Chapter 131

Although the exam was over, the finals were still ongoing, with academic presentations scheduled for the next two days.

On November 28th, the closing ceremony of the finals would be held.

Not only that, but the results of the finals would also be announced at the closing ceremony, which was what everyone cared about most.

In fact, on the day they finished the exam, the finals group chat had already started discussing potential answers. As usual, Jiang Zhi and Qi Yibin would have dragged her along to study together, but this time...

Looking at the unusually quiet trio over the past few days, Ji Ruochu felt there was a high probability that their later performance hadn't gone too well.

It was understandable, really, since the difficulty this time was truly inhuman.

Since that was the case, she didn't bring it up. Everyone was focused on the academic presentations until the day of the closing ceremony when the final results were announced and then—

"Full marks?"

Jiang Zhi and Qi Yibin, the two top-scoring buddies tied for first place, eyes wide open in surprise. Then they looked at her accusingly,

"You both did so well, why have you been moping around with long faces these past two days?!"

"Moping around with long faces?" Ji Ruochu was puzzled. "I didn't do that," Jiang Zhi scratched his head.

"How can you say you didn't?" Qi Yibin said angrily. "You didn't even twist your Rubik's cube. You kept sighing all the time. How is that not moping?"

"Huh?" The accused boy blinked and slowly looked at the person next to him. "I thought Ruochu was preoccupied after the exam, assuming she had messed up.

I was sympathizing with my buddy, wondering how to console her..."

"But I didn't mess up," Ji Ruochu was confused.

"Then how come you were in a daze after the exam?" Jiang Zhi counted off on his fingers, "Dropping spoons into soup, lifting chopsticks into thin air, stuffing chili peppers into your mouth but dropping the meat onto the table..."

Qi Yibin and MiaoMiao next to him also nodded in agreement.

Ji Ruochu: ...

"Well...what if I said, after preparing for the finals for so long, it ending so simply—” "Simply?!"

Qi Yibin's face clearly showed: How dare you?!

"Ending so simply," Ji Ruochu said helplessly. "I just felt it was a bit surreal."

Jiang Zhi: ...

"So you all thought I bombed it and joined me in the gloomy atmosphere?"

"What else could it be?" Qi Yibin grimaced. "Even when I didn't finish Question 3, I wasn't as dramatic as you."

"But you still made the Top 10," said MiaoMiao next to him, who also didn't finish Question 3.

Who would understand? They both didn't finish Question 3 but he still made the Top 10 while she dropped out of the Top 30.

"We're almost in the Top 10!" Qi Yibin said agonizingly. "We used to be lined up with them, now we don't even have the permanent second place anymore."

It should be known that at Capital Middle School, not counting total scores but just math, it was either the three of them tying for first place, or Ji Ruochu and Jiang Zhi tying for first place with Qi Yibin second.

This was the first time he had been left so far behind by the two.

MiaoMiao: ...

As expected, the genius not doing well and her own mediocre performance were not held to the same standard.

And so, after a series of misunderstandings, Ji Ruochu and the other two all returned to school with national competition gold medals.

Not just them, the Capital Middle School students in general did quite well this time, though most winners were second- or third-years.

For the current first year class, there were some winners but very few gold medals, except for the original Class i where it was an average of one gold medal per person.

While the school was satisfied with this result, they didn't boast about it too much. After all, genius-level results were nothing new for this gifted class over the years. What mattered was how they would perform at the national team training after this, and whether they could earn a place in the national team.

It should be known that in recent years, Capital Middle School only sent one person at most to international competitions, unlike L City which, despite being less economically developed than Capital City, nurtured far more promising competition candidates!

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call L City the "most hardworking city in the country" when it came to competitions.

Therefore, after some encouragement, everyone went about their usual business. The competition workshop hummed along as always, no different than normal times.

Ji Ruochu was even more unperturbed. As she headed home, she casually handed her middle school gold medal to her parents before putting on her headphones to listen to English news. After all, her goal was international competitions, she couldn't let her English falter one bit.

Little did she know the shock this single gold medal delivered to her parents who had thought their daughter was merely "doing quite well" as she so casually put it.

Even less did she know how many people started panicking because of this one gold medal. "Quick, quick! Take out the 'Gold Medal' banner from the warehouse!"

"Hurry, throw away the 'Participation Counts' one!"

"Change today's main dish to 'Zhuangyuan's Triumph'!"

...

Half an hour later.

The Ji family car stopped at the entrance of Ji's Hotel.

Ji Ruochu, thinking she had arrived home, took off her headphones and grabbed her school bag to push the car door open, and then—

Bang!!!

Fireworks burst open instantly.

Ji Ruochu, rarely caught by surprise, froze as she was stuffed with a bouquet of flowers. When she slowly lifted her eyes...

???

What was going on?

Why were there so many people?

Why was there a welcoming party?

Could it be someone was getting married?

Three seconds later.

Staring at the huge bright red banner with words like "Ji Family's Little Princess", "National Competition", and "Gold Medal", Ji Ruochu was...expressionless.

Glancing back, she saw the two masterminds beaming from ear to ear, one holding her certificate and the other holding her gold medal, flanking her left and right behind her back.

There were also ten video cameras capturing this spectacular scene from every angle.

Ji Ruochu: ...Very well, it seems I have no choice but to put up with this today.

[Small Theater]

How Ji Ruochu saw her three buddies: Low morale, vacant looks.

How the three saw Ji Ruochu walking out of the exam venue: Spiritually disoriented, not herself.

The four of them: She/He seems to not have done well, must not poke at her/his wounds.