Chapter 30: Click Wherever You Don't Know

After the math teacher paved the way, the entire office now knew that, aside from a modest foundation in Chinese, Chen Shi'an was utterly hopeless in all other subjects.

"Teacher Zhang, you don't need to be too discouraged. Shi'an is clever and quick-witted, Principal Lin has praised him many times. Though young, his manner of speech, conduct, and character are far beyond his peers. He hasn't attended school, but that doesn't mean he's unteachable. Where there's a will, there's a way—it's not impossible for him to achieve excellent results in the college entrance exam in two years," Teacher Liang repeated what Principal Lin had told him yesterday.

"Liang, you really have it easy, don’t you?" the teachers protested indignantly.

"Ahem, ahem..."

At some point, Principal Lin had appeared in the office. He coughed twice, his face awkward, and said, "I think Teacher Liang is right."

The teachers fell silent.

...

After two consecutive periods of math came two periods of English.

The English teacher, Ye Mingmei, was thirty-five this year, but looked barely in her twenties. She favored a pair of white, bare-footed leather shoes, wearing them all year round. Her voice was sweet, she liked to laugh, and a little dimple would appear with her smile. Though already the mother of two, the students adored her—Ye was gentle and kind to everyone, not just a mother to two children, but practically the mother of the whole class.

Sadly, today Ye Mingmei could not smile. She had seen Chen Shi'an's placement English test—it was even more disastrous than the math test, not a single circle filled, the page completely blank.

"Shi'an, why didn’t you answer the multiple-choice questions?"

"Teacher Ye, I didn’t understand them."

"You could have guessed an answer."

"I was afraid I might accidentally guess correctly, and it would mislead both myself and the teacher."

...

In all her years, both as a student and a teacher, this was the most absurd response Ye Mingmei had ever heard.

He was afraid of accidentally guessing correctly?

Well… from a scoring perspective, it was absurd, but the boy’s honesty, and his refusal to pretend, made her look at him with new respect.

It was class time, and Ye Mingmei wanted to speak with Chen Shi'an privately. The classroom wasn’t convenient, so she called him out into the hallway.

"Shi'an, come with me for a moment."

"Okay."

Chen Shi'an rose and followed her, walking out in full view of the class.

The class immediately began whispering.

"Oh no, Brother An hasn't been to school. He must have done so badly he’s about to be scolded by Teacher Ye!"

"Serves him right, Daoist Master got his comeuppance!"

"...You’re hopeless!"

Many students had been scolded by Teacher Ye before, but her scolding never felt harsh. Her words were gentle, and what seemed like rebuke was more like soft guidance, overflowing with care. After being scolded, students often felt moved to tears, wanting to throw themselves into her arms in remorse.

By now, Chen Shi'an had followed Teacher Ye outside.

It was class time; the building was quiet except for the voices of teachers echoing from the classrooms, reverberating through the empty corridor.

Approaching noon, sunlight spilled in from the balcony, falling across the feet of teacher and student standing face to face.

Teacher Ye cradled her arm, leaning slightly against the balcony, her voice as gentle as the rumors said.

She certainly wasn’t here to scold Chen Shi'an. No matter what, he was now her student; she needed to understand his circumstances.

"I heard from Teacher Liang that you’re a real Daoist priest, and have been cultivating in the mountains?"

"Yes, since I can remember, I’ve been following my master and cultivating the Dao..."

Teacher Ye asked for details: his family, his current academic situation, his goals for the future. Chen Shi'an answered everything; he had a very good impression of her.

Unfortunately, she taught English, and he had almost no concept of English, so he couldn’t learn much about her through her subject.

If Chen Shi'an’s math was at elementary school graduation level, then his English was about as advanced as recognizing Arabic numerals—he could recite all twenty-six letters.

When he said he had no parents and was brought up in the mountains by his master, Teacher Ye’s expression showed genuine concern. As a mother herself, she could only imagine—this wasn’t a case of refusing to attend school, but a child with a hard fate! He had missed out on the blessing of compulsory education that everyone else enjoyed; truly tragic!

Chen Shi'an dared not speak.

"Well..."

No matter the past, what mattered was helping him improve now. Teacher Ye pondered carefully.

She was not as despairing as Teacher Zhang and the others. As an English teacher, she knew well that English, after all, was just a foreign language. Starting from zero in English was no different from starting from zero in French, Russian, or Japanese. It didn’t require the tightly interlocked foundation of science subjects. Even those who had never studied English, if they read, listened, memorized, spoke, and practiced, could make tremendous progress in a year.

"Shi'an, wait here for a moment."

"Okay."

Chen Shi'an didn’t know what she was going to do. He watched her stride back to the office.

Soon, she returned holding something shaped like a pen.

"Shi'an, take this."

"Teacher Ye, what is it?"

Chen Shi'an took the 'pen' and examined it. Calling it a pen wasn’t quite accurate—it was an electronic device, shaped somewhat like a pen but much wider and thicker, with a U-shaped sensor at the tip, a liquid crystal display, and buttons along the sides.

The Daoist boy from the mountains had no idea what this was, but city kids would know at a glance—it was the famous reading pen.

"This is a reading pen. When you come across unfamiliar words or sentences, you can swipe it like this, and it will quickly help you look up words, translate, and teach pronunciation..."

Teacher Ye demonstrated with a worksheet. Words that had seemed incomprehensible to him were instantly translated on the screen, with clear, standard pronunciation to show him how to read each sentence.

Chen Shi'an was astonished. He knew technology was advancing quickly, but he wasn’t as familiar with these practical applications as the modern youth.

He had thought the hardest part of learning English wasn’t memorizing, but not knowing the meaning or pronunciation of words and sentences. Searching them out or asking others was a bother. Now, with this device, learning English seemed effortless.

"How is it, do you think you can use it?"

"I can! This reading pen is really good—it feels like a huge help."

"Good, then take it for now. I know your foundation is very weak, but I have teaching duties and must go home to my kids in the evening, so I can’t spend too much time tutoring you. You’ll have to rely on self-study. If you have questions—grammar, pronunciation, anything—just come to the office and ask me."

She paused, then added, "Learning English isn’t difficult, but it does take hard work. If you find it tough at first, let’s start with memorizing ten words a day, then gradually increase. High school English only requires mastery of about three thousand words. With almost two years until the college entrance exam, ten words a day will get you there by next year. Vocabulary is the foundation—once you have it, your performance won’t be too far behind."

"So that's how it works... Don't worry, Teacher Ye, I understand. But this reading pen must be expensive, right? You should take it back—I'll buy one myself later."

He handed the pen back to her.

Teacher Ye smiled and pushed it back to him.

"It’s not expensive. I already feel guilty for not being able to tutor you personally, so take it as a little help from your teacher."

"Thank you, Teacher Ye."

"Keep going! I have confidence in you, and you should have confidence in yourself!"

"Okay."

Chen Shi'an was full of confidence. With a tool like this, he guessed it wouldn’t take him long to sweep through all the vocabulary...

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(The ending of the last chapter has been slightly revised, switching to Meng Qiu’s perspective. The writing feels more fitting and interesting this way~)