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[Chapter 049] Bian JinYuan reached out to hold his hand
The department head also knew of Lu YunFei, firstly because his subject biases were well-known in school, secondly because he was a popular person, and thirdly because of the Lu family.
As the best high school in X city, First High was the ideal school for students in the province. It was thus that the wealthy second generation students in First High only increased and never decreased. At the beginning of each school year, the principal would remind the year one teachers to generally not be too calculative with these wealthy second generation, and to give them some face.
To the principal of First High, these wealthy and powerful parents sent their children to this school and, similarly to normal families, didn’t interfere with their education and allowed the school to educate their children. In this aspect, he was willing to sincerely educate them, occasionally closing an eye to things. After all, the more powerful the person, the more they cherished their face.
They gave First High face, and so First High was willing to give the other party face. It was a virtuous cycle, and so First High’s advancement put it in the top of other schools.
Zhang YanRong was not only the English head, but this time she had been overly stubborn. The department head was actually more inclined to believe in his innocence until proven guilty and pretend like nothing had happened. After all, on the matter of cheating, the teacher only has to make a claim. However, the student’s burden was much heavier.
“Then teacher Zhang please retrieve the paper,” the department head said.
Zhang YanRong stood up and left the room to head towards the staff office.
Lu YunFei sat quietly. The department head looked at him and then at Li Li, “Teacher Li you can go back to prepare for class too.”
“Okay,” Li Li stood up and said before she left, “Department head, I still stand by what I said. I was the one who had asked Lu YunFei to look for me at the staff office, but it was only because you had something to discuss with me, so I had gone over to you. He hadn’t gone to the staff office without reason. I was also the one who arranged for Bian JinYuan to be his deskmate in order to raise his score. 24 marks seems like a vast improvement, but all teachers understand that it’s very easy to jump from failing to passing because the potential for improvement is great. So even if Lu YunFei isn’t able to score 86 in this retest, I think that his score is not an issue.”
“I understand,” the department head nodded.
Li Li looked at Lu YunFei, “Good luck answering the questions, don’t worry and relax.”
“I understand, don’t worry teacher Li.”
Li Li saw that his attitude seemed good and left.
The Chemistry teacher for class one, Xiào Jǐn , was a young and thin man. With a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, he looked severe, but was actually someone approachable.
“We’ll be going over the exam paper for today’s class, which should have been returned to you. This time, our class did very well, with two students who scored full marks. Our Lu YunFei finally stopped making careless mistakes and no longer scored 98 or 99, but 100 marks. Lu
” He raised his head to look in Lu YunFei’s direction to find that he wasn’t in his seat.
“Where is he? Is he skipping class because he scored full marks?”
The class erupted in laughter, and the class representative raised his hand and said, “The department head wanted to talk to him, he hasn’t come back yet.”
Hearing this, Xiao Jin recalled that when he had returned from the toilet two classes ago and was about to enter the staff room, the Physics teacher had stopped him.
“Don’t enter yet, there’s an argument inside right now.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Zhang YanRong accused Lu YunFei of cheating on the English exam and wants to nullify his score and have him go through an investigative review. Li Li opposed it, and now both of them are arguing.”
Xiao Jin furrowed his brows. He had thought that Zhang YanRong would cool down at Li Li’s defence as this escalated to the department head, but it looked like things had blown into something bigger. Sigh, he hoped that Lu YunFei was okay.
Just as he worried about this, a new thread appeared on the school’s discussion board.
《Explosive news! Lu YunFei passing English this time was actually because he cheated! Teacher Zhang said so personally!》
Original Poster: I passed by the department head’s office and heard what sounded like arguing, so I went closer to hear better. What I heard was shocking! The ones arguing were teacher Zhang and Lu YunFei, and teacher Zhang claimed that Lu YunFei passed only because he had cheated! [shocked] [shocked] [shocked]
Catching fish during class # : No way!! That explosive? Lu YunFei will also cheat?
Shan Shan is adored: I don’t believe it! It’s impossible! What’s the basis on which Lu YunFei would cheat?!
A single branch does not make spring: Of course it’s to score a higher mark. With those English grades, wanting to cheat would be understandable.
Let’s eat burgers: Speaking of, when I went to find the Language teacher at the staff office this morning, the door was closed but I think I could hear teacher Zhang and teacher Li shouting.
Solo scenery: I’m blindly guessing that teacher Zhang wanted to make this public, but teacher Li didn’t want to. Teacher Li is class one’s homeroom teacher, if this gets out, it wouldn’t reflect well on her.
Flowers in the Mirror: Wait a minute, is the above poster assuming that Lu YunFei cheated? All the negative things are being laid out? Do you have proof?
Flowering tea: Would teacher Zhang make random accusations then?
A frog leaps into the pond: Just because they’re a teacher they’d say the truth? If there’s no evidence, then what are you basing your claims on for Lu YunFei cheating!
In a short while, the thread argued for over three hundred posts. Li YuanQing’s deskmate nudged him and handed his phone to show him the screen. Li YuanQing didn’t pay much attention to it at first, but after reading closer, he almost dropped the phone and immediately reported the thread.
Nonetheless, the rumours had already spread. In the span of one class period, the year twos were already gossiping about how Lu YunFei cheated on the exams and was discovered by Zhang YanRong, and was now disputing the matter with her.
Wen Mingyi ran over to year two class one after class ended, and crashed into Li YuanQing who had just emerged from the classroom.
“What happened?” Wen MingYi asked in incredulity, “Has Zhang YanRong gone mad?”
“Who knows, I’m just about to go take a look.”
“I’ll go with you,” Wen MingYi said, “Wait
”
He seemed to think of something, and turned to enter the classroom.
Bian JinYuan was working on the day’s Chemistry homework when he heard the sound of knocking on the table. He looked up to find Wen MingYi looking back at him.
“Study god, you’re still busy doing homework even at this time.”
Bian JinYuan didn’t understand, but couldn’t be bothered to talk to him.
Wen MingYi suspected that he was out of the loop regarding Lu YunFei, and quickly summarised what had transpired, “Let’s go together, you helped to bring up Lu YunFei’s grades and have a stronger sway than us.”
Bian JinYuan never thought that this was the reason why Lu YunFei had disappeared for an entire class. He had assumed that Li Li had something to discuss with him and simply forgot the time. Who would have thought that he was being accused of cheating.
Bian JinYuan stood up immediately and took out the materials that he had prepared for Lu YunFei, “Let’s go.”
The three of them arrived at the department head’s office and found that a lot of people were at the door trying to listen in on what was going on inside.
“What’s everyone doing here, have you completed your homework?!” LiYuanQing shouted.
Hearing this, the surrounding students raised their fingers in a shushing motion, and in the next second, the door opened, giving the cue for the students to scatter.
The department head emerged from the door and looked at the students surrounding the doorway, admonishing, “What is everyone doing here? Go back to your classes.”
The students who came here to busybody eventually stepped away.
Bian JinYuan stepped forward and asked, “Is Lu YunFei in your office?”
The department head was familiar with Bian JinYuan. After all, she had awarded the top student prize to him for three consecutive semesters, it was hard not to remember him.
“That’s right, he’s in my office. I have something to discuss with him, so you should go back first.”
“What about? Is it about the English exam? If that’s the case, I think that I have the right to speak on it too.”
The students who had not yet left shouted in their hearts with excitement! They secretly took out their phones to livestream for their friends.
The department head wanted to smooth things over and replied, “You go back first, this has nothing to do with you.”
“Did Lu YunFei mention that his English for this month was under my charge, from vocabulary to essay, they were all under my purview. This matter may not involve others, but it does involve me,” he said, and then took out the materials and handed them over to her, “These were the revision materials, you can take a look at them. If you would like all of them, I can organise them before passing them to you.”
The department head received the sheets and flipped through them to see markings on spelling, indications of vocabulary and phrases revisions, as well as sentence construction and numerous essays.
“I understand, you go back first.”
“Then how will this matter with Lu YunFei be settled?”
“Lu YunFei is currently retaking the test in the office. If he passes, it will prove that he didn’t cheat.”
“Then if he fails?” Wen MingYi interrupted.
“Can’t you think better of me?” Lu YunFei couldn’t resist and came out to face his friends, “Alright, go back to class, I’ll join you after I’m done with the retest.”
“You’re really retaking the test?” Li YuanQing thought that he was quite brave, “What if you don’t fare well this time.”
Lu YunFei from a class period ago had also thought of this, but then the department head had told him after Li Li and Zhang YanRong left, “Don’t worry, while there’s no helping the objective questions, I’ll try to afford more marks towards the subjective questions.”
Lu YunFei was surprised. The department head smiled, “So relax and properly work on the test.”
Lu YunFei intended to do just that. He was looking forward to Zhang YanRong’s bilingual apology, and the notion grew stronger ever since he received the exam paper from her hands.
As expected, the scope of both papers hit the same key points, and were areas that Bian JinYuan had helped him to revise. As such, Lu YunFei was able to breeze through answering the questions, starting on the vocabulary before writing the essay, and finally answering the multiple choice questions. What was interesting to note was that the essay topic for this paper actually coincided with one of Bian JinYuan’s seven essay topics. Lu YunFei almost laughed out loud, why was Zhang YanRong still a teacher, she should just give her position to Bian JinYuan.
“When have I ever fared well, I just got used to it,” Lu YunFei put both hands in his pockets, a picture of serenity and accomodation, “Go back, I’ll return soon after this retest.”
Li YuanQing thought that perhaps he had gone mad.
Bian JinYuan heaved a sigh of relief and guessed that he was coping well with the questions. He waved Lu YunFei over, who walked up to him questioningly, “What’s up?”
Bian JinYuan didn’t say anything, and simply held his hand. Lu YunFei was confused, only to hear Bian JinYuan say, “Good luck with the retest, here’s some luck for you.”
Lu YunFei then understood what was happening, and couldn’t help but smile as he brought his other hand up to be held.
The surrounding students never would have thought that things would turn out this way, and for a while, the area was silent.
The department head coughed and looked at the both of them, “Lu YunFei, you haven’t completed your paper.”
Quack Notes
Ugh I’ve been swamped and have been translating on insufficient sleep, so let me know if any translations seem off, or if there are parts that require footnotes which I left out! I realise I may have gotten careless lately as a result. This semester may be my worst one yet but I’m still banging out chapters so that I can continue updating once a week. Wish me luck~
# If anyone’s interested in a little meaning journey: this username was actually â€˜äžŠèŻŸæ‘žäžȘ鱌’ (shĂ ng kĂš mƍ gĂš yĂș, literally meaning ‘touching fish during class’), which I translated semi-literally to ‘catching fish during class’. The contextual meaning is derived from the idiom ‘攑氎摞鱌’ (hĂșn shuǐ mƍ yĂș, literally meaning ‘touching fish in troubled waters’), which means to take advantage of chaos for selfish gains, kinda like looting during riots. Nowadays, ‘摞鱌’ (mƍ yĂș, ‘touch fish’) means to slack off, or to not do one’s job properly. The username includes this phrase in the context of their classroom to mean that they’re slacking off during class.