Chapter 5: From Beginning to End, Tong Yao Was Gentle
It took three days, but Tong Yao could now barely manage to call out each student’s name face-to-face.
Except for a few with particularly low presence.
Since high school students started school early, it was late August, the time of Chushu (Limit of Heat). The sun shone brightly, scorching like fire. After finishing the first period in the morning, Tong Yao holed up in the office, unwilling to go out. Even when WeChat messages popped up occasionally, she didn’t really want to check them.
She hadn’t even finished grading the homework yet.
Just as she was considering whether to ask the class representative to help her grade, she quickly dismissed such an irresponsible thought. Although… the class representative, that little girl named Yin Jiali, seemed quite willing to help her grade homework.
At that moment, the phone on her desk vibrated.
A WeChat message from [Second Year Grade Group].
[Lu Bingjie]: I have an urgent matter and need to go home this morning. Is there any teacher from Class 7 who can swap the fourth period music class with me? Sorry for the trouble!
Really… I saw it with just one glance…
Tong Yao remained expressionless. She didn’t even know who Lu Bingjie was. Oh, right, the music teacher.
She used to think being a music teacher was quite relaxing. Now she knew that there was only one music teacher for all 15 classes in the grade. With three classes a day plus a pile of miscellaneous tasks, no one had it easier than anyone else.
As for swapping classes… Tong Yao didn’t want to move right now.
In the group chat, the music teacher didn’t receive a reply and seemed to have given up.
The fate of Class 7’s fourth period would likely be a change to self-study. Perhaps the physics teacher, Mr. Lu, or the chemistry teacher, Ms. Long, would go over and hand out a test paper to whet their appetites.
Tong Yao herself wasn’t willing to play the villain.
She lowered her head and continued grading homework, fretting over how a few students’ answers were exactly the same as the reference key. Just then, there was a knock on the office door, and it was pushed open.
“Sorry to disturb you,” a young female teacher stood at the door, heading straight for Li Hanqiang near the entrance. “Teacher Li, could your Chinese class tomorrow…”
“No can do, Teacher Lu,” Li Hanqiang wiped sweat from his forehead. “I have something to do tomorrow morning too. Ask Little Tong. Teacher Tong, look, sitting right there, ha.”
After speaking, he gave Tong Yao an apologetic look.
Tong Yao watched helplessly as the pretty woman walked toward her.
“Teacher Lu Bingjie… right?” she asked hesitantly.
“That’s me!” Lu Bingjie breathed a sigh of relief. “You must be Little Teacher Tong? You’re so pretty.”
Why add “Little” in front—Tong Yao didn’t want to complain. She nodded, knowing what request was coming next.
“About the fourth period this morning…”
“Leave it to me.” Tong Yao suppressed her reluctance, trying to appear magnanimous. Moving tomorrow’s class to today wasn’t a loss; she could relax a bit tomorrow. “My math class is the second period tomorrow. Please remember the time, Teacher Lu.”
“Okay, okay! You’re a lifesaver!” Lu Bingjie beamed. “Then, Little Teacher Tong, I’ll be going now.”
Tong Yao waved goodbye to her.
Time to see those kids again.
**
**
After the third period ended, the teacher for Class 7 seemed to have run overtime.
Afraid the students would run off to the music room, Tong Yao simply waited at the back door. Soon, there was a commotion inside, and the back door opened. Tong Yao stepped forward, intending to stop the first student rushing out, but—
She collided with someone full-on.
“Ah!” A girl cried out in surprise. “Teacher Tong, are you okay?”
Tong Yao rubbed her shoulder and glanced at the culprit who had bumped into her. It was Ruan Xi. Her face looked gloomy but quickly adjusted.
“I’m fine.”
Ruan Xi looked crestfallen. “I’m sorry, Teacher Tong… I was in too much of a hurry…”
And, and… so soft…
The young girl felt shy inside.
“It’s okay, really,” Tong Yao smiled. “Go up to the podium and tell them for me that the next music class is swapped with tomorrow’s math class.”
“Huh?”
Ruan Xi was stunned.
It wasn’t that she didn’t understand the teacher’s words, but…
Teacher Tong asking her to pass on a message in front of so many people felt super awkward.
She couldn’t do it. She absolutely couldn’t do it.
She was at the bottom of the social ladder in class, with the worst grades, and had even been publicly criticized. For her to stand on the podium and loudly convey the teacher’s words… it would be like a joke.
“Teacher…” Ruan Xi hung her head and said listlessly, “I’ll let Ji Chen say it…”
She turned to leave but was stopped by a soft voice. Tong Yao looked at her with an understanding expression and said:
“I’ll say it myself.”
Ruan Xi froze in place.
Tong Yao walked up to the podium and called out to the few students trying to run out:
“Don’t rush, don’t rush. The next music class is changed to math.”
“Huh??”
Wails erupted in the classroom.
Although Teacher Tong was alluring and pleasing to the eye, math was simply too torturous.
“What ‘huh’,” Tong Yao laughed. “It’s not like I’m stealing your music class. Teacher Lu has something to do, so I’ll return the math class to you tomorrow.”
“Teacher Tong, you should teach the music class!” A boy took the opportunity to cause trouble, triggering a chorus of agreement.
Tong Yao didn’t take it seriously. She knew nothing about music theory. Even if she taught the music class, would Lu Bingjie teach math tomorrow?
A forty-minute class passed quickly. Chalk left a wall of beautiful writing on the blackboard. Tong Yao blew on her fingers and, on a whim, said:
“Based on the technique I just explained, I’ll assign a problem. Students who listened carefully can solve it in one minute. Textbook page 67, question 10. Hmm… I’ll ask a student to do it on the spot.”
The whole class instantly tensed up. Wherever her gaze swept, students who usually stared at the beautiful teacher now looked timid.
There were exceptions, like Ji Chen and Yin Jiali, who looked at her with full confidence, their eyes saying, I know it, pick me.
Tong Yao took two steps and rubbed her shoulder. The collision during the break had been quite hard. That little girl Ruan Xi… was about the same height as her, but quite strong.
Okay, decided—
“Ruan Xi.”
Ruan Xi, who was sitting on pins and needles, stood up in despair.
“Do you have an idea how to solve it?” Tong Yao asked.
Ruan Xi only felt the blood rush to her face and shook her head imperceptibly.
“It’s okay, sit down.” Tong Yao pressed her temples. “Treat this question as homework. I’ll check it in class tomorrow… Ah, I don’t have class tomorrow. Then everyone, please be conscientious.”
The bell rang for the end of class.
After the fourth period, the first-year students went to eat first, while the second and third-year students stayed in the classroom to do eye exercises, supervised by the teacher of the fourth period by default.
A few top students took out their homework, wanting to write a bit during this time.
“Ahem,” Tong Yao said. “Everyone should cherish your eyes. Don’t write homework right now.”
Probably unable to withstand her gaze, the students obediently started doing eye exercises.
This time slot was probably the most comfortable for Tong Yao in the classroom.
Everyone had their eyes closed, except her.
She discovered another privilege of being a teacher.
She could walk around, and sometimes even discover little secrets in some students’ desks.
“Third section, rub the Sibai acupoints.”
Ruan Xi, with her eyes closed, suddenly sensed footsteps behind her.
There was no other possibility; it must be… Teacher Tong.
What is Teacher Tong doing? Looking at my notes? Oh no, the anime characters I drew in the book will definitely be seen!
The little girl nervously blocked the book with her arm, but faintly, she seemed to hear a soft chuckle, followed by footsteps gradually moving away.
When the eye exercises ended, everyone found that Teacher Tong was nowhere to be seen.
Tong Yao was getting hot water to drink in the water room.
Students sprinted downstairs like wild dogs, afraid that being a second slower would mean waiting in a long line at the cafeteria. Steam rose from her cup. She exhaled and then noticed Ruan Xi standing a few meters away, looking at her at a loss.
“Ruan Xi?” Tong Yao tightened the lid on her water bottle and walked over. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
“Teacher!” Ruan Xi was startled by her approach and let out a small cry. “I… I…”
Tong Yao tilted her head with a gentle smile.
Ruan Xi bit her lip and clenched her fists:
“I actually listened to the class… really…
“But I hadn’t sorted it out… Just now during the eye exercises, I kept thinking about it, and then… I figured it out.”
Tong Yao admitted she was charmed by how cute this child was and couldn’t help but laugh:
“That’s great. Keep up the good work.”
Ruan Xi opened her mouth, seeming not to know how to respond.
Tong Yao thought for a moment:
“Do you want to eat with me? Just at the cafeteria.”
“Huh?”
A touch of cherry blossom pink floated onto Ruan Xi’s cheeks. Her panic was obvious, and she couldn’t say a single word of refusal. Then… in a daze… she walked side by side with Teacher Tong.
They arrived late, so the line was much shorter.
“I’ll go grab a seat after I get my food,” Tong Yao said and walked toward the faculty window. Meals at the faculty window were free, one of the staff benefits. You could order any dish you wanted, the cafeteria ladies wouldn’t shake their ladles to give you less, and teachers could even bring kids along to freeload.
From this perspective, being a teacher wasn’t bad.
Tong Yao carried a sumptuous lunch and found a random seat. This was her first time eating in the cafeteria; before, she had always taken her food back to the office to eat in the air conditioning. Now, she felt a bit unused to it.
Soon, Ruan Xi arrived with her tray. The seats opposite Tong Yao were empty. She hesitated for a long time, and finally, between directly opposite and diagonally opposite, she chose to sit diagonally across from Tong Yao. She sat down awkwardly, and seeing Teacher Tong looking at her tray, she became even more flustered.
“You only ordered two vegetable dishes?” Tong Yao frowned slightly.
“Um… it’s enough,” Ruan Xi whispered. “I always eat like this.”
“How much are your meals?”
“Uh, rice is one yuan, vegetable dishes are two yuan, meat dishes are four yuan.”
There was also free soup, but she had to wait in line for it, and she didn’t want to make Teacher Tong wait.
“You should at least have a meat dish, right?” Tong Yao didn’t plan to say more and directly transferred her chicken leg to Ruan Xi’s tray with her chopsticks.
“Eh, Teacher Tong! I don’t want it, I…”
“Don’t like chicken legs? I haven’t touched it yet.”
“It’s not that I mind…” The girl’s face turned red. “I do like them…”
“Then eat it.”
The authority of an adult brought the topic to an abrupt halt.
Ruan Xi swallowed, feeling her head burning. With the limited living allowance from home, she rarely ordered meat dishes. To say it didn’t smell delicious… would be a lie.
“Thank you, Teacher Tong…” she whispered.
“Eat up. If it’s not enough, we can get more.”
“…Really, no need.”
