Volume 1 / Chapter 20: The Guardian by the Podium

With the sound of the morning exercise bell, the brief farce came to an end.

High school morning exercises were different from middle school’s, and Mò Xuěyáo followed along awkwardly. But the other students weren’t much better—after all, they’d only been doing this for a month, so their form wasn’t that much more polished than hers.

She barely made it through morning exercises, feeling embarrassed all over, and quickly followed the class back to the room.

Not long after, the bell rang for the first period.

The English teacher entered the classroom with a light, sprightly step.

They’d had English class yesterday, so Xuěyáo knew her name—courtesy of a little background info from her desk mate, Wáng Jiālè .

Her surname was Wáng, given name Qiǎnyǔ. Just like most English teachers in her impression, she favored a British style of dress—even her hairstyle had a distinct European flair.

“Hmhmhmhm~” Wáng Qiǎnyǔ hummed softly as she stopped at the podium, then patted Liú Xiǎowěi who sat beside it. “Guardian of the podium, did you finish your homework today?”

Guardian?

Xuěyáo blinked, then looked more closely at where Liú Xiǎowěi was seated—and suddenly understood.

He was seated right next to the podium, even closer to the teacher than the front row. That spot was typically reserved for the class troublemakers or underachievers.

From primary school to high school, there was always someone assigned that spot.

In fact, Xuěyáo herself had once been stuck in that exact seat... back in elementary school.

“I did…” Liú Xiǎowěi was already half-slumped over his desk, ready to nap. Even sitting beside the podium didn’t stop him—he couldn’t chat with others, sure, but sleeping through class was still on the table.

Of course, that was because this was English class. If it were math, he wouldn’t even dare.

“Is that so~? If your handwriting looks like chicken scratch, you’ll have to redo it!” Wáng Qiǎnyǔ’s tone suddenly sharpened as she put her hands on her hips and gave him a pretend smack on the head. “No napping today—this lesson’s very important.”

“Every day you say it’s important…” Liú Xiǎowěi yawned lazily. He had seemed wide awake just a moment ago—why did he get so sleepy the moment class began?

“If you know it’s important every day, how do you still have the nerve to argue!?” Wáng Qiǎnyǔ slapped the desk, pouting. “Can’t you be a little more self-disciplined!?”

“But I’m just so tired…”

“Didn’t sleep again last night?” she asked, flipping her hair as she casually opened her textbook.

“Was playing Pokémon FireRed. Took me ages to figure out where to get Fly…” Liú Xiǎowěi answered without a shred of hesitation, as if he were chatting with a fellow gamer—never mind that she looked like the last person who’d ever touch a game console.

“Oh, that’s easy. It’s in Celadon City. Just cut down the tree and enter the little house—you’ll find it there,” Wáng Qiǎnyǔ replied coolly.

Liú Xiǎowěi didn’t even look surprised. He clearly took this in stride. “I didn’t notice it at first, so now I’m wiped…”

"Enough." Wáng Qiǎnyǔ waved off the topic before it spiraled into a full-on strategy guide. "No sleeping! Shouldn't have played under the covers!

“But I am tired…”

“Hmmm…” Her eyes sparkled with mischief. Suddenly, she grinned slyly. “How about this—if you stay focused and answer questions correctly, I’ll give you a lollipop after class!”

“I’m not a little kid.” Liú Xiǎowěi rolled his eyes.

"Too bad! You're getting it. Now-focus!" She pinched his ear hard, smiling as he yelped in pain did she let go, satisfied.

And so, English class officially began.

Wáng Qiǎnyǔ’s teaching style wasn’t exactly polished, but her lessons were always lively and fun.

She also seemed to bring little gifts to class every day. If someone won a mini-game, got a tough question right, or otherwise participated well, she’d hand out one of these little prizes on the spot.

They weren’t anything fancy or expensive, but still gave everyone something to look forward to.

Each gift came in a neatly wrapped box, about palm-sized. All the boxes looked identical, but their contents varied—like a lucky draw.

Honestly, Wáng Qiǎnyǔ had a knack for capturing students’ attention.

The most impressive part? The gifts didn’t just include stationery or snacks—there were also little toys that boys found interesting.

That meant the mini-games weren’t just filled with enthusiastic girls anymore.

“Okay, okay—we’ve got five minutes left in class, so let’s play a little game!” she announced cheerily. “This one doesn’t have much to do with the lesson. It’s more to test your reflexes! Raise your hand like this if you want to join~” She waved her hand in demonstration. “Today’s prize includes something even the boys might like!”

Xuěyáo felt a little tempted.

After all, she’d never had this much fun in English class before. Though, she couldn’t help but wonder—was the teacher’s salary really enough to afford all this?

Still, Wáng Qiǎnyǔ didn’t look short on money. Xuěyáo didn’t know brand names, but she could tell the quality of her clothes—they weren’t cheap.

Maybe she was from a rich family?

“Xiǎoyáo, let’s join together?” Wáng Jiālè whispered.

“Huh… why?” Xuěyáo asked, confused.

“It's... less nerve-wracking together.,” Jiālè mumbled shyly.

“Sure,” Xuěyáo agreed readily. She had been planning to raise her hand anyway.

Now that Jiālè was going too, it made the whole thing feel less nerve-wracking.

“Alright, Wáng Jiālè and the girl beside her… Mò Xuěyáo, right?” Wáng Qiǎnyǔ pointed them out. “You two, come on up~”

Then she called up four more students—three girls and three boys in total. Nice and balanced.

She began explaining, hands on hips. “This game is super simple! It tests your vocabulary, reflexes, and how fast you can write!”

The six students each stood at a section of the blackboard, separated by horizontal lines to prevent cheating. If anyone peeked, they’d be disqualified from winning.

“I’ll say a letter. Your job is to write as many English words as you can that start with that letter. Keep going until I say a new one,” she said. “Whoever writes the most correct words wins a prize!”

“Got it,” the six students answered nervously.

“Okay, first one—C!”

Xuěyáo’s brain kicked into overdrive. Neat handwriting was out the window—this was all about speed.

Everyone else was doing the same. At this pace, no one was writing legibly. As long as the letters could be deciphered, that was enough.

“Next—X!”

X?

Xuěyáo froze for half a second. The first thing she thought of was Xmas. Then… what else?

She caught a glimpse of the others pausing, too.

Clearly, this one had stumped them all a bit.

There really weren’t many common X-words.

Thankfully, Xuěyáo’s mind was spinning fast. She managed to come up with xylitol—a word she remembered meaning "sugar alcohol."

No time to think of more, though. The next round had already begun.

“Next letter—P!”

Now that brought a flood of words to her mind. She started scribbling like mad.

This time, it dragged on a little longer.

Long enough that Xuěyáo actually started blanking out.

She had been sure she knew tons of words with P, but now her mind was going foggy.

“What else…?” She frowned, then suddenly wrote Panties.

“Next—S!”

“Alright—time’s up!”

They only had about five or six seconds for the S round. Xuěyáo barely managed to write one word.

“Okay, pens down! Let’s take a look—” Wáng Qiǎnyǔ started on the boys’ side. The first was Zhōu Yǒng.

“Hmm… not bad, not bad… Wait a second. S-word: ShangHai? What’s the meaning of that!?” she laughed, giving his head a light swat.

“Technically, it’s a word…” Zhōu Yǒng muttered.

“Nice try, but no loopholes allowed! Doesn’t count!”

“Aw, c’mon, just this once?” he grinned sheepishly.

“Nope! Next!”

She checked all six students’ answers, correcting any misspellings. It was expected that people would make mistakes under pressure—and errors didn’t count.

Xuěyáo was the only one who got all her words right—and the highest number overall.

Second place went to Wáng Jiālè.

“Congrats!” Wáng Qiǎnyǔ beamed, holding out a bag full of little gift boxes. “Each of you, pick one~”

Xuěyáo stared at the identical boxes for a while, then picked one from the edge.

It didn’t feel heavy, which made her a little disappointed.

The bell rang just as the two girls finished choosing.

The joyful class had passed all too quickly.

Back at their seats, Jiālè immediately tore hers open.

She got a cute butterfly hair clip that looked pretty high quality.

“Xiǎoyáo, what did you get? Open it! I wanna see!”

“Uh… okay.” Xuěyáo was just as curious—but she managed to restrain herself a bit more. She opened hers slowly, savoring the gamble.

“Ugh—what even is this—” Jiālè’s disappointed voice rang out on her behalf.