6. Last
Chen Yang approached Xu Wenqiang and looked down at her: "What's wrong with the first day of school? I don't like you at any time or place."
"Regardless of time and place, that's quite comprehensive." Xu Wenqiang sneered. "But Chen Yang, didn't Uncle Long remind you that you paid your way into this school? Didn't he remind you that every minute you were there was earned by him selling braised food at the farmers' market? Didn't he tell you to at least behave yourself at school?"
Chen Yang's expression changed: "Don't use my dad to pressure me."
"I'm using your dad to pressure you. Who else can put pressure on you?" Xu Wenqiang said with a forced smile, "You were the one who cut in line today. With so many people watching, you can't deny it. If you want to make a move, think about the consequences. And let me kindly remind you, this is a key high school, not a junior high school like ours."
Chen Yang looked around and saw that everyone around him was looking at him with disgust, as if he were a black sheep. Chen Yang cursed in his heart. Although Xu Wenqiang's words made him want to slap her, he held back because she made sense.
"Xu Wenqiang, we'll see." Chen Yang threw down the harsh words and blended into the crowd.
Xu Wenqiang didn't linger any longer and quickly left this dangerous place. She only slowed down after she reached a place where there was no one around.
Back in junior high, the teachers and classmates around her were all farmers' market folks, so they were used to the messes between Chen Yang and herself. Like when Chen Yang pulled her hair and yelled at her during gym class, or when she spilled porridge on him in the cafeteria... These were common occurrences, and most people would just sit there and watch the fun without being surprised.
But now at No. 1 Middle School, every student who walks past seems to have a label that reads "Never tire of learning" emblazoned on their face, and every teacher who passes by carries a small blackboard with the words "Tireless Teaching" on their back. And after they pass, Xu Wenqiang feels that the air is filled only with the scent of "learning."
So, it was fine before. But now that they were in No. 1 Middle School, Chen Yang, this ticking time bomb, couldn't just explode at his own whim. At the moment, Xu Wenqiang couldn't dismantle him, but she had to find a way to delay his explosion for a while, at least until he left the school gates. Otherwise, the smoke would ruin the atmosphere of "learning" in No. 1 Middle School.
Class 4's classroom was on the first floor of the First Teaching Building. Xu Wenqiang walked to the classroom door and saw someone sitting at the podium. A fifty-year-old woman with a ponytail, her hair tightly pressed against her scalp, not a single strand out of place. Next to her sat another person, a student-looking man. The two of them were talking with their heads down.
Xu Wenqiang walked over and both of them raised their heads at the same time.
"Hello, I am Fu Dongqing, the head teacher of Class 4." The middle-aged woman introduced herself first.
Fu Dongqing's face was a little gloomy. She wore a pair of black-framed glasses and looked at Xu Wenqiang with scrutiny and assessment.
"Hello, teacher. I'm Xu Wenqiang." After introducing herself, Xu Wenqiang glanced at the person sitting next to Fu Dongqing. When she saw the man's features clearly, her heart skipped a beat.
What bad luck! It was the prodigal son she met at the farmers' market yesterday. Even worse, he looked at her like he had never seen her before, without any reaction.
Xu Wenqiang didn't rush over to greet him. It was obvious that the prodigal son wasn't someone to be around; there was no need to get close to him.
"Are you Xu Wenqiang?" Fu Dongqing looked at Xu Wenqiang as if she were something unclean. Even the prodigal son beside her gave her an ambiguous look.
"Yes, that's me." Xu Wenqiang scratched her medium-length hair and laughed. She had been selling fish and shrimp at the farmers' market all day yesterday and hadn't showered when she got home, so she might smell.
Fu Dongqing seemed to have something to say, but finally she said, "Go find a seat and put your things down, then come over and pay the tuition."
"Okay, teacher." After Xu Wenqiang left the podium, she raised her sleeve and smelled it, and it seemed that there was no smell.
The classroom was already mostly full of people. When Xu Wenqiang was looking for a seat, she saw someone she had just met this morning - Su Xiaoshan.
If you count kindergarten, Xu Wenqiang and Su Xiaoshan have been classmates for almost ten years. She never expected that she would still be in the same classroom with him in high school.
Su Xiaoshan also saw Xu Wenqiang, and when the two looked at each other, they saw disgust on each other's faces.
"What a bad fate!"
Xu Wenqiang sighed, walked straight past Su Xiaoshan, and found an empty seat far away from him to sit down.
More new students entered the classroom. Seeing Fu Dongqing constantly greeting the newcomers, Xu Wenqiang didn't rush over. She waited until the podium was clear before she took the money and walked over.
"Teacher, this is my tuition." Xu Wenqiang handed the money to Fu Dongqing.
Fu Dongqing took the money, spat on her thumb and index finger, then twisted it open and counted it twice. After she finished counting, she handed the money to the prodigal son next to her. The prodigal son took the money, counted it again, and then sorted the various denominations and put them aside.
Then Fu Dongqing wrote a tuition receipt and handed it to Xu Wenqiang. He also handed her a pen and a form, pointed to Xu Wenqiang's name on the last line of the form and said, "Sign here."
"Okay."
Xu Wenqiang signed and handed the pen and form to Fu Dongqing, but Fu Dongqing did not take it.
"Xu Wenqiang, this table is arranged according to your student numbers, and your student numbers are arranged according to your admission scores. You can take a look at your student number and see where you rank in the class." Fu Dongqing said seriously.
"I'm number 46, last in the list?" Xu Wenqiang looked at her name, the last one on the list, and was a little unconvinced. After all, she had been in school for so many years, and although her grades had always been average, this was the first time she was last in the list.
"That's right, you're the last in our class!" Fu Dongqing looked at Xu Wenqiang with eyes that still seemed to be looking at something unclean. "Not only are you the last in our class, but you're also the last in the entire grade!"
These two, ranked last in a progressive relationship, were like two slaps in the face. Although her face stung and hurt, Xu Wenqiang felt she could still endure it. After all, it was much better than being beaten black and blue by Chen Yang in front of everyone at the farmers' market. Especially when she saw Fu Dongqing's cold and contemptuous look, she reminded herself: "You are already so disgusting in the eyes of others. You must not make things difficult for yourself or look down on yourself anymore, otherwise you will have no chance of survival."
So Xu Wenqiang felt she had to speak up for herself, so she smiled and said, "Teacher, strictly speaking, I shouldn't be last in the class, right? My grades are still above the admission score, but isn't it true that I paid money to attend school even though my scores weren't high enough?"
“Cough cough… cough cough…”
Xu Wenqiang was halfway through her words when the prodigal son started coughing. She looked at him, and he looked back, then Xu Wenqiang looked away. He might have meant to stop her, but she decided to finish her words.
"So, is there something wrong with the teacher's ranking?"
After listening to Xu Wenqiang, Fu Dongqing looked at her with a cold look. She said, "In my place, only scores that pass the admission score are valid. Students who pass the admission score are considered students of No. 1 Middle School. In my place, the ranking of grades is based on this principle, there is no problem."
"So, there are no students in our class who pay to go to school?" Xu Wenqiang thought of this possibility.
"Of course not, this is my bottom line." Xu Yanmei said firmly.
Xu Wenqiang was surprised, but she actually admired Fu Dongqing. Although Fu Dongqing's principles made her the last one, she didn't really support it. But Fu Dongqing's determination to stick to his principles was rare, so she still supported him.
"teacher--"
"Student, please return to your seats after paying your tuition."
Xu Wenqiang was about to say something, but was interrupted by the prodigal son. Xu Wenqiang had been annoyed with him for a long time, so she didn't hold back and directly retorted: "But I haven't finished speaking yet."
The prodigal son didn't think twice and smiled amiably: "Classmate, the teacher is very busy. If you have anything to say, you can talk to her privately when she is not busy."
"It's okay, let her talk. I don't like hiding things either." Fu Dongqing said.
"Then classmate, please speak." The prodigal son looked reasonable.
But Xu Wenqiang lost interest in speaking. All she wanted to say was something like, "Grades aren't the only thing," or "Although I'm last, I'm not a bad student," something that would save her face. But with the prodigal son intervening, she found these words rather meaningless. Fu Dongqing was a man who cared only about grades, not people. If she heard these words, she probably wouldn't get any benefit.
That prodigal son probably guessed what she was going to say and thought it was boring, so he interrupted her.
Just then, another new student walked in from the door. Xu Wenqiang said, "Teacher, I'm fine now. You guys go ahead with your work." Then she returned to her seat.
After sitting down, Xu Wenqiang glanced at Su Xiaoshan, then looked back up at the prodigal son on the podium. Things like helping the teacher with chores were usually reserved for students with exceptional grades who were favored by their teachers. In the past, whenever a teacher needed help, Su Xiaoshan had always been left out. But unexpectedly, after entering high school, he was also left out.
So, just how good were the grades of the chosen prodigal son?
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