Chapter 381 - 293: Does a Marriage Certificate Count?

The phone’s ringtone sounded for only a second before stopping, so briefly that most people didn’t notice.

Xue Rui stood up and gave Xia Tianjun a knowing smile. He was all too familiar with that expression—it was the same one he used to have when his mom called to nag him about getting married...

’He doesn’t want to take it, but he has to.’ Xue Rui guessed the call was from someone close, and Xia Tianjun had no idea how long it would take.

Xue Rui walked up to the podium and said quietly, "Sir, this should be the time for self-introductions. I can be a bit long-winded."

Xia Tianjun smiled, satisfied. This sort of thing was normally handled by the class assistant. However, the assistant for Software Engineering 141 had taken a last-minute leave of absence right before the semester started, adding a lot to his workload. Having someone take over now was a huge relief.

Jiang Yuan was still trying to process what was happening. ’What are Xue Rui and the instructor whispering about?’

It made her uneasy. ’What did I just miss?’

"Let’s start with self-introductions," Xia Tianjun said, then left the classroom.

This had been his plan all along, but he’d been worried the students would finish their introductions too quickly...

Xue Rui was offering to stall for him, which meant he could go make his call without any worries.

After Xia Tianjun left, Xue Rui gave a brief self-introduction and then immediately yielded the floor to Jiang Yuan.

"You take over. I can’t be bothered," Xue Rui whispered in Jiang Yuan’s ear.

He only needed to make a good impression on the instructor. While the students had the right to vote, the final decision was in Xia Tianjun’s hands.

He could gift the class monitor position to Jiang Yuan later, but he couldn’t let her win the election on her own. There was a big difference between the two.

"My name is Jiang Yuan. I’m a local from Chang’an. If any of you run into trouble with your studies or just daily life, I’m in a good position to help..."

The agenda behind Jiang Yuan’s self-introduction was obvious; most people could tell she intended to run for class monitor.

Xue Rui couldn’t help but reflect on the gap that family background creates. Jiang Yuan clearly came from a well-off family and had her entire university career mapped out from day one: become class monitor, join the student council to build her resume, then take the civil service exam...

Meanwhile, other students had cluelessly chosen a computer-related major simply so they’d have an excuse to buy a high-end PC for gaming, and were now busy discussing attack combos.

When it came to things like running for class monitor, students from poorer families often lacked the confidence to even get on stage. Plus, they didn’t have the financial means to treat classmates to meals or drinks. In the end, the position usually fell to students from well-off families like Jiang Yuan.

With the instructor gone, most of the students relaxed, chatting with those around them. The classroom grew noisy.

"Quiet down! The instructor is right outside the door."

Jiang Yuan had been a class monitor since elementary school, and she now instinctively tried to maintain classroom discipline.

Because Jiang Yuan had invoked the instructor’s name, and especially since the female students had all obediently complied, no one directly challenged her. They simply went on with the self-introductions one by one, in the order they’d established.

When it was Lin Ruoxi’s turn, the last to go, every student below the stage instantly put down their phone.

"Umm... Hi, everyone. My name is Lin Ruoxi," she said quietly, then lowered her head and started walking off the stage.

"Lin Ruoxi, with scores as high as yours, why did you come here?" someone couldn’t resist asking. By now, the whole class was aware of her situation.

Lin Ruoxi looked toward Xue Rui, who was sitting in the back row. "To... to be with my boyfriend."

A collective gasp echoed through the classroom.

Xue Rui, of course, was shamelessly thick-skinned and just offered his classmates a polite smile.

Jiang Yuan glanced out into the hallway and said to the class, "The instructor isn’t back yet. Everyone, take a look at the school rules."

Facing Jiang Yuan felt like dealing with a veteran class monitor. After all, who hadn’t encountered an assertive class monitor at some point in their school life?

Xue Rui spoke up at this moment. "It may look like a small booklet, but for a bad student like me, it might be the only thing that helps me graduate."

Cai Huazhou spoke up. "What do you mean by that?"

"Didn’t you see the last few pages about extra credit? If you’re short on credits, there are other ways to make them up."

His words immediately grabbed everyone’s attention. This concerned every single one of them.

"You can even get credit for national vocational certificates."

"What’s a national vocational certificate?"

Xue Rui said, "Any nationally issued certificate counts."

"Does an ID card count?"

"Of course not."

Hearing this, Lin Ruoxi raised her hand timidly and asked, "Umm, does a marriage certificate count?"