Wenwen was stunned, somewhat bewildered: "What? Elementary school? This is a university English course! Elementary schools don't have English classes! I only got this tutoring from a university professor through my mom's connections!"
Xu Kuo's face darkened further. He picked up his pen and began scribbles on the textbook, then handed the book back to Wenwen: "Take a look for yourself. These places are full of grammatical errors!"
Wenwen and Tanwang went over to take a look and were immediately dumbfounded. The areas in the textbook that Xu Kuo had circled in red pen were densely packed and shocking to behold.
"This...this can't be right?" Wenwen couldn't believe her eyes. This was something her university professor had taught her!
Tan Wang was also shocked. Although he didn't understand English, he knew that if Xu Kuo could find so many faults, it must be something serious.
Xu Kuo snorted coldly, tossed the textbook aside, pulled out a copy from his own compiled textbook, and handed it to Wenwen and Tan Wang: "Look at this, this is real English!"
Wenwen and Tanwang took the textbook, which explained basic English knowledge in simple and easy-to-understand language, accompanied by vivid and interesting example sentences and illustrations. The two were immediately engrossed and quickly mastered several simple English words and sentences.
As the sun set, Xu Kuo saw off Wenwen, who was reluctant to part with him.
"Brother Xu, your English is amazing! It's even better than what university professors teach!" Tan Wang gave a thumbs up and exclaimed sincerely.
Xu Kuo smiled faintly: "What's this? Keep up the good work, there'll be plenty more for you to learn in the future!"
The next day, Wenwen went to the university English professor's class.
As usual, the professor began to check on the students' learning progress one by one.
"How are you?" the professor asked a student in English.
"..." The student stammered, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.
The professor's face darkened.
"What's your name?" the professor asked another student.
"..." The student still looked bewildered.
The professor's expression darkened further.
He asked several students in a row, but none of them could answer fluently. Frustrated, he slammed his fist on the table: "How did you all learn? You can't even understand such a simple sentence!"
By the time it was Wenwen's turn, the professor had already given up hope.
"Come on, it's your turn." The professor's face was grim.
“My name is…” Wenwen was not intimidated at all. She opened her mouth with a clear and standard English sentence, with standard pronunciation, clear articulation, and full of emotion. Her classmates were all stunned.
The professor's eyes lit up instantly. He stood up excitedly and clapped repeatedly: "Great! Great! Great! Wenwen, what you said is fantastic! It seems you must have put in a lot of effort and taken many notes, right?"
The professor looked expectant. "Wenwen, hurry up and take out your textbook so everyone can see it! Let them see what a good student is."
Wenwen's face flushed red instantly, and she lowered her head even further. She was filled with regret; she shouldn't have listened to Xu Kuo and thrown away that textbook. Now, the professor wanted to see it—how was she going to explain it?
Seeing that Wenwen hadn't moved for a while, the professor's smile gradually froze, turning into suspicion. This girl is usually quite clever; what's wrong with her today?
"Wenwen, where are your textbooks?" The professor's tone became more forceful.
"My...my textbook..." Wenwen stammered, her voice barely audible, "was...it was thrown away..."
"What?!" The professor was struck dumb, abruptly standing up and slamming his pointer on the lectern, making the books on the desk jump. "Say that again!"
These days, let alone university textbooks, even a comic book is a rare find! This English textbook, which was obtained through connections, is more precious than gold! And this girl just threw it away like that?
The professor was so angry that his chest heaved violently, his beard twitched, and the veins on his forehead bulged.
He pointed at Wenwen, his finger trembling uncontrollably: "You...do you know how rare this textbook is? Huh? What time is it now? It's 1961! It's the famine years when we couldn't even get enough to eat! And you're acting like a spoiled princess? You're simply clueless!"
Wenwen was so scolded that she couldn't lift her head. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she dared not cry out loud.
"Explain yourself! Why did you throw away the textbooks?" the professor roared, spitting all over Wenwen's face.
Wenwen sobbed, explaining haltingly, "It was...it was Xu Kuo...he said...he said that the textbook...had many errors...and told me...telling me not to use it..."
"Xu Kuo? Who's Xu Kuo?" The professor was even angrier. What kind of nonsense was this? A name he'd never even heard of, yet dared to question his textbook?
Who does he think he is? Daring to criticize my teaching? Absolutely ridiculous!
Wenwen timidly took out the textbook compiled by Xu Kuo from her schoolbag and handed it to the professor: "This...this is Xu Kuo's textbook..."
The professor snatched the textbook, didn't even glance at it, and slammed it to the ground with a dull thud: "Hmph, half-baked level, what good stuff can you come up with? I don't read this garbage!"
He was convinced that this so-called "Xu Kuo" was definitely an ignorant fellow who probably couldn't even recognize the ABCs, yet dared to compile textbooks? What a ridiculous joke!
He pointed at the textbooks on the ground and glanced at Wenwen with disdain: "Xu Kuo's textbooks? I think they're complete rubbish!"
But then, he subconsciously glanced down at the professor, and in that single glance, his expression froze.
The textbook was neatly written and clearly formatted. What surprised him even more was how vivid and interesting the content was!
Xu Kuo explained those originally dry and tedious grammar rules in an extremely easy-to-understand way, complete with numerous example sentences and illustrations, making them readily comprehensible. This...this is so much superior to his textbook!
The professor's facial muscles twitched a few times, and his expression instantly went through a huge transformation from disdain to shock, and then to disbelief.
Seeing the professor's ashen face, the surrounding students assumed he was angered by Wenwen and began to criticize him.
"Wenwen, you're so inconsiderate! How could you lose the professor's textbook?"
"Exactly! Trying to fool the professor with this kind of nonsense is just too much!"
"Get out of here! Stop getting in my way!"
A girl who was always jealous of Wenwen seized the opportunity to step forward and shove Wenwen hard, saying, "Get out! Don't upset the professor!"
Wenwen stumbled and almost fell, and tears of grievance welled up in her eyes.
"Stop!" the professor suddenly shouted.
Everyone was stunned and looked at the professor with confusion.
The girl who had posted the article was terrified, her face turning deathly pale. She stammered, "Professor... what's wrong?" She was panicking. Was the professor going to stand up for Wenwen?
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