After dinner, Principal Chen, Principal Cao, as well as the teachers from Provincial High, sat in the meeting room together with the homeroom teachers of the eighth and the ninth grade.
No one spoke as the two principals looked through the application forms.
Sitting in the middle, Teacher Ke’s face stiffened as she watched Principal Chen look through them… In the past, the principal would never oversee such competitions personally, so why this time?
There were seven classes in the eighth grade, and each had around five to six students participating in the competition. They were all among the top ten in their class.
After flipping through all the application forms, Principal Chen did not see Ye Jian’s form.
“Teacher Ke, pass me Ye Jian’s application form.” After piling the forms together neatly, Principal raised his head and looked sternly at Teacher Ke who repeatedly tried to put Ye Jian in difficult situations. With a deep voice, he said again, “May I ask Teacher Ke to hand them to me personally.”
All the gazes were directed right at her, and her face turned red with embarrassment and then pale white as she stood up. “…I’m sorry, I, I must have accidentally left it out. I’ll go and get it right away.”
With that, she fled…
Five minutes later, Principal Cao held onto Ye Jian’s application form and looked at it with eyes filled entirely with amusement. “What a confident lass, applying for everything.” Once he laid his eyes on it, he never looked up at Teacher Ke again. With a smile, he chuckled, “She must be well-rounded. Breaking the record may not be impossible for her.”
“She doesn’t know anything!” Teacher Ke, whose head was lowered, spoke out of impulse upon hearing Principal Cao’s statement. At that moment, she hurriedly lifted her head and tried to explain herself, “Principal Cao, this Ye Jian is weak in her studies, she…”
“There are no students that are entirely excellent or weak. Teacher Ke should speak cautiously ah.” Principal Cao smiled and interrupted before speaking kindly again, “Whether or not she’s weak in her studies, we’ll know when the time comes.”
“Self-study period is at seven o’clock in the evening. Then, teachers, please prepare for it. At seven, the first round of assessment shall begin.”
No one stayed to listen to her explanation as they all stood and left to inform their students.
In the Director of Teaching’s office, Director Ke handed out two assessment papers. “The both of you will be winning the glory on behalf of our school. Take a look at these first. After seven, you will be taking the assessment.”
(TLN: It seems that wicked Teacher Ke is also the Director of teaching.)
“Thank you, Director Ke.” Hearing him so, Ye Ying reached her hand out without hesitation, but it was pulled back by Gao Yiyang. With a grunt, he said coldly, “Are you making us cheat?”
When he said that, Ye Ying become somewhat anxious. “Gao Yiyang! What are you saying! Director Ke is just hoping that we’d do even better so she’s letting us take a look at the questions in advance. They’re not even the answers!”
Looking at the questions in advance, isn’t that considered cheating?
Ye Jian, who was personally informed by Principal Chen, only smiled and said indifferently, “Don’t worry. I said before that Ye Ying is an opponent I have to defeat. If so, how can I possibly give her a chance to be ahead of me?”
“Even if she were to see the assessment papers first, what difference does it make? I can still win against her beautifully!”
With a face full of confidence, those dark eyes of hers hid a small amount of disdain behind. Worried at first, Principal Chen then raised a brow and grinned. “To suppress your opponent, lass, you must do it in such a way where they will never be able to lift their heads up. Even if they were able to, it’ll only be to look up to you!”
Of course! How could she just let Ye Ying do as she pleased?
The ninth grader’s Class 1 was used temporarily for the venue of assessment. Taking one from a stack, Ye Jian passed the remaining to the student behind her before picking up her pen and starting to write.
