Evolution of The Puppy Seme XVI
Have a great holidays everyone! Christmas is one of the favorite times of the year, and I hope that you will enjoy this time of year as well, wherever you are :)
There was a resounding YES for more quotes (thank you everyone who voted!) so here we go, and I guess this will be a recurring thing:
"Perhaps everybody has a garden of Eden, I don"t know; but they have scarcely seen their garden before they see the flaming sword. Then, perhaps, life only offers the choice of remembering the garden or forgetting it. Either, or: it takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both. People who remember court madness through pain, the pain of the perpetually recurring death of their innocence; people who forget court another kind of madness, the madness of the denial of pain and the hatred of innocence; and the world is mostly divided between madmen who remember and madmen who forget. Heroes are rare."
--- , by James Baldwin
When Mr. w.a.n.g heard Professor Zhang"s words, he couldn"t believe what he had said.
"That"s impossible... had he not gone on to the interview?" Mr. w.a.n.g"s words were full of embarra.s.sment and regret. If he had known at that time he would have run straight to Professor Zhang at that time. He hadn"t gone to him because he had wanted Professor Zhang to be pleasantly surprised. Now that he thought about it, he had also wanted to make himself look better in Professor Zhang"s eyes. After all, Professor Zhang is the leading figure of their school. All the teacher"s evaluations and reviews are at least partly influenced by him. Who would have known that what he had done would have landed him in this can of worms?
But it"s too late for Mr. w.a.n.g to regret anything now. If he had known that the student with the full theoretical score hadn"t been accepted, he would have never mentioned it to Professor Zhang. Wouldn"t that just be digging a hole to bury yourself in?
Mr. w.a.n.g was a theoretical examination proctor. As soon as he had finished proctoring, he had gotten the news that his wife was in labor, and hastened to ask for a leave of absence to be with his wife. Today was his first day back, so he didn"t know the examination results.
Professor Zhang looked at Mr. w.a.n.g"s embarra.s.sed and helpless expression, wrinkled his eyebrows, and walked away with a greeting.
He had to find out what had really happened.
When Professor Zhang thought about how the student had a full theoretical score, his heart became a burning furnace. He was the one who decided the scope of the theoretical examination, and so he knew the amount of knowledge that the fifty-six books covered more than anyone else. Although the knowledge in these books was not used much after school, it"s really disappointing that some students don"t even try to do well! He himself had picked out those fifty-six books. All the knowledge in them is at a much higher level than the technology commonly used now. If it is not for its technical difficulty, many more students would have applied.
Questions in the theoretical examination came from the Central Mind*, which provided basic questions about the knowledge in the books, and Professor Zhang"s, who made questions that extended the topics. Professor Zhang had been trying to screen for potential disciples with these questions, so these questions are extremely complex. Rote knowledge of what"s in the books is not enough, one must also understand the concepts.
(*This is the cool name for the computer that administers the theoretical test, if you"ve forgotten)
But in more than ten years, no one had been able to reach his high standards. He had no choice but to lower his standards and receive the best of each examination as his disciple.
And when he was just about to give up on ever finding someone who met his standards, the student had appeared!
His full score on the theoretical test means that he fully understands the knowledge and technology of those books!
What level of intelligence and diligence would be needed to attain that?!
The more Professor Zhang thought, the hotter his heart became.
He always felt that there wasn"t a good enough student to pa.s.s his mantle on to, now there are two people who are worthy!
One of them is the student who had a.s.sembled the extraordinary mecha parts, at a level that even he could only reach and not surpa.s.s, and the other is the student with complete mastery of all the advanced knowledge.
Professor Zhang"s face was flushed with excitement, and he paced faster and faster.
Whatever the cost, he must receive these two students as his disciples!
He quickly walked to the record room that recorded the students" entrance examinations, and brushed the entrance guard on his wrist. The closed door opened immediately.
Professor Zhang"s security clearance at Mulis"s mecha department is very high. As long as the place is somewhat related to teaching, he has the right to enter.
The exams of every student are recorded on a screen and stored in a metal grid on the wall of the record room. Professor Zhang very quickly found the screen for the most recent examinations, and a small projection display appeared on the screen.
Professor Zhang browsed through it and quickly found the student with the full score.
[Name]: Duan Jingzhe
[Physical and mental tests: physical ability E level, mental D grade evaluation: pa.s.s] [theoretical test: 100 points: excellent]
[interview: 0 points: very poor].
When Professor Zhang saw the column for the interview, his heart became heavy.
If the student hadn"t partic.i.p.ated in the interview, the interview score would show nothing, and there will be no records of achievement in any area.
And the display clearly shows that the student took part in the interview.
Professor Zhang"s face sank. He was the one who gave all the interview grades. He had not given any student a score of zero.
That is to say, although the student partic.i.p.ated in the interview, it wasn"t Professor Zhang who had given the score.
Professor Zhang thought of the student who refused to be interviewed.
The interviewer at the time had been Xiao Gao. He was in charge of the first screening, and then sent the results of the screening to him.
Professor Zhang wrinkled his eyebrows. Although Xiao Gao might have been right in giving the student a zero, he definitely would have known that Professor Zhang was looking for academically excellent students. In student interviews, the student"s information and his previous test results are displayed to the interviewer.
That is to say, Xiao Gao knows the student"s achievements clearly, but somehow didn"t bother to tell him at all.
Professor Zhang"s heart swirled with suspicion.
As Professor Zhang was thinking about this, his contact device suddenly began ringing.
"Professor Zhang!" I found the teacher who was recently registered a student!"
"Teacher Dong, I heard that you have recently registered a student under your name," Professor Zhang said seriously and solemnly, though he appeared a little awkward.
"Yes," Dong Haoyang pretended to be surprised. "Professor Zhang, you sure know everything that goes on around here."
Professor Zhang"s white beard moved with some embarra.s.sment. If this student is really the person he"s been looking for, he definitely wants to teach him himself, but how can he say it delicately and nicely? "I heard that your student is particularly outstanding, so......"
Professor Zhang wasn"t finished speaking yet when Dong Haoyang interrupted him, looking surprised. "How can it be? I heard that this student was particularly bad. If he"d been accepted to Mulis, I wouldn"t even have been able to register him directly under my name."
"Ah, this kid is pretty smart, his theoretical results are so good, but I don"t know how they scored it, but on the interview he got a zero".
An unbelievable conjecture burst into Professor Zhang"s mind.
In an urgent voice, he asked, "What"s the name of this student?"
Dong Haoyang looked at him with a puzzled look. "Professor Zhang, didn"t you come here because you heard people praise my student? How could you not know his name?"
Where Professor Zhang heard his words, he was so anxious that his face was red.
"My student is named Duan Jingzhe. Ah, you see this name is fine, fit for a successful man, but when it"s given to a stupid person it"s a little disappointing. He even failed the entrance examinations, he"s really making me lose face!"
When Professor Zhang heard that name, he was shocked. When he heard Dong Haoyang"s next words, Professor Zhang"s face not only became red, but it got hotter and hotter.
He felt unbelievably embarra.s.sed.
Professor Zhang hadn"t known for sure if the student was the one he was looking for. Now that he knew his name, he had to meet him. He had been looking for the student with the amazing mecha a.s.sembling skills, who think that he would stumble upon the student who did so well on the theoretical.
Wait, is it possible that the this is the student who also a.s.sembled the mecha parts?!
At this thought, Professor Zhang"s heart was galloping in a moment, and his whole person gave out a kind of brilliance and vitality that had not been seen for more than ten years. But then he remembered that he had personally rejected this student, and Professor Zhang couldn"t wait to dig a hole to bury himself in.
Professor Zhang was now both excited and ashamed and finally decided to throw caution to the wind and risk his old face*.
(*Face = reputation)
"Well, this is what happened. There was a problem with the interview. I had some notions about him that weren"t actually true, so I didn"t interview him at all. Just now, I looked at his theoretical results, and he seems very astonis.h.i.+ng, so I want to see him. The last mishap with the interview was all on me, so if possible, I"d like to make it up to the child. Could I perhaps re-interview him?" Professor Zhang asked the question with very little conviction.
Dong Haoyang"s face was full of embarra.s.sment. "Oh, the child was really sad for a long time because he did not pa.s.s the interview, he"s been driven to distraction."
When Professor Zhang heard this, he felt nothing but pain and regret. And he was also very worried about the child. The child had experienced such a traumatic event, would he still want to meet him?
When Professor Zhang struggled with himself, Dong Haoyang unhurriedly said, "but the child is certainly willing to meet you. Before he came to Mulis Academy, he admired you very much, and came here to try to become your disciple. It"s such a pity that because of a small misunderstanding, he couldn"t. So I just enrolled him directly, and he spends every day studying, He always tells me you how great you are at this and how much he wants to be a great mecha maker just like you."
Hearing how the child wors.h.i.+ped him, Professor Zhang was immediately excited. Unconsciously, he already considered the child as his successor, and his heart was full of love. At the same time, Professor Zhang also grew more suspicions of Xiao Gao. The student was so pa.s.sionate, how could he not have any pa.s.sion for making mecha?! Such an admiring child, how would he not honor and respect his teachers?
Professor Zhang could not wait to see this adorable and pitiful child.
"This child is currently attending an afternoon cla.s.s. In about half an hour he"ll come here. Professor Zhang, what about you go back first, and when he comes here, I"ll tell him to go and find you."
Professor Zhang shook his head, "No no no, if it"s alright I"ll just wait here."
As soon as Dong Haoyang heard that, he helped Professor Zhang to the sofa inside his office, and prepared some tea for him.
"Why don"t you rest here first. I need to go out and get some materials."
As soon as he had shut the door, Dong Haoyang "s manner changed instantly from rigid propriety to romantic expansiveness, his peach eyes slightly curved. It was a strange ambiguous look, and an extremely gorgeous one.
The corners of his mouth rose, and the expression on Dong Haoyang"s face was very similar to a spectator watching a good play.