I'm A Math Idiot, So What? - Chapter 18

When we are young and naive, we all do some foolish things. I was no exception. At that time, the old Principal Fang retired, and a chubby man named Wei was brought in to take over at Taixi High School. As the saying goes, “a new broom sweeps clean,” and Principal Wei, perhaps having watched too many talent shows, decided to implement a last-place elimination class competition. Honestly, even though we were young, we had seen quite a bit and mentally dismissed these competitions as showy political performances, not taking them seriously.

However, when the prizes for the competitions were announced, things changed. The top classes could go on a school-funded two-day, one-night spring outing, while the bottom classes were required to attend weekend tutorial classes. Principal Wei surely was a mastermind; he understood that for high school students, a spring outing was more than just a trip—it was akin to a youth version of “A Date with a Beautiful Lady” mixed with “Boys and Girls Charge Forward.”

Under this system of rewards and punishments, everyone began to care about the class’s overall performance. Our class was no different; we ranked high in various scores, but our average score just couldn’t improve. The reason lay with a group of underperforming students who were weak across all subjects. As the competition was nearing its end, I gathered seven of these students at “Lover’s Slope” to discuss our plan.

The wisdom of our ancestors teaches us that prematurely forcing growth is bound to fail; one or two days of cramming could never result in significant improvement. Thus, I decided to offer my humble assistance, arranging for everyone to drop their pens during the humanities test—I’d sit in the front row spinning a pen, with the direction it stopped pointing to one of the ABCD options for them to “reference.”

This seemingly foolproof cheating method, relying on my personal knowledge and pen-spinning skills, proved quite effective. However, it wasn’t long before one of our less reliable teammates, bragging in the bathroom, accidentally let the secret slip, unfortunately overheard by Lei Chuifeng, the head of political education with an extremely good ear. He swiftly checked the papers, and ultimately ordered me to make a public apology in front of the entire school.

No one could have anticipated the dramatic turn of events. Just a week before this issue came to light, I had won a provincial essay competition award. Our school prioritized science over humanities, so previous competitions were always science-related and merely involved receiving the award at a whole-school assembly the following Monday. But our head teacher, who had a background in literature, saw this as a rare chance to shine and specifically invited me to write a speech of gratitude to be read out at the assembly.

Thus, that morning, in the bright spring sunlight, I first pulled a speech out from my left pocket, heartfeltly thanking the school’s nurturing care. Before I could step off the stage, I found myself standing at the microphone again due to the orderly proceedings, pulling a letter of apology from my right pocket, tearfully repenting for failing the school’s expectations.

How should I put it? I felt as split as Li Yugang (a singer known for performing both male and female roles) on stage. Normally, the students would be half-asleep during the routine Monday tasks, but my emotional and tearful apology had them bursting into laughter as loud as thunder. Some less observant students even took the opportunity to whistle amidst the chaos. For a long time, this legendary affair was condensed into a fairy tale called “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

Although I do have a bit of a Mary Sue complex, I never imagined that one day, just walking around the school, I would encounter greetings like “Good morning, Your Highness the Princess.” I replayed this episode in my mind three times, and apart from confirming that Huang Tao was one of the “dwarfs,” I couldn’t remember where Fang Congxin fit into the story. Still, I faintly realized that this hidden chapter was not in my favor and urged Xu Zheng to quickly tell me more.

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