Chapter 54.1
In the eyes of others, Zhao Mingxi’s progress was so fast that they simply couldn’t believe it. She climbed from the middle of the Normal Class to the top 20 of this building in just three or four months. This time it was even more exaggerated, she was directly 3rd in the school and 35th in the province!
But only Mingxi knew how much effort she made for this.
Putting aside the more than 10 years of hard work before she came to this city, anyway, that hard work was emptied to zero as soon as she stepped into Zhao Yuan's aura. In the first two years of Normal Class, no one knew how much harder she worked in order to change classes. She would burn the midnight oil to do questions, and she worked as hard as everyone else. After changing classes, she never slackened her focus on learning while fighting for her life with Fu Yangxi's luck.
It was precisely because she had been working hard and running, so when she finally saw the obvious reward at this moment, Mingxi seemed to have rushed out of a dark alley. Excitement and grievances climbed into her heart, and finally turned into unspeakable excitement.
At the beginning, she accepted the binding of the system, thinking that she had no other choice. If she did not agree, she would definitely end up with a tragic death like in her previous life.
But it turns out, the system did not lie to her. As long as she worked hard, everything would be rewarded and her destiny could be changed.
At that moment, Mingxi’s eye sockets were actually hot. She turned around and hugged Fu Yangxi in time, rubbing the wetness in the corner of her eyes on his clothes.
When she raised her head again, Mingxi was the ‘never crying Mingxi’ again, free and easy.
The system said to Mingxi in Mingxi's mind: "I didn't lie to you, you can continue to work hard. When the potted plants reach 500, all that is accumulated will be the heroine's luck. When the time comes, you can also have the heroine’s halo."
Mingxi didn’t think that far, nor did she ever intend to. Now she only wants to accumulate to 500 and get rid of the negative luck completely.
After all, she could still vaguely feel the shackles of some negative luck during the preliminary examination. Although it was better than before, she still hasn't been able to use 100% of her strength.
The list of finalists could be found as long as you log in to the portal.
Therefore, in just 10 minutes, the whole building heard of the news.
A total of 9 people were shortlisted.
Among them, Zhao Mingxi of the International Class was ranked 3rd among the 9 people and 35th in the province!
Not to mention that the students in the three classes were shocked, even Miss Ye Bing and Mr Jiang who were in the office were also shocked!
From their point of view, a student who transferred from a Normal Class had cut through multiple obstacles within three months, directly rushing to the sky from the middle reaches of the mediocre generation, and climbed to the top of the province!
There wasn’t even a process of climbing?! She rushed up directly?!
That's too unbelievable, isn't it?
But no matter how unbelievable it was, the truth was right in front of them!
Could this be due to Professor Gao?
Compared to participants like Shen Liyao who would definitely be shortlisted without any suspense, Zhao Mingxi as the dark horse immediately attracted everyone's attention.
During this period of time, there was a lot of talk about the Zhao family’s exchange of daughters. In addition, she ranked 3rd place in the school, only five points away from Shen Liyao. It was difficult for everyone to not focus on her!
"Is this a top student?" A girl in the Evergreen Class said in shock, “Pu Shuang and the others quarreled with her during the training camp and ruined the mood, but it didn't affect her at all? It only affected Pu Shuang and the others?”
Pu Shuang was not shortlisted, nor was Zhao Yuan. Only one boy in the Evergreen class was shortlisted, so they were not proud about this.
But those who were not shortlisted also got another provincial ranking.
In the past, Zhao Yuan and Pu Shuang could be ranked about 130 and 300 in the province respectively, but this time Zhao Yuan’s score fluctuated to 180. Pu Shuang’s score fluctuated even more and dropped directly to more than 800 in the province.
Because Zhao Yuan was not there, Ye Bing, the homeroom teacher, had very sternly called Pu Shuang and the other two students whose grades had fallen so severely to the office to analyze the reasons.
“She’s not just a top student, she’s a legendary student. See, she and Shen Liyao's scores are only five points apart! Maybe in another year, she will surpass Shen Liyao.”
“I don’t think she’ll surpass God Yao. God Yao has participated in so many national competitions…”
"Anyway, she’s better than you and me."
"No wonder Professor Gao specially applied for her spot at the time. I was not convinced at the time, but now I am convinced."
When the group of 21 people went to participate in the training camp, except for Shen Liyao, almost everyone felt that Zhao Mingxi's appearance in their training group was very abnormal.
They all felt that she just did a little better in the monthly exam, and the spot she got through backhanded means showed that she did not have much strength at all.
However, now the list of finalists was out and the truth was shown before them. Zhao Mingxi was shortlisted, but those who mocked her were not.
With the truth being displayed right in front of you, what was the point in attempting to refute it?
Everyone had to withdraw their previous prejudices. They were finally convinced.
Ye Bai was also shortlisted.
His performance was as usual this time, ranking 9th in the school, coincidentally becoming the 9th finalist, ranking 83rd in the province.
For him, this result was enough to excite him.
But when he looked up at Zhao Mingxi, who was far above him, his excitement was immediately as if he was being slapped down by a mountain, and he felt a lot of pressure.
"It's too unexpected." Ye Bai looked at the list, unable to calm down. He said to Yue Teng, "Why does Zhao Mingxi surprise people every day?!"
It was a surprise that she no longer liked Shen Liyao.
Her beauty was a surprise.
Her tragic past unknown to everyone was also a surprise.
Not only this, her grades actually skyrocketed and she overpowered everyone on the School Representative Team except Shen Liyao and Ke Chuan.
In the past year, Ye Bai ridiculed Zhao Mingxi, mostly in a condescending way.
Like Shen Liyao, they were all ‘children from other families’. They had excellent backgrounds, appearances and grades.
Among those chasing Shen Liyao, Zhao Mingxi was the one who Shen Liyao minded the most.
So they all loved to bet on her.
During this process, Ye Bai would not deny that he had always used a superior perspective to judge Zhao Mingxi.
But now, he suddenly wondered, what is so superior about me?
Zhao Mingxi was very beautiful, so beautiful that it was an undeniable fact, to the point where everyone was shocked to the core.
Zhao Mingxi's family background was also very good, even if she was not raised in the Zhao family since she was a child, that was not what she wanted.
Zhao Mingxi's achievements and intelligence have been verified. She had already surpassed him.
This girl was much better than him.
What right did he have to evaluate her?
His previous banter and frivolous words seemed so ignorant and superficial at this moment. Like a greasy boy who was confused, self-confident and shameless.
Ye Bai's face felt inexplicably hot.
Yue Teng glanced at Shen Liyao who was not far away, pushed Ye Bai's arm and motioned to him to whisper, "Stop talking."
Another boy from the School Representative Team came over and whispered, “I wonder what God Yao’s mood is now. Zhao Mingxi is only 5 points away from him… I'm even confused right now. How the f*ck am I not shortlisted?”
As he spoke, he glanced at the International Class next door and said, “Zhao Mingxi did so well in the exam, but she doesn’t look like she wants to come over and share this with God Yao. Are the two of them going on completely different paths?”
Ye Bai said in a low voice, “The main reason was that at the time, no one knew that Zhao Mingxi was good-looking and could obtain good grades. Also, maybe God Yao— I mean maybe, maybe, in fact, he liked her at the time, but he himself didn't know it. If we knew it earlier, wouldn't we have encouraged him to be with her? Then things won't be how it is now.”
While Ye Bai said this, he felt extremely guilty. He didn't know how to face Shen Liyao recently.
He always felt that 80% of Shen Liyao’s frustration in love was because of him...
Shen Liyao happened to look up.
Ye Bai was shocked. He hurriedly twisted his head and touched his nose, his heart in a great panic.
“You still have the audacity to mention this, huh,” Yue Teng said. “When you were training, you also said that Zhao Mingxi was just arrogant, and that God Yao could get her back. Now why the f*ck is it getting worse? Can he still chase after her?”
Ye Bai: “...”
During the training camp, Ye Bai did believe that he could get Zhao Mingxi back, but after the incident on the basketball court, Ye Bai was not sure.
In addition, Zhao Mingxi's grades were now soaring and everyone could see her excellence— When compared to Shen Liyao, she seemed to be no worse than him.
So why were they so sure that Shen Liyao would be able to get her back if he pursued her?
So Ye Bai became even more uncertain.
At this moment, Shen Liyao must have heard them saying Zhao Mingxi's name, because his face looked extremely cold as he walked over here.
Ye Bai suddenly became as anxious as a dog. He grabbed the test paper, said to Yue Teng that he was going to the teacher's office and quickly slipped away.
Yue Teng and another boy who had to stay to face Shen Liyao's cold expression: "..."
*
As Zhao Mingxi was in the finals, the Evergreen Class faced another matter.
And that was the bet between Pu Shuang and Zhao Mingxi— At least seven people in the training classroom witnessed the bet with their own eyes. The news spread all over the building, so now the whole building knew about it!
Now Zhao Mingxi really squeezed into the finals and she even came in 3rd place! But Pu Shuang was not on the list at all! Was it time to honor the bet???
The people in the Evergreen Class felt a mix of emotions. Although Pu Shuang was Zhao Yuan’s close friend and many people hated Pu Shuang, Pu Shuang was still a member of the Evergreen Class. If she had to eat her words and drop out of school, wouldn’t the whole Evergreen Class suffer through the same humiliation?
Pu Shuang herself felt even worse.
She came out of Ye Bing's office, feeling like she was being pressed into the water by her neck, drowning and suffocating uncontrollably.
Everyone was talking about this incident wherever she went. Every sentence of ridicule, whether it was mocking or not, seemed like a slap on her face.
——She never thought that Zhao Mingxi would be shortlisted when she made the bet!!!
Pu Shuang walked all the way back to the classroom. Her steps were a bit soft and her head was full with thoughts of ‘what should I do now?!’.
She sat down in the seat. She couldn't really drop out of school because of a bet!
And she did it because of Zhao Yuan!
If there was a time machine, the first thing Pu Shuang would do would be to go back to that time and slap herself awake. Why on earth would she hurt herself like this for an unworthy ‘friend’ like Zhao Yuan?
Great, now she’s done for.
If she drops out, her family will definitely scold her to death. Besides, they would never allow her to drop out of A High so easily since she was already in her final year. However, if she doesn't drop out, she will definitely face everyone's ridicule for the next six months.
No one in the class hung out with Pu Shuang anymore.
Pu Shuang's boyfriend also avoided her for fear of being isolated by the people in the class.
Not far away, E Xiaoxia saw Pu Shuang’s pale face and laughed. “September 24th, who was the one who said that I deliberately triggered Zhao Yuan’s allergy and that I was shameless?”
Pu Shuang: “...”
She felt tormented as she sat in her seat all morning. Pu Shuang didn't listen to a single lesson.
She was lost. She only felt as if the classmates whispering around were talking about her. The classmates who passed around notes were also saying that she was cheeky, pretending that the bet did not happen and refused to drop out.
She went to the bathroom after class. Even then it was as if she could hear the word "drop out".
If this continues, not only would she not be able to go through high school smoothly, she might even go crazy.
Pu Shuang didn't know where the impulse came from. After the first class in the afternoon, as soon as the teacher left the classroom, she suddenly picked up her school bag and rushed towards the International Class upstairs.
A group of people who were hungry for gossip got excited. Thinking she was going to resolve the matter with Zhao Mingxi publicly, they hurriedly followed to watch the fun.
This matter was quite a big deal.
Everyone wanted to see how things would be resolved— Will Pu Shuang really fulfill her promise to drop out of school?
Mingxi was stopped by Pu Shuang when she entered the classroom.
A few steps away from her, Pu Shuang was sweating profusely and her face was pale, as if she was seriously ill.
Pu Shuang stopped her, but bit her lip again and didn't say a word for a long time.
Everyone was watching.
Mingxi had forgotten about the bet to drop out during the training camp, but when some people around whispered, ‘Pu Shuang should quit school if she still has some courage left, otherwise it’ll be really embarrassing’, Mingxi suddenly remembered.
“What is it?” she asked.
Pu Shuang's face flushed red, she was even trembling slightly.
Mingxi waited for about three minutes until she heard a sudden word from her throat.
“S-Sorry.”