School starts, 5.5% increase
Woods briefed the students on the institute's recruitment process, handing out flyers and inviting any interested students to take the exam this weekend.
I also reminded them not to forget to attend the club showcase this Saturday, and to submit the clubs they want to join before next week.
On Club Showcase Day, each club will send representatives and members to set up booths. Freshmen can browse between the booths, choose their favorite clubs, fill out applications, and participate in written tests and interviews.
There is also a hierarchy of contempt among different student organizations.
The most popular clubs, and even the students they recruit, can share in the glory.
Those clubs at the bottom of the social hierarchy even face the crisis of being disbanded. Even if senior students kneel down and beg freshmen, no freshmen are willing to join.
Lin Xue had already decided which club she wanted to join, but she wanted to tour the club showcase day before filling out the application.
Otherwise, you'll always feel like you've missed out on a lot of scenery.
Choosing which club to join is not important; what matters is the variety of people and events you encounter while taking a brief look around.
And then there are the senior students who are on the verge of disbanding their departments, and they come up with all sorts of outrageous and unconventional ways to recruit new members.
It's interesting just to think about it.
After Lin Xue finished teaching the required courses, she often heard the specially admitted students sighing and lamenting how difficult the courses were.
So how did those ignorant nobles graduate?
Lin Xue soon found out.
On the forum, some nobles are recruiting study companions.
While ostensibly tutors, they were actually ghostwriters who helped nobles with their homework and exams.
In any case, even if nobles cheat, they are still using scholarships funded by their own families, so no other noble will complain.
Most nobles benefited from cheating on exams.
Those distinguished nobles, on the other hand, disdained to report cheating and lower their own status.
Even within aristocratic circles, clear distinctions were made.
纨绔子弟 (sons of wealthy families who are spoiled and dissolute) and 能才贵人 (talented nobles) keep to themselves and don't interfere with each other. Although they look down on each other, they don't fight.
The only ones who will ever fight are those admitted through special admissions programs.
For example, right now—
The two specially admitted students got into an argument over who copied whose homework.
It appears that one of the specially admitted students stole another specially admitted student's assignment before submitting it.
However, the order in which assignments are submitted cannot prove who the original author is.
The professor called the two men into his office and said he would deal with them seriously.
The person who copied the homework will have their credits reset to zero.
Both men were caught up in a heated exchange of accusations.
But who exactly is the one copying the homework?
The truth is no longer important; what matters is that everyone else is just watching the show.
People just want to see the underclass tearing each other apart, with no way out, no dignity, and fighting a desperate battle.
As for upholding justice and bringing forth righteousness? Nobody cares.
Some even egged them on: "Why not just punish both of them? Being the one who gets the goods confiscated and the one who steals them are both guilty of the same crime!"
The group of people below nodded.
Anyway, it's not like I'm the one being punished.
It can also take down two competitors at once, how cost-effective!
After Lin Xue started school, her daily life became very regular.
I scrolled through my phone until I went to sleep the night before.
I was woken up by my phone alarm at 5:30 a.m. the next day.
In the midst of my low-pressure morning grumpiness, I tried my best to suppress the urge to throw my phone on the ground.
I changed my clothes with my eyes closed.
While brushing my teeth, I tried to keep my eyes open, half-asleep, to avoid falling headfirst into the sink and falling asleep.
It looked like a cat that had stolen a cream cake and ended up with its face falling into it, its mouth full of foam.
In the morning, I was in a rush and didn't have time to go to the cafeteria for breakfast, so I hurriedly ate a sandwich that I had bought the day before and put in the refrigerator.
I couldn't help but vomit when I smelled the refrigerator odor on the sandwich.
Because St. Mary's is so big, and the dormitories and teaching buildings are too far apart, I ate a sandwich while riding my bicycle.
I met a few friends who, like me, were vying to perform amazing acrobatic acts.
Some people code while riding a bicycle, while others eat pasta while riding a bicycle.
They exchange glances to show respect, and then, driven by their damn competitive spirit, they chase each other, neither wanting to be left behind, vying to overtake.
They turned a simple bicycle ride into a racing sport.
When I attended the first morning class, I was not only not late, but I also had more than ten minutes to spare.
You can leisurely read a classic book for a while.
Lin Xue had brought a classic novel in her bag.
He usually can't concentrate on reading, but he can read very quickly in the few minutes before class.
Compared to playing on my phone, reading classic literature seems dull.
But compared to attending classes, reading classic works becomes much more interesting.
The first lesson is often accompanied by a chorus of yawns.
As yawns, like bubbles, were blown one after another by different students, string after string of them...
The professor's angry sonic boom burst the bubble, startling the students into silence. They took a sip of iced cocoa to suppress the yawns that were about to escape their throats.
The professor carefully calculated and wrote out formulas on the whiteboard.
Some of the specially admitted students were diligently taking notes, while others were secretly exchanging glances and flirting.
Being admitted through special admissions does not necessarily mean being academically excellent. Many special admissions students are just good at academics, but still behave like teenagers.
They are also very difficult to manage.
The professor could only turn a blind eye, deliberately calling on people and making them difficult with challenging questions.
Then the opponent easily solved it.
In the end, I could only angrily decide to give the other person the lowest possible participation grade at the end of the semester.
The students who whispered in class weren't really interested in attending class. They mostly studied on their own after class.
So it doesn't matter whether you listen to the lectures or not.
Occasionally, someone would stand up and, ignoring the professor's face which turned as red as a monkey's bottom, directly correct one of his incorrect calculations.
The break between classes is only 10 minutes long. St. Mary's is very large, and the teaching buildings are far apart.
Most of the specially admitted students followed the advice in the forum and rode bicycles. Some of them had not prepared in advance and could only run all the way. By the time they arrived at the next classroom, they were soaked in sweat.
Different teaching buildings have different classroom layouts and structures.
History classes are primarily discussion-based. Tables are clustered together, with seven or eight students sitting around each large table, forming small groups, like clusters of flowers surrounding the professor.
The professor would occasionally pose subjective questions for students to think about, allowing them to express their own opinions.
Students who give excellent presentations can receive more participation points.
Assign homework tasks such as, "If you were to govern the XX Empire, what methods would you use to improve the situation of XXX?"
Assignments such as "From the perspective of war preparation, how could the XX Empire conquer the YY Empire?" are given to students to write a short essay.
In Latin class, the seats are arranged in a semi-circle around the professor, making it easier for students to observe the professor's mouth movements and learn pronunciation more effectively.
The professor demonstrates pronunciation while making corresponding gestures, allowing students to learn by imitation and memorize better.
The professor would occasionally pick a student for a one-on-one conversation, and no one was allowed to blend in with the rest of the class and try to get away with it.
Theology class was like a storytelling class; the professor could always tell many legends about God.
Even Lin Xue, who had no interest in religion, listened with great interest.
Where did the story pick up in class today?
The professor talked about a pair of demon-angel sisters.
In the legends of the gods, there is a card with two sides: one side is the demon sister, and the other side is the angel sister.
The demon sister was covered in thorns, and blood flowed from her body into her younger sister's. As a result, the older sister became more and more ferocious and ugly, growing demon horns and bat wings, while the younger sister became more and more gentle and beautiful, with a halo appearing above her head and feathers growing behind her.
There is also a story about a snake and a hero.
Long, long ago, in a remote village, there lived a monstrous serpent that devoured people everywhere.
A brave man heard about this and decided to rid the people of this scourge.
So he severed the giant serpent's head.
The headless giant snake slithered away with a "yee-yee" sound.
Because it had no head, the giant snake ate even more villagers, feeding without stopping.
The villagers resented the meddlesome hero who had brought them even more casualties.
If things had continued as they were originally, only a few people would have needed to die to satisfy the giant serpent's appetite.
Now, the giant snake needs to eat even more.
One day, the hero heard someone knocking on the door, and through the peephole, he saw the image of his lover.
The warrior opened the door with joy, wanting to embrace his lover, only to see that beneath her head lay the body of the giant snake he had killed.
He was eaten by a giant snake in despair.
A giant serpent with the head of a hero roams around, rolling its eyes and drooling. It weeps day and night for its foolishness that killed its lover, and in order to avenge itself, it devours one innocent person after another.
However, one day, his lover, who was not dead, saw him.
It turns out that the giant snake possessed illusion magic, allowing people to see the head of their loved one, thus deceiving them into opening the door.
The lover and the fallen hero stared at each other for a long time before the lover beheaded the hero with a single stroke.
The brave man peacefully closed his eyes in his lover's arms.
"What is God trying to tell us in this story? You can tell us, student."
The professor, dressed as a bishop, called to a small, thin student.
The student said uncertainly, "Beware of AI using Maoyan (a Chinese online shopping platform) for fraud?"
"Haha, that interpretation isn't entirely wrong."
“Sometimes crime is part of society, and forcibly and crudely controlling it will only cause more casualties.”
The professor smiled but did not answer.
"Don't give up on yourself?"
"Is there only a fine line between a hero and a dragon?"
Many students guessed numerous answers in a row, when suddenly someone asked:
"The blame should lie with that unkillable giant serpent. The hero was only acting out of kindness; he didn't know the serpent was immortal and would devour even more people after its head turned off. Why always look for problems in the victims and the good guys, instead of dealing with the bad guys?"
"If the bad guys can't be dealt with, can't the victims and the good guys be disciplined?"
"This world is not about good or evil, but about strength and weakness. Even if you do something with good intentions, if you do it wrong and cause trouble for others, you have to make amends."
"God wants to tell us: weakness is the greatest evil."
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