Chapter 64 My name is Zhu Yingning. The first step in taming her is to induce labor...
"What are you laughing at? Be quiet!" Hong Qingyang patted the podium.
The laughter in the class gradually died down. Several people's faces turned red from laughing. Zhu Yingning, who was sitting next to the podium, also had a red face, but it was not from laughing, but from embarrassment.
"Okay, since you have moved the books, let other students handle the job of distributing the books." Hong Qingyang tried to smooth things over and let Zhu Yingning return to her seat.
She nodded, and walked back with her hands and feet trembling, her steps sluggish, her mind a little blank.
As soon as my butt touched the seat, I heard a classmate sitting in the aisle not far away yelling, "What the hell... What's that on the floor? It's so dirty!"
The other students along the aisle all glanced over, and Zhu Yingning also looked over and found that the aisle floor was covered with specks of dirt, which were arranged in a long line, and the end point was directly at the soles of her shoes.
It was the mud that she had accidentally stepped into when she rescued the cat that morning. Now the mud had dried up and was gradually peeling off from her shoes as she walked, staining the clean floor of the classroom.
Countless eyes looked along the long row of piled earth blocks at her dirty shoes. There was surprise, disgust, and a kind of sympathy mixed with curiosity in those eyes. They twisted together into a bolt of lightning, splitting her chaotic brain with a bang, and making her freeze in place as if struck by lightning.
Hong Qingyang also noticed this and continued to smooth things over indifferently: "There are a lot of people here today, and it's normal for things to get dirty with everyone walking around. Thank you for your hard work, students on duty. Please clean it up after class."
Dai Yize, who had the misfortune of being on duty today, wailed upon hearing this. He rolled his eyes at Zhu Yingning's back and mouthed to Shao Yanjun, "Sure enough, he's from the countryside."
Shao Yanjun laughed with an ambiguous tone.
Almost as soon as the bell rang and Hong Qingyang left the classroom, Zhu Yingning jumped up from her seat, trotted to the classroom, took out the cleaning tools, silently returned to the aisle, and began to sweep the dirt on the ground.
Dai Yize noticed but said nothing, showing no reaction. He continued chatting animatedly with Shao Yanjun, who sat in front of him, as if she had been assigned the duty today. Some of the students in the aisle moved out of the way for her, while others remained standing chatting with their friends. Only after she whispered a reminder did they lift their feet and lazily watch her gather the dirt with a broom.
**
After the morning classes ended, the students quickly began to call their friends and go to the cafeteria to eat. Many students from other classes even came to their class specifically to look for someone. As everyone left, more than half the seats in the classroom were empty. Zhu Yingning sat in his seat for a moment, mentally preparing himself before putting his meal card in his pocket and heading to the cafeteria alone.
In fact, she is not a person who is used to relying on others. When she was in the mountains, she often went alone and handled many things on her own.
but……
This is different.
Her previous "independence" was the result of an active choice, but now it's a dilemma she faces passively. Although both involve being alone, there are essential differences. She can't convince herself to completely ignore the loneliness that keeps bubbling up from deep within her heart.
Especially after arriving at the cafeteria, it was bustling with activity, with several students sitting at each table who were clearly her old friends. She followed the crowd to the food window, like a disoriented ant joining a group that didn't belong to her.
This was Zhu Yingning's first time swiping a card to get food. To avoid embarrassment, she closely observed the students in front of her before her turn. After her turn came, she imitated them and said to the aunt serving the food, "One serving of tomato scrambled eggs, one serving of sweet potato leaves, and two taels of rice. Thank you."
The aunt swiftly placed the dishes on the plate. As she scooped the rice, she shook the spoon, turning two taels of rice into one. With a blank expression, she entered the amount on the card reader and called out to the person behind her, "Next!"
She witnessed the whole process, but she was timid and didn't dare to say a word, fearing that arguing would delay the time of the students behind her and make everyone even more unhappy. So she pretended not to see it, took out her meal card, swiped it on the card machine, and was about to leave with the rice bowl.
"Hey!" Auntie called her sharply, "You didn't find it."
She was stunned for a moment and put the meal card on the card machine again.
——No sound.
The auntie complained impatiently, "What's going on? Your card didn't even work! It would beep if you did, but yours didn't even make a sound!"
"I don't know why it's not ringing..." She frantically put the card in and out again and again, but the card machine still didn't make any sound. She asked cautiously, "Could it be that the card machine is broken?"
"Nonsense! How come everyone else's turn is fine, but yours is?" Auntie's patience quickly ran out. "Hey—you student! Go away, get out of the way! Next!"
Just when she was at a loss, feeling so embarrassed she wanted to dig a hole and bury herself, a hand suddenly reached out, holding a meal card, and swiped the amount on the card machine for her. With a beep, the card was swiped successfully.
Zhu Yingning turned around and thanked the man who had helped her profusely, practically kneeling before him. "Thank you so much, classmate. Which class are you in? I'll pay you back in cash later."
"No need." The man who swiped her card was a chubby, fair-skinned boy with a pair of black round-framed glasses on his nose and his hair neatly combed back with hair oil. He looked shrewd and mature beyond his years. He said, "Your name is Zhu Yingning, right? My name is Zou Hao, and I'm in the same class as you. Just remember to vote for me in the class monitor election this afternoon."
**
After finding an empty seat and sitting down with his meal tray, Zhu Yingning was still in a daze and unable to come back to his senses.
Running for class monitor... Oh my god, she had almost forgotten that normal school starts with class leader elections. Back in the mountains, since no one was interested in being a thankless class leader, class leaders were usually appointed directly by the teacher. That's how she got those positions of class monitor and department representative.
Due to inertia, she has never seriously thought about certain issues, such as whether she should continue to be the class monitor in the new class?
Do you want to? Ask yourself, of course I do.
Dare you? Zhu Yingning couldn't answer this question. Zou Hao's words, "Just remember to vote for me when you run for class monitor this afternoon," circled in her mind in 3D, binding her hands and feet like ropes.
As she was struggling with this, Xu Sirui's figure suddenly appeared out of the corner of her eye. Zhu Yingning instantly straightened her back as if she had been given an injection of chicken blood, and her whole body became energetic.
It's no wonder she was excited. Meeting someone familiar in this unfamiliar place without anyone else was like meeting an old friend in a strange place. She had tried her best to restrain herself by not rushing over to him with tears welling up in her eyes. But just as she stood up from her seat and was about to call out to him, a strange boy and girl suddenly followed him out. The three of them, chatting and laughing, headed towards another table in front.
ah……
It was as if a bucket of cold water was poured on Zhu Yingning's head. His excitement instantly cooled down, and only a slight sense of disappointment remained in his heart.
It turns out he has made new friends...
She felt like she should be happy for Xu Sirui, but as she sat back down, the loneliness she already felt was magnified a thousandfold by what she had just seen, making it nearly impossible for her to eat. She forced herself to stuff the food into her mouth, chewing it slowly but not tasting anything.
**
After lunch and returning to the classroom, Zhu Yingning immediately found the corresponding cash and returned it to Zou Hao.
Zou Hao accepted the money without hesitation and repeated casually, "Remember to vote for me in the class monitor election this afternoon."
Zhu Yingning was too embarrassed to refuse him, after all, Zou Hao had just helped her in the cafeteria not long ago, but she couldn't agree immediately because she also wanted to be class monitor. She stood stiffly in front of his desk, mumbling a few meaningless monosyllables like someone with schizophrenia. Then she felt that her indecision was really annoying and not like her at all. Just as she was about to open her mouth to explain herself to him, she heard the people around her laughing and said, "Zou Hao, are you annoying? You have to canvass for votes like this every time school starts. If you don't, everyone will definitely vote for you! You've been class monitor for so many years, who else should we vote for?"
Zou Hao calmly pushed his glasses up. "You don't understand. We should be prepared for any unexpected events. Who knows, someone might even run against me for class monitor this semester?"
"You're just kidding. Besides you, who else would want to be the class monitor?"
Zhu Yingning swallowed the explanation that was about to come out. She picked at her nails and slowly moved back to her seat.
**
The last class of the afternoon was a class meeting, again chaired by Hong Qingyang. Zhu Yingning spent the entire afternoon in a trance, racking her brain to the point of exhaustion, still undecided about whether or not to challenge Zou Hao for the supposedly "idiot-only" position of monitor.
"Old rules." Hong Qingyang tapped the blackboard with a ruler and wrote down the various positions. "Let's elect the class leaders. We won't be electing subject representatives and sports committee members. Your subject teachers will decide for themselves. This class will mainly focus on deciding the class monitor, vice-class monitor, league secretary, study committee member, and propaganda committee member. The positions are all written on the blackboard. Those who want to take the position can come up and write their names down. After that, each of you will give a three-minute speech. Finally, we will reserve ten minutes for the whole class to vote anonymously. Is that okay?"
"No—no—" the students below responded sparsely.
"Let's start." Hong Qingyang clapped his hands, stepped aside, sat on a chair next to the podium, and crossed his legs.
The class fell silent for a moment. After a few seconds, Zou Hao stood up from his seat, his purpose clear. He wrote his name in the columns for both class monitor and league secretary. His handwriting was beautiful, a perfectly regulated regular script with a strong, refined style. It was obvious that he had studied calligraphy. The moment Zhu Yingning saw his handwriting, she felt even more depressed.
After writing his name, Zou Hao cleared his throat, stuffed the chalk back into the box, and spoke calmly and naturally, "I'm sure everyone knows me. I won't go through the boring self-introduction; that's the stuff of mediocre people. I'll simply talk about my philosophy and advantages as a class monitor. Class management doesn't require universal peace; that's too abstract. Anyone can talk about socialism, but the key is how to do it. Using KPI thinking to quantify the class management system is the elite gamer's way. I've been using SWOT analysis to help the Children's Palace plan Model United Nations competitions since fifth grade... I've always pursued a strategic underachievement approach... Finally, I want to say that voting during your student years is also part of a long-term investment in interpersonal relationships. Everyone is welcome to invest in me; investing in me is like investing in your social capital."
When he finished speaking, Zhu Yingning's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. This was the first time she'd encountered someone who spoke a mixture of Chinese and English. She couldn't understand the inscrutable words he used, especially the English ones. Even more frightening than his campaign's content was the authentic, fluent British accent he used when he read the words. It was so authentic, it made him sound like a native Brit, like the Queen of England was living in his throat.
Zou Hao bowed and returned to his seat, smug and confident. Although he said nothing, his expression clearly showed he was confident of victory. The students applauded respectfully, some even calling him class monitor, half-jokingly saying, "Class monitor, I know you're awesome, but stop pretending and speak more like a human being."
Look, everyone even calls him squad leader. Is there any need for her to worry about whether or not to compete with him?
An unprecedented anxiety enveloped her, and for the first time, she realized just how unpresentable she was. If Zou Hao was a meticulously crafted custom piece in a cabinet, she was a piece of uncarved wood, the kind with burrs that pricked the touch. She couldn't understand Zou Hao's words, and she didn't have his popularity. So why would she dare to challenge him for class monitor?
But, but...
Just when she was about to give up, the scene before she took the green train to Beijing that day suddenly replayed in front of her eyes. She saw Chen Bin standing outside the frosted glass in that solemn and slightly pitiful shirt, and heard him say, "Study hard and make progress every day." His slightly fat and tired figure was left far behind by the train, along with the mountains and rivers of her hometown.
What did she say then? She said, "I will, Teacher Chen!"
Yes, why did she come to Beijing? She didn't come to Beijing to feel inferior, did she?
The first step for a city to tame a stranger from a foreign land is to foster her inferiority complex, breaking the foundation of her former self-confidence bit by bit.
But does she have to be tamed by this city?
There was a clatter, the sound of a chair skidding across the floor. She stood up in a rush, unsure of what she was doing. Her hands and feet seemed to have a mind of their own, guiding her to the podium, picking up a piece of chalk and writing her own name neatly beneath Zou Hao's.
"Hello everyone, my name is Zhu Yingning... I come from a remote mountain village in Province G... Nice to meet you. I want to... I want to run for the position of class monitor!"
She faced the surprised classmates below the podium and introduced herself in a trembling voice.
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