Free Web NovelChapter 418: Chapter 418: Yanxi 26
’It can’t be this much of a coincidence, can it?’ She’d thought there wouldn’t be many people this early. Unfortunately, sometimes the people you want to avoid the most are the ones who show up right in front of you. Like now, for instance.
Sheng Zhou, dressed in a sharp suit and carrying a briefcase, stepped into the elevator. The only other person inside was Xu Yanxi. Sheng Zhou’s gaze swept past the cat carrier. "Good morning."
What could Xu Yanxi do? She could only smile and reply, "Good morning. Off to work?"
"Mhm, I have a meeting in a bit." Sheng Zhou said softly. "The fruit you sent was very high quality. You shouldn’t have."
"No, no, no, I’m the one who should be embarrassed," Xu Yanxi said, quickly waving her hands. "Please, don’t mention it again."
"Alright, I won’t," Sheng Zhou said, a smile now on his face. "I had no idea you lived upstairs. I’m familiar with pretty much everyone in the building."
Xu Yanxi smiled too. "I bought this place a while ago, but it’s been empty. I usually live near the school. I used to spend my weekends over by the university town, but as the number of students grew, I found it a bit too noisy. I only recently started spending weekends here."
Sheng Zhou’s ears twitched. "You’re a high school teacher?"
"I don’t look the part?" Xu Yanxi chuckled. "I’m a math teacher."
"You really don’t. When I first saw you, I thought you were a writer or a literature teacher." Sheng Zhou admitted freely. In his mind, math teachers were all serious, middle-aged, stereotypical men.
Xu Yanxi raised an eyebrow. "Well, you guessed wrong. The elevator’s here."
The two of them exited the elevator and walked together. In a remarkable coincidence, their parking spots were even next to each other. One was a small, milk-tea-colored car; the other was a Mercedes that made no effort to hide its luxury.
They got into their respective cars without another word and left the parking garage one after the other. In Xu Yanxi’s eyes, this was purely a chance encounter with Sheng Zhou. They each had their own lives and would likely have no further interactions, so she didn’t give the weekend’s events a second thought.
That is, until she saw Sheng Zhou at school. By then, more than two weeks had passed since their last meeting.
To be precise, it was during a parent-teacher conference. Originally, Xu Yanxi wasn’t a class advisor, not even when Tan You was around. But by a stroke of bad luck, the class advisor, Teacher Song, had been in a minor car accident the previous week and fractured his left arm.
While this didn’t prevent him from teaching, he couldn’t manage many of the class’s administrative duties. Since it was also the end of the semester, bringing in a new teacher temporarily wasn’t practical. Thus, Xu Yanxi was pushed into the role of acting class advisor.
The school held a parent-teacher conference at the end of every semester, and this time was no exception. Despite never having been a class advisor before, Xu Yanxi handled the job with practiced ease, as she had seen it done many times.
The conference was that afternoon. After it ended, the students would head home and begin their winter break. Of course, the students were all thrilled, as they were about to have a winter break lasting over a month.
Of course, this only applied to the students with good grades. For those whose grades weren’t so great, the parent-teacher conference was something of an ordeal. Just like now—the moment Xu Yanxi walked in holding the report cards, the classroom instantly fell silent.
Xu Yanxi scanned the room and froze for a moment when she saw a familiar face. ’Isn’t that my neighbor?’ She glanced at the seat. ’But I remember Jin Xiuyu’s parents looking nothing like him.’
Xu Yanxi’s surprise lasted only a split second before she composed herself. "Good afternoon, everyone. I apologize for taking up your time... Teacher Song is unable to handle class affairs due to health reasons, so I am the acting class advisor..."
"Teacher Xu," a parent called out, "we all know who you are!"
Xu Yanxi smiled, pressing her lips together. "This is my first time as a class advisor, so please bear with me if I fall short in any way. Now, let’s talk about the students’ general performance and their weaknesses in certain subjects..."
Sheng Zhou just leaned against the desk, listening as Xu Yanxi went through the students’ performance one by one and discussed which areas they should focus on for winter break tutoring. He found himself somewhat captivated.
Of course, Xu Yanxi rarely criticized the students. Even when a student was misbehaving, she would point it out tactfully. The entire process could be described as gentle as a spring breeze.
Jin Xiuyu’s seat was by the window. Seeing Jin Xiuyu leaning on the windowsill, Sheng Zhou asked curiously, "I’ve been listening to her for a while. It seems like the students in your class have excellent math scores? I heard Teacher Xu mention the subjects classmates need tutoring in, and math was almost never one of them."
Jin Xiuyu said proudly, "Of course. Class 1’s math scores are the best in the whole school. Teacher Xu is incredibly responsible. She knows everyone’s level and gives us personalized attention."
"Speaking of which, Teacher Xu didn’t offer any small-group tutoring sessions this semester. I was planning to sign up, too."
Jin Xiuyu added with a hint of regret, "Every student who went through Teacher Xu’s small-group tutoring got into a top-three public university."
Sheng Zhou was genuinely curious now. "Tell me more?"
The students nearby got excited. Chattering excitedly, they filled him in on Xu Yanxi’s brilliant teaching record from the past few years. Many of them had come straight up from the middle school division, so they’d heard Xu Yanxi’s name even back then.
They had entered high school hoping to join Teacher Xu’s tutoring classes, only to find out she wasn’t offering them this year, which was a real disappointment.
But then they remembered that even though Teacher Xu wasn’t offering tutoring, she treated all her students equally and paid close attention to everyone’s grades in her daily teaching. With that thought, their little bit of disappointment vanished into thin air.
Sheng Zhou nodded. "Sounds like your Teacher Xu is really impressive."
"It’s not that she sounds impressive," said a parent in front who had been eavesdropping, turning around. "She *is* impressive. And incredibly responsible. My boy is hopeless at math, but Teacher Xu creates a personalized study plan for him. She’s a truly dedicated and conscientious teacher."
"He used to fail all the time, but after this semester, he’s now in the middle of the pack."
There were many similar stories. In any case, all Sheng Zhou heard was endless praise for Xu Yanxi. Some praised her teaching quality, others her sense of responsibility, and still others her care for the students.
"Actually, the best thing about Teacher Xu is that she absolutely despises bullying," a parent suddenly said, lowering their voice. "I heard that a few years ago, some student was picking on a classmate. Teacher Xu was furious. They say that student was dealt with very harshly."
"You’ve heard about that too?"
"Of course. I heard the student was forced to make a public self-criticism over the school broadcast every day for a month. He wasn’t well-known before, but that incident made him famous overnight. His parents didn’t get off easy either; they had to personally visit the bullied student’s home to apologize."
"And that student’s family was pretty wealthy, too. No one knows how Teacher Xu managed it."
