ATLAS TRANSLATES

Teacher Fang Zixin came to observe the morning study session. He walked around the classroom before stopping in front of Jiang Rang.

“Jiang Rang, come with me for a moment,” he said.

Jiang Rang put down her book and obediently followed him.

“Have a seat,” he said. Jiang Rang sat across from Fang Zixin.

“Teacher, what did you want to discuss?”

Looking at the obedient girl before him, Fang Zixin smiled kindly. “How do you feel about sitting next to Xu Si?”

Jiang Rang answered honestly, “It’s fine. Xu Si is usually quiet – he either sleeps or plays games. He’s not like the rumors say. He’s just a bit fierce sometimes.”

Fang Zixin nodded. “That’s good. If you ever feel unwell, let me know right away.”

“I understand. Thank you, teacher.”

“Alright, you can go back now.”

As Jiang Rang left, a teacher at the next desk asked Fang Zixin, “Is she the new transfer student in your class? I heard her grades are quite good.”

Fang Zixin took a sip of water before replying, “Yes, she just transferred. She was in the top 10 at her previous key high school in City B.”

“You paired this good student with Xu Si?” The female teacher had taught Xu Si before. To her, he was just a delinquent who skipped class and got into fights.

“He’s not a bad person,” Fang Zixin said.

He had only graduated recently and took over Class 17 from the previous homeroom teacher. When he first took over, he heard that the class had many problem students and the worst grades in school, especially the boy who loved sleeping in the last row and causing trouble.

The previous homeroom teacher of Class 17 was also a gentle woman. She had handed over the class because she was pregnant. She told Fang Zixin that while the students could be rowdy, noisy, and sometimes caused trouble, they weren’t bad kids. Fang Zixin came to realize this later.

First period was Fang Zixin’s class. He walked in with his math textbook and addressed the noisy class: “Alright, alright, settle down. Class is starting.”

The class quickly quieted down.

“We’ll have our first assessment test soon. Everyone study hard and prepare well. The test will be next Thursday and Friday.”

A chorus of groans erupted from below.

“Teacher Fang, school just started! Why are we having a test already?”

Fang Zixin pushed up his glasses. “Consider it a diagnostic test to see how well you retained last semester’s material and what you studied over summer break.”

“Summer break? Who studies during summer?”

Fang Zixin smiled. “I don’t have particularly high expectations. Just try not to let our class rank last again? Work a bit harder, score a few more points. I’m always in the office if you have questions.”

“I’ll try not to drag everyone down with single-digit scores.”

“I just pray I don’t get a zero.”

Fang Zixin tapped his desk. “Alright, alright, class is starting.”

–

Right after class ended, Yang Shikun couldn’t help saying, “Last semester when I got that low score in physics, Mrs. Xu gave me a beating with her belt. My backside still hurts thinking about it.”

Hao Ming replied, “I only scored three points higher than you. My mom said I was an embarrassment and told me not to come home.”

“Not coming home is nothing. Mrs. Xu chased me for three blocks to beat me.”

“Impressive.”

Jiang Rang listened to their conversation, glanced up at the two of them, then lowered her head again.

Second period was English class. Yang Shikun looked at the sleeping Xu Si, struggling between waking him up and getting scolded, or not waking him and getting scolded anyway.

While he was hesitating, a delicate white hand reached over. A gentle voice said, “Class is starting soon, wake up.”

Yang Shikun immediately looked at Jiang Rang differently. “I declare, from now on, the new student is my goddess!”

“Let me count how many goddesses you’ve had this semester.”

“Get lost.”

Xu Si had just woken up. He glanced at Yang Shikun and said, “Shut up.”

A soft little hand poked his arm, the voice equally soft and gentle: “Teacher Fang hasn’t given me an English textbook yet. Could I share yours? If it’s not too much trouble…”

Xu Si tossed the textbook that was whiter than his face onto the desk. “You can use it. I don’t need it.”

Jiang Rang smiled at him. “Thank you.”

She opened the English book and placed it in the middle, pushing it slightly toward Xu Si. “Let’s share.”

Xu Si looked at the book she pushed over, wanting to say it wasn’t necessary since he didn’t pay attention in class. But when he met her gaze, he pressed his lips together and stayed quiet. Fine, let her push it over if she wants to.

During class, Jiang Rang was very attentive. She sat with a straight back, a strand of hair falling beside her cheek. The school uniform hung loosely on her frame, her arms were slim and fair, and her thin wrists looked as if they might break with just a squeeze.

The boy in front was quite tall and blocked Jiang Rang’s view. She sat up straighter, craning her neck to see the blackboard. Then she heard the voice beside her: “What can’t you see?”

“The last line.”

Xu Si took his pen and copied the last line onto paper, then placed it on Jiang Rang’s desk.

“Xu Si, stand up and answer this question.”

Xu Si glanced at the question on the blackboard. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t know? If you don’t know, why are you passing notes to your deskmate? Let me tell you, you won’t amount to anything after graduation. All day long you don’t study, just fighting and causing trouble. Where do you plan to work after graduation? Are you living up to your parents sending you here? Are you living up to your mother giving birth to you and raising you?”

Xu Si stood up wordlessly and walked straight out of the classroom.

Teacher Chen continued scolding from behind: “What’s wrong with criticizing you? Such disrespect for teachers.”

Yang Shikun sensed something was off about Xu Si’s state. He covered his nose and ran to the front: “Teacher, my nose is bleeding. I need to step out.”

Before Teacher Chen could respond, Yang Shikun had already run out.

He looked back at Jiang Rang, only to see the girl stand up silently: “I couldn’t see the blackboard so I asked him. He wasn’t passing notes to me.”

As she spoke, she held up the paper. It wasn’t a note at all – it was just the boy’s somewhat unruly handwriting copying down what was on the blackboard.

Teacher Chen couldn’t bring himself to apologize to the two students. “I understand, but don’t pass notes during class. If you have questions, you can ask the teacher or classmates after class, understand?”

Jiang Rang nodded. “Yes. Then I’ll go stand in the hallway as punishment.”

Looking at the girl before him, he felt a sense of dislike. She had just transferred here and was already mixing with Xu Si’s type. She couldn’t be a good student either. Deep down, he looked down on students like Xu Si who had poor grades and caused trouble.