Chapter 19 Who crashed just now? And ran away after crashing?
“Oh, Zhang Chen from your class, he really surprised me today.”
Back in the office, Jia Wei immediately started talking to Deng Xianbing about Zhang Chen’s performance in class today.
For students like Zhang Chen, if he slacked off in class, the subject teacher would usually complain to the homeroom teacher, but conversely, if he performed well, they would also joke around with his homeroom teacher.
As soon as Deng Xianbing heard this, his body almost reacted instinctively, and he sprang up from his half-reclined position in the chair: “What did he do now?”
“Nothing, he just said in class today that the homework I assigned was too easy,” Jia Wei recounted.
“He’s disrupting class again? That brat, I knew that bet agreement he wrote with me was meaningless.” Deng Xianbing sighed, shaking his head helplessly.
“Ah, no, he completed his homework very well today. I asked him to come to the board, and he even wrote a second solution on the spot, and it was quite good,” Jia Wei said, nodding in praise.
“Oh? Really?” Deng Xianbing frowned, rarely hearing praise for Zhang Chen from a subject teacher.
The rarity of it was almost on par with the sun rising from the west!
While he was wondering, Teacher Liu, who taught English, suddenly turned her head and said, “Hey, Zhang Chen, he also completed his English homework very well today, all correct.”
“I was just wondering why he decided to turn in his homework today; I never used to see his when I graded assignments.”
Deng Xianbing heard this: “Is that so?”
He hadn’t graded the physics homework collected today, so he didn’t know if Zhang Chen had submitted it, but he usually didn’t see Zhang Chen’s.
Teacher Sun, the chemistry teacher, was currently grading homework. Hearing the name of Zhang Chen, a frequent visitor to the office, she immediately laughed:
“Zhang Chen? He turned in homework? Let me see if he turned in chemistry homework today?”
Seeing this, Deng Xianbing also curiously stood up and walked over to Teacher Sun’s side.
Soon after, Teacher Sun found a workbook from the remaining stack of exercises.
“Hey, he really did turn it in.”
“What’s going on? Did the sun suddenly rise from the west?” Teacher Liu laughed.
“It’s not copied from some classmate, is it?” Teacher Sun hadn’t even looked yet, and immediately flipped open Zhang Chen’s workbook on the spot.
The front pages were all blank, but on the latest unit’s homework, all the questions were fully answered, and many questions had annotations of related knowledge.
Deng Xianbing placed his hand on the workbook, looking at the annotations made for some questions. There were no errors, and it indeed looked like it had been written diligently.
“It looks like he did it seriously himself.” Teacher Sun turned to look at Lao Deng, and immediately laughed, “Why don’t you go look at yours? Why are you looking at mine?”
Still somewhat surprised, Deng Xianbing, prompted by Lao Sun, patted Teacher Sun’s shoulder and returned to his seat to search for the physics homework collected today.
Teacher Jia, who was still sipping tea, said calmly, “He must have written it seriously; I asked him to write on the board, and he could do it on the spot.”
“Didn’t he write some bet agreement with Teacher Deng? Is he finally going to study seriously?” Teacher Liu teased, pursing her lips.
Soon, Deng Xianbing also found Zhang Chen’s submitted workbook among a pile of physics homework.
The front was still blank, so he directly skipped to the latest unit.
The two pages of homework assigned recently were also fully completed, along with various small annotations…
“This kid…”
Deng Xianbing immediately sat down, took out the answer key, and began grading it.
“All correct!” Just then, the chemistry teacher, Teacher Sun, had finished grading and exclaimed.
“I told you he completed it very well.”
Deng Xianbing also finished grading in a few seconds: “Mine are all correct too.”
The teachers looked at each other, then all burst out laughing.
“I don’t quite believe it. What score did he get on the last chemistry test?” Teacher Sun laughed, even though Jia Wei, who had just finished his math class, had vouched for Zhang Chen.
“They were all in the 30s, only physics was higher, and that was out of respect for me being his homeroom teacher, in the 50s. Biology was the lowest, only in the 20s,” Deng Xianbing said with a laugh, also not quite believing it, just like Teacher Sun.
“English was only in the 40s, wasn’t it?” Teacher Liu raised an eyebrow.
Seeing this, Jia Wei said, “Well, if you don’t believe it, then call on him in your classes and see if he knows the answers, or if he copied.”
“Anyway, my math homework shouldn’t be copied ~”
After Jia Wei said that, the three teachers, Deng Xianbing, Teacher Liu, and Teacher Sun, exchanged glances. The implication was, among them, perhaps all his homework was copied except for math, which was done seriously?
“Alright, my class is next. I’ll go see if his English homework is copied.”
Teacher Liu checked the time, realizing it was almost time for class, and stood up, smiling at Deng Xianbing and Teacher Sun.
Teacher Sun and Deng Xianbing were left, looking at each other.
Deng Xianbing, seeing this, calmly took a sip of tea and chuckled, “Lao Sun, don’t look at me. I’m the homeroom teacher. How dare he copy homework and turn it in to me?”
Teacher Sun: “Hiss… Let me see when your class is scheduled today. That kid shouldn’t be trying to fool just me, right…?”
Jia Wei burst out laughing after hearing this: “It’s possible! If Zhang Chen’s only copied homework today is yours, Lao Sun, then you’re treating everyone to dinner.”
“Why?”
“Zhang Chen doesn’t even do the homework you assign, understand?”
Deng Xianbing added: “Chemistry homework, not even a dog would do.”
“You should really look for the reasons within yourself, alright.”
Teacher Sun heard this and pondered in her mind…
Hey, it really seems to be that way?
All other subjects were written seriously, but only hers was copied? Was this a personal grievance against her??
Oh no! It was bad enough that Zhang Chen’s grades made her unable to hold her head up in front of other teachers.
Now, even in front of her colleagues in the office, who were also 'victims' of Zhang Chen, she couldn’t hold her head up?!
...
Throughout the day, Zhang Chen’s peaceful life was completely disrupted by several subject teachers!
Almost every class, different subject teachers would call on him to answer questions!!
So much so that from the moment a subject teacher entered the classroom and he noticed them glancing his way, a familiar voice would ring out in his heart:
Danger!
Throughout the day, the classmates also seemed to have caught on to the interesting pattern. They didn't know why Zhang Chen was being called on by all the teachers today.
But when a subject teacher said they were going to pick someone to answer a question, the entire class would almost intentionally look in Zhang Chen’s direction, even if Zhang Chen was already using a book to block himself!
He just wanted to sneak in a nap…
“Then Zhang Chen, you answer.”
“No way???”
However, because of this day, the classmates also discovered a crucial issue: Zhang Chen answered every question the teachers asked correctly!
This completely overturned the stereotype the classmates had of him!
Many classmates even joked, could Chen Ge have been faking his incompetence before? Was he actually a master of score manipulation?
Look, he almost always maintained a score in the 200s, consistently stable?
Evening self-study ended, and school was dismissed.
Zhang Chen did not attend the third period of evening self-study.
Usually, only “overachievers” like Bai Xiruo and Duan Chenxu, or boarding students like Su Yu, would attend the third period of evening self-study, which lasted until 10:30 PM.
Even Nan Xingwan didn’t attend the third period of evening self-study, so what were they if not overachievers?
After packing his schoolbag, his deskmate Duan Chenxu, with wide eyes, watched Zhang Chen eagerly from the side, then leaned over dramatically:
“Chen Ge ~ You’re leaving again ~”
Slap—
“Are you trying to die?”
Zhang Chen slapped him backhanded on his face, then disgustedly patted his shoulder where Duan Chenxu had leaned.
Duan Chenxu covered his cheek and then revealed his true intention: “Can I copy your homework?”
“You copy mine?!” Zhang Chen suspected he had misheard.
Although Duan Chenxu hung out with him, the class's last-place student, his grades were not bad; he was always at the top of the class!
Before the class division in the first year of high school, Zhang Chen basically copied his homework.
“Yeah, math is too hard, I can’t do it ~” Duan Chenxu patted the Golden Sun workbook assigned by Teacher Jia today, saying with an expression of utter exhaustion.
“I’ve been writing for two class periods, and I haven’t gotten anywhere ~”
“I haven’t written it either,” Zhang Chen didn’t have time to argue with him and made to leave. He still had to pick up Nan Xingwan.
But as soon as he walked out of the classroom, Duan Chenxu grabbed him.
“Then you’re going back to write it?”
“Yeah,” Zhang Chen replied. Of course, he was going back to write it. What would happen if he finished it now? Nan Xingwan was going to check it.
“Oh ~ Then good luck, Chen Ge, I’ll come copy it tomorrow.” Duan Chenxu cheered, pumping his fist.
“...Crazy.” Zhang Chen rolled his eyes at him and turned to leave the classroom.
But this time, he had barely walked out the back door when he heard a loud bang from inside the classroom behind him, followed by the sound of many students jeering…
Zhang Chen turned his head, looked in through the back door, and saw Bai Xiruo fallen on the ground, her desk completely overturned, and her books scattered all over the floor.
None of the classmates in the room went forward to help her up; they all watched with expressions of curiosity, as if watching a show.
Duan Chenxu also stretched his neck, looking on in confusion.
Zhang Chen walked back to his side: “What happened?”
“Just now, it seemed like someone ran past and accidentally bumped into Bai Xiruo, which knocked everything over,” Duan Chenxu hadn’t seen clearly either and could only state what he knew.
Putting down his schoolbag, Zhang Chen walked directly towards Bai Xiruo.
At this moment, Bai Xiruo had already crouched down, silently picking up the books on the floor.
She wasn’t crying or making a fuss, but being watched by so many people, her face and ears beneath her hair were already fiery red.
This wasn’t the first time she had experienced something like this; she knew she was being bullied again.
But she didn’t even know why, what she had done to upset the boy who had just bumped into her…
The classmates in the room were still jeering. The sight of books scattered everywhere and a desk overturned was not common, and they found it merely curious, with no one helping Bai Xiruo pick up her things.
But then Zhang Chen suddenly appeared, and the crowd, who had only been jeering, immediately fell silent.
Zhang Chen walked up to Bai Xiruo without saying a word, just frowning, silently righting the overturned desk, then crouching down to help Bai Xiruo pick up her books.
The two of them crouched on the floor, picking up books under the gaze of everyone around them…
Soon, some who felt guilty also crouched down, picking up books that had fallen at their feet and handing them to Zhang Chen.
Zhang Chen took them, glanced at the person who picked them up, then lowered his head and continued picking up books.
Presumably, they were not unaware of what the correct behavior was.
It was the first time Bai Xiruo had seen someone help her. Just as she was about to look up to thank him, she realized the person helping her was actually Zhang Chen.
A wave of emotion instantly surged through her heart…
The suppressed feelings of grievance now rose to her nose. She bowed her head and quietly said to Zhang Chen:
“Thank you.”
Zhang Chen, however, had a stern expression and asked with concern: “Did you hit yourself anywhere?”
Bai Xiruo shook her head and didn’t speak again.
When one is feeling wronged, kindness from others is the hardest to bear.
At this moment, facing Zhang Chen’s concern, if she spoke again, she might not be able to stop herself from crying.
Seeing her shake her head, Zhang Chen continued to pick up her books, not saying anything more.
After a while, he finally picked up all the books from the floor and placed them back on her desk. Bai Xiruo sat back down and began to tidy up.
Zhang Chen also dusted himself off, as if signaling the end of the action.
Everyone thought the farce was over.
But then Zhang Chen rolled up his school uniform sleeves and spoke loudly:
“Who was it just now? Who bumped into Bai Xiruo? And ran away after bumping her?”
...
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