Since he could not find any clue from He Yi, Father Deng had already begun to aim at Qiao Nan.

  Father Deng had discovered something about the pair. However, he had not told Deng Wenchang about the discovery. He advised Deng Wenchange to restrain a little if he was not fully confident and not to be so harsh and fierce to Qiao Nan. If they were to alert her and cause all efforts to be in vain, that would not be good.

  It was because of Father Deng’s words that Deng Wenchang endured and thus only expressed his displeasure through snorts and sneers

  When Deng Wenchang cast Qiao Nan death stares, he did not realize that the people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had lost all the good feelings about him. They looked at this youngster with disdain and displeasure without any slightest feel of admiration. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, harmonious teamwork was necessary to carry out the tasks, and they should not harbor any personal agenda.

  This was because all the matters that this department dealt with would have a direct impact on the nation’s interests.

  Individual family matters were not as crucial as the country matters, let alone ‘me’.

  If the people in the department could not be united, how could they deal with all the situations tacitly and secure a line of defense for the country?

  After Deng Wenchang joined the department, he thought that he was quite smart and could treat the seniors in the unit differently. He was warm and happy when he greeted Minister He. In front of other seniors, he also followed Minister He and greeted them as ‘Old X’. Which family was this heartless kid from? He was too unlikable.

  \r \r \r

  He was not likable. Neither did he have team spirit. He wanted to divide the people in the department.

  When Deng Wenchang was thinking of how to evict Qiao Nan from the department, these seniors were already quietly discussing how a youngster like Deng Wenchang was not suited for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Such a capable talent should go to another department and take on another role; he could then shine and sizzle. It was such a waste to make him stay in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  The people in the department had strong views on Deng Wenchang. He Yi was well aware of this.

  Although Deng Wenchang was only an intern on contract and not a permanent employee, they also had to give a valid reason for his departure, right?

  Hence, for the sake of the department’s union, He Yi was still very amiable when he faced Deng Wenchang. He took out all the materials that Deng Wenchang had given to him over these few days and placed them on Deng Wenchang’s table in an amiable manner. “Xiao Deng, I know that you are young and can be a little impatient, lacking some maturity. However, you have to remember that we want meticulousness and conscientiousness in our ministry. This mistake shouldn’t even be allowed in normal circumstances. If you do this in a critical time, you are not embarrassing and letting down the ministry but the country and the citizens.”

  As he said that, He Yi said with a heavy tone and deep sigh, “Xiao Deng, look at these materials again. Don’t think that Xiao Qiao is younger and has not graduated from college. A young lady is ultimately a young lady. She is much more meticulous than you. I hope that you won’t make the same mistake next time. Otherwise, you’re not suited to remain in this department.”

  Deng Wenchang constantly made such an impermissible error. It was not as hard as he had imagined to make him leave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Well, Deng Wenchang was sending his chinks in the armor to He Yi.

  Chided by He Yi in front of so many people, Deng Wenchang was so furious that he felt like scolding people. He took back the materials in humiliation and read it silently with a drooping head. He really did not believe that there was any major problem with the materials that he had compiled. However, He Yi only criticized him and not Qiao Nan.

  A student who studied abroad had been slapped in the face by an undergraduate. Could Deng Wenchang accept such a matter?

  In the end, Deng Wenchang looked down on Qiao Nan mainly because she was too ambitious. As a useless eye-candy, she did not know her limits; she dared to shamelessly sell her body when she was still schooling and squeezed into such an important place like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  The more Deng Wenchang cared about Qiao Nan’s identity as a student, the more he could not accept Qiao Nan performing better than him.

  Unfortunately, He Yi had seen through Deng Wenchang’s character. He was not only returning this set of materials to Deng Wenchang. As the minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he had to take a red pen and mark the ‘homework’ of his ‘student’ like a teacher. Sometimes, He Yi also took his hat off to Deng Wenchang. Where did he get the confidence to display such a brazen and arrogant attitude in the department?

  When He Yi used the striking red pen, Deng Wenchang found it too hurting for his eyes.

  The person who sat near Deng Wenchang ‘accidentally’ scanned, amused. “I say, Xiao Deng, did you take the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as your school? All red? I feel depressed…… Overseas students nowadays only have so little capability? If those prestigious schools overseas have such poor education capability, I feel that our kids don’t need to study abroad. In my view, Comrade Xiao Qiao is quite good. She’s fast and effective in her work, yet she is very precise. Why do I feel that, in comparison, the local education quality is better?”

  He was not saying these just to poke fun at Deng Wenchang. He really did think so.

  Everyone had eyes to see. Only the high and mighty Deng Wenchang, the party concerned, was muddled. He was less capable than Qiao Nan and lacking more than just a bit.

  If Deng Wenchang could humbly accept this, strive to improve, work hard to minimize the distance between him and Qiao Nan, and chase after exceeding Qiao Nan’s performance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would welcome such behavior. One had to know that men dominated the department. In terms of gender, Deng Wenchang had an advantage over Qiao Nan.

  It was a sheer pity that Deng Wenchang’s later performance was really too poor to the extent that these seniors felt that they would rather retain a female comrade than a muddleheaded newbie like Deng Wenchang. As for themselves, they definitely would not scheme because of such petty grudges and endanger the nation’s interests.

  “Yes, actually, the local education quality is quite good. There is no use to learn a lot. It is more important to build a good foundation.”

  Due to the ‘stellar’ performance of Deng Wenchang, this overseas student, people in the department could not help discussing the difference in education quality between local and overseas studies, and also whether it was necessary for the local students to go abroad for their studies.

  In particular, there was someone in the office who had just sent his child overseas for studies. He said that if had a similar ‘all red’ performance like Deng Wenchang and could not win against the local college graduates, he would definitely beat his child to death.

  If the problem did not lie with the school, it must be with the student.

  1370 Attitude Is Everything

  Besides He Yi, he had also been surrounded and attacked by a group of ‘old folks’. Deng Wenchang dared not flare up at them. He could only cast malicious stares at Qiao Nan. So many people were biased toward her. It seemed that, aside from him, Qiao Nan had given everyone else benefits behind his back!

  Qiao Nan, who was once again ‘shot’ without even doing a thing, sneered. She threw another set of materials to Deng Wenchang. “Comrade Deng, this is my assignment. Do you want to take a look at it together?”

  “It’s the same one?” When Deng Wenchang took it and read it, he realized that Qiao Nan’s content was similar to his.

  Qiao Nan put down her pen and drank some water to hydrate herself. “Yes, the task yesterday was not that important and the workload was not heavy, so both of us were given the same one. If you are interested, we can look at it together, in case you feel unconvinced in both your heart and mind such that your hands become so limp that you can’t even hold your pen properly.”

  When Qiao Nan wanted him to read it, Deng Wenchang did not want to. “What’s there to read? These were obtained through some lowly means. Is it meaningful? There are a few rare words in this material that are seldom used. Also, they are adapted from the Latin language. You must have got it right after someone taught you this. What’s there to be smug about?” If someone were to teach him, wouldn’t he be ‘all red’ indeed?

  Qiao Nan shook her head and passed Deng Wenchang a book. “I have not studied abroad and am not very knowledgeable, so I am not sure about the teaching materials for overseas students like you. This book is one of the textbooks of an elective subject in the local foreign language faculty. It’s not very popular and a little unorthodox. However, the term that you referred to earlier is taught in this book. This is not considered private coaching but mass teaching. One classroom of people attended the lesson.”

  Deng Wenchang did not believe Qiao Nan. He took the book and flipped it to verify himself.

  \r \r \r

  It was quite easy to find the term. Qiao Nan had specially placed a bookmark on the page where the term appeared. She was afraid that Deng Wenchang would call her a liar if he could not find it.

  When he flipped Qiao Nan’s book, everyone was dazzled by what was before their eyes. That book was originally not thin but it had become extremely thick after Qiao Nan used it. She had pasted little pieces of adhesive notes on those special, uncommon, rare, or interesting phrases, words, sentences, and grammar in the book.

  The handwritten notes on the little pieces of paper had three colors: red, blue, and black. Besides this three-colored handwriting, different highlighters were also used to highlight and differentiate the main points.

  There were so many colorful little pieces of notes that one could not help feeling dazed as they were not used to it.

  Deng Wenchang’s expression changed from a mocking and scornful one to a more serious one. Both had been students before. Judging from Qiao Nan’s book, which had gained a lot of weight, Qiao Nan’s learning attitude as a student deserved affirmation. These notes were taken by Qiao Nan when she listened to professors during the lessons.

  There were also some notes where Qiao Nan did more research on her own as she was not satisfied with the brief elaboration by the professors. She was thorough in seeking information. With such hard work, of course, Qiao Nan would have a more thorough knowledge of the same content. It was so thorough that even an overseas student like Deng Wenchang could not help feeling ashamed.

  It was not because of other reasons. Deng Wenchang knew some of the contents written on the little pieces of notes. There were also some that he had never heard of. In normal circumstances, as long as he was aware of the existence of the term and its general meaning and usage, that would do.

  For example, gunpowder was one of the four great inventions of China. As a Chinese, it would do as long as Deng Wenchang had a little knowledge of this history. When others brought up this question, he could chat with them a little about it.

  Qiao Nan was extremely different. She not only grasped this basic knowledge but also specially researched the background and circumstances where gunpowder first appeared, how it was invented, evolved, and even daringly bought enough materials to conduct an ‘experiment’ on her own.

  This process might seem simple but it made a huge difference in an individual English term. The evolution of a word was not accomplished in one stroke but step-by-step. Like recognizing Chinese words, Deng Wenchang only learned all the simplified language. Qiao Nan had a thirst for learning. She learned both the simplified and traditional way of writing, Khitan scripts, and writing systems of the Qin and Zhao dynasties.

  As such, Qiao Nan could recognize the same word in the different ways that it was written. Similarly, the same-meaning word, regardless of the stage of change that it was at, Qiao Nan would not be misled by the slight differences. On the contrary, she could accurately express the meaning of the word and its usage.

  Qiao Nan could not be misled as she had widened her knowledge thoroughly. Deng Wenchang could not achieve something that Qiao Nan could!

  As he read, word-by-word, the historical evolution of the word that he had made a mistake on, Deng Wenchang was ghastly pale and he felt like spewing expletives. Where did Qiao Nan, this monster, come from? Damn! Who would have so much spare time to do so much research on just one rare word?

  He dared to say that, based on the research of that one word alone, Qiao Nan had definitely read a foreign history book that was as thick as a dictionary. Perhaps she even read more than one of such book.

  Damn!

  Was she studying foreign languages or foreign histories?

  According to these handwritten notes, Qiao Nan was not only proficient in English. She also had some research and knowledge on other foreign languages such as French and Latin. Was this human? Darn, this was clearly a pervert!

  If it was possible, Deng Wenchang really wanted to use his stationary to hammer Qiao Nan, this bane, to death. Having been a student for so many years, he had seen many students, but this was his first time encountering a type like Qiao Nan. She really had a huge hole in her brains. There were definitely holes in Qiao Nan’s brains. Then, how could people like them who had no holes in the brain win against Qiao Nan?

  This was the first time that Deng Wenchang had to face Qiao Nan’s capability and ability directly. Although he did not think that Qiao Nan was smarter than him, he could tell and had to admit that, based on these little note pieces, he could not win in terms of seriousness in learning.

  It seemed that Qiao Nan was not just a useless eye-candy.

  It was no wonder that He Yi always praised Qiao Nan for doing well after every task. So, it was not just because she was He Yi’s little lover. Clearly, Qiao Nan had some capability. That was why He Yi daringly and openly ‘endorsed’ Qiao Nan in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and let everyone affirm her existence such that she was competing for a position with him.

  “This learning attitude of Xiao Qiao is very good. No wonder the teachers in your school were willing to nominate you for the sponsorship for overseas studies. However, it’s fine even if you don’t go. Given your learning attitude, there is really not much difference whether you go or not.” Those who were in the know held onto her book like it was a rare gem and could not stop staring at it.