People’s perceptions are influenced by subjective feelings.

When they had a good impression, they saw youthful vitality and beauty.

Now without that goodwill, Xia Xiaolan’s delicate demeanor seemed rather irritating.

“She surely won’t win a prize, right?”

The younger crew members, still untempered by life, felt indignant about such backdoor dealings.

“Shh! Don’t spread it around. All the judges have great reputations – who wouldn’t be disgusted by Director Wang’s tactics?”

It might have backfired.

How could someone like Professor Xu Guozhang, who couldn’t tolerate any misconduct, allow such a candidate to win?

The older crew members shuddered.

They suddenly couldn’t determine Director Wang’s true intentions… if Xia Xiaolan was confirmed to have cheated, it would be a major scandal! If one truly wants to help a relative, shouldn’t one be more discreet about pulling strings? Relying on his Higher Education Department leadership position seemed rather arrogant.

The veterans’ experience proved right – Wang Guangping’s “request” had antagonized the judges.

Someone like Professor Xu, who hadn’t feared even political criticism, wouldn’t be intimidated by a deputy director. At seventy, a rare age to reach, he was uncertain how much longer he’d live and didn’t care about career advancement. As one of the capital’s Foreign Language Institute’s first doctoral supervisors, the 70-year-old Professor Xu had no greater ambitions.

Back at school, Xu Guozhang had the top 20 papers brought to him.

This was his domain – all the graders were his juniors, making it easy to access the papers.

The other two judges joined Xu Guozhang in examining Xia Xiaolan’s paper.

“Professor Xu, this student is from Huaqing.”

So they had the right one.

Xu Guozhang carefully examined Xia Xiaolan’s paper.

Multiple choice questions revealed nothing – correct and incorrect answers were obvious with no pattern. The essay was well-written too. The grading showed no issues – even if Xu Guozhang applied stricter standards to the essay, he could at most deduct one point.

With one point less, Xia Xiaolan would barely make twentieth place, still qualifying for the oral round.

Xu Guozhang wouldn’t do such things – deliberately nitpicking to forcefully deduct points just to eliminate someone from the top 20.

Yet ignoring it completely felt wrong, with Director Wang’s words stuck like a fishbone in his throat.

“Nothing wrong here, I was just checking.”

The grading team breathed in relief, having worried about errors in Xia Xiaolan’s paper.

The finals had five judges. Three, including Xu Guozhang, were members of the “Higher Education Foreign Language Teaching Materials Review Committee,” which Xu Guozhang led.

This committee, under the Higher Education Department, was a high-level expert advisory body that drafted English teaching guidelines for universities. Those judging alongside Xu Guozhang were of similar standing.

Of the remaining two judges, one was Zhan Aiqun from the Higher Education Department.

The other was Catherine, a British expert from Central TV. Catherine had become familiar to and loved by Chinese viewers through “Follow Me.” Having a British judge would lend more credibility to the inaugural English competition.

Though Xia Xiaolan’s paper grading showed no issues, Xu Guozhang remained suspicious.

With Director Wang’s connections, advanced access to test questions seemed possible. Given Wang’s shameless request for special treatment, Xu Guozhang reasonably suspected he had done more behind the scenes.

Winning the English competition?

The real goal was likely becoming an exchange student, perhaps even advancing to “state-sponsored study abroad.”

Xu Guozhang’s sudden coldness toward Section Chief Zhan stemmed from believing she must have been approached by Director Wang beforehand – as Higher Education Department colleagues, they were in cahoots, making Xu Guozhang want to distance himself!

“A good competition, ruined by such schemes.”

A judge suddenly whispered.

Without strict investigation, where was the fairness to other students? Even a Higher Education Department deputy director couldn’t have absolute power.

Simply preventing cheaters from winning wasn’t enough – could Huaqing students cheat with impunity?

If discovered, it demanded severe punishment.

If cheating occurred in the English competition, had there been cheating in other exams too?

“Class of ’84, just a freshman.”

Among the 200 finalists, fewer than three were freshmen!

And among the top 20, Xia Xiaolan was the only freshman. The three judges, including Xu Guozhang, fell silent.

Xu Guozhang, being elderly and most experienced, had the least to fear.

“Ask Huaqing to pull out Xia Xiaolan’s records for review.”

If Xia Xiaolan’s excellence was built on the foundation of “cheating” like a castle in the air, Xu Guozhang wouldn’t cover it up.

…

Made the top 20!

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t nervous about the oral portion. Many people learned “mute English,” but Xia Xiaolan had learned for work in her previous life – from reading equipment manuals as a salesperson to later communicating with foreign manufacturers. She had worked hard at it. Learning English was for using it, and she felt confident in her speaking ability.

Teacher Lin was delighted, and Professor He repeatedly encouraged both Xia Xiaolan and Zhong Cai.

The TV crew approached with their equipment.

“First, congratulations to the two Huaqing University students who advanced to the oral round. Could you introduce yourselves to the viewers?”

The camera’s red light indicated recording had begun.

Zhong Cai was slightly nervous, mainly because the crew had arrived suddenly, heading straight for them with a clear purpose.

Despite the nervousness, they were prepared for the finals being recorded. Self-introductions were easy – after the Chinese version, they could even do an English one!

When it was Xia Xiaolan’s turn, she also said a few simple sentences.

Afterward, the crew’s reporter seemed unsatisfied and asked:

“Student Xia, what’s your purpose in competing?”

Was that even necessary to ask? Initially to bring glory to herself and the school, and after learning about the exchange student quota, Xia Xiaolan wanted to win even more. But she couldn’t answer like that, so she faced the camera seriously:

“…Thank you, I believe competition emphasizes participation, and in this process, we gain something more important than results.”

This wasn’t entirely fabrication – the competition had forced Xia Xiaolan to constantly improve, genuinely elevating her English level. If before she could converse freely, now she could study in an English-speaking country without issue.

Somehow, Xia Xiaolan noticed the interviewing reporter’s expression seemed strange.

Like something stuck in their throat, neither able to swallow nor spit out.

Had she said something wrong?

It seemed like a perfectly standard answer.

Or was there something on her face?

Results were announced at 1 PM, with oral competition recording scheduled for 2 PM.

The TV station had already set up a temporary studio at the Foreign Language Institute – quite efficient. Students who hadn’t made the top 20 would be the audience. School teachers could also watch the finals live.

Xia Xiaolan followed others backstage for simple makeup – no costume change needed. Looking presentable on TV required some makeup.

Ji Jiangyuan was also in the audience. Returning from the bathroom before finding his seat, he overheard two people whispering. Keywords like “special treatment,” “Xia Xiaolan,” and “Huaqing” instantly caught his attention. Looking over, the whisperers appeared to be from the camera crew – what was going on?!