Ten-Year Loyal Dog’s Road to Chasing Her Wife (GL) - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

With only ten exam papers, it took almost no time at all for the results to come out.

The ten papers were bound separately by class; they were passed around Class 8 first before it was Class 11’s turn.

A girl from Class 8 brought them up. Her face was clouded with gloom, and every inch of her expression was hung with indignant defiance. When she arrived, she stuffed two wads of paper through the gap in the window. “Look at them! Look at them several times over! Anyway, you won’t have another chance to win in the future!”

Just by hearing these words, the people of Class 11 understood exactly who had won.

Furthermore, for this group of high-and-mighty people from Class 8 to be so crestfallen, they must have lost quite embarrassingly. One look and it was clear: Class 11 had not only secured the final victory, but it was a complete “crushing” victory, the kind that left no room for rebuttal.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in a position where they couldn’t even find an excuse for their unsightly expressions.

The girl from Class 8 was about to retreat when she seemed to remember something and turned back. “Which one is Qiao Mei from your class?” She had heard from her classmates that they never imagined Qiao Mei was in Class 11; otherwise, they wouldn’t have dared to be so brazen. Later, when looking at the graded papers, Qiao Mei’s exam looked as if she had simply transcribed the standard answers—neat and orderly, without a single trace of an erasure, yet with a correct rate so incredibly high it was as if she were using a “cheat code.”

Although none of the people sent to compete were ordinary, Qiao Mei’s victory over them was truly a total steamrolling. In a situation where the scores of the others didn’t differ much, she had single-handedly pulled Class 11’s total score up by fifteen points. How could such a person be in Class 11? She ought to be in Class 8!

How could the school make such a massive blunder?

By this time, the exam papers had already spread throughout the class. The morale of Class 11 was soaring, one could even say they were becoming a bit “inflated”: “What? Being defeated wasn’t enough, now you want to get to know the person who defeated you?”

The girl frowned displeasedly and said, “It’s not that I want to know you, and the person who defeated Class 8 wasn’t you either. Why this ‘glory for one is glory for all’ attitude?” In Class 8, it was always personal strength that spoke; if they lost, the whole class would lose face together, but if they won, the whole class wouldn’t necessarily share the glory.

Because their strengths were comparable, no one would admit defeat to another.

“I respect those five people from your class, but I hope you won’t be too arrogant. After all, the only strong ones are those few individuals, not you.” The girl said with a stiff face and a sincere tone, “Please help me pass a message to Qiao Mei of your class: she is truly amazing. If possible, I would like to be friends with her.”

But before the message could be passed, a very beautiful and petite girl emerged from the class, pursing her lips with a smile: “Why bother getting to know the hen that lays such delicious eggs?”

The girl instinctively became wary: “And who are you?”

“Qiao Mei’s desk-mate,” the exquisitely pretty girl said. “My name is Qiao Wan.”

In the entire school, Qiao Wan’s name was definitely far more famous than Qiao Mei’s; at the very least, there was no one who hadn’t heard of her. However, most of the girls in the school more or less disliked Qiao Wan. One reason was that she was indeed too famous, and it was a bad reputation saying she was haughty and played with boys’ feelings. The other was her eccentric personality; she didn’t interact with people, giving others no chance to understand her.

Without understanding her, but having heard of her bad reputation, most people naturally avoided Qiao Wan like snakes or scorpions. Only the boys continued to pursue her silently, even though she had truly never agreed to any of them.

Perhaps to her, how others viewed her simply wasn’t important, or perhaps she was also anxious but had never thought to defend herself.

Boys love this kind of weak-looking girl the most, but girls detest this kind of person the most, looking all soft and frail as if they were fishing for sympathy.

“Why doesn’t she come out and tell me herself?” The girl’s brow remained furrowed, and it deepened further after Qiao Wan appeared. “I don’t like you. I hope you can let her come out and speak to me herself.”

Their commotion wasn’t exactly small. Xia Hanyin quickly noticed and jumped out to poke her nose in: “Qiao Mei is super ugly; she’s afraid of scaring you, right Qiao Wan? Or is it that Great School Beauty Qiao also feels her desk-mate is too shabby to be presented in public? Girl, let me tell you, Qiao Mei listens to her in everything. If you really want to be friends with Qiao Mei, just win over Great School Beauty Qiao. Right, Qiao Wan?”

She claimed to be standing up to help Qiao Wan, but every word carried a thorn, making Qiao Wan feel as if she had committed some heinous crime. Qiao Wan was also someone who wasn’t good at bickering with others, so she could only offer a dry rebuttal: “My desk-mate is willing to listen to me; what does that have to do with you?”

Sometimes she truly felt that Xia Hanyin’s malice toward her came out of nowhere, like a mental patient.

Xia Hanyin gave a cold laugh and reached out with her short, thick arm to grab the Class 8 girl’s hand: “Both of the Qiao sisters are arrogant people. Instead of making friends with them, you’d be better off making friends with our Qi Jun.” This flattering appearance looked almost like a madam in an ancient brothel trying to sell the best “flower-girl” in her establishment.

“I don’t need to make friends,” Qi Jun, standing to the side, said, having reached the end of her patience. “Xia Hanyin, if you still consider me your good friend, don’t take it upon yourself to introduce friends to me. I don’t need it.”

“I don’t want to be your friend either.” The Class 8 girl calmly withdrew her hand. “Since Qiao Mei isn’t willing to meet me, then let’s leave it at that for today. There will be chances in the future. But, this lady” Her gaze landed on Xia Hanyin, and she said hesitantly, “You are, honestly, a bit disgusting.”

Perhaps due to Xia Hanyin’s misleading words, after that girl went back, the rumor of the “two Qiao sisters” began to spread. The legend in school was that Qiao Wan and Qiao Mei were a pair of sisters, just cousins. The older sister, Qiao Wan, was so beautiful she could sink fish and drop geese, eclipse the moon and shame flowers. Although her personality wasn’t great, just for that face, boys would flock to her like moths to a flame.

The younger sister, Qiao Mei, looked a bit “thriller-esque.” But looking frightening didn’t mean she wasn’t excellent in other areas; Qiao Mei’s science subjects were incredibly strong. After that competition with Class 8, more and more rumors about Qiao Mei sprouted up like bamboo shoots after a rain.

Some said that when Qiao Mei was in the junior high section, she was a first-prize winner in the Grade 9 Physics competition.

Some said that Qiao Mei’s name appeared in the teachers’ mouths after every exam either for science or for Chinese literature.

Some said that when Qiao Mei was in elementary school, she was actually a very good-looking person…

In any case, they said all sorts of things, but it all summarized into one sentence: Qiao Wan is the beauty, and Qiao Mei is the scholar.

The two Qiao sisters each have a talent.

In an instant, Qiao Mei changed from “too ugly to look at” to “ugly but quite unique.” Of course, in the mouths of certain busybodies, her good grades became: “Since she’s this ugly, of course she has to stay ahead in her grades. Otherwise, who would want her when she looks for a job in the future? It would be terrifying, okay?”

Some people began to mock Qiao Mei, saying she looked like a frog yet dared to hope she could turn into a white swan by relying on her grades.

Gradually, Qiao Mei’s name would only appear in the mouths of teachers; others called her “Qiao-mei” to her face, but “Frog” behind her back. Sometimes, some excessive people would call her “Frog” even to her face, even adding two words: “Miss Frog.”

“Miss Frog, aren’t they saying you’re Qiao Wan’s sister? Why is Qiao Wan so pretty while you are so ugly?”

When they said this, the smiles on their faces were practically eyesores. Qiao Wan always felt the urge to slap their faces, leaving deep palm prints so the pain would make the impression more lasting.

Among them, Xia Hanyin was particularly loathsome.

However, by then, military training had begun. With the instructors watching them like hawks, Qiao Wan restrained herself slightly. They headed to the city’s military training base on the afternoon of the 21st to begin a nine-day training period.

Longting Town isn’t actually that far from the city, but they didn’t arrive until nearly 6:00 PM, mainly because gathering everyone in the afternoon took up a lot of time.

The students had to bring quite a few things, including daily necessities, medicine, and even buckets and thermoses.

The school didn’t have enough buses, so the students had to go in batches.

Class 11 was almost the last batch.

Some students exaggeratedly brought many unnecessary things, filling an entire suitcase—like Xia Hanyin. This chubby girl brought a whole suitcase; according to her, it was filled entirely with snacks. “Military training is definitely going to be starving work. And I heard from my brother that the food at the base is ‘big pot’ food and tastes terrible. Better to bring more snacks so I don’t go hungry.”

Listening from the side, Qiao Wan gave a cold snort. “You think you’ll have time to eat? Wouldn’t it be better to take the opportunity of military training to lose weight?”

“Who wants to lose weight…” Xia Hanyin rolled her eyes. “Being ‘skin and bones’ like you two Qiao sisters is what doesn’t look good. Besides, if a boy likes me, then no matter what I look like, he will like me.”

Qiao Wan’s eyes almost rolled to the sky. “Give it a rest. You think this is a Cinderella story? A prince would fall in love with a dirty, fat, ugly girl? You might as well write yourself a ‘New Century Biography of Cinderella’ and sit at home waiting for the prince to come to your door. No, wait—since your prince is Yuan Tianci, I think it doesn’t matter even if you just sit in the classroom and wait.”

These words were very hurtful; Xia Hanyin nearly exploded and attacked.

But fate truly might follow the plots of “Mary Sue” stories. Years later, the tall, handsome, and excellent Yuan Tianci would truly fall in love with the short, ugly, and untalented Xia Hanyin.

Like a fly plunging headlong into a pitcher plant.

Just like Qiao Mei meeting Qiao Wan.

One look, and there was never another chance to turn back.