Chapter 458: Is This Something Humans Can Do?
“Mother, take care and get some rest. Don’t tire yourself out!’
Mei Ziyu didn’t wish to bother her mother any longer and thus left after giving her the lunch box, closing the door behind her. She then headed for the votes-tallying room.
The office building was well lit up at the moment.
The examinees could rest, but the examiners’ job had just started.
Tang Nian and the other two examiners supervised each other. After they sealed up the small wooden boxes that held the paper votes, they immediately sent them to the votes-tallying room. Then, after all the small wooden boxes had been collected, groups of 1-star great teachers would start to tally the results.
This job was very simple but also very boring.
The only interesting thing was that they’d be able to know in advance who had passed and who would be eliminated!
“Teacher Mei, good evening!”
“Are you feeling better?”
“Teacher Mei, if you can’t hang on, don’t push yourself!”
The moment Mei Ziyu entered votes-tallying room #2, the few examiners smiled and greeted her. Mei Ziyu’s mother, Mei Yazhi, was a 6-star great teacher. Someone of this level was considered an influential character in the great teacher world.
Other than having this title, Mei Yazhi also liked to support new people, giving them chances. Therefore, over the years, many young teachers had taken fewer detours due to Mei Yazhi’s recommendations.
Of course, Mei Ziyu had a frail body and also had a quiet character, giving off the impression of a docile girl. Therefore, many people liked her.
Mei Ziyu greeted all of them, a hint of nervousness appearing on her small face.
“You can sit here!”
Tang Nian knew that Mei Ziyu was scared of strangers and thus arranged for her to sit in a corner. The members of this group were all young girls as well.
The votes tallying started.
There were five 1-star great teachers in each group, with two people checking through once, then both pairs would exchange and check a second time. The group leader would then do the final check to ensure that everything was correct.
An hour passed by very quickly.
“Isn’t it too horrible?”
After the group leader, Bi Tao, recorded the numbers, he saw that out of the 57 people they had tallied for, there were only six passes. He couldn’t help but draw in a cold gasp.
“That’s for sure. This year, they’d have to get 80 excellent votes to pass. It’s too difficult.”
Li Yao saw earlier that 12 people had gotten over 60 votes but weren’t able to hit 80. If the same results were to be placed in last year’s examination, they’d all pass.
“The results we have over here are about the same. The elimination rate is horrifyingly high!”
“It’s the same with our side!”
“But the great teachers who can pass this year will definitely have the highest overall qualities amongst the years of selection.”
The great teachers started chatting amongst themselves.
Although Tang Nian was a strict person, he didn’t stop them from talking. After all, votes tallying was a very boring job. It wasn’t a bad idea to talk to relieve the boredom.
“Thank goodness I took the examination last year!”
Someone said in self-mockery, but his tone sounded very thankful. It caused a large group of great teachers in the votes-tallying room to burst out laughing.
Everyone was a 1-star great teacher, and their role in this examination was hard labor and miscellaneous chores. Despite so, if their aptitude and results were too bad, they wouldn’t have been chosen by the Saint Gate.
After all, such jobs would be considered an opportunity and nurture.
Therefore, these 1-star great teachers’ standards weren’t bad. Despite this, they might still fail if they had taken this year’s examination.
Three hours passed by, and the time was approaching midnight.
Now, the great teachers had lost interest in chatting and were just doing their jobs mechanically.
Creak!
The door was pushed open, and three aunties entered, pushing in a small trolley. There were two big wooden barrels on the trolley.
Supper was delivered. It was very simple. There were two types of porridge as well as three types of pastries from Daoji Bakery.
“Take a break! Come have some food!”
Tang Nian spoke up.
Hua!
The atmosphere in the votes-tallying room instantly relaxed. The great teachers rubbed their shoulders and gathered over. At this moment, Bi Tao cried out.
“Wow, it’s Gu Qingyan’s voting box!”
To keep it a secret, the examinee’s name was stuck on the inside of the small wooden box’s lid. Therefore, before the boxes were opened, no one knew who the boxes belonged to.
Hearing this, the great teachers who were walking toward the supper trolley immediately turned toward Bi Tao.
“He’s that top graduate from the Skyraise Academy, right? Quickly take a look to see if he can break the records!”
“I recall that he got full marks in the written examination of the second round! That’s really amazing!”
“Please, that’s extremely amazing! It’s a rare encounter in 1,000 years.”
“Please, what 1,000 years. Your boasting skill isn’t good enough. I heard that there’s another set of full marks papers!”
The great teachers chattered away, with some people making insinuations in their words. It was because out of these two people, one of them came from the Skyraise Academy while the other came from Jixia Learning Palace. They were considered natural enemies.
The Skyraise Academy was the number one famous school in the continent. Its students and teachers all reckoned so. Even if the schools who were below the ‘A’ grade were displeased about it, they had no right to comment on anything. However, the other eight great schools didn’t accept this. Although they wouldn’t get into fights, none of them wanted to lose out in a verbal confrontation.
Mei Ziyu didn’t like it when there were too many people and thus wanted to hide to the side. However, since this was her job, there was no pushing it. She could only speed up in tallying the votes.
60 votes!
80 votes!
“He passed!”
Someone spoke up.
“Please, this is just the basics!”
The 1-star great teacher who came from the Skyraise Academy smiled proudly. For Gu Qingyan, the highlight was on whether or not he could break the records.
“103 votes.”
Mei Ziyu reached her hand into the small wooden box, felt around, and then took it back out. “There’s no more!”
“What?”
Bi Tao was stunned. He thought that he had heard wrong.
The other great teachers also looked at Mei Ziyu, wearing doubtful expressions. (You couldn’t have felt it wrongly, right?)
Mei Ziyu shrank her neck back from all the attention, but she still said with certainty, “There aren’t any more votes!”
“Impossible!”
The great teacher from the Skyraise Academy shouted out as if he had seen his loyal wife having an extramarital affair with a bunch of men.
“How is it possible for there to be no more? Gu Qingyan is someone who is going to break the records! Why are there only 103 votes?”
This great teacher reached out his hand, wanting to touch the small wooden box, but he was stopped by Mei Ziyu.
“That’s against the rules!”
Mei Ziyu reminded him.
Everyone whispered amongst themselves as they looked at the small wooden box.
“Let me do it!”
Bi Tao put his hand in and felt around. He then wore an expression of surprise. “There’s really no more?”
“How is that possible? Where are the votes from the patrolling students?”
“There are also those from the patrolling examiners. No matter how you look at it, it’s impossible for there to be only 103, right?”
“What the hell?”
The great teachers couldn’t understand it. After all, the reputation of the Skyraise Academy’s top graduate wasn’t a decoration. It also represented great strength.
Only five people amongst the new graduates were of a comparable level to him, but none of them could win against him.
“It’s a case of stolen votes! Someone must have stolen votes!”
The guy from the Skyraise Academy started shouting as if he had found a flaw.
“Enough! Shut up!”
Tang Nian was watching from the beginning, but after seeing this, he couldn’t hold back anymore. If this guy was allowed to carry on like this, how could the Saint Gate uphold their reputation?
Hearing this, the guy came to a realization as well and instantly broke out in cold sweat. If words of this were to spread out, he’d have been ostracized.
“In the entire process from the voting, to being sealed, and then brought here, there were over ten pairs of eyes on the small wooden box. How could the votes have been stolen?”
Tang Nian walked over and slapped down, smashing the small wooden box.
Shards scattered all over the table. It was clear that there wasn’t a single vote left.
The entire votes-tallying room was quiet. The only thought on their mind was that Gu Qingyan had failed.
The few aunties wanted to call everyone over for supper. However, at the sight of this scene, they didn’t dare to speak up. They just shrank toward the door.
“97 excellent votes!”
Bi Tao took a look at the records. To be able to clinch this number of votes from 103 people present was quite a good achievement. However, this result didn’t seem realistic to be paired with Gu Qingyan’s name.
What about those votes from the patrolling examiners and students?
Were they eaten up?
Everyone felt a little out of sorts. After a simple supper, they continued with their work, occasionally glancing at Bi Tao’s group.
Thankfully, the concrete vote count for the third round wouldn’t be announced. The examinees would only know if they had passed or failed. Otherwise, Gu Qingyan would have to be put through a great embarrassment.
“Don’t look over here anymore!”
Mei Ziyu felt unhappy and proceeded to open another wooden box. However, the votes inside were too full and a few of them bounced out from the opening.
“...”
The five of them blinked. There were too many votes. They were filled all the way up to the wooden box’s opening.
“What is this situation?”
Li Yao gulped. After tallying so many votes, she was considered to have some experience. One chest would have around 300 votes at most. She had gone through many of them but hadn’t come across a situation where the votes were piled up all the way to the box’s opening.
“Main... Main Examiner Tang!”
Bi Tao called out.
“What’s the matter?”
Tang Nian walked over. After taking a glance, he knew what the matter was. They had clearly come across Sun Mo’s voting box. “Don’t make a fuss. Just tally the votes!”
“Let’s start. Examinee, Sun Mo!”
After Bi Tao said that, Mei Ziyu’s eyes lit up. Was it that young man who smiled very brightly?
“Let me do it!”
Mei Ziyu took the small wooden box and started picking up the votes. There wasn’t a need for her to put her hand in. She just needed to casually pick them up with her thumb and middle finger to draw one.
The conversation between Bi Tao and Tang Nian attracted the great teachers’ attention. When Mei Ziyu took out 300 votes, they couldn’t hold it in anymore and all of them walked over.
Then, gasps rang out!
“My god, there are already 400 votes.”
“It seems like there’s more!”
“F*ck! There are 500 now. What the hell? Who is this Sun Mo?”
“Is it that ‘Like A Dog In Front of the Door’ Sun Mo?”
The great teachers discussed amongst themselves, their faces filled with astonishment. 500 votes was the record for today. Moreover, it didn’t take a smart brain to know that since so many patrolling students had voted for him, it basically meant that they admired his teaching. There was no way that they’d vote with an ordinary vote or an eliminated vote.
“Look! Look! There are 600 now!”
“700! 700 votes! Does anyone want to bet that it’d hit 800 votes?”
“F*ck your mom, 900 votes. Is this still human? How many patrolling students are there in total? Did he sweep up all of them?”
“Did this Sun Mo graduate from the Nine Greats? Why is he so strong?”
When Mei Ziyu’s slender finger drew out the 1000th vote, the entire votes-tallying room fell silent as if they had just seen the most unbelievable thing in this world.