Study System: I'm a 38-Year-Old Student-Chapter 86 - 79: The Parents’ Group Explodes!
After dropping a bombshell, Shen Qiushan returned to his office to continue attending the class.
Twenty Scholar Index points per minute—that’s 1,200 points an hour. Gotta listen to this class!
Lin Xiamo, on the other hand, downloaded the Penguin Novels app. She didn’t even have to search: Shen Qiushan’s novel was sitting right there on top of the New Books ranking, extremely eye-catching.
Lin Xiamo usually didn’t read web novels, nor did she really understand what it meant to be number one on the New Books list, but to be number one out of so many new releases, there had to be something special about it.
She opened the novel’s main page and first checked out the comment section, only to discover that readers were actually fighting there—both sides were going all out, arguing non-stop.
From the readers’ messages, it was clear this was a double-female-lead story, and the readers had split into two camps, each passionately rooting for their favorite heroine.
Lin Xiamo then clicked on the Reader Rankings and saw that the top-ranked reader had already given 500,000 Penguin Coins as a reward—that’s 5,000 yuan in Parsons’ money!
The second-place reader had rewarded 300,000 Penguin Coins, which is 3,000 yuan!
The nickname of the reader in second place was pretty cute, too: "Taro Milk Tea Meow."
From the nickname, it seemed this second-ranked big spender was probably a girl, and most likely not very old—no way an older person would come up with a username like "Taro Milk Tea Meow."
So young and already spending three grand reading novels—what kind of family background must she have!
Lin Xiamo marveled for a moment, then kept scrolling down, discovering that this book already had 68 Alliance Leaders, meaning there were at least 68 readers who’d tipped over a thousand yuan each!
What on earth is so attractive about this book that so many people are willing to tip over a thousand bucks?
With this question in mind, Lin Xiamo opened to the first Chapter of the novel.
She hadn’t read web novels before, but rebirth as a setting was nothing new to her.
The writing was smooth, but aside from that, nothing really stood out. If the author wasn’t Shen Qiushan, Lin Xiamo would probably drop the book after a Chapter or two.
But since this book was by Shen Qiushan, she really wanted to see what her "unreliable" brother-in-law had written that could attract so many readers.
So she forced herself to keep reading, Chapter after Chapter.
Before she knew it, she was sucked into the story. Her once-serious face gradually softened, and sometimes a faint, fleeting smile curled her lips as she read on.
As she stood for a long time, her body subconsciously leaned against the windowsill. Sunlight poured through the window, casting a gentle golden glow over her classically cool demeanor.
The light filtered through her hair, the chestnut-brown strands shining softly in the sun. Her long eyelashes fluttered in the light and shadow, her beautiful eyes fixated on the phone screen, brows sometimes furrowing, sometimes relaxing as the story unfolded...
(AI generated, for reference only.)
"Principal Lin, you had lunch yet?"
As Lin Xiamo was completely engrossed, a man’s voice suddenly pulled her out of the world of the novel. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
Lin Xiamo instinctively looked up—at some point, Dean Xu Decai had walked over, plastering a smile across his face.
"Yeah, I’ve eaten."
Lin Xiamo nodded lightly. Xu Decai’s office wasn’t far from hers; he probably just got back from lunch.
"Principal Lin, I happened to have something to discuss with you."
"The mock exam ranking chart just came out. I was thinking, should we post it in the senior year parents’ group, so the parents can have a clearer idea of their kids’ results?"
Actually, this kind of small matter didn’t need Lin Xiamo’s input at all—Xu Decai was really just showing his attitude here.
See? Even something like this, I’m asking for your instructions, Principal Lin!
"Sure."
Lin Xiamo nodded. "Doing that would also put a little pressure on the parents of students who are lagging behind, make them pay more attention."
"You could also mark last year’s undergraduate threshold line on the chart, and while you’re at it, compare it with the last mock exam, and highlight the top ten or twenty students who made the biggest leaps in ranking..."
She added a few more suggestions of her own.
Xu Decai nodded repeatedly. "Principal Lin, you really think everything through! That way, there’ll be both pressure and motivation."
"I’ll get right on it!"
No way would Xu Decai do this kind of spreadsheet work himself. As soon as he got back to his office, he tossed the job to the younger admin office teachers.
Soon enough, the mock exam rankings were posted in the senior year parent group.
The parent group had been organized by the school—nearly a thousand people including school leadership, Grade 12 staff, and just about every parent in the year group.
As soon as the rankings were posted in the group, the chat instantly erupted into hot discussion among the more "enthusiastic" parents.
The familiar parents were @-ing each other, dishing out polite, fake praise about everyone else’s kids.
Meanwhile, parents of the lower-ranked students all kept their mics off in unspoken agreement—no one dared show their face.
Suddenly, one message caught everyone’s attention.
Zhang Yuting’s Mom: @Shen Yanran/Shen Yixiao’s Dad Wow, Yixiao’s Dad, you got 494 points—more than half the students scored lower than you! That’s incredible!
Zhang Yuting was notorious as the megaphone of Class 5 Senior Three—she showed up wherever there was gossip.
Turns out that sense for gossip was hereditary; out of all the parents here, only Zhang Yuting’s mom noticed Shen Qiushan’s results.
After seeing her message, the other parents realized there was actually an "insider" among the ranks this time.
Shen Qiushan returning to school to study with his child had already been big news among the parents. Impossible for the kids not to go home and blab about it. Some parents even objected before, thinking that having an adult classmate could be distracting for their kids.
But after the issue got bounced to Xu Decai, it just fizzled out.
Now, after reading Zhang Yuting’s mom’s message, a bunch of parents went hunting for Shen Qiushan’s name on the chart. And once they saw he’d actually scored 494, those whose kids did even worse just lost it.
Parent A: My kid’s grades are worse than Old Shen’s. Might as well have skipped school altogether.
Parent B: That brat of mine keeps saying today’s high school stuff is too hard, but you see, Old Shen still got 494!
Parent C: I’m buying a durian right now—if he’s sleepy tonight while studying, he’s kneeling on it!
Parent D: My kid got 100 points less than Old Shen. Tonight, he’s getting the biggest whooping of his life!
Parent E: If Old Shen can get 494, it means our kids just aren’t trying. How can you do worse than a parent!
The "bad grade" parents, who’d all kept silent moments before, now popped up to roast their own kids.
Actually, these parents had long since come to terms with the fact that their kids weren’t academic superstars—no point pushing too hard.
But now everything changed—someone their age, Shen Qiushan, had gotten 494!
Dude’s basically already a middle-aged guy with declining brain power and stamina!
So what does that mean?
Their kids just weren’t working hard enough!
Had to be. If they’d actually knuckled down instead of slacking off, how could they get beat by a middle-aged dad?
At the aesthetic center.
Luo Meimei had just finished a facial lifting spa for a client.
As she casually picked up her phone, the parent group messages left her shocked.
Younger Brother Shen actually got 494!
That’s insane!
She quickly searched for her own daughter’s name—turns out her girl only managed 454!
Forty points less than Shen Qiushan!
"All my tuition money, down the drain!"
"Yaoyao can’t even outscore Younger Brother Shen!"
Luo Meimei grumbled in frustration, her eyes rolling so hard they could’ve hit the ceiling.
As a parent, you’d put everything into raising your kid—all the best for them.
But one day, you suddenly realize your own kid’s grades are even lower than "yourself"!?
Imagine how that feels!
"Sister Luo, what’s wrong?"
The client, just sitting up from the facial, noticed Luo Meimei’s outburst and curiously asked.
She was a regular, well aware that Luo Meimei was usually calm and steady, always wearing an infectious smile and great at giving emotional support.
But now, she’d actually lost control.
"Sigh, Ruolin, I don’t mind telling you."
Luo Meimei let out a sigh. "My daughter’s doing the gaokao this year. The third mock exam results just came out, and she only got 454."
"But Sister Luo, isn’t your daughter majoring in art? 454 should be enough to get into a decent university, right?"
Zhou Ruolin threw out casually.
"Yeah, you could say that, but Yaoyao’s score is still forty points less than Younger Brother Shen!"
"Seriously, my heart! All that money wasted..."
"Who’s this Younger Brother Shen?"
Zhou Ruolin was full of curiosity.
"Younger Brother Shen’s a client of mine too. His kid’s also in senior year. But this guy’s a real character—he quit his job to go back to school and study with his kid!"
"He took the mock exam too—guess how many points he got!"
"How many?"
"Four hundred ninety-four!!"
"That’s forty points more than our Yaoyao!"
Luo Meimei complained bitterly. "Ruolin, can you blame me for losing it?"
"I work day and night, building up client relationships, just to earn extra for her tutoring, get her into college!"
"And she ends up with this score! You tell me if she’s letting me down or not!!"
After hearing Luo Meimei’s rant, Zhou Ruolin was stunned. She paused for a long moment before finally asking, "So Sister Luo, you’re saying this Younger Brother Shen is a student’s parent just like you, went back to school, and even got 494 on the mock exam?"
"Yep, that’s exactly it. Except Younger Brother Shen’s younger than me—he’s 38, I think!"
"Thirty-eight?"
"Returned to high school!"
"And scored 494 on the mock exam!"
Summing up the key points, Zhou Ruolin’s eyes lit up.
She was a Sanjiang Life Channel reporter, and hadn’t had any juicy stories lately!
Well, finally—here’s a lead delivered straight to her door!
