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[Chapter 042] “I believe in you.”
Lu YunFei realised that ever since he got injured, his days had been extremely comfortable. Breakfast, Wen MingYi took care of it; lunch, Li YuanQing’s responsibility; even getting water in between classes or handing in homework was automatically done by Bian JinYuan. They probably would have helped him to go to the restroom if they could!
Lu YunFei had initially felt bad about this and had determinedly said, “You sit, I’ll get water on my own,” But under Bian JinYuan’s skillful words, he gotten him to sit down instead while he stood up to get water.
Li YuanQing mused, “You seem to be having a good time recently, your quality of life hasn’t dropped a whit despite your foot injury.”
Lu YunFei humbly said, “It’s thanks to my friends, I have my parents at home and friends outside, nobody would bully me.”
“But when are you going to remove your cast? Would it be removed before the monthly exam?” Wen MingYi asked as he ate his meal.
“Not before the monthly exam, but soon after it.”
“That’s not bad.”
Speaking of the monthly exam, Lu YunFei couldn’t help but feel worried. The next monthly exam was less than a week away. He didn’t know how he would score for English. What would he do if he failed again?
However he didn’t worry about this for too long because the next day, Lu YunFei received another booklet from Bian JinYuan.
“What’s this?”
“English homework,” Bian JinYuan said, “There are seven essays in it on different topics. Memorise these seven essays before the monthly exam.”
“All of them?” Lu YunFei looked at the booklet in his hands, “I still have the words, phrases, and sentences that you gave me.”
“It’s not difficult,” Bian JinYuan smiled, “You’ll find out once you start memorising.”
Lu YunFei didn’t believe that at all. Was what Bian JinYuan considered not difficult the same as his version of not difficult? Bian JinYuan didn’t find anything difficult at all okay!
Lu YunFei looked down at the essays in the booklet. He stared and stared, and then noticed something, “The introductions and conclusions for these essays are all exactly the same.”
“Multipurpose sentences,” Bian JinYuan stated, “English essays are different from Language essays in that it doesn’t look at your concept and writing, but at how well you construct your sentences and whether you have a lot of phrases. It doesn’t matter what you write in these sentences, the main point is to circle back to the topic.”
Bian JinYuan pointed at a sentence in the essay before him, “This is that sentence in charge of circling back to the topic. Once you memorise these seven essays, you’ll basically know how to circle back to it, and then all you have to do is to fill in the content in this space. I’m guessing that the topics in one of these seven essays will be in this month’s exams, so just memorise them. You’ll be able to write your essay straightaway if the topic comes up.”
“What about you?” Lu YunFei asked, “Won’t I clash with you?”
Bian JinYuan looked at him and said calmly, “You won’t. I don’t support creating model essays just for the sake of tests.”
“Then you…” Lu YunFei looked at the booklet before him.
Bian JinYuan explained, “But it’s undeniable that it has its uses in quick results.”
He now understood that the top student found that model templates were too boring, but it was precisely model templates that suited an English scum like him.
“It really mustn’t have been easy,” Lu YunFei lamented.
“It was alright, it wasn’t hard at all.”
Lu YunFei: …
Lu YunFei thought that the differences between humans were too vast.
It was a matter of course to go through Bian JinYuan’s English model essays. He and Lu YunFei spent most of their time together, and so it was very convenient to go through them together.
After school in the afternoon, Lu YunFei sat on the backseat of the bicycle as he concentrated on memorising the essays, “You didn’t insist on sending me home in order to keep an eye on me I hope.”
“Can’t I?”
If he weren’t behind him, Lu YunFei would have given him a thumbs up, “I’ve never met such a conscientious teacher. Don’t you think that you’re well-suited to be a teacher?”
“I don’t think so.”
Bian JinYuan really didn’t think so. He didn’t enjoy educating people, nor did he enjoy meddling in the affairs of others. Being a teacher was his least desired job option. The responsibilities were too heavy and there was a lot to worry about. Bian JinYuan didn’t think that he could do it.
“But I think you’re quite well-suited, you’re too responsible! You’re even more responsible than all of my tutors combined.”
“Really? Then we’ll see how well you score in this month’s exams. If I’m really as suited as you claim, then you could pass at the very least.”
“Passing or failing isn’t something one can force,” Lu YunFei said sheepishly.
“You will pass,” Bian JinYuan said.
Lu YunFei didn’t say anything, he couldn’t in good conscience claim that he would pass.
Yet Bian JinYuan was adamant, “I believe in you.”
“I used to believe in myself too, and then I scored 74.”
Bian JinYuan cracked a smile, “Well, then I believe in myself.”
Lu YunFei looked up at him as he leaned against his back, “Then I hope that I won’t destroy your reputation.”
As the exams neared, Lu YunFei also asked for more tutoring sessions from tutor Wang as he threw himself into studying for English. Yet while he was busy examining English, others were busy examining him.
《Report! Lu YunFei has once again boarded Bian JinYuan’s car✶!》
Original poster: [Picture]
Ring a ling a ling: Tsk tsk, it seems that Lu YunFei has been sitting in Bian JinYuan’s car everyday these days.
Coffee with sugar no milk: Envious, I want to sit in the student god’s car too.
Monthly exams are looming: Sigh, the handsome boys are all ferrying boys.
Sunny day doll: Is the relationship between Bian JinYuan and Lu YunFei that good? I thought that the student god is cool and aloof?
Die if I don’t lose weight: Looks like the poster above skipped class # , let me give you some remedial lessons. The student god has been treating Lu YunFei very well. [Thread] [Thread]
Solo scenery: Don’t you find it strange? Bian JinYuan doesn’t treat anyone else special, just Lu YunFei. Even if they are friends, they’ve only known each other for one or two months.
A frog leaps into the pond: Don’t boys tend to form friendships quickly?
I don’t want exams: Poster above is right, I also think that Bian JinYuan treats Lu YunFei too well. And Lu YunFei has been acting strangely, he doesn’t take his personal car but sits in Bian JinYuan’s bicycle. Hasn’t he considered that he’s bothering others?
A single branch does not make spring ✿ : That’s right, it’s almost the exams, yet Lu YunFei still wants Bian JinYuan to send him home by bicycle. He’s had it good while Bian JinYuan is troubled by it. He’s quite thick-skinned.
Shining brightly being adored: Isn’t this thread moving in the wrong direction, first it suspects Bian JinYuan, then it disses Lu YunFei. I’m finding it odd that we need to be involved in the personal matters between two people. Is it your place to gossip?
Flutter flutter: It’s a normal thread conversation, there’s nothing we can’t say. Can’t we talk about Lu YunFei?
Trigonometric odd functions change but even functions remain unchanged: You’d still talk about it even if you’re not supposed to, you talk too much.
Lu YunFei looked at the thread which had started to evolve into insults. He would have never thought that him sitting on Bian JinYuan’s bicycle would induce a new discussion thread and insult battle. These people, do they have too little homework. Lu YunFei disparaged while he clicked to report the thread.
After he was done reporting the thread, the class monitor walked over and said to him, “The homeroom teacher is looking for you and would like you to go to the staff room.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Lu YunFei had no choice but to take his crutch and walk out of the classroom, as he headed towards the teacher’s staff room.
The year three teachers’ staff room wasn’t too far from his classroom, and Lu YunFei arrived shortly. He knocked on the door and entered, but there was no one inside. Lu YunFei found it odd and took another two steps inside, calling out “Teacher Li”, but no one responded, so he decided to turn around to leave.
As he turned around and took two steps towards the door, he heard someone call out from before him, “Lu YunFei.”
Lu YunFei raised his head to find his English teacher Zhāng YànRóng walking over.
“Hello teacher.”
Zhang YanRong saw that the staff room was empty and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Teacher Li called for me, but wasn’t here when I came.”
Zhang YanRong nodded, “Just nice, let’s have a chat.”
Lu YunFei heard this and couldn’t help but feel despondent. With his English grades, talking to his English teacher was just him waiting to be admonished. However, this was his own teacher, so Lu YunFei couldn’t refuse and obediently nodded.
Zhang YanRong led him to her desk and pulled up a chair for him.
“Is your leg alright?” She asked courteously.
“It’s better now,” Lu YunFei replied politely.
“I see. Now how are your preparations for the upcoming monthly exams.”
“It’s going okay.”
“Lu YunFei, as you know, your English grades aren’t the best in class. It may not be nice to hear, but to put it bluntly, you’re pulling the class down with your scores.”
This wasn’t nice to hear, but it was in fact the truth, and so Lu YunFei could only sheepishly nod, “I’ll try my best.”
“Then have you thought about extracurricular tutoring?”
“I have,” Lu YunFei said sincerely, “To tell the truth, I’ve even hired an English home tutor.”
“Really? Then it seems that your tutor isn’t up to par.”
Lu YunFei smiled and felt that this situation had gotten awkward again.
Zhang YanRong didn’t find it awkward and continued, “Actually, a lot of tutors these days may have passable English standards, but they’re ultimately not school teachers, and don’t know the crucial points of exams nor the direction of the high school exams. Since they aren’t able to teach you the pointers, it naturally leads to your scores not improving.”
As Lu YunFei listened, he started to have a guess at Zhang YanRong’s reason for this conversation.
Even though First High rules forbade teachers from providing extracurricular tutoring outside of school, that didn’t stop some parents from asking teachers to tutor their students in their private time. As time went on, many teachers started to have tutoring sessions after school. The school succumbed to parents’ requests and school scoring level, and wound up turning a blind eye to this. Slowly, this rule became a rule only in name.
Of course, Zhang YanRong had her own tutoring class. When he was in year one, Lu YunFei had heard someone say that this was normal. After all, all the better teachers had their own tutoring classes. But Zhang YanRong’s prices for her class were customised to the students, which was uncommon.
As X city’s most prestigious high school, the teachers from First High were renowned. Many students from other schools clamoured to attend their after school tutoring classes. As these were not one-to-one classes but small group classes, a majority of the costs for these teachers weren’t high.
However, Zhang YanRong was different. Her prices were based on the student’s family wealth.