Su Chan’s words instantly silenced the entire classroom as soon as they fell. It was so quiet that one could have heard a pin drop.
Everyone looked at Su Chan with their mouths wide open. The teacher on the stage was even more stunned, his Taiyang throbbing wildly. Li Yundong enraged in his heart. “Christ, you talk too fast, I can’t even stop you!”
The silence lasted only for a moment, and then there was a burst of astonishing laughter that rippled through the classroom. The laughter was like a clap of thunder, almost tearing the roof off.
Su Chan was confused by everyone’s hysterical laughter. She looked around in confusion and asked, “Did I say anything wrong?”
Teacher Hua, who was on the podium, suppressed his anger and said, “Girl, If you don’t know, please just tell me. Don’t make trouble in class!”
Su Chan said loudly, “I know. It was Yundong who told me this answer!”
After that, she pointed at Li Yundong, and all eyes in the classroom turned to him.
Li Yundong suddenly wanted to burst into tears. He thought, “You blasted girl, I’ve known you for so long. Why do you always get me into trouble every time I come to school?”
Su Chan hadn’t reacted at first, but she soon realized that something was wrong, especially when she looked at Li Yundong and saw that looked as if he wanted to find a crack on the ground and crawl into it.
Su Chan’s heart thumped. “Oh no, did I say something wrong again? But… but I said it strictly based on what Yundong told me…”
The little girl felt wronged and puzzled. She lowered her head, timidly cast a glance at Li Yundong, and then looked at the students around the room laughing wildly. Her head sank lower and lower, and she soon seemed to have buried herself in her chest.
Teacher Hua was livid. “Girl, please sit down. Student Li Yundong, please stand up.”
Su Chan replied with a weak nod and sat down timidly. Then, she cast a timid glance at Li Yundong, only to find that he was looking at her with frustration written all over his face. He whispered, “Silly girl, I’m in trouble because of you!”
Su Chan lowered her head even further, repeatedly muttering in her heart, “What’s wrong with me? Why is everyone laughing like this?”
As soon as Li Yundong stood up, the students in the classroom began cheering loudly. Not only the students in the classroom, but also the ones crammed outside in the corridor began to cheer. They had come after hearing the news, hoping to see Li Yundong’s demeanor.
Fortunately, Li Yundong did not let them down. There was indeed a good show going on.
For a moment, the students inside and outside the classroom were all excited. Countless faces were pressing against the glass windows of the classroom, and countless phones were turned on, filming everything happening in the classroom.
In the face of such cheers, Li Yundong felt as if he was sitting on tenterhooks. He smiled dryly and said to Mr. Hua up on the podium with a long face, “Mr. Hua, actually…”
Before he could finish more than just a few words, Mr. Hua shouted angrily, “Shut up and listen to me!”
Facing the angry teacher, Li Yundong sensibly shut his mouth.
“I know that you are popular in this school, but please respect my profession and my identity! I am a teacher. As long as you learn in this class, you will always be my student!” Mr. Hua said loudly.
Li Yundong had a bitter smile on his face as he thought to himself, “I have never disrespected you!”
Seeing that Li Yundong wasn’t saying anything, Mr. Hua added, “Weren’t you very talkative just now? Come on, come to the podium. Give your lecture, and I’ll be your student, okay? Come on, please clarify this issue of hardcore scholars!”
After that, he stepped down from the platform in anger and stood at the base of the podium.
Li Yundong didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. When he was about to speak, he heard the students in the classroom and outside laughing and calling out, “Li Yundong, we support you!”
This wave of noisy voices swept through the school, drowning almost everyone.
Seeing the students take up the chant, Mr. Hua became even more angry. He held the wireless microphone and said with a sneer, “Come on, make it clear. You should also experience the feeling of being a teacher. If you don’t come up, the whole class’s examination grade will be defaulted to zero points!”
As soon as he said that, the students suddenly burst into an indignant uproar, especially the obedient students who wanted to get good credits from the lesson. They all looked at Li Yundong as wishfully as if they were beggars looking at Kwan-Yin Bodhisattva, the savior of the suffering and the poor.
Seeing that he was being forced into a dead end, Li Yundong had to bite the bullet and walk to the podium. He coughed and said, “In fact, this is all a misunderstanding…”
Under the stage, Mr. Hua interrupted him with a sneer, “We don’t want to hear anything about a misunderstanding. We want to listen to the explanation of scholars, chrysanthemums, and being hardcore!”
These students suddenly burst out laughing and shouted, “We want to listen to the explanation of hardcore!”
Li Yundong was sweating. He felt that he would rather face being besieged by all of the sects in the world than have to handle the scene in front of him!
Li Yundong wiped the cold sweat from his brow and said immediately, “In fact, in the five thousand years’ history of China, there have been many poets praising chrysanthemums, but Tao Yuanming was the most famous one among them. He wrote famous poems like ‘While picking asters’ near the Eastern fence, my gaze upon the Southern mountain rests’. Bai Juyi from Tang Dynasty also wrote ‘Only the chrysanthemum next to the fence in the east is hardy. Golden millets are beginning to bloom, giving a fresh fragrance in the morning.’ Huang Chao also left us with his masterpiece ‘The scent of chrysanthemums permeates the entire Chang’an, and chrysanthemums are like golden armor covering everywhere.’”
Li Yundong counted the poets that had written poems about chrysanthemums one by one with great familiarity. For a moment, the students quieted down. They didn’t know why Li Yundong was talking about these poets and their poems one by one. They were curious and listened to him attentively. Although Mr. Hua was still angry, he secretly nodded in his heart. “Yes, he has read a lot of books. No wonder he is so famous in this school. It seems that his debate over the Buddhist doctrine with Yan Hua last time was not hearsay.”
Li Yundong continued, “There are still many poems about chrysanthemums. For example, Su Shi’s ‘The light muscles and weak bones are scattered, and the golden core is blooming. I want to know but I am old trillium, when the herbs are destroyed, they bloom.’ Another example is Li Bai’s ‘It is a sigh that the stems are sparse leaves and tiny. Although it is different, it also has its own fragrance.’ Yet another example is Du Fu’s ‘The cold flowers are dying, and the chrysanthemum is full of branches. The old pickers are frequent, and the light fragrant wine will be with you temporarily.'”
Li Yundong was bringing up these poets who had written chrysanthemum poems without any pause. Students knew how to tell good from the bad. For a time, everyone was secretly cheering, in awe of Li Yundong’s strong memory and breadth of knowledge, but at the same time, they were growing more and more curious. Why had Li Yundong brought up so many poets and poems? What did this have to do with being hardcore?
While they were pondering this, Li Yundong said, “Look, Tao Yuanming is Chaisang people in Xunyang, Eastern Jin Dynasty, which is nowadays known as Jiangxi Province. Bai Juyi is from Henan Province, Huang Chao is from Shandong Province, Su Dongpo is from Sichuan Province, Li Bai is from Sichuan Province too, and Du Fu is from Henan Province.
“Jiangxi cuisine is rich in color and heavy on the oil, and it tends to have a thick taste which favors chili, not to mention Sichuan cuisine. Spicy food is famous throughout the country. Shandong is famous for Shandong dishes. The characteristics of Shandong dishes are that they’re salty and fresh, and salt is used to highlight the freshness of the dishes. The same goes to Henan cuisine, the fragrant, fresh flavor is its special characteristic. Now that I have listed so many people. The dishes in their locations are basically thick in flavor, so I have concluded that they are all hardcore!”
After Li Yundong had finished speaking, he felt that his head was slick with sweat, as if he had fought with a hundred Yuanying phase masters for five hundred rounds.
Hearing that Li Yundong was bringing the explanation around to the original issue after so many nonsensical words, these students suddenly burst out laughing, whistling and cheering.
At first, Mr. Hua was angry in his heart, but after listening to Li Yundong’s blabbering, he couldn’t help but smile. He nodded and thought to himself, “Although this guy is talking nonsense, he wouldn’t be able to make any sense without a solid foundation of knowledge of ancient China.”
Some of the girls who had come to the class out of curiosity looked at Li Yundong with starry eyes and said unthinkingly, “Before today, I’d only heard that Li Yundong was vigorous and brave, but now I know that he is also an elegant scholar. He is really good with both the pen and the sword. Where can I find such a boyfriend? What a pity…”
“Idiot, didn’t you hear him arguing over Buddhist doctrine with Yan Hua last time?”
“Who can understand that? But, didn’t you hear him reciting those chrysanthemum poems? Wow, so stylish! So handsome!”
“Damn, are you unable to hold back your excitement as soon as you hear the word ‘chrysanthemum’? Perhaps you’re also hardcore?”
The boy next to them who had been listening to their infatuated day-dreaming sighed. “Is this guy for real? You can win countless fans with your nonsense, making a group of beauties fall for you and be willing to give themselves to you. Unbelievable!”
“You don’t understand anything! You don’t know these poems. You try making up a poem and reciting it to me!”
“Alas, now I know that even reciting poems can be used as a trick to pick up girls! We have to read books. Friends, the trusty book has great value. The ancients didn’t lie!”
Li Yundong summoned up the courage to explain indiscriminately. Although he barely managed to justify himself, Mr. Hua secretly nodded from his place below the podium. He thought that this matter should already be over, but the students who were watching the scene didn’t think it was a big deal and didn’t intend to let him go.
Some students shouted, “Mr. Li, show us something exciting!”
After a few students began heckling together, the other students in and outside the classroom also wanted to see something more unusual. “Show us something exciting!”
Li Yundong cursed in his heart, “Damn, you guys really laugh at other’s misfortune. I’ve made sense of such a perverted thing, but you still won’t let me go! Well, if you won’t let me go, I won’t let you go either!”
Li Yundong made up his mind and said loudly, “You want some excitement?”
The eyes of these people all turned fiery. They nodded excitedly and said, “Yes, we want something exciting!”
Li Yundong waved his hand and said, “In that case, put all the books away. Let’s have an exam!”
All of a sudden, everyone was stunned. Some students in the front row stuttered, “A, an exam?”
Li Yundong glanced at them and said with great confidence, “Didn’t you guys say you wanted some excitement? Isn’t an exam exciting?”
All of a sudden, these students burst into laughter. Even Mr. Hua, who had been keeping a straight face until then, couldn’t help finally cracking up.
Some curious students asked, “Mr. Li, what do you want to set the exam about?”
Li Yundong didn’t even think before answering loudly, “It will be about the relationship between scholars praising chrysanthemums and being hardcore!” After he’d said that, he seemed to think of something else and added, “You’re not allowed to plagiarize or use the explanation I just gave!”
There was another burst of laughter from outside the classroom. Mr. Hua also chuckled and scolded, “Crafty lad!”
Mr. Hua couldn’t continue the lesson anymore. He shook his head helplessly and said, “Forget it, I’ll let you all off today, but don’t make trouble next time!”
Li Yundong felt as relieved as if he had just been granted amnesty. He said seriously, “Mr. Hua, please rest assured. I will not let down the expectations of the party or the people in the future. I will study hard, improve myself every day, and compete to be one of the four newcomers building our country!”
The crowd burst into raucous laughter once again.
After the disturbance of the class, it was not easy for Li Yundong to wait for the lesson to be over. After walking out of the classroom, Zhou Qin and Ruan Hongling kept whispering, glancing at Li Yundong and bursting into laughter from time to time.
The little foxes all held their heads high, as if their leader had just done something truly earth-shaking.
Only Su Chan lowered her head and nervously fiddled with the corner of her clothes, not daring to look up at Li Yundong.
Seeing her like this, Li Yundong wanted to teach her a lesson, but he didn’t know what to say. “Whatever, we can talk about it when we get back.”
The group of people filed out of the academic building. Ruan Hongling was talking to Zhou Qin when she suddenly noticed an acquaintance from the corner of her eye. She said to Zhou Qin and Li Yundong, “Wait here a minute. I have something to do but I’ll come back later.”
As she said this, she ran away and shouted to a boy in the distance, “Yan Hua, stop right there!”
Li Yundong looked at her and felt a strange feeling in his heart. “Wait, hasn’t she always hated and disliked this boy very much?”
