Equal Intelligence

September 13.

It was the first official day of school at No.4 Middle School.

The students received their new textbooks. Faced with a brand-new school and brand-new classmates, they were still full of excitement and energy.

Jiang Ning sat by the window in the second-to-last row.

Ma Shicheng sat to his left, turned sideways and whispered with Guo Kunnan behind him.

"English Class is first today. I hope our English teacher is a beautiful woman." Ma Shicheng was full of anticipation.

Guo Kunnan wholeheartedly agreed. "My middle school English teacher was really pretty too. Sigh, too bad my English grades were terrible. I let her down."

"If I got another chance, I'd definitely study hard."

Ma Shicheng pressed his palms together, his expression devout. "Grant me a beautiful female teacher!"

Just then, a chubby middle-aged man appeared at the door. He had a bald crown, which reflected a blinding gleam beneath the morning sun.

"Holy shit, that bald guy can't be my English teacher, can he?" Ma Shicheng covered his eyes and shouted in horror.

In fact, the balding man was Grade One, Class Eight's English teacher. The moment he entered the classroom, he spoke a fluent sentence in English, then repeated it in Chinese.

Ma Shicheng's heart turned to ashes. Guo Kunnan and Shan Kaiquan did not look much better either. Their English had always been poor, and they had hoped a beautiful female teacher might inspire them to work hard.

Jiang Ning secretly laughed. This English teacher was Chen Haiyang. His teaching skills were quite good, and he was an experienced teacher. His only flaw was his bad temper. He liked to physically discipline students from time to time and had received plenty of complaints from parents because of it.

But whenever Chen Haiyang produced his credentials, the parents all fell silent. With his abilities, he could easily have taught at Yuzhou No. 2 High School. He had only stayed at No.4 Middle School because it was his alma mater.

He was a teacher with conviction.

"Students, please introduce yourselves in English so I can get an impression of you."

"You, start."

Chen Haiyang pointed at Xue Yuantong, signaling for her to go first.

Xue Yuantong had no choice. She was short and sat in the front row.

Introducing herself was easy for Xue Yuantong. She stood up and spoke a smooth stretch of English.

Chen Haiyang was rather surprised. He had originally been assigned to teach English for two Experimental Classes, but the Academic Affairs Office had canceled one of them and given him an ordinary class instead. He had been somewhat unhappy about it, but these students were actually quite impressive. They were not inferior to an Experimental Class at all!

However, the introductions that followed immediately brought his slightly improved mood crashing back down. By the end, his expression had become rather unpleasant, especially when it was Ma Shicheng's group's turn. They stammered through their introductions with strange accents, making Chen Haiyang frown.

After every student had introduced themselves, Chen Haiyang had a preliminary grasp of Class Eight's English level. Aside from a few outstanding students, the rest were far worse than the Experimental Class. They were simply not on the same level.

He would need to adjust the pace of future lessons, or the students of Class Eight definitely would not be able to keep up.

He did not begin teaching immediately. Instead, he faced the class and asked a question. "Students, do you think learning English is useful?"

Dong Qingfeng raised his hand.

Chen Haiyang said, "You answer."

Dong Qingfeng smiled. "English is definitely something we must master, because it is tested on the college entrance exam. In the future, it will also be a tool for communicating with the world. Many documents are written in English. Only by mastering English can we absorb a broader range of knowledge."

"You may sit." Chen Haiyang lowered his hand, then looked at the entire class. "Anyone else?"

Ma Shicheng's eyes shifted. In a rush of impulse, he raised his hand as well.

Chen Haiyang had him stand up too.

"Teacher, I think English is useless, because most of us won't use English at all after graduation. For example, my old middle school Math Teacher's English was definitely terrible, but he could still become someone useful to society."

Hearing Ma Shicheng's words, Dong Qingfeng was disdainful. It was nothing more than the sophistry of a poor student. Only those who were bad at English would claim it was unimportant. Many of the game discs he played had no Chinese at all, but because his English was good enough to barely understand them, he could enjoy those games.

Although Ma Shicheng had voiced an opposing opinion, Chen Haiyang remained calm.

"You may sit as well."

Then he asked everyone, "Who do you think is right?"

Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "Both students are right. English is important, but it is also not important. Even without mastering English, you can still live very well in society."

"No one can deny that."

"However."

"For students like us, English must be mastered, because it accounts for one hundred and fifty points on the college entrance exam. If you lose those one hundred and fifty points, you will not even have a chance to attend university."

"Whether we will use English in the future is not something students should be considering. What we need to do is learn English well!"

Chen Haiyang emphasized his words. "Understood?"

His tone turned stern. "My requirements for you are very low. As long as you can score the grade I set and do not disrupt the other students' learning, you can openly play on your phone in my class all you want!"

"I won't say a single word to you!"

"But if you fail to meet my standards and still cause trouble, don't blame me for being rude!"

He glared around the classroom and gestured with his fingers. Chen Haiyang was bald and heavily built, with strong, muscular forearms. Looking like that, he did not resemble a teacher at all. He looked more like a Big Thug.

The entire class was so intimidated that no one dared even breathe loudly.

At the same time, some students were mulling over Chen Haiyang's words. As long as they learned English well, they could freely play on their phones during his class? Was there really such a good deal?

Ma Shicheng was delighted. He had already begun imagining the joy of playing games during Chen Haiyang's classes. The more he thought about it, the more pleasant Chen Haiyang's shiny bald head looked.

The second class was Math Class.

The Math Teacher was a gentle woman whose soft, quiet voice was very pleasant to hear.

Hu Jun's eyes went wide.

"Look at Hu Jun, look at Hu Jun." Ma Shicheng first nudged Jiang Ning, then told Guo Kunnan and Shan Kaiquan.

They secretly looked over and saw Hu Jun staring fixedly at the Math Teacher without even blinking.

"What's wrong with this guy...? The Math Teacher is already married!" Shan Kaiquan cursed.

"Seriously? How do you know?" Ma Shicheng asked.

"I walked around campus yesterday and saw the Math Teacher with a daughter who looked about seven or eight."

The third class was Language Arts Class. The Physics Teacher was a thin, weak middle-aged man. During his introduction, he said:

"Hello, everyone. I-I-I-I'm Dai Yongquan, the Physics Teacher of Grade One, Class Eight."

Ma Shicheng pinched his throat and imitated him from below.

"H-h-hello, everyone. I'm Ma-Ma-Ma... Ma Shicheng from Grade One, Class Eight."

"You fucking stutter." Guo Kunnan burst into laughter.

"Our Physics Teacher stutters. What if he stutters while teaching?"

Jiang Ning said, "He won't while teaching, or he couldn't be a teacher."

That was indeed the case. The Physics Teacher stuttered in ordinary conversation, but once formal instruction began, he became exceptionally fluent. Especially when reciting Classical Chinese, he spoke with perfect cadence and feeling.

The teachers of the three main subjects were exactly the same as in his previous life. Jiang Ning's interference had not caused any butterfly effect, so the other minor subjects likely would not differ either.

While listening to class, Jiang Ning did not forget to circulate the Star Transformation Art.

He had once worried that classes would delay his cultivation, but now it seemed this time was perfect for refining Pills.

Perhaps dropping out and focusing solely on cultivation would improve his speed somewhat, but in his previous life, he had spent hundreds of years in seclusion. He had long grown sick of that kind of life.

Ignoring worldly affairs, cultivating for hundreds of years, only to die under the Spirit Transformation Tribulation once again?

Pointless. So pointless! Without experiencing mortal life, without living as an ordinary person, how could he undergo Spirit Transformation? Jiang Ning followed the Physics Teacher and flipped through his textbook. High school courses might be difficult, but Jiang Ning was a cultivator. His Spiritual Sense was powerful, and his memory was nearly photographic. He might not compare to the greatest geniuses, but getting into a top university would be effortless.

At that thought, he could not help sighing. Cultivation could strengthen one's Spiritual Sense, improve one's memory, and sharpen one's neural reflexes.

But it was difficult to change one's intelligence. It could not create the kind of intellectual gap that existed between humans and animals.

Modern technology was vastly more advanced than that of ancient times, but modern people would never dare claim to be smarter than humans from a thousand years ago. Their only advantage was a broader perspective.

Cultivators were the same compared to modern people.

Some things were determined at birth and extremely difficult to change, such as intelligence and cultivation aptitude.