Truth be told, none of them could be blamed for not trusting Fu Zhi. After all, Fu Zhi’s grades had been unsightly when she’d been studying in No.3 High School.
Fu Zhi was stunned, and something dark emerged from the depths of her gloomy eyes.
Director Liu stared at her, and it seemed to Fu Zhi that he would not give up unless she gave him an answer.
“About that...” She rubbed her brows as she replied, her face bereft of emotion, as if she was talking about something not related to her. “My previous foster family didn’t favor kids with good grades.”
Well, it was not that they did not like kids with good grades. It was just that the Zhao Family could not accept the fact that Fu Zhi, a girl from an orphanage, could get better grades than Zhao Youyou in an examination.
They had been smart in the beginning, so they had been suspicious of Fu Zhi’s identity as well. After all, there was no way the government would give them 200,000 yuan for adopting a little girl, not to mention that Fu Zhi was way older than other adoptive children.
Therefore, they had not blamed Fu Zhi and had instead directed all their rage on Zhao Youyou for being unable to score better than an orphan. However, Zhao Youyou would throw a tantrum whenever her parents scolded her, which Fu Zhi had found rather disturbing.
Since she did not care about her grades at all, she had stopped attending examinations.
Director Liu could not believe that he had heard this. “Are they...”
‘Are they idiots?’
However, it did not matter right now. After all, he could use Fu Zhi’s achievement in the competition to attract more students to enroll in No.1 High School. For instance, he could say that the excellent, studious environment of the school had put Fu Zhi back on the right track, or he could even say that No.1 High School had been blessed by the grace of Lord Wen Qu of Academic Study, which was why every student that enrolled in their school would be able to score excellently in examinations.
A myriad of thoughts flitted across his brain, and the scene of a swarm of students rushing to enter No.1 High School was getting clearer and clearer in his head. He turned to Fu Zhi and moved on to the main reason he had asked her to go there. “The Education Bureau and the school authorities hope that you can lead the team to the final round.
“However, your current team is not the best team yet. Besides, I’ve asked your teammates what their thoughts about the competition are. Most of them felt that the competition was too much for them to handle and wanted to quit.”
After the participants made it through to the preliminary round, as long as they were not competing on an international level, they were given the freedom to switch with other participants from the same school.
Fu Zhi froze for a moment. She raised her head from her phone and stared at the man before her eyes with a faint smile on her lips. “So who do you want to put in my team?”
“Zhou Zihuai will stay, and I’m going to put Lu Yubai in your team as well,” Director Liu said as he gripped his cup tightly. He studied Fu Zhi’s expression for a moment before adding, “As for the remaining slots, the school authorities are going to give you the freedom to pick two candidates of your preference based on the monthly Physics examination result of this month.”
“Well, I appreciate that,” Fu Zhi replied. She looked at Director Liu with an insouciant look etched on her face as she continued to draw out her vowels. “But are you sure about that? Are you sure that I will have the final say in who’s going to be in my team?”
“Of course I’m sure about that!” Director Liu answered decisively. “Your team, your call. That’s what the principal told me.”
*
The first class after recess was Ma Mingquan’s Physics class.
When Fu Zhi returned from her trip to buy bubble tea, Ma Mingquan was speaking on the phone outside the classroom, and Fu Zhi noticed a strange expression on his face.
He stopped her from going into the classroom.
The voice coming from the other side of the line was deep and manly. “Well, thank you, Mr. Ma. I’ll be waiting for Zhizhi outside the school.”
It was Li Nanli.
“Oh, the pleasure is mine.” After saying that, Ma Mingquan hung up the phone. He turned to Fu Zhi and said, “Your family in the countryside has requested some time off for you...”
“Huh?” Fu Zhi cocked her head and brought her brows together to signal for Ma Mingquan to continue speaking.
Ma Mingquan found her action rather cool, just like his. He felt that the connection between them had deepened, and he liked her even more.
He then cleared his throat and said, “It’s your grandmother in the countryside. She’s getting married again and she wants you to attend her wedding party.”
Fu Zhi fell silent.
Ma Mingquan added, “By right, the school would not approve such a request. However, your brother said that your grandmother is dying and the purpose of the wedding is to drive the devil away and cure her of her illness. Therefore, he wants you to go back and see her one last time