Su Qingnuan paused, slightly startled, and stopped in her tracks, tilting her head to look.
The white, spotless wall showed no trace of dirt.
Su Qingnuan frowned and pressed her ear against the wall.
"How should I do this? I’ve been doing exactly what you told ...."
Although the voice was faint and unclear, Su Qingnuan could mostly discern what was going on behind the wall.
Her frown deepened as she walked to the door and knocked.
The door opened from the outside.
A man dressed in a black security uniform stood at the door, his face devoid of emotion as he looked at her.
"Do you need sothing?" he asked.
Su Qingnuan pointed at the neighboring room. "I heard soone talking next door. Could you go check it out?"
The man nodded. "Understood. Anything else?"
"That’s all."
The door closed again.
Su Qingnuan sat down on the chair, her gaze fixated on the wall to her right.
After a long while, she stood up and leaned against the wall.
The voices continued.
It made sense. To blatantly do sothing like this in such a setting, they must have so kind of connections.
But this would make the outco seem utterly unfair.
Out of sixteen contestants, only six would advance to the final round.
Resting her head on the desk, Su Qingnuan massaged her temples, thoughts churning nonstop.
After so ti, a knock on the door broke her reverie, reminding her it was ti for the competition.
Su Qingnuan quickly got up and headed to the door.
The door opened, and she stood at the entrance, glancing to her right.
Not long after, soone stepped out.
Kong Rong erged from the room with her chin lifted high, an air of arrogance about her.
Noticing Su Qingnuan’s gaze, Kong Rong frowned slightly. "Why are you staring at like that? You were looking at the sa way when I went in earlier."
Su Qingnuan raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Just thought you looked rather pretty."
"I’m pretty?" Kong Rong flicked her hair with a faint smile. "Well, you’re not wrong. I am quite pretty."
Seeing her narcissistic deanor, Su Qingnuan said nothing, her expression blank as she walked away.
Su Qingnuan walked forward, seemingly lost in thought. She passed the competition venue, not even noticing Gu Xiaoxiao waving at her.
"Qingnuan?" Gu Xiaoxiao caught up and grabbed her shoulder, sighing helplessly. "What’s on your mind? I’ve been calling you for ages!"
"Huh?" Su Qingnuan snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Gu Xiaoxiao in confusion. "When did you start calling ?"
"When?" Gu Xiaoxiao panted, puffing her cheeks indignantly. "I’ve been chasing you from the entrance all the way here. How long do you think I’ve been calling you?"
Looking back, they were about a hundred ters away from the entrance.
Su Qingnuan scratched her head awkwardly and smiled. "Sorry, I was thinking about sothing and didn’t notice."
"It’s fine. How could I take offense at that?" Gu Xiaoxiao replied seriously, gripping her shoulder and speaking in a low voice. "Did you not perform well this ti? You look so serious."
"...Do I really look that serious?" Su Qingnuan touched her face, sighing. "I don’t think so. I think I did okay."
"If everything’s fine, then what’s with that expression?" Gu Xiaoxiao asked, puzzled. "Did sothing else happen?"
...
Faced with Su Qingnuan’s sudden silence, Gu Xiaoxiao nodded knowingly. "I see—sothing you can’t talk about."
Su Qingnuan hurriedly nodded. "Yes, sothing I can’t talk about."
"If it’s sothing you can’t say, then don’t say it."
Gu Xiaoxiao linked arms with Su Qingnuan and smiled. "Co on, let’s get lunch first. We’ll check the results in the afternoon!"
"Let’s go!"
After eating their fill outside, the two returned to check the results.
Though the results were supposed to be announced at 3 p.m., they waited until 4 p.m. to find out.
Su Qingnuan predictably took first place, her na displayed at the top of the list.
The other two students from her school barely made it; one placed sixth, and the other didn’t qualify for the finals.
"Great! Still first place!" Gu Xiaoxiao exclaid, gripping Su Qingnuan’s hand in excitent.
Su Qingnuan didn’t respond. Her gaze was fixed on the na listed in sixth place.
The na "Kong Rong" seed magnified in Su Qingnuan’s eyes.
The scenes from the competition played vividly in her mind.
Kong Rong’s advancent to the top six must have cost soone their rightful spot.
"Hey! Did you see? Kong Rong made it in!"
"Really!"
"She’s incredible! I didn’t think she was telling the truth!"
"True! When I heard she bet soone she’d make it into the top six, I doubted her. But it turns out she did!"
"Exactly!"
"She made a bet with soone?"
The speaker froze, noticing the annoyed person in front of them. "Who are you?"
"You just said Kong Rong bet soone she’d make it into the top six?"
"Yeah." The speaker nodded, laughing. "Don’t tell you didn’t know? It’s even posted on her school’s forum."
Su Qingnuan quickly pulled out her phone and opened the forum.
Indeed, the top pinned post confird it.
Su Qingnuan sneered.
"Qingnuan?" Gu Xiaoxiao asked worriedly. "What’s wrong? Why are you so worked up?"
Su Qingnuan gripped Gu Xiaoxiao’s hand and looked up solemnly. "Xiaoxiao, I need to go back to school."
"Huh?" Gu Xiaoxiao asked, confused. "Why go back to school? The school gave you the day off today; you don’t need to go."
"There’s sothing I have to resolve today!" Su Qingnuan said through gritted teeth, grabbing her bag and heading to the roadside.
Seeing this, Gu Xiaoxiao quickly followed.
On the ride back, Su Qingnuan recounted what she had seen during the competition to Gu Xiaoxiao.
"So blatant?" Gu Xiaoxiao exclaid in shock. "Then the championship can’t go to her, right?"
"I don’t know." Su Qingnuan shook her head slightly. "What concerns more is that her spot in the top six ans soone else lost their rightful place. It’s unfair."
Seeing Su Qingnuan’s righteous indignation, Gu Xiaoxiao sighed helplessly.
"This competition is just a talent selection organized by capitalists. The school administration probably can’t do much."
"Whether or not they can, this issue must be addressed."
Su Qingnuan’s determined expression left Gu Xiaoxiao montarily speechless, staring in awe.
"I’ll go with you," Gu Xiaoxiao said with a smile.
Su Qingnuan nodded, tightening her grip on Gu Xiaoxiao’s hand.
Upon returning to school, Su Qingnuan headed straight to the director’s office.
She waited outside for a long ti, as the director was busy eting with soone inside.
Growing impatient, Su Qingnuan barged in directly.
"Director! I have sothing to say!"
The director froze briefly, frowning at the interruption.
"What’s the matter? Can’t you see I’m busy right now?"
Su Qingnuan sighed helplessly. "Please just hear out before continuing with your work!"
"Leave first!" the director snapped angrily.
"Director!" Su Qingnuan pressed anxiously.
The director shot her a cold glance. "Out!"
...
Su Qingnuan slowly stepped back outside.
"How did it go?" Gu Xiaoxiao whispered as she approached. "Did you tell him? What did the director say?"
"I haven’t told him yet." Su Qingnuan sighed. "He’s discussing sothing with soone right now."
...
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