CH 10

Before the day of the exam, the time waiting and preparing always seemed difficult, but once you actually took the exam, time went by very fast.

The day’s exams were over quickly, and when the bell rang for the end of the last exam, the whole school was immersed in the festive atmosphere of having survived the beginning of the month trial, and this mood was also able to last twenty-nine days. Only class 1 was a little silent.

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What happened during the first exam in the afternoon refreshed the three views of this group of young children. Most of the children of this age had a clear distinction between what they like and hate. In their eyes, good was good and evil was evil, and black and white was also distinct. They rarely speculate on others with malice. Before this, even if they disliked Zhang Jian and even gave him a mocking nickname and felt that he had many shortcomings, they never doubted whether he was qualified to be a teacher.

But after this incident, everyone had some doubts in their hearts.

Was this the teacher who had always taught us?

A person who could direct and act a script by himself, just to slander a student he dislikes, could such a person really be worthy of the profession “teacher”?

Some people were filled with righteous indignation, some people were depressed, and most of them were quietly looking in Jiang Chen’s direction.

In stark contrast to Jiang Chen, who was sympathized by all the students, was Zhang Zhipeng in the last row of the third group.

At the end of the first exam, a classmate ran to Jiang Chen’s seat to see if there were any papers in his drawer and if Zhang Zhipeng had really been asked by Zhang Three Hairs to do such an immoral thing.

At that time, Jiang Chen leaned on the back of his chair with a slight smile, and said, “I know you care about me, thank you, but flipping through the drawer is not important.”

“How is it not important?” Shen Xu was the first to disagree, his eyes were about to burst into flames, and he bent over to rummage in Jiang Chen’s drawer: “I’ll look for it! I just want to know if someone is really this Immoral!”

The other classmates were all paying attention to this side. Zhang Zhipeng sat taut with his head down and didn’t say a word.

Jiang Chen smiled, grabbed Shen Xu’s hand, and said in a low voice, “I’ll tell you after school.”

Shen Xu stopped, put down the test paper file in his hand, and stood up with a sullen face. It just happened that the second test started, so he went back to his seat, but not before giving Zhang Zhipeng a cold look.

Although no one saw whether Jiang Chen’s drawer had any test papers, what Shen Xu had obviously touched just now, and his expression when he stood up told them that there might really be something in Jiang Chen’s drawer.

But the second exam was just about to start, and everyone had no time to be distracted. Now that the exams were over, they naturally want to know the truth.

Jiang Chen didn’t seem to notice everyone’s attention. When he packed up, he put the file into his schoolbag, called Shen Xu, said a few words with other classmates who came to talk to him, and left the classroom.

Even by the time they had walked out of the school gate, Shen Xu still had a sullen face and didn’t look at Jiang Chen, obviously disapproving of his decision.

Jiang Chen sighed, he knew that Shen Xu was feeling unjust for him, and in fact he did not forgive Zhang Zhipeng, otherwise during the exam, he would not have directly said that a classmate had put things in his drawer.

Before the exam, most people didn’t have time to look around, but Zhang Zhipeng was walking around Jiang Chen’s seat. Those who were interested could naturally recall this and Zhang Zhipeng would be caught at that time, but even so, Jiang Chen would not prove this solid.

Zhang Zhipeng really should be punished, but if at his age, at such an important time, he was forced to spend his time in isolation and bullying under the title of an immoral slanderer, then that was a little overboard.

Jiang Chen was not a holy father. On the contrary, if Zhang Zhipeng did something unforgivable and really stepped on his bottom line, Jiang Chen would be the first to crush him. For example, Jiang Chen had never softened his methods towards Zhang Three Hairs.

But Zhang Zhipeng did not.

Moreover, Jiang Chen could basically guess the reason why Zhang Zhipeng did this.

Zhang Zhipeng usually studied hard and his grades were also good. He had always been hovering around the top 80s of his year. It was absolutely possible for him to enter a first tier college if he maintained such grades. However, the situation in his family was very bad. His parents had passed away and he only had a seriously ill grandmother and a grandfather who only received the minimum pension. So don’t even mention going to college, he might not even be able to sustain the living expenses of high school.

At the end of this month, the school would launch a special hardship subsidy quota. These ten candidates chosen from each year could not only be exempted from all tuition fees and miscellaneous fees, but also receive a subsidy of 200 yuan per month. He would remember this because at this time in the first life Hu Bo got a spot.

This was what Zhang Jian promised Zhang Zhipeng.

It was wrong for Zhang Zhipeng to frame others for his own benefit, but everyone’s suspicion and alienation, as well as his own unease and guilt were already enough of a punishment.

On the way back, Jiang Chen told Shen Xu about Zhang Zhipeng’s situation.

Shen Xu was silent for a long time, and then he curled his lips and said, “If he isn’t a good person in the first place, how could he do such a thing?”

Jiang Chen paused, looked at Shen Xu, and asked him, “Do you remember how we met Huo Bo?”

Shen Xu was stunned for a moment, and pursed his lips.

It was a summer a long time ago. He and Jiang Chen made an appointment to go to the bookstore to read. When passing an alley next to the bookstore, they saw a child in tattered clothes protecting his head while being punched and kicked. He and Jiang Chen ran over to stop it. However, they learned that the child was a thief and had already stolen from the pharmacy several times, but because he was too young the police could not do anything about it.

It was also from that time that they realized that while they lived a carefree childhood, there was a child their age who endured the fists and kicks of adults again and again, just for a box of less than two yuan medicinal spray for his grandmother who was reluctant to buy medicine for her injured leg.

Shen Xu snorted and said, “Can Zhang Zhipeng be the same as Huo Bo? Huo Bo did it for his grandmother, and the people at the pharmacy deliberately tried to trick him despite knowing that the medicine he wanted to buy was cheap, yet deliberately coaxed him to spend all his money to buy expensive ones, so he could only steal it, he had no choice but to!”

“Zhang Zhipeng naturally can’t compare with Huo Bo.”

Jiang Chen knew this better than anyone else. Whether it was character, perseverance or how he behaved, Zhang Zhipeng could hardly even look up to Huo Bo, and Jiang Chen believed that if Huo Bo was in his shoes, he would never decide to do what he did.

“But he had already received the punishment he deserves, and this punishment will accompany him throughout high school, so that is enough.”

Shen Xu kicked the telephone pole: “Okay, we’ll let that kid go, but next time he dares to do such an immoral thing, there’s no need for others to bully him, I will bully him myself!”

The teachers of No. 1 High School graded the test papers very quickly. It was only Wednesday, and the results had already come out one after another.

While the students were looking forward to the announcement of their grades, gossip quietly circulated among all grades: Zhang Jian, the classroom teacher of year 2 class 1, sent someone to hide the monthly exam papers in a student’s drawer in order to slander the student in his class. He even took other teachers to search, but was exposed by the student and left pathetically.

This matter was only circulated among the second years. After all, the whole teaching building was quiet at the time of the exam. So when Zhang Jian and several teachers passed by the window, the students in the next two classes all heard the gist of the issue. As soon as the exams were over, they couldn’t wait to find a friend in class 1 to confirm, and after getting the real situation, they couldn’t help but scold Zhang Jian as unworthy of being a teacher.

As a result, through the process of spreading the word among the students, not only the whole high school second year knew about it, but the first and third years also heard about it as well. Even some parents had heard from their children and called the school. They wanted to prove the authenticity of this matter, and very bluntly stated that if the school had such a teacher who had no morality at all, they would feel uneasy about their children studying here.

The teachers of other grade groups who received these calls were still a little confused, but after confirming with their colleagues and hearing the whole story, they were all extremely ashamed of Zhang Jian’s actions. So this matter got big and not only did the students find out, even the parents who worked in the education area heard about it and called the principal’s office directly to ask for a strict investigation.

On Wednesday morning, the principal called the entire second year group of teachers together for an emergency meeting.

Most of the teachers present were afraid of the vice-principal standing behind Zhang Jian, but some were not afraid of him. Fu Jinyu, a math teacher of the second year class 1 was one of them. When the principal asked about the details, he did not make any modifications, and even described the matter in a very biased manner.

After he finished speaking, he also said: Principal, Jiang Chen ia a good seedling whom I am optimistic about. I originally planned to draw him in to the competition class as soon as school started, but at that time something happened back at home, so I thought about giving him some time first, so as not to put too much pressure on him. I have waited and didn’t mention it this whole time but who knew that while I hadn’t put pressure on him, Teacher Zhang was afraid that he would be too relaxed, and kept finding trouble for him at school, again and again as if there was no end to it.”

The math teacher Fu Jinyu’s remarks could be said to be quite ruthless, and he basically unabashedly stated his point of view: Zhang Jian is a piece of trash who self-directed and self-acted a script to deliberately seek trouble and frame/slander students.

Zhang Jian was just sitting two places away from him, and when he heard this his face turned the color of pig liver.

Zhang Jian was not the only one with a bad expression, but vice-principal Sun Tengyun’s expression was also not very pleased either.

Sun Tengyun held his purple clay teapot and said gloomily: “Teacher Fu, you are a teacher, so it’s not good to say such biased words.”

Fu Jinyu was not afraid at all, and said with a cold face: “It’s exactly because I am a teacher that I have to say this.”

Sun Tengyun looked at him for a few seconds, then turned his eyes to the principal: “Principal, as for this matter, I think both parties must be present. It is difficult for us to have a meeting here without all parties involved, so we might as well call that student over and ask him why he thought Teacher Zhang framed and slandered him at that time. This way we will know what the student thinks.”

The principal still looked kindly and amiable as always. He didn’t say yes or no when he heard the words, but looked at Zhang Jian and asked, “Teacher Zhang, you are the party involved, why don’t you talk about why you thought a student had stolen the test papers at that time, rather than it being carelessly placed elsewhere.”

Zhang Jian said with a pale face, “I was so anxious at the time that I didn’t think much at the time. I was afraid that there might really be students who would steal the test papers and destroy the fairness of the test. I was also afraid that it would encourage this evil behavior, and in a moment of impulsiveness I went ahead with this worry.”

Fu Jinyu blew the tea leaves in his cup, and said lightly, “Teacher Zhang is really easy to act impulsive. As far as I know, you haven’t only acted impulsively once or twice. If you are always so impulsive, you should go to the hospital for a checkup.” (TN: in Chinese, the phrase “a hot/feverish head” means impulsive. Here Fu Jinyu is speaking to the literal meaning to mock Zhang Jian)

Sun Tengyun’s face sank: “Teacher Fu, the principal is asking questions, what are you doing interrupting him?”

The principal smiled and said, “Teacher Fu is this character, I understand, it’s fine.”

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Sun Tengyun’s face became even more ugly. He gouged Fu Jinyu with his eyes and looked at Zhang Jian with a very dark expression, which made Zhang Jian, who was already uneasy, even more flustered.

Fortunately, Sun Tengyun didn’t seem to have given up yet, he said, “Since this matter is still not clear, let’s go and find the student involved.”