Nobody in Class A took Qiao Nian seriously. Even Liang Bowen and Shen Qingqing thought that she was too embarrassed to tell the truth because her grades were too poor.
The rest of them got to work immediately.
They had to score a few more points in order to pull the class average up for Qiao Nian.
…
The time had come for the examination. The Class A students got together and went to look for the examination venue. Qiao Nian took a look at her venue number as well.
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She thought it was far away, but it was just next door, in Class B.
“I’m in 1204, and Liang Bowen and the rest are in 1605. Qiao Nian, where’s your venue?” Shen Qingqing walked out of the classroom with her as they walked past Class B. She asked Qiao Nian as she seemed rather nonchalant, having received the slip of paper which showed her venue.
Qiao Nian crushed the paper and tossed it into the bin, then said a little mockingly, “1102, first seat.”
Shen Qingqing was stunned. Wasn’t that in the first row of Class B?
Her heart sank. She had prepared some cheat sheets for Qiao Nian and planned to give them to her. But it seemed like it wasn’t going to be of use anymore.
At this point, the students of Class B were also getting their belongings together and heading towards their examination venues.
Qiao Chen left the classroom with the company of Zhao Jingwei and all the other people who looked up to her.
Zhao Jingwei glanced at Qiao Nian and immediately said in her shrill voice, “Haha, let’s see, who’s this over here? Isn’t it Qiao Nian, the one who scored full marks for the entrance paper? I heard that you want to achieve first place in this examination? Haha, Class A is already in shambles, and now they’re expecting someone who got in through the back door to be in the first place?”
Standing beside Qiao Nian, Shen Qingqing immediately stood forward and said with a red face, “Zhao Jingwei, you’d better stop spouting nonsense!”
“I’m speaking the truth, how is that nonsense? With this deadweight around, Class A will have to surrender the Most Outstanding Class title to us!” Zhao Jingwei tipped her chin upwards, her posture domineering and arrogant. She was so loud that the Class A students walking past got mad as well. They were about to rebut her.
Qiao Nian squinted, the look in her eyes overtaken by a terrifying wildness. She reached out and grabbed Shen Qingqing, who was close to starting a fight with them. Qiao Nian then looked at Zhao Jingwei coldly but a little teasingly. “I will wait for you to come and get it.”
Get what?
The Most Outstanding Class title.
Zhao Jingwei was confident and smug, but with Qiao Nian’s calm reply, she simply looked like an unreasonable shrew. She couldn’t take it lying down, but at this point, Qiao Chen grabbed hold of her and said gently, “Enough, Jingwei, the examination is starting. Have you found your venue yet? Let’s head there first.”
Zhao Jingwei was still mad and spat at Qiao Nian and the rest of Class A. “Count yourselves lucky!”
She then hooked arms with Qiao Chen and kept her nose high. “Chen Chen, let’s go.”
Qiao Chen smiled gently when she walked past Qiao Nian and the rest. She said softly, “All the best, Sister. I believe you can do it. I’ll be waiting to hear your results.”
Only after the two of them had left did Shen Qingqing reveal how disgusted she felt. “What does that Qiao Chen mean? Why do I feel like she’s even more disgusting than Zhao Jingwei? It’s as if she believes that you’ll not do well.”
“She claims that she believes in you. But if that’s the case, she could have said ‘All the best’ and left it at that. Why did she have to talk about waiting for your results?” It was evident that she was waiting to laugh at Qiao Nian.
The preparation bell was about to ring, so Shen Qingqing didn’t really have much time to say all that she wanted to say anymore. She patted Qiao Nian on the shoulder and tried to squeeze an encouraging smile. “Qiao Nian, don’t feel too stressed. No matter how you do, nobody’s going to blame you. Just do your paper as you usually would.”
Qiao Nian casually said, “Mm, I’ll try my best.”
Chen Yuan, the last to leave the classroom, heard Shen Qingqing’s words of encouragement to Qiao Nian. His lips twitched a little, and he tugged Shen Qingqing’s sleeve. “Let’s go and look for our own venues. She doesn’t need you to worry for her. You might as well worry about yourself instead!”
Did Qiao Nian really need these ordinary high school students to worry for her?