Chapter 174: Chapter 176: Scared

This was a book she had desperately wanted in her previous life. Later, after she started working, she used her first paycheck to buy such a book for herself. The purpose wasn’t extravagant; she merely wanted to satisfy a yearning that had lasted for years. Unfortunately, she searched for it in several large bookstores, but she never found the book.

So, that was one thing she regretted in her previous life. And now, if this book hadn’t presented itself to her, she might have forgotten how badly she once desired something in her youth.

“Turn it over and take a look.”

The teacher said hintingly with teasing, all the while maintaining a grin on her face.

Tang Yuxin opened the book, and the award-winning work was featured on the first page. It was a national-level essay competition, and she clearly remembered that the top prize went to a story written by a girl from another province. At that time, she had dreamt that the victor’s story was her own, and that her life subsequently became extraordinary.

With a thud.

The book in her hand fell on the table, quickly she picked it up again,

“Teacher, this is…”

She couldn’t help but rub her eyes. Had she made a mistake, or was she dreaming? The name of the first-prize winner, the gold medalist, was incredibly similar to hers. No, it was exactly the same.

“Hehe…” The teacher chuckled, not hiding the satisfaction in her eyes.

“Shocked, right? Actually, I was shocked too. You don’t need to doubt, this is indeed yours. Did you not write an essay? When I first read it, I was deeply moved, so I tried sending your essay to Beijing for the competition. Unbelievably, it won the gold medal! Tang Yuxin, this is something that has never happened in our entire school, no, in the entire city’s primary and secondary schools.”

“A gold medal… Our school’s reputation has really soared this time for sure.”

As the teacher talked more and more excitedly, she eventually stood up with a whoop, eager to exclaim that her years of teaching were worth it, her work as a teacher hadn’t been in vain.

Tang Yuxin was still a bit stupefied. She had never expected this to happen and it had yet to sink in.

The teacher patted Tang Yuxin’s shoulder, “You should prepare well. Your reward might arrive soon. Besides the school’s, there will be rewards from the city, the province, and even the Education Bureau.”

Such good news certainly warrants widespread publicity from the school, and it definitely benefits your future studies. With such an award, Tang Yuxin will get many extra points when applying for college.

Of course, the teacher felt gratified that she made the decision to send Tang Yuxin’s essay out on a whim. Otherwise, how could there be this gold medal?

She had brought such a great honor to her school, county, and city. When it comes to recognizing outstanding performance this year, she was sure to be considered.

With the essay book in her hand, Tang Yuxin returned to the classroom. She put the book in her bag. Years of living through highs and lows had made her keep a cool head. As if nothing had happened, she continued with her homework.

“Yuxin, what did the teacher want with you?” Zhang Yindi ran over, leaning onto Tang Yuxin’s desk. She was lying halfway on it, her body beginning to show distinct curvy development.

Tang Yuxin slightly frowned. Could it be that Zhang Yindi’s figure would continue to develop and become more prominent in the future?

She looked down at her own flat chest. How come others had started developing, but she still remained the same, like a boy?

She sighed quietly in her heart.

She couldn’t help it. She hadn’t seen any growth in her previous life either. Back then, she had severe malnutrition. In this life, she had always been careful about her health, never skipping any meals, but she just didn’t grow in that area. Other girls were beginning to mature; sometimes she could even detect a faint scent of blood on them.

That was the smell of budding womanhood, plus the surge of vitality and physical growth.

However, these seemed to have halted abruptly for her.

“What are you thinking?” Zhang Yindi reached out and pinched Tang Yuxin’s face a bit hard. Tang Yuxin was stunned and looked intently at Zhang Yindi. In their previous lives, did they have such a good relationship?

It seemed not. Especially after Zhang Yindi became the phoenix that flew out of the village, she never saw her again. Until their final encounter, she had become a doctor, and Zhang Yindi had become Zhang Xiaomei, a wealthy official’s wife who abandoned her sick husband, living a life filled with luxury and opulence.

There must be something wrong with Gu Ning’s eyes.

Tang Yuxin looked down and forcefully drew a line on her paper with her pen, poking a hole in her notebook.

“Hey…” Zhang Yindi reached out and tugged Tang Yuxin’s hair vigorously, “Yuxin, have you gone mute? What did the teacher ask you to do?”

“Nothing.” Tang Yuxin raised her head, closed the notebook, and then involuntarily found herself glancing at Zhang Yindi again. This was indeed extraordinary, the size of a Baozi. And she, at the same time, was just a small dumpling.

No, not even that, she was still flat.

When she got home, she didn’t tell her family about the gold medal for essays, knowing they would find out soon anyway. Although their junior high school was considered pretty good in the county, it still lagged significantly behind the excellent schools in the city. The infrastructure could be said to be just passable, the teaching quality was average, yet producing a gold medalist in essays was the school’s biggest achievement since its establishment.

If the school didn’t use this opportunity to promote itself, how could it live up to the first gold medal it had ever won, which was also a national championship?

A few days later, as expected, the school held the largest school-wide assembly since the start of the school year.

The principal was a middle-aged man in his forties with a slightly protruding belly. Possibly due to his intelligence, almost all his hair had fallen out. Yet he didn’t want to go completely bald, so he let the hair on one side of his head grow longer, circling his head like a wire mesh, while the top looked like an ice rink.