Ning Li looked up and smiled. “Back at you.”
Pei Song had only gotten one point lower than her, which was also an excellent achievement.
A breeze blew the slightly messy hair on her forehead, which made her porcelain skin seem even more fair and delicate.
Her beautiful eyes were slightly curved and seemed to be filled with glimmering light.
Pei Song could almost hear the sound of his heart pounding.
It felt as if it was trying to leap out of his chest.
The more he tried to ignore it, the louder it became.
He lowered his eyes and turned to walk away.
His legs were long, so he moved far away from Ning Li in a few strides.
When he came to the front door of the classroom, he raised his hand and knocked on the door.
This period was English class.
Kong Rou knew where they had been, so without any question, she smiled and let them in.
Pei Song and Ning Li came in one after another and returned to their seats.
Soon, Ye Ci also returned to her seat.
As soon as these three appeared, they immediately attracted the attention of every student in the classroom.
He Xiaochen could not hide her curiosity and asked in a low voice.
“Ning Li, have the results come out? How was it?”
Ning Li nodded. “Not bad.”
This news would soon be made public, so there was no need to hide it.
He Xiaochen was excited. “Did you get first place? Did you make it to the national finals?”
“Yup,” Ning Li said.
“I knew it!”
He Xiaochen’s eyes glowed. “OMG! You really made it to the top five in the province! Holy sh*t…”
“First.”
Ning Li took out the book she had been reading earlier and flipped the page.
He Xiaochen gasped and thought, ‘Girl, can you not say such earth-shattering words with such a calm expression? This news is very exciting, ok!’
She had been deskmates with this genius for some time now. She thought that she had already gotten used to Ning Li’s amazing achievements and could accept anything calmly, but she was still too naive.
Ning Li was a real freak.
“Then what about Pei Song? Did he also…”
“Second.”
He Xiaochen glanced at Pei Song.
‘Sigh… God is always so unfair. How could they be blessed with such good looks and brains?!’
“Then, what about Ye Ci? Why did she follow you guys?”
Ning Li did not even raise her head when she said, “She got fifth.”
It took He Xiaochen quite a while to digest these words.
‘Ye Ci… Fifth in the province for the physics competition?! Was the examiner blind?! Ye Ci’s skills in physics are certainly not as good as mine. How did she get fifth place in the whole province?!’
He Xiaochen was puzzled and finally managed to say, “I didn’t know that she’s been hiding her intelligence all this while…”
The corners of Ning Li’s lips curved down lightly.
“Yeah…”
…
Before the official announcement of the results, the entire senior class of Yunzhou Second High had already heard this amazing news.
Ning Li, Pei Song, and Ye Ci had scored first, second, and fifth respectively in the provincial physics competition!
Ning Li and Pei Song’s supernatural performances were already a recognized fact, so there was nothing anyone else could do except lament how insanely smart they were and look up to them.
However, what was going on with Ye Ci?
“Fifth in the province? Is Ye Ci even that good?”
“Did the school confirm it? They wouldn’t make a mistake in this kind of thing, right?”
“I heard the students in the competitive physics class say that her results are usually just average in their tests. Sometimes when the teacher asked her to solve problems on the board, she seemed to be stuck. How can that kind of standard get fifth place in the whole province?”
“Maybe she’s just low-key? Look at Ning Li. Rumor has it that she used to be in the lowest class in Lincheng, but she became a genius here, right? Maybe Ye Ci is the same.”
“Ye Ci doesn’t seem like that though. She’s always trying to be the best. Why would she deliberately pretend not to learn?”
“Do you think she cheated?”
In the afternoon gym class, a few girls had gotten together to exchange gossip.
One of the girls had just finished speaking when the back of her head was suddenly hit by something.
She screamed in pain and turned around quickly.
“Who did that?!”
Not far ahead, Cheng Xiangxiang was holding a badminton racket in one hand and looked at them with a scowl on her face.
She had hit that girl with a shuttlecock.
Ye Ci was standing next to her.
The group of gossiping girls looked at each other and stopped talking.
Cheng Xiangxiang said in a cold voice, “What nonsense were you just talking about?”
Whether it was Cheng Xiangxiang or Ye Ci, the ordinary students could not afford to provoke them because of their family background.
Thus, the few girls quickly conceded.
“No, we didn’t say anything.”
Cheng Xiangxiang held the racket and was about to storm over.
“What, so you don’t dare to admit what you said?”
Ye Ci pulled her back. “Xiangxiang, forget it… Let’s go.”
Cheng Xiangxiang was furious. “But, they falsely accused you!”
Ye Ci glanced at the girls. “My conscience is clear.”
One of the girls stepped forward and said, “Ye Ci, we’re sorry… We didn’t mean that.”
Ye Ci’s face was expressionless as she pulled Cheng Xiangxiang away.
It would only be more humiliating if they fought in a place like this about this matter.
After walking out of the gym, Cheng Xiangxiang was still angry.
“Lil Ci, aren’t you angry? Why is it considered as talent when Ning Li scores well, but when you do, they think it’s fishy?”
Ye Ci shook her head, took a deep breath, and suppressed the rage in her heart.
She forced a smile and said, “There’s no need to care about what other people think.”
Originally, Ye Ci had been very happy about her results. She had not expected such conspiracies to circulate in school.
Once someone started talking about it, this kind of gossip would spread like wildfire, whether it was true or not.
Ye Ci had not expected that after doing so well in the exam this time, she would attract suspicion instead of receiving the envy and admiration of others.
Her initial good mood dissipated and her chest felt suffocated.
If not for the fact that there was still a crowd watching, she would not have held back her anger.
“Yeah, they’re all just jealous of you and can’t stand that you’re better than them!” Cheng Xiangxiang held Ye Ci’s arm and continued, “Don’t worry, the school already confirmed your results, so those girls can talk all they want! Anyway, you’re the one who got extra credit for the college entrance exam.”
As she said that, she looked back.
“By the way, you still have the national finals, right? When the time comes, come back with an award and slap it in their faces!”
At the mention of this, Ye Ci’s heart thumped.
Since she found out that she had to represent the province in the national finals, she felt like a boulder was weighing on her mind.
Cheng Xiangxiang’s words made her feel worse.
She pursed her lips before she gave a very faint smile. “Mm.”
…
Ning Li sat in the bleachers and watched as the field was buzzing with activity.
Suddenly, the phone in her pocket vibrated.
She took it out and looked at it. It was a message from Lu Huaiyu.
[What candy do you want this time?]