Lin Jiang Sixth High forum.
Sticky post: Our school’s honour student, Shao Zhan, champion of the 14th Four School Competition League, talks about his expectations for this year’s league.
Once the post was published, it sparked enthusiastic responses.
2L: Lin Jiang Sixth High is awesome! Study god is awesome!
3L: Our school is really amazing!
4L: Hahaha, I went to Ying Hua yesterday and saw their sticky post. I was just thinking we should have one too, and now we do.
18L: Is no one talking about the content? This interview is absolutely amazing. Ying Hua will be furious when they see the mention of ‘talent’.
In the post, Shao Zhan wore his usual cold expression. The school’s newspaper reporter’s photography skills were actually quite impressive, but it didn’t detract from the fact that the person in the photo was good-looking. The young boy’s eyebrows and eyes were sharp, his hair had grown a bit longer, and even his lazy sitting posture, different from before, seemed as if he was looking down on Ying Hua.
19L: Truth be told, I’ve been slain by study god’s attitude…
20L: @Duan Yaosheng.
21L: You mentioned the wrong person, let me do it. @Duan Bibai.
Xu Sheng pretended to be Shao Zhan and managed to deceive the interviewer. However, due to the arrogant nature of the interview, it was like adding fuel to the fire.
When Zhang Feng sent a message, Xu Sheng was pretending to listen in class.
During this language class, Meng Guowei was guiding the students through the text, saying, “Open the book, you should memorise this paragraph. After class, go find your group leader and recite it. Let’s read the first paragraph…”
While listening to the class, Xu Sheng was…passing notes with his deskmate.
Although Xu Sheng was accustomed to sleeping, playing games, and not paying attention in class, passing notes was something new.
Previously, his deskmates were somewhat afraid of him, and even though they later discovered that this school tyrant didn’t really get physical with others, they couldn’t develop much of a bond. Although Xu Sheng was good at building relationships with people, his emotions weren’t great during his first year; after all, he had wanted to go to Li Yang Second High, but ended up at this school instead.
He only managed to get along better in the second semester of their second year, but the group of friends Zhang Feng belonged to still kept their distance.
-My ranking in the class hasn’t ever been higher than bottom three. Forget about competitions, I don’t even submit assignments. Don’t you think it’s absurd for me to tell lao Meng that I want to participate in the Four School Competition League?
-Is there any other way.
-…No.
They were just passing notes, and no one else saw them. Both of them no longer restricted their handwriting styles. Xu Sheng wrote freely, while Shao Zhan returned to using his right hand.
The handwriting of the two on the note was distinctly different; it was a distinction that emphasised the extreme contrast between beauty and ugliness.
Xu Sheng was lost in Shao Zhan’s handwriting for two seconds and wondered how he could write so beautifully.
After writing the word “No,” Xu Sheng paused for a moment before continuing.
-Unless lao Meng goes crazy, he won’t agree, right? Anyways, who’s going to go ask?
After he finished writing, Xu Sheng pushed the note over. Shao Zhan held his phone with one hand and quickly wrote a word with the other, then pushed it back to him.
“So, the meaning of this paragraph can be summarised as a deep longing for one’s hometown.” Meng Guowei held the book and walked around the neighbouring desks as he spoke. “Let’s move on to the second paragraph.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Zfcu Xebkfl kjr mbwqifafis ecjkjgf atja akb raevfcar lc tlr mijrr kfgf cba qjslcu jaafcalbc ab atf ifrrbc yfmjerf atfs kfgf yers qijcclcu bc ulnlcu tlw j “regqglrf” ijafg. “Ktf rfmbcv qjgjugjqt wbnfr jkjs ogbw wfwbglfr jr atf jeatbg gfaegcr ab gfjilas. Pc pera j ofk sfjgr, fnfgsatlcu tjr mtjcufv…”
As Meng Guowei was about to walk by their table, Xu Sheng avoided making any suspicious movements and didn’t even look towards Shao Zhan. Instead, he reached out his hand based on his memory of where Shao Zhan had pushed the note back.
Instead of receiving the note, Xu Sheng ended up grabbing Shao Zhan’s hand.
“…”
The ceiling fan whirred above them.
Xu Sheng was stunned, as if under a spell.
He was stunned until Shao Zhan moved his finger slightly and flipped his palm upward, passing the note that was tucked in his hand to Xu Sheng.
Xu Sheng clenched the note in his hand, no longer with the intention to see what Shao Zhan had written on the note. He only knew that his heart rate at this moment coincided with countless unexpected previous moments.
After Meng Guowei finished reading the second paragraph, he raised his head from the book, coincidentally missing Shao Zhan’s movements and not noticing anything was amiss.
Only half of the new text for this language class had been covered.
“That’s it for today’s class,” Meng Guowei said as he organised his teaching materials and leaned over to turn off the PowerPoint. “Everyone should take a break after class.”
The word Shao Zhan had replied with was “you”.
Xu Sheng was genuinely afraid of going to the office now. “Why should I go?”
“You are Shao Zhan right now,” Shao Zhan said. “If you say it, he will believe you. Should I go instead and wait to be kicked out by him?”
He wasn’t wrong. The teachers would believe whatever Shao Zhan said, no matter how nonsensical.
The love of the entire school’s teachers for Shao Zhan was too blind.
In the midst of their conversation, Meng Guowei pulled out a USB drive and made motions to leave.
This task was too difficult, and no matter how much Xu Sheng wracked his brains, he couldn’t figure out how Meng Guowei could possibly agree to let him participate in the competition. This was complete nonsense. “Then what should I say?”
“Say that you want to study,” Shao Zhan pulled him up, reassuring Xu Sheng with his second sentence. “I’ll go with you.”
The matter of signing up for the competition would have to be discussed sooner or later.
With Shao Zhan accompanying him, Xu Sheng felt much more emotionally stable. He even calmly thought up strategies on the way to the office. Just before they pushed open the office door, he came up with an idea. “What do you think about this argument: Shao Zhan has discovered a hidden talent for competition in Xu Sheng. How does that sound?”
Inside and outside the office, there was silence.
And it was an unusually quiet silence, as if there was a wall separating the inside and outside, creating two completely different worlds.
Meng Guowei was dumbfounded, holding the tea he had just poured but forgetting to drink it. “…”
Not only was Meng Guowei dumbfounded, but Zhou Yuan, who had unexpectedly heard “Shao Zhan” entering and saying, “Meng laoshi, I have some ideas about the Four School Competition League. I want to recommend Xu Sheng,” was also dumbfounded.
Zhou Yuan stood on the balcony, maintaining his motion of watering, with water continuously pouring down from the watering can as if he were performing a pantomime. “…”
Xu Sheng got the answer.
The statement was obviously quite terrifying.
Initially, Meng Guowei was wondering why both Xu Sheng and Shao Zhan came to see him together. He thought something had happened.
But upon hearing this sentence, his heart sank even more deeply than when he had learned about Shao Zhan’s monthly exam score.
“What did you say?” Meng Guowei said after finally putting down the teacup that had scalded his hand. “Who do you want to recommend?”
Xu Sheng, “Xu Sheng.”
Meng Guowei, “Why, why do you want to recommend…” He couldn’t say the words “Xu Sheng”.
The student he took the most pride in came to recommend Xu Sheng.
Xu Sheng, the student who ranked last in both the practice test and the monthly exam.
No, not only in those two exams, even if they went back in time, throughout the entire first year of high school, he had only left the last position once. Apart from writing self-criticisms that required a pen, he probably didn’t touch any other tools.
Before Xu Sheng came, he thought he couldn’t do it, but he didn’t expect that his own bottom line could continuously shift lower.
“Teacher,” Xu Sheng said calmly, “It’s like this. After being deskmates with Xu Sheng for a while, I found that he is different from what I initially imagined. He is brave, kind…”
Shao Zhan coughed beside him and said, “You’re going off topic.”
“…” Oh.
Xu Sheng withdrew his excessive praise of himself and brought the flattery back on track: “He is actually very intelligent, I think he has talent for competitions.”
Shao Zhan spoke up at the right time. “I have also realised the importance of studying and I want to dedicate my time and energy to learning. I hope laoshi can give me an opportunity to participate in the competition and prove myself.”
Xu Sheng.
Had a talent for competitions.
This was the most incredible thing Meng Guowei had heard in his several decades of teaching career.
Even the Zhou Yuan beside them was thinking: I taught Xu Sheng for a whole semester. How did I not realise that he is a maths prodigy???
However, the one saying these words was Shao Zhan.
Shao Zhan’s ability and level were recognised by all the teachers. As long as he maintained his performance in the city-level competitions and continued to develop, there wouldn’t be any problem with him being recommended for further studies.
Surprisingly the words carried an indescribable persuasive power coming out of the mouth of a student like this.
Meng Guowei and Zhou Yuan exchanged a glance. “How did you find out…that Xu Sheng has talent?”
There was no talent at all.
How else could he tell?
Xu Sheng could only continue to fabricate. “Yesterday, when I was solving the competition practice exam…there was a question, and it was Xu Sheng who gave me the approach to the solution.”
He vaguely mentioned a problem, and Shao Zhan took over. “It’s a solid geometry problem, where the given distance is the distance between two non-coplanar lines rather than the distance between points. It requires conversion.”
When the specific problem and approach were mentioned by “Xu Sheng,” the strange feeling in Meng Guowei’s heart grew even stronger.
Actually, upon careful consideration, Shao Zhan’s statement might not be illogical. Some students did have a natural advantage in logical thinking ability.
In the past, there were also students at the bottom of the class at Lin Jiang Sixth High who had excellent thinking abilities. They didn’t pay much attention in class, but with a little guidance, they could come up with innovative solutions.
Students who could enter Lin Jiang Sixth High in the first place already had a good foundation.
Even Zhang Feng from the neighbouring class could sometimes provide a general outline for the given thinking questions.
Considering Shao Zhan’s words and reflecting on those blank exercise books that Xu Sheng submitted since the first year of high school, it now appeared as a more thought-provoking move. The emptiness of those books, indicating a lack of diligence, made it plausible to think that he might have potential.
To put it bluntly, as long as Xu Sheng had the intention to turn over a new leaf.
As a teacher, he couldn’t undermine him.
The Four School Competition League was an elimination-based competition, not a professional mainstream league. It didn’t really matter if non-competition-oriented students participated.
In the end, Xu Sheng would probably experience just one round on stage.
With this in mind, Meng Guowei came up with an idea.
“You can participate if you want, as long as you can complete the competition assignments on time. Of course, it’s not just about the competition assignments. Starting from today, you have to submit homework for every subject, pay attention in class, and not get distracted. If I catch you slacking off once, forget about the competition, understood?”
Xu Sheng interjected, “He can do it.”
Anyway, Shao Zhan was going to be the one doing it.
Xu Sheng, as a reserve player for the Four School Competition League, joined the tournament training with Shao Zhan after school that day.
As the competition approached, the competition-oriented students voluntarily stayed after school every day and gathered in Conference Room 3 to work on problems.
Today, the study god’s pinned post gave a boost of motivation to these competition-oriented students, making their enthusiasm for problem-solving reach an unprecedented level—until they saw the study god and the school tyrant entering one after the other.
The contrast between school uniform and T-shirt was striking.
“What’s going on? Can someone explain?”
“Is that Xu Sheng? Did someone provoke him into a fight?”
“…”
Xu Sheng and Shao Zhan ignored the whispers of the others and walked to the back row after taking two sets of test papers from the podium.
There were fewer people in the back row.
And thanks to “Xu Sheng”, after he sat down, no one dared to sit in the back two rows.
The training for the competition was really boring. At first, Xu Sheng could still support his chin, using his pen to jot down a few “solutions”. But after ten minutes, it became incredibly boring.
The original plan was for Xu Sheng to write his own paper and make some modifications while copying the answers from Shao Zhan’s test paper. The accuracy didn’t need to be high because it would seem unrealistic if it was too high.
He sighed, leaned on the desk, spun his pen around, and tapped Shao Zhan to say, “I don’t feel like writing.”
Shao Zhan, on the other hand, seemed quite accustomed to it. After all, he had participated in numerous competitions of all sizes. He quickly scanned through the test paper from start to finish and took the opportunity when the students in front weren’t paying attention to whisper, “Pass me the test paper.”
Thanks for the chapter!!
Cries I’m up to date nowwwww
Thank you so so so much for the chapters,, can’t wait for the upcoming chapters!!
I’ve caught up!
Thanks for the chapters <3
Thanx for the chapter! 💕💕💕