The moment she mentioned Han Tingting, the audience erupted in applause, especially Tan You's two loyal sidekicks beside her. They stomped their feet and whistled, more thrilled than if they themselves had taken first place.
Feeling her two classmates' excitement and joy, Tan You couldn't help but curve her lips into a slight smile. 'This feeling is truly wonderful. It's the first time I've ever received such goodwill, completely free of jealousy.'
The two parents sitting in front of Han Cunming were beaming with excitement. "She's just too brilliant!"
Tan You froze. 'Ninth in the entire city? Is that for real? I've never gotten a score like that before. Wasn't it supposed to be hard?' Tan You began to recall her final exam. At the time, she had indeed found the test paper quite difficult.
But she had worked through many difficult problems over the past two months. No matter how hard it was, all she had to do was solve each question one by one. Tan You only remembered just barely finishing her math test as the papers were being collected. It was the first time she had ever taken so long on an exam.
When the papers were collected, Tan You simply felt that the exam had gone smoothly. She didn't have a knack for estimating her score yet; she only knew that while the test was hard, she felt she had done a decent job.
After the cheers died down a little, Wang Lanfeng spoke again. "Everyone has witnessed Han Tingting's performance over these past two months. We all know how diligent she usually is. Hard work brings rewards, especially when it comes to academics."
"You are all students, and a student's primary task is to study. I hope you will all learn from Han Tingting. As long as you don't give up on yourselves, your teachers won't give up on you either."
As she said this, Tan You suddenly looked up. Her eyes met Wang Lanfeng's, and as if burned by Tan You's gaze, Wang Lanfeng looked away, a little guiltily.
From the moment the words "ninth in the city" were spoken, Han Cunming had been in a daze. He hadn't heard any of the cheers or applause from others. 'His granddaughter... ranked ninth in the city?'
It wasn't until the parent-teacher conference ended and he was holding the glittering gold award certificate in his hands that it felt real to Han Cunming. He gently stroked the certificate. "This is the first award certificate you've ever received. I'm going to hang it up when I get home."
Tan You said expressionlessly, "There will be more in the future."
Han Cunming was insistent. "That's not the same. This one is different."
As he spoke, his face bloomed into a wide smile. It was the first time Tan You had ever seen Han Cunming smile like that. He usually wore a stern expression, looking serious and fierce.
Now, with a smile, he looked a bit gentler.
Tan You had originally wanted to say goodbye to Teacher Shi, as the next time she'd see him would be after the New Year. But only the homeroom teachers were in the office; none of the other subject teachers had come, which left Tan You feeling a little disappointed.
She really liked Teacher Shi; he was her favorite math teacher she'd ever had. At this moment, Tan You had no idea that her favorite teacher would no longer be teaching the second year of middle school after the New Year, but would instead return to teaching high school.
But that's a story for later.
Before they even got back to the boarding house, the news that Tan You had placed ninth in the city had already spread like wildfire. The moment she stepped through the door, the landlady beamed at Tan You like a blooming flower.
"Tingting, you're really something else! Congratulations, you did so well on this exam."
Tan You had a hard time responding to others' goodwill. She managed a strained smile. "Thank you, ma'am. I'll work even harder in the future."
After saying that, Tan You dashed upstairs in a few quick steps. The landlady laughed. "Your Tingting can't take a compliment at all, she's too modest. That won't do; she could easily be tricked and led astray by a few sweet words from someone."
Han Cunming took this seriously. "Then what should be done?"
The landlady gave him some advice. "Praise her more! Take her out to see the world. Once she's more experienced and has seen more of life, it'll be much harder for others to trick her."
Han Cunming took her words to heart. 'She needs to see the world, right? Yun City is a great place for that. It's more than enough for him to take his granddaughter to see the world.'
That's right. Han Cunming planned to take his granddaughter to find his son. He had made this decision the moment he saw Tan You's report card and the award certificate.
'Since the child is gifted academically, he must do everything in his power to ensure she can continue her studies. He'd be the one to play the bad guy.'
"Go to Yun City? Right now?" Tan You had just put her luggage down at home and was about to prepare a meal when she was stunned by Han Cunming's decision.
"Yes, right now," Han Cunming said seriously. "The New Year is in less than two days. The sooner we go and get the money in hand, the sooner I can rest easy."
Since Han Cunming was leading the charge, Tan You decided not to interfere. It seemed the old man was now completely invested in her education.
They successfully flagged down a long-distance bus. By four in the afternoon, Tan You and Han Cunming were already standing at the doorstep of Han Tingting's biological father, Han Guangzhi. Han Guangzhi had gotten married in Yun City two years ago and had a young son this year, so he didn't even bother returning to his hometown anymore.
Han Cunming felt no sense of awkwardness at all. 'His son married a woman from out of town, and his new grandson even took the wife's family name. That's not much different from being a live-in son-in-law.'
His current daughter-in-law poured Han Cunming a cup of tea, then glanced at Han Tingting and was visibly surprised. She knew Han Guangzhi had a daughter with his ex-wife. 'A girl raised in the countryside, how different could she be?'
But looking at her now, although her clothes were a bit old, they were washed spotlessly clean. Yes, the first impression this girl gave was one of cleanliness. Her hair was neatly combed, and she exuded an air of composure.
After entering their home, she had only been curious for a moment before sitting down properly, her eyes not darting around.
Li Xiaomei nodded to herself slightly. 'On first impression, this stepdaughter isn't unlikable.'
"Dad, Guangzhi is still at work. He won't be back until five-thirty, so please have some tea first. This must be Tingting, right? Have a sweet."
As she spoke, she pushed a candy dish forward. It held candy as well as an assortment of melon seeds and peanuts. Tan You glanced at it and politely said, "Thank you, ma'am. The tea is fine for me."
She genuinely disliked things like melon seeds and peanuts. It wasn't just her; the original Han Tingting hadn't liked them either.
While Li Xiaomei was observing Han Tingting, Tan You was also observing her. From Han Tingting's memories, she knew this woman was Han Guangzhi's current wife. Of course, Han Tingting hadn't spent much time with her, as Li Xiaomei had always been in Yun City.
And after Han Tingting dropped out of school to get married, she saw her biological parents even less. Now, seeing Li Xiaomei, Tan You subconsciously compared her to the version of her in Han Tingting's memories.
'She seems younger.' Thinking this, Tan You couldn't help but smile wryly. 'Of course she's younger now. She's not even forty yet.'
Both Han Tingting and Han Cunming were people of few words, and Li Xiaomei, not knowing them well, also felt a bit awkward. Just then, her young son started crying, so Li Xiaomei used taking care of the baby as an excuse to retreat into another room.