Chapter 15 — Wind Village Robot Team

Teacher Nghia placed two calendars next to each other on the desk, turning them towards Khanh Dan so she could see clearly. One sheet was the robot team's practice schedule she had just submitted last week, filled with Tuesday afternoons, Thursdays, and Saturdays for the next six weeks. The other sheet is the second semester test schedule for the entire school, finalized by the academic department this morning.

"Look closely." He spoke, his voice no longer as harsh as the first meeting, but still carrying a clear seriousness. "The fourth and fifth weeks of your training schedule coincide exactly with the semester exam review week of grade 9. The official exam date is exactly four days from the robotics competition date."

Khanh Dan looked at the two calendars overlapping each other, feeling like a block of stone had just fallen into his stomach. She had carefully calculated the engineering schedule—how many weeks to perfect the sensor, how many weeks to test the gripper—but she had completely forgotten to cross-check with the school's semester exam schedule, a basic mistake for which she immediately blamed herself.

"I'm sorry teacher, I didn't check carefully." She spoke frankly, not trying to justify.

"I don't blame you for that." Teacher Nghia said, sitting down in his chair, his voice slowing down. "But do you understand how awkward this situation is? Nam and Gia Han are both 9th graders, in the most important period of the entire school year. If in the last two weeks before the competition, you still practice until late at night, I'm really worried that your semester exam scores will be seriously affected."

"I understand."

"I've been considering it." Teacher Nghia said, and Khanh Dan realized that this was not a conversation he had just thought of, but something he had been thinking about before calling her into the room. "I intend to request a complete pause in training for those two weeks, only to resume after the semester exams are over. That leaves you with exactly four days to prepare for the competition, little, but at least it won't affect your studies."

Khanh Dan felt a panic rising in his heart. The last four days to complete a robot with the color sensor still unfinished and the gripper still not completely stable — it was almost a death sentence for the team's chances of seriously competing. But she also understood that Mr. Nghia's worries were not unfounded, and opposing him right now would only make things more tense.

"Can you give me a day to think?" she asked. "I want to find another solution, not stopping completely, but still making sure students don't neglect their exam preparation."

Teacher Nghia looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "One day. But Ms. Dan, I'll be frank, if you don't find a more convincing solution than mine, I will keep the decision to suspend, no exceptions."

***

That night, Khanh Dan called the whole team to the warehouse earlier than usual, presented the situation directly, without hiding anything. All four children listened silently, the faces of Gia Han and Nam - the two directly affected - showed worried expressions.

"If we stop for two weeks, will we still be able to make it?" Phong asked, even though he already guessed the answer.

"Very difficult." Khanh Dan said honestly. "The grip is still not stable, the color distinction part still doesn't have a final solution. Four days is not enough to complete both."

"So we have to find another way to make Teacher Nghia feel secure and still let us practice." Gia Han said, her voice had regained its usual calmness, her mind working as quickly as when faced with a difficult problem. "Miss, how about I propose this: during those two weeks, we still practice, but change the way we practice - during the day we study seriously for the exam, in the evening we only practice for one hour instead of ninety minutes, and anyone whose test score is below average will automatically take that session off to make up for it."

"That's a good proposal." Khanh Dan nodded and quickly wrote in the notebook. "But I think Mr. Nghia will ask who supervises this, who makes sure you really study for the exam seriously during the remaining time."

"I can supervise." Gia Han said, without any hesitation. "I study all subjects well. I can tutor Nam and Phong at noon, helping them review for exams without wasting extra time in the evening."

Nam raised his eyebrows at her, half joking and half serious. "You tutor me? Aren't you afraid I'm too stupid to tutor you?"

"Afraid?" Gia Han replied calmly, making the whole group laugh and the tense atmosphere eased somewhat. "But it's better to try than to let your friend fail the exam because he was busy practicing robotics, and then Mr. Nghia banned the whole team."

Khanh Dan watched the group discuss and come up with solutions without her having to suggest much, a feeling of both relief and pride crept into her heart. This is exactly what she had hoped for when she started out — not just to teach them techniques, but also for them to learn how to organize themselves and take responsibility for their own choices.

"I will present this plan to Mr. Nghia." she said. "But I need you all to promise one thing: this is not an empty promise to convince the teacher, but you must do it honestly and seriously as said."

All four children nodded in unison.

***

The next day, when Khanh Dan presented the detailed plan — accompanied by a handwritten commitment signed by all four students, an idea proposed by Uyen Nhi herself to add weight to the promise — Mr. Nghia read and reread the paper for a long time, his eyes stopping at each student's scribbled signature.

"Gia Han tutors Nam and Phong?" He asked, a little surprised.

"Yes." Khanh Dan replied. "And she suggested it herself, it wasn't me who suggested it."

Teacher Nghia nodded slowly, put the paper on the table, and was silent for a long time before speaking. "Okay. I agree to try this plan. But I will check the test scores of all four students myself at the end of each week, not through you, not through the homeroom teacher. If there is any sign that this plan is not effective, I will immediately return to the original decision, without further discussion."

"I agree." Khanh Dan said, bowing his head in thanks.

He looked at her, then suddenly asked a question that was not directly related to the schedule. "Miss Dan, have you ever thought you're betting too much on these four children?"

Khanh Dan paused before the question, then answered, slowly but surely. "I think I'm betting exactly what you bet on yourself, teacher. No more, no less."

Teacher Nghia didn't say anything more, just nodded, signed the commitment, then pushed it across the table and returned it to her - a small piece of paper, but in Khanh Dan's hand at that moment, it was as heavy as a door that had just been opened once more, fragile but never closed.

***

The two weeks of exam preparation took place as promised. Every afternoon, under the shade of the almond tree next to the school yard, Gia Han spread out a small mat, sat with Nam and Phong to review Math formulas, sample passages for Literature, and how to present Chemistry lessons so as not to lose points unfairly because of missing steps. Nam initially showed no concern, scratching out a few calculations and complaining "it's too difficult to do", but Gia Han was not discouraged, she changed the way to explain each problem with an example related to mechanics - converting gear ratio into a ratio problem, calculating belt pulling force into a force problem in Physics - and realized that Nam learned much faster when the problem was related to something he was familiar with.

"So now I hate Math not because I'm stupid, but because no one teaches me this way." Nam spoke one afternoon, after correctly solving three straight ratio problems in a row, his voice full of surprise at himself.

"No one is stupid, it's just that everyone needs a different explanation." Gia Han replied, closing the notebook, unable to hide the satisfaction of a young teacher who had just found the right key for her student.

In the evening, as promised, the whole team only gathered for exactly one hour, no more than one minute, focusing on solving each small technical problem instead of testing the entire time-consuming process. Khanh Dan noticed that the work efficiency in that short hour was, strangely, much higher than in the previous ninety-minute sessions - perhaps because everyone knew clearly that time was limited so they were absolutely focused, with no side chat like before.

At the end of the first week, when Mr. Nghia himself went to the classroom to check the test scores of all four students, he received results that made even him raise his eyebrows in surprise: Nam's Math score increased significantly compared to the previous test, not because he suddenly became a good student, but enough to overcome his initial concern. He didn't say anything to Khanh Dan about it, just folded up the score sheet and put it in his desk drawer, but from that week on, he didn't ask any more questions about stopping practice.