Chapter 1458 - 1448: Uneasy

Chapter 1458: Chapter 1448: Uneasy

The time was set for Monday when the students had just come to school, so every student could have plenty of time at home to think about whom to cast their vote for.

Many students were brooding at home; this vote was crucial for anyone who wanted to be principal of No.1 High. But for Jiang Cheng, it didn’t matter, and he himself didn’t actually want to be elected principal of No.1 High.

The voting was going on tensely, but everyone had a scale in their heart. Especially after watching the video of Jiang Cheng and Dong Ran, everyone favored Jiang Cheng even more; they all really liked Jiang Cheng’s earnest, responsible, dedicated attitude toward his work.

What’s more, among the students at No.1 High, which one isn’t highly intelligent? Which one doesn’t have lofty ambitions? Everyone hopes they can succeed and get into Tsinghua and Peking University. And Jiang Cheng lets the students studying at No.1 High see hope; he makes them feel that getting into Tsinghua and Peking University is no longer just a dream.

Everyone gathered in the auditorium, and the expressions on their faces were all extremely excited and stirred up.

A well-dressed, glamorous girl asked the classmate next to her, "Hey, who do you think will be elected our principal this time? Aren’t you looking forward to it?" The girl with big eyes beside her answered with a completely indifferent look, "What’s there to look forward to? It’s definitely going to be our Teacher Jiang Cheng. His serious and responsible image has already been recognized by lots of people, so what’s there to be excited about?" The other girls next to them nodded along; clearly they very much agreed with the big-eyed girl’s view.

The school internally picked a host. He was thin and tall, his looks were just so-so, but what he said drew everyone’s attention.

"Today, we’re all gathered here, and there’s no special other purpose. It is to elect the new principal of No.1 High. I hope everyone can have a fair and impartial heart; you absolutely must not show favoritism to any teacher. I hope everyone can remember this point. We are electing a principal so that our No.1 High students can be better served, so that the principal can lead us toward a better future. So please don’t harbor any selfish desires!" The host’s pleasant and elegant voice came through the microphone.

Seeing such a serious host, everyone put away their usual slouchy, unrealistic thoughts and focused themselves on this school vote.

All the students went up on stage one after another, lined up, and put the ballots in their hands into the ballot box, then returned to their seats one after another.

A girl beside a boy asked, "Hey, who did you vote for?" The boy answered without the slightest hesitation, "No need to think, of course I voted for Teacher Jiang Cheng. And you, you voted for Teacher Jiang Cheng too, right?" The girl answered proudly, "Of course. Teacher Jiang Cheng is the perfect teacher and principal in my heart. Other than him, I can’t find anyone else."

About ten-plus minutes later, it seemed the voting result had already come out.

"Alright, students and teachers, thanks for waiting. The result is out; we’ll announce it right away." The host said mysteriously.

The host held in his hand the slip of paper with the voting results. "Then the one who received the highest number of votes in this election is—Teacher Jiang Cheng! Everyone, congratulations to him."

Pa-pa-pa—warm applause rang out in the hall, as if everyone were very satisfied with this outcome.

But at this moment Jiang Cheng walked up onto the podium and said to everyone, "I’m very grateful for all the students’ trust in me, but I really don’t have the extra time and energy to take on the position of principal of No.1 High. So I nominate the vice principal to serve as principal of No.1 High. I hope everyone can understand my difficulties, and also actively cooperate with the vice principal’s work. Thank you all." After he finished, Jiang Cheng bowed to all the students.

Seeing Jiang Cheng once again decline the position of principal of No.1 High, everyone could only give up on the idea, because the vice principal was also a kind and amiable person, strict and principled in his teaching.

After the principal election wrapped up, the school welcomed a new task. The authorities required No.1 High to select some outstanding students to take part in a district-wide competition.

This competition was of great importance; the entire government office attached great weight to it. As No.1 High was the top institution in the prefecture, the head of the prefecture cared about it even more. As soon as the school announced that students would go to take part in the district-wide competition, everyone was extremely excited. After all, this was a rare opportunity to show their faces at a district-wide competition; if they missed this time, it would be hard to get another chance.

The top leader at the school required each homeroom teacher to personally select some students they were satisfied with. The students’ overall abilities, academic abilities, and all aspects of their physical examinations had to meet the standards.

As a homeroom teacher, Jiang Cheng naturally had to pick some students from his own class and put them through assessments and evaluations, going through a series of events.

To determine who would ultimately go to the competition. Because of all this, Jiang Cheng was truly run off his feet. He was basically on the go non‑stop, and every day when he got home he would just take a shower, do nothing else, and then lie down and fall asleep.

Right in this tense and busy period, the prefecture office sent Jiang Cheng an invitation, asking him to participate in the prefecture’s technology showcase. The people at the prefecture office especially hoped they could once again see Jiang Cheng display his talents; as for Jiang Cheng’s abilities, everyone there very much admired him.

Seeing the email from the prefecture inviting him to the technology showcase, Jiang Cheng fell into deep thought. This was an opportunity for him; after all, it could let more people get to know him and his capabilities and achievements in technology.

But as soon as he thought of his students at school who were still waiting for him, Jiang Cheng resolutely replied to the prefecture by email, declining their request, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to sending his students off to take part in the competition.

After learning that Jiang Cheng had declined the invitation to the technology showcase because he wanted to accompany his students to the competition, the head of the prefecture office said nothing out loud, but inside he was furious.

They had thought highly of Jiang Cheng, felt he was a promising talent, so they wanted to invite him to participate; they hadn’t expected Jiang Cheng not to appreciate the favor and actually refuse. "Forget it; if he doesn’t want to come, then so be it, we’ll invite someone else!" The head of the prefectural education team tossed out these words and left.

One division chief couldn’t stand it, and since he knew the principal of Jiang Cheng’s school, he called our principal. During the call he was extremely angry, fiercely criticizing what Jiang Cheng had done, stressing that Jiang Cheng must attend this technology showcase. After hanging up, the principal felt cold sweat breaking out; neither side was someone he could afford to offend—one was the division chief, and the other was Jiang Cheng, whose background had made it possible to pass the principal’s position on to him.

For a while the principal fell into a dilemma. He wanted to find a solution that could satisfy both sides, but no matter how he thought, he couldn’t come up with one.

The next day, when Jiang Cheng arrived at school, the principal, helpless as he was, still had to go and find Jiang Cheng. He walked to the door of Jiang Cheng’s office and knocked.

Jiang Cheng looked up and saw that it was the principal standing at his office door, so he invited the principal in to sit and poured him a glass of water. Though the principal felt a bit uneasy, he still took a sip and said, "Jiang Cheng, the last time you took students to that competition, how did it go?"

Jiang Cheng knew the principal hadn’t come just to ask about the result of the last competition, but since the principal didn’t mention anything else, Jiang Cheng followed his lead and said, "It went pretty well. As for the specific results, I don’t know yet myself. I appreciate you being concerned, Principal."