Chapter Forty-Two: Too Outstanding, Thus Ridiculed
The model student selection exam soon passed by in a flash.
In the days that followed, all the students from the participating classes waited anxiously, their hearts restless yet impatient for the results to be announced.
In the minds of Wei Xiaoping, Wei Xiaofan, and Zhang Liying, each had assessed their own scores across subjects and essays. They all believed their results wouldn’t be poor, their total marks only just shy of perfection at worst.
Wei Xiaofan, when evaluating his own essays, felt both concern and anticipation.
His method of writing was different from that of others.
Ordinarily, the five essays were meant to be written around separate themes, discussing the respective significance of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education in advancing society and humanity. But Wei Xiaofan did more than that; he adopted a method of “interdependence in all things” to write his five essays. In each, besides discussing the importance of each aspect to human development, he explored the interconnectedness and mutual reliance between them, elucidating the reasons for comprehensive development.
Wei Xiaofan worried about his five essays because he considered his approach innovative—afraid the reviewing teachers might judge them by conventional standards and reject his creativity. Yet he was also hopeful, for he felt his method was novel. Reading any one of his essays would reveal the importance of each educational aspect to society, as well as their mutual influence and the necessity of comprehensive growth.
However, Wei Xiaofan’s fears proved unfounded. Not only were his concerns unnecessary, his five essays received high praise from every language teacher at Liangzhi Secondary School, both in junior and senior divisions. Gradually, his essays were brought into classrooms and used as exemplary models for students.
Thus, because of his five essays, Wei Xiaofan became a sensation throughout Liangzhi Secondary School.
With more than six thousand students across both junior and senior divisions, suddenly everyone knew there was a boy named Wei Xiaofan at Liangzhi.
All the students learned that this third-year student called Wei Xiaofan wrote exceptional essays.
Exceptional enough for every teacher in the school to know!
Exceptional enough that all the language teachers used his essays as models in their classes!
Exceptional enough that most students gave him curious looks when passing him in the hallway!
Exceptional enough that some students whispered about him behind his back!
Exceptional enough that some doubted whether Wei Xiaofan might have copied someone else’s work!
Exceptional enough that even Wei Xiaoping was “implicated” by association!
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“Sigh! They look so alike—who’s actually Wei Xiaofan?” students from other classes would gossip when they saw Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping walking together.
“I don’t know either. I heard Wei Xiaofan is from the countryside, so maybe the one wearing older clothes is him?”
“That can’t be right. Can someone from the countryside really be that smart?”
“So only city kids are allowed to be clever? Rural kids can’t?”
At first, Wei Xiaofan had no idea that his essays would attract such attention from the majority of teachers and students.
When he noticed classmates from other classes giving him strange looks, he wondered if maybe his clothes had a hole in them, or perhaps his face was dirty.
He asked Wei Xiaoping to check for dirt on his face.
He also checked his clothes and pants for any tears.
But his face was clean and his clothes intact.
So Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping endured the odd looks from others, bewildered.
It wasn’t until the third day, during language class, when Wu Wenbin mentioned Wei Xiaofan’s five contest essays, lavished praise on them, and shared that all the language teachers had used his essays as models, that Wei Xiaofan finally understood: the strange looks from other students these past few days had been because of this.
The pressure that had weighed on Wei Xiaofan from those peculiar glances lifted, as if a heavy stone had been removed from his chest. He felt much lighter, and a faint sweetness, like sipping honey, spread across his face in a smile.
“How wonderful!” Wei Xiaofan thought. “It’s just as I expected! When writing those five essays, I felt no obstacles; I knew they couldn’t be too bad. Now, hearing the teacher’s praise, it’s even better than I imagined!”
“Wei Xiaofan, old friend, your essays are amazing!” Wei Xiaoping nudged him under the desk and smiled, giving him a thumbs-up.
“Thank you!” Wei Xiaofan nudged back and replied, “You’re just as good!”
“Let’s hope you win the championship prize this time. That way, we’ll have capital for our summer business venture!”
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“It’s not that easy to win the championship. Eight classes in the grade, over twenty contestants! Besides, maybe only my essays are good—if my other subjects aren’t, that’ll drag my score down.”
At that moment, Li Bufan, sitting at the next desk, glanced at Wei Xiaofan and sighed softly, saying, “Wei Xiaofan, truly remarkable!”
Wei Xiaofan turned to look at Li Bufan.
Li Bufan smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. Wei Xiaofan thanked him, then turned back and thought: Is Li Bufan genuinely praising me? Why does his smile feel a bit sly?
Wei Xiaofan recalled the incident with that magazine, and thought again: This kind of person, sometimes cold, sometimes warm—even though his nouveau riche father is sponsoring the contest, it’s best to keep some distance from Li Bufan.
Soon, the class ended.
As Wu Wenbin had just walked out the classroom door, a crowd of students gathered and surrounded Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping’s desks.
“Wei Xiaofan, impressive! All the language teachers have read your essays!”
“Hey! Wei Xiaofan, aren’t you a bit ruthless? Writing such brilliant essays for all students to read—how are the senior division’s top scholars supposed to compete?”
“Never judge a book by its cover, the sea can’t be measured with a bucket, even in the wildest places, hidden talents abound! Haha!”
“Or maybe in the wildest places, evil dragons and vicious tigers emerge! Heehee!”
“I heard after each test lately, you’ve been running to the school library—maybe you memorized other people’s essays and then pulled a ‘stealing books isn’t theft,’ copying them for the contest?”
Suddenly confronted by this mix of praise and sarcasm, Wei Xiaofan felt both embarrassed and angry!
Wei Xiaoping stood up angrily, declaring, “What do you mean by that? Praising and disparaging, mixing compliments with insults?! Wei Xiaofan wrote such excellent essays, bringing honor to our class, and you don’t praise him—instead you mock him? What’s that about? Would you only be happy if another class produced these essays?”
At this moment, Zhang Liying walked over.
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