Chapter 180: Chapter 182: Two Students Arrive
He scanned the room filled with parents once more before he continued, “It’s okay if our children do not do well in the exams this time. As long as they improve with each attempt, they are good kids. If possible, I would rather wish my child’s life to be ordinary but with a good family background, rather than living in a household like ours, where children are expected to think more, do more, and understand more.”
Upon hearing this, the other parents fell silent, as if awakening to their lack of attention towards their children and their inadequate efforts in helping them with their studies. Whenever their children underperform, their immediate reaction is to resort to corporal punishment or scolding. Even when these children manage to pull off a good performance, the parents will still criticize them. The problem lies in the fact that they are too concerned with their children’s academic achievements but neglect their personal growth.
Talented children like Tang Yuxin are scarce. There are indeed very few children who can compare to Tang Yuxin in this world. The majority are just ordinary kids, average in terms of intelligence and looks. Besides their inherent talents, there’s a common saying, ‘children from poor families learn to take charge early’.”
It’s not that she’s exceptionally intelligent. There are many children in the world smarter than her. Yet, not every child can consistently achieve the second rank in class, or win a national gold award.
We can only say that, being brought up in such a family, she has to be sensible and mature from a young age. Actually, no one wishes to grow up too early, because growing up would, inevitably, be accompanied by countless stumbles and falls.
Still, Tang Yuxin smiles. She never thought her family was terrible; they just lacked a mother figure. In her previous life, she had a mother and yet she was still just a common ‘white cabbage’ in the field.
As long as she has her father, whoever treats her well she will remember, and whoever treats her poorly, she simply wouldn’t care.
She also doesn’t care if people know about her family situation as she doesn’t feel that it’s shameful. What is shameful is to steal from others, what is shameful is Wei Tian and Sang Zhilan. What does that have to do with her?
Wei Tian was gripping his palm the whole time, his hand filled with sweat. Perhaps, he was afraid that Tang Zhinian would reveal what happened that year. By then, not only would his own reputation be tarnished, but Wei Jiani’s as well. He clearly knew about Wei Jiani’s circumstances, but how could he possibly bear to deal with these truths?
If everyone finds out about it, the humiliation would be minor in comparison to losing his job. Moreover, since he’s making steady progress in his career, he can’t afford any mistakes.
When Tang Zhinian finally sat down, a round of applause filled the room, and Wei Tian finally relaxed. However, the discomfort and embarrassment soon replaced his relief.
He used to look down on these rural people who could only farm, but now, their daughter has surpassed his own.
Not only did she come second in the class, but she also won a national essay competition gold medal. This felt like a slap on his face, loud and clear.
When Tang Zhinian returned home, he was walking on cloud nine.
Later in the evening, they unexpectedly had two uninvited guests. They were the parents of Xu Miaomiao and Chen Lidong, who were classmates with Tang Yuxin and sat next to Tang Zhinian earlier in the meeting.
Both of their children’s academic performances were at the bottom of the class.
“Ah Zhinian, we’re really sorry to bother you with this. We don’t really have a choice,” One of the parent’s face showed both shame and helplessness, “We both work at the same factory and we usually don’t have time to tutor our children. Their academic performances deteriorated and they’ve become our biggest concerns.”
“I thought that since we live close, how about letting our children study together with Yuxin? We heard from our children that Yuxin does well in school and she isn’t weak in any subjects, especially English. Please, Zhinian, we need your help.”
The two fathers, for the sake of their children, put down their pride and turned to others for help. The concept of private tuition wasn’t common back then, children had to study on their own at home. After attending the meeting, both felt that Tang Zhinian was a dependable person who could teach his children well. If their only children don’t turn out right, they will have nowhere to weep.
Therefore, even if they have to lose face, they don’t mind, as long as Tang Yuxin’s family can take care of their poor-performing children.
How should Tang Zhinian respond? He looked at his daughter, attempting to gauge her reaction. Even if he was usually bad at rejecting others, especially when they came bearing gifts, he wouldn’t agree to anything that could hinder his daughter’s progress.
As long as Tang Yuxin was unwilling, he didn’t mind offending others.
Tang Yuxin subtly nodded her head, giving Tang Zhinian some assurance.
When the two fathers saw their approval, they sighed in relief and gratefully dumped their children on them. They had left the two kids standing there, uncomfortably staring at each other, feeling totally awkward.
“Have you finished your homework?” Tang Yuxin asked the two students. She had not interacted much with them, but they didn’t seem like troublemakers. At least, during their middle school years, there were a few shared nods between them. However, she didn’t know how they were doing in their personal lives.
“We haven’t,” Both Xu Miaomiao and Chen Lidong shook their heads, forcing out bitter smiles. They had no time to finish their homework. Upon returning home, they were scolded harshly by their parents. They were so close to being asked to commit suicide as an apology.
“Let’s do it together,” Tang Yuxin led them into her room. There was a desk in the room that Tang Zhinian had custom-made for her. The table was very smooth and there were two small drawers where she kept her stationery and other small items.
Tang Yuxin took out her homework from her bag.
“You can ask me if there’s anything you don’t understand,” she hadn’t had much interaction with these two classmates. Her personality was also on the cooler side. Expecting her to laugh and chat with others like an amiable fool was simply impossible for her.
Xu Miaomiao was a girl who blushed easily. She lowered her head and didn’t dare to speak. On the other hand, Chen Lidong was outgoing and scratched his head sheepishly.
“Tang Yuxin, I don’t know how to do this math problem.”
Xu Miaomiao promptly lifted her head. Her pitiable expression made it seem as if she was aggrieved.
Tang Yuxin rubbed her forehead, suddenly feeling a bit of a headache. What kind of problem children had she taken on?