Chapter 613: Chapter 613

Zhou Yiyi couldn’t help but smile with a hint of sarcasm, "What do you think?"

"I knew it," he added at last. "I’m not expecting you to be labor for me. I wash my own clothes. They are just too lazy, disgusted by tossing underwear and socks together in the washer and not wanting to wash them by hand, which is why they trouble their girlfriends. I’m not that lazy."

Zhou Yiyi saw his strong will to live and couldn’t help but laugh, "If you don’t want to wash, I can do it for you, really, I’m serious about this."

Zhou Mo breathed a sigh of relief, seeing she wasn’t kidding, "No need, I can wash them. My girlfriend’s hands are meant for holding a pen."

"Wow, I didn’t expect you to be so good at sweet-talking. I don’t really want to cling to you, but it seems like you enjoy it?"

Zhou Mo touched her head somewhat regretfully, "It’s a pity when I play basketball, you’re swimming, and when I practice dance, you’re practicing calligraphy,"

"Can you handle the physical education courses? Dual Cultivation is harder than I imagined. I’ve already planned for it—if I can’t manage, I’ll just delay graduating from my bachelor’s degree by a year," (Ps: Tsinghua doesn’t have a calligraphy major, it’s added here because of the female protagonist)

"The Dual Cultivation is indeed not easy; not only does computer science require advancement to research institutes, but physics also requires burying myself in the lab. Four years of undergraduate study simply isn’t enough; I might not even be able to cover all grounds with a one-year delay. Let’s just take it step by step, no rush. Since I’ve taken it up, I need to learn it well and thoroughly, so don’t worry."

Zhou Yiyi smiled and said, "Our Calligraphy Department is considered less popular in the Art School. Compared to your Physics Department, we might be considered small fry, so I might have an easier time."

Even though the Calligraphy Department is less popular, it doesn’t mean it lacks value. Professors teaching at Tsinghua are nationally recognized scholars or professors—students taught by such figures can’t possibly be worse than those from the Art Institutes.

"Next May, the second Lanting Award starts. Professor Guan has encouraged me to work hard and try to get the second prize. Although I only got the third prize in ’01, the teacher said it was somewhat undeserved; they said they were lenient because of my young age. This year, I want to earn it with my own skills."

The Lanting Award, held every three years, is the most influential calligraphy competition in Hua Country. This year, participating as a college student, she can shine for Qing University’s Art Department, maybe even win a scholarship. Zhou Yiyi, while secretly planning this, also made an oath to diligently practice her calligraphy in the days ahead.

Actually, calligraphy can be artistic as well. It’s just a pity that she doesn’t have a background in fine arts, so she can only studiously learn calligraphy now. If she wants to explore this path in the future, it would be the more serious and formal world of calligraphy.

Each year, there are many competitions for college students, from science to liberal arts, including various innovation competitions not limited to any major. However, Zhou Yiyi currently only wants to participate in the Lanting Award. As for computer science, there are programming, electronic design, software design, etc., but these are too difficult for her as a freshman.

Still, Zhou Yiyi has signed up for the "National College English Writing Competition" and the "National College English Translation Competition."

Speaking of which, she’s actually accumulated several lifetimes’ worth of English experience. First, in her life as Tangyuan, studying medicine, she was a bona fide science student at a university, and she had passed the College English Test Level 6.

Then came Gong Mingxia’s life, where she made no progress in the first half but learned until old age because of her career.

And the life after that, when Long Gang was learning English with his daughter. As his daughter grew up, he got older and learned English for his career as well.

So even if her English wasn’t fantastic, with reinforcement and deepening in this lifetime, coupled with memory sedimentation and constant grammatical refinement, she would definitely surpass the average person. At the very least, she was much firmer in English than Zhou Mo.

Moreover, Zhou Mo was the one who had suggested she sign up, as she didn’t know her level of English proficiency and wanted to use the competition to practice and also to prepare for the College English Test Level 4.

Compared to her indiscriminate selection, Zhou Mo was planning to participate in competitions that were mostly in the first half of the year, so he devoted himself entirely to his studies, leaving those considerations for next year.

Zhou Yiyi wasn’t a genius competitor, so she had to rely on extra effort to achieve her goals.

Compared to spoken English, her writing and translation skills were a bit better. After preparing for a month in advance, she finally entered the competition in November. There was a huge number of participants, many of whom were majoring in English. At that time, she knew there was a chance she wouldn’t even make it through the initial test.

But Zhou Yiyi underestimated herself; she went far beyond just the preliminary round—she advanced through successive rounds and even won the third prize in the final.

When she received the trophy and certificate for the third prize, her eyes were full of disbelief, while Zhou Mo’s smile held an air of expectation, as though he had never doubted her abilities.

Even Qiao Shan told her, "K, you’re so strong. You’ve been playing the weakling, making us encourage you. Tell me, have you been pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger?"

Zhou Yiyi looked wronged, "Heaven knows, I really didn’t expect to do so well. I had no idea that not only my Chinese writing but also my English skills excelled. Haha, what a pleasant surprise! Come on, for my performance and the prize money (five thousand yuan), I’m treating you all to a meal."

The Computer Department required coding, so college English was naturally part of the curriculum. But since the exam performances were roughly the same, Zhou Yiyi had never really understood or showcased her own abilities. Yes, the speech contests she participated in during high school were just about spoken English. This time, it was indeed a test of her true written capabilities. She had previously doubted whether to sign up for Level 4, but now she decisively registered. After all, one should obtain all necessary certifications while still in school.

In mid-November, Beijing was warm and dry, and cold air had settled in. In this era, YaLu and Bosideng down jackets were in fashion. To keep warm, the three Zhuge Liangs planned to meet up again at Wangfujing to buy down jackets. Upon meeting, Lin Mu boasted, "Today you guys can pick whatever you like, the money’s on me."

Zhou Yiyi had been thinking of using the five thousand yuan from the English competition to treat her friends, but Lin Mu had jumped the gun. And seeing his smug ’come ask me’ look, Zhou Yiyi’s eyes lit up, "Did you manage to land a contract as a freshman?" ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ nοvelfire.net