When the Side Character Gets a System and Travels through Difference Worlds-Chapter 20: Tingting 18

Tan You had taken the high school entrance exams not long ago, so she remembered nearly all the material from the second semester of eighth grade. After a quick review of the textbook, she started on the end-of-Chapter exercises.

She was so engrossed in a mountain of practice problems that she didn’t even notice when her roommate left. If the owner hadn’t come upstairs to call her for dinner, Tan You probably would have kept at it all night.

The owner patted Tan You’s shoulder. "Working so hard right at the start of the semester? No matter how hard you study, you still have to take care of your health. I saved a plate for you. Don’t worry, I gave you some extra rice."

Tan You snapped out of it. "Thank you. I’ve been getting hungry really easily lately."

"Of course you are. Studying is mentally draining. Your brain won’t work if you don’t eat enough." The owner thought Tan You was so easy to take care of. ’She eats a lot of rice and fewer side dishes, and can even get full just by pouring some gravy over her rice. She’s nothing like those other girls, who are so picky and eat like birds.’

’How could you have the energy to study if you don’t eat your fill?’

As she went downstairs, Tan You was a bit dazed. "Is everyone gone?"

"Yep. You were the only one upstairs studying." The owner brought Tan You’s food over, smiling warmly. "Hurry up and eat. Head to your classroom as soon as you’re done, or you’ll be late."

"It wouldn’t be good to be late on the first day of school."

Thanks to the owner’s reminder, Tan You managed to step into the classroom at the very last second. Luckily, her homeroom teacher hadn’t arrived yet, so Tan You avoided getting a reputation for being late on the first day.

There was always an exam at the start of every semester. It was meant to get the students to refocus and not get too lax after nearly a month of winter break. Usually, the difficulty of the first exam of the semester was increased.

It was a rude awakening, meant to get them to quickly throw themselves back into their studies.

But even with the increased difficulty, Tan You’s grades remained incredibly stable. Ever since she’d placed first before the new year, she had never once dropped from the top spot in any exam.

Everyone else was starting to feel hopeless about her scores. Her Chinese and English grades were as stable as ever. While her math and physics scores had their occasional ups and downs, they were always trending in the right direction.

A month of school flew by, and it was time for the first monthly exam. When Tan You went to the office to hand in her homework that day, Mr. Qin dangled another carrot in front of her. "Teacher Shi officially returned to teach the second-years yesterday."

Tan You’s eyes lit up, and she looked like she was about to bolt for the high school division. Mr. Qin grabbed her by the hood. "You stay put right here. You think just anyone can waltz into the high school building?"

Tan You deflated, but one look at Mr. Qin’s expression told her he was saying it on purpose. She smiled at him. "Sir, I want to go see Teacher Shi."

Seeing his usually quiet, expressionless star pupil giving him such an eager smile put Mr. Qin in an excellent mood. "You can."

’Just like that?’ Tan You was suspicious.

Sure enough, the condition came a second later. "It depends on your performance on the monthly exam. This one is a joint exam with several other schools in the city. I remember you placed ninth in the city last semester. My expectations aren’t high—just move up one spot."

Tan You pressed her lips together and agreed without hesitation. "I’ll do my best!"

’Without Mr. Qin taking me, how could I possibly get into the high school division? The gates to the high school are always closed, and you have to sign in and out. Besides, I want Teacher Shi to know that my grades are good now, so her guidance wasn’t in vain.’

The other teachers watched as Mr. Qin dangled a carrot to get Han Tingting all fired up. As soon as she was out the office door, the Chinese teacher from the next class over chuckled. "Mr. Qin really knows how to motivate someone. Look how excited he got Han Tingting."

"This exam is going to be interesting."

"Asking her to move up one more spot... isn’t that a bit too demanding?"

Mr. Qin was completely unconcerned. "Han Tingting is the kind of student who needs someone to guide her. In hindsight, it’s a good thing Teacher Shi went back to the high school division. With her dangling in front as a goal, how could I possibly worry about Han Tingting not being motivated?"

The politics teacher found this amusing. "You make Teacher Shi sound like a carrot dangling in front of a donkey."

The office erupted in laughter. Apparently, the description was quite apt.

Mr. Qin said, "That student is stubborn and single-minded, but her stubbornness has its advantages. As long as you know which buttons to push, you can get her motivated every single time."

With Mr. Qin’s words hanging over her, Tan You was indeed exceptionally focused during the subsequent monthly exam. In the past, she rarely checked her work after finishing a test, but this time she went over it carefully three times to ensure she didn’t lose any points she could have earned.

Her hard work really paid off. When the monthly exam results came out, all the teachers were thrilled.

"See? Mr. Qin knows what he’s doing. I never expected Han Tingting to improve so much. She’s third in the whole city now!"

The math teacher from the class next door was a little jealous. "Why couldn’t Han Tingting be my student? I could do what Mr. Qin did."

Mr. Qin was quite smug. "That’s because I have an eye for talent. I knew from the start that Han Tingting had potential. Look how much she’s changed now! A model student, through and through—self-disciplined and diligent. Her scientific thinking might be a bit weak, but she’s willing to put in the hard work."

The politics teacher added, "I think she’d have an easier time if she chose the humanities track later on. The high school science curriculum is very difficult."

"I wouldn’t be so sure. Teacher Shi is a math teacher for a science class, after all." Another teacher suddenly laughed. "When it comes time to choose tracks in her first year of high school, do you think Han Tingting will pick humanities or science?"

"I bet she’ll most likely pick the science track, where Teacher Shi is."

Mr. Qin beamed. "Who can say what the future holds? Ah, Han Tingting’s here. I have a promise to keep. I’ll take her over to the high school division while it’s still the lunch break." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Tan You had come to ask about her score. On her way over, she had already made up her mind. ’If I didn’t reach the goal, I’ll... I’ll just try harder next time. But for this time, I’ll be shameless if I have to and make Mr. Qin take me anyway.’

But before she even reached the office, she saw Mr. Qin coming out. He was holding a grade sheet, and Tan You’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. "Mr. Qin?"

Mr. Qin rolled up the grade sheet and tapped Tan You on the head with it. "I’m a man of my word. Let’s go. Teacher Shi is supervising the science class’s lunch break today. I’ll take you to see her."

Tan You was so happy she felt like she might faint. For once, she became talkative. "Really? I can really go see Teacher Shi? Mr. Qin, hurry up..."

As Han Tingting’s voice trailed off, the teachers in the office exchanged glances, all clearly in good spirits. Wang Lanfeng, however, had mixed feelings. She was Han Tingting’s homeroom teacher, yet the student’s thoughts were completely fixated on the math teacher who had already returned to the high school division.

The disparity was certainly a little hard to swallow.

"I’ve never seen Han Tingting so lively," the English teacher remarked with a smile. "She’s usually so introverted."