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

Lin Yucai was unaware that he had been used as homework material.

He was standing in the first-floor corridor, peeking through the windows of each classroom.

The guitar music coming from the music class was intermittent, like someone sawing wood.

The art class was quiet, with only the scratching sound of pencils rubbing against paper.

Occasionally, a shout of "I ran it successfully!" would erupt from the coding class, followed by a chorus of "Holy crap! How did you do that?"

The street dance class is the most lively.

He Xiaoyu led the dance, with upbeat music playing from the speakers, and the eighteen students twisted and turned in unsteady fashion.

One boy spun around and fell flat on his backside, but got up and kept jumping, grinning from ear to ear.

Lin Yucai looked at these images and rubbed his hands together.

Although we can't see any results yet, at least one thing is certain...

These students' eyes shine when they're doing what they love.

That light was completely different from the deadpan look in his eyes when he was in class.

"Principal Lin."

He was watching when he heard footsteps behind him.

Ma Desheng walked over, holding a piece of paper in his hand.

"What's wrong?"

"The Education Bureau issued a notice this afternoon."

Old Ma handed over the paper, his wrinkles appearing a few degrees deeper than usual.

Lin Yucai took it and looked at it.

Guiding Opinions of the Tomato City Education Bureau on Strengthening the Management of Senior High School Teaching.

The content is long, but the core message is just one point...

It is recommended that all high schools strengthen the management of morning and evening self-study sessions and strictly prohibit reducing students' on-campus study time under any pretext.

It goes without saying who pushed for this "suggestion".

"Liu Jianguo?" Lin Yucai folded the paper twice and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Most likely," Ma Desheng sighed. "They didn't find anything wrong with the cafeteria last time they came to inspect it, so this time they're playing the policy card."

"Although it's not a mandatory rule, if No. 13 Middle School openly defies the Education Bureau's recommendations, they will have plenty of reasons to make trouble."

Lin Yucai remained silent for a moment.

"Director Ma, how many years have you worked in the education system?"

Thirty years.

"In the past thirty years, how many of the Education Bureau's recommendations have actually been strictly implemented? How many have truly been effective?"

"Not many," Ma Desheng thought for a moment.

"That's fine then." Lin Yucai patted him on the shoulder. "A suggestion isn't a law. Let him issue his, and I'll do mine."

"As long as my midterm exam scores don't drop, he can't do anything about it."

Ma Desheng looked at him, wanting to say something, but in the end just shook his head.

"Principal Lin, you're really brave."

"It's not that I'm brave."

Lin Yucai turned and walked towards the end of the corridor, his voice drifting back.

"These kids deserve it."

Ma Desheng stood in the corridor, watching Lin Yucai's figure disappear around the corner.

Sunlight streamed in through the windows, illuminating the corridor.

A series of scattered guitar sounds, mixed with the laughter of students, drifted from the music classroom in the distance.

"I hope so."

Old Ma sighed softly.

He turned around and went back to the academic affairs office, closing the door behind him.

Outside the door, laughter and piano music mingled together in the corridor, drifting in intermittently.

No. 13 Middle School.

This school, abandoned by everyone, is slowly coming back to life.

On the evening of the last day of the second week of the extracurricular class.

Lin Yucai returned to his office and saw that Su Qingyan was already sitting inside.

On the table in front of her was a small mountain of food.

The suggestion box was full of slips of paper.

"See for yourself, there are too many."

Su Qingyan gestured towards the pile of notes with her lips and crossed her arms over her chest.

Lin Yucai pulled up a chair and sat down, then casually picked up the top one.

The handwriting is neat and legible; it's clearly written by a girl.

"Principal, I know you have done a lot for us, such as the cafeteria, air conditioning, and shower rooms. We remember it all."

"Please, just take a look at our school uniforms!"

"Wearing this makes me feel like I'm wearing a flour sack. I'm too embarrassed to tell people I'm a student at No. 13 Middle School."

Lin Yucai picked up another one.

"I suggest changing the school uniform!"

"The school uniforms of the neighboring experimental middle school aren't great either, but at least they can be altered. Unlike ours, which are hard to alter and make us look like blocky people."

Next one.

"Principal! On behalf of all the girls, I beg you, this school uniform is awful!"

"It's so ugly that I don't even want to wear it for my ID photo."

"The color is dull gray, the collar is crooked, and the zipper got stuck after only two weeks."

"Last time in PE class, my deskmate squatted down to tie his shoelaces, and his pants ripped in the crotch."

"There were many people on the playground at the time, and she cried for the entire class period."

Lin Yucai's expression changed from calm to solemn.

He flipped through the pages one by one, growing more and more silent with each page.

Of the fifty-odd slips of paper, at least forty were related to school uniforms.

The wording ranged from mild to harsh, from suggestions to accusations.

Someone drew a cartoon: on the left is the school uniform of No. 13 Middle School, and a square gray burlap sack.

On the right is the ideal school uniform, a neatly tailored dark blue uniform.

The stark contrast is breathtaking.

Lin Yucai put down the last note and looked up at Su Qingyan.

"You also think school uniforms are ugly?"

Su Qingyan pushed up her glasses, her tone calm and composed.

"When I first came to No. 13 Middle School to register, I saw the school uniforms the students were wearing and thought the school was a construction company."

Lin Yucai couldn't help but laugh.

He looked down at the notes again.

These children's demands are actually very simple.

Eat well, live well, and dress decently.

The system panel lit up at the right time.

[Numerous student suggestions detected (combined): School uniforms are too ugly; requests for replacement/redesign.]

Recommended rating: Two stars (Medium difficulty)

[Should we adopt this?]

Two stars.

It's better than the one-star cafeteria and multimedia facilities, but not as troublesome as the three-star penalty for canceling morning and evening self-study sessions. Lin Yucai silently recited this in his mind.

"Accept".

[Ding! Suggestion successfully adopted!]

[A special start-up fund of 200 million RMB has been allocated!]

[Task Generation: Design and customize a brand-new school uniform system for No. 13 Middle School (no fewer than three options). Student opinions must be solicited, and the final design will be selected by student vote.]

Task completion rate: 0%

[Completion Reward: Blue Elite Chest (quality varies depending on completion level)]

[Note: The production cycle for school uniforms is relatively long. The design should be finalized within this semester, and mass production can be postponed to the next semester.]

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

Two million has been received.

Lin Yucai considered the matter in his mind.

School uniforms are something that can't be rushed.

It's already the end of May, so there's at most a little over a month left in this semester.

From design to prototyping to mass production, it takes at least two or three months.

Let's finalize the plan this semester, and wear the new clothes when school starts next semester.

"Vice Principal Su, I'm going to change the school uniform policy."

Su Qingyan raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

"But it won't be changed now, it will be next semester."

Lin Yucai held up one finger.

"Um……"

"Let's do three things this semester."

"First, collect students' preferences and opinions."

"Second, hire a professional designer to come up with a plan."

Third, let the students vote on the final design.