Old Zhou was actually quite touched.
But in front of the other subject teachers, Old Zhou still had to put on an expression of deep disappointment.
"I know your math scores are poor, and I know you want to improve. But do you have any idea that the Chinese, physics, chemistry, and biology teachers have all reported to me that you've been doing math during their classes?"
The afternoon nap had just ended when Shen Yuan was called in for a talk by Old Zhou.
As for the reason, it was simply that Shen Yuan had been studying math a little too diligently these past two days.
"Think about it. Even if you manage to raise your math score this way, if your other grades drop, won't the loss outweigh the gain?"
Old Zhou had just finished speaking when he heard Shen Yuan say, "Teacher, I was wrong."
He surrendered on the spot.
After all his lecturing, what Old Zhou really wanted was just to see the right attitude.
When it came down to it, it wasn't like Shen Yuan was committing some terrible crime.
He had only made a mistake that practically every student makes.
Besides, Shen Yuan's grades in his other subjects were actually not bad; his performance was only dragged down by math.
As long as he could pull up his math score, Shen Yuan's total score could easily reach 620.
But pulling up his math score was anything but easy.
"I shouldn't have done math during other classes. I should have paid attention and not sacrificed the greater good for a small gain. My actions violated class discipline and also disrupted the other students' motivation to learn."
Although Old Zhou knew Shen Yuan was just placating him, Shen Yuan had already given him what he needed.
Old Zhou nodded. "Alright. Seeing as this is your first offense, I'll let it slide this time."
"So... can I go now?"
As soon as he said it, Shen Yuan tried to slip away.
But Old Zhou raised his hand just in time. "Hey! Wait a second!"
Shen Yuan stopped in his tracks.
Old Zhou said, "Help me take these test papers over. You have an exam for the next two periods. Do your best and see if you've made any improvement."
"You got it."
Shen Yuan picked up the test papers and walked out of the office. Just as he stepped outside, he saw his Eldest Female Cousin carrying bubble tea and walking over from the direction of Class 15.
"Hey, perfect timing."
His Eldest Female Cousin shoved the bubble tea into Shen Yuan's hands. "Here, your reward for yesterday!"
Glancing at the test papers in Shen Yuan's hands, his Eldest Female Cousin patted his shoulder. "Do well on the test. Let's see if your hard work these past few days has paid off."
"But I've only been at it for a day!"
Yang Yishui tsked. "Then I won't get my hopes up."
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes at his Eldest Female Cousin, then returned to the classroom.
"Class rep! Orders from Old Zhou! It's test time!"
The math class representative, Pan Hao, saw the test papers in Shen Yuan's hands and got up from his seat with a sigh of resignation.
While Pan Hao was handing out the papers, Shen Yuan stuck a straw in and took a couple of big gulps of his bubble tea.
'Awesome! I got pearls in the first sip!'
Before the class bell rang, Class 15 was already hunched over, facing their math exam.
Math exams were actually a rather torturous affair.
After all, with math, you either knew it or you didn't.
Even with Li Zhi's help, building a strong foundation in math wasn't something you could do just by grinding through practice problems.
What Shen Yuan needed most right now was a systematic review to build up his foundational knowledge of math.
However, Shen Yuan's efforts were not without their rewards.
At least he could understand the questions now, and his grasp of solid geometry was no longer a complete blank.
...
"I'm gonna die. Who schedules a math exam right after the afternoon nap?"
As the papers were being collected, Zhuo Peipei leaned back against the seat behind her, a look of utter despair on her face.
"That's it? That's all it takes to knock you out? Is this the real power of the Kissing Association's president?"
Zhou Shaojie jeered.
Zhuo Peipei shot back, full of aggression: "Your whole unrequited love act with English is because you've got a secret crush on Sister Shuishui, right!"
"You know a student-teacher romance is wrong, so you're suppressing your feelings and doing everything you can to avoid learning English. That's why your English grade never improves, right?"
Ah Jie was completely floored and shouted.
"No, Peipei, you can't just make things up! How could I possibly have feelings for an old woman like Sister Shuishui?!"
The moment the words left Ah Jie's mouth, he saw a figure at the doorway staring at him in disbelief.
Yang Yishui hadn't heard the conversation before she reached the door, only catching the last few words: "an old woman like Sister Shuishui."
The Eldest Female Cousin immediately felt a wave of despair wash over her.
'Time for class?'
'Class my ass!'
The atmosphere around the Eldest Female Cousin instantly grew heavy, and she immediately changed her lesson plan.
"Class rep, go to my office and get the weekly papers."
The English class representative scurried off to the office.
When the English weekly papers arrived, the Eldest Female Cousin announced that they would start the class with a 15-minute cloze test, and no one was allowed to use an English dictionary.
Ah Jie began the cloze test, his heart pounding with terror.
But for an English noob like Ah Jie, doing a cloze test without a dictionary was no different from grabbing a handful of rings in a ring toss game and just throwing them all at once.
Whether you hit anything was completely up to fate.
Shen Yuan finished the cloze test in 8 minutes, then leaned on his desk and watched Ah Jie with an amused grin.
When Ah Jie saw Shen Yuan, he immediately signaled for help: "Yuan, save me."
Ah Jie had just finished speaking when Yang Yishui's voice rang out.
"Zhou Shaojie, do your own work. Since you love talking so much, you can come up here and explain it later!"
The entire class couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Ah Jie shrank back, and under the cover of his desk, quickly nudged Shen Yuan's leg.
Shen Yuan held up a finger and wagged it, then picked up the bubble tea on his desk and took a sip.
Clearly, he was on his Eldest Female Cousin's side.
Ah Jie knew he was done for.
The 15 minutes were up.
"Alright, everyone stop."
Ah Jie's heart skipped a beat; he knew he was probably dead.
"Swap with your deskmate and grade each other's papers. If you got more than five wrong, just you wait!"
Although Yang Yishui said this to the whole class, her gaze was fixed squarely on Zhou Shaojie.
Shen Yuan snatched Zhou Shaojie's weekly paper and "comforted" him, "Don't worry, I'll definitely make sure you go down in flames."
"Yuan, are we even deskmates anymore?"
"Not next week."
Faced with Shen Yuan's merciless words, Zhou Shaojie could only feel that his judgment was at hand.
The next second, Yang Yishui called on Zhou Shaojie.
"Zhou Shaojie, explain what this cloze passage was about."
Zhou Shaojie stood up and stammered, "My dog and I were playing in the snow."
"Sit down."
Ah Jie heaved a long sigh of relief.
"It's about a dogsledding race."
Ah Jie, who was in the middle of sitting down, froze. The class erupted in laughter.
"So you only understood the word 'dog,' huh!"
During the explanation that followed, the expression on Ah Jie's face grew worse and worse.
Forget getting five wrong, Ah Jie achieved the accomplishment of getting every single question on the cloze test wrong.
In the end, Ah Jie "won" the grand prize of copying English vocabulary words.
When class was over, Zhou Shaojie lunged at Shen Yuan.
"Traitor! You traitor!"
Shen Yuan immediately put Zhou Shaojie in a headlock. "Traitor my ass! How dare you call my Sister Shui an old woman?! You're asking for it!!"
Yang Yishui was extremely popular in the honors class.
In fact, during the break before class, if the Eldest Female Cousin hadn't arrived at the classroom so early, Zhou Shaojie would have already been dragged off for an Aruba.
But it wasn't too late to make up for it now.
The entire Shuishui Faction mobilized, taking turns giving Zhou Shaojie the Aruba treatment.
"I was wrong! I hereby issue an imperial edict of self-criticism! Sister Shuishui is the best teacher in our honors class! Sister Shuishui is the best!"
Ah Jie was given the Aruba treatment twice. They were about to go for a third time, but just as Ah Jie shouted "Sister Shuishui is number one under heaven!", Zhou Ruolan walked in.
Sister Lan said aggrievedly, "Zhou Shaojie, is there something wrong with my teaching?"
The scene suddenly became quite awkward.
After the self-study period ended, the Ruolan Faction gave Zhou Shaojie the Aruba treatment one more time.