A few days later,
Shen Yue and An Xiulan were sitting under the big tree in the old playground studying Chinese literature when they saw their classmates coming their way with a huge banner. Some were dancing and some were hooting.
In short, it was a joyous event.
“You won the campus belle contest, “Shen Yue smiled as she looked at her friend.
“Oh,” An Xiulan reacted rather blandly.
“Xiuxiu, congratulations!” Qiao Wei, Mona and Song Ci hugged their friend. “You are the pride of our class!”
Everyone was congratulating her and clicking pictures with her while she was still oblivious to the intensity of the matter.
She won, just like that?
Well, she won something she had no desire to. Bit it still felt good to win.
“You are so charismatic. You can be Miss China,” A boy said shyly as he looked at her and passed her a beautiful bouquet.
Everyone showered praises on her but An Xiulan’s clock was stuck on Miss China.
When the break ended, An Xiulan returned to her class and she was still thinking about Miss China. When the teacher was teaching, she sneakily launched her secret research on Miss China on the search engine.
To her, Miss China was a prestigious title and honour and if she didn’t wish to be a wastrel, she should win the title. Not only this, Miss China could study at any university across the country without appearing for the college entrance test.
“Cheat Prince, do you know about Miss China?” An Xiulan asked the boy when the classes ended and if he was going to drop her off at the library where Han Nanxian usually tutor her.
Han Zixin didn’t know why she was asking about Miss China but he told her what he could tell her.
“Cheat Prince, Can I be Miss China?” An Xiulan asked. He thought that she was merely asking and he nodded his head. Of course, he had no idea that she was serious about her new quest of becoming Miss China at 16 which was impossible.
Since Han Zixin said that she could be Miss China, she took his words for face value.
After the tuition class, Lu Xuan and An Xiulan were returning home and Grandpa You, who doted on the children too much, was sitting in the front seat when she suddenly declared, “Grandpa You, I’m going to be Miss China.”
Lu Xuan who was drinking water at that time choked on the water as he heard her ridiculous assertion.
An Xiulan glared at him but still gently patted his back.
“Who put such a ridiculous thought in your mind?” Lu Xuan laughed. “And with such a tiny height, are you going to be Miss China? Grow up, baby An Xiulan. Are you even 4ft?”
Tears clouded her vision as she heard his words. “I’m one hundred and fifty-five centimetres, okay! I can be Miss China. I am already a campus Belle. I’m going to be Miss China!”
“Aww, our little dwarf is going to be Miss China, “Lu Xuan burst into laughter. The car stopped at their house gate and he got out first, before An Xiulan could grab her bag, he held it in the air. She got out of the car angrily and jumped to catch her bag but since he was more than one hundred and seventy centimetres tall, she could not get that bag from his hold.
This made her even more angry that tears trickled down her cheeks.
“Come on, baby girl. Take the bag and we will see if you can apply for the contest, “Lu Xuan teased her. When she couldn’t get the bag from his hold, he tossed it at her and she grabbed it.
In the end, An Xiulan couldn’t bear his pranks and entered the house with tears in her eyes. Ever since she had come to this world, she had been pampered and it was the first time someone showed her that she was nothing special. Thus, she couldn’t control her tears.
“Missy, what happened?” Meimei asked as she saw An Xiulan throwing her school bag on the study table and bursting into tears as she fell on the bed.
“Missy, are you in pain?” Meimei asked once again but An Xiulan only cried.
The staff panicked and called An Qinyan who had given strict orders to inform her as soon as possible if her children are not well. An Xiulan’s health was always fragile and they dared not take any chances with her.
Soon An Qinyan returned home and straightly went to her daughter’s room who was sitting there with red and swollen eyes.
“What happened to my baby?” An Qinyan asked as she hugged her daughter who began water work as soon as she saw her mom.
“Mom, I want to grow tall. I’m a dwarf,” An Xiulan sobbed.
An Qinyan who was one hundred and seventy-five centimetres tall couldn’t see any problem with being short. Short people are cute and lovely. Of course, tall people couldn’t understand short people’s problems and similarly, An Qinyan failed to understand An Xiulan.
“Baby, short girls are cute,” An Qinyan told her daughter. “And you are not short. You are over five feet.”
“I don’t want to be cute. I want to be Miss China.”An Xiulan said.
‘Oh my, ‘An Qinyan placed a hand on her chest. Raising two teenagers was not an easy feat. Who was teaching all the wrong things to her daughter? Becoming Miss China was not a small feat. It was the biggest pageant title in the country and it was a very hard contest.
“Lanlan, it’s not easy to be Miss China. For that, one needs to be talented and tall. You don’t qualify for Miss China,” An Qinyan explained. Her daughter was only sixteen and she needed to be at least eighteen to enter the contest and she was sure that her daughter would be disqualified due to height criteria.
….
AN: Both An Xiulan and Lu Xuan are kids. They will be mean and childish for sure. I remember I had a fight with my brother at seventeen with onions and tomatoes as I wanted to break his head for being mean with me. so, fight between siblings is Okay!