Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  In the last first-year final term exam, someone else besides Qiao Nan could rank first in the level.

  Qiao Nan might be outstanding, but she was only outstanding among the first-year students. Shi Qing, who just transferred to their school, was different. She was far superior to the students in her same level and could compete with third-year students for the first three spots. Their abilities were miles apart.

  “Xiao Qiao, don’t give yourself too much pressure. It is just the first place in the level. There’s nothing so great about it. We just have to do our best. It doesn’t matter if we end up with the first or second place.” Zhu Baoguo’s countenance changed. He could not wait to treat Shi Qing like a football and kick her out of first-year class one and Ping Cheng High School.

  What was this? Since she could skip a grade to study in third-year curriculum, why did she come to first-year class one? She must be sick!

  Tang Mengran almost wanted to bite off her tongue. Yesterday, she encouraged Nan Nan to compete with Shi Qing to secure first place in the level and do better than Shi Qing.

  This, this was simply impossible. Their standards were too far apart.

  She did not know that Shi Qing was so intelligent. She was the same age as them, yet she had such high IQ and was qualified to skip a grade and recommended for admission to a university.

  If she had known about Shi Qing’s capability, she would not have told Nan Nan to do something impossible.

  She had no intention of making things difficult for Nan Nan or to see her make a fool of herself. Would Nan Nan misunderstand her?

  Those girls who shared the same dormitory as Qiao Nan were worried for her, while the rest of the students in the class were anticipating the events that would unfold.

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  Since they would never be able to rank first in the level, it did not matter if another person other than Qiao Nan ranked first. As for Xu Tingting, she was all smiles. She was in for a good show. Qiao Nan could no longer act arrogant and proud in front of them. She had met her formidable opponent.

  Did she really think that she was the smartest girl in the world?

  It was high time that a real genius like Shi Qing taught Qiao Nan a lesson. Otherwise, she would become too insolent and arrogant, and would be hated and shunned by others.

  “Qiao Nan, Teacher Liu wants to see you in the office.” While everyone stared at Qiao Nan to see her reaction, a student from the next class passed the message for Teacher Liu.

  “Oh, okay, thank you.” Qiao Nan put down the book calmly and stood up. When she walked past Qiu Chenxi, she asked politely, “Excuse me, you are blocking the door.”

  “There is more than one door in this classroom. You obviously know that the door has been blocked and that someone is here. You should be smart and use the other door.” Qiu Chenxi refused to stand aside and gave a double-edged remark in reply to Qiao Nan.

  “Shi Qing’s cousin, this is first-year class one. Every student in the class can use this door. You’re only here to look for Shi Qing. Isn’t it impolite of you to block the door?”

  Qiao Nan was amused. Qiu Chenxi had not figured out the rightful owner of the ‘door’.

  Qiu Chenxi was standing in front of someone else’s ‘door’, yet she was so bold to act as if she did nothing wrong and told her to use another ‘door’. She was so ridiculous.

  “Cousin!” Shi Qing was unhappy. She pulled Qiu Chenxi to a side. “Qiao Nan, this way.”

  Qiu Chenxi who was pulled to a side turned even more unhappy. She looked at Shi Qing in anger as if to say, ‘Are you here to help me or to help Qiao Nan to bully me?’

  Shi Qing stared back at Qiu Chenxi. She was not here to help either one of them. She was here to help herself. On the other hand, did her cousin not feel that her behavior was too petty and embarrassing?

  It was very insulting to block the door and insist that Qiao Nan used the back door.

  Her cousin had graduated from college, but she did not seem to know of the saying, ‘He that shames shall be shent.’

  Whatever Qiao Nan said to her cousin just now, it was her cousin who asked for it!

  Qiao Nan did not look at Qiu Chenxi’s reaction. She walked past the two of them and went to Teacher Liu’s office.

  She did not care if Shi Qing was sent by Qiu Chenxi to deal with her. Qiu Chenxi must have been indulging in fantasy if she believed that Qiao Nan would be defeated and lose her confidence, and that she would give up Brother Zhai just because Shi Qing ranked first in the level.

  But then again, Qiu Chenxi had always doubted that she was the girl Brother Zhai was interested in. Last time, Qiu Chenxi even came to the conclusion that anyone could possibly be Brother Zhai’s girlfriend except for her.

  If that was the case, why would Qiu Chenxi target her and insist on making life difficult for her?

  Qiao Nan did not know that, in fact, Qiu Chenxi was targeting Qiao Nan so as to force the real girlfriend to come out of hiding.

  “Teacher Liu, were you looking for me?”

  “Yes, come over and have a seat. There’s only an hour to the exam. Qiao Nan, are you nervous?” Teacher Liu asked.

  Qiao Nan smiled. “Teacher Liu, we have gotten used to the exams. We used to have tests and exams every once in a while. How can I be nervous?”

  Teacher Liu smiled. “It’s good that you don’t feel the stress. By the way, Qiao Nan, there’s a new transfer student in our class. She has already submitted the form and will take the science course in the second half of the semester. In other words, both of you will not be classmates in the future. The knowledge that both of you learned and the content of the exams will be slightly different. Therefore, you must not give yourself too much pressure or be nervous. There are some things that we don’t have to be too mindful about. In this world, one can’t possibly stay ever victorious. It’s more important to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Do you understand what I mean?”

  Qiao Nan nodded blankly. She did not know how to respond to his words. “Teacher Liu, did you say all these as you feel that Shi Qing’s past results were very good and I may not be able to do better than her? Hence, you are worried that I will not be able to take it and so you decided to comfort me in advance?”

  Did Teacher Liu not realize that his words might put too much pressure on Qiao Nan and she would not be able to perform well in the final term exams?

  She wondered how good Shi Qing’s results were that Teacher Liu felt that she would never do better than her and would be discouraged because of it.

  “Teacher Liu, in fact, you don’t have to do this. I don’t have the ambition to rank first in the level all the time. I just want to do my best and perform according to my standard. I won’t stress myself out or set a goal such as ranking first in the level. I will simply do my best. As for the first place in the level, let’s leave it to fate.”

  She indeed did not have such ambitions.