After Being Blackened All Over the Internet, I Ruled the Military Variety Shows
Chapter 193: My An’an is a Little Top Student

Chapter 193: Chapter 193: My An’an is a Little Top Student

Jiang Lingxi paused the video and frowned at Jiang Lingxu, "You didn’t know?"

Jiang Lingxu trembled his lips, and it took him several seconds to get the words out: "Well, you never told me."

The first time he met Xu Ling’an, he thought the skinny little thing was just a freshman in high school.

If it weren’t for this video he just happened to see, he wouldn’t have known that Xu had already entered senior year and was almost done with this year’s college entrance exams!

Jiang Lingxi: "...Oh."

It seemed like she really hadn’t told anyone in the family what grade Xu Ling’an was in.

But is that a problem? Not at all!

"Is it worth being so surprised?"

Only then did Jiang Lingxu realize he had overreacted, pursing his lips and lowering his head, suppressing the growing sense of panic over their widening gap.

"Ahem, the video, sis, the video isn’t over yet."

Jiang Lingxi eyed his subtle probing and reopened the video.

While others were still discussing Lin Xuefei, the three of them quietly watched the college entrance exam interview.

The little girl who had just exited the exam room looked like someone who didn’t know how to say no; now, faced with a reporter’s interview, she merely furrowed her brow slightly and nodded with a touch of helplessness.

"I heard that this year’s math exam was quite tough, harder than expected. What do you think, little girl?"

The interview was conducted among a group, and the video captured other students’ reactions to the question.

"It’s not just tough. It’s explosively hard!"

"The only part I was sure about was the multiple-choice questions."

"I couldn’t even understand the last big question, so I just wrote down the word ’solution’."

...

And the little girl being interviewed looked at the microphone before her, stayed silent for two seconds, then nodded lightly, "It was indeed somewhat difficult."

The visible half of the microphone in the video obviously paused, evidently surprised by such an unusual response; the reporter’s voice also grew more excited, "So, little girl, did you finish everything?"

"Yes, but I only had time to check it once."

Reporter: "It seems you’re quite confident in yourself. Keep it up. We hope you achieve excellent results in this year’s college entrance exams and get into your dream college."

"Thank you."

The video ended, with the final shot showing the little girl jogging away.

A boy in a gray t-shirt held a large black umbrella, with his other arm linked with an elderly person with white hair; both stood waiting patiently.

The little girl running towards them had a much livelier demeanor compared to her interview moments ago.

"Looks like this little girl is a top student," Lu Zhengzheng quietly concluded, thinking of the sibling pair’s earlier conversation, "Do you and little brother Xu know her, Xixi?"

The siblings nodded in unison, and Jiang Lingxi added approvingly, "She’s indeed a great student, a very smart girl."

Jiang Lingxu remained silent, prompting Jiang Lingxi to glance at him again, noticing the dimness in his eyes, "Feeling inferior?"

Directly hitting the nail on the head, Jiang Lingxu silently stood up, turned to face the corner, and started to daydream gloomily.

Lu Zhengzheng watched him silently ’grow mushrooms’ in the corner and asked, "What’s up with little brother Xu?"

Jiang Lingxi continued scrolling through videos, waving it off, "Don’t worry about him."

Some things, only he can work out himself.

*

In a small hotel next to the college entrance exam site.

Xu Ling’an had just finished the lunch from the thermal lunchbox and was urged by his grandma and brother Lei to go to bed.

"I’m not sleepy yet."

"Then play on your phone a bit before sleeping."

"Okay, grandma, keep me company."

Xu Lei had booked a standard room with three single beds just to nap during the afternoon break.

He lay on the outermost bed, quietly watching over the grandchild and grandma beside him.

"Hey, sister just sent me a message."

"Isn’t she filming?"

"Yeah, at the film city near the suburbs of Beijing built a few years back. Once the exams are over, we’ll pick a good day and I’ll take grandma to see the set."

"I’ll be waiting then," Gao Lan agreed with a smile to this promise, "Quick, see what message your sister Xixi sent."

Xu Ling’an eagerly opened the unread message just sent, blushing after reading it. Turning to notice his grandma peering with squinted eyes but without her reading glasses, he shyly had to read it aloud, "Grandma, sister said this: An’an, I saw a video online of our school prodigy being interviewed when I was browsing videos on the set. It’s awesome, keep it up!"

Gao Lan also watched when her granddaughter was stopped and interviewed by the reporter, but she didn’t expect, "The video went online so quickly, huh?"

Xu Lei had already pulled out his second-hand phone and quietly started searching while explaining to the older lady unfamiliar with today’s rapid information sharing, "That’s right, grandma, nowadays you can do anything with just a phone. Editing a video and posting it online takes only a few minutes. Sister Xixi probably saw it quickly because the hottest topic online now is about the college entrance exams. Once the video is posted, lots of people will see it."

As he spoke, he found the clip of Xu Ling’an’s interview, and despite what he had just said, he couldn’t help but gasp at the view count appearing in the bottom left corner of the video, "Already surpassing a million views so fast!"

"A million? That means a million people saw An’an on their phones?" Gao Lan felt her heart leap and moved her lips, ultimately swallowing her unspoken words.

But Xu Ling’an, having grown up at the old man’s knee, recognized the sudden silence, thought for a moment, and guessed what the unspoken words were.

Mother had been missing for so many years, finding a trace in this vast sea of people was like finding a needle in a haystack.

But now, a short interview video in less than an hour had been seen by over a million people.

What if, among those million people, someone familiar turns out to be Mom who stumbled upon the video?

Would Mom be able to recognize that it’s An’an?

If she’d known in advance that the video would be so popular, she should have introduced herself in front of the camera.

Just in case.

The grandparent and grandchild exchanged glances, and Gao Lan reassuringly patted the child’s shoulder, "Alright, get some sleep. You have another exam this afternoon. Don’t think about anything else now. Rest well and focus on the exam later, that’s what matters most."

"I know, grandma, I’ll message Sister Xixi back and then sleep."

Jiang Lingxi lay on the foldable chair in the temporary rest area, groggily half-asleep, and was awakened by her phone vibrating on the nearby table, seeing Xu Ling’an’s reply, "Sister, filming is hard work. After the exams, can grandma and I visit the set?"

"You’re more than welcome."

After reading the message, Xu Ling’an contentedly nestled into his grandma’s arms and closed his eyes, "Grandma, let’s visit Sister at the set later. I’m going to sleep now!"