Chapter 339 The Rise of Central Province Academy!
“Group leader, should we hoist our school flag?”
Shi Qiao suddenly thought of this.
Everyone started. After that, they felt agitated.
When students participated in the league tournament, they would always bring along their school flag. If they could get into the top rankings, they would be able to show off then. This was an extremely glorious thing for the school.
“Our ranking can’t be considered too bad, right?”
Li Fen estimated. If they were the last few, hoisting their flag would become an extremely shameful matter.
“Even if we are not in the top ten, we are surely in the top twenty.”
Chu Jian urged. “What are we waiting for? Let’s hoist it quickly!”
Zhang Yanzong immediately took out the school flag from his back, while Zeng Gang went to the side and chopped a sturdy branch off to make a flagpole.
Very soon, the Central Province Academy’s flag was high up in the air!
Zhang Hanfu stood at the side and had a smile on his face as he listened to the discussions. However, there was an awkwardness unconcealable between his brows. He wanted to say something, but everyone was ignoring him.
The headmasters of these schools were all 5-star and 6-star great teachers. Even 4-star great teachers were considered extremely rare. So, for a newbie like Zhang Hanfu, both his strength and status wasn’t able to gain their approval. There was naturally no need to talk about respect.
Yet, Zhang Hanfu was impatiently doing his best to forge a good relationship with these headmasters. It was because these people had extremely great power and status in the country. Zhang Hanfu wanted to build a network so even if he forsook Prince Li Zixing’s support and left the Central Province Academy, he would still be able to live a good life elsewhere.
Zhang Hanfu could still discern one’s thoughts from their bodily actions. He noticed that Headmaster Wei of Haizhou was someone vain and loved face. Hence, after everyone spoke, Zhang Hanfu added a sentence.
“I’ve met the students from Haizhou before, and they are all excellent. Most probably, they didn’t manage to display their outstandingness well enough, or they would have been able to enter the top three!”
Zhang Hanfu actually wanted to say ‘first place’, but because the headmaster of Mingshao Academy was at the side, he was worried that it might annoy him. Hence, he chose to say ‘top three’.
After hearing this, Headmaster Wei’s brows twitched as a faint joy could be seen on his face. He even cast a glance at Zhang Hanfu.
“After not meeting for a year, Headmaster Wei is still as fit as a fiddle. Also, it seems that Haizhou is going to have a breakthrough soon in terms of results.”
Zhang Hanfu immediately came over and started to chat like he was very familiar with Headmaster Wei.
“You are?”
Headmaster Wei felt that this middle-aged man knew how to speak really well. It was just that he was a little short. His stature and short body with short limbs made him look like a potato.
(But it’s better like this. The uglier he is, the more I’ll seem elegant and handsome in contrast.)
Upon thinking of this, Headmaster Wei immediately puffed out his chest and stood with his hands behind his back, projecting the look of an expert.
“I’m the vice headmaster of the Central Province Academy, Zhang Hanfu!”
Zhang Hanfu introduced himself and had a smile on his face, yet he felt very depressed in his heart. (During last year’s league tournament, I’ve already introduced myself to you.)
“Nice to meet you!”
Headmaster Wei replied perfunctorily. He would meet so many people every year, so how could he remember everyone?
Originally, no one cared about Zhang Hanfu. However, the moment he said he was the vice headmaster of the Central Province Academy, over ten gazes immediately shot over.
“What’s wrong with Headmaster An? Why would she choose such an ugly fellow to be the vice headmaster?”
“I heard that the situation in the Central Province Academy isn’t good. It seems to be true.”
“Che, he actually took the initiative to fawn on Old Wei. The last bit of integrity of the Central Province Academy has been completely shredded.”
The discussions in the surroundings were extremely unpleasant, and it caused Zhang Hanfu’s expression to be even more awkward.
Naturally, these headmasters weren’t mocking Zhang Hanfu. They weren’t so bored as to do that and were merely expressing their views.
A headmaster was like the flag of the school, a representative of it. They didn’t need to be that good-looking, but at the very least, when they went out, they mustn’t throw the school’s face.
Zhang Hanfu’s image was truly too inferior and as for his strength, hehe...
The Saint Gate didn’t have strict rules on the dress code of teachers and headmasters, but everyone took the same view without prior consultation and would choose to wear their school uniform. The only thing different was the number of golden stars embroidered above their school’s insignia on their chest. The number of stars denoted one’s rank as a great teacher.
As for Zhang Hanfu, he had 2 stars.
If the crowd he was with was a bunch of teachers, it was still passable, but such a rank was truly insignificant before a group of headmasters.
Some headmasters were more mischievous. Upon seeing this, one of them said, “Who knows... The returning group now might be the students from your Central Province Academy!”
“It can’t be, it can’t be! The quality of our new students this year is only ordinary. We don’t dare to dream so extravagantly for fifth place. We would already be laughing if we could get tenth place.”
It wasn’t that Zhang Hanfu was humble. To him, the new student group getting tenth place was already something he didn’t dare to dream about.
“Haha, tenth place?”
Some headmasters snorted in disdain. (Do you think you are still the Central Province Academy that was part of the Nine Greats? Bro, that is already in the past!)
“Don’t be anxious. The Central Province Academy might not be able to make it now. Just take things slowly and they would surely be able to catch up.”
Headmaster Wei consoled.
Zhang Hanfu felt very awkward, but luckily the new student group had reached the endpoint at this moment. The flag they hoisted also entered everyone’s visions. “Headmaster Wei, congr...eh!”
In order to deepen Headmaster Wei’s impression of him, Zhang Hanfu decided to congratulate him in advance. However, just when he saw the flag, he was stunned.
The flag was too familiar to him.
The symbol on the flag was a kite shield, and a battle hammer and a long sword formed a cross above the shield. Wheat could also be seen around it.
Swish~
The gazes of all the headmasters directly turned to Zhang Hanfu.
Maybe these headmasters weren’t able to remember all insignias of the 108 schools in the ‘D’ grade, but they definitely recognized the Central Province Academy’s insignia.
There was no solution to it. The Central Province Academy was simply too famous. When these headmasters were younger and had participated in the league tournament, the Central Province Academy was an extremely formidable opponent. “Fifth place? Their performance seems really impressive!”
“Seems like that little lass An Xinhui has put in a lot of effort this year!”
“Yeah, the performance of their new student group last year was abysmal. They would surely pay attention to that this year!”
The headmasters chatted and also glanced at Headmaster Wei, gloating over his misfortune.
Honestly speaking, Headmaster Wei was too vain and arrogant. Hence, everyone didn’t have a good impression of him. However, because of his strength, the headmasters didn’t dare to express their unhappiness too openly.
Who would have thought that this Zhang Hanfu was gutsy enough? He actually dared to ridicule Headmaster Wei!
“Didn’t I say it earlier? Although his star rank is low, he is ultimately still a vice headmaster of the Central Province Academy. He has confidence and a bottom line, so how is it possible for him to fawn over Headmaster
Wei?”
“Tyrannical!”
“But by doing so, hasn’t he completely offended Haizhou?”
The headmasters all shot a look of admiration at Zhang Hanfu.
“I...I...”
Zhang Hanfu wanted to explain, but there were some things that couldn’t be said.
“Vice Headmaster Zhang, right? Good, you are very good!”
Headmaster Wei forcefully patted Zhang Hanfu’s shoulder. “I will remember you. For the next round, we have to interact ‘properly’!”
After speaking, Headmaster Wei left with a gloomy look on his face.
Other than smiling, what else could Zhang Hanfu do? He couldn’t possibly say that ‘No, I’m not mocking you. I also have no idea that those students would be able to get 5th place!’.
Bang!
A signal bullet shot into the sky. After that, the judge announced loudly.
“All twenty participants of the Central Province Academy have reached the endpoint.”
The headmasters applauded and turned their gazes over to survey the students. All of them were great teachers and with a single glance, they could see many details.
Spider mounts, the clothes of the students weren’t tattered or covered in much dirt, their mental states weren’t very fatigued as well these indicated that the students truly had some capabilities.
The most important thing was that the students were huddling together as they celebrated. This meant that the relationship between them was very harmonious.
(The Central Province Academy is going to be a formidable opponent this year!)
This thought immediately appeared in the minds of the various headmasters. After they returned, they had to tell their students to be more cautious and on-guard against the Central Province Academy.
“Vice Headmaster Zhang, congratulations!”
“5th place isn’t bad. Congratulations!”
“From the looks of things, they don’t seem to have sought help from their teachers. Their performances are considerably outstanding.” Some headmasters walked over to chat with Zhang Hanfu, wanting to gather information on how the new student group was so powerful this year.
Zhang Hanfu coped with their questions one by one. His mood was very conflicted. Because of the performances of these students, he transformed from a ‘half-transparent’ person into an extremely popular one.
Although he knew that the goals of these headmasters weren’t pure, the feeling of being the center of attention was truly awesome!
“Eldest martial sister, why do you seem a little unhappy?”
Lu Zhiruo saw that Li Ziqi was a little disappointed.
“It’s a pity that we aren’t in the top three!”
Little sunny egg sighed. “Number five is actually very good. Honestly speaking, I didn’t even dare to imagine that we would be in the top ten.”
Chu Jian interjected.
“Speaking of which, our journey in the first round can still be considered smooth. We only managed to get 5th place with the large spiders as mounts. In that case, how strong are the first four?”
Ying Baiwu frowned.
“Why are you bothering yourself with this? We will be able to advance in rank as long as we are in the top ten!”
Zhao Zhi felt that Ying Baiwu’s aim was too high.
The iron-headed girl didn’t reply because she was considering how they would be able to get first place. This was because her teacher had a bet with Zhang Hanfu. So, they definitely had to be the champion. Zhang Hanfu came over and shouted encouragingly, “Well done!” “Vice headmaster!”
The students greeted him, but their expressions were neutral. This was because everyone knew that Teacher Sun and Zhang Hanfu didn’t have a good relationship. After all of them had witnessed the performances of Li Ziqi and the others, they were even more respectful of Sun Mo.
One could say that they were able to receive such a good result because of the efforts of Sun Mo’s personal students.
Zhang Hanfu’s expression turned awkward.
As a headmaster, was there any meaning if he wasn’t able to get the love and respect from students? However, it was fine. Zhang Hanfu was very good at bribing human hearts.
“All of you must be dead tired, right? I’ve prepared a good meal. All of you should take a warm shower first before eating.’
Actually, the meals were prepared by An Xinhui.
“Teacher has returned!”
Lu Zhiruo shouted and ran over.
The observer and Sun Mo’s group also returned.
“Teacher!”
The others called out excitedly and ram toward Sun Mo.
Zhang Hanfu’s side was immediately emptied of people. This caused him to feel incomparably embarrassed. He didn’t have the face to chat with Sun Mo. Yet, if he had to leave directly, he was also unwilling!
“Teacher, we weren’t able to get into the top three, I’m sorry!”
Li Ziqi apologized.
“You guys have done very well!”
Sun Mo rubbed Li Ziqi’s head, his gaze was filled with gratification as he swept his gaze toward the students at his side. “I’ve seen all your performances, they are very excellent!”