After Transmigrating for the Third Time, the Real Young Master Decides to Slouch - Chapter 17

An even longer, even more speechless silence than before swept through the classroom, because the person who had spoken was Rong Jingcheng.

Everyone’s gaze gathered on Rong Jingcheng.

Rong Jingcheng leaned against the back of his chair and lazily stretched. Today’s occasion was probably not very important to him, because he was dressed rather casually: a T-shirt, casual pants, and a thin jacket—someone suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu. Why did his outfit look so similar in style to what Teacher Jiang was wearing today?

Seeing that Rong Jingcheng had no intention of explaining on his own, Chen Xiangdong braced himself and asked, “School Director Rong, what do you mean by that?”

“Mm?” Rong Jingcheng tilted his head. “Is it hard to understand?”

Someone laughed awkwardly.

Rong Jingcheng wore an expression that said, this is so troublesome, how are you all this stupid? Yet he still reluctantly and mercifully gave them an explanation. “Teaching according to students’ characteristics means teaching according to their aptitude, right?”

Chen Xiangdong nodded.

“Teaching according to their aptitude…” Rong Jingcheng repeated these four words, then suddenly laughed out loud. He raised his hand and pointed around the classroom, smiling as he said, “What kind of ‘aptitude’ is sitting in this classroom? Surely you don’t not know.”

Silence.

Rong Jingcheng did not intend to gloss over it with one sentence. Smiling, he continued, “They are a group of unwanted—”

“Trash.”

“It was out of my kindness that I opened this class and took them in. Are they staying here to study? Wrong. It’s because no one wants them and they have nowhere to go that they have no choice but to stay here.” When Rong Jingcheng spoke, he was smiling, as if he carried no malice at all and was merely expressing an honest, objective fact. “Teaching according to aptitude? For this group of hopeless trash, the most suitable teaching method is—there is no need to waste time on them at all.”

The others in the observing group felt their scalps go numb. They knew there had always been rumors that Rong Jingcheng’s words and actions were willful and eccentric, but they had little contact with him and had never seen it for themselves. Now, seeing it with their own eyes, they realized it was indeed true.

How could he say these things in front of the students? How hurtful to their self-esteem.

As educators, they ultimately could not bear it, so they looked toward the students. They originally thought that after hearing these words, the students would be angry or upset. But there was none of that. Some had their cheeks propped up, looking indifferent as if they were listening to someone else’s business. Some were boredly playing with their fingers. Some covered their mouths and laughed extremely happily. Some yawned and buried their heads back down to sleep.

Anger? Sadness? There was none of that at all!

School Director Rong was right. They really were a group of hopeless trash.

“Look at them—” Rong Jingcheng raised a hand and pointed. “They really don’t have the slightest sense of shame.”

“Have you said enough?” A cold voice suddenly rang out, covering Rong Jingcheng’s mockery.

Like a stone falling into water, it stirred up a thousand waves.

Everyone looked toward the podium, either shocked or astonished. Jiang Zao’s face was cold and solemn, and his tone was not very good either. “Commentary on an open class should not include evaluations of the students themselves. If you want to discuss the students’ classroom performance, you are welcome to. As for anything else, please discuss it privately after class.”

Everyone sucked in a breath. If that first sentence had only shocked them because this new teacher had interrupted Rong Jingcheng’s speech, then now they were impressed that he actually dared to sing a different tune from Rong Jingcheng.

That was Rong Jingcheng!

That was the head of the Rong family, a man whose sneeze could make Jing City tremble for several days. A young teacher fresh out of the gate actually dared to challenge him. Did he not want to live?

Jiang Tong was so nervous he could die. His heart was about to leap out of his mouth. He knew his brother was brave, but the other party was School Director Rong! Speaking to him like this—Brother, do you not want to work here anymore?!

A hand reached over and covered his. Jiang Tong lifted his head and saw Lu She’s calm eyes.

“It’s fine,” Lu She’s voice was also very calm. “Trust Teacher.”

For some reason, Jiang Tong’s mood calmed down along with it. He should trust his brother. His brother was definitely not someone reckless who ignored consequences.

He nodded at Lu She, and Lu She withdrew his hand.

The atmosphere was heavy. Everyone waited anxiously to see how Rong Jingcheng would react. If this were only an ordinary rebuttal meant to maintain classroom discipline, there might still be room to maneuver. But the current situation was that Rong Jingcheng had been speaking up for him, only to be bitten back in return. This was not knowing what was good for him. Even someone with a good temper would get angry, let alone this head of the Rong family, whose temper no one could predict.

Most people thought hopelessly that this young man was finished. He had no future now.

However, in the next second, Rong Jingcheng’s reaction made their glasses drop in shock—Rong Jingcheng not only did not get angry, he was even the one who apologized.

Rong Jingcheng was first surprised for a moment, then smiled and apologized. “Ah, so that doesn’t comply with the rules? Sorry about that.”

Jiang Zao’s expression did not change at all.

Rong Jingcheng made a motion of zipping his mouth shut. “I was wrong. I won’t speak anymore. Please continue teaching.”

Jiang Zao looked at him faintly, picked up his lesson plan, and said, “Let’s continue.”

Below the podium, not a single sound could be heard.

After the class ended and he sent off the observing group, Jiang Zao looked back at the students below. They were all still sitting in their seats. More accurately, throughout the second half of the class, they had sat there obediently like this. As for whether they had been listening or spacing out, Jiang Zao could not manage that much.

No one spoke, but every person’s face wore an expression that said they had something they wanted to say. They were only waiting for someone else to speak first.

Jiang Zao spoke first. “Class dismissed.”

No one moved.

Jiang Zao picked up his things and walked toward the door.

As he passed by, Fang Han propped up his chin and said lazily, “You really like meddling in other people’s business.”

The classroom was still very quiet, so this sentence clearly entered everyone’s ears. Mocking smiles appeared on their faces.

Jiang Zao’s footsteps stopped. He glanced at him and shrugged. “It’s my classroom. I’ll manage it however I like.”

Only after he walked out of the classroom did someone react. “No, is he crazy? What benefit does offending Rong Jingcheng bring him? If he wants to die, don’t drag us into it!”

Discussions broke out one after another.

Jiang Tong scratched his head. Why did these words sound so strange to him? They clearly sounded very angry, but why were their expressions so odd?

When Jiang Zao returned to the office, he was immediately greeted by everyone’s focused gazes. Every person had an expression that looked like they wanted to speak but found it inconvenient.

After putting his things down, Jiang Zao asked, “What’s wrong?”

The others looked at one another. In the end, Meng Qiuyu stood up and said, “Teacher Jiang, I heard you had a surprise class observation?”

“News travels pretty fast,” Jiang Zao muttered, then nodded. “Yes. What about it?”

Meng Qiuyu smiled and said, “Everyone was only worried that Teacher Jiang doesn’t have much experience and might not be able to handle it.”

“It was very easy to handle.” Jiang Zao took a sip of water. “Just teach normally.”

He said it lightly, and the others exchanged looks. It was still Meng Qiuyu who asked, “Nothing happened, right?”

When he asked, he was careful, as if afraid of saying something wrong. Jiang Zao thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No.”

Meng Qiuyu still wanted to ask more, but Jiang Zao suddenly waved his hand, signaling for him not to speak first. He took out his phone, glanced at the caller ID, and hung up without much hesitation.

Jiang Zao put down his phone and looked up. “Teacher Meng, what were you about to say?”

Meng Qiuyu was silent for two seconds, then smiled and shook his head. “Nothing. It’s good that nothing happened.”

“Was this Teacher Jiang’s first time teaching an open class?” Xia Wei asked with a smile at this moment.

“That’s right,” Jiang Zao answered.

Xia Wei asked, “Were you nervous?”

“It was all right.”

“That’s good.” Xia Wei seemed as if she wanted to say something, her smile a little helpless. “When I taught my first open class, I was very nervous. I mispronounced so many words, and I even accidentally spoke French instead of English. No one reminded me. By the time I realized I’d said it wrong, I was so embarrassed I wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground.”

Xia Wei’s gentle voice slowly recounted her past embarrassing experience, making people unable to help smiling knowingly. After her, Meng Qiuyu also spoke. “Teacher Xia, yours was still fine. During my first open class, when I was explaining the story behind a formula to the students, I didn’t control the proportions well and ended up talking for most of the class. I turned a math class into a history class.”

If everyone had still shown some restraint toward a lady, then once it came to a man, they laughed rather unscrupulously. One after another, people took advantage of the topic to talk about their own embarrassing moments from open classes. For a while, the atmosphere in the office became lively.

Jiang Zao listened with a smile. He knew these people were not bringing up the past for no reason. They only wanted to comfort him. The teachers in this office all taught Class 19. In a certain sense, they were on the same boat. They should indeed love one another and help one another.

Although Jiang Zao had also met the other teachers a few days ago, they had only been nodding acquaintances. Now, thanks to this opportunity, the distance between them had narrowed quite a bit.

Jiang Zao did not dislike friendliness.

School had only just started, and there were no urgent teaching tasks, so they chatted idly like this and passed the final class period. Taking advantage of the good atmosphere, Meng Qiuyu invited Jiang Zao to have lunch together, and Jiang Zao readily agreed.

Jiayin had a cafeteria exclusively for teachers. The dishes were varied, nutritionally balanced, and cheap but good quality, very suitable for faculty and staff who did not go home at noon.

Jiang Zao and Meng Qiuyu each took a set meal and found a seat by the window. There was an artificial lake on Jiayin’s campus. Right now, the autumn air was crisp and clear, and the lake scenery was very beautiful. Eating while looking at the view was extremely pleasant.

Neither of them was very talkative, so there was more silence than conversation during the meal. But they exchanged a few words now and then, and the atmosphere was rather harmonious.

Meng Qiuyu saw Jiang Zao hang up the phone again and could not help asking, “You’re not answering?”

“Harassing call.” Jiang Zao lowered his head and finished the last mouthful of rice. “I’m done. Shall we go?”

“Mm.”

Both of them needed to return to their apartments for a midday rest, so they walked together. When they were about to leave the cafeteria, Jiang Zao’s footsteps stopped.

“What is it?” Meng Qiuyu followed his gaze and discovered that he was looking at a snack counter.

“It’s plum blossom cake. It wasn’t here before. It must be new. Do you want some?” Meng Qiuyu asked.

Jiang Zao was already walking over. As he walked, he said, “The year I took the postgraduate entrance exam, a little shop selling plum blossom cakes opened at the university. I liked the taste very much. That shop seemed to always be open. No matter what time I left the library, whenever I passed by, I could always buy a serving of hot plum blossom cake.”

The two of them—

This skill was really hard to praise. He had no idea which great master’s hand it had come from. Perhaps it was the latest fashion?

Yu Tian still had high emotional intelligence. Smiling, he said, “It suits you, this artist. Custom-made for you?”

Rong Jingcheng very much liked his praise. The smile on his face never went down as he nodded and said, “That’s right. My stylist specially custom-made it for me.”

Author’s Note:

Ah, yes, yes, yes. Your exclusive stylist.

They walked to the counter. The chubby staff member had a warm smile on their face. “Freshly baked plum blossom cakes, still hot. Want one serving?”

“Two servings,” Jiang Zao said.

“All right!” The staff member swiftly packed two servings of plum blossom cakes and handed them over.

Jiang Zao paid and accepted them, then said to Meng Qiuyu, “Teacher Meng, sorry, I have something to do. You can go back by yourself.”

Meng Qiuyu, who had thought Jiang Zao was going to give him one serving: “…Okay.”

Author’s Note:

That was close. Almost entered the chasing-wife crematorium, 233.