Chapter 161: Arrival in Yunjing

Fu Wannian did not take Han Shuangyu seriously, and Yu Qian, influenced by her, paid no attention to this person either.

Neither of them expected at this moment that in an upcoming competition, Han Shuangyu would genuinely nearly cause Yu Qian to be eliminated.

The preliminary rounds would last for a week, selecting one hundred contestants out of tens of thousands to advance to the provincial finals. The very first stage of the provincial finals would eliminate half of the contestants, and the survivors would move into a shared dormitory to live, train, and compete together, ultimately selecting fifteen individuals to participate in the national preliminary rounds.

It would begin a week later—meaning that just when everyone else was taking advantage of the National Day holiday to travel everywhere, Yu Qian would have to pack her luggage for the competition and miss Zhou Jingchen’s return yet again. This made her somewhat restless.

"What's wrong with you?" Wen Xiu asked, acutely sensing that her mood was not right.

Glancing at her, Yu Qian lowered her head and continued practicing her calligraphy.

Whenever she was in a bad mood, she would choose to return to the training room in her own home, practicing calligraphy or the piano quietly by herself.

"Whatever is on your mind, tell me. Don't bottle it up inside," Wen Xiu said seriously as she snatched the Tianji pen from Yu Qian's hand.

With her pen taken away, Yu Qian remained silent for a moment, then crumpled up the unfinished sheet of paper on the desk and tossed it into the wastebasket. "I want to go find Zhou Jingchen."

"Huh?" Wen Xiu flicked the Tianji pen to let the ink evaporate naturally and dry before placing it back on the pen holder, completely startled by Yu Qian's words. "Are you kidding me? You're entering the shared dormitory in a week, and instead of learning more from Fu Wannian right now, you want to run off to Yunjing?!"

Wen Xiu found it hard to believe. For all these years, instances of Yu Qian acting this willful were pathetically rare. Why was she starting to act so willful now, at such a crucial time for her?

"I haven't seen him in so long. I miss him." Her complexion looked somewhat poor. This was the first time she had so bluntly expressed her longing for Zhou Jingchen.

"He's coming back for National Day!" Wen Xiu said anxiously.

Lifting her gaze to look at Wen Xiu, Yu Qian had an unprecedented restlessness in her brows and eyes: "But, we have to move into the shared dormitory on the very first day of National Day."

Wen Xiu was stunned. Could the timing really be such a coincidence?

Walking over to sit on the sofa, Wen Xiu called Zhou Jingchen's manager to request a schedule, carefully reviewed the competition timetable, and finally fell silent.

Indeed, it was precisely such a coincidence.

If Yu Qian did not seize these few days to go find him, the two of them would not be able to properly see each other until the competition concluded next year.

Tapping the armrest of the sofa for a long time, Wen Xiu finally spoke up: "I'll book your plane ticket, but when you go to see him, you must disguise yourself well so you don't get photographed by paparazzi, and you must come back the next day."

"Okay!" Yu Qian's eyes lit up, and she agreed immediately.

One day was enough; she could not disrupt Zhou Jingchen's military training.

Wen Xiu acted swiftly, delivering the plane ticket an hour later. The flight was at two o'clock in the afternoon, and she was informed that the return trip would be at six-thirty in the afternoon the day after next. The accommodation booked was the best three-star hotel near the university.

She did not pack too many things—a change of clothes, a face mask, a cap, sunglasses, her phone, a charger, and necessary identification documents. A single backpack was more than enough.

With her backpack on, Yu Qian hurried toward the airport, planning to eat lunch there as well.

At four-thirty in the afternoon, Yu Qian arrived at Yunjing Airport.

Looking at the capital city she was visiting for only the second time across her past and present lives, Yu Qian took a deep breath to steady her heartbeat.

She hailed a taxi and headed straight for Yunjing University.

Through the taxi window, Yu Qian gazed out at the capital.

Following the 2008 Yunjing Olympic Games, China's development had grown increasingly rapid. As the capital, Yunjing could be said to change with each passing day. Looking at it now, the scenery was completely different from what she had seen when she visited a few years ago.

The biggest difference from her past life was that Yunjing had no smog.

Yu Qian did not know why, but the China of this lifetime placed a much greater emphasis on environmental protection, and the smog that had plagued Yunjing for many years in her previous life was nowhere to be found.

The sky was blue, the clouds were white, and the breeze was crisp.