On the first day of school, Cheng You had to wake up early.
This year, she officially entered her third year, a full-fledged junior.
With the college entrance examinations, the school had become increasingly crowded.
To the new freshmen, Cheng You was already considered an "old-timer."
As fresh blood flowed in, the school's facilities and activities also became more diverse.
Fang Yunbao arrived at the classroom before Cheng You and had already wiped down her seat.
As soon as she sat down, she started talking about what she had heard: "I heard that a daughter of a 'ten-thousand-yuan household' has come to our school. Her family is incredibly wealthy. They donated a sum of money to the school specifically to assist impoverished students."
In this era, "ten-thousand-yuan households" were rare and highly prized.
Cao Yanyan asked, "And then the school let her enroll?"
After all, there had been non-resident students before. Everyone had previously discussed how Cheng Taohua had paid money but then didn't come to study, and her money wasn't refunded. What a shame.
The school was in dire need of funds, so it was normal for them to make an exception for her enrollment.
"No, she was assigned to the Academic Affairs Office."
Teachers in the Academic Affairs Office didn't have to teach students, but their salaries and benefits were good, and many people would break their heads to get in.
Cheng You finished checking the form in her hand and stood up, saying, "I need to ask a few people to come with me to collect textbooks. Do you want to go?"
Fang Yunbao immediately raised her hand, "I'll go!"
This was a good opportunity to see if the new teacher in the Academic Affairs Office was good-looking.
Cheng You then selected a few more classmates to help carry textbooks.
At the start of the new semester, everyone was enthusiastic and eagerly followed Cheng You to pick up their books.
Upon arriving at the Academic Affairs Office, many classes were already queuing to collect textbooks.
There were few teachers in the Academic Affairs Office, and with so many classes and majors, the textbooks appeared to be in disarray.
Cheng You and her companions waited in line outside for a long time, but the queue barely moved.
Inside, arguing voices could be heard.
She glanced inside and heard a stern reprimand: "If you're told to queue, just stay in line quietly. Distributing textbooks is our job in the Academic Affairs Office; you don't need to teach us here!"
Fang Yunbao stood on tiptoe to peek. In the entire Academic Affairs Office, only the teacher speaking was unfamiliar. Coupled with her age and appearance matching the description, Fang Yunbao guessed that this was the new teacher who had donated money and gotten the position.
Tsk, her temper didn't seem very good.
"Cheng You, look at what she's wearing."
Cheng You looked up but couldn't discern anything unusual.
"What's wrong?"
"She's really rich, isn't she? She's wearing the latest style of 'blagier' from the department store, which costs over eighty yuan."
Over eighty yuan was more than a month's salary for a worker.
Cheng You nodded. She seemed to have seen something similar when she went to buy books yesterday.
"It is quite pretty."
"But she's so fierce," Fang Yunbao said with a frown.
Cheng You didn't respond, changing the subject: "Let's just wait. It's the first day of school, so it's bound to be crowded."
In the blink of an eye, a long line had formed behind them.
There were no classes in the morning, but there were classes in the afternoon.
It was alright if other textbooks were delayed, but the textbook for Su Jinwen's main class this afternoon could not be missing.
Another half an hour passed, and the people in front of Cheng You still hadn't moved much.
Not to mention them, even the people in front and behind had started to get annoyed.
Cheng You clutched the textbook order form and glanced inside.
"I'll go in and take a look. You all wait here for me."
If they didn't get the textbooks back soon, it would be lunchtime.
Walking into the Academic Affairs Office, the previously empty office was now filled with textbooks.
The teacher from before looked at Cheng You and said, "Go to the queue to collect textbooks. No need to come in."
Cheng You looked at the work badge on her chest: Cai Xiaoyu.
She said, "Teacher Cai, the line outside is already very long. I've come to see if you need any help. Where is Teacher Zhao? I remember she used to arrange the textbooks."
The new teacher, Cai Xiaoyu, shot her a glance. "Teacher Zhao resigned and went home to have a baby. Student, please go outside and wait. We don't need your help here."
Cheng You surveyed the surroundings and immediately identified where the textbooks she needed were located.
She took out her form and asked, "Teacher, I've been waiting outside for over half an hour. Since we have class this afternoon, could we please get the main class textbooks first? I can come back for the rest after class."
Cai Xiaoyu pointed to the textbooks on the floor. "There are so many books piled here. If I help you find yours first, what about the other students? Go queue up."
Cheng You pointed to the textbook she wanted and said, "That one is for our class. I'll take this one first. The rest are not urgent, and I can come back for them this afternoon."
Cai Xiaoyu scoffed. "You can tell from this far away? You're a student who just started school, can you understand textbooks better than I do?"
Cheng You didn't want to argue with her here. "Teacher, you just need to tick and sign my form. There are many other students waiting. If you don't organize things efficiently, it will only get more chaotic."
In previous years, Teacher Zhao would sort them by major and class, making the textbook collection orderly. Cai Xiaoyu clearly didn't understand this.
Cai Xiaoyu felt a jolt from Cheng You's reminder. Even though Cheng You hadn't intended to criticize, it still made her uncomfortable.
"You just took one look and determined that's your textbook? If you weren't delaying us, we would have already finished organizing the textbooks!"
Cheng You felt a little helpless. The messy Academic Affairs Office didn't look like it was about to be organized.
"That is our textbook. If you don't believe me, you can check."
Cai Xiaoyu said sternly, "I don't need to check. Please go outside and queue."
Facing her stubborn attitude, Cheng You had no choice but to go outside and continue queuing.
However, by this time, the students in the queue were already very dissatisfied.
Another half an hour passed, and the sun was directly overhead.
Some students couldn't take it anymore and went to the canteen for lunch first.
But those who had been waiting for so long were not going to stand for it. One after another, they went to the Academic Affairs Office to complain.
This only made Cai Xiaoyu more irritable.
"I told you to wait, so just wait properly. What are you shouting about!"
Someone retorted, "We're not not waiting. Everyone's time is precious, and we have classes this afternoon. How long have you made us wait! Teacher Zhao never made us wait this long when she was here."
Upon hearing this, Cai Xiaoyu decided to quit.
"Teacher Zhao has resigned. If you're so capable, go find her! If you're so good, do it yourselves and see if organizing textbooks is really that easy!"
She stepped back and stood to the side, watching coldly, eager to see what these students could do.
What Cai Xiaoyu didn't expect was that since she refused to do it, the students naturally pushed Cheng You forward.
"Senior Cheng You, you distribute them!"
When Cheng You was in her second year, the school was establishing a student union, and the position of president had been offered to Cheng You.
However, Cheng You was too busy and didn't take it on.
Furthermore, she had been in the newspaper and was a well-known figure on campus, so everyone knew her.