"Ah—" The atmosphere in the classroom deflated like a punctured balloon.
"Alright, quiet down!" Jin Shuoshuo restored order and then picked up the report card that everyone both loved and hated: "First of all, I want to say that everyone's level did not improve significantly in this exam, but no one has regressed either."
"Phew—" The atmosphere in the class seemed to have come back to life. After all, they were in the second year of high school, and everyone was no longer so demanding of themselves. As soon as they heard Jin Shuoshuo say that they hadn't made a big mistake, they were overjoyed.
"Alright! Are you all so unambitious? You're content with just staying where you are?" Jin Shuoshuo tapped the table in dissatisfaction, and the chattering in the room finally quieted down a bit.
"You're almost in your final year of high school, you can't afford to be so lax anymore, do you hear me?" Jin Shuoshuo suddenly became serious. This commanded a certain respect from the students, who responded in unison, "Yes, we heard you!"
"Alright, first up are the top ten in the class." Jin Shuoshuo said, a forced smile of satisfaction appearing on his face: "The top student in the grade and the top student in the class, Shen Moyu, with a total score of 706, congratulations!"
"Wow—" After a burst of enthusiastic applause and surprise, the students began to whisper among themselves.
Holy crap! That's so tall!
"When has he ever not been tall?"
"..." Shen Moyu gave Jin Shuoshuo a perfunctory smile, seemingly unimpressed.
His gaze shifted, and he suddenly met a pair of bright eyes looking down at him.
Su Jinning gave him a wink, as if praising him. Quite flirtatious.
Shen Moyu couldn't help but laugh.
"That's commendable! You should all learn from Shen Moyu. She's only been at school for less than two months, and she's already ranked first in the whole school in both exams. Learn from her character and study methods; it's much better than you complaining about how hard the questions are." Jin Shuoshuo, hands on her hips, poured out her motivational words to them, making the students feel for a moment that she resembled Yan Sheng going through menopause.
"I'll stop here." Jin Shuoshuo tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and continued, "Second place, and also third place in the whole school, Gu Junxiao, with a high score of 678, let's give her a round of applause." She said this somewhat casually, with a hint of joy in her tone, not as enthusiastically as when praising Shen Moyu. The applause and screams around her were not as intense, as if they had become accustomed to it.
Gu Junxiao looked up, but the teacher didn't even give him a praising look, only reflexively saying, "Very good."
Gu Junxiao lowered his head. After all, he knew that ever since Shen Moyu took his first place, he had been forever labeled as "second place." Even when the top student in Class 8 was mentioned, Shen Moyu's name would be mentioned first.
But he was genuinely happy for Shen Moyu. He admired Shen Moyu who stood at the top, even though he had become a green leaf to set off the beautiful flowers. Although everyone remembered his name, no one ever mentioned him alone.
Jin Shuoshuo ranked the top ten, and it was basically the same people as last year, which is why he said that no one improved or declined significantly, and the level was very stable.
"Su Jinning, come to my office after class." Jin Shuoshuo flipped through his English textbook, not even looking up as he uttered these words, leaving Su Jinning feeling confused. Shen Moyu glanced over twice but remained silent.
"Brother Ning, I guess he wants to talk to you about your grades." Chen Hang looked at Jin Shuoshuo and tilted his head towards Su Jinning.
"Damn it." Su Jinning kicked the table leg in frustration and didn't reply. His grades had always been like this. Although he wasn't at the bottom of the grade, his ranking was always low. Compared to the overall average score of Class 8, his grades were indeed quite poor. It would be understandable if the teacher talked to him about it.
Within ten seconds of the bell ringing, the corridor was packed with people. Su Jinning, supported by Chen Hang, followed Jin Shuoshuo to the fourth-floor office.
Several teachers were preparing lessons in the office. The windows and air conditioning were on. Compared to their stuffy classroom, this place was like paradise.
Jin Shuoshuo sat down, glanced at Su Jinning, then placed the report card on the table and said somewhat seriously, "Su Jinning, when are you going to stop playing?"
Su Jinning blinked, knowing exactly what the teacher was going to say next, and simply lowered her head as if admitting her mistake.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Jin Shuoshuo turned her head away and sighed, pointing wearily to the report card: "Your total score is only a little over three hundred. At this rate, you won't even be able to get into a third-tier university, you know that?"
"I know," Su Jinning replied without hesitation, which was somewhat infuriating.
"You still know? Do you know why you've been drifting along all this time? Even your friends, like Chen Hang, can get over 400 points, and you..." Jin Shuoshuo suddenly seemed to run out of words at the end, stammering for a long time.
"You're really smart, why don't you study?" Jin Shuoshuo leaned back in her chair, looking at him with pity. "Don't you have any ideals? Who can save you if you continue like this?"
He had ideals, yes. Besides wanting his mother to come back, he had many other ideals he wanted to fulfill but had yet to realize.
The water on the table had boiled, steaming hot and damp, the slightly scalding vapor hitting Su Jinning's face, but he didn't flinch. He kept his head down, as if deep in thought.
Zhengde No. 1 Middle School is a private high school. Although it can't compare to key high schools, even the worst classes have an average score of 400. His class's average score is around 500, and he knows that his score of just over 300 is dragging the class down.
"I know your family situation might affect your grades, but I think, you..." Jin Shuoshuo paused, as if considering whether these words were appropriate, and softened her voice: "But I think your mother abroad wouldn't want you to continue like this, so dejected."
Su Jinning suddenly felt her heart skip a beat. After a moment of stunned silence, she sniffed and said in a soft voice, "I know."
Hearing his identical answer, Jin Shuoshuo knew that her words probably wouldn't have any effect. However, she was a reasonable teacher, and Su Jinning's lack of interest in his studies, even his颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it implies a state of being listless, dispirited, or demoralized), must be related to his family background. She had heard from Su Yi that Su Jinning's grades had always been excellent from elementary to middle school, and he had a chance to get into a top school. However, due to some other factors, he failed the high school entrance exam. Nevertheless, his score was still quite good, and with some connections, he was able to get into Zhengde No. 1 Middle School.
She thought she could teach him well, but she didn't expect that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get him to improve. Jin Shuoshuo rubbed his temples: "After the next midterm exam, we'll be divided into A and B classes. You have potential, and I don't want to see you disappear without a trace." After she finished speaking, she glanced at Su Jinning with a look that seemed to be negotiating.
Su Jinning is smart; even if she only occasionally listens to a couple of classes, she can still get a perfect score of 70 on math tests. She really wants to see Su Jinning in Class A or B.
Su Jin listened quietly to Jin Shuoshuo pouring water into a glass, nodded sullenly, and left the office with a heavy heart.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw Shen Moyu leaning against the balcony, looking at his phone. He was a little taken aback at first, then composed himself and asked, "What are you doing here?"
He seemed a little afraid that Shen Moyu would overhear their conversation.
"The PE teacher told us to go to his place to eat our takeout. We've already left it for two periods of his classes." Shen Moyu turned off her phone, shrugged helplessly at Su Jinning, and didn't look like she was there to eavesdrop.
"Oh, let's go." Su Jinning breathed a slight sigh of relief and took two steps forward, with Shen Moyu following behind. This break was between classes, twenty-five minutes was plenty of time for lunch. Both of them were starving.
"You're not going to tell me what the teacher said to you?" Shen Moyu smiled and turned to wait for him to tell her honestly.
Chapter 34 The Feeling of Being Controlled
Su Jinning was taken aback, then gave a stiff laugh: "What's there to say? It's just that I need to study hard and not drag the class down."
"Oh," Shen Moyu replied, not really that curious, but the question he wanted to ask kept stuck on his lips.
He wanted to ask, "Do you want to work hard? Do you want to become the person you were before?"
The two arrived at the sports building. Apart from the fight on the first floor, Shen Moyu had never been up to any other floor. He had expected the sports building to be noisy, but it was surprisingly quiet. Apart from the occasional "sizzling" sound of players' shoes scraping the ground in the basketball court and the occasional cheers of goals, there was not a single annoying sound.
It was his first time here, but Su Jinning was not. She led him to Song Chengnan's office on the third floor with ease.
"Knock knock knock!" Su Jinning knocked carefully on the sandalwood door a few times, making a crisp sound in the corridor.
The two stood at the door for about a minute before it was opened.
Song Chengnan appeared at the door, looking at them with his usual stern face. This made them feel that the care and consideration he had shown when he told them to come here for dinner had suddenly vanished, leaving only a chill in their hearts.
"Ah, hello teacher, we're ordering takeout..." Su Jinning felt uneasy under his gaze, and her words became broken and intermittent.