Professor Guo was smiling so widely that he couldn’t even open his eyes anymore.
“Tan Mo really was determined in this round of exams.” Professor Guo beamed from ear to ear.
It seemed as if they were really going to put on a show for Professor Liu at this year’s competition. It was their time to shine.
Tan Mo met up with Ying Siyuan and the others.
Their team of ten had already been assembled. Tan Mo hadn’t been there on the first day. They all entered the research lab.
Professor Guo was now in the brightest of moods. Upon seeing them, he said, “Okay. We’re all here.”
“The publication of the ranking lists were all done around the same time, so we waited around for Tan Mo so we could come all together.” Ying Siyuan smiled as she explained to him what they had done.
Under Professor Guo’s instructions, this competition’s quota had been filled by them. They were all quite relaxed so far.
“All right.” Professor Guo nodded and smiled at them. “You all did well, but don’t get too cocky. Even though I’ve never explicitly stated this, being a part of my team also means entering a brotherhood. This includes Tan Mo, who isn’t from the Chinese Department.”
She had never even attended one lesson. Thinking about it, it was a shame.
At least she had attended some of Professor Zhao’s lessons. But despite that, she had never been part of his research team. So this was nice.
With her fantastic capabilities, Professor Guo was worried about Professor Zhao. He must be regretting not recruiting Tan Mo into his team.
But wouldn’t Tan Mo then be conflicted between the teams?
“Now, even though Tan Mo hasn’t ever properly attended one of our classes, she has joined us in our research tasks. I hope everyone can interact and learn from one another. I’m not just casually saying that Tan Mo is my disciple. This is a serious matter. The information I have gathered really proves how this wasn’t a forced decision of mine.” Professor Gu said as he looked at Tan Mo.
The crowd was silent as they listened to him. If you weren’t staring at Tan Mo the entire time, it would be hard to believe.
Tan Mo nodded vigorously. “Of course! I learned a lot from all of you here, and I’m definitely Professor Guo’s disciple. If there’s anyone who says otherwise, I’ll definitely have to correct them on the spot.”
“You’re right, it’s exactly like that. You need to keep this attitude up, Tan Mo!” Professor Guo smiled and he flashed his teeth.
The crowd stayed silent once again. They all thought that Tan Mo was starting to stray under his bad influence.
Such a pure, lovely young girl would now be corrupted, and it would be because of Professor Guo and his antics.
They all acknowledged to themselves that this was definitely not their doing.
Professor Guo felt that Tan Mo showed no signs of discomfort or displeasure, and he was extremely satisfied with her current behavior. Everything seemed to be going according to what he had planned.
“As my disciples, it was a given that you all would rank in the top ten. It would only be strange if you hadn’t, so please would you all get off your high horses. The only thing you passed was an internal exam.
“While it’s true that the questions were selected from the competitions over the years, you all were only competing among yourselves. These rankings do not say much when looking at the bigger picture, among other universities and colleges,” Professor Guo sternly told them. “Is that understood?”
“Yes!” They all collectively replied.
“All right then, according to the official rules, you ten will be the representatives of Beijing University in the Ancient Chinese Language Competition,” said Professor Guo. “Make sure to prepare well so we can achieve a splendid win. Even if we lose, we most certainly cannot lose to Professor Liu’s students!”
Because of this one exam, Tan Mo’s name and reputation had become widespread not only throughout the Chinese Department, but also throughout the entire school.
Who on earth is Tan Mo?
She’s from the first-year Finance class, and she ranked first on this exam when, logically, someone from the Chinese Department should have come in first.
She even scored full marks.
She’s also only a first-year student.
Those from the Chinese Department must be embarrassed to death. No one is sure how Wang Yuemu and the others feel about this so-called defeat.
Most important, those from the Chinese Department all had mixed feelings about this. Those majoring in the subject itself couldn’t even compare to someone who didn’t? Well, other than Wang Yuemu and some others who did do well, they supposed…
Some scores by other students from the Chinese Department only seemed average.
Especially compared with that Finance student Tan Mo. She’s an outlier. Someone special that no one had expected. One of a kind, truly.
Someone from the Finance Department outdid everyone else, even those from the Chinese Department, who were majoring in the subject?
And so naturally, those from the Chinese Department had a few opinions here and there, about this one student who had surpassed them.
How could someone who majored in Finance cause such a ruckus?
It was even repeated by someone that she’d entered Professor Guo’s team to represent the university in this latest competition.
“What?” Someone was shocked upon hearing this. “She’s not even part of our department, how could she enter Professor Guo’s team?”
This question was met with a shrug of the shoulders. “I don’t know that either, I just heard that from someone in the History Department, I think.”
“What the h*ll? Let me get this straight. We people from the Chinese Department are hearing about a student from the Finance Department from the History Department? That’s messed up.”
“We’re not sure about the details. We just know that he said that a senior from Professor Guo’s team spoke those words. Maybe she really is just gifted in the subject. I mean, how else could she have scored full marks?”
“Even though she’s not in the Chinese Department, her work clearly shows her talent, we can’t deny that. Come on, either way, even Wang Yuemu didn’t score as high as she did.”
“I heard from those in the Finance Department that even before the term started, during the military training, no, a day before that, Professor Guo personally went to find Tan Mo to try to convince her to switch majors, from Finance to Chinese. And during the military training itself, Wang Yuemu also tried to talk to her specifically about that.”
“Oh, my gosh. Then why on earth didn’t she switch majors like Professor Guo suggested?”
“No one really knows. She just didn’t, but then Professor Guo still let her into his research team. In my books, she’s plenty smart and well off enough for us to admire.”
“Oh, well, I don’t mind either way.” Someone else sighed. “But other departments don’t know that, and all they do is diss on us all the time. It’s so bloody depressing.”
“Ack. Who cares about them? It’s not as if they could rank first either. Other than Tan Mo, everyone else who ranked high was from the Chinese Department, am I right? It isn’t our problem. It’s just Tan Mo, who’s too smart. Does everyone really think that we can all be like her and achieve that level of perfection?”
As the discussion came to an end, the room gradually quieted down.
Meanwhile, Tan Mo and the others on the team were doing research and enriching their knowledge within the lab.
