Chapter 44: The Election

When Fang Qingfei entered the classroom, most of the students had already arrived.

This was the first class meeting for the International Trade Class 1, and Fang Qingfei didn't say much. The main goal was to help everyone get acquainted.

After a few introductory remarks, Fang Qingfei asked the students to come up and introduce themselves.

The first person to volunteer was unexpectedly a girl.

And she was quite good-looking, even by Li Dong's standards, she would score around 85 out of 100.

"Hello everyone, my name is Bai Su, and I'm from Pingchuan... I enjoy singing, dancing, and playing the piano…"

While Bai Su continued to speak passionately on stage, Meng Qiping's chubby face revealed a smirk as he mischievously said, "Dong Ge, she's quite pretty. Looks like we're in for a treat."

Li Dong rolled his eyes at him. The little fatso was quite the flirt; he had said the same about Fang Qingfei yesterday.

"I think you're just suffering from an excess of hormones. As long as it's a woman, you think she looks good."

Li Dong teased, then added, "Don't just focus on our class. The Foreign Languages College has some top beauties, way better than our class."

"Dong Ge, didn't expect you to be the expert!" Xu Chen looked at Li Dong with admiration and said, "You've figured out the situation on your first day. I'm going to award you the title 'Prince of Intelligence.'"

"Get lost. When did you become the 'Prince of Intelligence'?"

"Really, don't doubt it. Back in high school when I…"

"Stop. When you were in high school, how many days ago was that?"

...

The group laughed and chatted for a while, while Bai Su had already left the stage. Now, a boy was on stage, and they lost interest after noting his name.

When Li Dong went on stage, he briefly introduced himself and where he was from. He was off the stage in less than thirty seconds.

Xu Chen and Zhang Hao did the same, but when it was Meng Qiping's turn, the crowd nearly laughed themselves to tears.

"Hello, handsome guys and beautiful girls, I'm Meng Qiping! I'm eighteen years old, unmarried, and don't have a girlfriend... Don't judge me by my appearance; I'm actually very gentle…"

"My phone number is 138********. If any girls are interested, please contact me."

As soon as Meng Qiping finished speaking, someone in the audience shouted, "Can boys contact you too?"

"Hahaha…"

The atmosphere in the class instantly became lively, and even Fang Qingfei showed a smile, with her dimples appearing again.

Meng Qiping didn't mind the teasing and proudly descended the stage.

He winked at Li Dong and the others, looking very pleased with himself.

Li Dong and the others were speechless. The little fatso was clearly smitten; he even used his self-introduction to flirt with girls.

After about half an hour, the self-introductions for the International Trade Class 1 finally ended.

Fang Qingfei took the stage again and said a few words about how everyone was part of a collective, coming together from all corners of the world, and how they should work together for the prosperity of the class...

At the end, Fang Qingfei cleared her throat and said, "Students who are interested in running for class positions, please come up and give your speeches. Listen carefully; the final decision is in your hands!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Yuan Qingfeng stood up and went to the podium.

Li Dong's heart skipped a beat. Yuan Qingfeng was taking the initiative; he wasn't going to run for class president, was he?

Li Tie and Xu Chen were unaware of the situation. Seeing this, Xu Chen curiously asked, "Yuan Qingfeng is running too? I didn't hear him mention it."

Those who were aware remained silent and focused their attention on Yuan Qingfeng.

After a while, everyone fell silent.

On stage, Yuan Qingfeng was passionately delivering his speech.

"I have been a class president from middle school to high school, and I am willing to contribute to the class. If you choose me as class president…"

Li Tie's face darkened, and Li Dong noticed Li Tie's grip was tight, with veins showing.

Xu Chen also looked displeased and said, "How could he do this? Didn't Brother Tie say he would run?"

"Forget it, he's free to run for class president too," Meng Qiping said, shaking his head and changing the topic.

The group lost interest in talking and continued to remain silent.

When Yuan Qingfeng finally came down from the stage, he didn't speak to anyone and quietly sat by himself.

Next up was not Li Tie but Bai Su, the girl who had introduced herself first.

She was running for the position of Academic Committee Member. After Bai Su's speech, Fang Qingfei added, "Bai Su is the top scorer in International Trade Class 1 this year."

Li Dong rolled his eyes. Fang Qingfei was being blatantly biased!

Bai Su was already attractive, had just shown her talents in her introduction, and now she was also the top student in the class. It was almost demoralizing for others.

But seeing the excited expressions on the male students, Li Dong couldn't be bothered to say more. Even without Fang Qingfei's favoritism, these guys would likely vote for her anyway.

Several others came up to give speeches: Youth League Secretary, Life Committee Member, Cultural and Arts Committee Member…

There was competition for other class positions, and even for class president, there were several candidates. However, for Academic Committee Member, Bai Su was the only candidate.

Li Tie also went on stage to run for class president.

Now, there were five or six candidates just for class president. Xu Chen and the others, who had been upset about Yuan Qingfeng's entry, gradually cooled down, as it was not only Li Tie running and the competition was not a sure win.

Once there were no more candidates, Fang Qingfei started the voting.

Each student could cast one vote for each position, and abstention was also allowed. Candidates themselves could vote as well.

There were forty-eight students in International Trade Class 1. Fang Qingfei chose two students sitting in the front to count and check the votes, and the results were available in less than ten minutes.

...

For class president, Li Tie received 18 votes, Yuan Qingfeng 16 votes, and the rest had either five or six votes or just one or two votes.

For Academic Committee Member, Bai Su received 42 votes, as she was the only candidate. Apart from abstentions, she was the only one who could be voted for.

For Youth League Secretary, Huang Shanshan won with 22 votes. She was the other girl besides Bai Su who scored over 80 points.

...

Yuan Qingfeng ended up losing. It wasn't because he was less capable than Li Tie; Yuan Qingfeng was tall and handsome, and many girls had voted for him.

But Li Tie had the support of his dorm mates and Xu Chen's help in canvassing, which allowed him to narrowly win by two votes.

After the results were announced, Yuan Qingfeng kept a sullen face and didn't say a word.

Li Dong and the others didn't know what to say. They had all voted for Li Tie, and Yuan Qingfeng should have known that.

On the second day of orientation, Dorm 351 seemed to show signs of division.

Li Dong sighed inwardly. Was it worth causing such a fuss over a class president position when there were still four years to go?

After the class leaders were elected, the remaining students were free to leave.

Yuan Qingfeng left alone as soon as the class meeting ended.

Meng Qiping shook his head and sighed, "Sigh, we talked about having dinner tonight in the morning. It seems hopeless now."

"All you think about is eating!" Xu Chen laughed and scolded.

Meng Qiping puffed out his chest and retorted, "If you're so capable, don't eat. Let's go, Dong Ge, Haozi, let's go have dinner!"

"Wait, I'm going too!"

"Didn't you say you weren't eating?"

"When did I say that…"