Chapter 231

What a coincidence that Wu Xinyue from the English department was there too.

Xiao Qi felt that she really had some fate with her.

But it was also normal that there were more students from the English department participating in the English speech contest.

After all, that was their major.

When Wu Xinyue saw Su Xiaoqi, she was also completely bewildered. She had been one of the main participants in the campus forum incident, and was surprised that it seemed to have had no impact at all on Su Xiaoqi. Later, when someone posted photos and videos exonerating Su Xiaoqi, she realized that Su Xiaoqi's English was really good.

She had no problem communicating with the foreign teacher, and sometimes Wu Xinyue didn't even understand what Su Xiaoqi was saying because she spoke too fast.

Wu Xinyue also blamed herself for being too rash, hastily trying to link Su Xiaoqi to the scandal with the South Korean athletics team, without even investigating properly. She didn't even know that foreign teacher was a woman!

It had been a complete mistake, best forgotten about. Fortunately she had been careful not to do any of that on her dorm computer, but had gone elsewhere. Otherwise she would have almost blown her cover, as she hadn't expected there to be ways to trace IP addresses.

Seeing Su Xiaoqi at the speech contest venue now, she felt as uncomfortable as if she'd swallowed a fly.

She considered her own English to be quite good. It was the only subject she had really applied herself to, since it was useful and impressive to be able to communicate with foreigners.

She had heard that the winner of first place here could go on to continue competing at Qingming University.

If she could win first place, she could show off on TikTok again. After all, the image of an outstanding and beautiful female student was far more compelling than those who just happened to be good-looking.

But seeing Su Xiaoqi here...she had a very bad feeling.

Xiao Qi was actually not as calm as she appeared.

She had prepared very thoroughly these past few days, but as soon as the speeches were about to start, she suddenly became nervous and desperately wanted to go to the bathroom.

This reminded her of high school. She would always feel like she needed to pee during exams and even the college entrance exam. Whenever there was something important, she would feel the urge to go to the bathroom, even though when she actually went she didn't need to pee that much.

It was a kind of fear and anxiety.

She had been working out a lot recently and was in good physical shape. She hadn't had any issues during the Top Ten Singers competition, but today, as each contestant went up and came back down, she became more and more nervous and started feeling like she needed to pee. She told her roommate she was going to run to the bathroom quickly.

Her friends didn't think anything of it, assuming she just needed to use the restroom. In their eyes, Xiao Qi was amazing, and they had heard her speech rehearsal many times without any issues.

Xiao Qi was confused herself. She actually rarely got this nervous anymore, even having been interviewed on TV stations without feeling like this.

Perhaps it was because she cared too much about this time.

Her innate timidity seemed to flow out of her bones like water from cracks.

She had said she was going to the bathroom, but when she got there she actually couldn't go.

When she came back out, it was already the fifth contestant on stage.

Xiao Qi still had a while before her turn, number seven.

She paced around the grass outside for a bit, took a deep breath, and took out her phone to call her mom.

Right then she suddenly desperately wanted to hear her parents' voices.

It was just past 2pm. Sheng Juanhua and her husband didn't have the habit of an afternoon nap. After finishing lunch, they would feed the pigs and chickens and ducks, tidy up the vegetable garden out back, clean out the rainwater harvesting pond, then go to the living room to weave bamboo handicrafts.

Now the couple had a clear division of labor. Su Youfu did bamboo weaving while Sheng Juanhua made cloth drawstring bags.

Each bamboo container now contained a small cloth drawstring bag, which made them look much more elegant and customers loved them.

The earth wall at the front gate, Su Youfu had found some people to help rebuild recently, so now it was like having a small courtyard, much more spacious.

On this autumn afternoon, the breeze in Gumu Village was comfortable and pleasant.

Sheng Juanhua had just sat down on the bamboo chair when her phone rang. Seeing it was her daughter, she quickly picked up.

Hearing his wife talking to their child, Su Youfu also put down his work.

"Dear daughter, why are you calling now? Don't you have class in the afternoon?"

"Did you eat yet? Why aren't you in class?" Sheng Juanhua spoke in a thick rural accent, asking a whole string of questions that Xiao Qi didn't even have time to answer.

"I don't have afternoon classes today. I'm participating in a speech contest and feeling a little nervous, so I called to see how you and Dad are doing recently," Xiao Qi said, speaking in the hometown dialect of Gumu Village that outsiders would have a hard time understanding, very complex.

If you really wanted to learn it, it wasn't clear whether Japanese or Gumu Village dialect would be harder.

"We're doing fine. A few days ago your dad went to the city to sell some bamboo baskets, and weighed himself at the pharmacy door - he was five pounds heavier!" Su Youfu's voice also chimed in, "Don't be afraid of giving a speech. Back in the day, your dad performed programs for the whole village and everyone said I was great. You're like your dad, you're your dad's daughter, you'll definitely speak well."

Surprisingly, Sheng Juanhua didn't poke holes in this, and agreed, "What your dad said is right. I only thought about marrying him after seeing him on stage singing when I came to visit Gumu Village with friends. Don't be scared, just get up on stage."

"Your dad is very bold, going off alone to sell winnowing baskets and haggling over prices with people, not timid at all," Sheng Juanhua added.

Xiao Qi listened feeling half amused, half exasperated. Alright, her parents didn't really understand what a speech contest was, they just thought being bold on stage was all that mattered.

But saying it this way did seem to make her less afraid.

Simple and unadorned - you're your dad's daughter, you take after him, your dad is bold.

Xiao Qi hung up the phone.

She returned to the speech hall.

By now it was already the fifth contestant on stage.

Xiao Qi listened attentively from her seat below. Actually there were a lot of limitations on the freshman contestants. Perhaps because they had just gone through the college entrance exams, they were all still reciting their speeches like high school composition essays.

Those with better English recited more smoothly without stumbling.

Those with poorer English still recited a bit haltingly.

It was completely different from the rousing speeches Xiao Qi had imagined. But she did see Wu Xinyue. Xiao Qi envied how outgoing Wu Xinyue was, able to chat breezily with strangers, while Xiao Qi felt like a child next to an adult in comparison. Wu Xinyue could casually converse with strangers, something Xiao Qi found very difficult.

Fundamentally she was an introvert, just like Wei Cheng.

Wu Xinyue was contestant number eight, Xiao Qi number seven, the reverse of their order at the Top Ten Singers competition. This time Xiao Qi was up first.

After calling her parents, Xiao Qi didn't feel as nervous anymore, at least she no longer felt like running to the bathroom. But her palms were still sweating.

What she didn't know was that Wu Xinyue was even more nervous than her... Damn, what bad luck, to be right after Su Xiaoqi. She had basically given up hope for her own speech this time. She was also reciting from memory, but she felt her advantage was being able to recite with more expression, gestures, and interaction even if reading.

She had no confidence she could speak as well as Su Xiaoqi. She knew her own abilities well. Even chatting with foreign teachers relied on gestures and body language.

Moreover, she hadn't prepared as thoroughly, just picking an article that she originally thought would be good enough, but realizing now at the competition venue that it wasn't enough. And it seemed like one of the previous contestants had chosen a similar article, a bit repetitive.

The sixth contestant stepped down and it was Xiao Qi's turn.

Today Xiao Qi wore her school tracksuit and pants. She had wanted to wear jeans and a T-shirt but it had suddenly turned cold today, and this was her warmest outfit, so she could only wear this. Xiao Qi didn't care much about clothes. She kept psyching herself up - she could do it. She walked onto the stage.

She bowed to the students and teachers below, a smile on her face. In her mind she recalled her dad's words - you're your dad's daughter, no problem.

Li Weijin had also come. He sat very near the front where he could see the girl on stage, wearing a light blue tracksuit that looked beautiful and fresh, but he also noticed the cuffs were threadbare and fuzzy from washing, the blue faded to white. For a moment his heart twisted painfully.