Chapter 103 Experiencing a Different Life_style='text/h

Hao Ren’s chest pressed against Lu Lili's back, their sides gently touching as they carefully lifted out the dish. Meanwhile, Lu Linlin was giggling beside them and stirring the meat broth, sneaking t...Chapter 103: Experiencing a Different Lifestyle

The Er Hai University was not far from Zhao Zianzi's Lingdi Middle School; it only took several bus stops to get there. Sitting on the swaying bus, he leaned his arm against the window and supported his head when suddenly he realized that the band-aid on his elbow hadn't been removed yet.

He reached out and tore off the band-aid, noticing just a tiny trace of blood on it, indicating that his wound wasn't severe.

The pink band-aid with a cartoon piglet design made Hou Ren laugh more and more as he looked at it.

Moving the band-aid around in his hand for several minutes, Hou Ren actually felt somewhat reluctant to throw away this sentimental item. However, after thinking about it again, collecting such an item would be too "eccentric," so he still tossed the band-aid into the bus trash bin.

In fact, when it comes down to it, this little girl isn't bad towards me, Hou Ren thought to himself.

The bus arrived at Lingzhao Middle School. Hou Ren got off and checked the time; it was exactly 7:30. Many private cars were already lined up outside the school gate, and some parents were rushing into the school.

Hou Ren hurried to enter the school for fear of being late. However, a girl who looked like a student council member stopped him, saying, "This is the parent-teacher meeting today; outsiders can't enter."

"I'm here for the parent-teacher meeting," Hou Ren said.

The girl eyed him with suspicion, "Whose parent are you"

Although many middle school students' parents were not old, they couldn't be as young as Hou Ren, could they

"Zhaoyanzǐ from Class 2, Grade 2 of the middle school department. I'm her elder brother; because her parents are too busy, I came in their place for the parent-teacher meeting," Hao Ren replied. He had thought up this explanation while on his way here.

“Mm.” The girl nodded and finally put down her arm, allowing Hao Ren to enter.

Is Zhaoyanzǐ quite famous in their middle school Hao Ren wondered as he walked inside.

Lingzhao Middle School was one of the top key secondary schools in Donghai City. The campus was huge and extremely beautiful, with artificial hills, lakes, modern teaching buildings and sports facilities, as well as classical art galleries and music halls—it was like a diversified park.

As many students here came from wealthy or influential families, security was tight; outsiders couldn't enter freely. Hao Ren, who had grown up in Donghai City, only managed to get inside the renowned key secondary school for this parent-teacher meeting.

The campus was divided into a high school and middle school department. Except for the playgrounds, art galleries, sports facilities, and music halls which were shared, all other teaching buildings and facilities were separate. An artificial lake across the campus separated it into two areas: one belonged to the middle school department, while the other was designated for the high school.

Following the road signs, Hao Ren easily found the teaching building of the middle school department. The Grade 2 classrooms were concentrated on a single floor; he walked up the stairs and looked at each sign until he finally found Class 2.

The classroom was already filled with parents: some were resting their eyes, others chatting among themselves. Hao Ren's young appearance naturally drew attention as he entered.

Each table had a note with a student’s name on it; Hao Ren saw Zhaoyanzǐ's name at the second row from the front and walked over to sit down.

The person sitting next to Hao Ren was an older man. They exchanged nods as a form of greeting.

After taking his seat, Hao Ren surveyed the classroom layout; in the front were a lectern and blackboard, while behind them was another small blackboard with various essays posted on it. However, the lectern was larger than what Hao Ren remembered from school days, and instead of traditional blackboards, this one had a white background which allowed for writing with colored pens.

The desks and chairs were all brand new iron ones. Hao Ren noticed a small metal plaque on the upper right corner of the desk, which read "Zhao Yanzǐ" [趙焰紫].

It turned out that each set of desks and chairs belonged to an individual student. No wonder they kept them so clean without any scribbles or drawings. When we were in school, why didn’t anyone think of this idea Hao Ren thought.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt a strange sensation as Zhao Yanzǐ would sit at that desk every day. Sometimes Zhuang’èr [莊二] would be dozing off or wide awake listening to lectures. It was like Hao Ren himself had turned into Zhao Yanzǐ and was experiencing her school life: there was a blackboard in front of him, the teacher lecturing, classmates sitting beside him, Xiao Ling possibly sitting nearby exchanging glances with Zhao Yanzǐ and passing notes; while boys would take advantage of the teachers’ distraction to play around and sometimes sneak peeks at girls they liked. Boys sitting at the back seats would also purposely mess with the braids of girls in front of them and get a glare from those girls.

Hao Ren imagined the scene in class, then glanced over and saw another plaque on the desk of that middle-aged man beside him — it was a girl’s name as well.

Mm-hmm, Zhao Yanzǐ sits with a female classmate. Hao Ren felt slightly relieved but suddenly wondered, Wait, what am I counting

While Hao Ren was busy looking around, an older woman carrying lecture notes in her hands and dressed in professional attire walked into the classroom, heading straight to the podium.

"Hello everyone. I’m Ms Luo Ying, the homeroom teacher for Class 2 of Year 2."

She introduced herself but then she noticed a young man sitting among the parents and asked in confusion, "Student, are you here as well"

"Oh, I’m Zhao Yanzǐ’s elder brother. Her parents are too busy with work, so I came to substitute for them," Hao Ren said.

"You’re her brother Then aren’t her parents your own" As an experienced homeroom teacher, she immediately spotted the inconsistency in Hao Ren’s statement.

She suspected that Zhao Yanzǐ was afraid of failing and asked someone to substitute for her parents. Such things had happened before among students; Junior high students impersonated parents of Senior high students which underestimated teachers’ intelligence and resulted in both parties being punished.

"Oh, I’m her cousin!" Thankfully, Hao Ren reacted quickly and promptly corrected himself.

Cousin could also represent the parents"Ruo Ying, the homeroom teacher, seemed a bit unhappy with this response but didn't say anything further since there were still many other parents waiting to attend the meeting.

"Today's Parent-Teacher Conference is mainly for announcing the midterm exam results of the students. As you know, your children have already entered their second year of junior high and will soon be advancing to their third year. That means the second year should lay a solid foundation for the third year. The performance in the third year has a lot to do with whether or not the groundwork laid during the second year is strong enough and if the basics are solid." Facing the parents, Ruo Ying started her speech.

Hao Ren sat below listening carefully as he saw all the other parents attentively attending to what was being said. He couldn't afford to be frivolous himself and thus pretended to listen seriously. However, he knew that what the homeroom teacher was saying were old cliches aimed at urging the parents to focus on their children's studies.

This was also Hao Ren's first time attending a Parent-Teacher Conference as someone pretending to be a parent.

Seeing the serious expressions of these parents, Hao Ren suddenly thought that he too would become one of them someday...

"Don't think that just because your child's grades aren't too bad, they can smoothly transfer to the senior high department. Therefore, you don't need to worry about their grades. In reality, a student's performance in senior high is determined by their junior high level. And the display during senior high will directly affect which university your children get accepted into."

Continuing her endless speech, Ruo Ying left Hao Ren, who lacked the awareness of these parents, no interest in listening to such stale talk. He lowered his head and quietly flipped open Zhao Yanzi's desk drawer.

The inside contained half a bottle of drink, half a pack of potato chips, some unopened plum candies and honey dates. There were also some items belonging to female students, like nail clippers.

Stinky brat, she still likes snacks so much even at school.

Hao Ren put these things aside and continued looking inside the drawer for more stuff.

Ruo Ying, with rich experience in catching small student misbehaviors and keen eyesight, immediately noticed Hao Ren secretly rummaging through Zhao Yanzi's desk. But she couldn't say much as it would disrupt her ongoing speech to the other parents about important matters.y "apologize."With her excellent innate talent, if she were well-trained, Duan Yao could reach the Core Formation stage. However, if she becomes a furnace for a high-ranking cultivator, it would great...