Chapter 89

Chapter 89

Teacher Shi received the notice only the day before the meeting—the venue for the parent-teacher meeting of the second-year competition class had been changed to the school auditorium. The seating arrangement for the parents had also become more scattered, and students were allowed to accompany them.

Teacher Shi opened his water cup and added sugar to it, looking through the steam at the performance report on his computer.

He murmured, "The school is taking this quite seriously, huh?"

This year, the overall level of the competition class was actually quite good. Having known these students for over half a year since last year, Teacher Shi could already estimate which ones had a chance at national awards and which could secure top university admissions through reduced scores. The school would recommend a few for the exams… as long as they performed well.

However, among these students, he was particularly unsure about what path Chu Tingwu would take.

...But even if this child couldn't get into university, her family's financial situation would ensure she wouldn't go hungry.

But, this parent-teacher meeting would finally give him the chance to have a proper conversation with Chu Tingwu's "parent"!

Teacher Shi said, "I haven't met Chu Tingwu's parent yet."

As soon as he said this, the other teachers in the office nodded.

The biology teacher said, "I asked Teacher Yuan from Class 3, and she said Chu Tingwu's parents are divorced. She lives with her father, but since starting high school, her father hasn't taken care of her at all."

Another teacher nodded. "Teacher Cao also mentioned she lives alone. Her parents are well-off, but why just give money?"

The biology teacher added, "If the money is enough... kidding. Did the students register which parents would attend the meeting? How many did Chu Tingwu register?"

In the parent group, most parents hoped more family members could come, as their children's paths differed from others. Questions about what to do if the competition failed, whether the competition class needed to participate in certain contests or training camps early… even if they had some understanding, they still hoped for more experienced teachers to answer. So, when the meeting venue changed, most families had both parents attending, even if it meant taking leave.

Teacher Shi flipped through the form. "I remember Chu Tingwu said her parent couldn't come personally and would send a subordinate—"

Hmm?

This time, he hadn't looked closely at the second form, but at a glance, Chu Tingwu had registered four and a half people?

Four was understandable, but the half... oh, it was a cat.

He took a sip of his sugared water: The parents seem quite responsible this time?

-

Teacher Shi carried his computer and, along with other teachers, arrived at the auditorium a bit early.

The auditorium was chilly, and the autumn wind made him shiver.

As he was about to set up the projector, he turned his head and saw the Vice Principal and the director coming over to help set up the projector, turn on the air conditioner, and check the seats.

Teacher Shi: "…?"

The Vice Principal sighed. "The steps in our auditorium are a bit too high, and the height of these two steps is different. If someone has poor eyesight, it's quite easy to trip."

Teacher Shi thought: Students have complained about this many times, but the school doesn't have the funds, right? Even the natural history museum had to be funded by students.

For some reason, as he watched the Vice Principal walking around, he felt a strange sense of tension and eagerness.

But he quickly stopped paying attention to that—because the parents had arrived.

The parents were brought in directly by the students themselves. Teacher Shi greeted them with a smile, letting them choose their seats.

Some parents wanted to sit in the first row but were pulled back by their children, who whispered, "What are you doing? You can see from the back…"

Some parents, with high academic backgrounds themselves, were discussing exam questions with their children: "…Your ranking is a bit risky. You also took last year's exam…"

Chang Yixin's family only came with her mother because Class 3 was also having a parent-teacher meeting at the same time, so Chang Yixin's father went to attend her younger sister's meeting.

Mother and daughter chose the third row, where a whole row was still empty.

Teacher Shi noticed someone glancing at the mother and daughter: probably knowing that Chang Yixin was the class monitor.

In fact, the competition class didn't have an official class monitor, but Teacher Shi often asked Chang Yixin for help. From class funds to arranging cleaning duties to managing discipline, he unintentionally entrusted everything to her, and she handled it all clearly while keeping up with her studies.

So, the other students in the class seemed to have tacitly accepted her as the class monitor.

Then, Teacher Shi turned his head and noticed an elderly lady at the door.

A middle-aged woman was holding the elderly lady's hand, presumably another student's parent. As they walked in, the Vice Principal, who had been standing by, actually moved—

The Vice Principal went to the other side, as if to accompany them, and said, "Mrs. Zhang, hello. Here, be careful with the steps."

Teacher Shi thought: This elderly lady must have poor eyesight? He walked over but found that the Vice Principal couldn't successfully support her.

Because on the other side, a young woman in her twenties was accompanying her, smiling slightly at the Vice Principal.

Was she a younger family member?

But then, a cat darted between their legs.

A student in front greeted, "San Wuu!"

Teacher Shi thought: This parent surnamed San is a bit late.

San Wuu was a large, fluffy cat. Hearing others call its name, it just tilted its head and looked, then, instead of going ahead on its own, it used its tail to gently touch the elderly lady's leg.

Although the lady's eyesight wasn't good, she walked steadily, smiling faintly, nodded to the Vice Principal, and, accompanied by the cat and the young woman, went to the third row.

Then Teacher Shi noticed Chu Tingwu, hands in pockets, following behind, and a man with an elite demeanor, also smiling, following Chu Tingwu.

Teacher Shi: Quite a crowd.

He suddenly wondered if the school changed the venue to the auditorium because Chu Tingwu's family was coming in such numbers that a regular classroom wouldn't be enough.

In the same row, Chang's Mother was also curious. Taking the opportunity before the meeting started, she greeted the others: "Are you Chu Tingwu's grandmother? I'm Chang Yixin's mother."

"Oh," Teacher Zhang smiled, "I'm Chu Tingwu's grandmother. I'm Zhang."

"I'm Chu Tingwu's aunt, surnamed Mei. You can call me Little Mei."

"…I'm Chu Chu's personal assistant. I'm here to accompany her."

"I'm the representative sent by the boss. The boss is too busy, so I'm here to attend the parent-teacher meeting for Miss Chu."

Chang's Mother: Why does your description sound so out of place?

San Wuu lay on the long table: "Meow?"

Chu Tingwu stood with her hands in her pockets, silently sitting among the "parents," with San Wuu in front of her.

—Around her, many classmates turned to look at her, signaling with their eyes: Isn't your family coming a bit too much?

Chu Tingwu: Any objections?

No, no.

The Vice Principal even sat in the row behind them. When almost everyone had arrived, the teachers began their speech: mainly about the competition schedule, recommended training camp projects, what achievements in the competition could apply for which schools, and what help the school would provide… as well as what paths students could take if they failed in the competition.

Winning national awards for direct admission was great, but there were also provincial exams and opportunities for reduced scores at top universities.

Some top schools could offer up to 50 points off—equivalent to adding 50 points to your original college entrance exam score. If the added points reached their admission score threshold, you could be admitted. If your original score already reached the admission score threshold, you could get priority in choosing your major.

In the teachers' understanding, the students present were all bound for a top-tier university, and they were the most concerned and most anticipated students.

But some could adapt to the competition, and even if they failed, they could switch to the regular college entrance exam track with their classmates, which might lead to psychological setbacks and poor performance… they needed to prepare both parents and students:

The competition was just one path, not the only path in life.

As he spoke, Teacher Shi suddenly thought of Chu Tingwu.

He always says these things every year, but when it comes to Chu Tingwu, there's a sense of having "seen" these words come to life: If Chu Tingwu didn't have talent in other areas, would she, like her classmates, throw herself into competitions?

It seems not.

She is one of the students that Teacher Shi has seen as having a strong sense of purpose. Even if she's not yet sure which path to take in the future, she knows that life will be long.

This time, he should be able to have a good talk with Chu Tingwu's parents... well, with all of them.

After the teachers finished speaking, they continued to answer questions from the parents. After a round of questions, it was time for individual conversations.

First, the subject teachers would talk to their own students, while Teacher Shi needed to talk to every parent, analyzing their child's performance and making specific plans based on their grades.

Although the class size was relatively small compared to others, going through each conversation was still very time-consuming. Fortunately, some didn't require much advice, like Chang Yixin's family—

"Chang Yixin is doing very well, both in attitude and grades. Your family has done a great job in her education; just keep it up."

He also told Chang Yixin, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask the teachers. You also take on a lot of responsibilities in the class, so if you feel too busy, you can always step back. What's most important is that you have time to focus on your studies."

As for An Shiyan, both parents were present this time:

"Don't put too much pressure on the child. The things she's learning now, you probably don't understand anymore. Let her arrange her own studies. If there's a need for supervision, the teachers will help with that."

Teacher Shi could tell that compared to other naturally gifted students, An Shiyan had some talent but not much. She also had many small distractions and was easily distracted. With pressure from her parents and herself, things could easily go south... so it was risky.

But if her parents pressured her, it would only make things worse. It was better for them to stay out of it.

When saying this, Teacher Shi was under quite a bit of pressure. An Shiyan, standing nearby, looked a bit embarrassed.

Finally, Teacher Shi approached Chu Tingwu and first identified the people around her.

Grandmother, Aunt, assistant, subordinate... even the subordinate had to convey the boss's message.

This group really gave off the vibe of being the kind of overindulgent parents who spoil their kids—

Teacher Shi: "Chu Tingwu..."

He paused for a moment: "I believe Chu Tingwu is a child with a lot of her own ideas. Has the family discussed how to arrange her future?"

The elderly lady smiled:

"This child has many things she wants to do. Her recent ideas include continuing to film documentaries related to the charity foundation and finishing cat language teaching videos in her spare time—she feels she can summarize some systematic teaching content and maybe even write a book? She recently read a niche Russian novel and wants to start trying her hand at translation. She won't slack off on her daily workouts either, and might try one or two interesting new sports."

Teacher Shi began to ponder an unsolved mystery: Where does Chu Tingwu's energy come from? Everyone takes the same classes, and she maybe skips half a day, but why does everyone else feel drained after finishing their homework, while she can—

Oh, she sometimes doesn't do her homework.

Chu Tingwu seems to selectively choose her homework. Sometimes, when a test paper is handed out, she only completes about a third of the difficult questions.

But considering her exam rankings not only haven't dropped but have even improved steadily, the teachers have turned a blind eye.

Teacher Shi mused, "Many children don't have a plan for their future."

"They think that getting into a good university is the end goal, and after that, it's either finding a good job with their degree or continuing to pursue higher education—and we are in the competition class, so everyone is quite proud, as they have already outperformed all their peers in other classes."

"For other students, I would only give their parents some advice about their studies, but I know what kind of student Chu Tingwu is, so I have higher expectations for... your future," Teacher Shi looked at Chu Tingwu, and the others turned to look at her as well. "Whether or not you get into a good university through competitions, you will have a way forward."

"Given that you already have these thoughts, what are your views on how you will shape your future?"

—You are already sixteen years old, even though you haven't legally come of age yet. Your peers have already started making decisions for their lives, even if they are still immature and don't yet know what they are deciding for their future.

Your future is even broader; are you just drifting along?

Chu Tingwu: "..."

Aunt Mei smiled at her, while Man Xing blinked and didn't refute the teacher but also didn't speak up suddenly.

For her, when Chu Chu created the foundation, she was already doing "meaningful" things for society. From an outsider's perspective, Chu Tingwu had even achieved a completeness that many adults couldn't reach, but how did she think about it herself?

Lian Tong coughed and reached for her earpiece to interject: "My boss says that no matter what decision the child makes, it will fully support it... even if it seems like a waste of life to others, as long as she's happy, it's a great life."

Teacher Shi: So, parents, don't spoil your kids!

Chu Tingwu, however, smiled:

"I guess I'll keep studying and keep streaming. I can travel around and try new things."

More than a year had passed since her grandmother's death, and she felt like she was slowly settling down. That vague sense of disorientation and anxiety had completely dissipated: there were people to accompany her, to shield her from the storms... Most importantly, her mind and body were also becoming increasingly strong, and she had tried many things she had never thought of before, finding them all quite interesting.

As for the future, it would be...

Chu Tingwu: "I want to complete more extreme challenges in front of the camera, and when everyone gets used to it, seeing me jump to the second floor won't cause a big fuss."

Teacher Shi, who had been startled by that recently: "?"

No, normal people really can't jump onto the second floor of a teaching building without a run-up... even if the bell rang and you're in a hurry for class, you can't do that!

In fact, Chu Tingwu had been thinking about this for some time. She realized:

As her skills upgraded to the second stage and her abilities grew stronger, the "restraint" she felt also became more severe—sometimes, she really just did things that normal people couldn't do, like jumping to the second floor, but that would always elicit shocked looks.

"So why don't I just charge you a little?"

The idea started vaguely, but after watching a few extreme sports challenge videos, the desire in Chu Tingwu's heart became even stronger:

Not just doing challenges in front of the camera, but these "pushing the limits" sports also provided Chu Tingwu with a release window.

Even without the camera, she was curious and excited about activities like unprotected cliff climbing, skydiving without a parachute, solo sailing around the world, and trekking through uninhabited areas.

Teacher Shi didn't know what Chu Tingwu meant by "traveling around," so he just encouraged the student who had stated her goals: "That's good... so are you going to go out during this semester's winter vacation? Are you still going to join the school's winter camp?"

The so-called winter camp was, of course, a review session, organized by several schools in the city, with the location set at the Fifth Middle School. Besides classes, they would also organize visits to other places.

Chu Tingwu didn't give an answer. On the way back, Teacher Zhang suggested:

"This time, when you're on break, there's a recommendation-based winter camp that starts earlier than the others. Interested in taking a look?"

Although she didn't use her roundabout connections to get into the Fifth Middle School, Teacher Zhang hadn't wasted them. Considering the child's interest in biology, she had found a "biology interest class" for her.

The base of the interest class was located by the Sang City coast. Teacher Zhang had checked the level of the teachers and believed it would be a good opportunity for Chu Tingwu to improve.

When Teacher Zhang mentioned it, the system beside her quickly pulled up the information:

[Indeed, you can go; you can also try sailing.]

Chu Tingwu: What kind of interest class is this?

Although the focus of the system is on children playing by the beach, the training camp indeed boasts a strong faculty, and it's not easy to enroll—only through recommendations, and only certain schools have the recommendation quota—aiming to enhance students' knowledge levels in a fun and educational manner. Besides professional instructors, there are also plenty of outdoor activities and hands-on experiments... essentially bringing the system's dream classroom outdoors.

Chu Tingwu agreed, and Teacher Zhang nodded:

With her recommendation, she only needed to send Chu Tingwu's name and recent grades, no need for the exam used for evaluation.

-

The Sang City Biotech Winter Camp has been running for over a decade. When the organizer received Chu Tingwu's information, she first exclaimed, "Huh?":

Her grades are decent in a small city, but in this winter camp, they would only rank at the bottom.

She looked again and noticed: "She only started competing in the first half of high school?"

That might slightly improve her evaluation, but not much. She has some talent, but her parents delayed her development.

She imported the information—

This time, they invited Teacher Fu, who retired from the national team, Teacher Qi, who has been accompanying the national team in international competitions for several years, and Teacher Wang, who has been the chief examiner for the national exams three times... Among the applicants, there are many highly anticipated geniuses, hoping to uncover even more brilliant diamonds from the gold.

-

Chu Tingwu opened the camera:

"I'm at Wanbei Airport in Jin City. It's probably too early, everyone looks sleepy... The flight to Sang City is at 7 AM, and I woke up early, so I came first."

"This is Yue Miao from the Starcloud Charity Foundation, who is also flying to Sang City for a meeting, so we're traveling together."

Yue Miao was sipping coffee with a bitter expression, waving at the camera when she heard that.

[Chu, you've been away for years, but you're still a kid at heart.]

[Got it, the parents are worried you can't handle flying alone, so they sent someone, right?]

[Ah! It's Yue Yue! Long time no see!]

A few viewers recognized Yue Miao in the comments, surprising her. She smiled and said, "Yes, I was sent by 355."

Chu Tingwu: "=="

She and Yue Miao don't actually know each other, but Yue Miao has been a fan of Chu Tingwu's for a long time, as they were both caught up in the same public opinion storm when Chu Tingwu first started streaming.

Afterwards, the system provided legal assistance to Yue Miao and fifty others who were slandered, and Yue Miao's mother's illness also improved. After working for a while, she learned that the Starcloud Charity Foundation was hiring.

So, encouraged by her mother, she applied to the foundation.

During the background check, Man Xing discovered her past. During the interview, he curiously asked, "The foundation offers good benefits, but if you join, you might encounter even worse situations than before, and see more dark sides of society—"

Helping others inevitably involves witnessing their suffering, and excessive empathy isn't always a good thing.

Yue Miao: "Then let me work until I can't handle it anymore."

Some people dedicate their lives to charity, while others might leave after a period due to mental stress. In organizations like the Starcloud Charity Foundation, this is better than smaller charities, as it's more stable and there's no pressure to "save everyone" and be unable to leave.

So Yue Miao wanted to give it a try.

Man Xing naturally wouldn't reject such a person, and the question was asked only after she passed the interview.

This time, Yue Miao was heading to Sang City to meet with a small charity organization related to girls' education and personally assess their work to decide whether to invest.

This time, 355 didn't come.

Chu Tingwu explained to the camera: "355 is busy with work recently."

It's almost the end of the year, and the part-time police cat has been drafted to "work."

—After graduating from the training base, 355 often "recruited" a group of stray cats to do some harmless small tasks when Chu Tingwu was in class. But cats do slip up sometimes, and once, they were finally caught, making a small news headline.

Then the cat group scattered, and other cats were fine, but a photo taken during the incident (and used in the news) exposed 355.

After all, she's a pretty famous cat.

Officer Zhou had to come and take the cat mom for "education"—actually for recruitment—like now, 355: "Meow!"

She ??‌‌?‌‌???‌‌?‌‌‌??‌‌?‌‌???‌‌??‌???‌‌???‌??‌‌?‌‌???‌‌?‌‌??‌‌????‌??‌‌?‌‌??‌‌??‌????‌‌?‌?‌??‌‌?‌?‌??‌‌?‌???‌‌??‌????‌‌?‌‌???‌‌???‌??‌‌?????‌‌??‌????‌‌?‌‌‌?‌‌???‌‌?‌‌??‌?‌?‌‌???‌‌??‌‌‌??‌?‌‌???‌?‍patrolled over from the other end of the airport.

The police officer next to her chuckled: "…Good morning."

355 wasn't on a leash; she doesn't like it, but she understands commands. Sometimes she doesn't follow them, usually just because she doesn't feel like it.

Chu Tingwu crouched down to hug 355, and the police officer joked, "You can't just touch our police cat, it's against the rules to assault an officer."

Chu Tingwu: "Temp workers don't count."

Officer: You're quite reasonable.

After hugging the temp worker, she had to check in, so she said to the viewers, "I'll stream again after landing in Sang City."

This wasn't because she was diligent.

It's the end of the month, and she hadn't met her streaming quota for the month.

The fans didn't mind, noting down the streaming schedule and going about their business.

But they didn't expect that when the stream opened again, what appeared in the camera was—

Chu Tingwu: "Today, we're streaming car repair."

Fans: "?"

Chu Tingwu took the wrench handed to her by someone next to her and silently opened the car's hood.

The person next to her was quite ashamed: "Sorry, sorry, I'll definitely study physics properly later!"

To fix my own car next time!

Fans: "=="

They understood: The person next to her seemed to be a fellow student from the Sang City Biotech Winter Camp. He rented a car, deciding to drive to… wait? Does the winter camp have adult students?

So you didn't realize you're underage and don't have a driver's license before renting the car, right?!

Yue Miao, holding her driver's license, looked blankly at the side: The sea is really… gray, gray-blue.

Why isn't there any sun today!

On her first trip with her boss's boss, the latter is now repairing the car next to her, and she doesn't know what to do…

Very anxious!