Initially, Xia Xiao Lan hadn’t noticed this issue. The teachers at An Qing First High School had adored her—Principal Sun and others had practically put her on a pedestal.
Xia Xiao Lan never expected to be universally liked, but she attended classes diligently and adjusted her biological clock from the second day. The earliest riser in the room was Yang Yong Hong, who entered Hua Qing University at age 22—not because she started studying late, but because she had taken the college entrance exam three times.
These three attempts occurred over four years.
In her first attempt, Yang Yong Hong missed the key university cutoff by five points. She had listed Hua Qing as her choice and failed.
In her second year, she exceeded the key university cutoff by twenty-eight points, again chose Hua Qing, and failed.
In her third year, Yang Yong Hong’s family tried to stop her education. Why did she insist on Hua Qing? Couldn’t she choose another university? In her township high school, no one had ever entered a key university—Yang Yong Hong had already broken records!
But she couldn’t accept it, believing she could try harder.
If not Hua Qing, she wouldn’t attend any other school!
“Village people mocked my family, calling my parents fools. With two younger brothers, they still let me act willfully. They said I should either attend any university or just get married, but Hua Qing was different. I knew I could get in…”
Perhaps because Xia Xiao Lan was particularly honest, not even hiding her relationship status, Yang Yong Hong was equally candid with her, sharing these personal matters.
Hua Qing was indeed different. Yang Yong Hong faced intense pressure—when forced to marry, she threatened suicide by drinking pesticide. During her gap year, she did farm work at home, reading while tending the fire. Sometimes she became so absorbed in reading that she didn’t notice when firewood fell from the stove, nearly burning down their house.
The Yang family finally yielded.
They agreed to let her study again.
This time, after four years of persistence, Yang Yong Hong succeeded in gaining admission to Hua Qing University as the top student in her country!
For Yang Yong Hong, Hua Qing was her dream school. The opportunity to study was too precious to waste on sleeping in—that would be wasting life itself! So without fail, she rose at 5:40 every morning.
“My English foundation is weak, so I need to memorize more vocabulary.”
Yang Yong Hong envied Lu Yan’s access to a tape recorder, studying with authentic foreign pronunciations, unlike her “mute English.”
Yang Yong Hong’s story was just one example that moved Xia Xiao Lan. At Hua Qing, such stories were abundant. Top students were everywhere, yet they still felt they weren’t working hard enough. New students competed with seniors for library seats and study rooms—no one would slack off.
The intense studying spirit Xia Xiao Lan had shown before the college entrance exam was something many students, including Yang Yong Hong, had carried into university life.
If these top students were still working so hard, how could Xia Xiao Lan not do the same?
When Yang Yong Hong woke at 5:40, Xia Xiao Lan followed shortly after, reaching the playground by 6:00 for her morning run.
The morning air was fresh and helped her think clearly.
Returning to the dorm at 6:30, she was drenched in sweat and needed to shower before studying. The dorm had no private bathrooms—everyone used the communal women’s bathhouse. Xia Xiao Lan went twice daily, and after just two days, girls in the building were saying her lifestyle wasn’t modest enough, too luxurious!
Xia Xiao Lan hadn’t heard these comments yet.
She believed she wasn’t slacking in her studies, and her running habit was from her previous life—without good physical condition, one couldn’t maintain long-term efforts.
But why did the teachers dislike her?
Xia Xiao Lan couldn’t figure it out. “Su Jing, don’t you think Professor Wang from Advanced Mathematics seems to have something against me?”
When Professor Wang allowed free discussion during classes, Xia Xiao Lan tried to participate actively over several sessions, but he simply ignored her.
In contrast, Professor Wang favored Ning Xue.
“In architecture, mathematics is crucial. Don’t think it’s unimportant—mathematics is the foundation of all disciplines!”
Class Two students nodded obediently. Professor Wang then shifted, “Ning Xue, share your thoughts on this problem.”
In one class, he would call on at least ten students—Ning Xue got five or six chances, while others shared the remaining opportunities. However, these “others” never included Xia Xiao Lan. While she didn’t need to compete for attention like a child, such complete disregard seemed excessive.
Xia Xiao Lan finally couldn’t help asking Su Jing.
Su Jing hesitated:
“Xiao Lan, someone’s been saying you dated in high school, showing poor self-respect. Your twice-daily showers aren’t modest, and they’re saying you got into Hua Qing through connections—didn’t you arrive in a big Jeep during registration?”
When Su Jing first heard that Xia Xiao Lan had entered Hua Qing through connections, she was stunned.
She had thought being from Beijing gave her status, but compared to Xia Xiao Lan, she felt like a country bumpkin!
At least she had earned her place through honest studying and test scores. But Xia Xiao Lan supposedly used family connections… Su Jing couldn’t help feeling discontent and unfairness.
Xia Xiao Lan was bewildered:
“What connections? My family is from a Yu Nan Province village!”
She wished she could have relied on being born into privilege to enter Hua Qing effortlessly—who wouldn’t prefer that to work hard?
But even after being reborn, that wasn’t her fate, so Xia Xiao Lan resigned herself to honest effort. Her only advantage was having seen the math exam before. Even then, it was because she had practiced it over ten times in her previous life, practically memorizing history’s most difficult college entrance math exam through her diligence.
When Xia Xiao Lan claimed rural origins, Su Jing didn’t believe her.
A rural student should be more like their dormmate Yang Yong Hong.
Nothing about Xia Xiao Lan suggested rural origins!
Were these rumors why teachers disliked her?
Su Jing’s gaze wandered: “They say you’re too beautiful to endure architecture’s hardships, that you’ll eventually transfer departments. I think the teachers must have misunderstandings.”
Architecture students should be like Ning Xue.
Though Ning Xue had “snow” in her name, her skin wasn’t fair. Perhaps it once was, but during summer break, she had traveled nationwide studying ancient architecture, her professional pursuits taking precedence over appearance.
This was an architecture model student, and Xia Xiao Lan was her complete opposite—no wonder teachers were prejudiced against her.
Xia Xiao Lan wanted to protest!
Professor Wang, dare to give me a problem to solve?
Professor Lin, don’t leave, my English is actually quite good… She couldn’t just shout everywhere that she hadn’t used connections to enter, and her entrance exam score was only four points below their model student Ning Xue!
At the beginning of her rebirth, Xia Xiao Lan had benefited from her good looks, smoothly getting by on her appearance. Now at Hua Qing, beauty had finally become a liability.