21
When she uttered those words, Lin Wanxing admitted she had acted somewhat impulsively.
After all, standing before the parents and saying, "I was the top liberal arts student in the province—entrust your children to me," sounded overly confident and arrogant no matter how you looked at it.
Lin Wanxing was prepared to be ridiculed.
But to her surprise, the students' parents and even the teachers nearby froze for a few seconds before unanimously picking up their phones.
"'Lin' as in the character with two trees, and 'Wanxing' as in the stars of the night sky?" Qi Liang's mother suddenly spoke in a gentle tone.
"Ah, yes."
After Lin Wanxing replied, the parents began searching intently on their phones.
They scrutinized the search results for a moment, then asked with a hint of disbelief, "Is that 'Lin Wanxing' from Yongchuan Experimental High School really you?"
"It's me."
"Teacher Lin, are you really going to tutor our children?" Yu Ming's mother's eyes lit up.
"How could we trouble you like this?" Qi Liang's mother immediately chimed in.
"I didn't say anything about tutoring."
Facing the parents' intense gazes, Lin Wanxing was bewildered, unsure why the topic had taken such a sudden turn.
"I know, I know. The Ministry of Education strictly prohibits teachers from offering extracurricular tutoring. Just put in a little extra effort at school."
Lin Wanxing wanted to steer the conversation back on track, but the parents unanimously linked "helping the children get into their ideal universities" with "tutoring."
Soon, the discussion had progressed to the point where the parents, in their group chat, unanimously agreed that if the students showed improvement in their monthly exam results, they would allow her to continue guiding them—even if it meant occasionally playing in a match, they wouldn't object.
"Teacher Lin, since you said you can help the children get into their ideal universities, we parents need to see some tangible progress, don't we?"
Qi Liang's mother declared with a tone of finality.
Lin Wanxing couldn't help but glance at Lin Lu's homeroom teacher, Teacher Wang. Here she was, in the senior year teachers' office, being pressured by parents to tutor their children—it felt like an implicit criticism of the teachers' work.
But Teacher Wang and the other two teachers nearby, after their initial awkwardness, now wore expressions of calm composure.
"We've always been concerned about students like Lin Lu and Chen Jianghe. Since Teacher Lin was once the top liberal arts student in our province, she must have her own effective study methods. It's wonderful that she's willing to share them and help the students," said Lin Lu's homeroom teacher, Teacher Wang.
"Having a time limit and a clear goal—I think it's a great idea," added the middle-aged teacher with glasses.
With all three parties in agreement, the matter was settled just like that.
As Lin Wanxing stepped out of the senior year teachers' office, the wind hitting her face, she hadn't expected her first encounter with parents to end this way.
"You were really too impulsive just now," remarked Teacher Xu, who had accompanied her out. "You have no idea how terrible those students are."
Lin Wanxing looked at Teacher Xu inquisitively.
As if she had been holding it in for a long time, Teacher Xu vented to her: "Lin Lu and Yu Ming are both in my class, so I know them well. They're the kind of hopeless students teachers don't even bother with. They never hand in homework, and during class, they either sleep or play on their phones. As long as they don't disrupt the class, none of the subject teachers say a word about it.""That serious, huh." Lin Wanxing had a rough idea they were a handful, but she hadn't realized just how much.
"Chen Jianghe—there's one named Chen Jianghe, right?" Teacher Xu said. "He often doesn't even show up for class. Once, for some reason, he stood in front of a math teacher's desk for a whole day—a full day—without saying a word, and wouldn't leave. I don't know why the school hasn't expelled him yet."
Lin Wanxing frowned slightly, but before she could speak, Teacher Xu continued, "The worst is that Fu Xinshu. You must know—he's a thief."
——
That day, Lin Wanxing stood in the wind, listening as Teacher Xu leaned against the railing and talked at length about her students.
The early autumn wind wasn't particularly cold, but it still whistled sharply past her ears. Although yesterday's soccer match had made Lin Wanxing feel as though she and her students had shared many experiences, they still had sides to them she had never seen before.
In Teacher Xu's words, they were students, but to her, they were nothing but trouble from start to finish.
As if to prove a point, on the morning after she made her promise, the "little troublemakers" who had received notices from their parents began filing into her sports office.
The first to arrive were Qin Ao and Yu Ming.
As Lin Wanxing approached her office door, carrying tea eggs and sesame balls bought from the school cafeteria, she saw Qin Ao sitting in her office chair while Yu Ming crouched nearby, clearly still half-asleep.
Not only was Qin Ao eating the gummy worms from her desk, but he also pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. It looked as though if she didn't start work soon, he might just light one up right there.
Lin Wanxing glanced at the clock on the wall, half-convinced she was still dreaming. "It's 6:30, right? What are you two doing here?"
"Because my mom said, 'Little Teacher Lin, the provincial liberal arts top scorer,' promised to tutor us and teach us about 'standing in the snow at the gate of Cheng's house.' So I got kicked out first thing in the morning."
"Good use of the idiom," Lin Wanxing laughed. "But could you get out of the teacher's chair and make some room for me?"
Qin Ao grumbled but eventually shifted and stood up, vacating the seat for her.
Lin Wanxing didn't sit down right away, following her usual morning routine.
She first made herself a cup of tea, then opened the equipment room windows. Taking a dry cloth, she wiped down the shelves briefly. Then, with another cloth, she cleaned her desk and the surrounding storage racks.
As she took out a feather duster to dust off the "Sports Equipment Borrowing and Return Notice" on the wall, Qin Ao finally couldn't hold back. "What are you doing?"
"Cleaning."
Qin Ao, standing by the wall, pointed at himself and the crouching Yu Ming. "Then what about us? Are you just going to leave us hanging like this? No class?"
"You don't actually want tutoring, do you?" Lin Wanxing asked, shocked.
Qin Ao and Yu Ming exchanged a glance. Yu Ming spoke up directly, "Boss, if Teacher Lin says no tutoring, what about our plan?"
"Were you joking with my mom?" Qin Ao ignored Yu Ming, looking utterly speechless and scoffing, "Didn't you tell Yu Ming's mom something about leading us to our ideal universities?"
Qin Ao's voice was so loud it seemed to make the equipment room windows tremble.Lin Wanxing set down the feather duster, turned around, and studied her student seriously for a moment.
"Are you really serious about going to college?" she asked calmly.
For an instant, Qin Ao was completely stunned.
The boy glared with wide, furious eyes, the scar beneath his eye appearing especially fierce. But beyond that, there was also a great deal of confusion.
Lin Wanxing finished dusting the wall, returned the duster to its place, and finally sat down in her own chair.
"I said I wanted to tutor you all because your parents don’t agree with you participating in the next playoff match. But I believe whether or not you compete shouldn’t be decided by them—it should be up to you. So I wanted to help you fight for it."
"And then you said you’d help us get into college as a way to fight for it?" Qin Ao demanded. "Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to meddle in our lives?"
"My mom said Teacher Lin was talking about 'ideal universities,'" Yu Ming chimed in, adding fuel to the fire. "So, would Yongchuan University count as my ideal university?"
"Everyone is entitled to have such an ideal," Lin Wanxing replied earnestly, taking a sip of tea from her cup.
But to Qin Ao, her words sounded like a joke: "Idiot, she’s mocking you."
Lin Wanxing shook her head gently and lifted her gaze to look outside.
Chen Jianghe, the student who came every morning to borrow a soccer ball, appeared outside the door as usual.
This time, however, he was accompanied by Fu Xinshu.
Fu Xinshu wore a guilty expression, while Chen Jianghe looked furious.
Seeing this, Lin Wanxing could guess that Fu Xinshu had confessed to Chen Jianghe about not receiving anything. Fu Xinshu’s honesty didn’t surprise her, but the timing made her feel a slight headache coming on.
On one side, there was an angry Xiao Qin; on the other, an angry Xiao Chen. Then there was Xiao Fu, burdened with worries, and Xiao Yu, looking shamelessly mischievous.
"Maybe we should wait until everyone is here and talk together?" Faced with her dissatisfied students, Lin Wanxing could only say this.
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