First English Class

As Jiang Yingqing was immersed in her own little thoughts, letting her imagination run wild, the sharp class bell suddenly rang, interrupting her train of thought.

A slightly plump, stern-faced middle-aged woman whose features looked carved from stone walked to the podium with a lesson plan tucked under her arm, her steps stiff and deliberate.

She pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose. Her cold gaze swept over the entire class like a searchlight, and the faint chatter in the classroom vanished without a trace. The air seemed to solidify.

"My name is Zhou Yuren."

Her voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable authority. Every word struck the floor like a bead of ice.

"I'm your English teacher. All of you, stay sharp and study hard! If I catch anyone slacking off or falling behind..."

She deliberately paused, her gaze lingering on the faces of several students in the back rows. "You can wait for your parents to come in for tea!"

That opening speech swept through the room like a cold wind. Quite a few students instinctively hunched their shoulders, hurriedly lowered their heads, and dared not meet the two sharp eyes on the podium.

For Ling Yun, English class was one of the memories from his previous life he least wanted to revisit.

It was not merely the obstacle posed by the language itself. More importantly, it stemmed from Teacher Zhou's "teaching style."

She divided the students into two sharply opposed camps: "Top students" and "poor students."

When a top student made a mistake, she smiled warmly and brushed it off. But when a poor student made even the slightest error, they were met with a torrent of abuse and often had their parents summoned.

That repulsive look of blatant favoritism was nauseating.

What made Ling Yun feel even more suffocated was that after the second year's division into arts and sciences, he was "lucky" enough to be assigned to the class where Zhou Yuren was the homeroom teacher.

That was when the real nightmare began!

In class, whenever they encountered a difficult problem, Zhou Yuren's hawk-like eyes would accurately lock onto the "poor students" in the back rows, and she would call on them by name.

Couldn't they answer? Fine. Then they could obediently stand for the entire class! She called it "waking them up and clearing their minds," but it was actually blatant mental abuse.

Yet that was far from Zhou Yuren's "peak."

During the final sprint of senior year, in order to compete for the honor of "Outstanding Teacher"—an honor directly tied to the class's undergraduate admission rate—she finally revealed her most vicious side.

Although Ning City No. 1 High School was an excellent school, not every student went on to an undergraduate program.

At that point, some teachers would tactfully suggest that students with weak foundations consider Independent Admissions or repeating a year, but it was limited to a suggestion.

Zhou Yuren was different.

She had once summoned a group of "deadweight" poor students, including Ling Yun, to an empty classroom by themselves.

There was no encouragement and no analysis, only cold commands and undisguised disdain.

"You lot, don't you know what level you're at? Why are you still clinging to this class? You're simply wasting your time and dragging everyone else down! Pack up and leave as soon as possible. If you should take Independent Admissions, then do that; if you should go home, then go home! Stop getting in everyone's way!"

That naked humiliation stabbed into the boys' hearts like a knife.

Anger and unwillingness burned in their chests! The poor students rarely united, stubbornly raising their heads and expressing their protest through silence: "We're not leaving! We're staying just to disgust you!"

Zhou Yuren's face turned livid with rage at their silent defiance, yet she could do nothing about it. All she could do was slam the door and leave in fury.

However, the real retaliation had only just begun.

From then on, every self-study period became purgatory for the poor students.

Zhou Yuren could always find an excuse to criticize them for "whispering to each other" and "affecting the class's learning atmosphere."

Even more viciously, she would suddenly throw out difficult questions in class that even the top students might not be able to answer immediately, deliberately calling on poor students to respond.

When the expected silence or wrong answer appeared, it was followed by her undisguised eye rolls and cutting taunts: "Pig brain!" "You can't carve rotten wood!" "One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel!"

Unable to bear the humiliation, most of the poor students eventually chose to leave in dejection and pursue Independent Admissions.

Only Ling Yun, relying on a stubborn streak, gritted his teeth and persevered all the way to the college entrance examination.

The result? He successfully "lowered" the class's undergraduate admission rate, causing the "Outstanding Teacher" title that Zhou Yuren had all but secured to go completely up in smoke!

Whenever he recalled that past, the suppressed fury in Ling Yun's heart would surge uncontrollably.

In this life, he would not only change his own fate but also make this "snobbish" Teacher Zhou properly taste the feeling of being humiliated by reality!

"Ling Yun!"

A cold voice exploded beside his ear like thunder, instantly dragging Ling Yun's thoughts back from the quagmire of his past life.

Zhou Yuren had somehow already arrived in front of his desk. Her eyes behind the lenses were as sharp as knives. "Why are you zoning out in class? You seem to understand everything, huh? Fine, then you answer the correct answer to the problem on the blackboard!"

Because he had "made an appearance" when he delivered the class roster last time, this teacher, who kept a close eye on poor students, had already memorized Ling Yun's name and face.

This was the perfect opportunity for her to "test" him.

Under the breathless gazes of the entire class, Ling Yun slowly stood up.

He was not nervous in the slightest. Instead, he met Zhou Yuren's scrutinizing gaze, the corners of his mouth curving into an extremely faint smile tinged with barely perceptible mockery.

"Teacher," he began. His pronunciation was clear and smooth, carrying an ancient and elegant quality—pure London English. "The material you're explaining is simply a little... too easy for me. I really can't find the motivation to listen carefully."

The entire classroom instantly fell into dead silence! Everyone was stunned, including Zhou Yuren on the podium!

For the first time, the stern expression on her face cracked. She parted her lips slightly in astonishment.

Ling Yun did not even give her time to react. He glanced at the question on the blackboard and, in the same elegant, standard British accent, clearly, accurately, and fluently recited the answer.

Every syllable was like a pearl, falling smooth and round into the silent classroom.

"...Very good! Excellent!"

It took Zhou Yuren several full seconds to recover. The frost on her face melted away as quickly as snow beneath the spring sun, and she even broke into a rare smile as she led the applause.

"Ling Yun's answer was absolutely perfect! His pronunciation was standard, and his answer was accurate! Let's give Ling Yun a round of applause!"

The admiration and enthusiasm in her tone were worlds apart from her earlier coldness.

Watching Zhou Yuren's delighted expression, as if she had just found a priceless treasure, Ling Yun felt only overwhelming irony.

He made no response and simply sat back down calmly.

Although the students were astonished by the speed of Teacher Zhou's transformation, they had long since grown accustomed to Ling Yun successfully "showing off" again.

If Ling Yun had failed this time, that would have been news!

Thus, the classroom erupted in applause far more enthusiastic than Teacher Zhou had requested, filled with sincere admiration and the excitement of watching a good show.

"Looks like Ling Yun is very popular with everyone. He certainly has the ability!"

Zhou Yuren smiled even more brightly. This was the first time in her teaching career that she had encountered a student with such astonishing spoken English. It was as if she had discovered an uncut jade.

Looking at the almost benevolent smile on Zhou Yuren's face, Ling Yun felt not the slightest ripple in his heart. He felt as though he were watching an absurd monster.

Across both his past and present lives, this was the first time he had seen the "cold-faced Yama" smile so sincerely.

Hah, so this is the privilege of being a "top student"?

To good students, a teacher like this might be a spring breeze. To poor students, however, she was nothing less than the icy depths of hell.

The class bell finally rang, dispersing the tense atmosphere in the classroom.

"Phew... I nearly suffocated!"

Zhou Da let out an exaggerated breath of relief and patted his chest, still shaken.

"Our English teacher has such a terrifying presence! It felt like my heart stopped whenever she glanced over! I didn't dare raise my head once during class!"

He shuddered as he spoke.

"Simple." Ling Yun packed up his books and offered his advice without looking up. "Just practice your English until she has nothing left to say, like I did. Then she'll naturally be too lazy to bother with you."

"Tch! Easy for you to say!" Zhou Da wore an aggrieved expression. "Who can compare with a freak like you? You can knock out a PE student in a fight, break records when you run, and now you even speak English like a BBC announcer! You're both brains and brawn to this extent—are you going to let the rest of us live?"

As the two of them spoke, Jiang Yingqing had already drifted lightly over to Ling Yun's side like an affectionate little bird, her movements so natural that it seemed she belonged there.

She stood quietly beside him, her eyes shining as she looked at Ling Yun, waiting for him to leave with her.

Quite a few students in the class finally noticed this frequently recurring scene, their gazes shifting back and forth between the two of them.

The girls looked at Jiang Yingqing with envy and a trace of barely perceptible jealousy. How many people dreamed of being able to approach Ling Yun so naturally?

Most of the boys, meanwhile, wore expressions of understanding and "as it should be."

After all, in their eyes, it was only natural that an existence as dazzling as Ling Yun would attract the best girl.

If they were girls, they would probably wish they could surround a male idol like him every day, too.