final proof is revolutionary," Chen's voice narrated in the video. "Technically, she reached the correct answer using a method that hasn't been taught in high schools for twenty years. But the marking key is rigid. If I follow the key, she gets a 98.2%. if I follow my heart as a mathematician... she gets a 100%."
The video showed Chen sighing and marking the paper 98.2%.
"I will let the 98.2% stand for now," Chen's voice continued. "Because if I give her the 100%, she will never stop running. She needs a rival to keep her fire burning. But on the day she finds out the truth about Li Yan, she deserves to know her own."
The screen flashed a digital certificate: RE-GRADED SCORE FOR XIAO XING: 100%.
The Final Calculation
The "Seven Stars" stood up as one. The silence in the hall was now absolute.
I looked at the screen, then at Li Yan. For six years, he thought he had "let" me win by tying with me. But in reality, I had out-calculated the entire marking system.
"I... I got a 100%?" I whispered, a laugh bubbling up in my chest.
Li Yan stared at the screen, then back at me. A look of pure, unadulterated shock crossed his face—the first time I'd ever seen him truly "bug out." Then, he started to laugh. A deep, genuine laugh that shook his shoulders.
"So," Li Yan said, pulling me into his arms right in front of the flashing cameras. "My 1.6% sacrifice was actually a 1.8% deficit. You weren't my equal, Xiao Xing. You were my superior all along."
"Always was, President," I grinned, pulling him down by his tie for a kiss that would be on every front page in the country the next morning.
Zhang Wei cheered so loud he nearly knocked over the flower arrangements. Su Lan finally closed her laptop and wiped a stray tear. Mei Ling and Lin Chen were already planning the new "100% Wedding" theme.
The "98.2% Equation" was finally solved.