Chapter 150: Advancing
When the time for the mathematics section was up, more than eighty-five percent of the original people that were in the hall had cleared out.
The students still by their computers were less than fifty, and only Wu Hao with Rong Yue remained from the China team that had come.
Other than the short time, the students also had to read the questions in English, which added to their difficulty.
By the time the social sciences section ended, there were only twenty students left.
Rong Yue stood up, not leaving her computer but also looking around for Wu Hao. A smile bloomed on her face the moment she saw him, and she sat down back.
Although the only family she had ever had in her past and current life was her mother, she also sympathized with Wu Hao for having to live such a difficult life and still being willing to go the extra mile for others regardless.
To her, this competition was one way of letting his father see exactly how important the son he was ignoring was.
"To the successful contestant, congratulations, your computer will now generate a code which you must present before you are granted access to enter the room where the final stage will be held."
The few of them listened to the instructions that boomed out from the speakers. After confirming that they could leave, they stood up and walked out of the halls.
Since they had an hour's break, it was better to use it to relax properly and recharge for the next section.
"Goddess Yue!" Wu Hao called out jokingly as he rushed to meet up with her.
"How was it?"
"Many of the questions you set actually showed up in different variations. Also, since you forced me to take all the questions in English, it wasn't new for me, and I didn't have to waste time with the translation." He explained.
The translation feature worked. However, for questions set in English, using the machine translation on them might change the sequence and give it a slightly different meaning.
Rong Yue nodded, pleased that their efforts had come to something eventually.
"You should rest. The second part is the most tasking one,"
Wu Hao nodded obediently, already used to taking her instructions seriously.
When the two of them walked up to where the rest of their team was, Rong Yue felt like she had already used up her social battery.
As soon as the two officials saw them, their faces lit up like the sun.
"The two of you are out. Quickly come to the lounge to rest. It must have been hard on you." One of them said as he grabbed Wu Hao's hands.
On the other hand, Teacher Lu had a smile that shone even brighter than the other two.
Even though some of him had suspected that Rong Yue would climb the stage and represent their country in front of the whole world, seeing it happen was a completely different matter.
Moreover, he would never have thought that Wu Hao would beat the top students from the capital, not to mention winning the best of each country and entering the final phase.
But despite all of these emotions that he was feeling, he still thought of the two of them first.
"Rong Yue is not used to being around people. Since her family's car is over there, let her go ahead and rest while we are waiting for the second part." Teacher Lu said, making everyone on the team stop.
Rong Yue shot teacher Lu a grateful look and nodded.
Before she could get a pass from the others, Feng Ya spoke up as she looked at Rong Yue with eyes filled with jealousy. The most important segment was appearing in the broadcasting section for the competition. However, she underestimated the difficulty of the exam. Despite putting in her best with exclusive tutors and studying hard, she could not go beyond the first phase.
Then there was also Wu Hao, that had passed the qualification too. Now, if the two of them climbed the stage, the people back home would know it wasn't the country's standard or language barrier. Instead, it would only mean that she was not good enough.
With all these thoughts in her mind, her expression toward Rong Yue was completely negative, and she attacked her with her words.
"Since we have arrived, you have been separating yourself and staying alone. Is your City A so special that you can't stay with people like us from the capital, or are you perhaps hiding something?"
Seeing that she was about to cause disunity and upset Rong Yue's emotional balance, teacher Lu stepped forward.
"This student, whatever matter it is that you have, the both of you can settle later, but you must know that the next phase is crucial for the country."
The officials caught on very quickly, too, and echoed teacher Lu's words back to her.
"It's better to rest inside for the break. After the final stage, we can all talk back at the hotel regardless of the results."
Seeing that they all said that, Rong Yue nodded gratefully at them and walked off with teacher Lu.
After they had walked some distance away, teacher Lu finally spoke up, "Errr, Rong Yue. Your brother gave me the car keys and told me you would need to get some rest while waiting for the final stage."
"Where is he?" Rong Yue cut in, her brows narrowing together in confusion.
"He said he has some urgent matter and would be back before the final stage is over,"
Rong Yue nodded and took the keys from him. However, the unease that she had finally managed to push away this morning returned with full force.
As she opened the back seat door and entered the car, Rong Yue felt her heart calm down a bit more as she inhaled the familiar fragrance of Qin Yichen still lingering in the car.
On the back seat was a paper bag that was obviously from a food place with two cups beside it.
It was clear that it was an emergency. After all, from the size of the paperback and the two cups, she could tell he had plans to eat with her. However, whatever it was must have been urgent.
Despite her phone being in the car, she didn't turn it on or call him as she knew he would be displeased if he found out she wasn't resting.
Seeing that he had time to get her food before rushing off, Rong Yue adjusted her mood and ate some of the packed food before resting her head back for a little nap.