Chapter 293 - Chinese department’s Leaders are Stumped! (1/2)
The next day.
In the morning, in his bedroom.
Dong dong, his mother was knocking on his door.
“Little Ye, get up!”
“OK mom.”
“Quickly, you have to report to Peking University today!”
“I’m already up and putting on my clothes.”
“Your dad and I have to go to work now! Do well.”
Thump. The sound of the door closing sounded from outside. His dad and mom had left the house for work.
Zhang Ye stretched himself and walked to the bathroom to wash up. He then changed into a casual suit, something that didn’t look too rigid on him. Soon after, he left the house too.
Today was the 2nd of January.
Some people were still enjoying their holidays while others had already started work and school.
For example, students from Peking University, who were locals or had relatives here, were now going back to school after the New Year’s celebrations. The main entrance was filled with students and teachers walking in and out. Everyone here had a face and aura that was lacking in other normal universities — Confidence, maybe even that slightest bit of pride. It was not strange, since they were students of a prestigious inst.i.tution in the country that was ranked first. The people here were the cream of the crop. They had the qualities to be proud of themselves. Zhang Ye himself could be considered as someone who graduated from a prestigious university. Beijing Broadcasting College — now called the Media College was also considered one of the top inst.i.tutions in the country, but compared to Peking University, it wouldn’t even be worth a mention. The two were on two totally different levels.
In front of him was Peking University.
Beside it was Tsinghua University.
In the past, when Zhang Ye was still schooling, he would look up at these two universities whenever he walked past Zhongguancun Street, but now, he no longer had that awe and envy when he faced them. This was because the Zhang Ye now was no longer the same as before.
As he did not have his breakfast, he was feeling a little hungry. Zhang Ye was looking out for a place to eat when he was still in the car. The street opposite conveniently had a stall that served breakfast. He got off his car and walked over. In the stall, the tables were full. Zhang Ye could only choose to sit out in the open.
The boss of the fried dough sticks stall shouted over, “What do you want to eat?”
Zhang Ye did not hesitate, “Stir-fried liver and half a tray of buns, please.”
“OK, it’ll come at once.” The boss said.
On the other side of the open air sitting area, there were around 7-8 university students. It was not known whether they were from Peking University or Tsinghua University, or from other universities nearby. This was a place where all the famous inst.i.tutions were located at.
The fried liver arrived and Zhang Ye, who was still wearing his shades started eating. He did not use a spoon. It was an old Beijing tradition to eat by holding the bowl and then ‘sucking’ in the stir-fried liver into the mouth. As to why there was such a tradition, Zhang Ye did not know. He had been eating it like this since young. It was a matter of being used to it, yes, even though this style of eating was loud and inelegant.
The students seated over there were chatting.
Yao Mi bit into her fried dough sticks and sat with her leg raised said, “We really chose the wrong elective cla.s.s this time. Don’t you think we’re really such fools. Why did we even choose ‘Appreciation of the Cla.s.sics’ elective?!”
Li Ying was also depressed, “Yea, that’s right. Back then, the elective name made it sound like it was a really simple cla.s.s, at least compared to the other electives. We had mostly read the Four Cla.s.sics and some other cla.s.sic literary works. Even if we had not read them before, we’d have watched the dramas on TV. We would at least have some understanding of it, so we thought it would have been easier if we chose this elective, but G.o.dd.a.m.n it, who’d have thought that Professor w.a.n.g’s health could not keep up? This semester’s almost over and the other elective cla.s.ses are already preparing for their exams. And us? This semester’s ‘Appreciation of the Cla.s.sics’ cla.s.ses have not even had a few lectures. We did not learn anything or know what would be tested. How can we even pa.s.s like this? I think none of us should expect to get credit for this cla.s.s. If we don’t pa.s.s, we’d still have to choose another elective next year. We’ve wasted this semester for nothing!”
Her brother, Li Li did not know to laugh or cry, “We can’t blame Professor w.a.n.g. His diabetes condition worsened and I heard that he’s still in the hospital. It seems rather serious.”
Li Ying smacked his lips and said, “Then we should at least have gotten a subst.i.tute teacher!”
Yao Mi blinked and said, “I did hear that the school was currently looking for someone, but there hasn’t been a suitable candidate so far.”
“There are so my famous teachers in the country, how could there be no suitable candidates?” Li Ying asked.
Yao Mi replied, “I know there are a lot of people who’d want to come teach at Peking University, even if it’s just as a subst.i.tute teacher, the glory is still the same, but it seems like our Vice President Wu who’s taking charge of the Chinese department was not interested in them. She felt that they did not have the abilities, that’s why it’s been dragged out until now. It’s not wrong, famous cla.s.sics have already been taught over and over too many times. Even television dramas about them have been overproduced. The knowledge of those cla.s.sic are already quite well known to many people, so how could they be expected to be taught differently. It’s only our Professor w.a.n.g who managed it rather well, which is why finding someone to replace him would be difficult. Do you even know what kind of place Peking University is? We’re the 1st placed educational inst.i.tution in the country. A normal teacher would never be admitted casually. The school definitely demands for the best amongst the best, otherwise we wouldn’t be called Peking University.”
Li Ying stroked his unshaven mustache, “They demand for the best, but neglected us. At least arrange for a subst.i.tute teacher to guide us through the examinable materials!”
Li Li said, “Who knows, they might even pa.s.s us without an exam.”
“Wishful thinking. Other schools might do that, but how could it happen in Peking University.” Yao Mi sniffed, “Don’t think about such wonderful outcomes. Even if there are proper reasons, the school would never resort to such methods. At most, they would relax the grading requirements, but even so we’ve only had 2 lessons this whole semester. How can we pa.s.s like this? And the cla.s.ses were even from a few months back. I can’t even remember the things that Professor w.a.n.g taught us anymore!”
“Me too.”
“Hai, quickly get us another lecturer.”
After finis.h.i.+ng this topic, they skipped to other topics in their conversation.
Zhang Ye overheard everything as he was having his breakfast. These were Peking University students? “Appreciation of the Cla.s.sics” cla.s.s? The lecturer was sick and in the hospital with diabetes? Not many lessons in the whole semester? Zhang Ye suddenly had a very good understanding of the situation. Now he understood why even though Wu Zeqing only had less than an hour of conversation with him after spotting him on the plane, she’d invited him to teach at Peking University. It turned out that it’s because of this tricky situation that had led her to invite him to save the situation!
She really does trust this bro!
Not bad, you’ve found the right guy after all!
If it were about other things, he wouldn’t be so confident, but speaking about famous cla.s.sics, this was his strong point. The “a.n.a.lysis of the Three Kingdoms” that Zhang Ye had brought over from his world, didn’t it get rave reviews from everyone? When he thought of this, Zhang Ye was rea.s.sured after feeling jittery about his teaching skills. If President Wu had pulled him in to teach contemporary literature or similar cla.s.ses, he would definitely not be confident. This was due to the fact that he hadn’t even read most contemporary literature, novels, or poetry that existed in this world. He might not even have heard of some of them before, so of course that would be quite difficult to teach, but for cla.s.sical literature, it was different. This world’s Four Cla.s.sics still existed, other cla.s.sics like “Cla.s.sic of Mountains and Seas”, “a.n.a.lects”, or even foreign cla.s.sics like “The Holy Bible” all still existed. All of these works had affected and influenced the world too much. The game ring had been unable to change any of these background history, otherwise the cultural development or even the whole social structure of this would would be greatly affected. The world would no longer be what it was now.
After accidentally finding out the situation from those Peking University students, Zhang Ye felt very happy and relaxed. After he had his fill, he stood up and drove his car onto campus. He did not choose to walk as the school compounds covered a very wide area. Even a public bus would have to go around 5 stops before it could complete a round of the compounds.
On campus.
Zhang Ye made a call to Wu Zeqing. Du, du, du. 3 rings and the call connected.
“h.e.l.lo, President Wu. I’ve arrived.”
“So early?”
“Yes, I said I would be here early. Should I go around the school a little?”
“We’re preparing to start our meeting here, but…why don’t you join us? It would be good. You can come directly to the Chinese department. It’s on the east side of the artificial lake where the flower beds are. You should be able to find it, I will send someone to meet you there.” Wu Zeqing’s voice was ever so demure.
Zhang Ye liked listening to her speak, “OK, I will be right there.”
He arrived at the flower bed area. His car was not allowed in here, so he parked it nearby.
Peking University.
Chinese department, West Building 2, 6th floor.
It was a small meeting room, with a conference table in the middle. Around it were about a dozen Chinese department leaders and professors. Other common lecturers were not qualified to join this meeting.