Chapter Two: New Student Registration

The administration office was packed with people. Most of the incoming students had come with their parents to register. At first, Zhuo Wengang had intended to go with Zhuo Nan as well, but Brother Nan had always preferred to go it alone.

After entering, Zhuo Nan looked around and found the place simply too crowded. He wished he had come a little later. Just then, a beautiful married woman noticed him and walked over with a smile.

“Hello, student. Are you here to register?”

Zhuo Nan turned to look at her. She was about thirty, wearing a purple dress that accentuated her figure perfectly. Her long hair fell like a waterfall down her back. Though she wore no makeup, she still had an air of elegance about her.

Zhuo Nan thought to himself, “To think this school actually has such a beautiful female teacher...” Then he smiled and said, “I’m here to register. May I ask if you’re a teacher?”

The woman smiled and nodded. “My surname is Xia. You may call me Teacher Xia. Please give me your admission letter...”

“Sure, Teacher Xia.” Zhuo Nan took the admission letter from his bag and handed it over. Xia opened it, then said in surprise, “You’re Zhuo Nan? From the Steel Mill Children’s School? The student who ranked second on the city entrance examination?”

Second in the city. If Brother Nan had not scribbled that essay at random, he might have taken first place...

Zhuo Nan nodded. “Yes, Teacher Xia. I’m Zhuo Nan.”

Xia laughed with delight. “Good, good. I specifically managed to get you into my class... By the way, I’m your homeroom teacher, so let me formally introduce myself. My name is Xia Qianrou.” As she finished speaking, Xia Qianrou extended her hand.

Zhuo Nan shook it with a smile. “My name is Zhuo Nan.” The moment his fingers touched hers, he only felt how smooth and supple her hand was, nothing like the hand of a teacher who had spent years holding chalk. It seemed very well cared for.

“Come, sit over here and I’ll fill out your form,” Xia Qianrou said with a smile.

Zhuo Nan followed her to the opposite side and sat down. Xia Qianrou took out a fresh freshman enrollment form and handed it to him. “Fill this out. When you’re done, show it to me. There’s a pen here.”

“Okay, Teacher Xia.” Zhuo Nan nodded, picked up the pen, and began filling it out carefully.

Sitting opposite him, Xia Qianrou said, “I’ve never really believed a school like the Steel Mill School could have such a high level of teaching, much less produce the city’s second-ranked student. I really went to a lot of effort for you. The top-ranked student was taken by Teacher Zhu from Class Three, but I’m very happy to have gotten you. I hope you’ll keep working hard and achieve even better results in our class.”

Zhuo Nan smiled. “Teacher Xia, you’ve said so much, but which class am I actually in?”

Xia Qianrou blinked, then laughed. She was charming even in laughter. Zhuo Nan thought, “Having a homeroom teacher like this is much better than that old math fossil. At least she’s easy on the eyes...”

“Zhuo Nan, I’m so happy. You have to know, I’ve taught at this school for six years and been a freshman homeroom teacher for four. This is the first time a student ranked in the top three of the entrance exam has been assigned to my class.” Excitement shone in Xia Qianrou’s eyes.

Zhuo Nan guessed that her great emphasis on high-achieving students probably had something to do with teaching bonuses, otherwise why would she be so happy? “Teacher Xia, but you still haven’t told me which class I’m in...”

“Oh...” Xia Qianrou tapped her forehead and only then said, “Class Two. You’re in Class Two. I’m your homeroom teacher.”

Zhuo Nan nodded, handed over the completed form, and said, “Teacher Xia, I’m done. Please see if there are any problems.”

Xia Qianrou took it, glanced over it, and said with satisfaction, “All right, no problems. Take this form to the finance office and pay your tuition. After you’ve paid, come back and find me. I’ll issue your student ID card.”

Zhuo Nan nodded and followed Teacher Xia’s directions to the finance office to pay the fees: four hundred and thirty yuan, including tuition, miscellaneous fees, and textbooks. The charges were reasonable and fair. He thought to himself that a key provincial school really was different. As long as you were admitted through your own effort, they would never charge a single cent indiscriminately. But the ones who came in through connections were a different matter. The fellow beside him was clearly one of those. He came carrying a thick bundle of cash and handed it to the cashier, who immediately brought out a counting machine. The rapid clatter of bills followed, and the man’s face twisted in visible pain.

After paying, he took the receipt and found Xia Qianrou again. She glanced at it, then handed him his student ID card and said, “Go wait in class for now. After all the students have finished registering, I’ll hold an orientation class meeting.”

“Okay, Teacher Xia. I’ll head over first.” From beginning to end, Zhuo Nan remained respectful toward his teachers.

Xia Qianrou was very pleased with him and thought, “Good students really are good students. Even in speech and behavior, they seem so well brought up.” Of course, she did not yet understand Zhuo Nan. Given enough time, she would realize this fellow was even worse than the bad students—rotten to the core.

Following Xia Qianrou’s directions, Zhuo Nan found the location of Freshman Class Two. By then, the classroom was almost full. Zhuo Nan knew that each grade at this school had six classes. Classes One through Four were for students admitted on their own merit, fifty students per class. That number was meant to maximize everyone’s learning effectiveness.

Classes Five and Six were for students who paid sponsorship fees to enter, with a class size cap of seventy. Of course, having a few more didn’t matter much. The main purpose of those two classes was to generate revenue for the school.

Walking into the classroom, Zhuo Nan looked around. The students already seated glanced at him but showed no particular reaction. After all, no one knew anyone else yet. The front-row seats had already been taken by several bespectacled boys and girls. There were still a few empty seats in the back-left corner, and Zhuo Nan went over without hesitation and sat down.

Four wall-mounted oscillating fans had been installed on the left and right walls, capable of cooling every student in the room. At the upper-left corner of the blackboard hung a twenty-five-inch color television, and to the right of the blackboard was a projection screen. The desks and chairs were individual sets, one per student, all brand-new and painted an off-white color, still carrying the smell of fresh paint.

A few students who had arrived early had already become acquainted and were chatting in twos and threes. Zhuo Nan had nothing to do, and since he was in a new environment, it was only natural to take stock of the people around him. The first thing he needed to know was whether there were any beautiful girls...

Unfortunately, after scanning the room, he found not a single pretty girl. He sighed inwardly. “Sigh... the students at a top school are probably all busy studying.”

A few minutes after Zhuo Nan sat down, several more students came in. He roughly counted the class and found that, apart from the seat beside him, all the others were taken. It seemed one more student and the class would be full.

About two minutes later, Xia Qianrou and a girl appeared at the classroom door at the same time. Smiling, Xia Qianrou said to the girl beside her, “Zhao Jiawen, go in and find a seat. We’ll rearrange the seating later.”

The girl called Zhao Jiawen smiled and said, “Okay, Teacher Xia...”

Zhuo Nan studied the girl carefully. She counted as a beauty. If Lan Qian and Xinxin were both one hundred points, then this woman would be at most eighty-five. Her figure was excellent and her looks were good too, but her aura was still a little lacking...

Zhao Jiawen entered the classroom and looked around. By then, everyone had already noticed the prettiest girl in the class. A bold boy stood up and said, “Classmate, take my seat. I’ll go sit in the back.”

Zhao Jiawen smiled politely. “No need. I’m fine sitting in the back too.” Then she went to the only empty seat and sat down.

She turned her head and happened to see Zhuo Nan. She gave him a slight smile, and Zhuo Nan returned it as a greeting.

Xia Qianrou stepped up to the podium and said in a loud voice, “Students, welcome to your new school. In middle school, you were all top students in your respective schools. But here, you’ll face a heavier academic load and fiercer competition. Three years from now, your efforts will be rewarded. Students, do you have the confidence to get into the university of your dreams?”

Aside from Zhuo Nan, the whole class had been stirred by Xia Qianrou’s highly rousing words and answered in unison, “Yes!”

Zhuo Nan thought, “This teacher has a bit of something to her...”

Xia Qianrou smiled in satisfaction. “Very good. Some of you already know me, while others do not. Let me introduce myself. My name is Xia Qianrou. I am your homeroom teacher and also your math teacher. If you have any academic questions, you can ask me. Of course, if you have problems outside of school too, you can come to me. Within my ability, I’ll certainly find a way to help you solve them.” As soon as she finished, the whole class applauded on its own. It seemed everyone had accepted this striking, perfectly built married woman as their homeroom teacher.

Xia Qianrou raised both hands and pressed them downward, signaling for the students to stop applauding. Then she said, “Students, next please introduce yourselves, then elect class officers, and after that we’ll arrange seats according to height. Of course, the seating is not fixed. Every month there will be a test, and students with good grades can move up to the first three rows, while those with poor grades can only move back.”

Zhuo Nan knew very well that top schools always used this method. Students who studied diligently naturally wanted to earn good grades and sit in front, where they could hear the lessons better and receive more attention from the teacher. As for class officers—heh, Zhuo Nan had no interest in that. He already had a wife; wasn’t she basically a class officer? And had he ever seen any real benefit from that? In fact, it just kept her busy all day...

“Let’s begin now. You, classmate, start.” Xia Qianrou pointed at the bespectacled boy sitting in the first seat of the first row. The glasses-wearing fellow looked very nervous, his face red, and stammered through a long introduction. After that, each student introduced themselves in turn. Some said they had served as class officers in middle school, others said they were athletic stars. In short, everyone spoke mostly of their strengths, with all sorts of hobbies and interests thrown in...

Zhuo Nan roughly calculated that his own seat was the last one in the last row, meaning he would be the very last student to introduce himself. When it was Zhao Jiawen’s turn, she stood up and, in a very pleasant voice, smiled and said, “Hello everyone, my name is Zhao Jiawen. I come from Thirty-Ninth Middle School. I like music, and I like singing...”

Besides Zhao Jiawen, Zhuo Nan also noticed another boy. He was about five feet nine, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and had the look of a pampered pretty boy. “Hello everyone, my name is Lu Zihan. I’m from T City. Because my parents’ business needs to develop in Deqing, I transferred here as well. I ranked fourth in the T City entrance examination. I have a wide range of hobbies...” No one paid much attention to what came after that. They only knew this guy had come from T City, which was a directly governed municipality—equivalent to a province. Fourth in T City meant fourth in the province. And yet he had come all the way to our little Deqing.

Xia Qianrou did not pay much attention to this student named Lu Zihan. After all, she could not possibly have received news of T City’s exam results. Now that there was a student in her class who had ranked in the top four of T City, how could she not be happy?

Zhuo Nan merely curled his lip. “Another show-off has arrived... In this day and age, showing off doesn’t cost a penny.”

When it was Zhuo Nan’s turn, Xia Qianrou had originally expected him to be like Lu Zihan. But from opening his mouth to closing it again, Zhuo Nan spoke fewer than twenty characters: “My name is Zhuo Nan. I come from the Steel Mill Children’s School.”

Zhuo Nan was sparing with words, and the other students had no objections. Everyone had their own way of speaking; who was anyone to judge? But in Xia Qianrou’s eyes, it carried a different meaning. This Zhuo Nan was not showy in his conduct—not bad at all. Next came the election of class officers. All the students interested in running stood up. After the introductions, Xia Qianrou began the appointments. Zhuo Nan’s bottom remained glued to his chair without moving an inch, which made Xia Qianrou feel a pang of regret. This Zhuo Nan had good grades and was not flashy; he should have been a strong candidate for class monitor. But since he did not want to participate, she could not force him. In the end, she could only appoint Lu Zihan as class monitor. Zhao Jiawen also secured a position, and with her outstanding appearance and her talents in singing and dancing, she became the arts committee member.