Chapter 1041: Differential Treatment
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan were out of luck.
Their fathers were arranged to go to a small, remote country where conditions were arduous for an on-the-spot investigation. There was even a danger of war. The two men went home and scolded their daughters fiercely. They not only forbade them to go out and punished them to copy down a whole book, but they also warned them not to provoke Xia Ling again.
Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan felt aggrieved but still accepted their punishments. They hated Xia Ling down to their bones.
Xia Ling did not have the slightest inkling about this. She prepared diligently for her trainee selection test. The exam was divided into several parts. It included an attractiveness index, a temperament a.s.sessment, an answering portion, and a talent examination where one could choose any one of the various forms of performing arts. Xia Ling chose to sing. She liked to sing and hoped to become a singer in the future.
On the day, the driver drove her to the place with a Rolls Royce.
A block away, she called for the driver to stop the car. “Let’s get off here, Uncle Li. I don’t want people to discover that I was adopted by Brother Pei.” The little girl was bent on seeking fairness and wanted to rely only on her own strength to impress people. However, Pei Ziheng’s Rolls Royce was just too eye-catching.
The driver had long been instructed by Pei Ziheng to listen to everything she said. So, he parked the car by the side.
Xia Ling went to the examination room with him. There was a huge crowd in the room and it was full of well-dressed candidates and nervous parents. Xia Ling, however, was wearing a homely dress of a very soft and comfortable material. It was Pei Ziheng’s favorite blue-gray color. She hoped that wearing his favorite color could bring her good luck.
But such a skirt looked too plain when placed among a crowd of people.
“Miss, do you want to change clothes?” The driver asked. In the trunk of the car, there were a lot of clothes that Pei Ziheng had ordered him to prepare in advance. He had appeared to let her go to the test by herself, but in actual fact, he was very concerned about it.
Xia Ling looked at the crowd full of cla.s.sy people who were as proud as peac.o.c.ks. She hesitated, but in the end still shook her head. “I’ll just wear this.” She looked up and smiled sweetly at the driver. “I must wear Brother Pei’s favorite color dress to be able to enter the training camp!” Unconsciously, his weight in her heart had become so heavy.
The driver stopped persuading her.
He knew that even if she couldn’t pa.s.s the exam, Pei Ziheng would still order people to change the scores until she could pa.s.s. Although in her opinion, this exam was a battle, she did not understand that the result had already been set. Pei Ziheng was only conniving her and playing an innocuous game with her.
The little girl was extremely excited. She dragged the driver and reached the examination room quickly.
At the entrance, security guards blocked the way. “Sorry, parents have to stop here.”
Hence, Xia Ling waved to the driver and said with a loud voice, “Goodbye Uncle Li, wait for my good news!”
The driver smiled and waved at her. In order to conceal his ident.i.ty, he had not worn the usual black suit and white gloves that he would wear when driving for Pei Ziheng. Instead, he wore a casual s.h.i.+rt and looked to be an amicable, simple neighborhood uncle.
Xia Ling’s laughter was too clear. Many candidates in the examination room turned to look at them.
“Noisy,” a candidate who had been reviewing his score said impatiently.
The candidate next to her looked at Xia Ling and the driver outside with a scornful look. She chuckled. “Really, all kinds of poor weirdos are entering the examination this year. Does she not feel shameful to come here wearing that?”
Another candidate had good eyes. She could see that although the dress on Xia Ling was very low-key, it was made of first-cla.s.s materials that only rich people could afford. However, it didn’t matter and she was too lazy to point it out to the others. She let the other candidates belittle Xia Ling—it was even better if the two started fighting and were all ousted.
The whole room of candidates were full of different thoughts.
Xia Ling heard the people’s discussion and was a little unhappy. But she had come to take the exam today and did not want to argue with anyone. She only glared at them and planned on finding a seat to wait for her turn.
However, who knew that the person had a bad temper. “What are you glaring at?”
Xia Ling frowned. “You provoked me first.”
“Ha, how did I provoke you?” The girl stood up suddenly. She looked to be about fourteen to fifteen, and was a head taller than Xia Ling. She looked down at her condescendingly. “Do you believe I’ll hit you? Little devil.”
If it was any other girl, they would have been extremely frightened. But who was Xia Ling? She had fought often at the orphanage. She glared at the girl without hesitation. “It’s not certain yet who’ll hit who. Come on.” She looked at the girl provocatively. Even though she hadn’t wanted to cause trouble, she couldn’t simply ignore it when someone found trouble with her.
The big girl was about to push her, but Xia Ling was very flexible and managed to avoid it quickly. The big girl pushed the girl behind Xia Ling. That girl screamed and fell back and suddenly knocked down several other girls. “My clothes!” “My skirt!” …
The examination room was full of chaos all of a sudden.
“What is the noise?” The teacher who maintained the order rushed in and scanned all the candidates. “Quiet down! Today is the final exam, we’re choosing only thirty out of a hundred! Whoever wants to leave early can continue to be noisy. You’ll be directly disqualified!”
Her words caused the whole room to become dead silent.
Only Xia Ling widened her eyes in surprise—What, today was the final exam?
Today was her first time coming to the selection test. Had she gone into the wrong room?
She was feeling apprehensive and was about to ask questions when she heard a calm girl’s voice—”Teacher Chen, what happened for you to be so angry? Am I late?”
Teacher Chen’s expression changed. She ignored the candidates and turned to greet the girl with a huge smile. “Miss Li Bingman? You’re finally here, I’ve waited so long for you! Come, come, come sit here, I’ve specially left the best seat and prepared red tea for you!”
“Teacher Chen, you’re too kind. Thank you for your troubles.” The girl’s voice was calm and she walked into the examination room slowly. The crowd then saw her true face—she was an extremely beautiful girl, and although her beauty was a level lower to Xia Ling’, in this whole examination room, no third person could compete with her.
Her temperament was arrogant and elegant, and she looked at people from above as though she was a regal princess.
Teacher Chen diligently led her to the best seat in the examination room, which was by the window. There was the only table in the entire room in that area, and on the table was a hot cup of tea. Earlier, there had been a cordon to prevent other candidates from entering and the other candidates had all thought it was the seat for the examiner.
Li Bingman walked over elegantly and gracefully sat down.
She was not old, looking to be about twelve or thirteen. However, she was much more attractive than the older girls.
“So she’s Li Bingman…” A candidate next to Xia Ling regained her thoughts and said in admiration, “I heard that she’s the Queen Li Bingyu’s sister. No wonder she’s being treated differently.”