The next day was the first day of the national Physics competition. There were three parts to this competition: the qualifying round, the preliminary round, and the final tournament. Since there were more teams in the qualifying round, the questions would be much harder.
The government had fixed the time for the examination.
Excluding any liberal arts students, No.1 High School had sent a total of 16 teams to the competition.
On Sunday, by the time Ma Mingquan and Fu Zhi’s team arrived, there was a crowd of students and parents standing outside No.1 High School.
“Even though it’s a big competition, you guys just do your best. Treat it like a normal examination and don’t be too hard on yourselves.”
Fu Zhi and her team nodded.
At the same time, Qian Wenrui and Lu Chuwan’s team arrived as well.
The moment the crowd saw Lu Chuwan, everyone went up to her.
After all, she had been one of the top 100 participants in the national Physics competition last year. Thus, other than Gu Yan, who was currently in a foreign country, she was the one who was the most familiar with the competition.
Ma Mingquan frowned when he saw Qian Wenrui roll her eyes at them. He turned to Fu Zhi and said, “You guys should go in and prepare.”
Fu Zhi gave her phone to Ma Mingquan and went into the examination hall with her student ID.
Meanwhile, Lu Chuwan received a call from Bai Yao. She asked, “Are you sure he’s the core member of the research institute in the capital? If the ceramic vial was really made by Master Xu Jiuzhou, then I’ll go meet him after the examination.”
When Lu Chuwan hung up the call, she was in such a good mood that she felt that even the sky had become clearer. Qian Wenrui pulled her to the side and asked, “Do you remember everything that I told you?”
She knew Qian Wenrui loved to compete with Ma Mingquan. She had placed all her hopes on her, so she nodded. “Yes. Don’t worry, Ms. Qian. I’m sure that, given our ability, our class will be able to crush the other classes.”
Qian Wenrui, who was tickled pink by Lu Chuwan, chuckled. “Well, I’ll be waiting for the good news. As for Class 21... You don’t have to care about them. They are not worth your time or effort.”
Qian Wenrui’s words reminded Lu Chuwan of Fu Zhi and how she’d insisted on checking the sample questions in the question bank. She pressed her lips and said, “Fu Zhi was able to answer Professor Han Wei’s questions correctly, so she isn’t entirely useless.”
“Just two questions. I’m confident that, under the same circumstances, you’d be able to do the same. Don’t think too highly of her and just do your best.”
Lu Chuwan nodded. Before she went into the examination hall, she said, “Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. Ms. Qian, I have to take two days off from school. I’m going to a studio in the capital to work on my song in a few days. As for Professor He, I think someone will invite me to his class.”
*
In the qualifying round, all the participants were required to answer a set of questions within 40 minutes. Then, the score of each team member would be added and the top 3 teams with the highest total mark would be chosen to represent their province.
The competition was very important to the government. To ensure fairness, all the exam invigilators came from the capital.
Lu Chuwan’s team was in the same examination hall as Fu Zhi’s team. Lu Yubai was busy with his own matters, so he had not arrived yet.
Xu Tongtong turned to look at Fu Zhi and said, “Is this a coincidence? The system always places you and your cousin in the same examination hall. It reminds me of the remora and the shark. The shark does all the hunting, while the remora gets the spoils. You have to be careful, Wanwan. Don’t let her see your answers.”
Lu Chuwan’s heart skipped a beat, and her stomach did some flip-flops.
Fu Zhi was sitting not far away, in the last row next to the window.
Lu Chuwan shot a glance at her.
Truth be told, she had to admit that God must have been particularly careful when sculpting Fu Zhi. She had a near-perfect face, so even if she just sat there without saying anything, she would become the center of attention.