Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Tuesday, August 15th.
It was officially the second day of the summer break.
Which of the summer breaks in the three years of high school was the most relaxing? It was naturally the first year, which didnât have the pressure of choosing courses and cram school in the second year, nor the tension of the last spurt before the college entrance exam in the third year.
The first year was the year of the salted fish 1 , and it was never like that again in the second and third years. But Wang Lingâs summer break was even more idle and relaxing compared with other peopleâs. The most common thing for students during the summer break was to attend cram school. For kids in the elite class in particular, if they wanted to put up a front as top students, they had to work hard behind the scenes.
Before the start of the summer break, everything had already been fully arranged for Super Chen, Dopey Guo and Little Peanut by their parents.
But in the first week of the summer break, Teacher Pan sent a message in the parentsâ group chat requesting that parents of elite students not arrange any extracurricular lessons for their kids in the first weekâ¦
âConspiracy! It has to be a conspiracy!â
In a chat group called âOcean of Salted Fish,â Super Chen posted a screencap of Teacher Panâs message in the parentsâ chat, which his mother had sent to him.
âThis Old Pan has to be a fakeâ¦â Little Peanut quickly replied.
After a semester of familiarizing themselves with the character of teacher-in-charge Pan Shengcong, everyone was more or less aware of what her personality was like. Old Pan wasnât one to be moved by force or persuasion, and was especially strict when it came to the studentsâ learning. The one basic condition for negotiating with Old Pan was that as long as the students didnât neglect their studies, everything else was open to discussion.
However, this type of strict teacher-in-charge was now asking parents not to arrange any lessons for their kids in the first week of the summer break â there was no way they believed that!
âWhen the dogs lick up all the flour, the pigeons finish pecking the rice, and the fire melts all the locks⦠only then Old Pan will assign us less than ten sets of exercises.â Super Chen said, âDonât you think thereâs something fishy about this?â
âI think I might know why.â
At that time, Dopey Guo said, âDo you know that this year, No. 60 High is conducting the assessment for transfer students during the summer break? I heard that the number of transfer applications this year is thirty times more than in previous years.â
Super Chen and Little Peanut were startled. âThirty times more??â
Dopey Guo nodded his head. âThatâs right. Some say itâs because of Senior Odd Zhuo, some say itâs for Lotus Sun.â
Super Chen: âOf course! They are the face of our school! Itâs not like theyâd come for you or Wang Ling, right?â
Wang Ling: ââ¦â
Not long after this discussion in the group chat, a new message notification suddenly sounded in Grade One, Class Threeâs class chat.
Super Chen: âDamn! Old Pan @âed everyone!â
When Super Chen sent this, Wang Ling already saw several messages pop up in the class group chat.
Tapping open the class chat, the first sentence he saw was an extremely unusual greeting from Old Pan: âDear studentsâ¦â
Super Chen: âOld Pan, donât scare us!â
Dopey Guo: âOld Pan⦠if you want to assign exercises, just do it. Donât be like this, Iâm scared.â
Little Peanut: âOld Pan, I just finished the exercises at home yesterday⦠If you give us any more, my liver wonât be able to take it; Iâm used to finishing all my summer homework before taking a break.â
When Little Peanut said that, Wang Ling took a glance at the monster pen and goblin eraser working at the table.
A thick stack of Dao talisman exercises were piled up on his table, and these were just the ones assigned by Old Pan; when they were completed and stacked up on the table, they could bury a person inside them.
Pen: âLord Master, rest assured, weâve already completed 78% of your summer homework.â
Eraser: âEstimated time of completion is two hours!â
Teacher Pan would be very gratified to know that some of the kids had already finished the homework.
As a gold-class teacher at No. 60 High and a legendary teaching pioneer, Teacher Pan was worthy of her reputation. She smiled faintly, then swiftly replied, âLook at Student Little Peanut. All of you are my students, but why is he the only one to finish all the homework in one night? This shows that youâre not as hard-working as he is! And ask yourself honestly, did I really give you a lot of homework? My exercises are only enough to fill a storage bag! A storage bag! Twenty grams! Lighter than an egg! Donât talk nonsense in the class chat! Iâve always followed the policy of lightening your burden, as requested by our leaders!â
Everyone: ââ¦â
Teacher Pan: âDear students, Iâm already very good to you! The batch of seniors before you had brocade pouches that weighed a hundred grams! Oh, by the way, this is a reminder to all of you not to try and copy someone elseâs homework. The homework I assigned has an automatic recollection array in them which records down completed homework answers. If there is any sign of copying, Iâll be able to detect it. The list of home visits for the summer break this year hasnât been fixed yet â anyone who copies homework will go on the list!â
Everyone: ââ¦â
Teacher Pan cleared her throat and then sent a voice message to the group. âBack to the main point: what Iâm going to talk about is also part of your summer homework, and is a practicum.â
âA practicum?â
âAll of you have already been at No. 60 High School for a whole semester. There are five more semesters to graduation, which is also another 4000 chapters to go.â
ââ¦â
âI believe all of you should have already heard that there are some transfer students joining our No. 60 High in the second semester. This time, weâre using a merit-based enrolment approach: regardless of family background, weâll only select students who perform outstandingly during the assessment. Apart from their performance in the test paper, the battle interview is also an important assessment criterion.â
ââ¦â
Hearing that, the sixteen people in the class group chat were deathly quiet, and Wang Ling instinctively had a bad feeling.
âYou know, Iâll still be busy marking your final exam papers. When Iâm done with that, I still have to contact the parents of those who didnât do well and pay them a visit, Iâm so busyâ¦â
ââ¦â
âAnd so, everyone will stand in as examiners for the battle interview this time!â
ââ¦â
âOf course, as your affable teacher-in-charge, Iâll personally arrange the venue for you! Arenât you touched?!â
ââ¦â
âThe battle interview this time will be in 2v2 mode, and during the battle, you will need to demonstrate the ultimate killing move which you researched at the summer camp.â
Hearing this, some of them already understood; while on the surface, this looked like an exam interview to test the strength of transfer students, it was in fact testing the No. 60 High studentsâ¦
âThe exam interview will begin the day after tomorrow. As students of the elite class, please be at school on time at eight in the morning to draw lots. Latecomers will get five marks deducted from their final exam. For those who donât show up, itâs sixty-one marks off.â
ââ¦â
Speaking up to this point, Teacher Pan felt that she might be too harsh, and sent a red packet to the group. âThis is a red packet to comfort you all! Actually, this teacher loves you all very dearly!â
ââ¦â
Wang Ling tapped it open.
Hmâ¦
It was a 1 HNY red packetâ¦
Divided into ninety-nine partsâ¦