Dazzling

The matter traces back to this morning. After wrestling with it all night, this Miss Yu probably felt overwhelmed by the pressure. She worried that her translations might lack precision—making a fool of herself was one thing, but leaving a poor impression on foreign guests while county leaders were accompanying them was a responsibility she couldn’t shoulder. Consequently, she spent the entire night anxious and sleepless, then rushed into the principal’s office first thing in the morning to declare she couldn’t handle the task.

Her backing out was one thing, but when other English department teachers heard they might be tapped as last-minute replacements, not a single one was willing. The visitors were arriving that very afternoon, leaving no time for others to prepare. Moreover, having heard about the constant issues this group had caused at Jinlong High School that morning, they felt ill-equipped to manage.

After some discussion, Miss Yu outright threw Qing Ye under the bus, claiming this student had no issues with oral communication—she could use English like a native speaker. Having previously attended an international school, Qing Ye had plenty of exposure to foreigners.

The principal considered it and realized that having a student act as interpreter could actually be advantageous. Any shortcomings in her work would be more easily forgiven since she was just a student. If Qing Ye performed well, even better—it would demonstrate that any student from An High could effortlessly communicate with foreigners, boosting the school’s reputation.

So the principal immediately decided and led a whole entourage to find Qing Ye. What could Qing Ye do? Could she tell the principal she still had half a test paper to finish? She couldn’t—the principal would probably give her a lecture on collective honor.

Thus, the script she had personally revised ended up right back in her own hands.

Qing Ye had a bit of an obsessive streak—she disliked reading directly from a script. So during lunch, she spent fifteen minutes lightly memorizing the content before tossing the script aside.

At 1 p.m., she appeared punctually beside the principal, accompanying the foreign parents, county leaders, and school administrators on their tour.

Since homeroom teachers had notified everyone in advance about the afternoon inspection and instructed students not to sleep, everyone appeared to be sitting properly at their desks. In reality, all eyes were glued to the windows. In this remote county town, spotting a foreigner was usually like finding a needle in a haystack—and now a whole group had arrived. The students were as excited as if they were watching monkeys.

Unexpectedly, a few people from Jinlong High had also tagged along—a school administrator with two students providing support. As the county’s only private high school, Jinlong High had launched an "international class" two years ago to attract children from wealthy local families. However, this so-called international class didn’t even have a proper foreign teacher—it just offered more English lessons than regular classes.

The students who came along today were from that international class and had assisted with the morning reception at Jin Zhong.

It must be said that the private school students’ uniforms were quite different from An High’s. In this autumn season, An High students wore zip-up color-blocked tracksuits with no design appeal—the style stuck in the 1990s. Meanwhile, the private school boys at least had navy blue blazers, giving off a completely different vibe.One of the boys had styled his hair with gel so meticulously that not even an eighth-grade typhoon could ruffle it. This was Ye Yingjian, the nationally renowned academic prodigy of Jinlong High School, who basically had his eyes on the top of his head and looked at everyone with an "I own a mine, I'm the best" expression.

However, the moment he arrived, he noticed Qing Ye. Despite tossing his hair stylishly several times, Qing Ye didn't even spare him a glance, appearing even more arrogantly "I own a mine, I'm the best" than he did. This left him utterly bewildered, as most families in the county with decent financial means sent their kids to Jinlong High, leaving only those who couldn't afford private school to attend Anzhong.

So, he strode directly over to Qing Ye and said with a hint of haughtiness, "I'm Ye Yingjian, student council president of Jinlong High and a senior in the international class. If you find the translation challenging later, I'll handle it."

Qing Ye turned her head slightly and glanced down at the hand he had extended, replying indifferently, "Qing Ye."

Just then, Xing Wu and Huang Mao sauntered back to class from the restroom. Huang Mao glanced downstairs and immediately grabbed Xing Wu. "Isn't that guy from Jinlong? What's he doing at our school? And why the hell is he holding our cousin's hand?"

Xing Wu also glanced downstairs. Teacher Zhu Fen, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, was holding a teacup and staring down with an expression of extreme fury, muttering, "Shameless!"

Huang Mao jumped in surprise and turned around quietly. "Teacher Zhu, you also think that Jinlong guy is shameless, right?"

Unexpectedly, Teacher Zhu adjusted his glasses and said disdainfully, "That brat specifically brought people along to do the translation. It's not out of goodwill—he just wants to show off in front of the education bureau officials that his school is full of talent. Hmph! Who knows what he's really scheming."

That "Hmph" from Old Zhu carried a lot of meaning. It turned out that Director Sun from Jinlong High had previously been a teacher at Anzhong. Back then, the county hadn't built this private school yet, and he and Old Zhu were both in the math teaching research group. Later, a wealthy businessman from another city invested in building a private school in their county and poached Sun Guangquan, who was just a math teacher at the time, with a high salary. That year, they had also approached Old Zhu, but although Old Zhu was prone to occasional outbursts of temper, he was fundamentally a man of integrity who disdained aligning with capitalists. He was dedicated to improving the teaching quality at his own school and, because he was already teaching a senior graduating class at the time, he felt for his financially struggling students and declined.

After Sun Guangquan went to Jinlong High, he constantly opposed Anzhong, snatched resources, and even secretly slandered the school. Although Anzhong's college admission rates had been low in recent years, Sun Guangquan's actions were far from honorable.

Thus, every time Old Zhu saw him, he gritted his teeth in resentment, leaving Huang Mao and the others utterly confused.

Downstairs, the group of foreign parents, having interacted mostly with Ye Yingjian and his group earlier at Jinlong, assumed Ye Yingjian would be their translator. Although Ye Yingjian could handle translation, the lack of exposure to foreigners and limited language environment meant his translations were basically in broken, Chinglish-style English. Additionally, possibly due to excessive exam practice, he paid excessive attention to grammatical tenses, making his speech overly formal and not conversational enough. While the foreigners could still understand him, they inevitably found it awkward.Until the group arrived at Anzhong's indoor gymnasium, the principal was giving introductions when Ye Yingjian suddenly blurted out "sportinghouse." All the foreign guests' expressions changed dramatically, and the atmosphere instantly turned extremely awkward.

The Anzhong school administrators nearby hadn't registered what was wrong with these foreigners. Why were their expressions so grim?

Just then, Qing Ye suddenly stepped out from the crowd and smoothly defused the situation with a smile, reintroducing the gymnasium before them.

Only then did Ye Yingjian realize something was wrong. As the school administrators led the foreign guests toward another area, he hung back a couple of steps and asked Qing Ye, "Did I say something wrong just now?"

Qing Ye glanced at him: "Sportinghouse means brothel."

"..."

Although "sport" can mean athletics and "house" does mean building, when combined they definitely don't mean gymnasium. Qing Ye wasn't sure whether Ye Yingjian genuinely didn't know or had just blurted out "sporting" upon seeing the sports facility.

So what Ye Yingjian had actually said was: "This is Anzhong's historic brothel."

Qing Ye didn't know why Ye Yingjian had used the description "historic" - probably he was trying to convey the principal's point about the gymnasium having been built long ago. In any case, he had thoroughly shocked these foreigners, who couldn't understand for the longest time why a Chinese school would need to be equipped with a brothel.

Fortunately, Qing Ye had timely salvaged the awkward situation, allowing the foreign parents to realize it had been a minor misunderstanding.

Naturally, the foreigners then gathered around Qing Ye asking various questions. Qing Ye communicated with them without any barriers and without any pronunciation issues. Throughout the entire process, she maintained perfectly appropriate smiles and handled all the parents flawlessly.

Her appearance was outstanding to begin with, and etiquette and eloquence were qualities deeply ingrained in her since childhood. Having previously attended an international school, she had often been selected as a representative for various exchange activities, so stage fright was never an issue. She even handled reception details exceptionally well, quickly earning the foreign parents' favor.

This rendered the two students sent by Jinlong completely useless, and Sun Guangquan's face kept alternating between pale and flushed.

When the class dismissal bell rang, the corridors filled with students looking down at the foreigners by the display wall. Huang Mao leaned on Xing Wu's shoulder and said, "These foreigners are sure enthusiastic, look how they're laughing and chatting with Qing Ye. Our cousin is just outstanding, winning over both Chinese and foreign friends."

Xing Wu shot him a sidelong glance: "What nonsense are you talking." After saying this, he turned and walked toward the end of the corridor. Huang Mao called after him, "Brother Wu, where are you going?"

"Releasing toxins." Huang Mao felt for his cigarettes and followed him.

Their group had originally come to the sports field to smoke, but they had just lit up when the PE teacher came running from afar shouting, "Quick, quick, put out those cigarettes! Really, didn't you get the notice about the two o'clock assembly? Everyone's gathering now."

Xing Wu lifted his eyelids and saw that indeed all classes were already assembling, lining up and gradually entering the sports field. He put out his cigarette, and Huang Mao and the others nearby successively stamped out theirs too. However, they still didn't move, remaining seated under the shed storing sports equipment.

Meanwhile, Miss Yu hurriedly pulled Qing Ye aside and asked her, "You brought your speech, right?"

"I didn't bring it."

"What?" Miss Yu's face turned pale."Where did you put it? I'll have one of your classmates go up and get it."

As she spoke, Miss Yu picked up her phone to call Lao Yang. Qing Ye pointed to her own head: "No need, it's all right here."

Miss Yu was nearly scared to death by her dramatic pause. Grabbing Qing Ye's arm, she said: "When the principal gives his speech at the podium, you'll stand right at that spot beside it, see? The principal will pause after each segment, you can just pick up the microphone and translate directly. No problems, right?"

Qing Ye glanced at the spot beside the podium, a sudden glint flashing in her eyes: "I need to use the restroom."

"Go, go, hurry back."

So Qing Ye directly turned into the first-floor restroom nearby. Facing the mirror, she removed the hair tie from her head, instantly releasing a head of beautiful small curls that fell with a touch of messy playfulness. She dampened her hands slightly, tidied her hair a bit, then smiled at her reflection in the mirror - commercial break time.

Author's note:

Miss Yu: Did you bring the script?

Qing Ye: No.

Miss Yu: No problems, right?

Qing Ye: I need to use the restroom.

Miss Yu: Why does this student never follow the expected script?