SMWOM 19

When spring came, students would begin to go back to school, and freshmen from all universities would begin to enroll. 

The St. James University that Meng Yang had always wanted to enter was a famous private university countrywide, if not worldwide. This university had produced many celebrities. 

The reason why Meng Yang wanted to be admitted to this university was that it had the best perfumery department in the country. He had learned all kinds of perfume-related knowledge since he was a child, so his basic knowledge was very solid, especially in regards to botany. So in his previous life, he had been admitted to the perfume department of St. James University. It was only after he entered the school that the gap caused by talent became more and more obvious.

In order to save Luo Xiu, Meng Yang had missed the entrance exams for St. James University and was originally not allowed to enroll. However, Luo Xiu’s company invested a lot into the Perfume Department, School of Economics, and other departments every year. Over the years, the amount of investment had become very significant, so he asked the college to arrange a separate entrance exam for Meng Yang. Naturally, the college wouldn’t refuse to give this big financial backer face.

Meng Yang’s score in the entrance exam was very high. Even so, in some people’s eyes he’d become a student who got into the School of Perfume through the back door.

On the first day of school, Meng Yang arrived at the entrance to the Perfume Department and went to the freshman classrooms. The School of Perfume at St. James University was like an ancient garden, with all of the buildings and arrangements done in a very classical style. 

All the students were divided into classes according to their grades, but because it was the first day after being accepted, all of them were gathered in a large classroom. The seats in the classroom were arranged in a convex shape, with the table in the center of the front being the first seat in the whole grade. 

Meng Yang’s score in the entrance exam was higher than Junchen’s, but with all of the grades and scores from high school, Yu Junchen’s overall grade was higher than Meng Yang’s. Junchen sat at the middle table and Meng Yang, as the second highest in the grade, sat at the first table to the left. 

Meng Yang walked over and sat down while the other students watched. The students who knew each other were using their phones to talk. Meng Yang and Yu Junchen were stepbrothers, and their marriage and engagement with a father and son pair was the biggest gossip in the whole department.

Yu Junchen also looked over at Meng Yang and thought about how to talk to him. He had to reconcile with Meng Yang and try to make Meng Yang trust him as much as he had before. He wanted the chance to learn the contents of the Meng family’s ancestors’ books. 

Only students in freshman year had the chance to listen to the master classes twice a month. After freshman year, only the students in the first class had the chance to listen to the master classes.

So in this first class, the students were all very excited about their first master class. Several national or even international level masters would teach them. Such an opportunity, for most of them, could only come once or twice in their lifetime. 

A light tone reminded everyone that the class was beginning, and all the students stood by their seats. A few masters came in and sat at the front platform, each with two students who sat behind their master. After the teachers of each class were seated, the new students also sat down.

Of the two masters sitting in the middle, one had a serious face and indifferent eyes. Just looking at him gave the freshmen a sense of fear in their hearts. This was Yu Junchen’s teacher, the world-class master of perfume, incense mixing, and aromatherapy, Xu Wangya. The other was slightly portly with a kind smile on his face. He was also a world-class master of fragrance, Lin Songtai.

These two people were generally recognized as the representatives of the fragrance circle in the country, and they had very high positions in the circle. However, they weren’t only different in personality, but they often disagreed with each other as well. This was widely known among fragrance academics.

After sitting down, Xu Wangya quickly scanned all the new students. His eyes stopped on Meng Yang’s face, frowning as he asked, “Who arranged the seats?”

The head teacher immediately stood and replied, “As always, the seats are arranged in order of scores.”

“I’m not asking about the other students,” Xu Wangya said with a frown. “Why didn’t you arrange the students who didn’t take the entrance exams and got in through the back door to sit in the back?”

The head teacher glanced at Meng Yang and said, “Although Meng Yang didn’t take the entrance exam with the other students, the school arranged an exam for him alone. His overall score was second out of all the freshmen, so…”

“Those who break the rules will ultimately be excluded by the rules, and special arrangements shouldn’t be included in these rules. It’s the biggest injustice to those who abide by the rules,” Xu Wangya said flatly. “I don’t care whether he took a test or not or what his overall score is. In my eyes, this doesn’t count. Move his seat to the back.”

The head teacher looked at Meng Yang again. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do.

Xu Wangya didn’t believe that Meng Yang’s score in the entrance exam could be higher than Yu Junchen’s, because Meng Yang and Yu Junchen had participated in an incense-making competition before. Originally this level of competition wasn’t high enough to invite Xu Wangya, but Xu Wangya happened to meet an old friend who invited him to be a temporary judge. All the participants were nervous and excited. Meng Yang made it to the semi-finals in this competition, but because he was too anxious while he was creating his fragrance, his movements were very stiff. His proportion of raw materials while mixing the incense also didn’t match well, which was criticized by Xu Wangya. 

Hearing the news that Meng Yang’s score for the entrance exam was higher than Yu Junchen’s, other students also didn’t believe it, let alone Xu Wangya and Yu Junchen’s teachers and friends. Because of this, those fellow students of Yu Junchen were very dissatisfied and often said bad things about Meng Yang in front of Xu Wangya, making him hate Meng Yang even more.

Xu Wangya asked the head teacher in the grade to move Meng Yang’s seat to the end, but the head teacher felt very flustered. He was just a small head teacher who didn’t dare to offend either Xu Wanya or Luo Xiu. When immortals fought, the ordinary people suffered. He couldn’t afford to pick a side.

Xu Wangya saw that the head teacher was awkwardly standing still, and was ready to let the students sitting behind him do it. Yu Junchen then stood up and said, “Teacher, let’s forget this today. Since the school has arranged it like this, I don’t think the other students will care about it. Teacher’s time is precious, and the other students have been looking forward to this for a long time. Other things can be put aside for a while.”

Xu Wangya attached great importance to Yu Junchen as his student, because he was the most talented out of all of his students. He thought that he was talented and hard-working, much better than other impetuous young people nowadays. Besides that, he knew his manners, behaved well, and had a youthful style in his incense and fragrance.

Xu Wangya was about to say that for the sake of Yu Junchen’s request, he wouldn’t care about it for the time being. This way, Meng Yang would feel grateful towards Yu Junchen. However, Meng Yang saw his thoughts and stood up.

“Mr. Xu,” Meng Yang said, bending slightly to salute Xu Wangya before directly looking at him. “Do you think that because I didn’t comply with the school’s regulations at the beginning of school, I don’t deserve to sit here?”

Yu Junchen immediately turned towards Meng Yang and said, “Meng Yang…”

“Do you want to deny it?” Xu Wangya frowned.

“As far as I know, there are at least a few hundred students like me who’ve passed separate entrance exams since the founding of this university. That is to say, such a way of admission is allowed in the rules of the university. I’m not the first exception. Mr. Xu has been teaching at St. James University for more than ten years, and before me, there were many people who entered the university in the same way. You didn’t raise any objections then, yet you only raised an objection against me. Should I think that as long as people dissatisfy you, they will always be breaking the rules in your mind while others are not?”

Xu Wangya’s frown deepened and his face was quite ugly. Few people could make him speechless, let alone Meng Yang, a young kid whom he hadn’t paid any attention to.

Lin Songtai put down his teacup and turned to Xu Wangya, saying with a smile, “His words are very reasonable. You say that his way of enrollment is unfair to other students, but you raising objections only to his way of enrollment is unfair to him. Or do you feel, because of your age and identity, that you can decide who follows the rules and who doesn’t?”

Xu Wangya glanced at Lin Songtai before turning to Meng Yang and saying, “You’re young but you’re so scheming and deep when you speak, setting traps everywhere. Who do you think I am; can I be trapped by your words? Your character and scheming will come back to bite you someday, and the consequences will be tragic then.”

“Then do you think that any of my words are unreasonable or untrue? I’m willing to listen to instruction,” Meng Yang said, acting neither arrogantly nor humbly. 

“I didn’t want to take up the other students’ time to argue with you, but since you haven’t given yourself a way out, I’ll make it clear,” Xu Wangya said to Meng Yang. “Your way of entering this school is unfair to the other students because your exam results are ridiculously fake. You don’t feel guilty to be sitting in your current position, and you even try to reason with me. Do you really think that as long as no one exposes you, you can continue sitting in that position?”

“Since Mr. Xu has decided that my achievements are fake, no matter how much I explain, it’ll just be a deception in your old heart. In this case, how about another exam in front of all the students?”

“Luo Qing, bring a part of the exam questions to him.” Xu Wangya turned to the student behind him before looking back at Meng Yang to say, “Since you’ve asked for it, I’ll let you understand yourself and your reality. I’ll let Junchen take the exam with you so you can understand the difference between you two.”

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Red Yak has something to say: I’m very sad that I can’t like Xu Wangya; he would have made a great tsundere teacher. 😞

Translator Notes: Xu Wangya is so petty…