Chapter 111 - Targeted
Rebirth of a Fashionista: This Life Is Soo Last Season
The first lesson was her major.
After last night’s self study class, the students in Sheng Jiaoyang’s class treated her more normally and specially had her sit in the very middle.
As soon as the teacher walked in, he saw the eye-catching and striking Sheng Jiaoyang and thought of what someone had entrusted to him. She's finally here.
“The student sitting in the middle. Yes, you.” The teacher pointed at her. “School started a month ago, why haven’t I ever seen you before?”
“Teacher, you don’t even recognise Xu Jiaojiao?” a student asked.
The teacher raised an eyebrow. “Who’s Xu Jiaojiao? Is she a Prime Minister or Chairman? Am I supposed to know her?”
Did the teacher eat sh*t today or something? Everybody thought.
“Teacher.” Sheng Jiaoyang stood up. “I requested leave.”
“For what reason?” The teacher didn’t want to let her off and continued to question her.
“Teacher, she’s a celebrity, so it’s normal for her to take leave!” Another student felt that the teacher was being too overbearing.
The teacher widened his eyes. “Normal? Somebody who thinks like that isn’t normal to begin with! Just because she’s a celebrity, it means that she doesn’t have to study or attend class? If that’s the case, then why is she even going to school? This is a classroom, a sacred and solemn space to learn. It isn’t a place for little stars to dirty the caliber of our school!”
Some people had already stealthily taken out their phones to record the scene.
Sheng Jiaoyang’s expression changed. She no longer treated the teacher politely as her lips curled into a sneer. “Did I say that I didn’t need to study or come to class? If so, then what am I doing talking nonsense with you for? I relied on my own skills to get into this school. You can criticise my leave for being too long, but you can’t say that I don’t have the qualifications to be here and came to dirty the school’s caliber.”
“Do you have any more excuses? Being a star really is amazing as you’re actually daring to speak against your teacher! You don’t need to attend my course anymore, I’ll mark it down here. Your term attendance is ze-ro!”
The final mark was the term attendance added to the exam score. The term attendance was worth 30%, and the exam score was worth 70% if you scored 100. So, if you got a zero on the term attendance, you would have to get at least an 86 on the exam to pass.
Sheng Jiaoyang just smiled and sat back down, casually flipping through her book. She didn’t seem worried about getting a zero for her term attendance at all.
“You still haven’t left?” The teacher’s tone was bad.
“It’s not like you own this classroom, so why do I have to leave? Furthermore,” she paused, a sneer suddenly appearing on her face. “I also want to see what you’ve been teaching for the past month. I’m really worried about a teacher like you leading cute little students like us astray.”
“Fine, fine, fine, if you aren’t leaving, I’m leaving!” The teacher collected his class materials and stormed out of the building. His steps were rather slow, as if he was waiting for his students to call him to stay. However, even when he’d left the classroom, nobody asked him to come back. Once you start something, you cannot go back, so he could only angrily storm out.
“Is that teacher sick?! It’s not like she missed class on purpose, so why was he targeting her so much!”
“Exactly! I’ve never seen such a bad teacher before.”
“I always thought that he was annoying. He has always treated us like we were idiots, but that’s just really going too far!”
The girls all seemed furious.
The only boy in the class, Class Monitor Li Da, weakly said, “Will Mr Zhu make all of our attendances zero?”
“He wouldn’t dare! It’s not like he has the final say in the school.”
“Exactly, if he dares to do that, we’ll report him! Let’s see who has the last laugh!”
The girl sitting beside Sheng Jiaoyang looked at her brightly. “Jiaojiao, I binge watched all of the shows you’ve acted in yesterday night, especially National Supermodel. Wow, I can’t believe you’re not only fluent in English, but you even know Italian! Seriously, you’re so awesome!”
“I watched it ages ago. At that time, I was thinking, ‘How could that girl be so smart?’ I didn’t expect that someday we would be able to sit together and study in the same classroom. I’m so lucky!” the girl sitting in front turned around to say, her voice clear and pleasant.
“Although I’ve never watched it, Jiaojiao’s introduction stunned me yesterday. Your English is so nice to listen to! Jiaojiao, please teach me how you studied English!”
As everybody chatted, they gradually moved to the topic of studying techniques. Sheng Jiaoyang had the qualifications to speak about studying. In her past life, she was a serious student at the University of Cambridge, and even a top student that got early entry at 16 years old. With such a kind class, she didn’t mind teaching them some of her studying techniques.
So, when Mr Zhu came back with the department head, this was what he returned to.
A tall, beautiful looking girl was standing on the podium speaking fluent English, and in the audience, over twenty girls and one boy were concentrating on writing notes. Elegantly written English words filled the blackboard. Listening to her pleasant voice with an authentic British accent and seeing both the beautiful script and person, it was impossible not to focus on the lecture.
“Hey!” Mr Zhu was about to angrily interrupt when he was stopped by the department head.
“Shh!” The department head waved his hand, signaling him to be quiet. “Let’s listen first.”
Even the most focused students would soon notice the two standing at the door. Very quickly, Sheng Jiaoyang, under her classmates’ signals, also saw the two.
Although they weren’t there for long, it was long enough for them to hear some of the lecture.
The department head was a kind looking man with a moustache. Speaking of this, it was rather strange. Even though there were far more female students, there were more male teachers and department heads.
“Which student was obstructing the lesson?” the department head asked, his tone solemn.
“Department Head, it was Mr Zhu himself that didn’t want to teach us,” one of the braver girls said.
“Yeah, we can all testify!” Everyone else agreed.
“Nonsense!” Mr Zhu was just about to berate them when he was stopped with a glance from the department head.
A smile appeared on the department head’s face as his attitude became warmer. He looked at the girl standing on the podium and asked, “Student, what year and class are you from?”
“Department Head, she’s in our class!” somebody replied, beating Sheng Jiaoyang.
The department head’s face was filled with shock. Could a freshman actually be so amazing?
“Department Head, she’s the student that skipped a month of my class and even dared to argue with me!” Mr Zhu reminded him.
Mr Zhu’s voice wasn’t quiet, and the classroom was big enough that everybody could hear his words clearly. Many people revealed a mocking smile on their face as others started muttering to each other.
“Oh? Why were you skipping class? Do you have a complaint against Mr Zhu’s teaching style?” the department head asked.
Sheng Jiaoyang glanced at the proud Mr Zhu, who finally had support, and tapped her book as she said, “I never even knew him before, but now, I’m rather skeptical about how useful his teaching really is.”
“How dare you doubt my way of teaching! Who exactly is the teacher here?” Mr Zhu’s eyes widened as he glared at her, secretly livid. If the department head wasn’t here, he would’ve already scolded her harshly.
“Department Head, I feel like Mr Zhu’s lectures are too word-by-word textbook based. There’s nothing meaningful at all! They’re not even as good as Jiaojiao’s lectures.” A female student seized the chance to speak her thoughts.
“Exactly!” The other students chorused in agreement.
“Also, the way Mr Zhu treats students is very nasty. Our Jiaojiao just asked for a month’s leave, yet he insists that she’s deliberately skipping class and said that she came to dirty our school’s caliber! He even gave her a zero for her term attendance. He’s going too far!”
“I’m worried that if something happens in the future and I need to take a leave of absence, I’ll also get a zero in this course. It’s not taking our emotions into consideration at all.”
The class monitor stood up and met Mr Zhu’s deadly glare as he said to the department head, “We want to request the school management to replace our teacher. Basic English is the most fundamental course in our major because it builds the foundation. If the Department Head doesn’t agree, we’ll collectively write and sign a letter to the Chairman.”
“Nicely put!” somebody shouted excitedly.
Everyone turned to look at the class monitor, who’d finally done something. They were all very surprised. Because there were so many girls and only one guy, the class monitor usually didn’t have much confidence, resulting in everybody just calling him the 26th flower of their class. They didn’t expect to see him act masculine for once.
The department head raised his hand to silence the class. “Please don’t get too stirred up. I'll relay your intentions to the school. Today, you guys can have a self study period, and you can also continue with your classmate’s lecture.”
“Department Head?!” Mr Zhu panicked.
“Follow me.” The department head glanced at Mr Zhu and turned around to leave.
Mr Zhu angrily glared at the celebrating students before turning to follow the department head.
Once they’d reached the department head’s office and closed the door, the department head’s expression turned serious. “Tell me exactly, what happened?”
“Brother-in-law…”
“I already said not to call me Brother-in-law at school!” the department head rebuked.
Mr Zhu moved his lips before changing his words. “Department Head, Xu Jiaojiao is the one who openly contradicted me…”
“Wait a moment!” The department head frowned. “You’re saying that girl was Xu Jiaojiao?”
“Right, isn’t she just an 18th tier little celebrity?! Why is she being so arrogant for? I can’t stand such students-”
“Zhu Yongzhi!” the department head rebuked again.
Mr Zhu no longer dared to talk after hearing his normally gentle brother-in-law call his name in such a severe tone.
Seeing a big man act so scared made the department head sigh as he adjusted his voice. “Yongzhi, I used all my connections to help you get a job as a professor here, not to let you quarrel with students. Look, nobody in the entire class wants you as a teacher. Reflect on what you did wrong.”
Mr Zhu opened his mouth, but found that his brother-in-law’s expression darkened further.
“Do you know what it means to have Xu Jiaojiao in our department? These days, it’s getting harder and harder for our department to enroll new students. Although Xu Jiaojiao isn’t that famous right now, her future prospects are good. All the leaders of our school attach great importance to her. When she becomes famous and says that she graduated from our department, the publicity she’ll give us will make a huge difference!” the department head eagerly exclaimed.
Zhu Yongzhi, who hadn’t thought so far ahead, grew panicked. “Brother-in-law, it’s not my fault! Professor Tan told me to make things difficult for Xu Jiaojiao. In return, he’d help me apply for an associate professor position. I didn’t think it would turn out like this.”