I Might Have Fallen in Love With My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 103 - 99: Preliminary Round 4

Chapter 103: Chapter 99: Preliminary Round 4

The competition was scheduled for nine o’clock in the morning.

Despite Old Wu’s early dining arrangement, a few stragglers still delayed the group, and by the time they set off, it was nearly eight o’clock.

Teacher Liu kept a stern face, constantly urging the students to catch up with the group quickly.

Old Wu, uncharacteristically, was calm and trying to persuade Teacher Liu to be patient, arguing that impatience would only add pressure on the students.

Teacher Liu took several deep breaths, and at such a moment, she no longer called Old Wu "Brother Wu." "Teacher Wu, take a look for yourself, other schools had breakfast at half past seven and managed to leave before us. What does this mean for us? This is what I call disorganized arrangements!"

The smile on Old Wu’s face didn’t reach his eyes: "What is considered an organized arrangement? What is considered a disorganized arrangement? We moved up the time, and as long as we can make it to the school on time, that’s enough..."

Teacher Liu waved her hand to interrupt him: "Teacher Wu, I don’t want to talk so much right now. The pressing matter is whether we can arrive at the school before eight thirty? That way, we will still have some time to prepare."

This physics competition involved many schools, and up to this point, neither the competition mode nor the judges had been announced.

It was indeed a rush for them to get there now to familiarize themselves with the competition mode.

The students, seeing the teachers about to argue, hardly dared to breathe.

Even Li Qingmo, who yawned, was tapped by Teacher Sun walking beside him.

Old Wu stopped talking, and the three teachers led the students to quicken their pace.

Their accommodation was not far from F University; when they arrived, it wasn’t even 8:20 yet, and Teacher Sun was responsible for staying behind to wait for the seating arrangements.

F University has a large campus, and the area designated for the competition was particularly spacious.

Even with several schools’ students present, it did not seem crowded at all.

After about twenty minutes, Old Wu and Teacher Liu returned, both with solemn expressions.

Old Wu gave the students a brief overview of the competition’s format.

The competition was fair, with eight schools determining the order of answering questions by drawing lots. Old Wu drew number 2, a relatively forward number.

At that time, there would be a teacher specifically assigned to set the questions, and each school would answer different questions. However, all these questions had been evaluated by the judges, and the levels of difficulty were the same.

Each student would hold a board, and writing the answer within the set time would mean success; otherwise, they would be eliminated.

If this round did not eliminate half of the participants, the students who passed would compete again until the number of students met the quota.

When they were not answering questions on stage, they could act as spectators sitting below, observing others and gaining experience.

Not only teachers and students from the eight schools were sitting below as the audience but also some senior students from F University, amounting to several hundred people.

Because the venue required a quiet environment, two security guards stood in every row of seats’ aisle to prohibit loud noise.

The first to answer was Shida Affiliated High School. Before the judges arrived, they went up to the podium in turn, and the thirty-plus students on the podium appeared quite nervous, perhaps because of being watched by so many people.

It was said that they were seated according to the designated spots, and Qingran couldn’t guess who might end up being seated next to her.

She sat below, pretending to grip Xie Ying’an’s hand due to her excessive nervousness – a grip she held onto for a long time. All she hoped was that Xie Ying’an’s male protagonist aura might come into effect if she ended up seated next to Wen Shiyi.

To avoid appearing too deliberate, she even had Li Qingmo sit beside her and grabbed his hand.

Li Qingmo, ever so naive, struggled several times to free his hand. Seeing no success, he mocked, "Nervous already? Pathetic!"

Qingran pretended to agree with his words, nodding frantically: "Brother, I’m really worried I might be eliminated in the first round."

This hit right on Li Qingmo’s mind. He concealed his elation, rolling his eyes on purpose: "What’s there to worry about? If you’re out, you’re out."

Qingran: "..."

Why do I sense a hint of happiness in your voice? Is it just my imagination?

Meanwhile, Xie Ying’an, sitting on the other side, looked down at his hand being held by Qingran, his dark eyes seemed to hold stars and oceans.

As clever as he is, he had long noticed that every time Qingran held his hand, it was always right before answering questions or taking exams.

He didn’t know if Qingran was genuinely nervous because he didn’t have much feeling for her due to their young age and had never paid attention to whether she had such small movements when nervous.

But subconsciously, he felt that Qingran didn’t have this little habit before, and he remembered clearly when it started.

Could Qingran’s change be related to Wen Shiyi?

The young man speculated in the depths of his dark eyes.

To Xie Ying’an, Qingran’s small gesture was undoubtedly very pleasing.

Old Wu, who was seated among the students, continued to advise them in a low voice: "When it’s your turn to go on stage, don’t be too nervous. It’s okay if you can’t answer the question; we can calm down, steady our minds, and think about the solution. But if you get too nervous, it will affect your brain..."

No matter what Old Wu said, all that was left in the students were nervousness and mechanical nodding.

At 8:55 am, with the introduction of an impressive host, the judging teachers began to take their places one by one.

There were six judges in total. After they were seated, they each introduced themselves with a microphone, each one a professor from a renowned institution.

They spoke with composure and gravity.

To everyone’s surprise, two of the first three professors were from Q University, one of the top in the country, stirring a murmur of awe, followed by a warm round of applause.

Old Wu’s face flushed with excitement, and he whispered to Teacher Sun, "What’s the real reason for this competition? How did they manage to invite professors from Q University?"

Teacher Sun shook his head: "The higher-ups don’t wish to disclose it, and we haven’t heard a slight bit of news. I just saw two professors from my alma mater as well."

Old Wu hissed in surprise and started to listen attentively to the professors’ introductions.

"Huh?" Li Qingmo suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

Qingran glanced at him, wondering what antics he was up to now.

Li Qingmo straightened up a bit, looking at the judges’ panel, stretching his finger towards a certain spot and asking Qingran, "Li Qingran, look, the second to last on the right, doesn’t that judge look very young?"

Qingran was startled and looked up.

The distance was too great to see well; she could only catch a glimpse of the man’s back. He wore a white shirt with black pants, sitting with his back to them at the judges’ table, his back straight and tall, his lean figure out of place among the paunchy professors.

Li Qingmo kept babbling, "That young looking, how could he possibly be a professor? Could it be that some student went to the wrong spot and ended up at the judges’ table? Hahaha~"