Most urban people have to work on Friday, so celebrating a birthday party is usually done over dinner, with few guests able to make it during the day.
However, several of Great-uncle's nephews from the village had arrived early, partly because Auntie Qi had hurried them, and partly because the village only had one bus a day going out.
Second Elder Brother told Su Youqian to squeeze together and spend the night at his construction job site.
Su Youfu and Sheng Juanhua went to stay over at Auntie Qi's sister-in-law's place.
None of them expected to be able to stay in Great-uncle's big house, since they had never stayed there before.
After Su Youfu and Su Youqian finished fixing the leaky roof upstairs, dinner was already being served downstairs. It took them a whole morning to complete the work.
After eating, they were called away again.
Even Sheng Juanhua was directed to help out in the kitchen.
After all, the formal dinner banquet was in the evening, and there were still many dishes to prepare in the afternoon. There were quite a few neighbor women in the kitchen helping out.
Seeing Sheng Juanhua dressed rather fashionably, a young woman with a large pregnant belly, who was quite polite, called Sheng Juanhua sister-in-law and asked her to give her the bag to put away in the room.
Sheng Juanhua knew this woman was Great-uncle's new daughter-in-law, after the previous one had left.
This one who just walked in with a big belly.
She looked quite proper now, but Sheng Juanhua had heard before that she used to be very showy and flashy. Maybe because she was pregnant now, she had toned it down.
Even though they were properly married now, in Sheng Juanhua's mind, she was still a mistress.
She didn't have much contact with the previous daughter-in-law, but still, she couldn't get over this hurdle in her heart.
She handed over the bag. There really wasn't anything valuable inside, since she kept her valuables like phone and wallet on her. She carried a bag because it seemed fashionable for city girls to have a bag, and it looked good to have one slung over her shoulder.
"Sister-in-law, this bag looks really nice, it's the latest model from Coach right?" The pregnant woman praised with a smile.
Sheng Juanhua didn't know anything about brands, so she didn't understand the compliment.
"My daughter bought this for me. She goes to school in the provincial capital and mailed it to me," Sheng Juanhua didn't really like this new daughter-in-law. In her mindset, the previous relationship wasn't even properly divorced before she came in pregnant. Even though they were formally married now, she was still a mistress in Sheng Juanhua's eyes.
After speaking, she sat down to help wash vegetables, without saying anything further.
The pregnant daughter-in-law then remembered who this girl was, connecting her to the pretty girl who came to drink at the wedding banquet last time. She recalled that at the wedding, her husband had gotten drunk and kept mumbling that the daughter of his country bumpkin cousin was quite a beauty, lively and cute, just a bit silly from too much book learning.
Her husband had quite a track record, so she was very bothered by this.
She cursed inwardly, she's a college student, too good for the likes of you!
Now she wondered, it's only been a few years of college, how could she afford to buy such an expensive bag for her mother, who knows if she went to school or did something else outside. Tsk tsk, she looks innocent and demure on the surface.
She had heard father-in-law say before that these cousins were all poor villagers, just get them to come and order them around as hired help, no need to give them any nice treatment or squeeze any benefits from them.
Sheng Juanhua didn't expect this pregnant daughter-in-law to be so indecent in her thoughts, imagining dirty things about her daughter. If she knew, she probably would stand up and scratch her face right now. When push came to shove, Sheng Juanhua could be quite fierce.
On Friday nights, there was no evening study hall, and lights in the dorm stayed on.
The class president had organized watching shows in the classroom...the classroom had a computer that could project onto the slides.
Xiao Qi: ...
After a day of the P.E. teacher's theory lecture, Xiao Qi's skin had probably grown thicker by a few layers.
She actually felt it wasn't too bad.
And thought hopefully not many people would come watch.
Her roommates would naturally come to show support.
The class president went, so the vice president would definitely go too. Recently they were inseparable.
If Vice President Yue Lai went, her roommate would also go.
Classmate Li Weijin also came. He belonged to the type in class who was hard to provoke and didn't fit in well, mainly just in charge of giving out red packets in the group chat, and classmates all tried hard to suck up to him.
And surprisingly, Su Li also came.
In the past when Su Li came, she would sit right next to Li Weijin, and everyone understood the meaning.
But today when Su Li came, she actually didn't chase away Wu Wenshu, but instead took over Chu Yu's seat.
Chu Yu looked completely wronged and pitiful as she sadly went to sit elsewhere, seeming grievously bullied.
Su Li didn't care about Chu Yu's expression, it's just a seat, people switch around all the time during evening study hall.
She also didn't know why she wanted to sit here, where she would see Su Xiao Qi as soon as she looked up.
During P.E. theory class today, when she saw the person swimming in the blue pool on the big screen, it was like something in her mind suddenly snapped.
She suddenly felt Xiao Qi seemed different, lively and vivid.
She felt like her mind was broken, wondering if it was because her mother-in-law had mentioned this classmate to her twice, and she became obsessed.
Then on Friday night she actually came to the classroom.
She should know, she had originally made plans to go play at a newly opened club with friends.
She actually cancelled plans with friends to come watch slides in the classroom, and watch interviews on the sports channel...
Her mind must be broken.
It started at 8:30, with a bunch of commercials first.
There were also pictures of Xiao Qi running the marathon. Su Li had gone abroad for the National Day holidays, and seeing the photos now, she unexpectedly felt a sense of excitement.
At the time when she saw the class group chat, the class president said they were going to watch the marathon, she thought what a bunch of idiots, going to squeeze with crowds on National Day holidays, when she was lounging comfortably on a beach chair abroad.
But now she unexpectedly felt it was quite regrettable to have missed seeing it live. She could vacation abroad any time.
But a marathon like this probably wouldn't happen again. Or rather, the chance to participate in a marathon.
The preview said 8:30, but at 8:30, they were still showing commercials, especially for Mingrui Sports, making the audience anxious.
Xiao Qi wasn't nervous at the scene at the time, but watching it now made her even more nervous.
After all, there were classmates here too.
And quite a few came, along with some students from the class next door.
Seeing the lively atmosphere, they asked what was happening and came in to watch too. The classroom was soon quite crowded, just like when coming to class.
It wasn't until 8:40 that the show itself officially began.
During those ten minutes, Xiao Qi was doing test papers, but was also feeling a bit distracted, feeling she was still a bit of a wimp, unable to keep calm with something so small. Fortunately it officially started at 8:40.
The studio, host, guests, Xiao Qi saw herself sitting there, looking okay, not awkward on camera.
She had thought her own shots would be relatively few, as that was how it was during the on-site interview, with uneven focus.
Unexpectedly while watching, she felt like she was the one given disproportionate focus. The camera seemed to linger on her the whole time.
The host seemed to be interacting with her continuously.
Seeing herself on TV, Xiao Qi found it a little unfamiliar, seeming different from her usual self.
Looking rather cool, giving the impression of being a bit unapproachable.
While Xiao Qi herself felt she had an easygoing, friendly personality.
Her other classmates had an even more different sense.
They didn't expect the study committee member to speak so eloquently and comfortably on TV, not nervous at all, attitude tranquil, not saying much, but hard to ignore.
"Do you feel you have any advantages in running that others don't have?" asked the host.
"I grew up in a high altitude region, so my lung capacity is probably better," Xiao Qi replied.
"Do you normally like running?"
"Yes, every day, at least 30,000 steps."
"30,000 steps every day really is a lot. Looks like you really enjoy running. Was participating in the marathon race this time just happenstance, or did you have a specific goal?"
"When running, it makes me feel really free and puts me in a great mood. I entered the marathon race initially attracted by the prize money for breaking records."
"I'm very honored to have broken the record. Thank you to the organizers for the generous bonus, thank you to my parents for giving me a good body, and thank you to my roommates for always being very supportive. I spend a lot of time on running, so help out less with dorm chores, and my roommates are often helping me out. I'm very grateful to have such good roommates."
Xiao Qi remembered the questions asked of her were spaced out during gaps, but watching again now, it seemed like she was being exclusively interviewed, continuous.
Editing didn't have much choice, throughout the whole show, the girl with the most screen presence was her, unconsciously drawing attention again and again. If her content was cut out, this interview show wouldn't seem to have much to watch.
Xiao Qi spoke concisely and briskly, but her appearance was very sweet, forming a striking contrast.
Chu Yu saw that the footage even showed the images of roommate Xiao Qi and several other dorm mates waving their hands at the end, and felt very depressed. Why couldn't he be assigned to the same dorm room with Xiao Qi when they were allocated dorms, so he could also appear on TV?
Although Xiao Qi was crafty, she was truly generous in giving gifts, not stinting at all.
The other students also had different feelings. They usually thought the study supervisor was just the study supervisor. Even if her studies were a bit better, she wasn't that different from them. They were all studying at Enhua University. What was the use of studying well? Could it compare to Azure League University?
Any random student picked from there could probably beat the study supervisor.
But seeing the study supervisor on TV, they felt it was different after all. Although they were in the same class and school, they were actually different.
Li Weijin looked at Xiao Qi on TV, and saw another side of her. In his heart, Xiao Qi was a beautiful female classmate, his type. Independent and strong-willed, but she gave off a different feeling on TV, restrained and steady, with a strong aura.
Seeing Xiao Qi on TV, Su Li was suddenly reminded that she had often appeared on TV when she was little. Her mother had often signed her up for various model competitions, and she had been a global child model ambassador for Kenzo. She had worn full Chanel outfits to do catwalks as a child. Her shoes alone filled up a room when she was small.
She wasn't very good-looking as a child, but she had a lot of flair on the catwalk.
Later, she stopped participating in these activities, for some unknown reason.
But her personality of not playing with the other kids backstage, looking down on them and being looked down upon, remained.
At this moment, she felt Xiao Qi seemed different. She was good-looking too, but didn't have the annoying traits of other girls, very decisive and straightforward.
The interview program ended and everyone went back.
At this time, Su Li unexpectedly received a call from her mother-in-law.
She was startled. Her mother-in-law rarely took the initiative to call her, especially so late.
"Mother-in-law, what's the matter?"
"Where are you?"
"I'm in class watching a show. My classmate Xiao Qi had an interview on the sports channel tonight. The class monitor organized everyone to watch together." She didn't dare conceal anything from her mother-in-law and answered honestly.
She just felt that after she finished speaking, the other end of the phone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Did you lend your car to your friends? That car got into an accident. Stay on campus, don't go anywhere. I'll handle the aftermath."
Su Li was shocked. She had originally planned to go out and play with her friends. But since she didn't go, she felt bad and lent her car to her friends.
She checked her phone and there really was a car accident alert, on a winding mountain road from Enhua to the city. The car had collided with a large truck, and the front of the car looked completely smashed...
Her hands shook as she held her phone.
