Study Monster Cultivation System - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: The Loser’s Determination

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Mrs. Xiaotang was confused.

“Why should I be responsible for someone else’s actions?” she thought.

“That’s unreasonable.”

However, that method was extremely effective.

Under Sun Xiubin’s threat, everyone in the class sat up straight.

Liu Xin even put his hands behind his back and had a soulful gaze. He had the flair of an elementary school student, even though he looked like a middle-aged man.

Sun Xiubin lived up to her reputation as the discipline mistress.

“Alright.” Sun Xiubin rubbed Mrs. Xiaotang’s shoulder and said, “From today on, class 2-4 will be handed over to you.”

“Thank you for the school’s trust in me.” Mrs. Xiaotang gave a deep bow, still hugging her teaching material.

The male students stretched their necks to see Mrs. Xiaotang’s figure as she bowed.

After giving a few simple instructions, Mrs. Xiaotang closed the classroom door, walked to the front of the podium, and put down her teaching materials.

She then nervously turned her head and stole a glance outside. She suddenly blinked after she made sure that Sun Xiubin was a good distance away, then said, “I’ll now allow you to be happy for a while. 15 seconds. Take note of your volume. Don’t make the Discipline Mistress Sun come back.”

The students immediately relaxed.

“Ah…” Liu Xin returned to his usual posture. “Starting today, I like studying.”

Jiang Qinghua was troubled with his calculations and payouts. “This… This isn’t scientific…”

“Hm… Hm…” Lin Yujing was even more troubled. She rolled her eyes groggily.

There’s a saying that goes, “A little gambling is good for the spirits.”

Li Zheng was feeling great.

One duty took up 30 minutes.

Ten duties took up five hours.

In this exchange, he had gained 10 more hours of study time than Lin Yujing.

He was elated.

“Alright, 15 seconds is up. Come, let us introduce ourselves again.” Mrs. Xiaotang took up a piece of chalk and seriously wrote down three words in pristine handwriting on the blackboard.

Tang Zhifei.

A name that was completely unlike her.

Mrs. Xiaotang put down the piece of chalk, then turned around and bowed slightly. “It’s an honor to spend the rest of your high school lives with you.”

“Rise!” Jiang Qinghua shouted and stood up.

The class stood up, then bowed and greeted her.

“Please sit.” Tang Zhifei smiled, then waved her arm and allowed everyone to return to their seats.

Looking at the energetic gazes of her students, she felt a sense of deja vu.

A year ago, she had been a homeroom teacher for a few weeks.

Even though a lot of things happened after that.

But at this moment…

She had a feeling of anticipation, having determined to grow along with these forty-plus students.

That feeling was as intense as ever.

This time, she would never back down.

“Studying isn’t everything in life.” Tang Zhifei’s gaze gradually became determined. “However, allowing the 44 students before my eyes to pass the college entrance exams in their best condition and enter the next stage of their lives is everything to a teacher.”

“If out of all of you, there was a person who didn’t have fond memories of their high school lives in the future.”

“If there was a person who was troubled because they weren’t at their best.”

“If there was a person who was feeling regretful because of their lost opportunity.”

“All of that, all of that.”

“All of that is the fault of the teacher.”

“You guys don’t have to blindly follow me.”

“All you have to do is give me a chance to help you.”

“The students in the elite class aren’t smarter than you. They’ve just had a head start.”

“I’m determined to help you all surpass them this semester.”

Tang Zhifei pouted, then waved her fist.

“Let’s do this.”

“For every student, for the collective that is class 2-4.”

“For me, for every one of you.”

“Let’s do this!”

“Let’s do this!” Li Zheng followed along and waved his fist.

Seven to eight other students were also infected by Tang Zhifei’s energy.

Only then did Li Zheng realize that not many students were keeping up with Tang Zhifei’s pace.

Probably because the goal of surpassing the elite class was still too far away.

“Li Zheng is also a little energetic today.” Tang Zhifei raised her hand, smiled, and said, “There are many empty words and regulations that I won’t talk about. I’ll update all of you about those in the class group chat and the parents’ group chat.”

“What’s most important for now is to accomplish the small goal in front of us…”

“The mid-semester examinations.”

“I fully understand our class’s situation.”

“It’s alright. We’re only a little over a month into the semester. There’s no reason why you guys shouldn’t be able to catch up.”

“The real problem of our class doesn’t lie in you guys not working hard, or not being smart.”

“The real problem lies in the variance.”

“In simpler terms, your grades vary too greatly.”

“This will make it difficult for a teacher to take care of the majority of the students when she’s giving the lecture. No matter what pace she chooses to go at, most of the students won’t be able to understand the material, while many other students don’t even need to listen to the lesson.”

“The final result of that is…”

“Some of the students give up on listening to the lesson, while the other students are unable to listen to the lesson.”

“That’s the only reason why we’re temporarily lagging behind.”

The students were shocked.

Mrs. Xiaotang’s analysis was extremely logical.

It seemed true.

More importantly, 100% of the students had personally experienced such a situation.

When she gave Mathematics lessons, Hu Chunmei would focus mainly on the students who didn’t understand the material, and who went at a slower pace.

Physics lessons went at an unreasonably fast pace. It felt as though the lesson was given specifically to Lin Yujing, Li Zheng, and Jiang Qinghua.

English lessons were just pure mantra reciting, while Chemistry class was an intense mantra-reciting session.

Biology lessons were the official sleeping periods.

All in all, the chances of the students actually listening and understanding the material were far and few between.

Only during Language lessons would Mrs. Xiaotang constantly change the pace of her lectures. That, coupled with her physical attractiveness, allowed her to barely maintain a decent rate of class participation.

Tang Zhifei felt even more energetic when she saw her students’ convinced expressions.

“From now on, I’ll use many methods to resolve this issue.”

“You guys don’t need to know about most of these methods.”

“All you need to know is that during the mid-semester exams, every one of you has the chance to rank first in class.”

She started scribbling on the blackboard as she spoke.

“During the mid-semester exams, the students ranked top five in class will receive an internal motivational scholarship, a handwritten letter of praise, as well as a present selected specifically for you.”

“Aside from that, the students ranked top three will have the freedom to choose their seats for the second half of the semester.”

Rumble.

Disappointed mumbles could be heard throughout the classroom.

Most of the students didn’t feel motivated.

Instead, they felt despair.

Lin Yujing, Li Zheng, and Jiang Qinghua were definitely going to rank in the top three.

The rest of the students didn’t even have the right to yearn for the prizes.

“Isn’t this just giving the three of them rewards?” the students thought.

After waiting for the class to settle down a little, Tang Zhifei continued.

“I know you guys think that this is a reward set specifically for Lin Yujing, Li Zheng, and Jiang Qinghua.”

“But that’s not the case.”

“I’ve already said, everyone will have a chance.”

“Please pay attention…”

“Our class ranking this time around isn’t an individual ranking.”

“It’s a team ranking.”

“Two to three people in a group. We’ll rank the groups based on their average score.”

“As for the splitting of the groups, that will be done by me.”

“I’ve crunched the numbers using your grades in the monthly examinations as a reference. I’ll make sure that each group’s average score on the monthly examinations is about the same.”

“To better explain myself… Each group will start out at the same level.”

“In the next month, whichever group improves the most…”

“Will be ranked first.”

The students finally understood her arrangement.

It was similar to how groups are formed during games.

Mrs. Xiaotang would ensure that all the groups were equal in strength.

That way, every group would have the chance to take first place.

As an individual, Lin Yujing was invincible.

However, according to the method Mrs. Xiaotang was using to create the groups…

Undoubtedly…

Her teammate would be…

Liu Xin.

The only person that could deal with a monster…

Was another monster.

“Hm hm hm hm hm…” Lin Yujing uttered five “hm’s” in a row. She grabbed onto her table. She seemed to be turning green.

Unexpectedly, Liu Xin understood what the teacher was saying. “Oh yes, I can also get first place, and not from the bottom!”

“That’s rather interesting…” Jiang Qinghua glanced at Li Zheng as he mumbled to himself.

“Thinking about it, if I can get into the top three and make use of the rewards to forcefully change seats with Li Zheng…” he pondered.

“Then Li Zheng would have to sit by the wall, while Lin Yujing would still be sitting by the window.”

“As for me, I’ll be sandwiched between the two of them.”

“Muahahaha!”

“Even though I no longer have a chance…”

“I’ll block them and be an extra bright lamp.”

“I’ll be so bright that they won’t be able to look at each other.”

“I’m quite looking forward to that.”

“There’s no helping it. The loser is always this despicable.”

Whoosh!

Li Zheng suddenly raised his hand.

“Mrs. Tang, I’d like to know the details of the rules for choosing our seats.”

Jiang Qinghua and Lin Yujing’s expressions tightened at the same time when they heard Li Zheng.

“Indeed,” they thought.

“You lad.”

“You’ve already planned this step out.”

“You’ll choose based on your rank,” Tang Zhifei answered. “First, the team that ranks first will make their choice, with the priority going to the highest scorer in the team. Then, the team ranked second will go. They can choose between all the seats aside from the ones the students in the team ranked first chose. The students who were forced to change seats don’t have to be worried. I’ll reassign you a seat based on the situation and try my best to give you a seat that’s in keeping with your habits.”

“Which is to say,” Li Zheng said, nodding, “As long as my team gets ranked first and I score the highest in the team, I’ll be able to guarantee any seat within the class?”

“That’s right. But if your team gets ranked second, then you can only choose the seats that the team ranked first didn’t choose,” Tang Zhifei answered.

“It’s alright. All I need to know is the privileges of being ranked first.” Li Zheng unknowingly leaned his head toward the right.

“That’s right, that spot,” he thought.

“The prime spot at the center row of the class, right beside the window.”

“Ample sunlight during the winter.”

“Not much glare during the summer.”

“No being blasted directly by the air conditioner.”

“Being able to feel the warmth of the heater on my legs.”

“Being able to open the window at any time to ensure ventilation.”

“Being able to admire the cherry blossoms by the lake on the other side at any time.”

“More importantly, it’s a single seat. There aren’t any deskmates.”

“No one would disturb me even if I was quantum speed reading.”

“Rumble…” Lin Yujing looked even more ferocious. Her nails were about to dig into her desk.

Sensing that her territory was under threat, she no longer hid the fact that she wasn’t someone to be trifled with.

Jiang Qinghua silently admired the hostility between the two of them.

His lips involuntarily curled upward slightly.

“The two of you, don’t underestimate the psychological perversion of the loser,” he thought.

“Get this straight, this is a team battle.”

“The core of this battle doesn’t lie in your grades.”

“Instead, it lies in communication and social interaction.”

“The wheels of fate are turning.”

“This time.”

“It’s my show!”

“I’m going to sit between the two of you.”

“I’m going to make it snow.”

“I’ll freeze you to death!”

“I’ll make you understand life.”

“I’ll make you die from the pain!”

Actually, it wasn’t just the three of them.

There seemed to be ideas sparking among the other students.

The rules for first place this time could be said to be extremely disadvantageous to the top three students in the class.

Especially so for Lin Yujing.

After all, it was extremely probable that she was going to be put in the same group as a monster like Liu Xin.

On the other hand, the students whose grades were in the middle of the pack could be paired with a more dependable teammate.

It was like the leaky bucket effect.

Sometimes, the strength of a team was determined by its weakest member.

No matter how inhuman Lin Yujing was…

Her points would be squandered by Liu Xin.

Tang Zhifei felt a little proud when she saw that the students were raring to go.

“Hehe,” she thought.

“Little lads.”

“You guys fell into my trap!”

She spiritedly wiped her nose as she lay a deep trap.