My College Teacher is My Children's Mom-Chapter 654 Xiaobao’s Weibo

Lin Feng said with a smile, "It’s normal for kids to not use the most accurate words sometimes."

"What she meant to say was that her mom is understanding and empathetic; she just didn’t know how to write it."

The corner of Zhang Yuxi’s mouth twitched. "Honey, I saw you enjoying that laugh just now."

Lin Feng quickly composed himself. "No, not at all!"

Zhang Yuxi chuckled dismissively and went to start her skincare routine. "Fine, I’ll let her off the hook this time."

What else could I do? Bicker with my own daughter over every little thing?

Heh, you think that’s the end of it? How naïve!

That night’s homework was to correct their test papers. Xiao Bao took out her Chinese exam, on which she had scored a ninety, getting only two questions wrong.

"Let me see that. I want to see what you got wrong," Er Bao said, resting her chin in her hands. Then, she couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.

"Haha, ’My mom is so humane, she knows everything, she’s just not good at expressing herself.’"

"Hahaha, look at what Xiao Bao wrote!"

"Oh my god, Xiao Bao, are you trying to kill me with laughter? ’My dad is like a hard-working little bee, buzzing around the house all day. He’s so busy.’"

"Hmm, this one sounds... technically correct, hahaha!"

Xiao Bao had no idea what was so funny. "Er Bao, what are you laughing at?"

Er Bao was laughing too hard to speak, simply snapping a photo and posting it to her social media feed.

"Words fail me. Here are two pictures so you can see just how terrifying my little sister is! Hahaha!"

Soon, a flood of replies streamed in. Lin Feng noticed it too and commented with a facepalm-laugh-cry emoji.

"Honey, take a look at this."

Zhang Yuxi leaned over and read the sentence.

Isn’t that describing a fly, not a bee?

Lin Feng held his forehead. "I don’t even know what to say anymore."

Xiao Bao’s picture-based compositions were always... baffling. This one was worth five points. The picture showed a morning scene where a mother duck was taking her ducklings for a swim, but one little duckling had fallen behind. That was the gist of it. The other children’s stories were all more or less the same, with little variation.

Only Xiao Bao’s story was a bit eccentric.

"This morning, Mother Duck said her ducklings were all dirty, so she wanted to take them to the river for a bath. But Xiao Qi didn’t like baths, and it loved sleeping in more than anything. It was unhappy the whole way, trailing behind and wanting to go back to sleep, but it didn’t want to be a dirty little duckling. So, it had to go to the river for a bath. Sigh, so exhausting!"

At such a young age, she had managed to capture the weary resignation of an adult through a little duckling. For a moment, Er Bao didn’t know what to say, so she just complimented Xiao Bao on her great writing. Xiao Bao was greatly encouraged and giggled with delight.

Er Bao’s social media was very active, while Xiao Bao’s was mostly managed by her and Lin Feng. They posted selfies, behind-the-scenes snippets, homework, and all sorts of other content. It was unlike some child stars who only posted heavily edited selfies, competition photos, and beautiful scenic pictures. In short, Xiao Bao’s online presence had a very different style.

And now, Er Bao had uploaded the pictures, including the bits about "mom is so humane" and "dad buzzes around..."

"Hahaha, another joyful day on social media!"

"Why is it that every time I see Xiao Bao’s posts, I can’t help but laugh?"

"Mom: ’So humane,’ is it? Just wait and see how I deal with you!"

"It’s not just bees that buzz; mosquitoes and flies do, too..."

"That description is priceless! For a second, I couldn’t even figure out what was wrong with it!"

"But hard-working little bees *do* buzz. What’s the problem?"

"It’s over! Now everyone knows Xiao Bao is an underachiever! Er Bao, you better hide this, maintaining her image is the most important thing!"

"’So humane’... uh, yeah, that... hahaha..."

"It’s normal for kids to write things like this. Last time my little brother had to write about an animal, he chose to write about flies!!!"

"You can always find something fun on Xiao Bao’s feed, and today is no exception!"

"Mom’s gonna get her for that!" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Everyone was aware of Xiao Bao’s academic performance. Unlike her academically brilliant older siblings, she was a bona fide underachiever. This was now common knowledge.

「A week later, the final exams began.」

After that, it was winter break. Nobody had high expectations for Xiao Bao’s academic performance; as long as she answered the questions carefully and wasn’t careless, it would be fine.

The Chinese language exam was in the morning, followed by a temporary break in the afternoon to wait for the results.

The Chinese and math teachers both liked to stand beside Xiao Bao’s desk while invigilating. Even Xiao Bao, who was used to the limelight and high-pressure situations, couldn’t help but feel nervous.

"Teacher, could you... could you not stand here? I... I’m nervous..."

The Chinese teacher smiled faintly. "Alright."

The math teacher frowned slightly and reminded her, "Check your work carefully!"

Xiao Bao took the hint. She hurriedly checked her answers and found several mistakes.

After the exam ended, there were no classes in the afternoon.

「Two days later, the test papers were handed out.」

The rule was simple: the higher the score, the less winter break homework you got. Conversely, the worse your score, the more homework you had. Since first grade, the four Bao siblings had mostly scored full marks, so they barely had any homework.

Two days later, the test papers were handed out. Xiao Bao scored a ninety-four in Chinese and a ninety-two in Math.

A perfect score of one hundred in Chinese meant no homework. Ninety-nine to ninety-five points was one tier of assignments, and ninety-four to ninety was another. Most of the students scored above ninety-five, with only a few scoring just above ninety. Only one or two students scored below ninety.

Therefore, Xiao Bao’s Chinese homework for the winter break was substantial. She had to write one row for each Pinyin character and one row for each new vocabulary word. She also had to copy out one of the texts they had memorized and write three essays on any topic. On top of all that, there was still the Chinese winter break workbook to complete.

Xiao Bao’s face fell. She was not happy.

In math, most students scored a perfect one hundred, and the rest were above ninety-five. Only a few scored below ninety-five. As for homework, in addition to the winter break workbook, there were also two exercise books and a word problem workbook.

Xiao Bao was worried, Xiao Bao was miserable, and Xiao Bao wanted to cry her eyes out. And so, she left school with her head drooping.

"Don’t be unhappy, Xiao Bao. Here, I got you this. It’s super delicious."

Xiao Bao’s eyes suddenly sparkled. "Really? Thank you!"

With a tasty treat in hand, Xiao Bao forgot her sadness and skipped happily out of the school gate. Seeing her so happy, Lin Feng assumed she must have done well on her exams.

In the car, after she had finished her snack, Xiao Bao glanced at the heavy schoolbag beside her.

Oh. Right. I didn’t do well on my tests.

Lin Feng glanced in the rearview mirror. Hm? Why the pout?

"What’s wrong?"

"I did badly on my exams, so now I have a ton of winter homework!"

Seeing Xiao Bao propping up her chin like a little adult, Lin Feng was momentarily at a loss for words. On the way home, he had a long talk with her. The gist of it was that academic performance didn’t define a person and that being a well-rounded individual was what truly mattered. Even if she did poorly on a test, in his eyes, Xiao Bao was still an outstanding child.

When they got home, Lin Feng told Xiao Bao to get started on her homework while he cooked dinner. When Zhang Yuxi and Er Bao got home, neither of them asked about her scores.

At the dinner table, Xiao Bao brought up her poor performance herself, her voice full of dejection.

"Scores don’t mean anything, so don’t be sad," Er Bao said with a smile. "We just have to study hard and be diligent. If you don’t understand something, you can always ask your teachers, or you can ask us!"

"Your sister is right," Zhang Yuxi said, a rare moment of gentleness in her voice. "Don’t put so much importance on your grades. They aren’t the be-all and end-all."

Hearing these words, the weight in Xiao Bao’s heart lifted.

...