11: Hard work does not necessarily lead to success, but not working hard will definitely lead to ease.

Ten minutes later.

Outside the main entrance of Emerald Garden Hotel.

Xie Yunxuan stepped out of the car, maintaining a composed smile on his face, and strode quickly towards the hotel entrance.

The photographer closed the car door, jogged to catch up, and looked around, "Teacher Xie, you don't need to rush, there's no one behind us."

Xie Yunxuan smiled faintly, glanced at his watch, and said, "Hmm, no rush. But it's hard for you to hold the equipment, let's just get there quickly."

He walked faster and faster with his back to the camera, entered the hotel lobby, stood by the elevator, took a deep breath, and steadied his breathing.

It was 11:18!

The competition started at 10:40, so almost 40 minutes had passed.

Although there was no one behind him, it was very possible that someone would arrive at 45 or 48 minutes. If he arrived in the 40s, wouldn't he just blend in with everyone else?

He wanted to be a man in the thirties!

No one could stop him from elegantly being first! No one could stop him from gaining points!

Just as he thought of this, the elevator arrived on the first floor.

Xie Yunxuan smiled faintly.

Hah, this elevator knows what's good for it.

Walking into the elevator, Xie Yunxuan feigned indifference and glanced at the elevator display screen.

Go up quickly!

Finally, the elevator announced, "Fifth floor."

Xie Yunxuan immediately strode towards the multi-function hall.

What time is it? It shouldn't be 11:20 yet, right?

Xie Yunxuan suppressed the urge to check his watch. Checking his watch would waste time and make the audience realize he cared a lot. He wouldn't look.

He maintained his smile and strode into the multi-function hall, looking at the clock on the wall: 11:19:37.

A staff member walked over, "39 minutes and 37 seconds, congratulations Teacher Xie on completing the task. Please go to the rest area on the right to take a short break."

"Thank you!" Xie Yunxuan heard the number 39, felt a burden lift from his heart, breathed easily, let out a long sigh, and turned to the photographer, whose face was red from exhaustion, and smiled, "Brother Liu, you can rest earlier."

He ignored the photographer's faintly resentful gaze and said to the camera, "Dear audience, I didn't expect us to make it here in just over 30 minutes."

After speaking, he looked at the staff member on the left, "Are there any other teams who arrived in just over 30 minutes?"

The staff member shook his head.

Xie Yunxuan smiled contentedly and said to the camera, "I didn't expect to be the only team. Let's go rest."

As he spoke, he suppressed his rapid breathing from hurrying, making himself appear calm and collected, then turned to the right, and his smile instantly froze on his face.

Right in front of him, Chen Fang was holding a drink, leisurely sipping through a straw, and waving at him with a smile in his eyes.

Chen Fang?!

How could this be? How could he have already arrived?

Didn't they say only he arrived in just over thirty minutes?

Did Chen Fang give up the challenge? Even if he did, he shouldn't have arrived already.

Xie Yunxuan controlled his smile, led the photographer to a chair next to Chen Fang and sat down, "Brother Chen, when did you arrive?"

"Around 11:10."

Xie Yunxuan felt a little uncomfortable.

He had just shown off in the live broadcast that he was the only man in the thirties, and now he was being backstabbed. Damn it!

He looked at the camera and said with an awkward smile, "The staff member made a mistake, both our teams arrived in just over thirty minutes."

"No, he didn't make a mistake." Chen Fang shook his head slightly.

A glimmer of hope rekindled in Xie Yunxuan's eyes, though he didn't even know what to hope for.

"I arrived in just over 28 minutes." Chen Fang said with a faint smile.

Xie Yunxuan instantly felt a bucket of cold water poured over him.

It would have been better if they were all in the thirties!

No... how could he have arrived in 28 minutes?

"Brother Chen, how did you do it?"

As Chen Fang and Guo Congxin explained, Xie Yunxuan's eyes widened slightly.

Catching an affair?!

Holy cow? Is that so devious?

Wait, maybe he shouldn't have asked. He was live now, how should he respond?

Xie Yunxuan suddenly felt two little figures appear above his head.

The devil with horns, arms crossed, said gloomily, "Making dirty jokes is tasteless, disgusting, vulgar, and shameful."

The angel with a halo pulled off the halo from its head and smashed it hard on the devil's head, "Don't you think this sounds like a bad person? I'm a top student! I demand to be taught! I must learn humbly!"

Xie Yunxuan blinked heavily, "As the saying goes, if three people walk together, one must be my teacher. Brother Chen's mind is truly flexible. I always treated it as a math problem, but I never thought there were other approaches. Impressive, impressive."

Chen Fang listened to a series of prompts from the system—

"Xie Yunxuan negative emotion value + 555"

"Xie Yunxuan negative emotion value + 166"

He smiled faintly, quietly watching him pretend not to care.

Comrade Little Xie is truly a good person, keeping the sorrow to himself and giving happiness to others.

Another 15 minutes passed, and Zhao Jin also arrived. Upon learning of Chen Fang's actions, she smiled brightly, "Isn't that too devious? Will the driver see the show?"

"Probably." Chen Fang picked up a sponsored yogurt and handed it to her.

To be precise, he definitely would. Because he had already heard the driver's expression of affection from afar: [Liu Fugui negative emotion value + 21]

But he gave him double the fare. Pure love is a child's game; the driver probably prefers pure gold, right?

Just as he finished speaking, Pan Pengpeng rushed in, his forehead covered in fine sweat. After chatting with the staff for a few moments, he walked over and sat in the chair opposite Chen Fang, wiping his sweat and saying, "I chose the wrong transfer station and had to squeeze for 10 minutes to get to the platform. Oh, after all that trouble, I realized I lost at the starting line; I planned it wrong."

"Starting line..." Zhao Jin took a sip of yogurt and sighed, "Your words remind me that when I was little, teachers always said everyone was on the same starting line, but when I grew up, I found out it was false."

"Losing at the starting line is quite good." Chen Fang said with a smile.

Zhao Jin turned back and asked curiously, "How so?"

"If you lose at the starting line, you can save yourself from a desperate struggle, without fear or worry of others catching up. Hard work doesn't necessarily lead to success, but not working hard is definitely easy." As he spoke, Chen Fang handed another bottle of yogurt to Pan Pengpeng.

Pan Pengpeng took the yogurt, "That's actually true."

These words truly made sense. People often say you can't lose at the starting line, but as you grow up, you realize that competition is for self-improvement, not for disliking yourself or others. Many competitions are meaningless; what if you lose?

Pan Pengpeng smiled and unscrewed the yogurt, feeling much better. Just as he had comforted himself, he heard Chen Fang murmur, "If there wasn't a survival gift package..."

"Pan Pengpeng negative emotion value + 166"

Xie Yunxuan's gaze moved back and forth between the two.

Hah, indeed, those who say the competition isn't important are either first or last.