Shanhai High School 13
Ji XingLing, come and share your experience of learning English.
Zou FaFa was the minions of the kidnapping gang that had bolted out from the school back alley, and who had collided head-on with Lin Jing. After discovering that his monster ID card was missing, he had combed through all the places he frequented, but found nothing as a result. He was currently in the state where he was in fear and trepidation, not knowing what to do and in the nerve-racking stage of whether he should confess to his parents or not.
Although Ji XingLing had always looked down upon the group of bastards in the No.18 High School, however, the fight was always a fight. He couldn’t do this sort of action of lowering his dignity as “I found the opponent’s monster ID card, then deliberately hid and didn’t return it”, so he planned to return and hand it over to the Monster Management Committee.
Lin Jing asked, “You have already checked the surveillance, so aren’t you going to report it to the police?
“They don’t have the guts to play for real.” Ji XingLing shrugged it off. “They had a fight with me in the barbecue restaurant before and lost, then often took a group of people to the back alley.” According to the memories of the fat boss of the grocery store owner, every time they were all made well-conceived planned, as they seemed to be able to “make a big kill”, but every time Ji XingLing was just going to appear, this gang of “No.18 High School sought gathering place league” would fall apart instantly. The members were scattered away like the herd of birds and beasts one after another1. After all, he didn’t know how much psychological shadow was cast out that made them so traumatized.
After barbecues plus fights, Lin Jing finally found a little bit of an impression of “skip class-bad student” in Ji XingLing’s person, but it was not obnoxious. On the contrary, in the past few days of getting along, this young master had always performed well and had good conduct. Even if it was just for the sake of helping to buy cold medicine before the exam, Little Teacher Lin decided to work diligently to get him out of the bottom ranks of the grade.
“We are still going to study together tonight, right?”
“…okay.”
Hu MeiMei was extremely pleasantly surprised. It never occurred to her that her son was still willing to study, even though the exam was already over. So she had personally called Baize Lion to extend her sincere thanks to him for half an hour, and furthermore heartfeltly expressed that.. you must keep your body healthy, don’t just read books at home all day long, and learn to go out and exercise more when you are free. Of course, also, don’t go too far, since the scenery in the area of Jiang’an ShuYuan was very beautiful. Do you want to come to my house as a guest?
Baize Lion: …Thanks for the invitation, I don’t want to.
In the bedroom, Lin Jing finished a set of math test papers, and asked the person across from him as he was stretching his muscles and joints, “How was your vocabulary memorizing?”
Ji XingLing returned to his senses and glanced at the vocabulary book that hadn’t been turned over on the table, “Oh, I was just thinking about… the drama club.”
Lin Jing was a little surprised, “Are you really planning to apply?”
Ji XingLing hastily refused, “The clubs are all formed by freshmen in high school. We will be in the third year of high school next year, and the teacher will definitely not agree.”
He coughed covertly twice, and continued to bite the bullet, and said, “So I plan to give up this hobby, it’s better for you to give me the card back.”
“Is that so?” Lin Jing felt a bit pity, but he did not have much time to squander in the second year of high school, so he readily handed over the monster ID, and reassured, “When you enter the university, you will have a lot of time to form a club.”
Ji XingLing was totally unwilling to discuss whatever the hell with the drama club anymore, and just wanted to hand over this broken card to the organization as soon as possible. After Lin Jing went back home, he dialed Qingji Express delivery. In less than five minutes, a little monster in a yellow windbreaker jacket courteously knocked on the window to pick up the goods, “Excuse me, do you want to get parcel insurance? Oh, this is the return of the monster ID card. Then you don’t need to pay any fees, just sign it directly. In addition, here are our advertising brochures. In the late autumn, all kinds of precious spirit fruits are on big sale. Buy one box and get one box free. Of course la, we can also find human fruits if you want to buy them. Also, the SF Express won’t know about it anyway.”
He talked and talked and talked for about five minutes, and he probably finally realized that the customer’s face in front of him was getting worse and worse, while also not even listening to what he said. Then he regrettably ceased talking, and pedaled the small yellow tricycle, flying away swiftly toward the headquarters distribution center.
Ji XingLing had lain on the sofa, with one hand resting on his forehead.
It could be called a panicked day.
…
The test results will be released next week.
As a matter of fact, Ji XingLing, who was still under the huge impact of “he told mankind several times about monsters’ stories”, had made him no longer care about his achievements, so when Yu YiZhou passed on to show the screen of his smartphone in front of him, he was still puzzled, “You are a terrible photographer, what the hell is this?”
“I went to Teacher Ning to get my homework, and I just happened to see your test paper.” Yu YiZhou slipped his arm around his shoulders, “You can do it ah, Brother Xing! How did you manage to get eighty-two points in the test ne?”
Ji XingLing, “…”
The test was about 99% of ability, plus 1% of luck, or the proportion of luck was even higher. This time, the English exam was too difficult, so everyone’s scores were generally low, and the listening section was even more terrible. Although he didn’t understand the composition’s contents, he even imposed on the German to plant a few acres of carrots, and the multiple-choice questions were mostly wrong, too. However, Brother Xing was considered very fortunate.
During class, Miss Ning had specifically named, “Ji XingLing, do some preparations to share with the class of your learning methods in the English self-study for tomorrow evening.”
Your Brother Xing was caught off guard: ?
The bastard Yu YiZhou was bent over the desk, almost fainted with laughter. Ning FangFei was knocking on the desk, “The representative of the class who regressed to sixth-ranking in English, you seem to be very happy ah. Would you like to tell everyone about your experience?”
“Sorry, Teacher Ning, I was wrong. I was really wrong.” Yu YiZhou surrendered with his hands raised up, “I will shut up immediately.”
“Come and work, distribute all these to the classmates.” Ning FangFei scolded with a smile, as she handed him a pile of test papers. The reason why the students in class 2-1 liked Miss Ning was, not only because of her good lectures, but also because of her considerate and gentle personality. The failing test papers were always distributed quietly, unlike the teachers of the other subjects that would declare openly by pronouncing every word clearly from one hundred and fifty points to fifteen points, which did not spare nor consider even the slightest bit of feelings.
Lin Jing was spinning his pen, while on the surface, he tried to act by looking calm, but he was actually quite nervous inwardly. On the podium, Ning FangFei had already started distributing the test papers by calling out names. The several names that were being called out at first were the test papers that scored above 90 points, the later she called, the higher the scores mark. Another spell of silence had fallen upon the classroom. Except for a batch of the poor unfortunate ones who flunked, the rest of the people were all silent, as to how they wished they could be the last to hear their name.
Luo LinSi scored 110 points in English, which was already a relatively high score. Yu YiZhou ranked sixth at 121 points, followed by Wei Xue, who ranked third. She had always performed very steadily, and this time she scored 133 points on the test. When only the last two test papers were left, the silence in the classroom was gradually broken, and everyone began to whisper about the outcome of whether Li MoYuan or Lin Jing would get first-ranking.
“President Li, behold and win the glory for ShanHai ah!” Immediately after someone at the rear back of the classroom voiced out, the others roared with laughter. Ning FangFei, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, “Why, you all still put Lin Jing’s registered permanent residence in NingCheng No. 3 High School? Stop talking all of you.”
Perhaps her voice was so gentle that the students below the podium were still buzzing. Ji XingLing looked back at Lin Jing and saw that he had been drinking water all along, as if a little embarrassed, so he single-handedly slapped the desk, “Be quiet!”
It was silent instantly.
Not only were the classmates perplexed about why Young Master Ji had suddenly taken the concurrently “Keeping a quiet classroom” post, but also Ning FangFei was stupefied. At this critical moment, Hupeng-Gouyou seemed to have shown his helpfulness. Yu YiZhou, who only just leaned against the table, had already actively raised his hand, “Teacher Ning, today my throat is uncomfortable, so I asked Ji XingLing to help to maintain classroom order.”
Ning FangFei nodded, “Li MoYuan has performed well with a score of 147 points.”
The whole class was in a small uproar again. Miss Ning might also be relatively helpless as she had no strategies to quiet down this rowdy group of little boys who went crazy when she announced the score results. So, while taking advantage of the sound wave that hadn’t risen yet, she beckoned Lin Jing to come on the podium to take the test paper, “Congratulations, the whole class first-ranking.”
“Teacher Ning, what scores did the first-ranking get ah.” Someone asked in a trailing tone.
“Two points have been deducted for the composition, which is also the first place in the whole grade this time. President Li and the class 2-2 Ma SiWen tied for second place in the whole grade.” Ning FangFei glanced at the time, “Okay, I’ll give you all 30 seconds to congratulate all the students who have achieved good grades, but I must warn you beforehand that if the voice is too loud in which attract the grade director to come over, I will not compensate the deduction of class points, so how about changing to warm applause?”
Ji XingLing quite cooperatively took the lead and clapped his hands, turned around, and waggled his eyebrows at Little Teacher Lin.
Later after class, the desk around Lin Jing and Li MoYuan was being surrounded by a group of people. This was a large-scale traditional misled behavior in class 2-1. It was said that if you touched the exam papers of Xueba, you would be able to advance triumphantly next time. Of course, Ji XingLing certainly would not participate in such a foolish activity. He threw a bottle of iced water to Yu YiZhou, “You free on Friday, aren’t you? A new barbecue restaurant has opened in the back alley. You can ask Hou YueTao to organize the class to have a meal together ba. It’s my treat.”
Hou YueTao was the vice-monitor of the class, nicknamed Old Hou, the simple and honest Big Brother of class 2-1, the kind that modesty combined with the spirit of willingly helping the young and weak selflessly 2. Yu YiZhou nodded, and then asked, “Why do you suddenly want to treat? Is it to have everyone join in celebrating that you only need to have eight more points to get a passing score in the English exam?”
“Scram!” Ji XingLing slapped Yu YiZhou on the head with his palm, “You talk too much! If I tell you to go, then you just go.”
In the classroom, Xueba’s exam papers were no longer known where it was passed, and only Xueba themselves were left on the seat. Li MoYuan smiled and turned his head, “Before Wei Xue told me that our class was going to be transferred a guru3, I still don’t think so, in the end, I was utterly defeated and convinced in the first exam.”
“A point higher in English is purely good luck.” Lin Jing said, “I couldn’t answer the two big questions in math at all. It won’t be easy even to assess the scores of 130 points.”
Upon hearing this, several students with distressed grades who happened to hold the papers to return, were dampened down into not wanting to talk.
The world of Xueba was so difficult to understand.
We, the students with hardship issues of grades, still decided to zip our mouths ba.
After English class, it was followed by a Chinese literature class. According to an analysis of Wang HongYu’s face which was radiant with happiness, the exam results should not be bad.
“Ji XingLing.” He said, “You stand up.”
Yu YiZhou had tama collapsed into fits of laughter again. He didn’t know why, but he always felt that once Ji XingLing got involved with the fact that he was nominated and praised by the teacher for scoring too good in the exam, he would be filled with a sense of humor in a way that could not be described.
“Guess how many points you have scored?” Wang HongYu asked.
Brother Xing was all balled up again. He didn’t want to guess.
He never knew that it turned out that there was this kind of annoying part where the whole class made a monkey out of himself4 by getting slightly better results in the exam.
“You shall keep up to redouble your efforts for the next exam.” Wang HongYu did not announce the score; instead, he directly passed him the test paper, and then glanced towards the back row, “Lin Jing, why do your neck stretch so long? Do you want to know Ji XingLing’s score?”
“…”
“Of course, you also have done well in the exam. Overall speaking, our class has generally scored very good in Chinese this time. We have achieved the highest grade point average in the whole grade, as well as first place in the entire grade.” Wang HongYu was satisfied, “Finally, I’m not losing any face.”
Translator's Notes
- 作鸟兽散 zuò niǎo shòu sàn – to flee helter-skelter; head-off in various directions.
- The origin of the old poem, citation from Lu Xun is 横眉冷对千夫指，俯首甘为孺子牛 (héngméi lěng duì qiānfū zhǐ, fǔshǒu gān wéi rúzǐniú) , lit. Fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers; Head bowed, like a willing ox I serve the children. A metaphor, stride boldly forth, knowing in your heart that your actions are correct— modestly, willing to help the young and weak selflessly.
- 大神 dà shén – an honorific “internet slang” for someone who is highly accomplished in a particular field- a master.
- someone had made a fool/ridicule out of someone else.
