NOVEL WEB Chapter 14 : The first deviation
The warehouse was a bit far from our classroom. After showing the token to the warehouse manager - an old man who looked at everyone like they owed him money - and stating my purpose, I got 15 black stone ink and 1 red one. I ran back to the classroom to avoid being late and arrived when all papers were flying toward the master.
“Thank you student Bai. Please distribute the ink to everyone. The red one is for me” said master Huo and with a flick of his hand, the red ink stone moved toward him.
“Now you have a 15 min break. I suggest you all to go outside until I call you back. In silence” Master Huo stated before starting to grade the papers. Knowing that master Huo’s suggestions were always orders - I learned it the hard way in my first life - I went out with everyone else.
It was 9:30 AM but I was already hungry. My breakfast was a small rice cake and the altercation with my aunt made me forget to buy something on the way. Going back and forth to the cafeteria would take more than 15 min so it was out of the question. I just stood still and observed everyone else to pass the time. I did not want to repeat the daydream farce of this morning so dealing with the mountain of things I had to do could wait.
Again, everyone ignored me - including the she-wolf cousin -
Except for the bully group, I never talked with other kids. There were 3 groups in my class. The first group had the son of the security deputy chief of the city and his entourage. The 2nd group was the bully group. Everyone else was in the 3rd group. I should add a 4th group for me that had only 1 member…
Because age was not important. Classes were divided by the level of students; beginner, intermediate and advanced. I was the youngest in the advanced classes. I had nothing to do except studying all these years and I recalled promising my father to study hard on our goodbyes.
Today my she-wolf cousin was showing a ‘I got bullied by teacher’ face to everyone and only her group seemed to care but they did voice their grievances too loudly. Master Huo was too close so he could hear them. Funny, a cultivator like master Huo could listen to any conversation happening within 50 meters radius regardless of the volume. He was a disciple of teacher Liu but his cultivation base was much higher than his master’s. I really don’t understand how he ended up being his disciple. In my original life, even if he was not part of the bribery scandal, he lost his reputation when teacher Liu was imprisoned. I wonder if he could dissolve the master disciple relationship before that in this life.
In my first life, the she-wolf cousin did ask the same question but she did it following the proper classroom etiquette so she was not scolded. The dispute of this morning must have affected her this time around and made her make a mistake.
“Everyone, break over. Come in” said teacher Huo. We all found our graded papers on our desks. I of course got a perfect mark just like the first time.
“Now I know everyone’s level. Student Bai, you seem to be ready for the final exam. Do you want to take it this afternoon?” Again no deviation from the first life but my answer was different. I stood up then said
“I would be honored teacher Huo” Final exams were available to be taken every 1st and 15th of each month and today was the 15th
“Good, I already got the approval from the dean. Come to the exam pavilion at 12:45 PM. Don’t be late” As long as the school dean agrees, any teacher could give the final exam to students of a different classroom. The exam pavilion had anti-cheat arrays and test tools to make sure that students did not take face changing potions or paid others to take the exam for them. Spiritual power could not be used there to avoid any other way of cheating. The dean’s approval was also needed because at least 2 teachers had to be present during the exam. Also, the exam questions were chosen randomly from a pool of questions created by all teachers and put in a box. Those questions were refreshed every year. Basically, cheating was almost impossible for low level cultivators like us. This would be the 3rd time I went to this pavilion. I previously went for the beginner and intermediate exams in my first life.
“Now for the others; those who got 6 good answers or more. Good work, the next lesson is for you. Those with 4 to 5 correct answers, I expect you to have difficulties. Take notes for now and try to get help to review before tomorrow. There are 2 students who got so few answers that I wonder if they really passed the intermediate exam” Hehehe one of them was my she-wolf cousin and he was right, this test had 4 questions that we learned in the intermediate class; one in math and the rest in writing and text comprehension.
“I already contacted the dean. Expect an investigation and additional tests so you should study hard before that” ooooH that was different from the first life. At that time, he just mentioned their name, reprimanded them and let teacher Liu deal with it - The easily bribed teacher did nothing of course -
Whatever Yu JinLi and her bully group said during break time made master Huo change his way of dealing with this issue. It was still morning and I was getting so many gifts for my birthday! I'm so happy! Too bad I couldn't turn to see my cousin’s face at the moment…Ah, I can't have everything in life…
“Student Bai, today’s lesson is about the last question in this morning’s papers. You already know the answer so you can leave early. Take this time to study for your final exam”
“Thank you teacher Huo!” I stood up, bowed, then turned around to leave. Here she was, my she-wolf cousin and her ugly face. Amendment: today I CAN have everything I wished for.