Chapter 102: Admission Notice Turmoil

When Wu Qingqing learned that Li Shiru and Su Ruo were reviewing and preparing to take the College Entrance Exam, malice began to grow wildly in her heart.

Wu Qingqing wondered why, despite her long effort, she still couldn't achieve something, while Su Ruo and Li Shiru could easily obtain it.

Wu Qingqing thought, why after doing so much she still couldn't go back to the city, while Su Ruo and Li Shiru could attend university, becoming people she could never reach in her life.

Since Wu Qingqing couldn't get into college herself, she hoped Li Shiru and Su Ruo would also fail, so everyone would be stuck here together, with no one superior to another.

Understanding the grudge between Su Ruo and Li Shiru, Wu Qingqing, upon learning that Su Ruo was also preparing for college, immediately began to sow discord.

Wu Qingqing hoped the two would fight, preferably ending in mutual defeat so neither could enter college.

But what disappointed her was that, upon learning Li Shiru was also preparing for college, Su Ruo showed no reaction at all, as if it had nothing to do with her.

Li Shiru was quite angry, yet she did nothing—truly useless!

Now Wu Qingqing saw that both had achieved good scores, making college admission essentially certain; her anger had reached its peak, and for the first time she didn't even want to pretend.

The two Educated Youths, seeing Wu Qingqing not answer at all and just walk away with a cold face, were both somewhat bewildered; they didn't understand why, since getting into college was obviously a good thing, they would act this way.

Although Su Ruo had already guessed her score, she only felt completely relieved after receiving her transcript.

During this period, Su Ruo, having nothing to do, after handing over the summer clothing design draft to Li Zhaodi, continued to treat the villagers' illnesses.

Consequently, the elderly men and women who came for treatment were all very grateful to her, repeatedly praising Su Ruo as truly a good person.

Of course, everyone who came would inevitably say congratulations to Su Ruo for getting into college, and also curse Li Zeyu for lacking conscience.

For such a dilapidated courtyard, with no one living there even at a dollar a month, Li Zeyu actually opened his mouth asking ten dollars—clearly he was crazy for money.

And yet they're city people! Their manner of eating is also too ugly—rural folk would never do such a shameless thing; no wonder he ended up with a broken leg, his heart is too dark.

But Su Ruo, each time hearing this, would merely smile, say nothing, not follow up, and not express her own opinion.

Because Su Ruo knew these people came to see her for treatment, naturally they would say what she liked to hear; once they left this door, who knows what they'd say!

Having witnessed too much darkness in human nature across her past and present lives, Su Ruo would not take these words to heart.

Of course, Su Ruo also knew that perhaps some of them were sincerely speaking up for her, but since she hadn't suffered any loss and the embarrassment wasn't hers, she truly had nothing to say.

As days passed, Su Ruo always felt that receiving the admission notice was merely a matter of time, so she didn't keep it in mind.

But strangely, half a month later even Li Shiru's admission notice arrived, while Su Ruo's had not yet come.

When the postman came to deliver Li Shiru's admission notice, the whole village was stirred, after all this was Jingda, the nation's best university.

Everyone looking at Li Shiru had eyes full of envy.

Li Shiru, holding the admission notice in her hand, saw her days of gloomy mood completely dissipate at that moment.

Even though Su Ruo scored higher, Li Shiru thought, she had obtained the admission notice first, which counted as a victory over Su Ruo; besides, the scores were merely tickets to enter Jingda, and now she had hers too—who would end up better off was still uncertain.

Because Li Shiru got into Jingda, the people of Zhiqing Dian decided to celebrate her; regardless of past relations, their Educated Youth point producing a college student was ultimately a joyful matter.

What was rare was that Li Shiru didn't refuse this time; she even proactively bought a chicken from an old villager and had several female Educated Youths help stew it.

At dinner, everyone from Zhiqing Dian gathered together, eating fragrant chicken; regardless of each person's true thoughts, on the surface they were all harmonious, offering various blessings to Li Shiru.

Everyone thought that, although Li Shiru scored lower than Su Ruo, she had received the admission notice, and Su Ruo's receipt of hers was merely a matter of time.

But to people's surprise, ten days passed and Su Ruo's admission notice still hadn't arrived.

Gradually people also realized something was wrong; logically, since both were from the same place and applied to the same university, the timing of the admission notices shouldn't differ so greatly.

Because Su Ruo's admission notice was long delayed, bad rumors gradually spread in the village; some people, unwilling to see Su Ruo succeed, began to speculate that she might not have gotten into college at all.

Others claimed Su Ruo must have cheated, which was why she couldn't get into college; still others spread that her transcript was forged, that she hadn't actually scored that high—otherwise how could one explain that Li Shiru received her admission notice while Su Ruo did not?

Although some villagers who had been treated by Su Ruo were angry about this, explaining that she wasn't that kind of person, they had no way to refute the opposing claims.

Some malicious-minded people would even deliberately go to Su Ruo's face and ask why her admission notice hadn't arrived, whether she had simply failed to get into college.

At first Su Ruo didn't mind; she thought something must have happened, that her admission notice had been delayed on the way, so it arrived later.

As for the ill‑intentioned people's words, Su Ruo simply treated them as dogs barking.

But as days passed, her admission notice still showed no sign, and Su Ruo began to feel uneasy.

After all, she had heard in her previous life about cases of impersonation to get into college, but Su Ruo never imagined such a thing would happen to herself.