Chapter 16: Her Teachers’ Day and Her Heartfelt Intentions
In the days following that conversation, Long Ting changed a lot. She no longer shouted or slammed the blackboard to emphasize a point. Worn down by the weight of public criticism, she was like wilted wheat, like a collapsed tall building, mechanically repeating the cycle of teaching and ending class each day.
For some reason, Ruan Xi didn’t like seeing her this way.
“I heard the school is transferring her to the Xiangjiang Campus next semester,” Xu Hao said in class.
Xu Hao was the boy who sat in front of Ruan Xi. His mother was a Chinese teacher at the school, so his information was generally reliable. He often told his classmates about major events half a month in advance.
The Xiangjiang Campus was a school jointly run by No. 1 High and another school. It carried the name of No. 1 High, but its teaching staff was far inferior to the main campus.
In other words, it was a demotion.
That girl from Class 9… was incredible. Ruan Xi had no idea what she had said to make the principal give Long Ting such a severe punishment.
Carrying a lunch box, Ruan Xi quietly knocked on the office door.
“Come in.”
She pushed the door open. In the vast office, Teacher Tong was the only one there.
“Teacher Tong, your lunch.” The young girl held the lunch box steady. “I didn’t know if you like eggplant, so I had the cafeteria lady put it all in one section.”
“Ah, thank you,” Tong Yao said with a smile as she took it. “You don’t have to go to such trouble next time. I’m not a picky eater.”
She had asked the young girl to bring her lunch from the cafeteria. Ruan Xi had taken her ID card and felt uneasy about taking advantage of it, so she was always looking for ways to do things for her. Thinking it would put her at ease, Tong Yao had let her.
“Have you eaten your fill?” she asked.
“Mhm,” Ruan Xi stood obediently by her side. “Is the teacher still busy?”
“Not really, just finding things to do.” Tong Yao tapped on the keyboard, continuing to perfect her courseware. “If I make the slides better, it’ll be easier for you all to learn.”
Hearing this, Ruan Xi gently pressed her lips together.
Teacher Tong… is the kind of person who does everything to the best of her ability. This realization, however, made her feel even more distant from her.
“Alright, you can head back to the dorm now.” Tong Yao took a moment from her work to remind the young girl. “Be careful, or the dorm manager won’t let you in if you’re late.”
Ruan Xi was taken aback. “Then, the food…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll eat in a bit.” Tong Yao gave her a reassuring smile.
Ruan Xi was speechless. What reason did she have to stay here any longer?
She turned around dejectedly, like someone walking from the shore into the sea, the sense of loss rising higher and higher at her feet, threatening to submerge her completely.
“Ruan Ruan.”
The crisp sound of the keyboard came to an abrupt halt.
“Is something on your mind?”
The voice that replaced it was as gentle as water.
The girl’s pupils trembled slightly. She looked back, and in those clear eyes, her own anxiety and confusion were like a feather resting in the palm of that person’s hand, floating on the shimmering surface of a pond, gently soothed.
“…Mhm,” she heard herself say.
“Teacher Tong… how did you know?”
How did she know something was on my mind?
“You, child,” Tong Yao said with a half-smile. “You wear your heart on your sleeve. How slow would I have to be not to notice?”
As if her little thoughts had been exposed, Ruan Xi’s face grew hot. Was she being too obvious in front of Teacher Tong? In Teacher Tong’s eyes, did she seem particularly childish and deliberate?
—Ruan Xi, you’re so stupid.
The girl felt a pang of shame.
“Go on, what’s wrong?” Tong Yao found it amusing and pointed to the chair beside her. “Don’t just stand there. Have a seat.”
Ruan Xi quickly sat down, her slender index fingers fidgeting in her lap.
“Teacher Tong… is Teacher Long leaving next semester?”
Tong Yao was slightly surprised. “You know? Hmm… from what I’ve heard, yes, she is. What’s the matter?”
“Is it because… of the report on the questionnaire?” the young girl asked softly.
Tong Yao looked at her for a moment before giving an affirmative answer.
“That is indeed the main reason. The school takes this matter very seriously. Although we don’t know who the reporter was, we know it came from Class 9.”
With that, she added reassuringly, “Don’t worry, the teachers won’t hold it against any of you.”
But that wasn’t what Ruan Xi was thinking about.
What she was thinking was…
“Teacher Tong, you know I came here from Xiangnan, right?”
The young girl’s voice was distant.
She lowered her head, lost in memory, while Tong Yao listened quietly.
“The best middle school in our area is a private one. I used to go there.
“In the second year, a very kind biology teacher came. He was in charge of teaching us, but we were very mischievous.
“Teacher Tong, did you know that the poorer a place is, the more reluctant the children are to study?
“Our class was a poor-performing one. The biology teacher would always beg us, hoping we would do a little better on our exams, because if we kept doing poorly, the school would assign him to a campus far away. He had a daughter to take care of, and if his workplace was too far, he might not even have time to look after her.
“But when he begged us, the kids who didn’t study became even less afraid of him. Our class’s biology scores were always terrible. Later, he was transferred.”
Perhaps Teacher Long was the same? Perhaps she had parents to care for and was now worried about her impending transfer. She didn’t feel that this was her fault, but… she felt very sad.
The misfortune of someone she disliked brought her no joy at all. A few days ago, when she was being scolded, she had hated Long Ting to death, but now she was worried for her. In the end, it was because she had moved on, because of… Teacher Tong.
“Ruan Ruan.” Tong Yao took one of the young girl’s hands and said seriously, “You’re still young. You don’t need to think about things like this. You just need to know that adults have to be responsible for their own actions. That’s enough.”
She could see that Ruan Xi was a child with a strong sense of empathy. Many children were like that—they seemed mischievous, but their hearts were incredibly soft. If you told them they were being noisy, they would fall silent.
“Adults have their own ways of solving things, so you all just need to focus on your studies,” Tong Yao said gently. She let go of Ruan Xi’s hand, rummaged through a drawer, and took out a piece of chocolate. “Don’t overthink it. Here, this is for you. It’s delicious. Go back and get some rest.”
Chocolate again.
Ruan Xi took the cool piece of chocolate, feeling like she was being coaxed like a child again.
But it was very reassuring.
“How come Teacher Tong always has chocolate?” she asked in a low voice.
“It’s high in calories. I sometimes eat a piece in the morning,” Tong Yao said with a smile. The school breakfast was early, and it was easy to get hungry before lunch, so she always kept chocolate on hand.
She glanced at the time and realized it was already past the noon curfew for the dorms. She looked at the young girl and chided, “I told you not to dawdle. See, now you can’t get back into your dorm.”
Students who couldn’t get into their dorms had to rest in the classroom. In fact, many students chose not to return to their dorms in order to study, spending the entire lunch break on homework.
“It’s okay, I can sleep in the classroom,” Ruan Xi said quickly, afraid of causing more trouble.
Tong Yao, who had been about to offer to let the girl sleep in the air-conditioned office, closed her mouth. On second thought, sleeping in the office was too conspicuous. There was nothing wrong with staying in the classroom with her classmates.
“Alright, go on then,” she said.
The young girl left. Tong Yao paused for a moment, then reached out and opened the lunch box. Sure enough, the eggplant had been carefully sectioned off, which made her sigh in relief—she actually hated eggplant, finding both its texture and taste strange. Thankfully, it was all piled together, so she wouldn’t have to pick it out piece by piece while eating.
After finishing her meal, she worked for a while longer. When she was done, she stretched, locked the office door, and prepared to head back to her own dorm.
On her way out, she took the path that passed by Class 7.
In the quiet afternoon, she could see the young girl’s cute sleeping face through the back window.
She paused for a moment, smiled knowingly, and then left.
**
“Class begin.”
“Stand up!” Ji Chen roared.
“Happy Teachers’ Day, Teacher!”
Tong Yao, standing at the podium, was a bit stunned.
Her first class of the day was with Class 7, and she had completely forgotten that today was Teachers’ Day.
“Thank you, everyone.”
Teachers are the gardeners of the nation?
Flowers are nowhere near as thoughtful as cute students—at least, that’s what this teacher thought today.
Today was Saturday. Since the make-up classes had been temporarily canceled, it had been changed to a “group self-study” session. There were no lessons; the teacher just had to sit at the podium.
However, Tong Yao couldn’t resist writing a few problems on the blackboard.
“If you’re interested, give these a try. I based them on the college entrance exam format, so they’re quite comprehensive. It’s okay if you can’t solve them.”
The first to finish were always Ji Chen and Yin Jiali.
They brought up their answers, and as expected, they had done very well.
Then came Ruan Xi.
In front of the whole class, the young girl seemed nervous and uneasy, but she still presented her scratch paper.
“Hmm… the first two parts are correct. The third part… huh? The enumeration method?”
The third part asked for the coordinates of a point. The young girl had drawn a diagram and listed many points, brute-forcing the answer and then verifying that it worked.
“You won’t get full marks for this, you know,” she couldn’t help but tease.
Ruan Xi blushed and said embarrassedly, “I don’t know the standard method…”
“It’s not that hard, actually. Here, give me your pen.”
She wrote out the solution step-by-step on the scratch paper.
Ruan Xi watched in silence. Teacher Tong had beautiful semi-cursive handwriting. They say one’s handwriting reflects one’s personality, and indeed, Teacher Tong herself was just as beautiful.
The two of them at the front of the class were a pleasant sight.
At his seat, Xu Hao turned around and tapped on Jiang Yiming’s desk.
“Do you know what yuri is?”
Jiang Yiming looked up, then glanced toward the front. “Isn’t it just two girls together?”
Xu Hao gestured with his eyes, nudging his chin toward the podium.
“You mean Ruan Xi and Tong…” Jiang Yiming was shocked. “Are you kidding me?”
“Just kidding around.”
“Hmm, now that I think about it, it’s actually kind of hot.”
“Jiang Yiming, Xu Hao, what are you two talking about?” Tong Yao’s voice came from the podium, and the two boys instantly fell silent.
Being called out by Teacher Tong didn’t feel like a loss; in fact, it felt like a small win.
Class was over.
When Tong Yao returned to the office, she noticed her desk was piled high with greeting cards.
A quick count… there were at least twenty of them.
Normally, only the class officers would give a card on behalf of the class as a token gesture, right? That seemed to be the case for the other teachers.
“Aiya, these kids. They could have used the class funds to buy anything else, but they bought flowers. Flowers are such a waste; they’ll wither in a few days,” Li Hanqiang said as he walked in holding a bouquet of carnations. He was complaining, but his face was full of joy, much like an elderly parent who didn’t want their children to spend money on them.
Next to him, Bright Summit Teacher Lu said grumpily:
“I got a few bottles of hair conditioner. They must be making fun of me.”
But the corners of your mouth were turned up pretty high when you were reading your card.
Tong Yao sat down and began reading the cards one by one. There were more from Class 4 than Class 7, but that was normal, since more students from Class 4 were being tutored by her.
“Dear Teacher Tong,
Happy Teachers’ Day!
by Ruan Xi”
The little girl’s card is so uninspired.
Tong Yao chuckled. She also noticed a drawing of a shamrock on the card. It was actually quite well-drawn, very lifelike.
Tonight, there was still the dinner party with the students from Class 4.
She packed up early, ready to leave. Just before she left, Long Ting, whom she hadn’t seen all day, pushed open the door. Empty-handed, she walked past in silence and sat down at her desk, where a single, lonely greeting card lay.
It was from the chemistry representative of Class 7. Class 9 hadn’t even sent one.
On Tong Yao’s desk, diagonally opposite hers, cards and small gifts were piled into a small mountain. In an office filled with the fragrance of carnations, not a single flower was fragrant for her.
Tong Yao was in no mood to speculate on Long Ting’s thoughts.
But she knew that, probably, no teacher wanted to be disliked by their students, right?
**
“Happy Teachers’ Day, Sister Yao Yao! Cheers!”
At the party, everyone toasted with juice.
“Let’s play a game!” Xu Yin suggested. “Has anyone played ‘I Love You’ and ‘Shameless’?”
“Hey, I have!”
“What’s that? What are the rules?”
The game was simple. You could only say “I love you” to the person on your left and “Shameless” to the person on your right, going around in a circle. Someone was bound to make a mistake, and the person who messed up—
Truth or Dare.
Tong Yao didn’t want to spoil the students’ fun. Besides, she was surrounded by girls, so it wouldn’t be too awkward.
And so, cries of “I love you” and “Shameless” filled the private room.
It was Xu Yin’s turn, who was on her right.
Xu Yin looked at her, her face slightly red, and said softly:
“I love you.”
Tong Yao smiled and replied:
“Shameless.”
“I love you.”
“Shameless.”
“I love you.” This kid was really persistent.
By now, the table had erupted in cheers.
Tong Yao had no choice but to turn to the girl on her left.
“I love you.”
That girl’s face instantly turned bright red.
“…Shameless,” the girl said with her head down.
What?!
Tong Yao pressed a hand to her forehead. Isn’t this an infinite loop?
She turned helplessly back to Xu Yin.
“Shameless.”
Xu Yin replied stubbornly, “I love you.”
“Ooh! A love triangle!” the boys hooted.
“Record it, record it!”
After more than ten back-and-forths, Tong Yao finally slipped up.
“Shame… uh, no, I love you.”
“Wrong, wrong!”
“No take-backs!”
The students cheered in unison.
Tong Yao actually felt a sense of relief.
“Truth.”
What kind of outrageous question could these kids possibly ask me?
Xu Yin perked up and asked the question she had prepared long ago:
“Does Teacher Tong still have her first kiss?”
The party instantly fell silent.
“Yes,” Tong Yao rubbed her temples. “I haven’t even… never mind, I won’t say it.”
“Haven’t even what?”
“I’m not telling you.”
That one sentence completely whetted the students’ appetites, especially Xu Yin’s. Tong Yao, on the other hand, felt a sense of successful revenge.
The dinner party ended. The students went home, and Tong Yao returned to her dorm. Walking on the school path, she suddenly stopped. Under the dim yellow streetlights, at the main entrance of the dormitory, a familiar figure was standing there. Hearing her footsteps, the shadow turned around, and Tong Yao almost didn’t recognize her.
It was Ruan Xi, wearing a dress.
The young girl had her hands behind her back. When she saw her, her joy was palpable.
“Teacher Tong!”
Tong Yao walked over and tilted her head. “Why are you waiting here? What if I had gone home instead of back to the dorm?”
“Huh?” The young girl looked dazed. “I didn’t think that far…”
“What’s up? Did you need me for something?”
“Mhm!”
As Ruan Xi spoke, she brought her hands out from behind her back, holding a book and a gift box, her face flushed.
“A… a Teachers’ Day gift for Teacher Tong.”
Tong Yao’s mouth fell open in surprise.
“Thank you.” She gently took them. She didn’t know what was in the gift box, but she recognized the book. It was the summer math homework.
She shook her head and smiled. “You still remembered? I had forgotten all about it myself.”
“Mhm…” Ruan Xi lowered her head. “There was too much summer homework, I couldn’t finish it in a week, so I’m only handing it in to you today…”
“And this?” Tong Yao weighed the gift box and smiled softly. “Can you tell me what it is?”
“This is…” the young girl said in a small voice, “a Little Bee.”
“A Little Bee? Oh, a voice amplifier, right?”
“Mhm! I saw that many teachers have one, but Teacher Tong doesn’t, so…”
It was a very thoughtful gift.
Tong Yao looked at the heart-warming little cutie in front of her, reached out, and gently tapped her on the forehead.
“Thank you.”
