DCTMOAS Chapter 29
by SuxxiThe weather in November gradually turned colder. The school had just gone through midterm exams and the semester’s progress summary, and work remained as busy as ever.
One sunny afternoon, Chu Cheng leaned against the railing of the senior division building.
A delivery guy in a yellow uniform rushed over with a paper bag in hand. “Mr. Chu? I’m so sorry, my scooter ran out of battery on the way.”
“No problem.” Chu Cheng took the coffee, confirmed it was the mint latte he had ordered, thanked him, and turned to head into the building.
He went straight up the stairs and entered the meeting room. The head and assistant teachers of other classes were already seated, making the room appear quite full at a glance.
Chu Cheng searched around for a moment before spotting Yu Siting’s figure in the back row. As expected, there was an empty seat beside him.
Chu Cheng walked over and sat down.
Yu Siting spoke with a faint tone, “Coffee again.”
“I really couldn’t hold out anymore. If I didn’t get one, I’d definitely fall asleep during the leadership’s speech.” Chu Cheng had hurried up several flights of stairs and was slightly out of breath as he spoke.
Yu Siting said, “All that effort just to get a sip of coffee before the meeting. Why didn’t you have a student pick it up?”
Chu Cheng glanced at the stage. The academic director was still organizing his notes. He took the chance to sip his coffee and mumbled, “They just said at the last meeting that teachers aren’t allowed to assign students to pick up deliveries or takeout for them.”
Yu Siting tilted his head and asked back, “Not even your precious student?”
A casual remark from before was now being used against him, making Chu Cheng chuckle. “My precious student is still sick. But he’s been looking much better these last two days. He was slumped over doing his test the whole time during the exams.”
“Yeah, his scores weren’t good this time. He even answered the last two big math questions in the wrong section.”
Chu Cheng said, “That’s such a pity—he lost over twenty points just like that.”
“Not really,” Yu Siting replied, always strict with Lu Yan. “His answers were a mess to begin with.”
“He was sick. That’s understandable.” Chu Cheng took a couple more sips of coffee.
Hearing the sipping noise beside him, Yu Siting suddenly asked, “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask—did your test results come out?”
“The scores should be out. I just saw the group chat tagging everyone.” Chu Cheng opened the campus app to check the midterm performance analysis.
Yu Siting corrected him, “I meant your medical test results.”
“Ah…” Chu Cheng hadn’t expected the topic to shift so suddenly. He paused briefly before answering, “The pathology results came back—turns out it’s benign.”
“And the surgery?”
“It’s not scheduled yet. I’d have to stay in bed for a few days after the operation, so I’m thinking of postponing it until New Year’s or the winter break. The doctor said it’s fine—removing it anytime within six months won’t make much difference.”
Yu Siting nodded. “Once the date’s set, make sure you let me know.”
“Mm.” Chu Cheng smiled. “Don’t worry, it won’t interfere with any class matters.”
Bzzzt—
A slightly piercing buzz came from the mic on the podium.
The academic director, who had finally gathered his thoughts, tapped the mic head. “Teachers, please settle down. Our meeting is about to begin.”
Yu Siting looked at the person beside him who was now listening attentively and didn’t continue the conversation.
The content of post-midterm meetings was usually the same: score analysis, student awards, and midterm teaching quality reviews.
The meeting lasted nearly an hour and a half. Before everyone left, the teachers collected the certificates and prizes for their own students.
“The sense of achievement from teaching the honor class really is different. So many awards for high scores.” On the way back to class, Chu Cheng sighed, holding a thick stack of certificates.
Yu Siting only glanced over, carrying a heavy pile of prize notebooks as he followed behind.
“I’m being too easily impressed, huh?” Chu Cheng smiled sheepishly.
He had received countless certificates growing up and had never thought much of them. But seeing his students being rewarded brought a sincere sense of joy.
While pulling out his phone to snap a photo, Chu Cheng asked Mr. Yu, “Can I send this to them later?”
Yu Siting didn’t hesitate. “I even let you host class meetings.”
Chu Cheng shook his head with a smile. “I’ll pass. I shouldn’t overstep. I’ll just play the part of the ceremonial host.”
And things like managing the flow of the event were annoyingly troublesome, so it was better to leave the hard work to the homeroom teacher.
It wasn’t far from the meeting room back to the classroom, and the two of them chatted casually along the way.
It was the last self-study session before dinner. Most students were quietly doing their homework at their desks. When they saw the two of them walk in carrying a bunch of stuff, they guessed there was going to be a mini award ceremony and immediately stopped what they were doing to start talking about exam results.
Even though it was just an internal class activity, the sense of ceremony couldn’t be skipped. Before the award ceremony began, Chu Cheng picked up a piece of chalk and wrote some fancy lettering on the blackboard to set the mood.
“Really not going to do it?” Yu Siting waved the list of award recipients at him.
Chu Cheng handed the microphone to him. “Mr. Yu, please.”
Yu Siting didn’t hesitate any longer. He stepped onto the podium and gave a simple opening speech: “First of all, congratulations to everyone for doing well on the recently finished midterm exams. Except for Chinese, our class ranked first in every subject.”
The unexpected and “vicious” comment hit Mr. Chu like a mental blow.
Yu Siting continued without pause: “But our Chinese scores have shown clear improvement. And in this exam, we still claimed three first-place positions in individual subjects. Now, I’ll call the names of the students coming up to receive their awards.”
“Chinese Star: Han Rui. English Star: Xu Wanwan. Math Star…” Here, Yu Siting deliberately paused.
The students started guessing, “It has to be Lu Yan.”
After all, until now, the three academic giants—Chinese, Math, and English—had always held their positions steadily.
But Yu Siting announced, “Mu Yiyang.”
“Huh? Me?” Even the person himself hadn’t expected it. After just watching his deskmate go up, it was now his turn.
Mu Yiyang was clearly stunned for a moment, then suddenly stood up with great flair. Since his leg was still injured, he shouted to the front row, “Xiao Lizi, help Your Majesty ascend the throne!”
Li Sheng reacted quickly and immediately joked back, “Get lost, only eunuchs do that.”
“I’m giving you a chance to shine, how can you not cherish it?” Mu Yiyang had no choice but to slowly hobble up on his own. As he passed by Lu Yan, he didn’t forget to provoke him a little, “Better luck next time.”
Yu Siting was slightly annoyed by how chatty this kid was and urged him, “Hurry up. I’ll give you time for an acceptance speech later.”
Mu Yiyang: “Coming, coming.”
Once the three students were in position, Chu Cheng handed out the certificates to each of them in turn.
“Congratulations to Han Rui, first place in Chinese. Even though I had little to do with it, I still feel happy like a proud father.”
Han Rui: “How could you say you had nothing to do with it? You helped me a lot, Mr. Chu.”
“Congratulations to Xu Wanwan, five-time champion in English.”
Xu Wanwan: “Thank you, teacher.”
“Congratulations to Mu Yiyang, first place in Math. Your breakout was a real surprise.”
Mu Yiyang: “Thanks to the tall oppa for handing me the award.”
Chu Cheng playfully held the mic to his mouth. “If you’ve got more to say, go ahead. I love hearing it.”
“Alright then.” To everyone’s surprise, he readily agreed.
Mu Yiyang took the microphone and immediately launched into a confident, extroverted speech right on the podium:
“Let me start with my acceptance speech. First, thank you to the big boss, thank you to Mr. Chu, thank you to the National TV, and to everyone in the corners of the world who supported me. Most importantly, I have to thank Lu Yan…”
“He really can talk.”
The endless stream of chatter in his ear made Chu Cheng immediately regret his earlier gesture. He stepped back to stand beside Mr. Yu and whispered,
“But Mu Yiyang’s grades really have improved quickly.”
Not long ago, Chu Cheng had often seen overly sentimental posts in his social media feed from Mu Yiyang that hinted at a possible breakup, and he’d been a little worried.
Yu Siting, however, wasn’t surprised:
“Mu Yiyang was a top student in junior high. He was even in a competition class and has a solid foundation in math and science. Plus, his parents place a lot of importance on his education. As long as he doesn’t find a new love interest and lose focus again, his grades won’t be a problem.”
“Ah—smart kids always have a window closed on them by God,” Chu Cheng joked with a smile.
He tilted his head slightly to look at the students lined up waiting to give their speeches. Taking advantage of the break, he pulled out his phone and opened a food delivery app.
“Ordering takeout for dinner again?” Yu Siting casually glanced at his screen and asked in a low voice.
“No… The atmosphere’s so nice and it’s still self-study time. I wanted to treat everyone to some drinks,” Chu Cheng explained while browsing group orders from various beverage shops. But then he suddenly heard three calm words beside him:
“It’s already ordered.”
Chu Cheng blinked in surprise.
“Huh? How do you always manage to think of everything before I do?”
“I just got inspired during the meeting when I saw you drinking something,” Mr. Yu replied. Seeing the class vice homeroom teacher’s unhappy expression, he added,
“Fine—just say it was your idea, okay?”
Chu Cheng pouted.
“I don’t take credit for other people’s work.”
Yu Siting smiled but didn’t respond. Once the three students finished speaking, he resumed the award ceremony:
“Next, we’ll announce the Progress Awards. Will the students whose school rankings have significantly improved please come to the front: Fang Hanzhi, Jiang Ye, Shang Meiqi, Lan Zeyu, Zhang Xiao, Wu Yuqing.”
“In addition to those who’ve shown notable recent improvement, there are others who have never slipped up in any exam over the past year and have consistently improved. The Potential Award goes to: Ji Yanan, Li Sheng…”
“Next, will the students who ranked in the top 20 in the grade please come up for the Excellence Award…”
Every time Mr. Yu announced a new list, Chu Cheng handed out the certificates and prizes, helping the small in-class ceremony run smoothly and in order.
Yu Siting flipped to the final page of the list and announced:
“The last award: the student who ranked first overall in the school for the midterm exam goes to—”
Ahem, ahem— “Is it finally my turn?”
“Shameless! You didn’t even pass math and you’re dreaming of being first in the school?”
“I advise everyone not to covet what doesn’t belong to them.”
Fake coughs echoed from all corners of the classroom as many students jokingly stood up and pretended to get ready to accept the prize.
Only one figure in the very last row remained noticeably downcast.
Yu Siting happened to call out his name: “Lu Yan.”
Class monitor Lu slowly lifted his head from the desk in a half-asleep daze. He moved his numb arms a little, then dragged his tall, lean figure out of his seat.
When he received the certificate from the vice class teacher, he gave a slight bow and quietly said, “Thank you.”
As usual, Chu Cheng handed him the microphone. “Anything you’d like to say?”
“Uh…” Lu Yan looked expressionless. He’d been dealing with a mix of gastroenteritis, vomiting, and a cold lately—his throat was still hoarse. After lifting the mic, his voice remained soft.
“I just heard someone call my name. It didn’t feel polite to stay silent, but I don’t really know what to say, so I’ll just state some facts.”
“Mu Yiyang, hold tight to your one and only award of the semester, and remember what it feels like to stand on stage. Barring any surprises, you’re not coming back up here again before you repeat a grade.”
His tone was gentle, with barely any harsh inflection, yet it sent the whole class into chaos.
“Hahahahaha! Even when Lu-god throws shade, it’s so refined!”
“Ahhh—this is it. I’m obsessed. So good, I’m begging you two to fight already!”
“Class monitor, you’re really out here being charming while sick—I’m crying!”
Riding the wave of excitement in the classroom, Yu Siting brought the class meeting to a close:
“I’m glad to see everyone in such high spirits. Let’s hope Class 7 achieves even better results on the next exam. Now, life committee, take two or three people downstairs to get the delivery—Mr. Chu is treating everyone to fruit juice.”
“Waaah——”
“Thank you, Mr. Chu!”
How did it become my treat?
Chu Cheng froze for a second, but saw that Yu Siting had already stepped down from the podium, not giving him any chance to explain. He could only let it go.
Standing alone at the front of the class, Chu Cheng had a clear view of all the cheerful faces below.
These academic stars each had such unique personalities that Chu Cheng couldn’t help but find them all incredibly endearing. Just seeing their smiles made him want to smile along with them.
After hosting the award ceremony, only half the day’s homeroom meeting duties were complete. Before dismissal, the teachers still had one more important task—checking the quality of students’ homework.
As one of the long-established elite schools in Tingzhou, No. 10 High School had inherited some unique systems and teaching practices. Random checks of in-class study guides were one of them—a method used to encourage students to pay better attention during lessons.
The Academic Affairs Office would periodically require each class to submit all the study guides, exercise books, and notes students used during lessons. Then, through a random drawing, materials would be swapped between classes for mutual inspection. The results of the inspections would be ranked and included in the monthly performance review, and publicly posted for the entire grade.
“The calligraphy practice book was bought separately by our class; it doesn’t need to be checked. Just give me the school-issued study guide with the exercises.”
“Whose chemistry exercise book hasn’t been handed in? I counted—we’re still short four.”
“Whose English notebook was just left on the podium? There’s no name written on it.”
Evening self-study had just begun, and the subject reps were already walking between desks, collecting the materials to be inspected.
“Alright, stop complaining about handing in your exercise books. Just finish and get on with your own homework—stop looking around.”
Yu Siting stood at the front of the class maintaining order.
Knock knock—
There was a soft tapping on the classroom glass.
Yu Siting turned around and saw the homeroom teacher of Class 5 waving at him from outside. He stepped out to see what was going on.
The petite female teacher asked, “Is Mr. Chu here?”
Yu Siting replied, “He went to inspect the study guides. Is something the matter?”
“My assistant drew your class’s number.” She pulled a small slip of paper from her pocket—clearly marked with the number 7. “Just our luck—we got paired with your class.”
“So our two classes are inspecting each other?” Yu Siting understood immediately.
This kind of “just our luck” meant that both classes were being led by fiery young teachers. There had been similar cases in the past—when two rookie teachers went head-to-head during inspections, they’d get stuck nitpicking and scrutinizing every little thing, which had led to friction and unpleasantness between the classes.
“Yes, I’m a little worried…” The teacher laughed awkwardly. “Just wondering if I should give a heads-up, just in case?”
“There’s no need to worry about that,” Yu Siting replied calmly. “Mr. Chu has good judgment.”
The teacher looked slightly reassured. “That’s good. I’ll head back to class then. Don’t want to interrupt.”
Yu Siting nodded and returned to the classroom, giving new instructions to the subject reps:
“Once you’ve collected everything from all the subjects, bring them to the meeting room next to the Academic Affairs Office. Hand them over to Class 5’s teacher, Lin Qi.”
“Okay.” A few students double-checked the number of books, then carried the heavy stacks to the designated location.
In the small meeting room.
Chu Cheng was sitting by the window, casually flipping through the Chinese notebooks from Class 5.
As he inspected them, he couldn’t help but sigh—he had to admit, the handwriting from Class 5 was definitely better than that of Class 7. At the very least, it was clean, neat, and well-aligned.
“Oh, you’re here too? Did the boss of your class send you out to do grunt work?”
Zhou Jin entered the room and spotted Chu Cheng among the sea of teachers.
“I volunteered,” Chu Cheng replied. “Sitting in the classroom was making me too sleepy. The coffee I had this afternoon didn’t work at all.”
“With how you drink coffee like it’s water, you’ve probably long developed a resistance to it,” Zhou Jin said dismissively. He glanced around at the stacks of exercise books on the tables. “I’ll go through your class’s chemistry. Once I hit today’s KPI, I’m off duty.”
Chu Cheng kept reviewing the study guides seriously and didn’t respond.
Zhou Jin grabbed a red pen and sat down nearby to begin grading.
As he worked, he mumbled under his breath, “What’s even the point of this? In the end, it’s the teachers who are being evaluated. Take Class 6, for instance—those little monsters. Doesn’t matter if I explained a question five times or eight, or whether I wrote out the full solution on the board—they’ll still get it wrong in their exercise books. And now they want us to nitpick each other’s classes? It’s just setting teachers up to sabotage each other.”
“It’s just to make sure there’s nothing too outrageous. If there is, it probably means the students’ learning state is slipping. Regular checks on their notebooks do help, at least a bit.”
As Zhou Jin spoke, Chu Cheng had already gone through over ten notebooks. “Let’s not pretend—even my own lesson plans sometimes have typos.”
About twenty minutes later.
Zhou Jin capped his red pen and casually picked up a list, recording while informing, “There’s not much of an issue with your class’s chemistry homework. Just a few students were clearly inattentive during class and didn’t correct their mistakes. I’ve marked their names.”
“My eyelids were twitching from reading.” Chu Cheng had just about finished checking Class 5’s Chinese assignments. Overall, they were passable, with no need to single out anyone. So he didn’t make a separate record.
“I’ll go check on Class 9 next. Good luck.” Zhou Jin wrote his name at the bottom right corner of the feedback form, then stood up.
Chu Cheng lazily responded, about to switch to something less sleep-inducing, and was stretching his shoulders when he inadvertently glanced at Lin Qi in the back row.
Beside him, the English homework for Class 7 had been divided into two very uneven stacks. One was a thin pile that didn’t seem to have been touched, while the other was stacked high, each book laid open with folded inner pages.
Could this whole stack be problematic?
“Mr. Lin.” Chu Cheng couldn’t help but walk over and ask, seeing his colleague’s posture. “Is there something seriously wrong with the homework?”
“Ah, a bit.” Lin Qi adjusted his glasses and looked up to explain. “I think it’s the nature of English as a subject—prone to spelling mistakes.”
Chu Cheng randomly picked up a book and, upon opening the cover, was surprised to see the name “Xu Wanwan.” He asked in surprise, “This one isn’t up to standard either?”
She had just received an award for ranking first in English in the whole school.
“Let me see.” Mr. Lin took the workbook and turned to the folded page, explaining slowly, “Oh, here, the word is missing the last letter. I wasn’t sure if she remembered it wrong or if it was just a slip of the pen, so I marked it.”
“……”
Chu Cheng’s words stuck in his throat. While he felt it was overly strict, there wasn’t exactly anything wrong with it either. In fact, he himself seemed a bit careless in comparison.
He paused for a moment, then silently returned to his seat by the window.
Past nine-thirty, only twenty minutes remained before the students finished evening study.
Although Zhou Jin kept talking about getting off work, at this time he was still in the school hallway.
“Why haven’t you left yet?” Chu Cheng had finished his other tasks and was about to head back to his classroom.
“Nannan’s in your class for evening tutoring. Otherwise, why would I be standing here?” Zhou Jin replied absentmindedly, fiddling with his phone. Suddenly, as if he’d seen something shocking, he exclaimed, “What the… What happened to your class’s homework after I left?”
Hearing this, Chu Cheng also pulled out his phone to check the group messages.
Class 15 – Excellence Rate: 96%
Class 4 – Excellence Rate: 95%
Class 11 – Excellence Rate: 94%
Class 18 – Excellence Rate: 94%
Class 2 – Excellence Rate: 92%
Class 17 – Excellence Rate: 89%
…
Class 7 – Excellence Rate: 42%
Class 5 – Excellence Rate: 39%
In the assignment inspection results announced just a few minutes ago, the other classes only had some minor symbolic issues marked, with excellence rates ranging from 85% to 95%.
But the last two classes on the list had particularly eye-catching numbers.
Just then, footsteps echoed in the hallway—another person involved, Lin Qi, happened to be passing by, looking at his phone as he walked.
At this moment, his encounter with a certain Mr. Chu seemed both awkward and comical.
Zhou Jin burst out laughing: “Wait—what, do you two have a grudge against each other?”
Chu Cheng was the first to speak in his defense: “He started it.”
“I honestly didn’t know at first that the feedback forms had to be submitted to the academic office,” Lin Qi quickly explained. “I thought since I was already checking, I’d just mark the names and page numbers casually—it’d be easier for the students to correct later…”
“Then what’s your excuse?” Zhou Jin turned to Chu Cheng. “You looked half-asleep when I left. Where’d you get the energy to re-check everything?”
Chu Cheng moved his lips and said, “Have you ever heard the phrase: ‘Chinese teachers are proud for life’?”
Zhou Jin laughed so hard he almost cried. He ran a hand through his hair and tried to ease the mood: “My wife’s easygoing. She won’t care if we’re at the bottom of the ranking. But the question is—do you think your class’s big boss will accept this result?”
On Class 7’s remarks list, just the students with problems in English homework numbered over twenty.
Lin Qi, seeing no other way out, finally offered, “…How about I go explain it to Mr. Yu?”
“Forget it. It’s already like this,” Chu Cheng could tell from his tone that Lin Qi was strongly resistant to the idea, so he didn’t press him. He sighed and said, “I’m going back in.”
When Mr. Chu returned to the classroom, Yu Siting was bent over a desk at the back of the room writing a lesson plan.
“Busy with school inspections for the whole evening self-study—aren’t you tired?” Hearing the door open, he glanced up. “Finished checking?”
“Yeah.” As Chu Cheng answered, he noticed Mr. Yu’s phone was charging by the window. He probably hadn’t seen the group messages yet.
Unfortunately, the next second, Yu asked, “So, how did it go?”
“You’d better see for yourself,” Chu Cheng replied nervously.
Yu paused, unplugged his phone, and started scrolling through the messages.
A few seconds later, his brows furrowed slightly. “What, you and Class 5 had a brawl?”
Chu Cheng had been about to explain, but after a moment’s thought, he realized that “brawl” actually fit the situation perfectly. So he just replied, “Yeah.”
Unexpectedly, Yu Siting didn’t seem bothered at all. He casually set his phone down and calmly said, “We ranked second-to-last, and they ranked last. We both won—so why do you still look so defeated?”
Chu Cheng muttered, “Still… it looks really bad.”
“In a battle between two armies, how can there be no casualties?” Yu Siting replied with a drawling Beijing accent, smiling as he tapped the remark list with his long fingers. “For every student found with unqualified English homework, assign two extra worksheets. Mr. Chu, go hand them their ‘casualty notices,’ will you?”
Chu Cheng: “…”
The homeroom teacher finished speaking and lowered his head again to continue writing his lesson plan, as if nothing had happened.
But Chu Cheng couldn’t quite snap out of it.
Even though he knew this guy was being sarcastic again, why did it strangely feel like… he was backing him up?
Author’s note:
Yu Siting: No big deal.
My beautiful, gentle, chill assistant teacher—aside from wanting to retire—what evil intentions could he possibly have?
Class 5’s homeroom teacher: ?
So you’re saying I deserve to be dead last?