Chapter 97: I Belong to the You of a Year From Now
After a few teachers retired or were promoted, No. 1 High hired a new group of teachers. They came in with a bang, all graduates from famous universities, and a few were even master’s degree holders. This put a lot of pressure on the old teachers, who were afraid that their chances of teaching good classes or graduating classes would decrease, and also afraid that their quotas for promotion would be snatched away by the young people. If you don’t want to be left behind by the new wave, you have to swim desperately forward.
In Class 7, a new English teacher came today to teach a review class. The back of the classroom was filled with teachers who were grading. Labor Reform had given a heads-up in advance, “You have to cooperate with the new teacher,” and everyone was happy to be at ease—a new teacher’s class, it would definitely be very easy, and the new teacher wouldn’t criticize people. As long as they didn’t make a sound, they could do whatever they wanted.
Then, the teacher came in.
It was a beautiful young female teacher. Everyone’s spirits were lifted. Although she wasn’t as beautiful as Teacher Tong, who doesn’t like beautiful people?
“Hello everyone, my name is Lou Huan.”
The female teacher smiled at them, and it was clear that it was not natural. She opened a PPT on the all-in-one machine. The first page of the PPT had her name, Lou Huan, and below it, a line of words, “Graduated from the University of Toronto.”
Everyone speculated that this teacher was probably quite rich. Her spoken English was indeed different from many English teachers, with a foreign flavor.
“The one at the back, sitting in the middle, is the new vice principal,” Xu Hao suddenly whispered to Ruan Xi in front.
Ruan Xi was taken aback for a moment. Is that the one who has a conflict with Teacher Tong?
Looking at the teacher on the stage, they both had the surname Lou. Could it be that she had gotten in through connections?
No, I can’t think like that… the previous vice principal was also surnamed Tong.
The young girl couldn’t help but turn back to look at the vice principal. It was this person… who made Teacher Tong unhappy.
Lou Yu at the back had a serious face, holding a pen and taking notes in a notebook.
Ruan Xi was absent-minded in class, staring at her desk in a daze. After who knows how long, she suddenly found that the classroom had become quiet.
Even the teacher’s voice was gone.
She looked up and found that the new teacher, who had been teaching quite well, had a flustered look on her face. Lou Huan was debugging the all-in-one machine on the stage, but no matter what she did, the PPT’s format was wrong, and the content’s layout became a mess. If this were a concert, it would be as if the accompanists were all in a mess, leaving the lonely lead singer in the center of the stage at a loss, as helpless as a lost child.
The students below either looked at each other or whispered among themselves. They had never thought that a public class would turn into a car crash scene.
Ruan Xi felt that this new teacher was about to cry.
Lou Huan tried to calm down, bit her lower lip, and said in English, “Classmates, there’s a little accident. Although it’s a bit messy, this PPT is still readable… let’s continue with the content from just now.”
The rest of the class became a complete mess.
The new teacher was clearly nervous, and who knows how many times she stumbled over her words. Every time she made a mistake, she became more nervous. In the end, she stumbled through until the bell for the end of class rang.
The class wasn’t even finished. Lou Huan quickly flipped through a few pages of the PPT. The format of the last page, “Thank you for watching,” was not messed up. She bowed, didn’t go to the leaders at the back, and hurried out, with a faint mist in her eyes.
No one in the classroom made a sound. After a long while, someone dared to stand up, their face full of lament and sigh. They truly felt that being a teacher was not that simple. It was a job as difficult as any other.
The judges at the back seemed to be in a heated discussion, their faces not looking good. Lou Yu’s face was grim. She tore off the entire page of her notes, threw it down, and left the judges alone.
Labor Reform called the boys to move the judges’ chairs back.
The students were filled with regret, all thinking that this was probably the last time they would see that teacher.
**
Tong Yao came back from the printing room, holding this week’s test papers in her arms. As she passed by the laboratory on the third floor, she suddenly heard a faint cry.
The laboratory floor was in the part of the school building that didn’t get any sunlight. There were usually no lights, and the entire hallway was dark. She paused, retracted her foot that was about to go upstairs, and took a look, finding a sobbing woman.
…It was really creepy.
Since the other party was also wearing an OL uniform, she judged that she was a teacher. She looked young, probably a teacher who had been cried to by a student.
She walked closer and asked in a small voice, “Are you okay?”
Lou Huan choked, looked up, and saw the tissue in front of her.
“Are you a first-year teacher? I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” Tong Yao held the test papers with one hand and asked with a smile.
“Thank you…” Lou Huan said softly. “I’m here for a trial lecture.”
“A new teacher? Welcome,” Tong Yao lifted her thigh to push up the test papers that were about to fall. “Did you encounter any difficulties?”
—She’s so beautiful.
Lou Huan thought in a daze. She wiped her tears and said, “It’s okay, it’s my own problem.”
“I see…” Tong Yao thought. “It’s okay. If you didn’t perform well this time, there’s always a next time. No. 1 High will give new teachers two chances. What do you teach?”
Lou Huan said in a small voice, “English.”
“English? No wonder,” Tong Yao suddenly remembered Lu Bingjie’s words. “English teachers are all quite good-looking, and fashionable.”
“Not at all,” Lou Huan bit her lip. “I think… you’re better looking.”
“No, no, you’re better looking.”
“You’re better looking.”
“Alright, I’m better looking,” Tong Yao held out one hand and smiled.
“Pfft,” Lou Huan also laughed. Her accent had a hint of a Hong Kong and Taiwan lilt. “What do you teach?”
“Math, for the second years.”
“That’s amazing.” Lou Huan was not good at math, so she had a special reverence for it. “You… how long have you been in the profession?”
“This…” Speaking of her teaching experience, Tong Yao was a little embarrassed. She had been acting like an old senior, but who knew she was actually a newbie?
She said honestly, “…Half a year.”
Lou Huan’s eyes widened. “Then-then how old are you? I-I’m 22 this year…”
Tong Yao cherished her rare opportunity to show off. She coughed and said reservedly, “Almost nineteen.”
Sure enough, the other party’s expression was full of disbelief.
“Are you a child prodigy?” Lou Huan asked.
Hearing this title, Tong Yao was briefly silent.
In high school, because her grades were good, some people called her Tong Shen, and some called her Shen Tong in reverse. Anyway, they could call her whatever they wanted. But in university, this nickname was not so friendly.
“I made a PPT, but when I opened it in the classroom, the format was messed up,” Lou Huan said with disappointment.
“Maybe it’s a version problem? Or did you make it with Keynote and didn’t convert the format? Our school uses an older version,” Tong Yao guessed.
Lou Huan wiped her tears, lost in thought.
“You’re right.”
“It’s good that you’ve found the reason,” Tong Yao held the test papers and said. “I have something to do, so I’m going up first. You’re new here. If you don’t understand anything, you can ask me. My office is just upstairs.”
“Mhm,” Lou Huan nodded. “Okay.”
After the person had gone far, she suddenly realized that she hadn’t asked for her name.
Fortunately, she knew where her office was.
No one dislikes beautiful things.
You want to get close, you want to possess. It’s like a person whose data has run out has found wifi.
But some people are not wifi.
They are someone else’s hotspot.
**
“Teacher Tong!”
Ruan Xi was holding today’s collected homework, piled up as high as a small mountain, making people afraid it would collapse.
“Slow down, slow down,” Tong Yao cleared a space on the desk. “Be careful not to fall.”
“Hehe.” The young girl put down the heavy homework. Tong Yao noticed that she was carrying a bag and was puzzled. “Why are you carrying a bag?”
Ruan Xi turned her head. Seeing that Labor Reform was not there, she opened her schoolbag and took out a cup of milk tea.
“I brought it for Teacher Tong.”
The school did not allow students to bring milk tea and canned drinks.
Tong Yao was stunned. “Where did you buy it?”
“I asked a day student to help me bring it in,” the young girl said in a small voice. “Teacher Tong, I didn’t use your ID card.”
She hadn’t expected Ruan Ruan to still remember the matter of leaving school without permission. Tong Yao’s lips curved, and she pushed the milk tea back.
“You drink it. The teacher doesn’t need it.”
“I specially brought it for Teacher Tong,” the young girl was wronged. “I’m not drinking it.”
Tong Yao was helpless. She did quite like to drink milk tea, but it was a bit inappropriate for a student to treat her. She was familiar with the milk tea shop at the school gate. A cup like this would cost fifteen yuan. Among the students, only those with sufficient pocket money could drink it often.
But it was Ruan Ruan’s kind thought, after all.
“Then I’ll drink it,” she said. “Don’t spend money recklessly next time.”
“Mhm, mhm!”
She stuck in the straw and started to grade the homework. The bell for the evening self-study session rang, but Ruan Xi didn’t leave. She looked at the empty office. The other teachers had all gone to the evening self-study session. So she sat in a chair on the side and seriously watched Tong Yao grade the homework.
“Why aren’t you going back to the classroom?” Tong Yao didn’t even look up. “Have you finished your homework?”
“No,” the young girl said in a muffled voice. “I’ll do it later.”
“Why are you lingering?”
“Because I want to be with Teacher Tong,” Ruan Xi said boldly, since there was no one else.
Tong Yao looked up warily, and after confirming that there was no one, she let out a sigh of relief. She turned to the young girl and tapped her on the nose.
“You want me to be with you, right?”
The young girl, having been exposed, blushed and hummed in embarrassment.
“You can only stay for a little while,” Tong Yao smiled. “Otherwise, it will affect your studies.”
Ruan Xi didn’t speak, but her puffed-out cheeks showed that she was not willing.
Tong Yao sighed inwardly. It was right not to confirm their relationship with the young girl. After all, she was an immature child and couldn’t balance her feelings and her studies at all.
If her own self-control were a little weaker, the two of them would probably be having fun every night and forgetting about everything else.
Ruan Xi moved a little closer, rested her head on the desk, and looked at Tong Yao from the side. She wanted to get Teacher Tong’s attention, but she was afraid of disturbing and affecting the teacher’s work. Only when she saw Teacher Tong drinking the milk tea she had sent did she feel a trace of comfort and satisfaction in her heart.
“I shouldn’t have chosen you as the class representative,” Tong Yao suddenly said. “You come to find me every day after class under the pretext of work. It must have taken up a lot of your time, right?”
“Huh?” Ruan Xi was dazed.
“Your homework is not as good as before,” Tong Yao shook the workbook in her hand. The name on it was “Ruan Xi.”
Even the math homework, which she had treated most seriously, had become like this. One could imagine the other subjects.
Ruan Xi lowered her head, her voice barely audible.
“It was a bit rushed…”
“You’ve been fishing for a whole semester. Don’t dry the nets at this time,” Tong Yao said gently. “If you regress because of me, I’ll blame myself. But what’s more important is your own future. Have you forgotten what I said? I’ll wait for you. Before that, you should focus on your studies.”
“…Mhm.” Ruan Xi’s eyes were lowered. She knew that Teacher Tong was right, but as Teacher Tong had become a homeroom teacher, her sense of crisis had grown stronger. It was as if someone else had connected to the wifi, and her own internet speed had slowed down.
“How about this,” Tong Yao didn’t know where the impulse came from. “Let’s make a deal. You just be a normal class representative. You’re not allowed to come to me as soon as class is over. On the day of graduation, I’ll give you an hour… you can do whatever you want.”
As soon as the words were out, both of them were stunned.
Her heart skipped a beat—Tong Yao, do you know what you’re saying?
“…R-really?” The young girl’s face turned bright red. She thought of something, which made her ears also burn.
Tong Yao swallowed. She was just bluffing. Graduation was more than a year away… at that time, who would remember?
Could it be that Ruan Ruan has a little notebook?
But… if she really remembered…
“…Then will you do something excessive?” Tong Yao’s cheeks were slightly hot.
Ruan Xi stammered. If she said she would, Teacher Tong would definitely not agree, so she could only say she wouldn’t.
“N-no.”
“Then, it’s a deal.”
