Chapter 179 - 179: It Cost Me A Lot Of Money

Grand Hotel was not far from aunt Mcdowell's house, and only a few minutes' walked away. Sophia explained the situation to aunt Mcdowell, who agreed that she should go and meet Nicole to find out everything.

When Sophia arrived at the Grand Hotel, Nicole's assistant, whom she had met last time, greeted her and led her upstairs.

It was a private room. When the assistant opened the door, Sophia saw Nicole sitting there with a few books in her hands.

"Dear Sophia." Nicole got up and went to Sophia as she saw her. She took Sophia by the hand and made her sit beside her.

Sophia was not used to it. She gently broke free from her hand and came straight to the point, "You said you knew Ada bribed the director."

Nicole stood up and poured a cup of tea to Sophia, "Easy. Here, try this."

Sophia took the cup, put it aside, and asked, "Just say it. My friend is waiting for me."

Nicole picked up one book and pointed to one of the questions. "Sophia, could you please help me with this problem?"

Sophia looked at the question. It was an advanced mathematics problem. As she was about to say something, she felt a white light flashed. She looked up and saw that the assistant was taking pictures. The light was not good enough, and she especially turned on the flash.

Sure enough, Nicole called her here to get her to cooperate with the hype.

After the assistant had taken the pictures, she retreated.

Sophia pushed the book aside. "You've got what you want. Now can you tell me what you know?"

Nicole laughed, "You have such a short fuse... Well, I'll tell you. It took me a long time to find out. The man, the Fox, is an external associate director of the program. He is responsible for the topic selection of the third episode."

"Do you have proof?" asked Sophia.

Nicole nodded and took a USB flash drive out of her bag. "Here is a recording of Ada. She couldn't help showing off while eating with her friends, while her words were recorded by one of them. I happen to know the girl. After listening to her, I bought it. Just listen to it."

Sophia took over the USB flash drive and put it in her bag. "Anything else?" She asked.

Nicole laughed, "No. It cost me a lot of money. Her sister was trying to blackmail her."

Sure enough, like attracts like. None of the friends around Ada were good people.

Sophia stood up. "Thank you. If there is nothing else… excuse me."

Instead of stopping her, Nicole got up. "I'm leaving, too. Let's go. But I have to remind you, Ada is backed up by Mr. Well, the boss of Hurricane Entertainment. If you want to deal with her, don't turn me in. I can't afford to mess with this guy."

Sophia and Nicole left the hotel together, and the assistant duly showed up to take another photo of them.

Sophia accepted the proof and had to cooperate with Nicole.

Nicole put on her mask, stopped a taxi, and got on and left. Her assistant had to collect the books and didn't leave with her.

When Sophia was back at aunt Mcdowell's house, dinner was ready.

While eating, Sophia checked the microblog and saw that the pictures taken by the assistant had been posted online.

"Advanced mathematics is indeed difficult. But I asked Sophia during dinner. I got it. Thanks."

The comments below were about praising her hard-working or envying her for having an excellent friend or so on.

After dinner, Sophia opened the USB flash drive on Aunt Mcdowell's computer. There was a piece of audio.

She clicked on the audio, and the voices of several girls came from the stereo.

"Ada, don't you worry about that excellent student? I don't think you should go to disgrace yourself. We all know what you can do… You graduated from high school, did you? You don't even go to college," said a girl.

"Excellent student? So what? I'm telling you, the champion of this season has been decided, it's me!" The voice should be Ada.

"How is that possible? It's a quiz show, not a talent show. Are you crazy? Ha, ha…"

"Yeah. If it's a singing competition, people can say that they have a different appreciation. Anyway, everyone sings similar, and the audiences don't know much about it. But since it's a quiz competition, the host can't take your wrong answer as the right one, can he?"

"Ha-ha… You won't know it. Forget about it. Just wait and see. Cheers!" Ada said.

"Oh, you bad girl. Just tell us!"

"No. I can't."

Then, girls took turns to persuade Ada to drink. These girls were very bold in speaking about some private matters.

These girls teased Ada, asking her about Well's skills, while Ada kept laughing.

Later, a girl brought up the topic of the Super Quiz again when Ada drank a lot, "Ada, we are good sisters, right? Just tell us, how will you beat that school girl? Come on. I won't fall asleep if I can't hear the answer. Maybe I'll go to Mr. Well's room tonight. Ha-ha!"

"Humph!" Ada snorted, "Well, won't like you. Your boobs are too small. He only likes big ones."

"Yes, you have big boobs. Come on, and you're not bragging, are you?" The girl sounded a little unhappy.

"I'm not bragging. Fine! I'll tell you. Well paid Director Fox to reveal the questions to me. But, if I know all the questions, no matter how good the schoolgirl is, she can't win. Ha, ha."

"Really? Was Director Fox so easy to handle?"

"His wife is sick and needs money. Well, give him thirty thousand dollars. Of course, he agreed. But… Thirty thousand dollars are too much. It's enough to buy several bags."

***

After that, there was something that didn't matter.

Sophia unplugged the USB flash drive and thought about how to deal with it.

Although the recording was true, there was no way to prove it. Because recordings could be synthesized by technical means, even if it was exposed, Ada could deny it by saying that it was forged.

It was best to expose her on the spot. But… how?

Sophia had no idea for a moment. She would have to see if she could find an opportunity while she was recording the show.

Anyway, she would not give the champion to someone like Ada.