Chapter 149: Glulu is Here Again

Although the preliminary auditions had been successfully passed, they spanned a full month from mid-August to mid-September.

Following that came the provincial preliminaries and finals, then the national preliminaries and finals, and finally, the global preliminaries and finals.

Essentially, from the second half of September all the way through January of the following year would be spent entirely in competition.

As soon as the competition concluded, the Big Four Fashion Weeks of February and March would immediately follow.

For the top three winners, the grand prize was the opportunity to walk the runway for major luxury brands during Fashion Week.

This meant that before the competition officially began, Yu Qian had just half a month of classes left, after which she would need to apply for an extended leave of absence.

This extended leave would have to last at least until the end of December. If she was lucky and performed well enough to participate in Fashion Week, she would have to extend it until the end of March next year.

A full half year.

First High was not a school where getting time off was impossible, but securing a long-term leave of absence was notoriously difficult.

However, this difficulty did not apply to top-performing students.

Take Zhou Jingchen, for instance. He skipped classes for two-thirds of every semester, yet consistently maintained his position as the top student in their grade. Naturally, the school rolled out the red carpet for him with zero hesitation.

If Yu Qian wanted to take a prolonged leave, she had no choice but to follow Zhou Jingchen's example, using her academic results to silence any objections from teachers and fellow students alike.

It was only when registration day arrived that Yu Qian realized what she had forgotten.

Military training!

A half-month-long military training camp, which would end right as the Sichuan provincial preliminaries commenced.

***

Entrusting the matter of her leave application to Wen Xiu to coordinate with the school, Yu Qian lifelessly dragged her luggage to the car and headed off to the base for military training.

The Shudu military base was located in the eastern outskirts of the provincial capital, where several schools would come for military training every September. The institutions attending this year, besides First High, were Third High and the freshmen of Sichuan University.

Initially, Yu Qian had worried that mixing with students from other schools would be inconvenient, but upon arrival, she discovered that each school's training grounds and dormitories were strictly segregated, eliminating any chance of confusion.

Because their high school entrance exam scores were closely matched, Yu Qian, Lin Su, and Chu Yuanyue were once again assigned to the same class. Upon entering the dormitory, Yu Qian, who possessed the longest legs among the three, darted forward in a flash to claim the two beds by the window.

Since Lin Su and Chu Yuanyue tended to toss and turn in their sleep, they chose the lower bunks. Meanwhile, Yu Qian needed to enter her mystical grotto-heaven realm after midnight, making a lower bunk inconvenient, so she opted for an upper bunk. That left the upper bunk of the remaining bed, making it irrelevant who took it.

"Ahhhhh! Yu Qian! I've come to find you!" Just as the three of them were busy making their beds, a female voice shrieked and charged toward them.

Hearing that voice, Yu Qian's hand trembled slightly.

It sounded somewhat familiar.

Turning her head to look at the girl standing by the lower bunk, not only did her hand shake, but her head began to ache as well.

It was Ge Lulu, that quintessential princess-syndrome brat!

"I told you I'd get into the same school as you, hahahahaha!" Ge Lulu put her hands on her hips, looking utterly thrilled.

Before the high school entrance exams, she had declared they would attend the same school, but Yu Qian simply hadn't believed her. Now that Her Lady Herself had arrived, let's see what excuse she had left.

What did Yu Qian have to say?

Yu Qian had nothing to say at all.

After staring at Ge Lulu for a moment, she expressionlessly lowered her head and went back to making her bed.

***

Judging by this girl's penchant for creating chaos, the three years of peace and quiet she had anticipated were about to be shattered.

Her days of playing peacemaker and cleaning up messes as an exhausted mother figure were back.

She truly hoped this was all just an illusion.

"Hey! Yu Qian! I only came to this school for your sake, can't you at least welcome me?!" Seeing that Yu Qian was ignoring her, Ge Lulu stamped her feet in frustration.

"Oh, welcome," the girl on the upper bunk replied apathetically, without even raising her head.

"Aaaah! So infuriating! Yu Qian, you're so cold!"

"Is this your first day knowing me?" She finally lifted her head to look at her.

Meeting her gaze and expression, Ge Lulu belatedly shrank her neck in intimidation.

Every time Yu Qian cleaned up her messes and stepped in between friends to mediate conflicts, she always wore this exact expression, and it was terrifying.

Recalling her own impulsive and dramatic nature, Ge Lulu hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "I promise I'll be very good."

It would have been better if she had stayed silent, but the moment she spoke, Yu Qian's expression turned as though she were about to devour her alive. "Do you even remember how many times you've said those exact words?!"

Ge Lulu shrank her neck again. Wanting to retort, she had no idea what to say, knowing all too well that her promises held zero credibility.