"I suggest that Student Qin go on stage and say a few words." The principal's voice was loud and resounded in every corner of the hall.
"Okay!" Mr. Qin looked at Qin Xue proudly. "Come up, Xiao Xue."
With such a huge commotion, Qin Xue felt a little weak, but she had no choice but to stand up and walk up the stage.
On the other hand, Qin Ran naturally knew that it was impossible for a mere 621 to be the top scholar. However, she was also curious why the principal kept saying that Student Qin was the top scholar. Could it be that the Student Qin he was referring to was her? No way.
"First of all, I would like to thank everyone for attending my celebration party. For me to be able to score so well in the college entrance examination, it is all thanks to my parents' upbringing and the school's nurturing. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone once again."
Below the stage, Mrs. Qin looked at her adopted daughter with a touched and proud expression. She was glad that she had such a good daughter.
"Student Qin, you scored full marks for comprehensive science subjects this time. Can you share your learning method?"
Full marks for the comprehensive science subjects? When Qin Xue heard this, her face instantly turned pale, and she was terrified in her heart. That's not right. She had carefully looked at the results of every subject, and there were no full marks! Did the school make a mistake or did she check wrongly?
However, now that she was on stage, she had no choice but to bite the bullet. She stuttered into the microphone, "I usually like doing chemistry experiments. I think I can learn a lot in actual practice. As for physics… I like… I like reading extracurricular books. Also…"
Mr. Qin saw that something was wrong with his daughter's expression and thought that she was too agitated and nervous. Hence, he quickly explained, "My daughter is usually very obedient. This is the first time she's speaking in front of so many people, so she's a little nervous."
"It's fine, it's fine. After all, she's still a child." As the principal spoke, he walked over to Qin Xue's side and gently patted her shoulder with his hand. After that, he took over the microphone and once again spoke with an excited voice, "Please allow me to announce once again that our school's student, Qin Ran, has obtained the top scholar in the province with a total score of 732 points and a perfect score in the comprehensive test papers!"
Qin… Qin Ran.
Qin Ran, who was below the stage, was also a little surprised. The one in ten chance had really fallen onto her. She had really guessed it!
At that moment, the entire crowd was silent. Then, there was an uproar.
"Isn't her name Qin Xue?"
"So there was a mistake. The top scholar is not Qin Xue."
"No wonder she couldn't share the learning method just now. So she wasn't the top scholar at all?"
On the stage, Qin Xue really wanted to find a hole to hide in. It was fine if she was not the top scholar, but they actually made her go on stage and make such a big fool of herself. She could tolerate it if she made a fool of herself, but why was that village girl able to score so well?
"Principal, did you see the wrong name?" Mr. Qin frowned. He did not believe that Qin Ran could do so well.
"Absolutely not. It's Qin Ran." The principal's tone was resolute and decisive. "Isn't she Qin Ran?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Qin Xue was even more ashamed.
"This… Qin Ran is also my daughter. She happened to be present as well." At this moment, to Mr. Qin, the most important thing was not to be shamed in front of his business partners. As he spoke, he walked towards Qin Ran. "Quick, Xiao Ran, come on stage."
It was such a big occasion, and it also concerned the Qin family's reputation and future business. Some words could not be more appropriate to be said on this occasion. When Qin Ran thought of this, she stood up and walked towards the stage. When she saw Mr. Qin stretching out his right hand to welcome her, she directly walked past.
"Good evening, everyone. I'm Qin Ran, the top scholar for the college entrance examination that the principal spoke of."
Her words were like eggs on their faces.
The applause that should have been hers came late.
"Since everyone wants me to come on stage, I'll take this opportunity to say what I want to say.
"I'm the biological daughter of Qin Yun and Zheng Rong. When I was three years old, I was kidnapped by human traffickers and sold to the countryside. Fortunately, my adoptive parents took me in and raised me. For seventeen years, I've been imagining what my biological parents looked like and where they lived. Whether they miss me and look for me or not?
"After my adoptive parents unfortunately passed away, I thought that my life was destined to be like duckweed, drifting without anyone to rely on. To me, being able to return to the Qin family was like a glimmer in the endless night. I desperately wanted to grab onto it.
"However, in this real family, my father was cold and biased, my mother spoke ill of me, and my brothers looked down on me. They were never willing to admit that they had a younger sister like me. In such a big family like the Qin family, only my eldest brother never looked down on me."