Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After leaving the house both Lili and Zhang Lisheng got into the car, they noticed that Michelle had been sulking at the back seat of the car the whole time. Lili then started the car engine and drove to Lowbige Junior High.
Being the best public high school in New York, Lowbige Junior High had a long history. It occupied a broad space with extraordinarily strong teaching power.
Its existence was the reason why the price of properties in Lowbige Community was on top of the list in the entire Brooklyn area in New York. It had attracted countless rich middle-classes to compete in purchasing property there.
8:30 in the morning was the peak hours for the students who were studying at the Lowbige Junior High. There were seventh to twelfth grades in the entire school which were thousands of students in those six grades. Most of them rushed into the school during that period of time.
However, even if that was the case, Lowbige Junior High did not seem to be congested at all as there were no walls around the school.
Under the morning sun, with its rays shining at him, Zhang Lisheng who got off the car, stepped on the hard cement ground as he looked far away at the school that was filled with a grass field. He then mumbled, “So American schools really have no walls, that’s simply great.”
Lili did not hear what her son said. She then told Michelle, “Go to school now, remember to go home early after school.” She then brought Zhang Lisheng along and walked towards the school’s administration building.
The structure inside an American public school was more or less the same. However, due to the size of the model, length of time and even the quality of student source, there was a major difference in the management form and authority.
For instance, some public high schools would not have an education consultant such as Lili. However, her position played a major role throughout the long history of Lowbige Junior High as she possessed a rather broad influence in the heavy responsibility of coordinating the school’s parents meeting and the communication of president meeting.
Along the way, almost every teacher would take the initiative to greet Lili which caused the short journey to seem never-ending.
It took them some time to get to the small administration building. Lili brought Zhang Lisheng along and headed straight to the office on the west that had ‘Student Principal Advisor Rachel Nile’ on it. She walked into the office without even knocking on the door.
It was considered rude behavior in America where personal privacy was greatly emphasized.
“Hi, Banana Lady. When exactly will you learn to knock before entering my office?” In the office, a beautiful lady with a great figure and tanned skin was sitting behind a big office table. She stood up and said while smiling.
“I’ll learn to do that when your Caramel Beauty has melted.” Lili smiled and hugged the lady. Both of them kissed each others’ cheeks.
After greeting each other kindly, the tanned skin lady switched her focus onto Zhang Lisheng, “So this is the kid that you had with ‘the man’?”
“Yes, Rachel. This is him.” Lili’s emotion became melancholic as she replied softly.
“It’s all in the past now, isn’t it?” The caramel beauty Rachel touched Lili’s arm as she comforted her while leaning on her office table.
“Yes, it’s all in the past now.”
“Alright, Caramel Lady. Please give my baby the test papers and see which grade he’s suitable to get in.”
“Don’t worry, Lili. He’s a kid from China, as long as he passed his English, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to even enter a university directly.” Rachel took out a couple of test papers she had prepared earlier as she spoke. She then passed those and a pencil to Zhang Lisheng. “Kid, do this on my office table. I’ll slap your butt if you look at the answers on the computer.”
“Rachel, can you not be so strict when you talk to my baby?” Lili who was beside her said in dissatisfaction.
“Lili, what did I ever do to him?” Rachel asked curiously.
“I’m sorry, maybe it’s me who is being too sensitive. But I hope that you could speak more gently to this kid next time.”
“You have to know that he had been living with that… that man for the past sixteen years. He had never felt love and care for others. I hope that I could make it up to him by giving him more warmth.” Lili spoke with love and tenderness into Rachel’s ears softly as she looked at Zhang Lisheng who was sitting behind the office table and began to work on the test papers.
“Well, even so, Lili, as an educator, don’t you think there’s something wrong with the way that you’re treating this kid?”
“I’m feeling great, it’s just that I’ve never felt so much motherly love flowing in my heart before. I’ve no idea why I’ve never had such feeling when I was raising Gill and Harry.”
“Please don’t tell Sullo about this,” Lili said softly with her head held down.
“I don’t have to tell him, he’s not a puppet. Anyone could sense that you’re treating this kid differently.”
“Dear, listen to me. Perhaps you’re feeling guilty for this kid but this can’t be the reason why you’re spoiling him and showing him much more care than the other kids at home…”
“I know, Rachel. I’m an educator, I know…”
“No, you don’t. The more I talk to you, the more I think that you’re in the wrong state of mind. Perhaps we should talk when we have more time.”
“Why don’t we do it now? While your baby is working on the test papers…”
“Oh yeah, you’re still calling him ‘baby’. He’s already a sixteen-year-old boy, he can carry a gun legally although he doesn’t look like it. But…”
“Stop finding faults in every little thing, Rachel. I’m his mother, as long as I’m still alive, I can still call him ‘baby’ even when he’s sixty.”
“Indeed you can, but you can only do that occasionally. We all know that we can only occasionally use the word ‘baby’ to call a grown-up kid.”
“Occasionally? How do you define occasionally? Is it one or two times or is it ten or eight times…”
Zhang Lisheng worked on the test papers silently while the two ladies’ voices got louder and louder.
The test questions were arranged from difficult to easy. However, the most difficult one was the test question which he was required to come out with the reasoning for trigonometric functions. He was only required to write in perfect grammar. In less one and a half hours, he had completed three test papers already.
Seeing that Zhang Lisheng was about to finish writing the last letter of the English alphabet, Rachel who had been silent for a long time walked towards Lili then whispered softly in her ear, “One hour and 25 minutes. Lili, your ‘baby’ is considered a genius in American junior high but compared to peers of the same age, he’s nothing too remarkable.”
“Rachel, I love him even if he is remarkable or not.”
“Alright, who wouldn’t love their kids right? But it would be great if they treat all of their kids the same.” Rachel sighed and rolled her eyes. She hastily glanced over the answers then raised her voice as she said, “Young man, your result isn’t bad. With this score, you could definitely get into the tenth grade.”
“You can go to class in the afternoon if we go through the application procedure right away.”
“As the Lowbige Junior High’s Student Principal Advisor and your mother’s good friend, I’ve taken the initiative to formulate a course timetable for you. I’ve also prepared a couple of books for you, you can go to classes following the timetable directly and get your elective credits. You’ll graduate as long as you have a certain amount of credits.”
“You can look for me anytime you want if you think there’s something that you would like to amend in the future. Or you can also use any computers in the school and log onto the intranet to amend your courses.”
“Do you understand what I’ve just said?”
“I understand. I’ve heard from foreign tourists who traveled to the mountain village before who told me that American high schools are very liberated where even the division of grades is vague. As long as you have credits, you can…”
“Wait, vague grades division?! I really wish that all of the Lowbige Junior High’s new students could hear your inspiring speech.”
“Listen here, young fella. The tourists you met must be Martians disguised as Americans. Remember this, as long as you’re in school, there are divisions between grades, new students and seniors.”
“Although you have your mom who is working in the school, as a new student, you should behave yourself and not talk about nonsense. Especially that ridiculous thing you’ve said earlier.”
“Don’t threaten him, Rachel. This is the Lowbige Junior High, most of the students here are friendly.” Lili said while standing next to him, “Baby, do you wish to start your class this afternoon?”
Zhang Lisheng hesitated for a while then picked up his backpack containing the wizard worm, he then said softly after making up his mind, “Sure, mother.”
In reality, it was impossible for Zhang Lisheng to get into a popular school such as the Lowbige Junior High so soon even if he had fully prepared the application procedures. However, it became easier for him to get enrolled since his mother was working in the school.
In less than ten minutes, he was officially a student of the Lowbige Junior High after filling up a couple of record forms that Rachel had prepared earlier.
In the afternoon, Lili brought Zhang Lisheng together with Rachel to the school staff canteen and ordered three burger sets.
Finally after lunch, under Rachel’s supervision, she had now willingly let go of Zhang Lisheng on his own to the dangerously nestling life of a junior high.
Around 1 p.m. in the afternoon after lunch hour, there were regular junior high students carrying books around the Lowbige Junior High which was an open-style school.
There were very little school big shots who were cool and wore clothes that were sexy. There were also a minority of young people who looked submissive, low-spirited like their future was hopeless.
Looking at the appearance of Zhang Lisheng blending into the school, he was definitely the latter.
Not sure if intentionally or not, but a young Caucasian man who did not seem tall among the crowd bumped hard onto Zhang Lisheng as they were walking by each other.
Zhang Lisheng felt pain in his shoulder and fell clumsily hard onto the floor.
A burst of soft laughter could be heard among the students who were passing by. The young Caucasian man in blue sports shirt turned around and pointed his butt at Zhang Lisheng as he said, “Kid, watch where you’re going in school.”
Zhang Lisheng without giving in looked straight into the young Caucasian man’s eyes and said, “It’s better to not bring my eyes than to not bring my brain.”
In contrary to the unsociable and introverted character that he showed in his welcoming party, ‘tolerance’ was never in his dictionary when it comes to handling offenders with bad intentions. Especially since he became a wizard.
“Kid, what did you say?” The young Caucasian man was stunned for a while and ran to Zhang Lisheng while clenching his fists, then he softly said, “If we’re not in public…”
“There has to be a quiet place in this school, we can solve this problem there together. That depends if you have the guts.” Zhang Lisheng whispered while having no expression on his face, “Or are you a coward who only dares to bark where there’s a crowd?”
