Becoming a male leader in a female body

Chapter 25: Companions in the Same Group

Ling Lan couldn’t suppress her curiosity. "How did you find out?" The results were supposed to be confidential, only known by the examiners. Also, those examiners had been enlisted from various military regions, and so knew how to keep their mouths shut.

With some embarrassment, Qi Long replied, "Actually, when I went in for my test, the two examiners were talking about you, saying that you were a rare genius with unparalleled strength. I figured that if even the examiners said so, your strength must be ginormous!"

Fine, looks like the examiners got carried away in their excitement and accidentally revealed some hints. But this gregarious fellow was also surprisingly observant, having managed to grab hold of the most important information immediately.

"Oh right! What’s your name? I’m Qi Long, he’s Han Jijyun. We grew up together, and he’s the bestest of my best friends." Qi Long had no sense of the typical first-time reservations when meeting strangers; he had jumped straight into an enthusiastic introduction of the little boy standing beside the plump little girl. His expression as he spoke seemed as if he were showing off, causing Ling Lan to throw a curious glance at this boy who Qi Long seemed proud to know.

The little boy seemed very serious, giving no outward reaction to Qi Long’s enthusiasm other than to slightly nod at Ling Lan, although his eyes held an unmistakable trace of appraisal. Of course, this was due to his young age — if he had been just a bit older, he might have been able to do so more subtly.

However, his assessing gaze did not make Ling Lan uncomfortable, because Ling Lan knew that he meant no harm by it, and that he was only trying to decide if Ling Lan was someone worthy of being befriended by his good friend Qi Long. Thus, Ling Lan was instead touched by this act of concern, proof of the deep friendship between the two boys.

Looking at the beaming Qi Long standing at her side, Ling Lan recalled the novels she had read in the past. So it was true that every happy-go-lucky boy would have a cautious and thoughtful bro by his side — even now, she could see the strong bromance between the two little boys … God was indeed fair and kind, and would protect those who were pure of heart.

As her impression of Qi Long and Han Jijyun rose, Ling Lan’s demeanour softened considerably. She greeted Han Jijyun amicably, "Hello, I’m Ling Lan, it’s nice to meet you."

"Ling Lan, she is Jijyun’s younger cousin Han Xuya. She always likes to hang out with us, don’t take her words too seriously." Qi Long did not wait for Jijyun to respond, interrupting to introduce the plump little girl.

Qi Long did not notice that his words had irritated the plump little girl so much that she was gnashing her teeth, while Han Jijyun threw a somewhat apologetic look at Ling Lan. Looks like he was used to playing the mediator for his best friend and his cousin sister.

Ling Lan smiled but did not respond in any way to Qi Long’s words. This somewhat placated the angry little girl, who felt that that Ling Lan at least knew his place, and as such didn’t find him as annoying as before. The emotions of girls were truly a fickle thing, regardless of their age.

And so the group of children conversed like they were little adults, but they hadn't conversed for long before they heard one of the other children yell out, "The exam is starting!"

It turned out that the examiner for this test had appeared on the field, and the staff members had begun separating the children into smaller groups.

The way they grouped the children was simple — according to their registration number, every ten numbers became one group. Ling Lan looked at her number, 7253, and then turned to look at the numbers of the children in Qi Long’s group, and was immediately struck dumb. Dammit, wasn’t this too coincidental?! Their numbers turned out to be right behind hers — 7254, 7255, 7256 …