After Transmigrating for the Third Time, the Real Young Master Decides to Slouch - Chapter 16

On Sunday, Jiang Zao went home again and took Mother Jiang to have her hair dyed.

Mother Jiang, who had hardly ever dressed herself up beautifully in her whole life, had originally been half-willing and half-reluctant. But after getting her hair done and changing into new clothes, she smiled at herself in the mirror like a young girl.

Mother Jiang herself had not reacted too much yet, but when Jiang Zao turned his head and saw Jiang Tong, the big boy with a still-childish face had red eyes.

Jiang Zao did not laugh at him. He rubbed his hair, and the big boy’s eyes became even redder.

Monday arrived right on schedule. After breakfast, Jiang Zao entered the office two minutes before the preparatory bell. He was immediately greeted by a smiling face. “You must be the new Teacher Jiang, right?”

The gentle-looking woman had a very warm smile. Jiang Zao swept a glance over her slightly rounded belly and understood her identity: Xia Wei, Class 19’s English teacher. Last week, she had taken leave to protect her pregnancy, so she had not come in. This week, she had returned to work.

Since the other party was courteous, Jiang Zao would not be stingy with friendliness either. He smiled and said, “I’m Jiang Zao. Hello. You must be Teacher Xia?”

“That’s right.” Xia Wei nodded. “From now on, we’ll be working together. Please give me your guidance.”

Jiang Zao shook the hand she extended. “Please give me your guidance as well.”

After saying this, Xia Wei placed a hand on her abdomen. She seemed to have something she wanted to say, but did not know how to begin.

Jiang Zao saw it and smiled before asking, “How far along is Teacher Xia?”

“Five months.” Xia Wei was very grateful and followed the topic to continue. “After this, I may need to go to the hospital for checkups often, but I’ll try to schedule them on weekends so they don’t affect normal work. But if there are any unexpected situations, I hope Teacher Jiang can be understanding.”

Of course Jiang Zao could be understanding. “It’s fine. During a critical period, you’re a key protected person. No problem.”

“Thank you so much, Teacher Jiang.” As soon as Xia Wei finished speaking, the preparatory bell rang. She gathered her hair slightly. “It’s my English morning reading. I’ll go to class first.”

Jiang Zao moved aside from the doorway. “Please.”

Xia Wei smiled at him, hugged her textbook, and left.

Jiang Zao went back, slowly made himself a cup of tea, sat at his desk, and began writing his lesson plan. His class was third period, so there should still be time.

But after writing two characters, he put down the pen, got up, and walked out.

He was going to make a round by the classroom. Teacher Xia was pregnant, after all. Out of humanitarian concern, he had to pay a bit more attention. If she was angered by the students in the class and something happened to the baby, he could send her to the hospital immediately.

Jiang Zao reached the classroom door. Before he even got close, earth-shaking clamor poured into his ears first. He frowned. Even if she were not pregnant, this volume was far too unfriendly.

But the next second, he heard a girl shouting at the top of her lungs, “Everyone quiet! Quiet!”

It was Song Jintong’s voice.

The noise lessened a little, and Jiang Zao also drew closer. He saw Song Jintong standing on the podium with her hands on her hips, scolding aggressively, “What are you doing? Don’t you know pregnant women are very fragile? What if you scare the baby in Teacher Xia’s belly?”

A group of boys had their heads lowered under her scolding. Someone defended himself. “We only wanted to show concern for Teacher Xia. We heard she almost had a miscarriage.”

“Even then, you can’t get this excited. You almost pushed her over just now.” Song Jintong muttered, then turned to Xia Wei. “Teacher, how is your body?”

Xia Wei was still smiling gently. “I’m very well. See, haven’t I come back to work?”

Someone below asked, “Is the baby okay?”

“Also very well.” Xia Wei smiled and said, “Knowing that so many older brothers and sisters are looking forward to meeting them, the baby also wants to come out soon.”

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“We don’t know yet. We have to wait until the baby is born.”

“When will the baby be born?”

“The due date is at the end of January. By then, you’ll all be on winter break, so you can come see the baby.”

The class burst into cheers.

Jiang Zao turned and left.

When he returned to the office, Meng Qiuyu was smiling at him.

“What is it?” Jiang Zao asked.

Meng Qiuyu said, “Actually, you don’t need to worry too much. Those kids like Teacher Xia quite a bit. They won’t do anything to her.”

His thoughts having been seen through, Jiang Zao was only unnatural for a moment before he calmed down. “Oh?”

“Teacher Xia is very good to them too. I suppose this is what they call sincerity in exchange for sincerity.” Meng Qiuyu sighed. “A mutual effort.”

Jiang Zao noticed the disappointment on his face, but said nothing. He merely nodded. “Hearing you say that puts me at ease.”

He returned to his seat and continued writing his lesson plan.

Half the morning quickly passed. After the long break, the bell for third period rang.

Jiang Zao struggled up from his seat and unwillingly tucked his textbook and lesson plan under his arm before heading to the classroom.

“Stand,” Jiang Tong called after Jiang Zao entered the classroom.

“Good—mor—ning—tea—cher—”

The response was sparse and scattered, and even then, it only stopped at words. Hardly anyone stood up.

Jiang Zao did not care about these things. “Please sit.”

He opened his textbook. “Turn to the lesson. Today, we’ll begin the first text. I previously asked you to preview—”

Chaotic footsteps outside the classroom interrupted him. Jiang Zao frowned as he watched Chen Xiangdong lead a group of people to the classroom doorway. Each of them had a large belly, very much matching the stereotypical appearance of leaders. The only one who stood out from the group was Rong Jingcheng, with his air of refined nobility.

Chen Xiangdong explained to Jiang Zao, “Teacher Jiang, when you entered the school, you didn’t go through an assessment. Today, several school leaders have come personally to listen to one of your open classes. You must perform well.”

Jiang Zao lowered his eyes. “I did not receive notice of an open class.”

Chen Xiangdong smiled and said, “It’s a surprise inspection. If we notified you in advance, how would it be a surprise? Don’t be nervous. Just perform normally.”

Jiang Zao was silent for a moment, then nodded. “All right.”

Chen Xiangdong looked at him smugly, then turned to the school leaders and said, “Leaders, please come in.”

The school leaders had originally been standing at the doorway. With the front blocked, they had not been able to see clearly. Only after entering the classroom did they discover that class had only just begun, yet a large portion of the students were already sprawled across their desks.

In all their years of sitting in on classes, they had never encountered such a situation. For a moment, the atmosphere was extremely awkward.

A light laugh sounded, followed by a man’s pleased voice. “Why did everyone stop walking?”

The grade director’s forehead was covered in sweat. Although he had mentally prepared himself for all sorts of situations in Class 19, seeing such a natural, completely unpretentious scene still inevitably made him feel embarrassed. This was in front of the biggest boss. How humiliating!

Rong Jingcheng stepped past the crowd. His gaze swept across the classroom, and he smiled. “The weather today is neither cold nor hot. It’s quite suitable for sleeping.”

He walked toward the back. When he passed a desk, he raised his hand and knocked on it. “Time to wake up.”

The person lifted his head sleepily. When he saw who had come, his eyes widened, and he hurriedly poked his deskmate.

Just like that, one poked two, two poked three, and after an entire round of poking, almost everyone had woken up. During this time, the observing group also sat down at the back.

Jiang Zao returned to the podium. “Students, please open your books. Today, we’ll begin the first lesson.”

Chen Xiangdong felt this was the most tormenting open class he had ever sat through. Was this a class? This was completely reading straight from the textbook!

What teacher taught class without even raising their head, simply reading entirely from the lesson plan? Fine, even that could be endured. But there was not a single bit of interaction in class, not even eye contact. Even if Teacher Jiang had never taught before, had he never gone to school? Was this how his teachers had taught back then?!

Chen Xiangdong did not have any hopes for Jiang Zao. He even disliked him very much. Otherwise, he would not have instigated the leaders to come observe the class. He had come with the thought of making this ignorant brat embarrass himself and teaching him a lesson. But now that the other party had indeed made a complete mess of things as he wished, Chen Xiangdong felt uncomfortable instead.

He had been teaching for more than ten years and had always deeply devoted himself to Chinese language education. His professionalism would not allow such awful teaching to appear in a classroom.

Misleading students and being unworthy of the title of teacher!

Chen Xiangdong heavily drew an X in his observation notebook.

The others were also sitting rather uneasily. Although they were not Chinese language specialists and could not evaluate it professionally, they still had the right to speak on other aspects.

Reading directly from the lesson plan was one thing, but his tone did not change from beginning to end. It was like hypnosis. Couldn’t he see that students were already falling asleep in droves again? Was he not going to manage classroom discipline? Quiet alone did not count as discipline. Although the students of Class 19 were a little difficult to manage, at least try to manage them symbolically. That would count as doing his best!

The only one who remained perfectly calm was Rong Jingcheng. He looked at the podium with a smile at the corners of his mouth, spinning a pen in his hand now and then. He seemed quite satisfied with this class.

Chen Xiangdong endured and endured, but in the end, he could no longer hold back. Even if it was for this group of trash, he could not output such low-quality teaching!

“The author of this text was a literary master in our country’s modern history. His life…”

Jiang Zao held the lesson plan and read word by word. At the very back, someone suddenly stood up with a whoosh. Jiang Zao lifted his head and looked over. “Teacher Chen, is something the matter?”

Chen Xiangdong’s expression was very ugly. His voice was heavy. “Teacher Jiang, is this your teaching method?”

Jiang Zao glanced at him in surprise before answering, “Yes. Is there a problem?”

That righteous answer made Chen Xiangdong’s face darken even further. Yes? Was there a problem?

There was a huge problem!

“Teacher Jiang.” Chen Xiangdong’s voice was low. “As a teacher, even if your ability is insufficient, you can make up for it with your attitude. But isn’t your teaching attitude far too perfunctory?”

These words could be considered the voice of the entire observing group. They were higher-level leaders and conscious of their status, so many things were inconvenient for them to say directly. It was more appropriate for Teacher Chen, as the subject’s teaching and research group leader, to say them. Moreover, there was still an important figure of unclear attitude sitting here, making no one willing to be the one who stuck their head out.

Chen Xiangdong’s words were forceful and resounding, especially loud in the quiet classroom. Many drowsy students were immediately awakened by the noise and became energetic at once. They watched with great interest, their expressions full of expectation, as if they wished the two of them would immediately start fighting.

After being criticized in front of so many people, Jiang Zao did not waver in the slightest. There was only a little more confusion in his smile. “Is my attitude perfunctory?”

Chen Xiangdong nearly coughed up old blood. This brat might be lacking everywhere else, but his skin was truly thick. It was something everyone had seen with their own eyes, yet he still had the nerve to ask back!

Chen Xiangdong clenched his fists. Since Jiang Zao dared ask, then he dared say it!

“Teacher Jiang, teaching is a creative profession. Perhaps references can be used, but blindly reading from a script absolutely does not work.” When Chen Xiangdong spoke of the research he had poured into teaching for so many years, he was completely justified. “You must respond according to the students’ characteristics and the classroom atmosphere, combine it with the teacher’s own thinking, and adapt to changes in the classroom. Only this is the quality a good teacher should possess. Do you think you have achieved any of that?”

Once these words came out, the observing group nearly wanted to applaud him. Although it was only a few sentences, it was a speech that truly shook the ears and enlightened the heart. A good teacher should indeed possess these qualities!

Jiang Zao looked at the people below and said nothing.

Chen Xiangdong felt a sense of superiority, as if he had gained the upper hand. He wanted to see what crooked reasoning Jiang Zao could come up with this time.

Amid the silence, a pleased chuckle sounded at just the right time.

“Hasn’t Teacher Jiang achieved all of that?”