Before leaving the dorm, Xia Qingtian heard her advisor angrily say, "You two still want to compare yourselves to Xia Qingtian! Did either of you participate in this essay competition! I will not sign your sick leave slips. If you really fail, you can just retake the exams!"
Hearing their advisor say this, Jiang Yingying and her friend felt even worse. This time, the two of them truly started crying.
It wasn't the pretense of weakness they had shown before, but real, loud crying.
That day, the two had to beg the old professor. After a bout of crying, the old professor, his head aching from their noise, agreed not to cancel their exam scores, and only then did it cease.
A week later, when they saw the notice on the bulletin board that Xia Qingtian's essay had won the school's department-level gold award, with a prize of 2,000 yuan, and that their advisor had publicly praised her, awarding her an extra 10 academic credits, Jiang Yingying and her friend were so angry they cried again.
Xia Qingtian, on the other hand, used the 2,000 yuan to treat Li Xiaoxiao to a skewer feast, spending 300 yuan.
After all, if Li Xiaoxiao hadn't told her about the essay competition, she wouldn't have wanted to participate to earn credits, let alone win.
With 1,700 yuan remaining, Xia Qingtian, seeing that autumn was approaching, bought five scarves of similar style and complementary colors to bring back to the Xia family.
That evening, all the Xia family members received the gifts Xia Qingtian had given them.
Xia Qingyu, upon seeing the scarf, was taken aback. After a moment, she reached out and took it, saying, "Who wears scarves these days? But... but what if it gets colder? Since you've already bought them, I'll reluctantly accept them."
Xia Shang seemed surprised to receive a gift from Xia Qingtian. He said nothing after accepting it, but his earlobes turned red.
Aunt Liu stroked it back and forth for a while, then happily took a picture and posted it on her WeChat Moments, before carefully folding it away to treasure.
Xia Father, while telling Xia Qingtian to keep up the good work and not get arrogant, directly wore the scarf to work the next day.
It was still a bit early to wear a scarf. Seeing Xia Father's delighted expression, someone immediately asked knowingly, "Mr. Xia, this scarf looks like a very nice style."
"Does it? It's a very common style," Xia Father chuckled. "Qingtian, that girl, participated in some essay competition at school, won a gold award, and got some prize money. She bought me a gift. It's nothing valuable, but it's still a small token of her affection. Oh, I don't really like wearing this kind of thing."
"Oh my! That's wonderful. If my child knew to buy me something like this someday, I'd wake up smiling in my dreams!"
"Indeed. Young people nowadays are rarely so sensible and filial, and so capable. Mr. Xia, you won't have to worry about anything in the future."
Everyone immediately began praising Xia Qingtian, making Xia Father beam with joy.
Someone, however, suddenly changed the topic and said, "Miss is truly beautiful and kind-hearted. She even saved Song Junhan's life before!"
Upon this reminder, everyone also recalled the sensational incident, and immediately began praising her volubly.
Song Junhan's smile froze on his face.
He had finally waited for the matter to die down, for no one to force him to acknowledge Xia Qingtian's so-called life-saving grace.
And now?
Xia Qingtian had casually given Mr. Xia a scarf, and these people were bringing up that damn past incident again!
If it weren't for Xia Qingtian, how could he have been injured so severely!
"In another two or three months, it will be winter break. Will Miss come to work again then?" Someone remembered Xia Qingtian working during the summer break and immediately asked.
"About that," Xia Father nodded. "When the time comes, let's head to the conference room first."
Everyone gathered around Xia Father and walked towards the conference room, still praising Xia Qingtian.
Song Junhan, left behind, recalled the humiliation Xia Qingtian had subjected him to, his lips pressed into a thin line.
No, he had to resolve that matter before Xia Qingtian returned to Xia's!
He hadn't been able to prevent Gu's cooperation with Xia's, and the other party was already very dissatisfied.
If he hadn't been in a car accident, they would have hardly given him a second chance.
Thinking of this, Song Junhan clenched his fist at his side, making up his mind.
This time, he could only succeed, never fail!
Handing the documents he held to a colleague, Song Junhan went straight to the HR department and tapped on a colleague's desk. "How is the review for that old classmate I internally recommended last time?"
"We definitely trust your recommendation. Let him come to work tomorrow," the HR colleague said, giving an OK gesture.
"Thank you. I'll treat you to a meal another day," Song Junhan said with a smile, waving goodbye. As he turned around, that smile gradually faded.
The first step of the plan had gone very smoothly.
"Hiss..." At the same moment, in the classroom, Xia Qingtian, who was taking notes, suddenly shivered without reason, vaguely feeling a sense of unease.
"What's wrong?" Li Xiaoxiao asked softly from beside her.
"It's nothing," Xia Qingtian shook her head and continued taking notes.
She thought it might be because the TV anniversary program featuring Sui Sui and Ling Fenghan singing together was airing tonight, and she was a little nervous.
In fact, the recording that day had gone very smoothly. Ling Fenghan was in excellent form, and she had also felt very inspired.
The simultaneous online broadcast that day had received good reviews, but because the TV station would broadcast it again after post-production, the online streaming was not very comprehensive.
Tonight was the official broadcast date for that anniversary program.
Speaking of which... Xia Qingtian tilted her head and thought carefully. It would be Xia's anniversary in two weeks, wouldn't it...
In her past life, something seemed to have happened on that day...
Xia Qingtian couldn't quite recall.
At that time, she was still hospitalized and was completely controlled by Song Junhan. Her only links to the outside world were a laptop and a mobile phone, through which only Mo Jianing would call or text to check on her.
Back then, she seemed to have seen news reports stating that an accident had occurred at Xia's anniversary celebration, which directly caused Xia's to lose a lot of money, their stock to fall for seven consecutive days, and the controlling shareholder to be summoned for questioning. Xia's business and reputation were severely damaged.
She had been very worried at the time and wanted to call Xia Father to ask what had happened, but Song Junhan had stopped her.
"Qingtian, Uncle Xia is very busy right now, and the company is in chaos. Contacting him at this time... wouldn't it just add to his troubles?" Song Junhan's gaze fell on Xia Qingtian's legs.
"I believe that after this busy period, Uncle Xia will definitely come to see you. You can ask him yourself then."
"Qingtian, don't worry. I'll keep an eye on things at the company. I'll tell you if anything comes up."
"I'll always, always be with you."
...
Recalling this scene, Xia Qingtian felt a pang of heartache.
Song Junhan had already joined Xia's at that time. The so-called accident was most likely caused by Song Junhan in collusion with an internal mole at the company.
Xia Qingtian's eyes darkened, feeling even more that her previous lesson had been too lenient for him.
This time, she would definitely make Song Junhan kicked out of Xia's and ruined!