Zhao Xuehui didn't care about anything else. She angrily placed today's newspaper in front of Zhou Changgui.
"You're asking me? Tell me, what's going on? Why is my little brother's poem on there, and why is your name written on it?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Changgui's expression turned even more unpleasant.
He had expected Zhao Xuehui to cause him trouble after seeing this, but he didn't expect her to arrive so quickly.
Zhou Changgui coughed and explained sternly, "Take a closer look. How can this be Xiao Jiang's poem? It's completely different from his!"
“But some are the same.” Zhao Xuehui frowned, opened her mouth, and said.
"Some of them are indeed somewhat similar, but that's only because I read his poems and felt inspired to write them!"
Zhou Changgui had already prepared his explanation, and he spoke calmly and without batting an eye, showing no sign of guilt whatsoever.
"There are so many poems in this world. You can't say I used his poems just because we used similar words, can you? You are also a reader of poetry, so you should know that it's normal for some sentences to be similar, and so what if some parts are similar?"
Upon hearing Zhou Changgui's words, Zhao Xuehui was momentarily speechless.
She had read many poems, and it was normal that some of them had similar sentence structures.
However, these two poems are far too similar, especially the last line, which is almost identical, with only slight differences in punctuation.
Faced with Zhou Changgui, Zhao Xuehui was initially unwilling to believe that he had plagiarized Jiang Sheng's poem. Moreover, after his explanation and the fact that he didn't seem guilty, Zhao Xuehui's anger dissipated considerably.
Seeing that Zhao Xuehui couldn't answer, Zhou Changgui quickly pressed his advantage: "Sigh! I know that as the older sister, you naturally have to protect your younger brother, which is normal and I understand."
"But you also have to think about it. I'm a university professor, someone who has read countless books and dedicated myself to educating and nurturing students. How could I possibly plagiarize a poem by a student who hasn't even started university yet? That's neither reasonable nor ethical! I have my pride too!"
Perhaps to intensify Zhao Xuehui's guilt, Zhou Changgui deliberately emphasized the tone of his last sentence.
Ironically, this tactic proved quite effective, indeed adding a touch of guilt and apology to Zhao Xuehui's face.
Seeing this, Zhou Changgui felt relieved, but he didn't forget to comfort Zhao Xuehui: "Alright, don't rush to school so rashly next time. You can call me first if you need anything. You still have to go to work, don't you?"
"Don't worry, I've written so many poems. With my guidance, Jiang Sheng's poetic skills will definitely improve further. I won't stop teaching him just because of your recklessness today."
"Really?" Upon hearing this, Zhao Xuehui seemed to stop pursuing the matter of poetry and instead looked up at Zhou Changgui with eyes full of worry.
After Zhou Changgui said that, she really felt that her reckless behavior had indeed caused Zhou Changgui some trouble, and that she had wronged him.
Just now, she was even a little worried that Zhou Changgui would stop guiding Jiang Sheng because of her recklessness, and she suddenly became a little anxious.
Seeing that Zhao Xuehui was gradually calmed down, Zhou Changgui chuckled: "Of course it's true. If you don't believe me, I can go with you to find Xiao Jiang now and personally give him some pointers. What do you think?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xuehui became excited and nodded repeatedly in agreement.
...
Meanwhile, Jiang Sheng was unaware of what Zhou Changgui had done, and went to check on the cannery's business early in the morning.
His business over there is doing very well, so he hardly needs to worry about it.
A moment later, the eldest sister, Zhao Nianmeng, suddenly ran in with a smile, found Jiang Sheng, and pulled him aside.
"What's wrong, big sister?" Jiang Sheng asked, puzzled.
Zhao Nianmeng smiled and said, "Of course it was your second sister who came looking for you. She couldn't find you, so I came looking for you instead."
"Second Sister? Why is Second Sister here at this time instead of working at the radio station?"
Jiang Sheng was completely baffled and couldn't figure it out no matter what he did.
But Zhao Nianmeng didn't say, so she probably didn't know either. She would only find out what happened after meeting Zhao Xuehui.
Led by Zhao Nianmeng, Jiang Sheng went outside and immediately saw Zhao Xuehui and Zhou Changgui beside her.
Why is he here?
Jiang Sheng never expected that Zhao Xuehui would bring Zhou Changgui to see him.
But since Zhao Xuehui brought him, Jiang Sheng couldn't completely ignore him, so he smiled and walked up to Zhao Xuehui, asking, "Second Sister, what brings you here?"
Zhao Xuehui already felt guilty towards Zhou Changgui for her reckless actions early in the morning, so she quickly steered the conversation towards Zhou Changgui.
She glanced at Zhou Changgui before answering Jiang Sheng: "Didn't you write a poem? I showed it to Teacher Zhou, and he also thought you had a lot of talent in poetry, so he asked him to give you some pointers."
Before Jiang Sheng could speak, Zhou Changgui stepped forward and couldn't wait to boast, "After all, I'm a teacher. When I see a promising student, I can't help but want to nurture him."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Sheng smiled: "Really? I wonder how you plan to guide me, Teacher Zhou?"
Zhou Changgui seemed oblivious to the disrespect in Jiang Sheng's words, still smiling broadly, but his words froze the expressions on the faces of Zhao Xuehui and Zhao Nianmeng.
"Xiao Jiang, your poem is indeed quite good, and I admire it very much. But you are still just a child, inexperienced in the ways of the world. The words you wrote are somewhat childish, which is a bit contradictory to the last line."
He straightened his back, adopting an air of superiority: "Including those words before you, like 'feeding horses,' 'grain and vegetables,' etc., the language is too plain and simple, there's nothing interesting about them. If it weren't for the finishing touch in the last line, this poem wouldn't even qualify as a basic poem!"
Zhou Changgui didn't hold back either, and in front of Zhao Xuehui and Zhao Nianmeng, he practically belittled Jiang Sheng's poem, making it seem full of flaws.
This made Zhao Xuehui and the others a little nervous. They would glance at Jiang Sheng from time to time, afraid that he was too young to withstand such criticism.
Although Zhao Xuehui felt that Jiang Sheng's poems were not as bad as Zhou Changgui had said, she was afraid of angering Zhou Changgui because of what had happened before, so she stopped teaching Jiang Sheng and dared not speak.
Besides, Jiang Sheng is still young, so it's not unacceptable for him to be criticized like this. Moreover, Zhou Changgui is a teacher, and he must have his own educational philosophy behind saying that.
For her sake, Zhou Changgui couldn't possibly treat Jiang Sheng badly; he must be showing such ruthlessness for Jiang Sheng's future.
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