"Qingqing? I'm Principal Mo."
Shen Qingqing recognized his voice. "Hello, Principal Mo, is there something you need?"
"Of course there's something, and it's great news!" Principal Mo's tone was very excited. "Your results from the preliminary and semi-final rounds of the provincial competition are out, and they are all quite high scores. Although you didn't get full marks, they are all very solid. Next weekend, a teacher from Yanqi Elementary School will take you and one of their students to participate in the final round."
"Since school is already on winter break, you can just stay home and prepare!"
"Yes, Principal, I understand!"
In previous years, no exam papers were released for the provincial finals. Instead, students only had questions they recalled. However, the provincial finals changed the question sets every year, so even if there were recalled questions, they were not very useful.
The competition ranges from the preliminary rounds all the way to the provincial finals, and all the works are famous works from home and abroad. The only difference is the question-setting team, but the question-setting team keeps changing, and the new teachers always add contemporary topics to combine with the famous works when setting questions.
Therefore, the teachers' advice to the participating children was simply to read more books and watch the news broadcast more often.
Shen Qingqing spent a week eating, sleeping, and watching TV. Then, on the morning of February 2nd, she went to the provincial capital with Yanqi Elementary School's teacher and Ye Ziqi to participate in the final battle.
In the final provincial competition, only 50 contestants remained. From these 50, three first prizes, five second prizes, eight third prizes, and ten honorable mentions were awarded.
On her way to the competition venue, Shen Qingqing unexpectedly saw Zheng Qiuheng's parents at the entrance. Zheng Qiuheng was standing in front of them, listening to what they were saying.
Shen Qingqing thought about it for a while and then understood.
The couple were probably afraid that Zheng Qiuheng would get lost again.
Shen Qingqing looked for a while and then looked away, shrinking herself completely into her windproof and warm down jacket before entering the examination center.
Unexpectedly, Shen Qingqing and Zheng Qiuheng were assigned to the same examination room again this time.
However, this time they were one in front and one behind, not as close as last time.
Upon receiving the competition exam paper, Shen Qingqing frowned slightly. The difficulty and novelty of the questions in the final round were on a completely different level from the previous two rounds.
Shen Qingqing composed herself and began to write down her answers.
Her expression was no longer as relaxed as in the previous two matches. Starting from the middle of the test, Shen Qingqing frequently frowned.
She even saw classical Chinese texts, which are only found in junior high school, used as introductions to the questions. If you can't understand what the classical Chinese text is about, it will be difficult to solve the questions later, because the key to the questions is in the classical Chinese text.
However, this classical Chinese text is not that archaic and is already relatively easy to understand.
Students in the fifth and sixth grades of elementary school are already learning classical Chinese, such as "Bo Ya Breaks His String" and "Two Children Arguing About the Sun." They have no problem understanding simple texts.
Shen Qingqing clicked her tongue and shook her head inwardly. If she weren't a fake first-grader, she really wouldn't have been able to solve this problem.
As time passed, the atmosphere in the examination room became increasingly tense. Shen Qingqing could even hear some people quietly inhaling and complaining.
However, Shen Qingqing remained unmoved. With only ten minutes left in the competition, she only had one more major question to finish.
Even under these circumstances, she still had the composure to draft her answer to the question. Only after confirming that there were no mistakes in the draft did she quickly copy it onto the answer sheet.
"Time's up! All contestants, please put down your pens and stop answering!"
As the broadcast began, Shen Qingqing finally finished writing the last character.
The moment she finished writing, Shen Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief. Sure enough, she still couldn't underestimate the test taker just because she was a reborn person and had gone to university.
No matter the era, those who set the exam questions have always had more experience than those who set them!
After the proctors collected all the exam papers and answer sheets and told them they could leave, the contestants who hadn't finished answering the questions started wailing uncontrollably.
Those who knew each other complained about how difficult the provincial competition was, and those who had participated last year were even more distressed.
As Shen Qingqing packed up her stationery, she turned around and looked at the two groups of people behind her who were complaining and grumbling.
She laughed along when she heard something funny.
She only realized she had finished tidying up when she reached for nothing.
Just as she was about to leave, Zheng Qiuheng blocked her way.
Shen Qingqing was completely blocked from view. She looked up in confusion and, upon seeing that it was Zheng Qiuheng, tentatively asked, "Hello?"
"Hello little sister, thank you for saving me last time. My parents would like to invite you to dinner, is that convenient for you?" Zheng Qiuheng's voice had already gone through puberty, and it was somewhat hoarse and difficult to hear.
Shen Qingqing blinked and waved her hand, saying, "No need. Your aunt and uncle already thanked me when we were at the police station last time. It was the staff and police who saved you. Besides, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have bumped your head like that."
Zheng Qiuheng seemed to have never been rejected before. Now that Shen Qingqing had rejected him so bluntly, he stood there helplessly, not knowing what to say.
Seeing that he was still standing in front of her and showed no intention of moving aside, Shen Qingqing could only purse her lips, tuck her chair under the table, and leave through the other aisle: "Goodbye, big brother!"
Zheng Qiuheng said "Hey," and immediately turned around to follow her out.
Shen Qingqing glanced at him but didn't say anything more. She then found the teacher in charge who was waiting outside and met up with Ye Ziqi.
The teacher in charge was quite surprised: "Student, you..."
The teacher in charge looked at him for a while before finally remembering who he was. "Student, are you feeling better?"
Zheng Qiuheng nodded: "Yes, it's all better now. Thank you so much for what happened last time."
The teacher in charge smiled and said, "It's good that you're alright. Be more careful when you go out on your own in the future. We'll be going now!"
Shen Qingqing turned around again and waved goodbye to him earnestly.
Unexpectedly, Zheng Qiuheng followed them all the way out of the school gate.
With such a clear marker, Zheng's parents quickly realized who had saved their son.
The couple quickly came forward and repeated their request to treat everyone to a meal.
When facing Zheng Qiuheng, Shen Qingqing could directly refuse, but faced with the repeated invitations from Zheng's parents, Shen Qingqing shook her hands so hard they almost broke, but she still couldn't refuse.
Finally, after discussion among the teachers in charge, Shen Qingqing accepted the invitation to the meal.
Mr. and Mrs. Zheng took them to a very famous local chain restaurant. After they were seated, they handed the menu to Shen Qingqing: "Little sister, just order whatever you want to eat, don't be shy!"
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