by Dragon King
He tore it off and saw only a small trace of blood on it, which meant the wound was not at all serious. After looking at the cartoon of a pig on the other side of the band-aid, Hao Ren was amused.
Hao Ren was reluctant to toss away this memorable little thing after playing with the band-aid in his hands for a couple of minutes. On second thought, it would be weird to keep such a thing, so he tossed it into the dustbin on the bus.
“Actually, this little girl isn’t too bad to me…” Hao Ren thought.
The bus arrived at LingZhao Middle School, and Hao Ren got off the bus and found that it was ten to six. Many cars were lined up along the street on both sides of the school gate, and parents were hurrying toward the school.
Afraid of being late, Hao Ren also hurried toward the gate. However, a middle-school girl stopped him. “Hey, we have Parent-Teacher Meetings happening today, and only parents can come in,” she said.
“I’m here for a Parent-Teacher Meeting,” Hao Ren said.
The girl looked at him suspiciously and asked, “Whose parent are you?”
Although some parents of middle-schoolers were quite young, they were not as young as Hao Ren.
“Zhao Yanzi from Class Two in Eighth Grade. I’m her brother, and I’m here to represent her parents who are too busy to come to the meeting today,” Hao Ren answered. He had made up the story on the bus.
“Ok.” The girl nodded before lowering her arm to let Hao Ren in.
“Is Zhao Yanzi this well-known in her school?” Hao Ren thought while walking on campus.
LingZhao Middle School was one of the best middle schools in East Ocean City. The campus was very large and beautiful with rockeries, an Artificial Lake, modern Academic Buildings, a Stadium, and classical-style Art Museum, and a Music Hall. It looked like a multi-functional park.
Since many of the students were kids from wealthy families or political families, the security of the school was tight, and no one could enter without permission. Hao Ren grew up in East Ocean City, but it was his first time stepping into this famous middle school.
In fact, there were two departments in the school, a High School Department and a Middle School Department. Except for the shared Stadium, Art Museum, and Music hall, the departments each had their own facilities including Academic Buildings, and they were divided by the Artificial Lake which ran across the campus.
Following the direction signs, Hao Ren had no trouble finding the Academic Building of the Middle School Department. The classes of the Eighth Grade were on the second floor, and Hao Ren walked up the stairs and followed the class signs down the hall before finally spotting Class Two.
There were many parents who were either resting with their eyes closed or talking to each other in the classroom, and Hao Ren attracted a lot of attention since he was too young.
On each desk, there was a slip of paper with the student’s name on it. Hao Ren spotted Zhao Yanzi’s name on a desk in the second row, so he walked over, pulled out the chair, and sat down.
The man sitting next to him was a man in his forties, and Hao Ren nodded at him in greeting.
He looked around the classroom. There were the teaching platform and the whiteboard in the front, and a smaller whiteboard with the students’ articles posted on it was located on the back wall.
However, the teaching platform in the front was bigger than what Hao Ren was used to seeing, and he was new to whiteboards and colored markers as well since his middle school used blackboards and chalks.
The desks and chairs were made of metal and were brand-new. Hao Ren noticed a small metal name tag on the upper right corner of the desk, and Zhao Yanzi’s name was written on it.
“The students have their own set of desks and chairs. No wonder the desks are kept so clean… How come no one thought of this method in our time…” Hao Ren thought to himself.
Hao Ren suddenly had a weird feeling about it when thinking about how Zhao Yanzi sat in this chair in class. He imagined Zhao Yanzi sitting here facing the whiteboard while the teacher was giving a lesson, exchanging glances with Ling who sat close to her, and passing slips of paper to communicate with her best friend when talking wasn’t allowed. There were probably some boys messing with each other when the teacher wasn’t looking while some boys glanced secretly at the girls they liked. Some of the boys sitting in the back row probably played with the braids of the girls sitting in front of them, and the girls probably turn around to roll their eyes……
Imagining the scenes in the class, Hao Ren glanced at the name tag on the desk next to Zhao Yanzi’s and found that it was a girl’s name.
“Well, Zhao Yanzi’s neighbor is a girl…” Hao Ren was relieved before he caught himself, “What am I thinking about?”
While he was looking around, a middle-aged woman in a suit came into the classroom and stepped onto the platform with a binder tucked under her arm.
“Good evening, parents! I’m Luo Ying, the Class Advisor of Class Two of the Eighth Grade,” she introduced herself. Suddenly, she spotted a young man sitting in the classroom and asked suspiciously, “And you are…”
“Oh. I’m Zhao Yanzi’s older brother. Her parents are busy and asked me to come in their place,” Hao Ren said.
“Since you are her older brother, aren’t her parents your parents, too?” The experienced Class Advisor immediately caught the loophole in Hao Ren’s words.
She suspected that Zhao Yanzi, embarrassed about her low scores, had asked a random person to attend the Parent-Teacher Meeting. Some students had done such things before; one student from the Middle School Department had asked a student from the High School Department to act as his parent. The teachers were smarter than the students after all, and both of those students ended up being punished.
“Oh, I mean I’m her cousin!” Fortunately, Hao Ren quickly thought of an explanation.
“A cousin in the Parent-Teacher Meeting…” Luo Ying was displeased, but she didn’t pursue the topic. After all, the other parents were waiting for the meeting to begin.
“The main purpose of today’s Parent-Teacher Meeting is to announce the midterm examination scores. As you all know, the kids are now in the Eight Grade and will soon be entering the Nine Grade. We must prepare them for it since the Ninth Grade performances depend on their Eighth Grade performances a lot. They must build a solid foundation for…” Luo Ying began her speech to the parents.
Sitting in the chair, Hao Ren saw the parents around him listening attentively, and he followed suit, putting on his serious face. However, he knew the Class Advisor was giving a cut and dry speech, and the purpose was to urge the parents to keep a sharp eye on their kids’ studies.
It was Hao Ren’s first time acting as a parent. Seeing the anxiety on the parents’ faces, Hao Ren suddenly thought that he would be one of them one day.
“Some of you have the mistaken impression that you don’t have to worry about your children’s academic performances since they could go to the High School Department as long as they have passable scores. In fact, children’s performances in the Middle School Department will decide their academic levels in high school, which in turn will decide which university they can enter…” Luo Ying continued her speech.
Unlike the other parents, Hao Ren got bored. He lowered his head and began to quietly run through the stuff stored in the drawer of Zhao Yanzi’s desk.
There was a bottle of half-empty drink, half a bag of chips, and some unopened bags of dried fruits. Also, there was some girly stuff besides the snacks including a nail clipper.
“This girl even stores food in her desk.” Hao Ren pushed those things aside and tried to find out what was behind them.
Luo Ying, who was familiar with students’ little tricks, had immediately seen Hao Ren’s act. However, she swallowed back her reprimand and continued her speech for the other parents.
“Umm, this is…” Suddenly, Hao Ren hit on something intriguing.
101 The Issue of Puppy Love
A lit
tle diary with a silver lock caught Hao Ren’s eyes.
“This girl is so bored in class that she writes in a diary?”
With the diary in hand, Hao Ren hesitated if he should open and read it. The little decorative lock was nothing in his eyes.
“Did she bad-mouth me in her diary?” Hao Ren was curious.
“Or does this girl have a crush on someone?” Hao Ren had a bad feeling about it.
The diary must contain Zhao Yanzi’s little secrets such as people and things she hated and liked. It would be interesting to know about them.
On second thought, Hao Ren put the diary aside. After all, it was despicable to peep at Zhao Yanzi’s diary.
“If it is not locked, I will surely read it.” Hao Ren lowered his head and continued to explore the drawer.
He dug out two palm-size comic books, one pocket-size romance novel, an entertainment magazine, and a guide to horoscope and love.
“She reads these stuff in class… No wonder this girl has poor grades.”
Hao Ren flipped through the romance novel and quickly lost interest after finding out that it was a cliché story about a handsome guy and a beautiful girl. He opened the guide to horoscope and love and found some content marked with a ball-point pen.
“Girls like her do believe in such things,” he thought.
Since he discovered so many little secrets of hers, Hao Ren reached his hand into the corner of the drawer, trying to find more.
Snap! Suddenly, something bit on Hao Ren’s finger.
“Auch!” he yelled at the excruciating pain.
His shout interrupted Luo Ying’s speech, and her face turned livid. However, she controlled her urge to kick Hao Ren out. After all, he was there representing Zhao Yanzi’s parents, and the Class Advisor had to keep her composure.
Hao Ren withdrew his shaking hand from the drawer of the desk, and a big mouse trap was firmly attached to the fingers of his right hand; his fingers had begun to swell a little.
With his left hand, Hao Ren pried open the trap and found a slip of paper stuck on it.
“Stinky Uncle! You are dead if you dare to touch my stuff!”
Hao Ren gritted his teeth and pushed the mouse trap and the other stuff back into the drawer; he knew he had fallen into Zhao Yanzi’s trap.
He had not expected that she would be daring enough to hide a super powerful mouse trap in there.
While shaking and rubbing his red and swollen fingers, Hao Ren was so resentful that he had the urge to open and read her diary. However, he thought about her traps and decided against it.
On the teaching platform, Luo Ying was burning with rage since she noticed Hao Ren’s change of expressions and weird behaviors. Zhao Yanzi was troublesome enough for her, and now even Zhao Yanzi’s cousin who came to the Parent-Teacher Meeting was bothering her!
“This guy has not been quiet for a moment. He must be a poor student who couldn’t enter a top-tier university!” she thought.
In her mind, Hao Ren was only a student in the 12th Grade; she didn’t know that the so-called cousin of Zhao Yanzi was a student at East Ocean University, the best university in East Ocean City.
“The main point of my speech is to urge you to pay more attention to your children’s studies and not to neglect them when you are focused on work.” With Hao Ren squirming under her eyes, Luo Ying was not in the mood to give a long speech.
“Now I’ll announce the midterm examination scores. I will read out the names of the top 20 students in our class and hand out the report card of the remaining 23 students.”
Hearing that the meeting had entered its main topic, Hao Ren gathered his thoughts and looked toward Luo Ying.
“Judging by Zhao Yanzi’s reaction, she must be one of the students who would get a report card,” Hao Ren thought.
The other parents looked a little nervous; they would feel proud and honored if their children’s scores were read out loud in class, and they would be ashamed if they got a report card since everyone would know that their children weren’t that good at their studies.
“Xu Jiani; she is ranked No.1 in our class and No.2 in the entire Eighth Grade. Her total score is 798; Math 92, Chinese 87, English 96, Chemistry 86, Physics 88, History 84, Geography 87, Biology 88, Politics 90,” Luo Ying announced the scores of all the tests.
All the parents were envious of these scores. Undoubtedly, the woman with a joyous expression sitting in the third row was Xu Jiani’s mother.
“Cheng Ming; he is ranked No.2 in our Class and No.6 in the entire Eighth Grade. His total score is 776; Math 90, Chinese 85……”
Hearing this name and the scores, the middle-aged man with strands of grey hair sitting in the second last row looked pleased.
More and more parents heaved sighs of relief as Luo Ying continued to announce the scores of the top 20 students. When she announced the 15th student, the man sitting next to Hao Ren was so excited that he mumbled a “Yes!” and waved his fist to show his relief.
Then, he nodded at Hao Ren as an apology for his outburst of excitement.
Luo Ying ignored the reaction of the parents and continued to read, “Xi Huan; he is ranked No.16 in our class and No.42 in the entire Eighth Grade. This student is good at the important subjects, but the minor subjects pulled down his total score. That’s why you as parents must not focus only on the major subjects. Math 90…”
Hao Ren had given up all hope and was prepared to receive Zhao Yanzi’s report card when Luo Ying read, “Zhao Yanzi.”
“She is ranked No.17 in our class and No. 43 in the entire Eighth Grade. Her total score is 725; Math 89, Chinese 91, English 80, Chemistry 81, Physics 82, History 77…” Luo Ying read the scores expressionlessly, but Hao Ren was so excited that he couldn’t believe his ears.
“Did they confuse her scores with another student’s?” Hao Ren thought.
After reading out Zhao Yanzi’s scores, Luo Ying added, “Zhao Yanzi achieved the greatest progress this time. She jumped up from the third last spot to No.17 in our class, and her rank in the entire grade jumped from No.306 to No.43.”
Hao Ren was dumbfounded. Now, he was sure that he had heard it right, and Luo Ying was indeed announcing Zhao Yanzi’s midterm examination scores!
Even though he knew she cheated a bit, the big jump from No.306 to No.43 was beyond his wildest expectation.
Ignoring the vivid expression on Hao Ren’s face, Luo Ying said to him tonelessly, “I hope Zhao Yanzi will continue with her good performance, and I hope you can tell her parents that I hope they will continue their good efforts with Zhao Yanzi.”
Feeling ignored by the Class Advisor, Hao Ren retorted in his mind, “Hey! It was mainly due to my efforts that Zhao Yanzi achieved such great progress!”
Of course, Luo Ying couldn’t read his mind. To her, Hao Ren was just someone sent by Zhao Yanzi’s parents to get the scores.
She continued to read the scores.
The parents whose children’s scores were not announced looked ashamed when the Class Advisor handed out the report cards to them.
Just when Hao Ren thought the meeting was over, Luo Ying returned to the platform and announced, “I’ve said enough about the importance and urgency of paying more attention to the students’ studies, and I have announced the scores. The last part of the meeting is about the issue of puppy love.”
Like Hao Ren, all the other parents who had been packing their stuff raised their heads at her words.
“Now I’ll call out some names, and the parents of these students must stay behind for a special talk. The other parents are free to go,” Luo Ying looked around the classroom and announced, “The first one is Zhao Yanzi…”
102 No Time to Lose
Hao Ren shivered at this announcement made by Luo Ying, the Class Advisor; the cheerfulness he had before was gone.
“Puppy love? Zhao Yanzi? Why did she connect these words?” he thought.
Luo Ying called out a few more names, and a few parents showed a surprised
, confused, and nervous look. The rest of the parents was relieved when they didn’t hear their kids’ names, and they said goodbye to Luo Ying before leaving one after another.
In the end, there were only six to seven parents left in the classroom, looking at each other in embarrassment.
“Please come with me outside,” Luo Ying said as she waved at Hao Ren and led the way.
Hao Ren was very nervous; he felt like he was still in high school and got called out by the Class Advisor for a special talk outside. However, he was doing it for Zhao Yanzi this time.
Luo Ying closed the door behind them when they were in the corridor, and she turned to Hao Ren and said, “I should be saying this to her parents, but I’ll let you deliver the message since they didn’t have time to come here.”
Hao Ren nodded while maintaining a serious look on his face.
“You know it’s a fairly common thing for mid-schoolers to experience puppy love, and parents are becoming less conservative on this issue than before. However, as their Class Advisor, I still don’t think it’s a good idea to date when they are this young in school,” Luo Ying said.
“I know, I know,” Hao Ren nodded and asked immediately, “Is she dating a boy from class?”
“Not a guy; there are several!” Luo Ying answered seriously.
“Several?” Even though Hao Ren was prepared, the answer still astonished him; his mouth gaped wide open, a fist could fit through there.
“Yes, several,” Luo Ying nodded and continued, “There are guys giving love letters to her all the time, and they range from Seventh Grade to Ninth Grade. Even some of the guys from our High School Department sent her love letters too. We really need to address the importance of this issue.”
“Love letters?” Hao Ren was stupefied before he relaxed again.
Hao Ren thought, “What kind of Class Advisor is she? I was scared to death just because you didn’t finish your sentences.”
