Mathematics Olympiad

Three days passed and Qing Mian packed up her luggage to go for the National Mathematical Olympiad.

The students participating in this competition were almost the same as those who went for the Math Star Competition. The international school had four girls as well, and the other two girls were staying together.

Mr. Ling asked Qing Mian and Xue Xi for their opinion and allowed them to stay together.

On the bus, Lu Rui saw the girl, who was wearing a cap, sitting silently with Xue Xi. He pursed his lips and sighed. There were too many people on the bus and tongues might wag, so he decided to comfort her after they had checked in to the hotel.

Six hours later, the bus arrived at the hotel.

During the check-in, Lu Rui moved slowly on purpose because he wanted to find out their room number. Qing Mian passed her identity card to the receptionist and the latter smiled. "Hello. Single rooms are no longer available in our hotel. Is it alright that we upgrade you to a presidential suite for free?"

"I'm staying with my friend", she said and pointed at Xue Xi.

"Since its inconvenient, we'll upgrade you both to the suite for free", the receptionist smiled.

The rest were startled. There is such a good bargain?

Lu Rui was stunned. The presidential suite was on the 28th floor, and average guests could not go to that floor unless they were staying there.

Xue Xi was also stunned.

Qing Mian did not give it much thought and replied, "Mhm."

Immediately, the service staff came to collect their luggage. When the others had left, Lu Rui pondered over it and realized that he still had a lot of allowance. Just as he was about to upgrade to the suite, he saw other guests checking in. "Are single rooms still available?"

"Yes. Which floor would you like, sir?"

He was dumbfounded and could not comprehend what had happened. By the time it was his turn, he requested to upgrade his room but was notified, "Sorry, but our hotel's suites have all been booked. There is no available room that we can upgrade you to."

Lu Rui: "???"

Qing Mian slept particularly well that night and didn't bother with Xue Xi's gaze, breakfast was delivered to them the next morning. By the time they had gathered, they boarded the bus in great spirits.

They arrived at the competition venue, and Mr. Ling briefed them on the instructions before they headed in.

Qing Mian had a problem and had to leave the hall, when she got back to the examination hall, she had 30 minutes less time than other competitors.

After finishing the competition, with the papers having been collected, Qing Mian heaved a sigh of relief. She sat dazedly on her chair, and, at this moment, it turned dark.

Lifting her head, she saw a tall, skinny boy standing in front of her. He was wearing Q High School's uniform and looked dashing. He grinned. "Qing Mian?"

Qing Mian was a little stunned but Xue Xi answered, "Yes, Qing Mian" 

That person continued, "I'm Gu Jingyu. In order to be fair, I'll wait for you for 30 minutes during the second part."

Before Qing Mian could say that he need not do so, the boy had left and sat in the first row.

"I think he likes you", Xue Xi whispered.

"Hmph", Qing Mian snorted.

When the second part of the competition started, the boy really slept on his desk for 30 minutes before starting.

When it ended, a new thread appeared on the National Mathematical Olympiad's forum: "Ah ah ah. I'm shipping this couple! Both curve-wreckers, Qing Mian and Gu Jingyu are really sweet! I can imagine an entire campus romance novel!"

Following the popularity of this thread, the incident whereby had been delayed for 30 minutes spread like wildfire.

Immediately, in the other thread regarding who was to be the winner, Qing Mian and Gu Jingyu's votes plummeted. Kai Jie now had the highest votes.

Qing Mian was not bothered by things happening on the Internet.

On the day of the results' release, she woke up as usual.

When Qing Mian went downstairs, Ding Xian and Qing Qin dared not taunt her openly.

Ding Xian said, "Qinqin, let me tell you. You need to be humble. If you seek to beat others down at everything and leave them with no other way out, you'll offend them. She was delayed for 30 minutes and there were only 80 minutes in the first part, right? Aye."

Qing Qin smiled, and when she saw Qing Mian coming downstairs, she finished her meal. "Mum, stop talking. She was the national winner for the Math Star Competition, and if she scores too poorly for the National Mathematical Olympiad, others will doubt her Math Star Competition's results."

Qin came out from the kitchen and handed the specially-prepared breakfast to Qing Mian. She frowned and consoled her daughter. "Mianmian, the results aren't a great deal. Don't take their words to heart, you want to be an actress anyway"

Qing Mian lifted her eyes calmly and replied, "Oh," before asking, "What words?"

Qin "..."

She felt that her daughter was unbreakable as though she would never need her mother's help. Although she was comforted by it, her heart ached for her.

She was merely an 18-year-old girl. Other girls her age would act pettishly to their parents and cry when they faced challenges. However, her Mianmian had been used to solving everything on her own, and she had erected a wall that isolated her from this world.

Qin smiled and did not continue speaking.

After seeing that Qing Qin and Qing Mian were on bad terms, Qin arranged a car for each of them and Qing Ziqi had the chance to follow whoever he likes. They did not have to wait for each other to go to school now.

Her daughter would not need to endure any absurd grievances now.

After sending Qing Mian and Qing Ziqi off, Qin returned to the living and Ding Xian sneered. "On one hand, there is the Math Olympiad, and on the other, there is the piano. You really adore her and aren't afraid of being insatiably greedy. Look, now she can't be the winner, can she?"

Qing Qin smiled and kept silent.

Qin replied, "This is merely a national competition and not the true Olympiad Competition. As long as she obtains the first prize, she will be able to join the winter camp. With that, she will have recommended admission and lower admission scores. But she doesn't even need it to be an actress ."

Ding Xian harrumphed.

Qin turned to look at Qing Qin and launched an attack on the latter. "Qinqin, it's best that you stop worrying about other things at present. Do your questions and don't let your guard down for the Physics Olympiad Competition this weekend. If not, you won't be able to get the first prize."

Qing Qin's expression changed instantly when she heard these words.

Qin had become more powerful, and Qing Qin dared not speak another word.

When Qing Mian got to school and was about to enter the gate, she heard a commotion.

"Mianmian, look", Xue Xi shouted.

"Whoa, who's that guy, he's so handsome!"

"He's so tall, maybe 1.88m or so? And his physique is fantastic. He looks so attractive in that black shirt."

"Damn, he's so handsome. I think he's better looking than the most handsome boy in school."

Xue Xi was stunned for a while as she followed their gazes.

She saw the tall figure standing not too far away and was caught by surprise.

 Qiao Mianmian turned around as well, and her jaw dropped upon seeing him.

The man walking over was extremely good-looking and charismatic. His eyes looked sharp and the black shirt and pants he was wearing made him appear cool and distant.

He also seemed to have a unique aura around him that captured everyone's attention at first glance.

Xue Xi quickly grabbed Qing Mian's arm. "Damn, Mianmian, did you see that. There's a super hunk in front."

Qing Mian opened her mouth but couldn't say a word. Li M went on squealing. "Ah, Mianmian, he's walking towards us. He seems to be looking at us."

"Oh no, oh no. I can't deal with this. Tell me, am I overthinking this or is that hunk looking at us?!"

Qing Mian went quiet.

She looked at how excited Xue Xi had gone and didn't know what to say.

Xue Xi was easily drawn by looks and couldn't maintain her princess image whenever she saw a handsome person .

But this was still Qing Mian's first time seeing her get this excited. But she wasn't the only one.

The other girls were also yelling and squealing.

A few of them standing behind Qing Mian were saying the same thing, "He's walking towards us. Is he going to talk to us?"

"Ahhh! I think I'm going to pass out. He's so handsome."

"He isn't a student here, right? He looks rather mature."

That man's appearance changed the entire atmosphere among the girls.

The only person who appeared calm and normal was Qing Mian.

But she was only calm on the surface. She was so angry at Li Min for ignoring her messages.  

What's he doing here?!

Isn't he accompanying his new girlfriend?

She stood there completely stunned as Li Min approached her.

The distance between them got smaller...

"Ah, Mianmian, he's coming. I'm so nervous! Should we make the move to say hi first? But what else are we going to say?" Xue Xi looked toward him expectantly.

"Its Li Min", Qing Mian said simply.