Soon after, the ten students began to take away the drawing paper with pencils. Naturally, Liu Yuou was included.
Li Ze agreed to let her participate initially but was regretting it afterward. Her foundation skills were too poor to compare with those students with more years of experience in painting. To win the top three, he really couldn’t let her participate in the competition. So for him, today’s test was actually an opportunity to reject her.
As the ten students were looking for the object to draw, Zhou Xiaohong who was wearing square shaped glasses said to Li Ze, ” Teacher Li, let’s stay outside, am afraid they would be affected by our presence.”
“There must be audiences in the competition,” Li Ze said, “If they are frightened now, how could they perform well in the competition?”
Zhou Xiaohong seemed a little embarrassed at his retort.
Clearing her throat, she said, “Teacher Li, I want to talk to you about their work.”
Then she took the initiative to walk out.
Li Ze followed as well.
Liu Yuou planned to use Li Ze as the object, but she had to shift her attention to the cup as Li Ze came out.
Outside the office he asked Zhou Xiaohong who was standing next to him, “Teacher Zhou, is there anything important you want to say?”
“Zhou Jun has been learning how to paint from childhood, you must choose him.”
Hearing her commanding tone while clasping her hands in front of her chest. Li Ze said, “Teacher Zhou, there are a few students among these ten students who have studied painting since they were young, so he is not any special. Besides, this art competition is of great importance, which I could never prefer him above anyone. Actually, Teacher Zhou, you don’t need to worry if Zhou Jun was truly gifted.”
“The principal must have mentioned it,”
“Of course,” Li Ze said, “He warned me at his office last time, saying that Zhou Jun was very skillful.”
“Then you should have known his talents,”
“Of course I understand,” Li Ze smiled, “I insisted that if Zhou Jun has the ability, I will definitely let him participate in the competition. Otherwise, I’ll not choose him. I don’t care whether he is your nephew or has close relations with the headmaster, but I have to ensure the three participants are the most skillful!”
“You… What do you mean?” Zhou Xiaohong was wearing heavy makeup, “What do you mean my relations with him?”
“Teacher Zhou, I think I don’t have to be straightforward about it,” he said, “You know much better than me on the reason why Xu Yan resigned last year.”
“Don’t insult me! Otherwise, I will report you to the headmaster!”
“Well then, it’s up to you,” he said, “I’ll collect all their works later. Then we’ll be the judge together to choose the three best ones. It might be the fairest since we don’t know the authors. Will you agree with it?”
Zhou Xiaohong was enraged in silence. She only lightly nodded.
After a moment of silence, Li Ze lit a cigarette, “You should know about Xu Yan, right?”
“Of course I do. I’m still in touch with her.”
“Why did she quit the job?” Li Ze said, “I heard she was beaten by the headmaster’s wife. Someone said she was pregnant, but others said it’s her boyfriend who forced her to quit the job.”
“The principal’s wife gathered a few people to cause her abortion. She also threatened her that if she refused to leave Xiamen, she would live on a wheelchair for the rest of her life. The principal was unable to protect her, so after obtaining a sum of money, Xu Yan went to a private school in Hangzhou. At that moment, she didn’t have a boyfriend. Now she will get married on May 1st. We will attend her wedding then.”
” that’s Ironic,” Li Ze continued and asked while smoking, “Isn’t he embarrassed attending her wedding after getting her pregnant? Did he still have an affair with her in other to cheat her husband now?”
“Not anymore,”
“Really?”
“Indeed,” Zhou Xiaohong said, “Xu Yan wasn’t the principal’s lover back then. They just accidentally had sex in the car after getting drunk. Then, Xu Yan unexpectedly found out that she was pregnant. She didn’t know what to do but to contact the principal, the secret was unluckily found out by his wife. To be honest, she was unlucky to be involved.”
“But I heard she wanted the title of having his heir.”
“No, it’s all gossip.”
“What about you?”
“Of course I have no affairs with him,” Zhou Xiaohong said, “I can’t be as stupid as her.”
Li Ze still didn’t believe her with her so-called righteous words.
There is no smoke without fire. So the gossip was not in circulation for no reason. In addition, the principal mentioned Zhou Jun yesterday, and Zhou Xiaohong just bullied him by mentioning the headmaster, so he didn’t believe that there was nothing between the two.
He was not fond of questioning, so he just quietly smoked at the playground.
After about half an hour, he headed to the room, staying by the entrance, he said, “Submit the works on my desk. Teacher Zhou and I will check each item. you have two minutes.”
Then he stood in the corridor again.
Two minutes later, the two entered the office.
Asking the ten students waiting in the corridor, Li Ze spread the stacks of work on the desk.
Then, Li Ze and Zhou Xiaohong started to check it carefully.
Although Zhou Xiaohong was a teacher teaching Chinese, she had the qualification to be a judge because of her experiences in painting. She really wanted her nephew to participate in the competition. And he aims to attend the LuXun Art Academy, so it’s beneficial for him to get the awards.
Because of that, Zhou Xiaohong has been finding her nephew’s work.
But without a name, she really couldn’t recognize it.
Under such circumstance, only luck works.
After ten minutes of checking, they finally picked out three.
Then, Li Ze told the ten students to come in.
After picking up the first one, he asked, “Whose piece of work is this?”
“Teacher, it’s mine, answered a girl with a ponytail.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you, teacher!”
Her joy was overflowing.
“No need to thank me,” he said as he picked up the second one. “Whose is this?”
“Teacher, it’s mine.”
A thin boy with glasses raised his hands.
“You are also elected.”
“Thank you.”
Compared to the girl just now, this boy seems very calm.
When he picked up the third one, Li Ze asked, “What about this one?”
To Li Ze’s surprise, Liu Yuou and Zhou Jun raised their hands simultaneously.