First Round

"If you want to join then join. No one will stop you. Don't worry about your home lessons, I'll ask your tutor to stop tutoring you for a while." Grandpa Qiao said after reading the letter about the SMERG and preparation before the competition.

Grandpa Qiao only stayed at the hospital for 2 days before being discharged from the hospital. Actually, the doctor wanted him to stay for a few days more or even a week to monitor his health but Grandpa Qiao doesn't like hospitals because it made him feel like he is sick and getting older.

He even stated that, even if he is going to die, he prefer dying doing what he wants than dying staying in a room, laying down and waiting for the reaper of death to get him.

"Are you sure you want to join? The first round will be three weeks later, only two weeks before the entrance exam. Also even if you didn't join this year you can join again in the next SMERG competition when you turned 15 since the SMERG is every 3 years and for 12-15 years-old and 16-19 years-old." Grandpa Qiao asked to make sure and Qiao Ning Xi answer by nodding.

"Mhmm."

"Are you going to join because you know Hua Hua is joining? If yes, then you better focus in the upcoming entrance exam than wasting your time in this competition because you are not even going to win." Grandma Qiao said, remembering that Qiao Hua sent a message to them a few days ago that she will be joining SMERG.

She misunderstood that Qiao Ning Xi wanted to join because Qiao Hua is joining. Well, it's kinda true since one of the reason why Qiao Ning Xi is joining is because of Qiao Hua but the main reason is because of Leng Shaoming and Cai Zhenghao.

Also, after Wei Ya's departure Father Qiao became depressed which made Grandma Qiao pity him. She blamed Qiao Ning Xi in everything that has been happening in their family inside her head due to Qiao Hua's influence and also after remembering that every since they adopted Qiao Ning Xi, many things have been happening.

She never thought that the problem might be her granddaughter so she blamed it to Qiao Ning Xi. That's the reason why Grandma Qiao is giving Qiao Ning Xi a hard time.

"Mom, I heard that Qiao Ning Xi's best friends are joining. Maybe, that's why she joined." Mother Qiao said.

"Heh! I would be a fool if I believe that. I don't know why she is wasting her time on things like this just to be compared to my granddaughter. My granddaughter is outstanding compared to her, probably because of her genes."

The moment Grandma Qiao said that, Grandpa Qiao, Mother Qiao and Father Qiao faces changed. It was inconsiderate of her to mention Qiao Hua's genes especially, after knowing that Qiao Hua is an illegitimate daughter of Father Qiao with his mistress.

"Enough! Stop it already!" Grandpa Qiao yelled.

Grandma Qiao was shocked and argued back, "Why are you shouting at me, old man?! Do you know how tired I was after taking care of you in the hospital? and now you're yelling at me?"

"Just eat, alright?!"

"Hmph!"

******

3 weeks later

Qiao Ning Xi, Cai Zhenghao, and Leng Shaoming arrived at the venue of the competition but apparently, they are not designated at the same room because they signed up for different competitions.

"Okay, it's here. Goodluck to us!" Qiao Ning Xi bid goodbye after reaching her appointed room. The two of them also wished her luck and left.

When she opened the door, she saw that many participants are already present. There are chairs everywhere with an appropriate and specific distance to avoid cheating and also a white folder for cover on top of the desk.

A staff saw her and guided her to the log-in desk while asking her some questions before giving her a name tag and her seat number.

She also reminded her that everyone inside the venue of the English Competition must speak in English if not they zre eliminated. While, all bags and items, including phone, pen and etc. must be left in the stage at the front so she went forward and placed her bags there before finding her seat and sitting down.

She looked around and noticed that in every row, there are three exam invigilators or supervisors, who supervise the students, one in the left-end, one in the middle and one in the right-end.

Most students who participated the competition are in junior high school around the age 13-15 and Qiao Ning Xi, who's 12 years-old looked a lot younger so many students keep stealing glances at her not only because she looks young but also due to her beauty.

At exactly, 8:00 am a woman around the age of 17-20 went in front and explained the rules for the competition.

"Good morning to you all, I am Khariz, a member of GEMS Institution and the host for today's competition. I know most of you can tell that the first round of the SMERG english competition is written test. The participant who gets the highest score for today's test will be the representative for City H in the second round."

After she explained the instructions and warned others about the rules that might eliminate them, she gave signals to the exam invigilators and they gave each participants a 10 pages papers and the same pen.

"Alright, you may start. Remember that you must pass your test before 10:15 am so you have 2 hours to answer the given questions. Goodluck!"

The participants immediately start answering, including Qiao Ning Xi. She noticed that most of the questions are essay but there are also multiple choice and fill in the blanks.

******

"How was it? Was it that hard?" Leng Shaoming asked, looking at Qiao Ning Xi who looks like her soul is starting to leave her body.

"Ughhh!"

Cai Zhenghao gave her a milkshake to make her feel good. They are currently at a restaurant for their lunch, the first round was over but the score hasn't been released yet.

"Drink this first. It might take a while before they serve our food."

One of the reason why they immediately went to a restaurant after the test is because of Qiao Ning Xi, they saw how exhausted she was and usually, she uses food to relieve her stress and tiredness.

"Thank you." Qiao Ning Xi said.

"How about you guys? How was the test?"

"It's alright." Cai Zhenghao casually said.

"It's actually not that hard." Leng Shaoming also replied.

After hearing their replies, Qiao Ning Xi couldn't help but to feel depress. She remembered the part, where she needed to complete the missing words in the poem. It's not like she doesn't like memorizing or reading poem but most poem are from other countries that has been translated into english.

At that part, she tried to understand the meaning of the poem and find a word or a metaphor of that word that's suited and appropriate in the poem.

She thought about it for a minute before deciding to leave her thoughts about the test and just wait for the announcement of scores. She grabbed the milkshake and started drinking it.

While Leng Shaoming and Cai Zhenghao were watching Qiao Ning Xi, Cai Zhenghao suddenly remembered something.

"Oh. Right. The entrance exam is coming, right?" He asked and Qiao Ning Xi nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"And our family hired a tutor for us, he is going to tutor me and Shaoming until the day of the entrance exam." He continued.

Qiao Ning Xi just looked at him. "So?"

Leng Shaoming burst into laughter. "Oh God, I can't take it." He said while holding his stomach.

Qiao Ning Xi raised her left eyebrow, confused. While Cai Zhenghao glared at Leng Shaoming with his ears blushing due to embarrassment.

When Leng Shaoming noticed his glare, he tried to calm down and explained, "Zhenghao wants to ask, if you want to join us in our tutoring."

"Ahh. Then why didn't you just ask?" She asked and stared at Cai Zhenghao but he avoided her eyes. At the same time, Qiao Ning Xi saw his ears and understood the reason even without his answer.

"Oh. Is my Hao Hao shy?" She teased him. She really enjoyed teasing him especially when his ears blushed.

"Stop it already. Are you joining us or not?" Cai Zhenghao asked. He felt his ears burning after hearing his nickname and it felt hot even more when he realized that she considered him as hers.

Qiao Ning Xi stopped teasing him and agreed. "Alright."

After they finished eating, they separated and went to their own homes. When Qiao Ning Xi arrived at the Qiao Manor, she immediately went inside her room after hearing that no one was home.

Mother Qiao and Father Qiao are at work, while Grandma Qiao and Grandpa Qiao are in the hospital for a check-up.

She laid down at her bed and was planning to take a nap when she suddenly remembered her 'memory phone' so she got up and got the phone from the red box.

The moment she opened the phone, one article immediately attracted her. The article is about the Leng and Cai Family and apparently based on the article the two families immigrated to Country C after Leng Shaoming's and Cai Zhenghao's early graduation for senior high school.

According to the news, the reason behind their immigration are unknown but it piqued the curiosity of many people especially the other Elite Families.

Qiao Ning Xi was also curious about the reason and was thinking whether it has something to do with Leng Shaoming's and Cai Zhenghao's skipping grade in her previous life.

In her current life, her two best friends haven't mention anything about skipping grade or immigration and that made her confused and curious even more.