What's wrong with me, a school principal, listening to students' suggestions?

Noon, canteen.

Lin Yucai sat by the window with his tray in hand, opposite Su Qingyan.

Today, Zhou Dahai made braised lion's head meatballs with a vegetable and tofu soup, and the aroma of the meat was irresistible.

"We can't accept Wang Liheng." Lin Yucai picked up a lion's head meatball and said firmly.

"I think so too." Su Qingyan nodded. "This kind of teacher is only suitable for teaching top students. If they were in our school, they would give the students psychological trauma."

"Yes, when we hire teachers, patience is the most important quality." Lin Yucai took a bite of his meatball. "What's the use of having excellent grades if you can't teach students?"

"What about Li Xinyi?" Su Qingyan asked.

"She can stay," Lin Yucai thought for a moment. "Her lectures are detailed enough, and she's willing to explain things repeatedly. That's exactly the kind of teacher we need."

As the two were talking, Zhang Yang walked over carrying a tray of food.

"Principal, Principal Su, may I sit here?"

He was followed by Skinny Monkey, Liu Meng, and Zhao Yang.

"Have a seat," Lin Yucai said, pointing to the empty seat next to him.

The four of them sat down. Zhang Yang hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Principal, there's something I'd like to tell you."

"Speak," Lin Yucai said, taking a sip of soup.

"It's that Mr. Wang..." Zhang Yang scratched his head, "Could we ask him to stay?"

Lin Yucai was stunned, his chopsticks hanging in mid-air.

"What did you say?" Su Qingyan also put down her chopsticks.

"I know he lectures too fast for us to understand," Zhang Yang took a deep breath. "But aren't the new students at our school doing quite well academically?"

"You mean..." Lin Yucai was somewhat surprised upon hearing this.

"Teacher Wang might be better suited to teaching students with a strong foundation," Zhang Yang said earnestly. "Many of the new students are capable of getting into the top high school, so they'll definitely understand."

The skinny monkey chimed in, "That's right, Principal. We can't abandon good teachers just because we're not smart."

"You little rascal, now you're actually thinking about the freshmen?"

Lin Yucai looked at Zhang Yang and suddenly smiled.

"Hehe." Zhang Yang scratched his head. "I just felt that our school needs a few teachers who can teach top students, right?"

Lin Yucai turned to look at Su Qingyan.

Su Qingyan pushed up her glasses. "He makes a good point."

"Alright." Lin Yucai nodded. "Then we'll keep Wang Liheng, but we need to give him a little talking-to."

"Really?" Zhang Yang's eyes lit up.

"Of course it's true." Lin Yucai patted him on the shoulder. "Even our school's lucky star pleaded for him, how could we not keep him?"

Zhang Yang's face instantly turned red. "Principal, please don't say that..."

"Why is your face red?" Lin Yucai laughed. "If it weren't for your suggestion, would the students at our school trust me so much?"

Zhang Yang scratched his head and muttered to himself, "That's because you really do things, Principal; otherwise, things wouldn't have gotten better."

"Principal, Brother Yang, why are you two suddenly starting to flatter each other?"

Skinny Monkey and his friends joined in the commotion, and Zhang Yang's face turned even redder.

"Oh, right." Lin Yucai put down his chopsticks, "There are still a few rounds of interviews to go, and you guys will continue to be the judges."

"You still want us to go?" Liu Meng asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, we'll have Director Ma conduct the interviews with you." Lin Yucai said earnestly, "You have good judgment; I trust you."

The four of them exchanged a glance, and their eyes lit up.

"No problem!" Zhang Yang nodded vigorously.

After finishing their meal, Lin Yucai led them back.

As they passed the library construction site, Zhang Yang and his group stopped in their tracks.

The three-story glass curtain wall glittered in the sunlight as workers installed the last few panes of glass.

"Holy crap..." Skinny Monkey's eyes widened. "Is this our school?"

"Yes," Lin Yucai smiled, "The new library will be ready to use when school starts."

"This is amazing!" Liu Meng was so excited he almost jumped up.

"Let's go take a look at the research building." Lin Yucai continued walking forward.

The research building is next to the library and is also a three-story structure.

The facade is not yet fully finished, but the main framework is already clearly visible.

"What's this for?" Zhao Yang asked curiously.

"The research building," Lin Yucai pointed inside, "has laboratories for physics, chemistry, and biology, and all the equipment meets provincial key standards."

"There's such a thing?" Zhang Yang's mouth gaped open.

"Of course." Lin Yucai patted him on the shoulder. "You can use it anytime you want to invent or create something in the future."

The four people stood there, speechless for a long time.

"Principal," Zhang Yang suddenly turned around, his voice slightly choked, "you've been so good to us."

"Of course, I'm your principal." Lin Yucai laughed. "Alright, go back now, you have interviews this afternoon."

The four people watched Lin Yucai walk away, then turned around in unison.

"I've made up my mind." Zhang Yang's eyes shone brightly. "For the first midterm exam of the new semester, I'm determined to be in the top ten of the class."

"Me too!" Skinny Monkey clenched his fist.

"Count me in!" Liu Meng and Zhao Yang said in unison.

……

2 PM, conference room in the administration building.

The first interviewee was Li Xiaofang, an English teacher.

She was 28 years old, wearing a beige trench coat, with long hair flowing down her shoulders, and spoke in a very gentle voice.

"Teacher Li, today's interview is a bit special."

"We won't conduct the interviews here; we'll go directly to the classroom for the trial lecture."

Lin Yucai quickly tidied up his resume, then got up to leave.

"A trial lecture?" Li Xiaofang was taken aback.

"Yes, we want to see how well you actually perform in class," Su Qingyan explained.

"No problem." Li Xiaofang nodded.

Ten minutes later, in the classroom of Class 3, Grade 11.

There were seven or eight students sitting in the classroom. The rest of them had come on their own after listening to Zhang Yang and his friends boast.

"Hello students, my name is Li Xiaofang, and I will be teaching you an English lesson today."

Li Xiaofang stood on the podium, holding a piece of chalk in her hand, with a smile on her face.

"Today we're going to talk about something called the subjunctive mood."

A wail immediately erupted from the audience.

"Teacher, I've been studying this for three years and I still don't understand it."

A boy lay face down on the table, his voice filled with despair.

"If I were a fish, I would swim to you."

Instead of immediately explaining grammar, Li Xiaofang picked up the chalk and wrote a line on the blackboard.

"Can anyone tell me what this sentence means?"

The skinny monkey raised his hand. "If I were a fish, would I swim towards you?"

"Yes." Li Xiaofang smiled. "Then let me ask you, was the person who said that a fish?"

"no."

"Yes, he is not a fish, and he can never become a fish."

"So he used the subjunctive mood to express an impossible assumption."

She turned around and wrote a second sentence on the blackboard.

"If I studied harder, I would pass the exam."

"What about this sentence? Did the person who spoke it pass a test?"

"I didn't pass the exam," Zhang Yang replied casually, leaning back in his chair.

"Then why didn't he pass the exam?"

"Because he didn't study hard."

"Bingo!" Li Xiaofang snapped her fingers. "The core of the subjunctive mood is that simple... saying the opposite of what you mean."

"For things that don't happen in reality, we have to take a step back in grammar to express them."

Instead of immediately instilling rules, she took out a stack of cards from her pocket, each depicting a scene from daily life.

"Now, I'll give each of you a card. Create a sentence using the subjunctive mood."

A girl received the card, glanced at it, and saw that it said "Win the lottery".

"If I win the lottery, I will buy a house for my parents."

"Very good!" Li Xiaofang clapped her hands. "Note that 'won' is in the past tense, and 'would' indicates the subjunctive mood."

The card the skinny monkey received said "Can fly".

After thinking for a long time, he finally managed to say, "If I could fly, I would fly to...food street?"

The whole class burst into laughter.

Li Xiaofang laughed, but instead of mocking him, she helped him correct his pronunciation and word order.

Throughout the lesson, she didn't present a single dry grammar table; instead, she guided the students through scenarios and dialogues.

When discussing the three types of conditional sentences, she directly asked the students to perform a skit in groups, creating a dialogue using the subjunctive mood.

Laughter filled the classroom, and even a few students who had only come to join in the fun raised their hands to answer.

Lin Yucai stood outside the back door and looked through the glass window for about ten minutes.

Li Xiaofang's handwriting on the blackboard is neat, her speaking speed is moderate, and she will stop after explaining each knowledge point to check whether the students have followed along.

Most importantly, she broke down the subjunctive mood, something that gives countless high school students a headache, into something very simple.

Lin Yucai nodded in satisfaction, then turned and quietly left.

Ma Desheng stood at the corner of the corridor, a notebook tucked between his fingers.

"How is it?" Ma Desheng asked in a low voice.

"This person is worth keeping." Lin Yucai gave a thumbs up. "After she finishes her lecture, tell her to go back and wait for further notice."

"Okay." Ma Desheng made a note in his notebook.

What's the situation with the next interview?

"History teacher Zhao Jianhua, 43 years old, graduated from North China Normal University, with 15 years of teaching experience."

Ma Desheng flipped through the resume.

"I used to teach graduating classes at an experimental high school in the next city, but I resigned last year."

Why did you resign?

"It says 'personal reasons' on my resume," Ma Desheng shrugged.

Lin Yucai thought for a moment, "Okay, you keep an eye on the rest of the interviews, I'll go take a look around the construction site."

"You can rest assured about what I do!"

Ma Desheng patted his chest.