I Might Have Fallen in Love With My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 106 - 102 Preliminary Round 7

Chapter 106: Chapter 102 Preliminary Round 7

In the end, F High School retained 21 students and eliminated 11.

When the first few were eliminated, there were hardly any more eliminations afterward.

The three teachers all sighed in relief; the results were apparently better than they had expected.

Qingran sat back in her original seat, with Xie Ying’an and Li Qingmo sitting to her left and right, respectively.

As soon as Li Qingmo sat down, he started bragging: "I thought it was going to be difficult, but it wasn’t that hard at all."

As if he wasn’t the nervous one just moments ago.

That’s right, this guy also passed today, his smugness almost making him forget his own last name.

Qingran couldn’t be bothered with him. She glanced at Xie Ying’an on the other side, who had been quiet since returning from the podium.

The young man looked down, his black eyelashes casting a shadow on his eyelids. From the side, his nose was high and straight, and at the moment, his thin lips were pursed, and the air around him emanated an emotion so low it was frightening.

Qingran suddenly thought of the term "aloof and abstinent" that always popped up in Ruan Ruan’s vocabulary; it couldn’t be more fitting to describe Xie Ying’an at this moment.

The crazy screaming from the audience below was justifiable, given how otherworldly Xie Ying’an’s good looks were.

Another round of competition started on the stage.

The usually aloof and proud young man was uncharacteristically downcast today.

Unable to resist, Qingran leaned slightly to the left and asked in a low voice, "What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Xie Ying’an calmly looked up at her; the restlessness in his dark eyes had not yet faded.

Qingran was stunned for a moment before realizing that Xie Ying’an hadn’t suppressed his natural disposition over the years; he had just become better at concealing it.

Perhaps it was Qingran’s initiative to lean in that soothed Xie Ying’an’s mood a bit. His face looked a bit better, and he suddenly reached out to grasp Qingran’s fingertips.

"I don’t like that man..." He frowned towards the direction of the judges’ panel, his tone low with a hint of pitifulness: "Not one bit."

This rejection seemed to come instinctively from the body, with no reason even he could articulate.

Startled, Qingran followed his gaze toward the judges’ panel; among a group of bald-headed men, Professor Lin Zhou’s thick hair stood out.

Amidst all these professors, whom did Xie Ying’an not like?

Was it the one who had asked him questions earlier?

Suppressing her curiosity, Qingran patted Xie Ying’an’s hand gently, comforting him: "It’s alright; we won’t have to see them much from now on anyway."

Even if they had passed the preliminary round, and with the next semifinal and final round, at most they would only meet three more times, and the judges next time might not even be the same people.

Perhaps her words comforted Xie Ying’an successfully because his mood no longer seemed to bottom out.

To not obstruct the view, the seats in the back were designed to be higher than those in the front.

Xie Ying’an glanced over Qingran’s head towards the back and quickly looked away, settling down, but he did not let go of Qingran’s hand.

Qingran always felt like Xie Ying’an’s gaze seemed to have caught something. Unable to resist her curiosity, she also glanced back. The back was full of bustling heads; apart from heads, there was nothing else.

Qingran turned her attention back to the podium as well. Maybe because she had gotten used to secretly holding Xie Ying’an’s hand, she didn’t realize for a moment that he was still holding hers.

Xie Ying’an sneaked a glance at Qingran from the corner of his eye. She was looking at the questions on the big screen on the stage, showing no sign of rejection to his touch.

At this moment, Xie Ying’an felt that perhaps he wasn’t so repulsed by that young professor after all.

Behind them, Ruan Ruan’s voice was so tense it almost cracked: "Ah, did my Brother An just notice us?"

Song Shize pried off Ruan Ruan’s hand from his clothes with even more distaste: "Just say what you have to say, why the physical fuss?"

Ruan Ruan was still immersed in the fear of being discovered by Xie Ying’an and hadn’t thought to retort.

Song Shize smoothed out the wrinkles on his shirt that had been grabbed, with an indifferent expression on his face: "Not to mention Xie Ying’an can’t possibly see us from that far away. Besides, even if Xie Ying’an did see us, so what? If he can come to this place, why can’t we?"

Ruan Ruan: "..."

Song Shize was definitely trying to pull her down to his idiotic level of intelligence, and then defeat her with his extensive experience as an idiot!

Ruan Ruan ignored Song Shize and lowered her head to whisper to Zheng Chunming: "Chunming, what are you so focused on watching?"

Zheng Chunming looked grief-stricken: "Ruannuan, no wonder I wasn’t qualified for this competition. I didn’t get a single question right out of the three that were just shown."

Ruan Ruan’s mouth twitched. Could she say that she had been focusing on the young Professor Lin the whole time and hadn’t watched the questions displayed on the big screen at all?

She deserved her poor grades!

The third round of the competition was a mess; out of 32 students, only 12 passed.

A few big-shot professors hadn’t posed any questions during this round; they just quietly marked the papers.

Due to time constraints, the fourth round started quickly, and this time it was City No.1 High School. Just over six or seven minutes into the round, several students had already put down their pens.

Their strength was not to be underestimated.

Old Wu sat amongst the students, pointing to a student onstage and quietly explaining to his neighboring classmates: "You see that boy number 15? His score in the mid-term exam was the same as Xie Ying’an’s. He can be considered one of your strongest opponents."

The boy numbered 15 onstage had a buzz cut that few young men would choose these days and wore a pair of black-framed glasses. Given the thickness of the lenses, comparable to beer bottles, one could guess he must have put a lot of effort into his studies.

Yang Xuetin curled her lips and muttered quietly: "He’s so ugly..."

Not even one percent as good-looking as Xie Ying’an.

It turned out not all good students were good-looking.

Xie Ying’an watched his "opponent" thoughtfully and after a while, commented lightly: "I feel that it won’t be long before Li Qingran becomes my real opponent."

Old Wu raised his eyebrows in surprise, then laughed heartily: "If you two desk-mates could become equally-matched rivals in terms of grades, that would be good, too."

City No.1 High School had strong abilities indeed, but none of the six professors sitting in the judges’ seats posed any questions.

In the end, City No.1 High School ended with 22 students advancing, one more than F High.

Old Wu, however, was not unhappy and even whispered to Teacher Sun that having more students advance didn’t matter; none of their students had caught the eye of the professors.

As expected, even with 22 students advancing, the faces of the three teachers from City No.1 High School showed no particular joy.

After the fourth round ended, it was also 12 o’clock. Concerned that there would not be enough time in the afternoon for another four rounds, lunchtime was limited to only one hour.

The cafeteria at F University was very large, and with so many people eating, there was almost no need to queue.

During the meal, Li Qingmo brought up Lin Zhou.

He must have been hungry, shoveling a big mouthful of rice and swallowing it before saying, "I always feel like I’ve seen that young professor somewhere before? Li Qingran, do you remember?"

Xie Ying’an paused with his chopsticks, lifting his gaze to look at Li Qingmo.

Qingran thought about it seriously and then shook her head: "No."

Her knowledge of Lin Zhou was limited to the fact that in her book, Lin Zhou was Li Qingran’s husband.

Li Qingmo thought for a bit longer, felt that he really couldn’t recall, and was too lazy to think further.

Qingran could probably guess why Li Qingmo found Lin Zhou familiar. The book had mentioned that Mr. Li had been kind to Lin Zhou, so later on, Lin Zhou was willing to marry Li Qingran, if only to repay a debt of gratitude.

Perhaps his brother found him familiar because Mr. Li had helped Lin Zhou in the past, and he might have seen Lin Zhou’s photo or heard his name.

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