Fairness

After dealing with a batch of classmates who had come to greet him, Si Ming could not help remarking, "This really is a paradise for top students."

As long as your grades were good, everyone was happy to be your friend. Even if you were bad at socializing, it did not matter, because others would take the initiative to strike up a conversation.

"Si Ming, why did you only get to school now? I've been waiting for you for quite a while."

A complaining voice suddenly reached him. Si Ming turned and saw that it was Murong Qing, which made him a little awkward. After all, he had taken her position and ended up on top of her... Just thinking about it made him feel embarrassed.

Murong Qing raised her heroic-looking eyebrows. "What's with that expression? Don't tell me you're worried about the rankings? I'm not a sore loser. You took first place fair and square on your own merits, so what's there to be embarrassed about? For me, having a strong rival is a good thing too. At least it gives me the drive to strive harder."

Then she added, "Of course, I was careless this time. Next time, I'll definitely take my position back and make you obediently go beneath me."

"No thanks, I prefer a normal pos-pah! Now that I've taken the top spot, I won't give it up to anyone else."

Si Ming slapped himself. After being assaulted by Yao Bilian's dirty jokes first thing that morning, he had been infected by her lewdness and kept letting his thoughts wander in filthy directions.

As the saying went, the benevolent saw benevolence, and the lewd saw lewdness. If a person's mind was impure, they would naturally see filth in everything. Even if an author wrote a perfectly proper article without a single sensitive word, readers already infected by lewdness would inevitably interpret it as something so indecent it made them lose every last scrap of shame.

"What did you want to see me about?"

Si Ming remembered that she had been waiting specifically for him.

Murong Qing said, "Didn't I tell you before? My father wants to treat you to a meal to thank you for saving our lives. You've seemed very busy lately. I could never find you on weekdays, and you were busy cultivating on weekends too, so I haven't disturbed you. Winter break starts today, and the end-of-term meeting only takes half a day, so I wanted to ask if you're free this afternoon."

Si Ming thought back and remembered that there really had been such a thing. He replied, "No problem. As it happens, my devil training reached a stopping point yesterday."

Chapter 40: Fairness

In the space of one semester, Si Ming had climbed straight from below the middle of the rankings to first in his grade, knocking Murong Qing, who had occupied the throne like a crouching tiger for years, from her seat. With such conspicuous progress, there was no way his homeroom teacher could ignore it unless some overbearing, domineering young master had bought the teacher off, who then deliberately threw away their brains to stage a satisfying face-slapping drama.

Fortunately, Si Ming's class was full of background characters whom it was too much trouble even to name, and the will of the great universe had not forcibly reduced his homeroom teacher's mind to that of a child. As reason dictated, the teacher gave Si Ming the class's sole school-level Three-Good Student spot.

The Mohist School's belief in "exalting the worthy" had influenced the social climate throughout Su State. Most of Si Ming's classmates admired his results, and quite a few envied him, but they were, after all, flowers of the motherland who had grown up under the modern education system, each studying hard and making progress every day. No one would jump out and shout something like, "Si Ming, you brat, you must have cheated! I'm challenging you to a duel!"

When all was said and done, it was common sense here that top students could fight better than poor students, and teachers were widely acknowledged to be among the strongest fighting professions. Even street thugs and lively grassroots organizations did not dare cause trouble near schools.

The end-of-term meeting for a non-graduating class went quickly. Once the homeroom teacher had finished going over the precautions for winter break, it ended in a hurry. As soon as Si Ming left the classroom, he saw Murong Qing waiting by the door.

"Let's go together. My dad teaches at Municipal No. 1 High School. The third-year students are still in class and haven't started their break, so let's go straight there."

Si Ming did not refuse. He also understood why Murong Qing's grades were so excellent. Teachers' children generally did not do too badly, and they were more likely to become top students than the children of people in other professions.

The sight of the two leaving together set quite a few people whispering. Some even declared with absolute certainty, "Si Ming's grades must have improved so quickly because he wanted to pursue Murong Qing. The power of love really is amazing."

"I heard Murong Qing made a bet with Si Ming. If he managed to come first in the grade, she'd agree to date him."

"How come I heard that Murong Qing and Si Ming were in love, but Murong Qing's father looked down on Si Ming's grades and wouldn't let them date? Then Si Ming shouted, 'Thirty years the river flows east, thirty years it flows west! Don't bully a young man for being poor!' From then on, he worked hard to grow stronger and defied the heavens to change his fate."

"You've got the wrong script, haven't you..."

A few girls who knew Liu Qingqing were also excited, as though watching a show.

"Wasn't Si Ming what's-her-name's boyfriend? How come he's with Murong Qing?"

"Yeah, I remember Si Ming and what's-her-name had been close since they were little. I didn't expect him to drop her for someone new so quickly. Sure enough, men turn bad once their grades improve."

"Something this important—we're her good friends, so we have to warn what's-her-name. By the way, where did she go? Why can't I find her? I think she came this morning... An important day like the end-of-term meeting, she should have come, right? I can't quite remember."

As an adult, Si Ming naturally did not care about these rumors. If you went through your school years without stirring up any rumors about yourself and a female classmate, it could only mean you were unpopular in class, with so little presence that no one could be bothered paying attention to you—or that you were simply covered in gay purple.

Murong Qing was a little awkward at first, but she soon adopted the attitude that an upright person need not fear a crooked shadow.

The two took a bus and reached Municipal No. 1 High School in about twenty minutes. Their middle-school uniforms got them into the school without anyone stopping them, but when they went to the teachers' office, they were told that Murong Qing's father, Murong Zhe, was holding a motivational assembly for the third-year students in the school auditorium, so they had to walk a little farther.

"Huh, isn't that Xiao Qing?"

A female teacher stood at the entrance to the school auditorium. She seemed to be very familiar with Murong Qing's family and recognized her from a distance.

"Teacher Wei, I'm looking for my dad. Is he inside?"

"Yes, it's his turn to speak right now. Go in and find a corner to wait for him. It'll be over soon."

Teacher Wei noticed Si Ming and looked him up and down before teasing Murong Qing. "What, bringing your boyfriend to meet your parents? Your father's an old fossil. He'll probably scold you for dating so young. You can ask me to put in a good word for you when that happens."

Murong Qing reacted differently from most girls. Instead of blushing and stomping her feet in a fluster, she said solemnly, "He's my classmate. When my younger brother and I were being hunted by a demonic beast, he was the one who stepped in and saved us."

Teacher Wei laughed. "That's even better. A hero saves a beauty—the formula may be corny, but it's a classic because everyone likes it."

"I'm not talking to you about these groundless rumors. I'm going to see my dad."

Si Ming nodded in greeting to her, then followed Murong Qing into the auditorium. As soon as he entered, he heard a voice brimming with righteous conviction echoing through the hall.

"Is treating poor students and top students alike fair? Wrong. That is precisely the greatest unfairness. It is the harshest suppression of those who study hard. Think about it: if good grades and bad grades get the same treatment, why would anyone study hard? Top students put in effort and sweat to achieve their results, so why should they receive the same treatment as a bunch of lazybones who have no desire to improve?

"Some people complain that teachers favor top students and discriminate against poor students. Anyone who says that must be a lazybones, because teachers don't discriminate against any particular person, but against those who have no desire to improve. If you study hard and raise your grades, won't you be able to shed your status as a poor student, become a top student, and then receive preferential treatment from teachers?

"If someone says that you can become a top student just by paying attention in class and studying diligently, that person is undoubtedly lying to you, because studying and taking exams also require talent. But I believe that no matter who you are or how dull your natural aptitude, as long as you pay attention in class and work hard to complete the assignments your teachers give you, you can definitely shed your status as a poor student.

"So the people I want to criticize today are that bunch of lazybones who don't think about improving their standing by achieving results that meet the system's standards, but only about changing the system to suit themselves, hoping to share the fruits of others' success without working hard!"

It was the first time Si Ming had heard such unconventional remarks. The speaker had not denied that teachers favored top students; he had even praised the practice instead, believing that this was the attitude teachers ought to have.

If such remarks had appeared on the internet in his previous life, they would surely have been a stone that raised a thousand waves. Who knew how many moralists would have attacked the speaker with their words and pens, denouncing him for not knowing how to care for students or protect vulnerable groups? If the uproar grew too great, even the education bureau would step in to discipline the speaker and thereby maintain social harmony.

But this world had no internet, and universal values were not in vogue either. Human rights were nothing much in any country. The Mohist School did relatively well among the Hundred Schools of Thought; one only had to look at the Military School's methods to understand that the weak had no human rights.

Si Ming looked up at the podium. The speaker had a face of strong, angular lines, with an air of righteousness between his brows that gave the impression he would absolutely stand by his principles. He had not cut his hair short like a modern person, but instead kept to the old tradition of binding it and wearing a crown. His clothes also leaned toward an antique style.

Si Ming was quite surprised. He had assumed that anyone who would make the remarks he had just heard must be a rebel against convention, but the man turned out to be a conservative. Judging by appearances alone, Teacher Wei's description of him as an "old fossil" fit perfectly.