Chapter 034 【First Lesson in Class 4-8】

Gu Feng walked to the front of the class and scanned the room. Everyone had witnessed Gu Feng disciplining Ling Wei and Yang Bing, so they were somewhat afraid of him now. After all, Ling Wei and Yang Bing had always been the two top dogs of Class 8, Grade 4.

"Tian Tao, who's missing?" Gu Feng glanced at a few empty seats and asked.

Tian Tao stood up, looked in the direction Gu Feng pointed, and said, "Teacher, there are four people absent today: Xie Lei, Huang Cheng, Xu Qiang, and Shen Lili."

"Did any of them get an excused absence?" Gu Feng inquired.

"Xie Lei asked for leave this morning, saying he was going to raid bosses with his guild." Tian Tao replied with a smile.

"Raid?" Gu Feng was puzzled. "What does 'raid' mean?"

"Teacher, aren't you a bit out of touch?" The students below laughed when they heard Gu Feng's question. One of them chimed in, "Raiding means fighting bosses in online games. The most popular game right now is World of Warcraft, and Xie Lei ranks pretty high in his guild."

"Settle down!" Although Gu Feng didn't know what online games were, he didn't feel embarrassed. Seeing everyone laughing and joking around, he snapped.

The students stopped laughing at Gu Feng's bark, but the looks they gave him were full of scorn. After all, in their eyes, not knowing what online games were in this day and age was truly old-fashioned.

"What about Huang Cheng?" Gu Feng asked again once everyone quieted down.

"Teacher, Huang Cheng is heartbroken. He got dumped by a girl." Tian Tao shook his head slightly as he spoke. "I told him love is a trap, but he wouldn't listen."

"Four-eyed Frog, I bet no one likes you, so that's why you preach that love is a trap, right?" Guan Mingyue seemed quite displeased with Tian Tao's trying to sound profound.

When the others heard Guan Mingyue's remark, they were about to join in the teasing, but Gu Feng stopped them with a look.

"And what about Shen Lili?" Gu Feng asked.

"Teacher, Shen Lili is said to be on her period and resting at home!" Tian Tao, having been mocked by Guan Mingyue, spoke much more respectfully this time.

As soon as the words "on her period" were uttered, some of the boys smirked, while some of the shy girls lowered their heads. The fashionable girls, led by Guan Mingyue, looked completely unfazed.

"Do you know what's going on with Xu Qiang?" Gu Feng thought for a moment and asked.

This time, the students didn't join in the teasing. Tian Tao replied, "Teacher, I've barely seen Xu Qiang since the semester started. I'm sorry, but I don't know his situation."

"Alright, have a seat." Gu Feng frowned.

After Tian Tao sat down, the students all looked up at Gu Feng, watching to see what he'd do next.

This was Gu Feng's first time standing at the front to teach, but he didn't look nervous at all. Following what Fatty Qi had taught him, he wrote his name on the blackboard and said, "My name is Gu Feng. I'm from Nanjing, and from now on, I'll be your homeroom teacher and physical education teacher."

Upon hearing Gu Feng's self-introduction, not a single student clapped.

After a second of silence, Ling Wei suddenly started clapping, while signaling to his classmates beside him with his eyes.

Ling Wei had a lot of pull in the class. Once he took the lead, many students started clapping. However, some students, noticing that Yang Bing wasn't clapping, refrained from doing so as well.

Gu Feng observed all of this. From this, he could determine that the class was roughly divided into three cliques: one led by Ling Wei, another led by Yang Bing, and the rest forming a third.

"Teacher, I heard from Chen Xu in Class 7 that you used to be a soldier. Is that true?" Big Shark, who was close to Chen Xu, had learned quite a bit about Gu Feng from him.

Gu Feng understood that Chen Xu knew about his identity because Lin Jiaying had revealed it. The girl who had been peeking outside during his first physical education class was Lin Jiaying. That day, Lin Jiaying had instructed Chen Xu to embarrass him, but unexpectedly, Chen Xu ended up being the one embarrassed by Gu Feng.

Facing the curious gazes of all thirty-six students in the class, Gu Feng nodded slightly and said, "Yes, I used to be a soldier."

"Teacher, have you ever been on the battlefield?" This question was asked by Ling Wei. In fact, he was almost certain that Gu Feng had been on the battlefield because A'Long had told him that what Gu Feng practiced wasn't kung fu but killing techniques. Only those who had been on the battlefield would use such things.

For kids who'd grown up in peacetime, the battlefield was a very unfamiliar concept. Upon hearing Ling Wei's question, all the students, including Yang Bing, their eyes went wide and looked at Gu Feng, eagerly awaiting his answer.

Gu Feng nodded again, but this time he remained silent.

"You're just bragging!" A student from Yang Bing's clique couldn't help but mock when he saw Gu Feng nod. "It's peacetime now. What battlefield?"

Initially, many students were kind of impressed with Gu Feng upon seeing him nod. In their eyes, soldiers who had been on the battlefield were heroes, and heroes deserved respect.

But now, after hearing that student's remark, their gazes toward Gu Feng changed from admiration to doubt.

Seeing those doubtful looks, Gu Feng didn't bother to explain.

Yang Bing, noticing that Gu Feng didn't explain, sneered and said, "I think you just served in the army for a few years and are telling us you've been on the battlefield. If we hadn't caught the flaw early, you might have even bragged about killing enemy soldiers!"

"That's right, teacher. Bragging isn't good." Tian Tao piped up.

When the others heard Tian Tao's comment, they shot him disdainful looks because Tian Tao was always shooting his mouth off and showing off in class.

While others doubted Gu Feng, Ling Wei thought they were idiots because he knew for sure that Gu Feng had been on the battlefield.

Later, the students asked a few more questions about the military.

The usually stern Gu Feng was surprisingly open this time and shared stories about life in the army. Although Gu Feng wasn't particularly eloquent, many of the things he talked about were his personal experiences, so he spoke with authority and detail. Some of the students were hooked. At first, the students from Yang Bing's clique occasionally tried to trip him up. However, they were just sixteen- or seventeen-year-old kids with strong curiosity, and gradually, they stopped causing trouble.

Gu Feng's first class in Class 8, Grade 4 went off without a hitch—something that had never happened before in Class 8, Grade 4.

By the end of the class, apart from the clique led by Yang Bing, who still held hostile feelings toward Gu Feng, the other students didn't exactly hate him. Of course, aside from Ling Wei and Big Shark, the others weren't exactly fans of his either.

Gu Feng knew that this couldn't be rushed, so he was quite satisfied with the outcome of this class.

When he returned to the office after class, most of the teachers had already left. Only Xia Wei remained in the office alone.

"Teacher Xia, why haven't you gone to eat yet?" Perhaps because his relationship with the students of Class 8, Grade 4 had improved, Gu Feng was in a good mood. Seeing that Xia Wei hadn't left yet, he greeted her.

"I was waiting to eat with you." Xia Wei had been grading homework. Hearing Gu Feng's words, she put down her pen and smiled.

Xia Wei's words took Gu Feng by surprise. Remembering he'd turned down her invitation to eat yesterday, he nodded and said, "Alright."