“…”
Paige was silent.
She didn’t know about anything else, but this arrogant attitude was quite well-inherited.
She turned her eyes to Enrico, who crossed his arms and kept his eyes calm as usual, as if Gabriel wasn’t making a big deal.
This father and son…
“What are you looking at me for?” Enrico said, looking in the direction of the stage.
“Nothing,” Paige said, looking back at the stage. She followed Gabriel’s gaze and her heart sank.
Gabriel had been so confident, but if they didn’t get a good ranking after the competition, she was afraid there would be a huge letdown.
The host one after the other asked some of the young competitors to introduce themselves. Some of the children had talents and performed on the spot, some had loud voices, and some could somersault. Even Steve from the Sheryl family performed mental arithmetic on the spot, which drew bursts of applause.
When the host asked Gabriel, Gabriel simply waved his hand to indicate that he knew nothing, “I don’t know, I don’t know, they’re amazing at this.”
Even when he said he didn’t know, he looked calm and unembarrassed.
Okay, Paige thought to herself, I was overthinking it.
Her son has always had an incredibly good attitude, and even if he loses today, he can still eat and sleep at night.
Thinking this, Paige felt much better, smiled, and continued watching the children perform.
After sitting for a long time, she stretched her neck. As she turned her head, she saw an elderly man sitting in the audience area in the distance in front of her. He was wearing a casual short-sleeved flower shirt and holding a straw hat in his hand. Next to him, the little girl with twin ponytails couldn’t see the stage and simply stood there watching.
Monteo the miracle healer!
Paige had never imagined that Monteo, who Kevin had been unable to find for several days, was also here watching the competition.
Paige’s eyes lit up, and she got up and tried to go over, but as soon as she moved her bottom a little, she sat back down silently.
She couldn’t let Enrico know that she had followed him thousands of miles, and was still worrying about the vaccine research.
She turned her head, and Enrico was already looking at her, his gaze dark and gloomy, “Where are you going?”
“No, I’ve been sitting for a long time, I’m just stretching my legs.”
Paige snickered softly, sat back down, but couldn’t help but glance in the direction of Monteo.
The little girl was standing there whispering something in Monteo’s ear, and Monteo laughed, lifting a hand to stroke her head.
I can’t lose her again.
Paige took out her phone and prepared to send Kevin a message, but as soon as she did, a large hand snatched it away.
“Son, you’re playing with your phone during the match?”
Enrico gave her an unhappy look and put the phone in his pocket.
“…”
Paige looked at the phone that had been confiscated, her breath caught in her throat. “I wasn’t…”
“Wasn’t what?”
Enrico waited for her answer.
“Nothing, watching the game.”
Paige gave a faint smile, and her eyes couldn’t help but turn towards Monteo. Since they were here to watch the game, they shouldn’t leave in the middle of it. They could let Kevin know later.
Enrico leaned back in his chair, resting one hand casually on the armrest between them.
Paige looked down and saw the arrogant tattoo on his forearm. He moved his wrist, stretching his long, slender fingers with clearly defined joints.
She had seen a lot of people, but the only hand she had ever considered sexy was Enrico’s.
She looked at his moving hands, unsure if he meant what she thought he meant. After hesitating for two seconds, she placed her hand on top of his and gently interlocked her fingers between his five fingers.
“…”
Enrico stopped moving, looked down, and then unfolded his fingers to release them.
Paige silently tightened her grip.
“Taking advantage of someone? Release.”
Enrico snorted, but didn’t release, as if he couldn’t break her grip.
“No.”
Paige was sure he was being pretentious, so she held on firmly and said, ‘The competition has started, let’s watch it.’
Enrico reluctantly went along with her, bending his long fingers to clasp her hand.
Their fingers interlocked, looking sweet.
Paige curled up the corners of her mouth in pleasure and asked in a low voice, ‘When did you find out that there were rumors in the community?’
“If I couldn’t even understand this, the consortium would have long since gone.”
Enrico’s voice was low, but his tone was imperious.
“So, you let Gabriel compete because you wanted to take revenge for me?” Paige leaned closer to him, still keeping her gaze fixed on the stage, and asked in a low voice.
“I let my son take revenge for himself.”
Enrico held her hand and said, “But the little guy has no desires for himself. He is only willing to work hard for you. That’s why I brought you up, so that he would think that you have been wronged.”
“I was quite aggrieved,” Paige said immediately.
“Aggrieved and not reporting it?” Enrico looked at her coldly and held her hand a little tighter, displeased.
“My boss is still angry, how dare I bother him with my own grievances.”
Paige turned her face around and her clear almond-shaped eyes stared directly at his face, half-covered by the mask, her voice gentle.
Hearing this, Enrico looked at her, his expression becoming even more serious. “My people, I can do whatever I want with them, and no one else has the right to judge.”
So, his goal was still to vent her anger.
Paige smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder, and watching the competition attentively.
A finger poked her on the head to get her to move away.
Paige didn’t move, only saying, “If you don’t want me to lean on you, I won’t.”
The finger retracted.
The competition officially began.
“As I said before, this year’s competition is different from previous years. In order to select the truly talented, we have abandoned the previous method of setting questions and adopted a brand new competition system, which will allow us to more comprehensively select talented children. This is our theme this year!”
The host spoke with rising and falling tones, and as he reached up, several large, flaming characters appeared on the big screen-
Starting from scratch!
This is also the theme that was given when the open audition was announced.
In order to prevent many parents from studying the previous question formats and having their children brush questions day and night, and to ensure that each one selected is talented, the organizers have deliberately changed the format this year.
The competition format has been changed to on-site teaching, teaching in several major areas such as thinking, language, and space, giving the children half an hour to digest before the questions are asked.
This is what is meant by starting from scratch, so that all children are on the same level and their individual learning abilities can be seen.
Of course, some children have a foundation in learning and will have an advantage, but that advantage will not be too great.
Hearing these rules, Paige felt slightly relieved.
If a foundation is not important, then Gabriel still has a fighting chance.
Her son just doesn’t like to study and is lazy, but if he really puts his mind to it, he shouldn’t be worse than other children… right?
Okay.
She wasn’t sure.
All the young contestants sat at their desks according to their numbers and began listening to the teacher’s live lesson.
Such competitions seem boring and tedious. After listening to the class for a while, many spectators doze off.
In order to stimulate everyone’s desire to watch, the organizers frequently give close-ups of the faces of a few good-looking young competitors. Gabriel’s appearance rate is terrifyingly high.
However, he is not sitting up straight like the others. His head is tilted, his little hand props his face, his eyes are dazed as he stares at the teacher, and from time to time he yawns, looking like a slacker.