Chapter 26 – School Holiday

For the end of the year’s exam, Xi Wei routinely lent his notes to Klaire for review. With the help of the school tyrant, a slag like Klaire also managed to significantly improve his exam results. He even got 95 points in his most hated cla.s.s, Imperial History, which left the old man teacher in great surprise.

“How could Klaire possibly score 95?” The old man looked at the report card with face full of doubt,”He is not copying the answer from someone else, is he?”

“No,” said Kelly seriously. “St. Paul Academy’s year-end examination should be answered on the computer in the examination room. The examination room has 360 degrees infrared cameras monitoring it, there is no dead angle. Klaire has not communicated with anyone, he answered all of them on his own.”

“…” The old man still couldn’t believe it and frowned, “He often slept in cla.s.s, how could he score so high on the exam?”

“Haven’t you noticed that Klaire has changed lately?” Mrs. Kelly smiled, “The boy is not stupid, he used to be at the bottom of every exam because he was too lazy. He loved to sleep and did not like to study. But now, he has finally been enlightened; he has studied hard for this year end examination, so it’s very normal if he gets good result.”

Kelly had taught so many students and seen many naughty children who refused to study, but she had a hunch that as long as Klaire was willing to work hard, he would grow up to have very promising future, otherwise wouldn’t it become a waste of the good genes he had inherited from his parents?

The examination for theory cla.s.sed soon ended, Klaire not only scored high in history cla.s.s, but incredibly also got 100 in mathematics! Xi Wei and Carlo both scored full marks.

In contrast, Aiden’s performance was a little poor. He only scored 68 in math, still 2 points away from the pa.s.sing grade 70.

According to the school’s regulations, students who scored less than 70 points would have to repeat. Aiden who saw this result hung his head, looking very lost. Xi Wei said, “You are only 2 points short, let’s talk to the teacher and see if you can have a make-up exam instead of repeating.”

But Aiden shook his head. He pulled at Xi Wei’s arm and said seriously, “Don’t worry about me, you have to prepare for the fighting cla.s.s exam in the afternoon. We will talk after the exam.”

After getting less than 70 points and facing the threat of repeating, Aiden’s mood was certainly bad. Xi Wei also didn’t know how to comfort him. He looked at those serious eyes, rubbed the boy’s hair gently and said, “Then you should go back to the dormitory and rest for now. After the test, I will accompany you to find the teacher to ask.”

Aiden nodded and turned away.

Seeing the lonely appearance of the boy leaving with his head hanging down, Xi Wei couldn’t help but feel distressed. If he had to repeat the year alone, he would be very sad. After the test, he’d take Aiden to ask for a favor from the teacher!

The fighting cla.s.s examination was conducted on the afternoon of this day. Unlike the exams of theoretical cla.s.ses, the fighting cla.s.s was a one-on-one individual examination in a small room, which would be personally supervised by Tony and graded on-site.

Before entering the examination room, Klaire went to Xi Wei’s side and asked him, “Xi Wei, how many points do you think I can get?”

Xi Wei looked at him, “I have taught you for so long, if you get below 90 points, don’t bother coming to see me.”

Klaire smiled, “Rest a.s.sured, I will not let you down.”

After entering the examination room, Klaire breathed deeply and stood calmly in front of the sandbag.

Second year’s fighting cla.s.s mostly consisted of practicing the basic movements, but Teacher Tony also taught them a lot of skills. The a.s.sessment of the exam included overall score of continuous punching, continuous kicking, as well as simulated combat offensive and defensive.

The first and second tests were done by hitting the sandbags, Teacher Tony set the a.s.sessment data in accordance with the standard for children their age. He never expected that Klaire’s every action would be textbook-perfect, his punches were fast and ruthless and his kicking movement was very decisive. After he was done, they found out that he scored full marks in both tests!

Tony waved to Klaire and said with admiration in his eyes, “Come here for the third test, try to fight me.”

Klaire exclaimed, “Fight with the teacher?”

Teacher Tony’s height was more than 1.8-meter, little Klaire barely reached his waist. This kind of match was simply like striking a stone with an egg, it was an impossible match.

Tony smiled and said, “How? If you can dodge three of my strikes, I’ll give you full marks. Of course, you can also choose not to fight me and fight the simulation robot instead. The robot program has been designed in advance, so there is no danger. I’m not the same, I might punch you on the nose.”

The simulation robot was on standby, and Klaire knew that he could get more than 90 points if he chose to fight against the robot, but Teacher Tony’s provocation ignited the spark in his pride.

Klaire smiled and answered, “I’ll fight with the teacher.”

He didn’t believe that Tony would really break his nose, and since Xi Wei had been teaching him for so long Klaire had been looking forward to a chance at actual combat. The bulky Alpha in front of him was a big challenge for Klaire. With his present height and combat skills it would be impossible for him to win against Teacher Tony, but if he only had to dodge three strikes Klaire still felt very confident. He was willing to try, just to see what his level was.

Thinking of this, Klaire seriously put on a defensive stance.

Tony’s mouth raised in a slight smile upon looking at the serious face of the child standing in front of him. He positioned his right leg back one step, clenched his fist, and said, “Ready.”

Klaire nodded, his pair of blue eyes fixed on the teacher’s fist.

He saw as the man in front moved his right leg a little, before suddenly swinging his clenched right-hand fist. The forceful punch caused a strong wind, showing just how powerful that attack was! Klaire’s hair was blown by the wind drive by Tony’s fist, the intense pressure even made him hold his breath!

If the punch hit him, his nose would probably be smashed!

But Klaire’s reaction was also very fast. Upon seeing movement of the teacher’s hand, he immediately squatted down and smoothly slipped to the side, successfully avoiding the punch aimed at his face!

However, Tony’s teacher did not stop. Seeing Klaire’s moving sideways, he swept his left leg on the ground, trying to trip Klaire. He didn’t expect that this child was actually very clever, the boy dropped to the ground and rolled out of Tony’s sweeping leg range.

With a cold face, Tony stepped forward to follow him, then performed a chopping motion using the left hand he had been hiding behind him toward Klaire’s neck! Fierce wind blowing, the knife-like hand almost cut the child’s neck directly!

Klaire was surprised, he just rolled to the side and was still a bit unsteady, so it was almost impossible for him to avoid this chopping motion!

On this dire time, a thought suddenly flashed on Klaire’s mind. He stretched out his hands to the ground, thrusted his body forward, and escaped right from under Tony’s arm!

Being short was also an advantage, he rolled forward, managing to avoid Teacher Tony’s chopping hand.

Tony: “…”

Watching the little guy rolling around on the ground, Tony finally smiled. He stepped forward, helped pull the disgraced little Klaire up, and gently rubbed his head. After tidying the child’s hair, he smiled and said, “Klaire, your performance makes me very satisfied! Although learning fighting skills has strict posture requirements, but the most important thing when fighting is flexibility. Those strict movements, anyone can master them as long as they practice repeatedly, but the real fighting skill is not based on mere action, but on the brain!”

Tony pointed to Klaire’s head and said, “Your brain is very clever, use it well, don’t waste it. According to your current progress speed, once you are 10 years old, I can take you to the Martial Arts a.s.sociation to partic.i.p.ate in the Blue belt exam. Before graduating at 18 years old, perhaps you can also test to become a black belt!”

The teacher’s remark made Klaire very surprised. Obviously the teacher attached great importance to him, so he wanted to test him personally. Thinking of this, Klaire immediately nodded earnestly, saying, “Yes, teacher!”

Tony said, “All right, you go out.”

Klaire took two steps, and then looked back and asked, “How many points did the teacher give me?”

Tony waved his hand in a careless motion: “I always keep my words, I’m giving you full marks.”

“Thank you, teacher!” said Klaire happily.

Not until he was gone did Kelly, who was in charge of grading, asked: “Tony, do you really think Klaire would be able to get a black belt before he graduated at the age of 18?”

Tony looked down and said seriously, “I’m not sure that the Empire will allow him to test for the black belt before the age of 18. There are very few alpha who can do this. I just said that to motivate him. See, this kid is very fond of martial arts, there is no harm in an alpha learning some fighting skills. Not to mention, he is General Byron’s son, once he grows up he will have to shoulder his family’s responsibility. What would he do if he does not have a strong physique?”

Kelly nodded in agreement, “Seriously, when Klaire just entered the school his grades were in the bottom rankings of the school, I thought there was a problem with his IQ. Now it seems that this guy was just lazy and unwilling to learn. Once he put his mind into learning, his school grades have progressed rapidly. Yesterday he actually got 95 on Imperial History and full marks on math, and today he incredibly also got full marks in fighting cla.s.s!”

Tony smiled, “General Byron will be delighted to know about this.”

“That’s natural.” Kelly looked at the tablet in her hand and continued, “Still, poor Xi Wei, he originally didn’t have to join this cla.s.s. He is an omega, do you want to call him in?”

He had followed the lesson for a year and supposedly should take part in the examination. Tony said, “Go and call him.”

Outside the door, after seeing Klaire came out, Xi Wei immediately come forward and asked him curiously, “How much did you score?”

Klaire answered with pride, “100.”

Xi Wei apparently didn’t believe him, so Klaire said: “I’m not lying to you, the teacher gave me full marks.”

“Really?” Xi Wei looked at him suspiciously, “Teacher Tony’s requirements are so strict, even the robot monitor only has 98 as the highest point, how did you test 100?”

“He asked me to fight him, and he gave me a full marks after I avoided three of his attacks.”

“Tony’s physique is two sizes bigger than yours, one punch from him can smash your head, yet you still accepted?” Xi Wei was surprised, “And you actually succeed?”

“Yes.” Klaire smiled very happily and gave a thumbs-up to Xi Wei, “All thanks to teacher Xi Wei.”

Hearing this, Xi Wei also smiled and reached out a hand to pat his shoulder, “Good job.”

As they were chatting, Kelly teacher suddenly walked out the door and said: “Xi Wei, you come in.”

“Yes!” Xi Wei walked calmly into the examination room and stood in front of the scoring sandbag.

Tony said, “Let’s start.”

Xi Wei intentionally held back the power in his fist to cover up his true level. He also deliberately made a few mistakes in the kicking test. Tony teacher looked at his struggling look and shook his head helplessly.

The third test was the simulation battle with the robot. The robot would a.s.sess the students’ offensive and defensive integrated skills in accordance with the set of procedures.

Xi Wei’s active offense movements still held no strength and he scored very low. However, in the defensive a.s.sessment, when the robot swung its laser sword toward Xi Wei, the boy suddenly moved sideways in a neat movement, cleverly avoiding the attack of the robot!

Tony looked up in astonishment and stared at the calm-looking child. He suddenly had a feeling that Xi Wei could avoid the robot with ease.

At the end of the test, Tony frowned, “Xi Wei, you come and fight me.”

Xi Wei was surprised, “Ah? Want me to fight with the teacher? Is there such test?”

Kelly also discouraged him, “Tony, he is an omega, and the Prince at that. You must not hurt him.”

Xi Wei immediately echoed her sentiment, “Yes, I am an omega. Teacher, if your fist hit me, I may have broken organs and have to be sent to the hospital for first aid.”

Tony: “…”

Facing little Xi Wei “scared” appearance, Tony felt helpless. He finally waved his hand and said, “OK, you can go.”

Was it just a coincidence? How could Xi Wei react so quickly?

He almost thought the one standing in front of him was a martial arts master, this must be an illusion. Tony shook his head to get rid of the strange ideas popping out in his head, and wrote down 75 points for Xi Wei’s performance a.s.sessment.

Once all the examinations were over, all the students received the comprehensive results and rankings by teacher Kelly from their own optical computers.

Ranked first in the total score was still the serious and diligent Cla.s.s President Carlo. Klaire jumped from the bottom of the school to the second in the cla.s.s, giving many students a big surprise. Xi Wei’s grades were still in the middle, mainly because of his low performance in the combat cla.s.s. Aiden placed in the bottom because he did not pa.s.s the mathematic exam.

Aiden was able to cope with those lessons leaned toward memorization. For example, the history of the Empire, the year of death of a certain king, what happened in what battles; that knowledge could be learned for the exam as long as one tried hard enough to memorize them, but mathematics was a very flexible curriculum. Merely memorizing the formulas would be useless, one also had to understand the operation.

In the second grade, the difficulty in Imperial Math cla.s.s began to be increased gradually. Aiden actually worked very hard, every day in the dormitory he repeated the teacher’s lectures saved in his optical computer several times, but his math results were not improving. Probably because of his poor health, coupled with his poor innate logical thinking ability, math cla.s.s became the most troublesome subject for Aiden. And he ended up failing the exam.

Xi Wei decided to help Aiden. After the result announcement, he took Aiden to find the cla.s.s teacher Kelly.

“Teacher, you see, Aiden is only 2 points short, can you give him another chance? After all, this is only the school year final exam and not the Imperial College Entrance examination.” Xi Wei was also a bit dissatisfied on this pa.s.sing rule, he always felt that making a student directly repeat for failing was too cruel.

Aiden also seriously said, “Teacher, I accidentally answered two questions wrong in the multiple-choice problems and didn’t have time to change. I swear, I can actually pa.s.s it.”

Xi Wei supported him, “Yes ah, teacher, Aiden has worked very hard. Is there any way to keep him from repeating? Can you give him a chance to have a make-up exam instead?”

Looking at two children’s pleading eyes, Kelly’s heart was also softened, but there was nothing she could do. She softly said, “I really have no way to help. This is the school’s rules, we must comply to them. In the past, there were many students who scored 69 points, only 1 point away, but they still had to repeat. The system has already published the scores, it’s impossible to change them.”

After they came out of Mrs. Kelly’s office, Aiden bowed down his head in dismay.

Xi Wei sighed, touched his head and said, “Don’t be sad. Even if you are repeating the year, the dormitory will not change, you will still live with me.”

“Yeah…” Aiden nodded and followed Xi Wei out of the building.

When they pa.s.sed the entrance of the canteen, it was already dinner time. Xi Wei asked, “Are you hungry? Let’s go and have some dinner.”

Aiden followed Xi Wei into the canteen. Xi Wei asked him to find a place to sit down while he went to get two servings of food. As they were about to start eating, they saw Klaire and Carlo walking over with their respective dinner plate. Once Klaire caught sight of Xi Wei, he immediately walked to the vacant seat in front of the other boy and sat down before asking, “I went to your room but you weren’t there, did you go to find the teacher? How is it?”

Xi Wei shook his head: “Mrs. Kelly said she couldn’t do anything.”

Carol frowned: “If I knew this earlier… If you studied harder, wouldn’t you have scored two more points?”

Aiden: “…”

The child who was stabbed by this sentence hung down his head, his eyes turned slightly red.

Xi Wei, “Carlo, will you shut up? You think Aiden didn’t try? Did you see his effort?”

Carlo’s face changed a little, so he shut up and said nothing.

Klaire could see that Xi Wei was feeling depressed, obviously he felt very unwilling to have Aiden had to repeat. He and Aiden were roommates, Aiden’s well-behaved and docile character was also very appealing, so Xi Wei naturally wanted to help the boy.

The child had to go to the doctor every week to review his health and do a blood transfusion, his small hands were littered with who knows how many needle’s puncture marks. While doing treatment, he also had to study, his situation was really not easy, but this Idiot Carlo actually said such a careless remark and made him on the verge of crying. Klaire thought carefully, then made up his mind and secretly whispered in Xi Wei’s ear, “I have a solution for this matter, but I don’t know whether it’ll work. So I’ll go home to ask my father first, then give you the news later.”

Xi Wei looked at him in astonishment, “Does your father have a way?”

Klaire said, “Yes… But with his temper, I’m not sure I can talk to him, but I’ll try.”

The next day marked the beginning of the school’s  holiday. Klaire went home with his housekeeper. Mrs. Grace had prepared a sumptuous dinner to welcome her son. When General Byron arrived at home, Klaire took out his optical computer to show his parents the St. Paul Academy’s published exam results.

Upon  discovering that his son had improved from the bottom to second place in the cla.s.s. General Byron was very satisfied with this achievement. He had a smile on his face as he patted on Klaire’s shoulder and said, “Very good, son, your progress is very fast.”

Kevin looked up curiously, “How much did brother score?”

Klaire smiled, “Math and combat cla.s.ses are full marks, the other courses are above 90 points, isn’t your elder brother great?”

“Good!” Kevin took Klaire’s optical computer and studied it curiously. Grace put him back in his seat and said, “Kevin is old enough to go to school this year, and I want him to apply for St. Paul Academy. Later at school, you have to take care of your brother, Klaire.”

“Yes, mom.” Klaire reached out and touched little Kevin’s head. After all, the boy was his blood sibling, even if the psychological age gap between them was very large, Klaire really cared for this brother of his.

After they finished their dinner, Klaire approached General Byron and said, “Father, I have something to ask you.”

“What’s the matter?” Byron turned to the sitting-room and sat down, “Say it.”

Klaire fell silent for a moment before saying: “I have a cla.s.smate who scored 68 in math this exam. He is only 2 points short, but according to the rules of St. Paul Academy he must repeat a year. I don’t think it’s reasonable for him to re-learn all the other lessons very well and waste a year only because of 2 points.”

Byron, “St. Paul Academy has always used a military-like management, you should have known this from the start. The rules are set to make people obey, and no one is special in face of them.”

“Does an unreasonable rule also have to be followed?” asked Klaire.

Byron looked at his son in front of him, frowning slightly.

Klaire went on, “What if someone was feeling sick in the exam? Or what if a student who usually studies very hard at ordinary times accidentally filled the wrong answer in exam? Accidents can happen, having to repeat a year for a chance error is very unfair to the students who have studied seriously. At the age of 18, everyone has to take part in the unified examination of the empire. The students who previously have to repeat a grade will be one year older than their peers, they will be talked about by the students when they go to university. I think, shouldn’t the school give the students a chance to retake the exam? Do you think it is reasonable to deem them into repeating the year without giving them a chance?”

Byron did not speak, and looked carefully at the child in front of him.

After a year, Klaire’s face was still childlike; his face was white and tender and he looked cute with his golden hair. But what he had just said surprised General Byron, at that moment he even had the illusion of seeing the child as a grown up.

To have such ideas in this early age proved that his eloquence was excellent, and he would have promising future once he grew up.

General Byron was silent for a moment. Finally he stood up and patted Klaire on the shoulder, “You have a point. I will ask the headmaster at the parent-teacher meeting, as to whether they will adopt it, it is not in my power.”

Klaire smiled and said, “Thank you, Father!”

Seeing the bright look on his son’s eyes, General Byron’s heart couldn’t help but feel happy. Although his son was born with severe anemia and almost died, as he grew up, he became more and more intelligent and sensible. His results were gradually getting better; in the future he would certainly be able to a.s.sume a big role in the empire.

Perhaps the progress of the study in this aspect should also be accelerated. Byron frowned and pondered seriously.

The St. Paul Academy’s parents and teachers meeting was held three days later. General Byron mentioned Klaire’s suggestion in the meeting and immediately received the approval of most parents. After all, who could guarantee that in the school year end exam their children would not be met with accidents like a case of fever on the day of the test?

With the support of most of the parents, the St. Paul Academy finally changed the rules, the originally “Students scoring less than 70 on a subject will have to repeat the year” was changed to “The students who fail the exam will be given the opportunity to retake the exam. If the students are unable to pa.s.s, they will have to repeat the year” which seemed more humane than before.

Once he saw this announcement, Xi Wei knew that Klaire must have some credit in it. He immediately used his communication instrument to call Klaire, “Is this your doing, Klaire?”

Looking at the First Prince on the couch, Klaire smiled.

When the Fourth Prince Caesar was born last holiday, Xi Wei also sat on the same sofa and video-called Klaire. Back then his small legs still couldn’t reach the ground, looking so cute as they were dangling in the air.

A year pa.s.sed, and the two of them had grown up a lot. Now, when Xi Wei at on the big sofa, his two small legs could finally touch the ground.

“My father was busy and couldn’t attend the parents-teachers meeting. I heard that it was General Byron’s proposal, you must have told him?” Xi Wei continued seriously,”Thanks, Klaire, thanks for your help this time.”

Klaire smiled: “What are you so polite about? Your problem is my problem.”

Having such a good friend really warmed Xi Wei’s heart, it truly was a blessing.

“By the way, will you be free tomorrow?” Klaire asked.

“Yeah, I asked my father for permission to go out tomorrow.” Xi Wei said, ”I have just contacted Aiden. The re-examination will definitely be even harder. I want to use this holiday to help Aiden, so I’m going to go to his home tomorrow.”

Kreier said, “Then I’ll also go together with you.”

Xi Wei smiled and said: “Okay, tomorrow morning at 9 am, I will pick you up.”