Chapter 511 - 525: Under Suspicion

Tao Quan.

In the preliminary selection for the competition, five students from Beijing University were chosen. One of them was Tao Quan.

An Ning looked at the name with only one thought in her mind: ’What a small world for enemies.’

But since Tao Quan was skilled, there wasn’t much she could say.

The five students who were selected weren’t the final representatives for the country. The five of them would have to compete one more time.

This competition would be against selected students from all over the country. Fortunately, the exam was still to be held in Beijing, which saved them the trouble of a long journey.

Three days later, all the selected students from across the country arrived in Beijing. The unified exam would be held the next day.

After the exam, five official competitors and five substitutes would be chosen to participate in the subsequent competitions.

An Ning clearly wasn’t giving the selection match the attention it deserved, because she had taken another leave of absence.

Because of her hair, An Ning had once moved the entire class to sympathy.

She didn’t want others to worry sick about her due to her physical condition, so after attending just one day of class, An Ning once again disappeared from the Beijing campus. She moved to the suburb of Beijing to focus wholeheartedly on her work.

Every day, before the sun was up, the lights in the greenhouse would turn on.

The people who were originally hired to work for An Ning found themselves getting up earlier and earlier each day, driven by her diligence.

Although An Ning had repeatedly stressed that they didn’t need to follow her example, who among her employees would dare to actually stay home?

Who would be willing to give up a job that was close to home and paid well?

That’s just how it was in the village. If one family got up early, others might not care much. But if several families, or even half the village, started getting up early, then the whole village started waking up a little earlier too.

If you didn’t get up, your family would be labeled as lazybones, the center of all the village gossip.

The consequences were a bit serious. Nobody wanted that.

The day before the exam, An Ning rode in Yu Zheng’s car to go home and rest. Before arriving home, she first stopped by the Yu Family’s house to pick up some nutritional supplements that Yu the Elder had prepared for her.

Early the next morning, An Ning went to take the exam right on time.

After the half-day exam was over, An Ning returned to the suburb of Beijing to continue her work and recover her spiritual power.

The next day, the results were released, and the final list was set.

The itinerary for going abroad was subsequently decided. An Ning’s documents were taken to begin the various procedures for international travel.

She was, of course, one of the official team members, as were Jiang Xia and Tao Quan. The only difference was that the other two members weren’t from Beijing University, but from other schools.

During the time the procedures were being processed, the five of them, along with the five substitute members, had to undergo training together.

Having already recovered half her strength, An Ning didn’t ask for special treatment, even though she didn’t think she needed the training.

An Ning rode her bicycle from home to school by herself, ready to meet her future teammates and build some rapport.

Following the address, An Ning searched for the classroom on campus.

"Excuse me, this classroom—"

Before An Ning could even finish asking for directions, the student she’d stopped walked away.

Balancing on her bicycle with one foot on the ground, An Ning sensitively perceived that something was going on, and that she was the main character of the incident.

She racked her brain. ’But I’ve just been diligently farming lately. I haven’t done anything wrong!’

An Ning kept riding. When she tried to ask another student, the person’s nose nearly wrinkled up to their eyes. The look of disdain and contempt on their face was so intense that An Ning couldn’t even get her question out.

"Hey, what’s with that look?"

"Tch! You know what you did!"

The person walked away, leaving An Ning with nothing but their haughty back.

An Ning waved her hands and shouted after them, "Hey, I don’t know!"

Unfortunately, other than attracting a lot of stares, no one paid her any attention.

’What’s going on...? It’s not like I’ve killed anyone recently.’

Joking to herself, An Ning chuckled and went off to find the classroom on her own.

When she finally found the classroom, An Ning tossed her bike aside and charged forward with her fists raised.

"What do you think you’re doing!"

"No way!"

"You’re just jealous!"

"Get lost!"

It was a chaotic scene. An Ning didn’t even know why it was happening or who was at fault. She just saw Jiang Xia and the shaved-headed boy from her class fighting with a group of people she didn’t recognize.

’Right or wrong, help first and ask questions later.’

An Ning, with her agile skills, took down the group she didn’t recognize in a flash, pinning all of them against the wall with their hands behind their backs.

"Alright, can we talk properly now?"

Among the group lined up against the wall, one person silently raised a hand, not daring to move.

An Ning looked at him and gave a firm nod. "Speak."

"An Ning—I’m on your side."

An Ning’s eyes widened. She glanced back at Jiang Xia, who nodded.

"A misunderstanding—a misunderstanding."

An Ning immediately pulled that student up. The rest, whom she didn’t know, remained squatting against the wall. No one dared to move, but their faces were full of defiance.

"Hmph! An Ning, who do you think you are? If you’ve got guts, compete with me one-on-one."

An Ning stood in the hallway with her hands in her pockets, her attitude incredibly haughty.

"What, wasn’t one beating enough? Are you just asking for another?"

The boy who’d been rebuked turned red with anger, snorted coldly, and said nothing more.

An Ning stood between the two groups and began to question them.

"Alright. They say whoever has the biggest fist is the boss. So there shouldn’t be any doubt that I’m the boss here, right?"

No one spoke.

"Fine. Silence means you agree. Let me ask, why were you fighting?"

The moment the question was out, everyone started shouting at An Ning.

"You’re shameless, you cheated!"

"You guys are crazy!"

"It was you—"

"You’ll believe anything anyone says, you—"

An Ning’s head felt like it was about to explode from all the noise.

"Shut up!"

An Ning roared, even using some of her spiritual power. Both sides paused.

Breathing heavily, An Ning pointed a finger at one of the people squatting in the corner.

"You! Talk!"

The person she pointed at looked at An Ning hesitantly and asked a question no one expected.

"Should I say it standing up or squatting down?"

"Why don’t you say it lying face down?"

An Ning’s joking remark was something she didn’t expect him to actually try to do.

Quick as a flash, An Ning grabbed his collar and yanked him forcefully to his feet, a look of confusion in her eyes.

"Hey, why are you being so obedient? Aren’t you on the side that hates me?"

The boy squirmed and pushed up his glasses. "I only despise you on a moral level. But physically, I really can’t beat you. This is called ’a wise man submits to circumstances.’"

An Ning laughed dryly, released her grip, and said loud enough for all to hear, "If you’re a coward, just say you’re a coward. Don’t make excuses for yourself."

"Alright, I don’t want to hear another word of nonsense. Tell me what happened."

The chosen person leaned against the base of the wall and began his account.

After listening, An Ning stood in the middle of the hallway, her expression unreadable. She summarized, "So, you believe that Yu the Elder... that is, Mr. Yu, leaked the questions to me, which is why I got first place. You even suspect my previous college entrance exam scores were also due to knowing the questions in advance, and you even suspect that our whole Shili Gou is guilty of cheating. Is that right?"