Chapter 245: A Common Enemy
She was so done with them. Did they think they were the only ones who knew how to be rude and excessively proud?
Although she had no desire to be confrontational with them, she could surely say some things to make them feel small.
It was just as she’d expected. Upon hearing what she said, the Tsinghua students got embarra.s.sed looks on their faces.
The Tsinghua professor even turned to look at Professor Hu. He wondered to himself why Professor Hu had become so strong-tempered all of a sudden.
Was it because of their history consultant?
Professor Hu held her head high and proud and thought to herself that she wasn’t going to tell them that the history consultant of “Legend of Wei and Jin” was Tan Mo.
Aren’t those Tsinghua students excessively proud? Ha! Let them embarra.s.s themselves!
After the brief interchange between the Tsinghua students and Professor Hu, they arrived at the location for the exchange program on campus.
The two teams were here to exchange ideas, so they shook hands and introduced themselves to one another.
Tan Mo trailed behind the group of Beijing University students, and she was hidden by the crowd.
Soon the other Beijing University students had finished introducing themselves, and it was Tan Mo’s turn to introduce herself.
The Tsinghua students looked at Tan Mo: “…”
They were all silent for a moment.
It was a dead silence.
It was an awkward silence, like an unexpected meeting between enemies.
Everyone in Tsinghua knew Tan Mo, because she had been the common enemy to all of them. During the Ancient Text Compet.i.tion, Tan Mo had been the one who—single-handedly—had defeated the entire Tsinghua team.
So even if they weren’t from the school of language, they recognized Tan Mo’s face. In fact, it was more than that; they were very familiar with her face.
That compet.i.tion had been a huge defeat, and it had been extremely embarra.s.sing to every single combatant and to every single Tsinghua student.
Those Tsinghua combatants weren’t even the typical students from the school of language. Every one of them had been the top of their cla.s.ses, and they represented the best of the entire school. Those students had been the top ten in the entire school of language from Tsinghua.
And they had been defeated by Tan Mo single-handedly, and it had been extremely humiliating.
They hadn’t even been in the same league. Tan Mo had fooled with them as she liked, just because she could; just because she was that much better than they were.
It was as if…she had been in control of the entire compet.i.tion. Those Tsinghua combatants could only answer the questions that she allowed them to answer. If she didn’t feel like it, then they wouldn’t even have a chance to press the answer b.u.t.ton.
So every single student from Tsinghua, regardless of which school they were from, recognized Tan Mo and regarded her as a common enemy.
Since that compet.i.tion, Tan Mo had become the most hated student from Beijing University by students of Tsinghua—without exception.
Especially the Tsinghua students from the school of finance…knowing that Tan Mo was in the school of finance, they were all itching to compete with her, hoping that they would have a chance to get back at her.
Tan Mo had given them all a resounding slap in the face, and they wanted to return one to her.
The Tsinghua students who had come for the exchange program were not expecting to see her here. Why was Tan Mo everywhere? They ran into her no matter where they went.
“What’s up?” Tan Mo asked, with an innocent look on her face.
How come they were all looking at her like that? As if she had slapped them in the face…like she was their enemy?
Their faces were extremely pale.
Tan Mo turned to the history professors with an innocent look on her face.
“I haven’t done anything,” Tan Mo explained. “I haven’t even said anything yet.”
She was a peaceful person.
“Why are you here?” Yang Guangyuan was surprised, and he looked at her with narrowed eyes.
“I’m here to discuss and exchange ideas.” Tan Mo was confused about why he was singling her out.
Why did he ask her that?
Of course she was here as part of the exchange program… Did they think she was bored enough to stop by here to get a look at what was happening?
“Aren’t you from the school of finance?” Hao Yidan asked her in a raised voice.
“Although I am from the school of finance, I am interested in history, so I came here to discuss and exchange ideas and to learn,” Tan Mo said with a smile on her face.
“Beijing University has quite a strange practice,” Qu Yuanqi said with a mocking tone as he laughed. “You are a student from the school of finance, yet previously you were sent as a representative of the school of language for the Ancient Text Compet.i.tion, and now you are meeting us as part of an exchange program between the schools of history. Is it because there is no one better at Beijing University’s school of history? They had to ask for help from someone in the school of finance?”
Tan Mo blinked her eyes innocently and thought to herself, Professor Zhao was surely good at keeping her busy.
She sighed to herself and then said, “I don’t agree with what you just said. I’m not sure how it is at Tsinghua. Are the schools at Tsinghua so separated that the students in different schools don’t interact with one another? That seems to me like segregation.”
“So what you all at Tsinghua think is that: this is a program that belongs to the school of history, so no one outside the school of history can join in this program. This is knowledge that belongs to the school of history, so no one outside the school of history can learn this knowledge?” Tan Mo asked, her eyes widened as if in shock. Then she retreated a couple of steps to express her astonishment and turned to the history professors from Beijing University and exclaimed, “Tsinghua is such a strict university!”
It was as if her face was saying, Tsinghua is so scary!
The Beijing University professors had nothing to say…
The professors were thinking to themselves, you are the one who is scary. You just gave them all another resounding slap in the face!
After slapping those from the Tsinghua school of language, it was now the turn of those from the Tsinghua school of history.
But…great job!
“Of course it’s not like that!” Luo Xiangwei was furious. That girl had such an infuriating voice, and she was so good at the manipulation of logic. With that mouth of hers, she could talk them into believing that a white person was black.
“At Tsinghua University…” Luo Xiangwei started to explain.
But Tan Mo wasn’t about to give him the opportunity to explain.
“Beijing University is different from Tsinghua,” Tan Mo said. “We are a very inclusive university, no matter which school a student is from, we are all considered peers. If someone from another school joins our school activities because she wants to learn something, then we are always welcoming to her. Just like me, although I am from the school of finance, I am interested in language and history, so Professor Guo and Professor Zhao have allowed me to join their research teams, and to listen in on their lectures.”
Um, maybe she should change the order of that…
But anyway, those details aren’t so important.
“No matter which school they are from, they are a student of Beijing University. No matter which school is hosting an activity, if the student is willing to, then the student can attend that activity,” Tan Mo said smiling. She continued, “I am interested in history, so I attend Professor Zhao’s lectures in addition to teaching myself some of the material. And Professor Zhao told me about this exchange program and I asked him if I could attend. He allowed me to come here as part of the team from Beijing University. Professor Zhao knows that I was from the school of finance, but seeing that I have such a great interest in history, he applauded me for loving to learn. And he told me right then that I could join the exchange program.”
Good thing Professor Zhao wasn’t here, she thought to herself.
If he was here, he’d be shaking his head…nope! I never said that! That lazy girl! It would be great if she actually loved to learn and attended his lectures.
“Actually I am a little bit worried, because, after all, I am not from the school of history. I’m afraid that I’ll drag my teammates down because I did not learn this material systematically like they did.” Tan Mo had an admiring look on her face as she spoke of Professor Zhao. “But Professor Zhao told me that it was fine. He told me that all of the students here are soph.o.m.ores, and they’ve only had an year of experience in the subject. Even if they were good, how could they possibly be better than him? He didn’t even complain about the professors at Tsinghua yet. It would be so weird if Tsinghua students complained about a student from the school of finance.”
The Tsinghua students thought to themselves: “…”
Why are you bringing the Tsinghua professors into this?
“Also, he told me that this is a relatively casual exchange. Beijing University doesn’t make a big deal out of this exchange program, and they didn’t even do a formal audition or anything like that. They got a list of history students and randomly chose 15 students. After all, we have a lot of other activities and opportunities at Beijing University. Everyone will have a chance. Even if they can’t attend one activity, they can attend some other activity. Everyone takes turns, and everyone will have their turn! The most important thing is to learn and improve and obtain more knowledge. Winning or losing is not the main objective.”
She didn’t say it directly, but they all heard it from what she said: it’s true that Beijing University students have lost in the past, but it wasn’t because their top students were no good. It was because Beijing University didn’t send their top students here.
The Beijing University faculty and students just stood there and listened to Tan Mo as she rambled on and made up stuff along the way.