Chapter 67: Supplemental Lessons

  The day arrived when they were going to get their report cards. Gu Xiang thought about how strange Jiang Laoshi had been that day and she felt a bit nervous too.

  The ranking list was still posted in the old location, and when Gu Xiang went up to take a look, she surprisingly wasn't in first place.

  Chai Zi Yu ranked first and she was second. The total score difference between the two people was five points. After checking the scores of each subject, Gu Xiang felt that he had indeed not performed well and made mistakes, all at a normal level. Comparing Chai Zi Yu's scores again, his English score was one point short of full marks, which should be deducted from the composition, completely exceeding expectations.

  Soon, Teacher Jiang called her into his office.

  Teacher Jiang said to her: "This time is not the first, don't put too much psychological pressure on yourself. However, you can't slack off either. The teacher has always trusted you and won't say anything more, but next semester you need to work harder, focus your mind a bit more, and put more effort into studying, got it?"

  After scolding her for a few sentences, Gu Xiang was released.

  Although Teacher Jiang didn't say anything serious, the implication behind his words was very obvious.

  She is indeed performing normally, but too normal, it's not the best one anymore.

  She is still a three-good student this semester. The comment written by Teacher Jiang on her report card reads: Learning is like sailing against the current, if you don't move forward, you will fall behind.

  Cháizǐyǔ did very well on this exam, and a big part of it is because he memorized all the English words he was supposed to before the test.

  It's just the method of forgetting curve proposed by Gu Xiang for her.

  His friends around him finally got rid of his second identity for thousands of years and made a fuss about asking him to treat them.

  Chai Zi sent off the group of big shots and thought about whether or not to go tell Gu Xiang, but it didn't seem right not to say anything, as his progress in learning was also thanks to her help. However, going to tell her would make him seem like he's showing off.

  Gu Xiang went to each subject teacher to get her own test papers, laid them out in a row on the table. She pouted for a while, still feeling that there was not much room for improvement. Physics and math were very difficult for her to get full marks, if she spent time reviewing these two subjects, it would be hard to guarantee that English and language could maintain their current scores...it seemed like she had walked into a dead end.

  As she thought about it, she happened to see Chai Zi Yu and asked him, "Do you usually attend any supplementary classes?"

  Chai Zi thought for a moment and said straightforwardly, "There's homework, we have to go to the teacher's house on Saturday morning to do some exercises."

  "Where is the teacher?"

  "The math teacher in our city is old and doesn't teach very enthusiastically, usually just gives us practice questions to do, and then explains the ones we don't understand individually."

  As soon as she heard it was a teacher from the city, Gu Xiang knew that this kind of teacher must have been found through connections, and didn't dare to ask again.

  "Want to take a look at the test paper that teacher handed out? I'll ask for you later if they're still accepting people. The tutoring fee is 50 yuan per hour."

  This fee would be quite expensive if it were an ordinary teacher, but if it's a municipal school teacher, it's still pretty fair.

  Gu Xiang said: "Wouldn't that be bad? With more people, the effect is worse. Your kind of one-on-one tutoring is even more so."

  "It's okay now, including me there are five people in total."

  "Then you ask first, I'll go back and ask my mom too. I think by the latest junior high school, my mom will definitely enroll me in a tutoring class."

  However, she didn't want to attend those large classes with twenty or thirty people, which were similar to school and had classmates with different levels of proficiency. Instead, she preferred the kind of small-class education that Chai Zi Yu mentioned, where she could receive targeted guidance to improve.

  She is now at a loss as to which direction she should strive for.

  Chai Zi thought she was emotionally stable, didn't get discouraged because she didn't get first place, and also let out a sigh of relief.

  Gu Xiang took his second-place transcript and left.

  Gu's mother was sitting at the counter cracking melon seeds while watching TV, "You're back."

  Gu Xiang vaguely responded, entering the door to take off her hat and scarf. Gu's mother kicked the foot warmer at her feet towards her.

  Gu Xiang crouched beside the heater, warming her hands. Her face no longer felt stinging pain. It was because their home wasn't warm enough that they bought this new heater. She would feel cold while doing her homework in a sweater, so her mom got a new one. The old one was put away in the store.

  Gu Xiang moved the heater back to its original position and squeezed down beside her mother.

  The aunt poured some melon seeds from the table into her hand and said simply: "Eat."

  Gu Xiang also grabbed a handful of melon seeds and watched the rerun of "Happy Camp" with her mother.

  The two of them laughed for half a day before Gu's mom suddenly remembered to ask: "How was the exam? What did your teacher Jiang say you didn't have?"

  "My grades aren't as good as before, I'm second place, five points behind the first place. Teacher Jiang told me to keep working hard." As she said that, she took out her report card and showed it to her mom.

  Gu's mom read Jiang teacher's comment and clicked her tongue, saying: "Your Jiang teacher is also strange. Our family didn't give you such great pressure, but he let you be the class committee member for a while and then complained that you looked bad, always finding fault with you."

  Gu Xiang was speechless: "Teacher Jiang is being kind to me, it's not like he's so attentive to everyone."

  While saying that, Gu Xiang took out her test papers to show her mom, "I got all my test papers back, and indeed I scored normally, but there's no progress."

  Her English was 3 points short of full marks this time. Teacher Wang thought she didn't do well in the exam and wrote encouraging words on her test paper.

  Her mother stared at it for half a day and asked her daughter: "What does this 'jiā jiā' mean? Why is there a plus sign? It's not like we're doing math problems."

  Gu Xiang couldn't help but laugh, holding her stomach and saying to her mom: "What's with the 'jiama' (add horse)? It's a famous quote. Teacher Wang wrote that a fine steed gallops a hundred paces without stopping; a poor nag plods along for ten miles, its merit lies in not giving up."

  Her mother also followed her daughter and laughed: "Your teacher's handwriting is too scattered. It's like the joke you told me last time, Lin Dan!"

  After chatting for a while, Gu Xiang felt a bit parched and asked her mother if she wanted to drink some hot tea, so she went to brew a fresh pot.

  "Mom Gu said: 'I'll go, it's time to cook.'"

  "Just do something, I'm not hungry either. How about cooking some noodles? Didn't we have leftover chicken soup from yesterday?"

  Gu's mom also thought it was great, stir-fried some snow cabbage with shredded pork, and simply cooked two bowls of chicken noodle soup, making for a delicious and warm lunch.

  Gu Xiang suddenly thought of asking Chai Zi Yu about something in the morning and asked Gu's mom about supplementary lessons.

  As soon as she heard this, Mrs. Gu said that she had already inquired about it long ago. Although Gu Xiang often says that he doesn't want this or that, she also pays attention to these things. She said that several teachers have set up classes at home and usually let their own students attend, so everyone knows each other and can improve based on the content of the usual lessons.

  Gu Xiang knew that this was the current norm, and it seemed that Teacher Jiang's family was also doing this. However, she didn't want to go, and to be honest, she wasn't on the same level as her ordinary classmates. People like Li Wei and Tang Lulu wouldn't go to Teacher Jiang for tutoring either; they all contacted their own teachers for tutoring. Li Wei usually tutored Chinese, which was her strong subject. Tang Lulu tutored English.

  Gu Xiang felt that this kind of liberal arts thing couldn't be improved in a short time, so she wanted to make up for it immediately. It's best to grasp both mathematics and physics.

  She's also not afraid of spending money, as she has the 50,000 yuan her father openly gave her. Although the piano lessons were previously abandoned, if it's for tutoring fees, Father Gu will definitely be more supportive.

  Gu Xiang mentioned this famous teacher's small class, but Gu Mama wasn't really clear about it. She had only heard that it was just a general tutoring session. Since her daughter's goal was so clear, she decided to ask around some more.

  It turned out that there was indeed a young teacher living near their home who was tutoring, and the husband and wife teaching team were even more suitable. One taught math and the other taught physics.

  This teacher is a retired teacher from the city, and nobody knows why. Anyway, everyone says that their tutoring is good, it's just that they have high expectations. For 50 yuan an hour, they require students to do a set of homework they provide, and only those who do well can get in.

  They're also recruiting new people now because a student got his hand blown up by firecrackers and had to drop out.

  After hearing this, Gu's mother didn't say another word and took Gu Xiang away with her.

  The teacher's youth is relative to the teaching profession, which emphasizes seniority. The couple are both approaching forty.

  The female teacher took them into the house to get their papers, saying to Mrs. Gu: "You can do it here or take it home and bring it back tomorrow, either way is fine."

  Gu Xiang took a look at the paper and found it slightly difficult, but there were no trap questions that required repeated verification, just basic knowledge.

  Gu's mother asked for Gu Xiang's opinion, and Gu Xiang said: "I can do it." Then she asked the female teacher: "Teacher, is there another physics test paper? Give it to me together, I'll finish it and give it back to you together."

  The female teacher handed her another test paper and took her to a small room with several desks.

  The female teacher sat on the sofa with Mrs. Gu and chatted, while her husband was teaching the children in the classroom inside, she was also quite free now.

  Mrs. Gu is eloquent and quite talkative, so I told her: "The security here seems to be okay most of the time, but it's particularly chaotic during the Spring Festival. The security guards at your community entrance are from the same hometown as ours, they're all outsiders, and they went back to their hometown for Chinese New Year a few days ago, only returning after the Lantern Festival. At this time, you should be more careful, especially since there are many children here."

  The female teacher also felt a bit nervous: "Our family will send several unaccompanied children home that night, and I'm also afraid of being alone at home. Moreover, it takes more than an hour for him to come and go, and I worry about the road."

  Gu's mother then thought of a solution: "You guys must be installing a lot of windows here, have the anti-theft window grills outside the windows been installed yet?"

  The female teacher shook her head in embarrassment and said: "It's going to be Chinese New Year, many masters are not taking on new projects now. They all say they will come after the holiday."

  Two teachers have a similar accent with locals, but there are no acquaintances in the county, so it's very inconvenient to handle things.

  "Mom Gu said with a guarantee: "There was a lock and anti-theft window seller next to my old store. I'll get you his business card when I go back, and he can come over this afternoon if you call him."

  The female teacher thought that the mother was so generous, and while saying "How can this be good?" she thought that even if her daughter did a little worse in the future, this student could still be accepted.