He had said these words countless times in class, but when he saw Shen Mianmian, he couldn’t help but remind her again.
Having a student who consistently ranked at the bottom in academic performance experience an epiphany after half a year of his teaching was an unsurpassed honor for any teacher.
"Mr. Chen, I will work hard."
Shen Mianmian smiled, making a cheering gesture. Chen Jie was stunned for a moment, then raised his hand and mimicked her gesture, seeing Shen Mianmian’s genuine smile for the first time since he had started teaching her.
The child used to be quite introverted, always bowing her head in silence. After her grades improved a bit, she took on a mature air one wouldn’t expect in someone so young, rarely smiling like a child.
Chen Jie laughed at his own thought; after all, Shen Mianmian was still a child.
"With so many students, why only cheer for Shen Mianmian? Mr. Chen is really biased," Wang Jingjing muttered under her breath from the back of the line.
"She’s good at buttering up," Zhao Xinlan whispered in response. The last time two teachers argued, no one else spoke up, only Shen Mianmian, eager to show off, was the first to stand up.
Before, she thought Shen Mianmian was foolish for choosing the wrong person to favor; later on, she found Shen Mianmian very cunning.
Shen Mianmian was simply cozying up to Chen Jie because she noticed Li Qiumei didn’t like her.
"What’s the use of flattering Mr. Chen?" Wang Jingjing scoffed dismissively, "He can’t give her extra marks anyway."
"But Mr. Chen might leak the exam questions to her."
Zhao Xinlan’s voice was very low.
Wang Jingjing looked disdainful, "What’s the difference between that and cheating? I don’t care for it."
In reality, she was more envious than anyone, or else she wouldn’t have asked Zhou Siyu to go snooping.
To put it bluntly, this was a case of sour grapes.
Guided by the vice principal, the students quickly found their seats. After about a minute or two, the school bell rang signaling the beginning of the exam.
The invigilators, a Chinese teacher from the first grade and the vice principal, handed out the exam papers to students and announced that no talking was allowed. Then, they started pacing up and down, vigilant against any potential cheating.
This year’s questions were quite difficult, and after a cursory look over the exam, every student’s face was creased with worry.
Only Shen Mianmian was calm. Not daring to waste a single second, she took the paper, wrote her name first, using a fountain pen specially awarded by the principal.
Perhaps favored by fortune, the initial few questions were those she knew well. She answered almost without thinking.
Especially the multiple-choice questions, which she completed very quickly.
After making a round, the first-grade teacher’s gaze landed on Shen Mianmian, noticing her vigorous writing from the moment she received the exam, sparking his curiosity.
This student had been to the office several times, and almost every teacher had a lasting impression of her—one for the fountain pen incident, and another for repeatedly making Li Qiumei look foolish.
So, he had made a special point of inquiring about this student with Mr. Chen, who spoke diplomatically but nonetheless made it clear that Shen Mianmian was indeed the poorest performing student in the class.
Li Qiumei disliked underachievers the most, so nobody was surprised she targeted Shen Mianmian.
But watching her work through the exam with such speed and focus, she didn’t seem like someone who was struggling at all.
Driven by curiosity, he approached Shen Mianmian and stopped, first noticing her fine handwriting.