Chapter 830
Amidst the buzzing conversations, Stewart locked eyes with Vesta.
Even with her gaze glued to the floor, Vesta could feel the crushing weight of his stare.
Before she could brace herself, Stewart let out a sharp, mocking scoff. “Ms. Hawkins, if I recall correctly, you and my junior are the same age, right? By seventeen, Charlene had already created CUAP, which remains PrimeStar’s most impenetrable fortress to this day. Nobody in the industry has managed to crack it.” “And even though she took a long hiatus to raise her family, she returned less than two years ago and immediately delivered astronomical results-“
The crowd had fallen dead silent the moment Stewart started speaking.
Unfazed by the audience, Stewart pressed on. “But what about you? Correct me if I’m wrong, but up to this exact moment, you haven’t achieved a single thing in this field. You haven’t produced a single piece of tech with any real value, have you?”
“We don’t even need to talk about practical development. Let’s just look at the two or three academic papers my junior published. Without someone holding your hand, you’d struggle to even comprehend them, wouldn’t you?”
“Compared to my junior’s raw talent, aren’t you just exceptionally mediocre? So, when I said my mentor refused to take you on simply because you lacked the talent to meet his standards… was I wrong?”
Vesta stood entirely frozen, her face completely drained of color.
The crowd erupted into scornful scoffs.
“Wow. So Dr. Wagner didn’t reject her out of spite; he rejected her because she’s incompetent. And she had the nerve to go around crying that Charlene sabotaged her and forged papers to get into PrimeStar. Turns out she was the clown all along.” “When your own heart is rotten, you think everyone else’s is, too.”
Dalton and Gaylord watched the brutal takedown, overwhelmed by a complicated mix of emotions.
Yet, seeing Stewart utterly dismantle Vesta, neither of them stepped in to defend her.
Raleigh and Corinne were equally conflicted.
Especially Raleigh.
Being in the industry himself, he had read Charlene’s papers.
And the humiliating truth was… he hadn’t fully understood them, either.
If PrimeStar’s programming language was truly her creation, if she had authored those papers single-handedly, and if she was the driving force behind the company’s recent innovations, then he had to admit her talent was simply
Terrifying.
Letting the crowd’s chatter simmer, Stewart turned to Dr. Wagner. “Dr. Wagner, I’ve said my piece. I’m incredibly sorry things spiraled like this and hijacked your anniversary gala Truly, my apologies. However…
“Regarding your announcement about taking my junior on as a student, we honestly had no idea. I’d appreciate it if you could clarify the situation for everyone so nobody misunderstands her intentions.”
Dr. Wagner was nursing a complicated headache of his own.
He couldn’t exactly brush off Stewart’s apology with a breezy ‘it’s fine.’
Even though Stewart hadn’t planned this circus, having his prestigious anniversary gala devolve into a chaotic soap opera wasn’t exactly pleasant.
But he also knew he couldn’t blame Stewart or Charlene. After all, his own public desire to mentor Charlene was one of the major catalysts that sparked this entire confrontation.
Acknowledging that, he took the
microphone. As you could probably tell from my earlier remarks, Charlene was completely unaware of my intentions until I announced them tonight. I sought her out purely because I was deeply moved after reading her academic papers-“