Chapter 28: The New English Teacher

“These damned guys! Why did they have to make me an English teacher just because I know the languages of 137 different countries? It’s such a waste of my talents!” A young man with black hair and dark eyes adjusted his glasses on his nose and complained to himself.
“It was you who suggested this guy, so of course you’re responsible for finding him. Coincidentally, that kid who wets his pants is also in this city. If you don’t want him to join our team, use that brain of yours, which far exceeds that of carbon-based beings!” A man in his thirties suddenly appeared behind him, arms crossed, his tone icy.
“Boss… you know, in this mysterious China, there are many powerful entities. What if I get killed by accident…” Yi cautiously glanced at the man.
“Don’t worry. We won’t leave China until we recruit new members. Aside from you, no one else has been to China. Think of it as a vacation.”
“Boss, that’s not fair! Why can everyone go on vacation while I still have to work?” Hearing his boss say this, Yi immediately complained.
“Dear Yi, don’t you think you, who’s so secluded even in your soul, need to go out and get some sunlight from time to time? Although your brain is more advanced than ours, carbon-based beings, your body is far inferior to ours. Aren’t you worried that one day your body won’t be able to supply the nutrients your brain needs? Imagine that day coming—if you want to survive, you’ll have to put your brain in a nutrient vat and attach a robotic body to it…”
“Okay, boss, stop saying these creepy things… I’ll do it, fine…” Yi finally chose to compromise out of helplessness…
…
“Mr. Yi, it’s amazing that you’re so young and already a Ph.D. in linguistics from Harvard!” An old man with silver hair smiled awkwardly. To Yi, his face showed clear disbelief.
“You don’t believe me? Fine, I’ll just say it directly: I know the languages of 137 countries. If we include local dialects, that’s 327 in total. You can have all the professors in your school’s foreign language department conduct oral tests on me.” Yi showed no restraint in his arrogance, as he truly had the confidence to back it up.

“Well… that might not be necessary…” The old principal still seemed hesitant. “But, Mr. Yi, with your qualifications, you wouldn’t face any obstacles in teaching at any renowned university abroad. Why choose our school?”
Yi had already thought of a response to this question. “As you can see from my resume, I’m from City H, but I’ve been studying abroad all along. I happen to be back now, so I plan to experience life at a local university and get to know my hometown. Besides, XX University is also one of the top schools in the country. I don’t think any other school would be more suitable for me than yours.”
“May I ask how long you plan to stay this time, Mr. Yi?” The old principal wiped the sweat from his forehead; he felt a lot of pressure talking to this young man.
“Shortly, a week. Longer, maybe a month, who knows.” Seeing the principal’s hesitant expression, Yi added, “I don’t need your school to pay me—I’ll teach for free!”
“For free?” The old principal stared at the young man in shock, not knowing what to say for a moment.
“I’m not short of money. To be honest, my purpose here is simple: to share language learning techniques. I hope the principal can give me this chance.” Yi spoke quite sincerely.
“If that’s the case, I can’t refuse your kindness. But do you have any special requirements for teaching? If so, we’ll try our best to meet them.” The old principal felt this was all he could do.
“Hmm, there’s one requirement: all the boys in the school must attend the classes, while the girls can choose… Because, from my experience, it’s more effective with boys; it might not work as well for girls…” Yi really couldn’t think of a proper reason why all boys had to attend, so he just made things up.
Although the old principal found it strange, he didn’t ask further.
“Principal, may I ask how many students are there in your school in total?” Yi suddenly asked this question.
“If we include all current students, there are about forty thousand,” the principal replied with a smile. For a school ranked among the best in the country, its student population was also among the highest.
“And how many are boys?” Yi pressed on.
“There are a bit more boys, about twenty-four thousand, just under twenty-five thousand,” the principal answered.

“Oh, then let’s do this: choose 2,000 people to attend my classes every day. Try to keep it between 1,500 and 2,000. If there are too few, I’ll have to give more lectures; if there are too many, it’s hard to manage,” Yi said with a smile.
“There’s no problem with that, but the venue…” The principal seemed hesitant. “How can 2,000 people fit in?”
“We don’t need a classroom. I think an indoor gymnasium would work great!” Yi pointed to the large building not far away.
“That’s actually a good idea… I wonder when Teacher Yi will be able to start teaching?” The principal nodded at the gymnasium in the distance.
“Right now!” Yi smiled slightly. “I can’t wait to meet these young people…”
……
“Ye Feng, I heard the school has invited a Harvard PhD in linguistics to give lectures in the gymnasium, teaching English and skills for learning other languages. Do you want to go and check it out?” Ye Feng was engrossed in reading Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in the library when Xu Qiang sat down next to him and spoke in a low voice.
“Boss, why suddenly are you interested in these lectures? Weren’t you always annoyed by English?” Ye Feng put down the book and turned to look at Xu Qiang in surprise. “Oh, I get it. It must be a beautiful woman giving these lectures!”
“No, it’s because the CET-4 exam is coming up in a few months, and I’m worried I might fail… I heard that if you fail it the first time, your scores will only get worse later… It can’t hurt to listen. Let’s go together.” Xu Qiang pleaded.
“I give in to you. Although these lectures aren’t very useful for me, I’ll still go and see if this so-called PhD is really worth it…” Ye Feng had no choice but to agree…