Restart life

Chapter 69 0067 [Dean of Students: Chen Guiliang is an excellent student in both character and academics, and has always been sensible and obedient]

It was noon on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.

"Big sister, how do I get to No. 2 Middle School?"

"Keep driving straight ahead, there will be a roundabout after a few intersections. After the roundabout, keep driving straight, don't pay attention to the intersections, turn left when you see a traffic light. Keep driving along that road, and ask for directions when you reach a street full of internet cafes."

"Thank you, sis."

Reporter Chen Feng stepped on the gas, and six or seven minutes later, he arrived at the street lined with internet cafes.

Business here isn't good. With all the students on holiday, there are no customers, and some internet cafes have simply closed down.

After asking for directions and driving for another minute or two, we finally arrived at the school gate.

However, the gates were locked, and all the shops outside the school were closed.

He could only get out of the car and wander around for several minutes before finally encountering a living person.

"Brother, I'm a reporter from the Xihua City Daily. How can I find the principal of No. 2 Middle School?"

"How would I know? Go that way, go in through the back gate of No. 2 Middle School, that's the faculty and staff residential area."

"Thank you, brother."

Chen Feng then went to the back gate of the school. He was lucky enough to get the phone number of the dean of students directly from the gatekeeper.

"Hello, Director Yang, this is Chen Feng, a reporter from the Xihua City Daily."

"Hello, Reporter Chen."

"I'm currently at the back gate of No. 2 Middle School, and I'd like to interview some school leaders."

"Okay, okay, just a moment, I'll be right there. What would your newspaper like to know?"

"There is a student named Chen Guiliang from No. 2 High School who won the first prize in the New Concept Writing Competition. Moreover, his article is highly regarded, and universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, and Beijing Normal University are vying to recruit him through special admissions."

You mean Chen Guiliang?

"Is there a problem with Chen Guiliang?"

"No, absolutely no problem. Chen Guiliang is in our senior year experimental class. He has always been sensible, obedient, hardworking, friendly, and an excellent student. Reporter Chen, please wait a moment, I'll be there in ten minutes!"

Yang Zhenzhong, the director of teaching affairs, does not live in the faculty and staff residential area; he bought a house in the new urban area last year.

He grabbed the broken car keys and ran downstairs, calling the principal as he ran: "Principal Yan, there's great news!"

Principal Yan laughed and said, "What, are you going to wish me a Happy New Year in advance?"

"Where are you now?" Yang Zhenzhong asked.

Principal Yan said, "I'm having dinner with a friend. Guo Xiaosi is going home for the Chinese New Year, so I asked this friend to invite him to give a lecture at his alma mater next semester and raise money. At that time, I'll also invite twenty or thirty media outlets to give some publicity."

Guo Xiaosi will indeed be coming next semester.

I gave a literature lecture, signed and sold books, and donated 5,000 yuan to my alma mater.

But the travel expenses for the twenty or thirty media reporters cost a fortune!

Fushi County is too remote, and the road conditions are extremely poor. Even reporters from Chengdu need two days to get here. If a reporter from Shanghai were to come, the long journey would take several days, and a few thousand yuan wouldn't be enough to cover the expenses.

Yang Zhenzhong said, "Our school has produced another first-prize winner in the New Concept Writing Competition. It seems to be quite a big deal, with Tsinghua, Peking University, and Fudan University vying to recruit them through special admissions programs."

"Where did you hear this news from?" Principal Yan asked with delight.

Yang Zhenzhong said, "The reporters from the Xihua City Daily are all here, waiting at the back gate of the school."

Principal Yan said, "Then you should go and receive them as soon as possible, and make sure to keep them calm. I'm in the city, it will take me at least forty minutes to get there."

"Okay, I'm going to drive."

Yang Zhenzhong hung up the phone and then called Chen Guiliang's homeroom teacher.

"Teacher Liu, where are you?"

"Visiting relatives."

"Is it far?"

"Huangge Town".

"Tell your husband to drive you back to the back gate of the school quickly."

Liu Shuying was completely baffled and said to her husband, "Drive back to the school."

"Aren't you going to finish eating and leave?" Gao Zhan asked.

The couple went back to the wife's parents' home early today for the Lunar New Year's Eve reunion. They will spend the Lunar New Year's Eve at their own home and then visit their parents in Gaozhan on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

Liu Shuying said, "It's urgent, you should drive quickly."

Gao Zhan could only grumble and curse as he walked towards his Chery QQ.

Liu Shuying then gave a brief explanation to her relatives.

Their daughter, who is in college and had come home for winter break, chased after them and asked, "Even if you have something urgent to do, you should finish eating before you leave."

"Don't worry."

On the drive back to the county town, Gao Zhan asked, "What exactly happened?"

"I don't know," Liu Shuying said.

Gao Zhan had only had his car for two months, but he had already honed his driving skills and was driving his Chery QQ like a race car. He rushed to the back gate of the school, and as soon as he got out of the car, someone came up to him: "Teacher Gao, Teacher Liu, I'm sorry to disturb your meal. I'm Chen Feng, a reporter from the Xihua City Daily."

"Hello, Reporter Chen!"

The couple quickly shook hands.

Yang Zhenzhong explained, "That's how it is. Chen Guiliang, the outstanding student in your class, wrote a great article in the New Concept Writing Competition. Tsinghua and Peking Universities were vying to admit him. Because it was so good, the editor of the Wenhui Daily supplement was very skeptical and gave him a topic in public to write a classical poem. And what happened? Chen Guiliang lived up to everyone's expectations and wrote a contemporary version of 'composing a poem in seven steps'."

Liu Shuying thought to herself: Chen Guiliang's disciplinary action of being placed on probation was signed by you personally, and now you say that he is excellent in both character and academics?
Gao Zhan was taken aback at first, but quickly realized: "I've always liked Chen Guiliang, and I've known for a long time that he's very talented. When he was in his second year of high school, he came to me with a copy of Critique of Pure Reason and asked me how to understand it. He was only in his second year of high school, and he was already reading Kant's books."

This is a true story. Gao Zhan couldn't answer at the time, so he told Chen Guiliang to read less frivolous books.

Without a good teacher to guide him, Chen Guiliang could only look around blindly.

"He started reading Kant in his second year of high school?" Chen Feng was quite surprised and took out his notebook to write it down.

Gao Zhan said, "He reads all kinds of books..."

Just then, a taxi pulled up and came to the side of the road, and Chinese teacher Li Runze arrived.

"Reporter Chen, this is Chen Guiliang's Chinese teacher," Yang Zhenzhong quickly introduced.

They shook hands and greeted each other, and Chen Feng explained his purpose.

Yang Zhenzhong said, "Everyone's here, why don't we go eat first? I made a reservation at the restaurant when I arrived."

Ten minutes later, the group arrived at the restaurant's private room.

Li Runze, still holding a thermos, took a sip of goji berry tea and said with a touch of pride, "Chen Guiliang is my Chinese class representative. I've been teaching him since the first year of high school. After every exam, I always use his essays as model examples for the students. From the first year of high school to the third year, he got full marks on his essays twice and never dropped below 56 points."

Chen Feng scribbled in his shorthand notebook: "Has he ever demonstrated his classical Chinese proficiency before?"

“Yes,” Li Runze said. “He started learning to write classical poetry in his second year of high school and even asked me to buy him Mr. Wang Li’s ‘The Study of Chinese Poetics.’ This book can’t be found in Xinhua Bookstore; he heard about it online. I called an old friend in Guangzhou and he sent me a used copy.”

Chen Feng continued taking shorthand notes: "As a Chinese language teacher, it seems you have been of great help to him."

Li Runze took another sip of goji berry tea: "When you encounter a promising talent, of course you should nurture them. Before you could buy 'The Study of Chinese Poetics,' guess how Chen Guiliang learned poetry and classical Chinese?"

"How did you learn it?" Chen Feng asked.

Yang Zhenzhong handed out two cigarettes to the waiter and then went out to urge him to hurry up and serve the food.

Li Runze laughed and said, "He was reciting 300 Tang and Song poems while also memorizing the Dictionary of Classical Chinese."

"You even memorize classical Chinese dictionaries?" Chen Feng asked in surprise.

Li Runze said, "Yes. I was also surprised at the time, so I asked him why he memorized the dictionary. He said it was a habit he developed when he was a child. He attended a village primary school, where one teacher taught all subjects for the entire grade. That teacher was privately employed and only earned a few yuan a month. Every year, he had to take the public school exam. Whenever he was preparing for the public school exam, that teacher would not teach and would let the students memorize the texts themselves. Chen Guiliang said he had memorized all the primary school texts."

"That's interesting," Chen Feng said with a smile.

Li Runze said, "Later, he developed a habit of memorizing the Xinhua Dictionary when he had absolutely no other books to read. What rural kids could find extracurricular books to read?"

Chen Feng remarked with emotion, "It's not easy."

Li Runze said, "He even brought me Zhuangzi to ask me questions. Not about the meaning of the words, but about Zhuangzi's ideas. How could I answer them? I could only discuss them with him. This kid, I also saw him reading Laozi, Huainanzi, and Zhouyi Tonglun. Anyway, these are not books that someone his age should be reading."

It still comes down to the Chinese language teacher, Chen Feng felt that this interview was the right one.

Li Runze continued, "Chen Guiliang used to be very thin. His family was poor, and he loved reading, so he would skip breakfast and meat to save money for extracurricular books. It was only during this period, probably to prepare for the college entrance examination, that he started eating normally again."

Liu Shuying was stunned.

She thought she cared about and understood her students, but she didn't know there were other things going on.

The dishes were finally served, and Yang Zhenzhong brought over a bottle of Wuliangye liquor.

"Reporter Chen, let's eat and chat." Yang Zhenzhong helped pour the wine.

Chen Feng reached out to stop him: "You're too kind. I still have to drive back to Rongcheng, so I won't drink. The road conditions are bad, and I'm afraid something might happen."

“The roads are indeed difficult to travel; I’ve driven them myself. Some sections of provincial highways are even worse than village roads, enough to shake your bones off,” Yang Zhenzhong said, echoing his sentiment.

After taking a couple of bites of food, Chen Feng asked Liu Shuying, "How are Chen Guiliang's grades usually?"

Liu Shuying said, "His middle school entrance exam scores were excellent, with only a dozen or so points deducted. He was in the experimental class in his first year of high school. During the placement exam, he scored over 90 in math, physics, and chemistry. Perhaps it's because he loves literature that he insisted on studying humanities. As Reporter Chen just heard, he devoted all his energy to reading extracurricular books. His grades declined somewhat in his second and third years of high school, and he could only hover around the first-tier university admission line."

In fact, most of the time I'm below the first-tier university admission line, and only occasionally can I get close to it by performing exceptionally well.

After eating a few more bites, Chen Feng asked, "Has anything interesting happened to him at school?"

Yang Zhenzhong winked frantically at Liu Shuying.

What interesting thing happened?
Should we put up a big-character poster about the principal? Or should we smear the spoiled food from the cafeteria, soup and all, on the principal's office door?

Or perhaps they would lead a disturbance in the cafeteria and smash the cafeteria's dishes?

He collected computer fees from senior high school students but didn't teach computer classes, so he and the students signed a petition demanding a refund.
Liu Shuying racked her brains and recalled carefully, finally coming up with something she could tell: "When he was in his second year of high school, a classmate in his third year had leukemia. The school organized a donation drive, and Chen Guiliang donated twenty yuan, ranking second in the class in terms of donation amount."

Chen Feng was both amused and exasperated. What was there to say about this?

But considering that Chen Guiliang went hungry to buy books, it seems he deserves some praise.

"Are there any extraordinary people or events like that?" Chen Feng continued to ask.

"No," Liu Shuying shook her head.

Chen Feng thought to himself: It seems I still need to interview Chen Guiliang's junior high school teacher.

-

(When Lao Wang was in elementary school, he literally memorized the entire Chinese textbook. His teacher was a woman in her fifties, and despite her age, she was still studying for the public school teacher exam. She didn't teach all day, yet she required students to stay in the classroom and memorize...)
(End of this chapter)