Chapter 267: Chapter 260: Dark Horse


    “Such errors are impossible for the school to make,” Lin’s father shook his head. “It’s simply inconceivable. ss Five is the cream of the crop of our school, everyone knows that.”


    ss One was just as infamous as ss Five, known mainly for being the ss filled with problem students. Most had got in through connections and were therefore grouped together. The rest of the sses at this school were rather run-of-the-mill; they had a mixture of good and bad students, but no ss could boast the overall quality of ss Five, nor the uniformly poor performance of ss One.


    However, who would have expected that this year, ss One would turn out to be a dark horse? Their results wholly resembled those of the top tier ss at our school. Their ss not only secured the first, fifth and sixth position but also imed over fifty percent of the seats in the top hundred. If we consider the seventy percent matriction rate after the college entrance exam, it’s safe to say that at least half of ss One will be heading off to university. In fact, most of this top hundred are likely candidates for key universities.


    The top ten students were even headed for high-ranking universities like Beijing University, Qing University, and Nanqing University. Hence, if their own Lele worked a bit harder and managed to get into the top ten ranks, she could also be a student at Nanqing University, Qing University, or Beijing University. Lin’s father wasn’t pushing her for this, though. He would be happy if she simply got into any university.


    Lin’s father had booked a big table at a grand restaurant and invited three other families over. They had been meeting so frequently recently that they felt quite familiar with each other.


    The three children spent time together daily, so close they resembled siblings.


    Lin’s father was very happy, he kept toasting everyone, drank quite a bit, and started reminiscing about their struggles from the past few years.


    Due to work, Lin’s parents usually had to travel leading to an often sick and frail Lin Yile being raised by her grandmother. Yile didn’t grow much and her academic performance was always poor. She was the weakest among her siblings which resulted in her being bullied frequently. Seeing their daughter in this situation would often make them feel sad.


    Just like them, Chen’s father too used to worry about his child’s performance. He would punish his child whenever the grades were particrly low, resulting in his buttocks swollen from the beating, only to secretly cry afterwards. But what can he do? They all had just one child. If their child’s academics were not up to par, how would they live in the future?


    Upon discussing this, these fathers felt like bursting into tears.


    Meanwhile, Lin Yile quietly wiped her tears thinking about all the ridicule she had faced from her cousins over the years. This time, she was able to hold her head high having obtained such great results – finally making her parents proud.


    “Come, let’s eat,” Lin’s mother hurriedly called everyone to the table. They were all there to share a joyous asion, yet ended up shedding tears. Luckily they had booked a private room, otherwise the crying would have attracted unwanted attention.


    Inside, they all ate and drank, all of them extremely delighted. The examinations had gone well for everyone’s children. The year had been a fruitful one simply because of the good scores.


    Meanwhile, back at school, Teacher Jin fixed her hair, feeling fresh and full of pep due to people’s felicitations.


    “Teacher Jin, your new hairstyle is lovely. Really suits you,” said one of the teachers.


    “Thank you,” Teacher Jin replied modestly yet couldn’t help but stand a bit taller.


    “Teacher Jin, your ss did remarkably well in the exams again. Another teacher came over to speak to Teacher Jin. They asked, “What’s your secret? How do your students keep outdoing themselves?”


    “Well…” Teacher Jin replied with a modest smile, “The students just worked really hard.”


    “Without you, they wouldn’t have been able to achieve such good scores, would they?” The teacher’s voice was ripe with envy and a tinge of bitterness.


    Why didn’t they have such luck? Why couldn’t they have taught such students? And why were these students all concentrated in ss One? They had even managed to foster a strong study culture in their ss, often studying together during free periods.


    The students arrived at school earlier and leftter than those in any other sses, with Teacher Jin also sticking to the same schedule, arriving half an hour early and leaving half an hourte.


    If both students and teacher showed such dedication, how could their academic performance not improve and grades not rise?


    Just look at their grades. They’ve embarrassed countless people – the so-called best students of ss Five. Did ss Five have such good grades? Did ss Five have the student who ranked first? Did ss Five achieve such high overall scores?


    Yet, ss Five still had the audacity to call themselves the top ss. Yes, top ss indeed – a ss that didn’t even perform as well as one that consisted mainly of problem students.


    And Teacher Song, always disying a superior attitude, had undoubtedly angered many people.


    There weren’t many people willing to lend a helping hand when one was down. But rest assured, there were plenty of people ready to kick you while you were down.


    While Teacher Jin was conversing amicably with her colleagues, Teacher Song was receiving sympathetic nces everywhere she went. After all, was the performance of their so-called top ss not indicative of the teacher’s ipetence?


    Previously, the ‘Outstanding Teacher’ de had always been reserved for Teacher Song.


    However, ss One’s outperforming everyone’s expectations in both the mock and final exams resulted in an unexpected turn of events. Moreover, every subject teacher was extremely fond of ss One’s students due to their excellent discipline and study habits.


    So, the ‘Outstanding Teacher’ award was given to Teacher Jin this year. The school didn’t care if you were teaching the top or the problematic ss; they judged solely based on results. Clearly, the problematic ss One had shown remarkable improvement, while the top ss Five didn’t show much difference. The alleged top students of this school, or ss Five,cked any particrly outstanding student.


    However, ss One had a few students who excelled in every aspect.


    Finally, Teacher Jin was able to hold her head high in the entire school. Winning the ‘Outstanding Teacher’ award made her feel fulfilled, like a winner in life. As for Teacher Song, she missed out on an award that was practically hers by default. No matter how angry she was, she couldn’t change the exceptional cognitive and test-taking capabilities of the students in ss One. Remembering that those students were initially part of her ss before she handed them over to Teacher Jin wasn’t just maddening, it was also suffocating.