Chapter 1021: A Case Caused By Copying Homework (1)
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Before the official start of the summer break, No. 60 High’s Headmaster Chen Tianxiang held a pre-vacation teacher’s meeting. During the meeting, he had a very grave expression on his face. “Teachers of No. 60 High… I have bad news.”
The teachers’ hearts trembled – they had never heard Headmaster Chen speak so seriously before, and they discussed among themselves in whispers below the dais for a while. Exactly what major thing had happened to make the usually steady Headmaster Chen show such despondence on his face?
“All of you should be well aware that after sixty years of hard work, this is the year that our No. 60 High has the best hope of being selected and promoted to a key city high school.”
Headmaster Chen said slowly, “From the summer break onward, we will gradually complete the upgrade of our facilities, and our teaching team will also be promoted. After our school becomes a key city high school, teachers who have served for more than ten years will receive a key city high school teacher’s allowance directly granted by the General Administration of 100 Schools.
“After the promotion to a key city high school, if you continue to teach at No. 60 High and reach fifty years of service, you can get a house in Songhai city, in the school zone around No. 60 High. Your children won’t need to be interviewed to enter the school, and the tuition is completely free.
“Another thing is that after the promotion to a key city high school, teachers can take sword boat shuttles on fixed routes to work. In addition to this, we will have a domestic as well as an international team-building activity for all teachers each year. The team-building activities will improve the cohesiveness of our teaching team. At the same time, it’ll help relieve some of your stress when you’re busy, and you can expand your knowledge in various ways.”
Below the dais, Director Shi was a little baffled at Headmaster Chen’s words. “Isn’t that good news?”
Headmaster Chen nodded. “Mm, it’s good news. Now comes the bad news.”
“…”
“A very important part of being upgraded to a key city high school is the handover of the ‘Jade Scroll of School History.’ This is a record of the initial founding of No. 60 High on jade paper, and is the one important piece of material evidence we have of No. 60 High’s qualifications as an established school. It’s stamped with the wordless magic seals of all the former headmasters.”
Headmaster Chen steepled his fingers together and said in a low voice, “Previously, I took out the Jade Scroll of School History and placed it on my office table. I planned to stamp it with my own wordless magic seal before finally handing it over to the upper department for review. But I regret to say, the Jade Scroll of School History has disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“How can it disappear?”
The teachers were in uproar below the dais.
Logically speaking, a school’s Jade Scroll of School History actually wasn’t anything of value… even a thief wouldn’t look at it.
The most important thing, as a lot of the teachers knew, was that there weren’t any words on the scroll. This included the headmaster’s stamp, which was a wordless magic seal. All this was for the sake of keeping the scroll in pristine condition; the right verbal magic password was required to make the words appear on the scroll.
“Principal, has the scroll been stolen, then?” The teachers couldn’t remain calm after this.
They had now reached the stage where every key city high school candidate had to submit the materials for an audit, and the submission deadline was the last day of the summer break. If they couldn’t find the scroll before then, the chance to qualify for a promotion this year would probably fall into No. 59 High’s lap.
While No. 60 High would lose their best chance in a century…
This wasn’t just about the students’ learning, but also the welfare benefits for teachers.
A number of teachers had actually planned to resign in recent years, but with No. 60 High’s promotion on the horizon, they had decided to stay and continue teaching.
All their hearts turned cold at such a huge crisis cropping up at this critical time.
“Silence, all of you.”
Headmaster Chen was unperturbed as he spoke. His voice couldn’t be considered loud, but it carried the dignity of a headmaster, and the situation calmed down for the time being.
“I know all of you are worried, but now is not the time to be anxious; now is the moment that we teachers of No. 60 High should conduct ourselves gracefully. The closer we get to the critical juncture, the more we must remain calm in the face of a crisis.” Headmaster Chen stood up, and his gaze swept over the teachers below him. “There is still some time before we have to submit the materials for a qualification review: our No. 60 High still has sixty days to turn things around.
“From my understanding of the preliminary situation, we can rule out the possibility that the scroll was stolen. In the months leading up to the summer break, the General Administration of 100 Schools once held a jade paper recycling operation, and Director Shi and I collected all the old exercise books and scrolls made of jade paper and placed them in my office.
“After looking at the surveillance cameras, it appears that the Jade Scroll of School History was mixed in with the others when a student came to move the things, since it looks just like a blank scroll… It’s no wonder it would be treated as trash, given that there’s no writing on it; our sect is in fact partly to blame for this.”
“Then where can we find the Jade Scroll of School History?” a teacher asked the critical question.
And Headmaster Chen already had the answer.
It was also the main purpose of this teacher’s meeting which he was holding today.
He dropped his forehead into his hands. “After recycling the jade paper and purifying it with magic, the General Administration of 100 Schools already cut it up for this year’s summer holiday homework…”
All the teachers: “…”
“So the good news is that our Jade Scroll of School History is still in Songhai city. However, I’m afraid that it has already been cut up into several parts and is scattered among this year’s high school holiday homework. As long as we can find all the parts of the scroll during the summer break, I can restore it with magic.”
As Headmaster Chen said this, his gaze swept over the teachers around him and he gave them an imploring look. “Every teacher present is an elite of our No. 60 High. You deal in various aspects of education and make diligent contributions toward nurturing the flowers of the cultivation world! This year is our No. 60 High’s best chance of being promoted to a key city high school in a century! I’m humbly asking everyone here to do everything in your power to find all the cut-up parts of the Jade Scroll of School History during the summer break! Everyone, please!”
After saying this, Headmaster Chen straightened before bowing deeply to all the teachers of No. 60 High below the dais.
Thus, a search operation centered around No. 60 High’s Jade Scroll of School History went into full swing during the summer break…
Since it was summer, a lot of students made plans to travel.
To narrow down the scope, the teachers of No. 60 High limited their search to places like coffee shops and fast food restaurants in Songhai city. As soon as they discovered any students copying homework, they wouldn’t hesitate to seize them on the spot.
