Simon stood on the podium, loudly reading the self-criticism letter.
"Yesterday morning in the office, Su Xiangli and I disrespected the teacher's words, behaved improperly, and disrupted the normal office order... In summary, it was all my fault. I sincerely apologize here. I have deeply reflected on my actions and hope the teacher will forgive me."
The Class Teacher tsked, "You may go down."
Simon folded the self-criticism letter, put it in his pocket, and left the podium with his chest out and head held high. The Class Teacher scolded him, "Walk faster! What are you laughing at? Is it that funny?"
"No! I was wrong!" Simon stood up straight and replied loudly. Regardless, his attitude was very proper.
The students only found it amusing and snickered.
Simon and Su Xiangli's seats were separated. They could no longer be desk mates, which was a bit of a pity.
Simon's new desk mate was a girl named Mei Shenglin. She had an ordinary appearance, sallow skin, and dry hair, looking like she was malnourished. In fact, she was indeed malnourished; she loved snacks and disliked proper meals, lacking some essential nutrients, which made her look very listless. Su Xiangli's new desk mate, however, was Zhang Yingxuan. Actually, it was just that she and Mei Shenglin had swapped places.
Simon grinned at his new desk mate, and the little girl moved her seat away in terror.
"Am I that scary?" Simon made a funny face.
"You bully girls," she retorted softly.
"How can you casually accuse someone of wrongdoing! Can self-defense be called bullying?" Then followed a series of difficult and frightening words, such as "poking someone's soft spot hurts a lot" and "it's a pity not to have given a rap on the head." The air inside and outside the classroom was filled with cheer, and Simon was once again called out by the Class Teacher to stand as punishment.
From then on, Simon became the famous 'Campus Little Door God'... What a load of nonsense. This was unilaterally arranged by Su Xiangli for Simon and then recognized by the whole class. Even when he went to the office to hand in homework, he would be teased by several teachers.
With the end of the year approaching, and more importantly, the winter holiday, the little rascals were all joyful, but none of this had anything to do with Simon.
His science teacher earnestly told him that he was the student Teacher Shao thought most highly of in the entire school, so there was a Youth Science Experiment Competition recently. Would Xiao Lu consider it?
Simon, of course, had to consider it. He was idle anyway. Whether he could succeed was one thing; the process was what mattered. Being happy was the main goal.
This time, the experimental primary school sent out four 'generals.' Simon was the captain. One team member was a fifth-grade elder brother, the third was the talented beautiful girl Meng Qijun with the unpleasant voice, and the fourth was Su Xiangli, who was just an extra.
The fifth-grade elder brother was rustic, of course, referring to his dull appearance. His eyes protruded slightly, and his skin was tanned dark from who knows where. One might even believe he was a high school student, but he was indeed a primary school student. His surname was Yu, and his given name was Fei, earning him the nickname 'Kunpeng Bird.' The person who gave him this nickname was, predictably, Su Xiangli.
"Why do you call me Kunpeng Bird?"
"A fish that flies is a Peng bird, and you're dark, like a Kun. How nice it sounds, Kunpeng Bird, the mythical beast from Zhuangzi's 'Free and Easy Wandering.'"
"Oh, you know so much," Yu Fei pondered deeply.
Simon still liked chatting with Meng Qijun, which meant he would talk a lot of nonsense, and Meng Qijun would silently endure it.
Su Xiangli ran over and kicked Simon, "Don't bully girls!"
"Oh."
They were currently in the physical practical operation room of the experimental building. To be honest, the instruments here were not great, but they were certainly many grades better than what Simon had back in the day.
The science teacher brought five tablet computers from the office. They each got one, and these would be their tools for recording experiments and communication.
"This competition is organized by the city. The top three can even go to the provincial competition."
The group of four stood at attention and saluted, "Understood!"
The science teacher smiled. He was a dark, thin, strong middle-aged man named Shao Zhanqing. It was said that he used to work for the geological bureau and was now considered to be retired early, but his passion for scientific research was still brimming.
"This time, the content is scientific models, with no theme limit. Actually, there isn't much technical content, heh heh, but it's very difficult to make it outstanding."
Su Xiangli raised both hands high, "We will definitely make the most interesting model! Should we make a 'Lord' statue?"
Teacher Shao was a bit surprised, "You're religious too?"
Simon covered Su Xiangli's mouth, "Teacher, ignore her. Let's continue."
Shao Zhanqing pushed up his technical glasses. He was wearing old ones, probably a generation behind, incomparable to Simon's fourth uncle's pair, but still cool enough. "I personally am not religious, but I don't oppose religious beliefs."
Simon secretly laughed at how watertight he was, and of course, he echoed, "I also support freedom of religious belief."
Meng Qijun didn't speak, and Yu Fei hadn't reacted.
Teacher Shao clapped his hands, "Alright, as your guiding teacher, I can help you with some basic content, but the design plan and the details of the experimental operation must be done by yourselves. I can be responsible for the modeling."
Such a good deal? Simon felt that this science teacher was being too modest. What he was responsible for was far from basic content. In this day and age, with electronic blueprints, one could directly 3D print. This competition was essentially a modeling job. To put it plainly, Teacher Shao was personally getting involved.
Awesome, teacher.
"For the next half month, you all discuss what you want to make, then give me the plan and sketches. Divide the work yourselves, and use the tablets to communicate if anything comes up."
"Understood!" × 4
...
Yu Fei was very enthusiastic and proposed several ideas, from a Solar System model to a volcano model, and even water molecule structures—all rather... dull things.
"Who doesn't know what the Solar System looks like? Who doesn't know the internal structure of the sun? Volcanoes are even more boring, and water molecules... please spare us..."
Simon repeatedly rejected his ideas, severely dampening Yu Fei's morale. He angrily declared he wouldn't do it, went on strike, and told Simon to figure it out himself.
Su Xiangli was still pestering about making a 'Lord' model. After Simon gave her two raps on the head, she finally quieted down.
As for Meng Qijun, she really had an idea. She said she planned to make an asexual human model, half mechanical, half biological, to embody a sense of conflict and fusion.
This plan was adopted. Simon intended for the biological part to have a plant texture, with roots and stems intertwining to form half a human body, but the mechanical part was very difficult.
Since the goal was to express a sense of conflict, punk styles were naturally indispensable. Steampunk, cyberpunk, even atompunk, and dieselpunk were all quite suitable, but too much conflict could also lead to a fragmentation of the work's style.
How to control the balance was a considerably difficult topic.
Simon used his simple drawing skills to draft designs, but he always felt uncomfortable.
The left half was all steam pipes, and the right half was intertwined vines, with the line of the brow as the dividing line. The effect produced was very poor.
Designing the left side as stacked buildings with intersecting streets, and then arranging a few small figures moving around, while the right side had twisted trees with some flowers blooming, improved the effect. At least both sides had a sense of vitality, but the sense of fragmentation was still too strong.
Perhaps design the head separately to create a unifying effect?
But what kind of head?
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