Chapter 15: Her Forgiveness Was an Excuse for Cowardice
The shadow of the leadership inspection loomed over No. 1 High for two days.
Walking to the cafeteria, Ruan Xi was once stopped by a stranger and asked to recite the “Core Socialist Values.” The guards stood at the school gate, refusing entry to anyone not in uniform. The school also announced the cancellation of the fourth evening self-study session for the week, causing the students to grumble about not having enough study time. One by one, they burned the midnight oil in their dorms.
Ruan Xi later found out that the higher-ups were making a big move. Not only were they calling for a “reduction of student burden,” but they were also selecting the “Top Ten Middle Schools,” a title directly tied to the allocation of various resources. That was why the school was so tense.
Judging by the satisfied, beaming faces of the officials as they left, No. 1 High was probably in the clear.
“This Saturday’s make-up classes are canceled,” Li Hanqiang announced from the podium, his face grim.
“Yay!” The students below instantly cheered.
“What are you ‘yaying’ about! Are you happy you don’t have to study?” Li Hanqiang slapped the podium, his expression one of bitter disappointment. “This is a test of your self-discipline! You can choose not to study, but you’ll regret it when you’re unknowingly surpassed by others!”
The students below smacked their lips. Getting surpassed by others just because we don’t study for one weekend? Who are you kidding?
Most people failed to realize the importance of good study habits.
Of course, if most people adopted the mindset that “one day off won’t matter,” then the impact on the school’s overall ranking would indeed be minimal. When you don’t feel like working hard, seeing that others aren’t studying either gives you a thousand excuses to rest.
People are more afraid of suffering a loss than they are eager to make a gain.
But it was undeniable that when the majority rested, it was the perfect opportunity for the minority to overtake on the curve.
A few minutes before class, Tong Yao walked into the Class 7 classroom. She had come early to write some things on the blackboard to save time, but as soon as she picked up the chalk, she noticed the students below staring at her with bewildered expressions.
She dusted the chalk from her hands and couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”
A boy in the front row pointed to the class schedule. “Teacher Tong, isn’t the next class Bright Summit’s?”
Bright Summit?
Tong Yao subconsciously glanced at the schedule on the far right of the blackboard and saw that the next class was, in fact, Physics.
Which meant…
She had gone to the wrong classroom!
Tong Yao belatedly realized that she was supposed to be teaching math to Class 4 right now!
“…I’m so sorry, so sorry.” It was utterly mortifying. Tong Yao wanted to crawl into a hole. She rarely made such a foolish mistake. She quickly began erasing the notes she had written. “Everyone, please prepare for your physics class.”
The classroom erupted in laughter.
She flushed with embarrassment and hurried out of the room, coming face to face with Ruan Xi, who was holding a water cup. When Ruan Xi saw her, her voice was full of surprise.
“Teacher Tong?”
She saw me…
Tong Yao did her best to compose herself and changed the subject.
“You guys give your teachers nicknames? The physics teacher, Bright Summit?”
Remembering Physics Teacher Lu’s receding hairline, she had to admit the kids were quite creative with their nicknames.
Ruan Xi didn’t know what had just happened. Fearing that Tong Yao would think they were being disrespectful, she quickly explained, “Teacher Lu has a very good relationship with us… He doesn’t mind…”
Physics Teacher Lu was indeed a very nice old man.
But describing his royal-family-worthy hairline as “Bright Summit” was also quite fitting.
Tong Yao coughed, suppressing a laugh. In the office, the teachers would sometimes joke around with each other using harmless nicknames. Often, having a nickname was a sign of a teacher’s popularity with the students.
“What about the other teachers’ nicknames?” Forgetting her earlier embarrassment, she pulled the young girl aside, eager to probe for information.
“Huh? This…” Ruan Xi hesitated. If she told, would she be considered a traitor among the students? But the person asking was Teacher Tong… someone she could never, and would never want to, refuse—
A traitor it is, then!
“Teacher Li is very strict with us, so we call him ‘Labor Reform.’ Teacher Long is very fierce and isn’t married, so some people call her…” Ruan Xi glanced at Tong Yao’s face and said cautiously, “‘Iron Maiden.'”
“What about me?” Tong Yao blinked and asked with a smile. “What nickname did you give me?”
This was what she was most curious about.
Being looked at by those beautiful, gentle eyes… Ruan Xi was completely defenseless.
The young girl’s stammering confirmed the answer in Tong Yao’s mind.
“You gave me a nickname too, didn’t you?”
“Mhm…” Ruan Xi lowered her head, her voice as soft as a bee’s buzz.
“What is it?”
Tong Yao was very curious—
What kind of image do I have in my students’ hearts?
Ruan Xi’s face grew hot. Finally, the little figure in her heart jumped from the students’ side of the scale to the teacher’s. She whispered:
“…Princess.”
“Hm?”
Ruan Xi’s face turned even redder. “They all call you Princess… I don’t know who started it…”
That’s how nicknames were. Often, you didn’t even know their origin, but jumping on the bandwagon seemed to be human nature.
Seeing as the nickname was quite pleasant—Tong Yao smiled. She didn’t comment on it, instead waving her hand.
“Be good. Go to class.”
Ruan Xi subconsciously wanted to say something more, perhaps to make her stay, but in the end, she said nothing. She stood in the hallway holding her cup, feeling a little disappointed. When Teacher Tong had raised her hand… she thought she was going to tap her on the forehead like before.
But mostly, she still felt joy. Any response from Teacher Tong filled her with delight. This was the teacher she admired, yearned for, and respected. She loved Teacher Tong’s affection, just as a young sprout craves the rain. Without the sprout, the rain is still needed by other things, but without the rain, every day is an ordeal for the tender sprout.
**
During the long break for morning exercises.
Ruan Xi was buried in her homework. She was starting to try and use the breaks between classes to get most of her assignments done, like the top students did. For problems she couldn’t solve, she would ask Yin Jiali—one of the few people she knew well. As for her other friends, her roommate He Xueyu and her desk mate Jiang Yiming, their grades weren’t much better than hers.
Just then, Li Hanqiang appeared at the front door.
“Ruan Xi, Jiang Yiming, come out for a moment.”
His demeanor was exactly like that of a prison guard.
When a poor student like her was called out by the homeroom teacher, it was rarely for anything good. Ruan Xi walked forward timidly. Jiang Yiming followed behind. Seeing that Li Hanqiang was serious but didn’t seem angry, he relaxed slightly.
“Teacher Long needs to communicate with you about something in a bit. You two, just relax and resolve the matter properly.”
Communicate with Teacher Long?
Ruan Xi and Jiang Yiming looked at each other, wondering what the teachers were up to.
“Teacher Long might not be careful with her words, but harsh advice is good medicine. No teacher would ever want to harm a student,” Li Hanqiang said as he walked, leading them to an office door. “Alright, go on in.”
Ruan Xi looked up. This was the Grade Group Leader’s office. She had never been inside before and felt a little uneasy. Pushing the door open, she found that there were already quite a few people inside.
Several students, Grade Group Leader Ye Wei, Chemistry Teacher Long Ting, and…
Ruan Xi’s heart skipped a beat. She recognized the man sitting furthest inside. He was always present at the grade-level assemblies. It was Vice Principal Tong Jiansheng.
On the slightly messy desk, several questionnaires were spread out. The section where Ruan Xi remembered the question “Has this teacher engaged in verbal abuse, corporal punishment, etc.” was filled with writing.
—Long Ting had been reported by the students.
Ruan Xi came to this startling conclusion. The other students in the office seemed to be from Class 9, another class Long Ting was in charge of. That day, Long Ting had first lost her temper in Class 9 before venting her remaining anger on Class 7. Perhaps… these students had been hurt even more than she was.
Her gaze fell on one of the pretty girls. She had heard of this girl before. She was a “green tea,” disliked by many of the other girls and a frequent subject of dorm room gossip. It had gotten to the point where whenever she was spotted from afar in the cafeteria, someone would point and say, “You know that girl? She’s a total bitch.”
“Is everyone here?” Ye Wei said with a cheerful smile. “We have always valued communication between teachers and students. Many conflicts arise from a lack of communication, leading to many misunderstandings.”
As he spoke, he shot Long Ting a look.
Long Ting, sitting in her chair, looked up and forced a smile.
“Teacher Ye is right. I’ve thought about it carefully. It was my fault for losing my temper with you all that day. But I was just anxious. When I saw your chemistry grades, I got angry and didn’t realize I would hurt you. That was never my intention. All teachers want what’s best for their students. You must know that.”
Ye Wei nodded and picked Ruan Xi out from the group of students.
“Hey, this student here. Do you have anything you want to say to your teacher? Let’s take this opportunity to open our hearts and clear up all the misunderstandings.”
Ruan Xi froze. All eyes were on her, a situation she found most uncomfortable and awkward. She lowered her head, understanding what Ye Wei wanted. Her clenched fists trembled slightly.
“I… I understand the teacher. Actually… it was my fault too. I shouldn’t have talked back to the teacher…”
She bit her lip, feeling like she was sitting on pins and needles, unwilling to meet anyone’s gaze. Will they look down on me? Getting bullied and not even daring to speak up?
Was she really at fault?
Was it the naive me who was wrong, or the hypocritical adults?
Most students were “sensible.”
Children at this age were sensitive and fragile. They understood everything, yet only partially. They detested and rejected the unwritten rules of society, yet they were afraid of getting caught up in them, and even more afraid of retaliation from adults.
“What about this student?”
“…” Jiang Yiming turned his head away. “I think the same as her.”
The mischievous students from Class 9 also didn’t cause any trouble in front of the vice principal.
Until the last person.
“I understand the teacher…” the girl from Class 9 said softly, her eyes red-rimmed. “But Teacher Long’s words really hurt me. I didn’t know that as a teacher, she saw me that way.”
The expressions on Ye Wei’s and Long Ting’s faces changed. Just then, a tear rolled down the girl’s cheek. She was crying. She cried beautifully, not at all like the messy way Ruan Xi had cried while hugging Tong Yao. On the contrary, she cried with the perfect, heart-wrenching grace of an anime heroine. The way she bit her lower lip symbolized her restraint, and the angle at which she lowered her head was simply magical. No one would doubt her story.
Ruan Xi was stunned, even forgetting her own negative feelings from moments before. Ye Wei was at a loss for words. If a student had berated Long Ting, he could have said the student was being unreasonable. But this girl didn’t accuse the teacher much; she just started crying, making Long Ting seem like a heinous villain and putting him in a difficult position.
“The rest of the students may leave.”
The person who spoke was Vice Principal Tong Jiansheng.
Ruan Xi felt a wave of relief. Although she was curious about what would happen to that girl next, she didn’t have the courage to eavesdrop.
“She’s a real powerhouse,” Jiang Yiming remarked after they left the office. He turned to Ruan Xi. “How come you didn’t cry?”
Ruan Xi shot him a glare, ignoring his teasing.
As class was about to start, she saw the girl from Class 9 emerge from the office from a distance. Before leaving, she even waved to someone inside, showing no trace of sadness.
It seemed to have ended well.
Remembering her own compromise, Ruan Xi gripped her pen, unable to write a single word.
That day’s confrontation—she couldn’t tell if it was courage or foolishness.
That girl’s tears—she didn’t know if they were wisdom or lies.
But she wanted to solve her own problems, not just rely on Teacher Tong.
