Jiang Ye was overjoyed. "Thank you, teacher!"
"I saw you previewing the textbook. How much have you covered?" Long Tiancheng asked with a smile of appreciation for a good student.
"Only about a dozen pages. The textbook is really too much, I didn't have time to preview it all."
"What have you learned?"
"I learned..." Jiang Ye recalled the textbook's content, "Organizational behavior is different from traditional management. It focuses more on experiments, testing subordinates by eliminating most variables to find the changes most suitable for the collective. It emphasizes human commonalities and organizational systematicity..."
Long Tiancheng's eyes lit up, like a starving ghost seeing a pot of braised pork.
Seeing the teacher's interest, Jiang Ye spoke for over ten minutes, including textbook content and his own understanding.
"Good! Very good!" Long Tiancheng almost wanted to applaud. "Student Jiang, you are destined for great things!"
Jiang Ye was startled. "Oh, teacher, you're flattering me. It's nothing really."
"I heard that ancient people were very good at learning and exams. Seeing you today, it's truly worth it!" Long Tiancheng nodded in admiration. "To be honest, I've taught this course for over ten years, and students like you, who are interested in knowledge and can understand it thoroughly, number no more than fifty in total. These individuals later went on to become more than just generals of a single planet; most became commanders of star systems."
"Outstanding! Truly outstanding!" The teacher was ecstatic.
"Thank you for your praise, teacher. I will study even harder!"
Jiang Ye thought to himself, "This is considered outstanding? If you picked any high school student from ancient times, they'd be outstanding! What kind of battles and hardships did they face in their final year of high school? Memorizing this stuff is like playing!"
Long Tiancheng began his lecture.
Jiang Ye was the only student in the classroom.
But he lectured with great enthusiasm, writing on the blackboard, spitting with fervor, and gesturing animatedly.
Before he knew it, the class was over.
"Alright, I have another class the day after tomorrow. See you then." Long Tiancheng packed his bag.
Jiang Ye looked around, sweating awkwardly. "Teacher... why isn't a single other student here?"
"They probably haven't woken up yet." Long Tiancheng sighed imperceptibly, but the smile on his face indicated he had long adapted. "Starting from the next class, you should start seeing a few classmates. Usually, there are more people in the afternoon."
Jiang Ye's face darkened. "They're all skipping class... Doesn't the school punish them? When I was little, if someone skipped class in my class, they'd have to stand in the corner."
"Other schools would certainly punish them, but our school is special." Long Tiancheng shrugged. "Every student here is a general who fought their way out of harsh colonial environments. In the future, they will command hundreds of millions of people and possess vast wealth. In terms of rank, we teachers who pore over books are actually lower in rank than the students. It's a bit like ancient tutors for crown princes, except we're teaching a bunch of emperors."
"Moreover, at the general level, they tend to be quite arrogant and don't listen to others' advice, let alone attend classes. Most of them come with the mindset: I didn't know anything before, and I still became a king and overlord on a planet, right? You few little teachers, your annual salary isn't even as high as my daily income. If you had real talent, why would you be teaching here? You're just here to get a diploma, cram before the exam, get your certificate, and leave."
Jiang Ye was confused. "Since they're here, shouldn't they at least learn something? They can discern whether what they learn is useful. I feel like these textbooks are quite useful."
"That's why you are exceptional." Long Tiancheng laughed heartily and pushed the door open.
For some reason, Jiang Ye felt his laughter was rather sad.
The next class was in the same classroom. Jiang Ye didn't move, took out another textbook, and continued previewing.
Humans are truly strange. When they were forced to go to school, they longed to skip class and go play. Now that no one is forcing them to attend, they want to sit down and read.
The classroom door opened again.
An old Black man walked in, wearing a garish suit with red and green flowers, carrying a pink bag, dressed flamboyantly.
"Oh! It's just you?"
Before Jiang Ye could answer, the old Black man, like a thief, took out a test paper and slipped it into Jiang Ye's hand, raising an eyebrow at him.
"This is the original exam paper. Take it back and do it in advance." The old Black man went to the podium. "We won't wait for the other stupid students. I only teach the smart ones who arrive at the classroom on time. This class will cover macroeconomic thinking. After taking this course, at least you won't be easily fooled by any rogue economist, which will be beneficial for future planetary development."
Class after class.
There were a total of five classes that morning, and not a single other student showed up.
Jiang Ye sat alone in the classroom, listening intently, taking notes incessantly, feeling dizzy from exhaustion.
Moreover, all the teachers seemed to have agreed, handing him the original exam papers.
Jiang Ye could well understand the feelings of these down-on-their-luck teachers. With only one student in the entire classroom respecting the podium, why wouldn't they give him the papers and let him pass the final exam smoothly?
At noon, he went to the school cafeteria for lunch.
The cafeteria was more dilapidated than he had imagined, similar to a small Chinese fast-food restaurant, with very few dishes.
There were hardly any people eating in the cafeteria. Only one or two people sat at tables dozens of seats apart, and they were all elderly professors with mobility issues.
Jiang Ye felt as if the school was opened just for him.
In the afternoon, classmates finally appeared!
For the first class, three men arrived successively. They were all around thirty years old, drunk, and slept at their desks for the entire class, not waking up when it ended.
When the class ended, the teacher glanced at the sleeping students, quickly slipped a test paper into Jiang Ye's hand, and left with his bag.
For the second class, over a dozen students arrived at once.
The youngest looked only in his teens, a little white boy with messy blonde hair, a strong perfume scent, and several lingering lipstick marks on his neck, who seemed to have been out having fun somewhere.
The oldest student looked even older than the professor at the podium. He brought a set of metal building blocks and focused on assembling them for the entire class, creating a metal praying mantis, appearing quite rejuvenated.
When the class ended, the teacher winked at Jiang Ye and turned to leave.
Jiang Ye chased after him with his textbook. "Teacher, I have a question!"
The teacher nodded. "Come out and say it."
When he returned, Jiang Ye's textbook already had the final exam paper tucked inside.
In the last two classes of the evening, the classroom was empty again.
Jiang Ye listened to the lecture alone.
As he listened, he yawned, his face full of weariness.
The teacher stopped and looked at him with concern. "Are you tired? Would you like to rest a bit before I continue?"
"No, no, no, you're lecturing very well. I can overcome a little drowsiness. I want to keep learning."
Jiang Ye thought to himself, "Good heavens! Truly good heavens! The students are sleepy in class, and the teacher is asking if they want to rest?"
Universities these days have really gone downhill. Teachers have no status at all!