Mianmian heard the noise outside the main room die down, which she found odd. When she opened the door, she saw Zhou Lanfang and Shen Jianhua acting as if nothing had happened, busy cooking in the kitchen.
A fragrance of cured meat wafted from the kitchen, surprising her even more. What occasion was it that they were preparing such a feast? Were they having a farewell dinner?
With her doubts, Mianmian returned to her room to find Siyu still sobbing heavily under her covers. Mianmian frowned, "Mom and Dad are cooking, your crying won’t reach their ears."
Truth be told, Siyu’s crying sounded so contrived, like coquettish whimpering, it gave Mianmian goosebumps all over.
Siyu was the best at acting spoiled in front of men. It had been the same in her past life; the slightest issue would send her running to whine to Gu Jianbin, who unfailingly fell for her act.
As long as Siyu cried, Gu Jianbin was at a loss on how to handle her.
True enough, upon hearing these words, Siyu immediately stopped crying. Seeing the quiet outside, she raised her head and glared viciously at Mianmian.
"You knew all along that the progress award was yours, didn’t you?" Read complete versıon only at 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⟡𝕗𝗂𝗋𝖾⟡𝕟𝕖𝕥
Regarding the exam questions, which ones she could answer, which she couldn’t, and how much she could possibly score—every student had a sense of it. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have believed she was in contention for the progress award.
Mianmian did well but deliberately kept it from her, obviously just to make a mockery of her.
Seeing her eyes genuinely swollen from crying, Mianmian understood Siyu was truly upset. "I certainly don’t have the power to foresee the future."
She did have the confidence in winning the progress award, but not the certainty that Siyu had, nor would she be so ostentatious about it. Unannounced results always had the potential to change.
There were over fifty students in the school; they weren’t the only two who were clever.
"You indeed knew it all along," Siyu said through gritted teeth, with resentment, "Chen Jie helped you cheat. That progress award was also secured through his help."
Li Qiumei disliked Mianmian so much that without Chen Jie’s interference, it was impossible for Mianmian to win the progress award.
To this day, Siyu refused to believe that Mianmian could have improved that much all on her own.
"So what if I did?" Mianmian scoffed, "Even if I had known in advance, it was something I earned through my own abilities."
Stumped by Mianmian’s retort, Siyu ultimately buried her head back into the quilt, crying again out of anger, her feet kicking wildly at the edge of her bed.
She skipped lunch too. Zhou Lanfang, worried she might go hungry, dished several slices of cured meat into her bowl and brought it to her room for her to eat.
Shen Jianhua, fearing that Mianmian might feel they were playing favorites, hurriedly added a slice of meat to Mianmian’s bowl and said with a smile, "Mianmian, you should eat more meat too."
Mianmian stared at the meat in her bowl, pensive. Her father wasn’t usually this considerate.
Having fought so fiercely earlier, they were now cooking meat and being especially nice to her. She had a hunch that Shen Jianhua was going to have a conversation with her after the meal.
And as expected, halfway through the meal, Shen Jianhua tentatively broached the subject, "Mianmian, there’s something I want to discuss with you."
"Dad, just tell me what it is," Mianmian continued eating, seemingly prepared for what was to come.
Shen Jianhua, taken aback by her calm demeanor, seemed somewhat embarrassed and unsure of how to proceed. Zhou Lanfang grew almost impatient waiting when he finally spoke up.
"Mianmian, could you not mention the progress award to anyone?"