SMERG what?

"And she left just like that?" Leng Shaoming asked.

Qiao Ning Xi, Leng Shaoming and Cai Zhenghao are currently at their secret place at school. The secret place is behind the school's storage building that used to be an abandoned building near their school. The place is less than 10 minutes away from the school's main building.

The three of them were talking about the scandal that happened between Father Qiao and We Yai. Qiao Ning Xi shared what happened that day including Wei Ya's departure.

The two boys were confused how Wei Ya just left like that peacefully, well, it wasn't peaceful since she caused so much trouble to the Qiao Family.

"Yeah, but I don't think she'll give up. At least we will have some peaceful days for now since Qiao Hua already went back to school." Qiao Ning Xi said. They understood it given that the post about Gui Han and Qiao Hua's scandal disappeared.

Cai Zhenghao and Leng Shaoming both looked at her, observing her reaction or feelings about that matter. She might have said that she doesn't care about Gui Han but he's still her ex-fiance which she used to adore.

"Let's forget about it and leave it as it is. By the way, are you going to sign up for the SMERG?" Leng Shaoming asked, trying to change the topic.

"SMERG what?"

It is the first time Qiao Ning Xi heard about it including her previous life.

Cai Zhenghao looked at her beyond belief. He knew that she's not a fan of competitions since she needed to act average but he couldn't believe that she didn't know the SMERG.

"You don't know?" He asked and Qiao Ning Xi nodded. He covered his face out of frustration and Leng Shaoming laughed out loud seeing his reaction.

"SMERG stands for Science, Math, English, Robotics and General Knowledge competition. It is divided into 4 different competition the SMER while the top 3 students in each competitions are the only participants in the General Knowledge competition." Cai Zhenghao explained while Qiao Ning Xi does understand it but not quite because he made it sounds like SMERG is some important competition but she doesn't understand why it is important.

Leng Shaoming understood her confusion and added, "You forgot the most important part, SMERG is manage by the GEMS Institution, the institution for geniuses in Country A. If you manage to win one of the competition in SMERG then you'll be given the chance to enter in a University or Highschool in Country A."

After he told her the benefits in winning one of the competitions of SMERG, she understood the importance of it. The countries are classified by class, first-class, second-class, and third-class but there's still a ranking between the countries. Country A, Country B and Country C are the top 3 countries in the world.

Country A is open for immigration but only for specific people like gifted/talented people and powerful people. They used the SMERG to recruit talents and gifted people. As long as they prove their abilities, they have the chance to immigrate in Country A, where they, along with their families, will experience the luxury that only influential people experience, which is the advance technology, education, treatment and so on.

While Country B is the opposite of Country A. The country is distant or locked to foreigners, emigration and immigration are strictly controlled by the government. Country B is a dictatorship country.

Lastly, the Country C is a country that's like a mixed of Country A and Country B. The country is open for changes and foreigners but they are protective to their nation. They let foreigners to invest in some businesses of their country but they don't allow 100% foreign investment that might affect their economy.

"Are you guys going to sign up?"

"I will sign up for science and Zhenghao will sign up for robotics." Leng Shaoming told her.

Qiao Ning Xi laid down in the grass and looked up to the sky, thinking.

"Should I sign up as well? It's an international competition, right?" She asked for their opinion since they are also going to participate.

Cai Zhenghao looked at her thinking of something before answering, "Don't think too much about it since there are two rounds before the national round. The 1st round is a competition, where the winners will be the representative of their cities for the 2nd round which is the regional round. Then the winners of the regional round will represent the country for the national round."

She nodded at him but still hesitating whether to join or not.

Leng Shaoming thought about something then smirked. "I bet the No.1 Highschool of City A will participate for the SMERG and if you sign up, you might encounter her. You should embarrass her in the competition!"

As he was talking, he stood up in front of Qiao Ning Xi laughing and shouted. "You should embarrass her in the competition to the point that she won't dare to look straight at you! And of course, we'll make sure that lover of hers will also experience the same embarrassment as hers! Treat it as a way of us venting our anger after what they did to you."

Qiao Ning Xi looked at him laughing like an idiot. How can he be sure that they will manage to compete against them?

While Cai Zhenghao took his water bottle and hit Leng Shaoming's head which made him yelp due to pain. "Stop it already! You're so embarrassing. Luckily, no one can see you except us."

"What? I just want to embarrass them for scheming against Ning Xi!" He pouted and looked at his two best friends while talking using a baby's tone, acting like he was wronged.

"When did you learn to act like that? Eww!" Cai Zhenghao said, looking at him disgustedly. He was thinking about how thick was Leng Shaoming's face, he didn't even feel embarrass acting like a baby.

Leng Shaoming was planning to argue back when his phone alarm ring indicating that it's 10 minutes before their next class, which made him stop along with Cai Zhenghao and Qiao Ning Xi.

The three of them left their secret place and ran back to the school's main building without finishing their conversation.

"Teacher Gu, you have called us?" The three of them visited the teachers' office after school, after being called by their adviser.

"Cai Zhenghao, I heard that you and Leng Shaoming are planning to join the SMERG." Teacher Gu asked, the other 6th grade teachers are also in the office.

"Yes."

He answered. Qiao Ning Xi looked at the teachers perplexed. The reason why the teacher called them was because of the SMERG, then why did they called her too?

"Alright. How about you, Qiao Ning Xi?"

Qiao Ning Xi was distracted when Teacher Gu suddenly called her which startled her. The other teachers were staring at her as well as Cai Zhenghao and Leng Shaoming looking forward for her answer.

"I haven't decided yet." She answered, hesitating.

The teachers nodded and looked at each other before continuing, "Actually, the reason why we called you three is about the competition. We decided to let the three of you represent our school for the 1st round."

Their science teacher went to Leng Shaoming and told them, "I, along with the other science department teachers chose Leng Shaoming as the school's representative for science."

"We also chose Cai Zhenghao for the robotics competition since he is the only student of our school who knows about robotics and he also won in a robotics competition in City A." The head of the ICT department shared.

The school only accept 1st grade students to 6th grade and there are no robotics or programming lesson or club in the school.

And thus, Cai Zhenghao is their only choice.

"As for us, we want Qiao Ning Xi to be the representative for our English department. However, I don't know whether you want to join or not. It's not like we can force you. It's your choice." Teacher Gu, a member of the English department, said to Qiao Ning Xi.

She thought about it for a while before agreeing. Actually, she agreed not because she wanted to join but because her two bestfriends are joining and their time spending with each other might lessen. If they manage to win the 1st and 2nd round then she might not be able to see them for a few weeks or even a month but if she join, then she can spend and experience more with them. Also, she wants to steal Qiao Hua's spotlight in No.1 Highschool, so she needs to gain some achievements to win the war against her.

"I'll join then."

Cai Zhenghao and Leng Shaoming were both happy to hear that. The teachers are also glad, all of them recognized Qiao Ning Xi's knowledge and fluency in speaking english. They just doesn't understand why is her test scores are always just in the passing score no more, no less, when she can answer some advance english comprehension and speak english fluently.

"You should confirm it with your parents first, and let them sign this paper, if they agree. Next week, we will start our preparation and training every after school for 2 hours. It's all written in the paper, the information about our preparation and about the competition."

The three of them accepted the paper and left. While they were walking they suddenly realized that the teachers haven't mention the person who's going to be the representative for the math competition.

I'm looking forward to it.