Chapter 72: Unforgettable
Tong Yao felt like she had been caught doing something bad.
The young girl stood there, motionless, her eyes red, as if silently saying, “I need you.”
“…I’ll be going now,” she said with an embarrassed expression to Xu Yin. “Don’t worry for now. This matter isn’t that bad. There will be a solution.”
“Mhm,” Xu Yin blinked. “Go ahead, Teacher Tong.”
Tong Yao smiled apologetically and ran towards the young girl. Ruan Ruan was waiting for her there. Seeing her approach, she looked up, her voice hoarse and a little nasal.
“Teacher Tong…”
“I’m here,” Tong Yao stopped, bit her lip, and asked, “You lost two thousand and a phone, right?”
The young girl looked at her, didn’t speak, and reached out to squeeze between her arm and waist, gently hugging her, which made Tong Yao’s body stiffen.
“Ruan Ruan… we’re still in the hallway…”
She lowered her head in a panic, afraid that her nervousness would be seen by the passing students.
“Teacher Tong,” the young girl said in a low voice, “you didn’t even come to comfort me first.”
Tong Yao was awkward, not knowing where to put her hands. She wanted to say that Xu Yin had lost more money, and it was the class funds, but facing the young girl with whom she had exchanged a first kiss yesterday, she felt guilty—she… should have comforted Ruan Ruan first.
They had kissed. To continue to say that they were just teacher and student would be too self-deceiving.
“I…”
“I know, Xu Yin lost more money,” Ruan Xi buried her head in her shoulder and sniffled. “But…”
But, that was Xu Yin, one of the people the young girl considered her biggest rival in her heart. She didn’t want to be jealous. She knew that people who were jealous of others were ugly, but Xu Yin was better than her in every way, and she was very scared.
“Alright, it’s the teacher’s fault for not finding you first,” Tong Yao coaxed softly. People were coming and going, and although she was embarrassed to be watched, she slowly got used to it. “Did you tell your mom?”
“No…” Ruan Xi’s nose was red. In the dead of winter, the cold wind was piercing, not to mention she had cried. “My phone is gone…”
“If it’s gone, it’s gone. There’s nothing important on it, right?” Tong Yao led the young girl to the stairwell, her palm stroking her braid. “The teacher will buy you a new one.”
Hearing this, the young girl’s face suddenly turned red. She hummed coquettishly and shook her head. “No…”
Her mood was completely different now, with only a sweet melancholy. She thought, how can I accept things from Teacher Tong? If I want to marry Teacher Tong in the future, I still have to give a dowry. It can only be me giving to Teacher Tong.
What was melancholy was that she didn’t know when that day would come.
She felt like she was running on a single-plank bridge, but there was a net under her, so she never had to worry about falling to pieces. Maybe one day she would accidentally fall, be protected by the net, be caught by the net, and then she would never be able to escape.
Only by walking across the single-plank bridge herself could she become the one who collected the net.
“I was originally going to take a week off from drawing to focus on reviewing…” the young girl said with a wronged expression. “I didn’t bring my bag back yesterday, and it was stolen.”
“Pfft, you two are really unlucky,” Tong Yao pinched the young girl’s nose. “You really don’t want the teacher to give you a phone? It won’t be a waste of money. It’s one I used before, and it’s still usable.”
“No,” Ruan Xi said, her head still buried in her embrace, rubbing against her as she shook it.
Tong Yao smiled. “Then what do you want? Seeing that you’ve lost so much, I’ll grant you one wish. That way, you can forgive me, right?”
“Really?” The young girl’s head shot up. “I wish for three more wishes!”
“Are you asking for a beating?”
Tong Yao pinched the young girl’s cheek. It was soft and smooth, like a peeled egg.
“Ah… then, then I…” The young girl didn’t dare to be mischievous anymore. She secretly glanced at her expression and said in a small voice, “I still want to… touch Teacher Tong’s stockings.”
As the saying goes, what you keep thinking about will eventually come back to you.
It was the third time. Liu Bei should have been able to invite Zhuge Liang out by now, and Sun Wukong should have killed the White Bone Demon.
And Tong Yao was silent.
Actually, it wasn’t that she hadn’t thought that the young girl would make this request. If she had to say, she was already prepared to let Ruan Ruan touch her leg… but, how could she appear reserved, self-respecting, and maintain the dignity of a teacher?
“You… want to touch them now?” Her face quickly heated up. There was no one and no surveillance around. Her voice was also extremely low. “I’m wearing pantyhose underneath. It’s actually not that different…”
The meeting in Ruan Xi’s head was already popping champagne.
“I… I want to go to Teacher Tong’s house to touch them…”
The young girl buried her head and said slowly.
Her little abacus was very clear.
She couldn’t be hot-headed and seek a moment of pleasure. How long could she touch them here? She would have to constantly worry about someone coming over. But in the dorm, anything was possible.
“Then-then if there’s time…” Tong Yao stammered.
“How about this week?” the young girl suddenly said. “This Saturday.”
Tong Yao was stuck. Finally, her voice was so soft it almost disappeared.
“…Okay.”
She clearly realized that she had fallen for it.
Cheers—the little person in the young girl’s mind celebrated.
It was time for class. Ruan Xi went back on time. Tong Yao was stunned in the stairwell, almost forgetting what had happened today.
The theft case had not been solved yet.
She sighed, took out her phone, and dialed a number.
**
If a student loses money, is the school responsible?
A lawyer would probably say no.
The school is not responsible for the safety of the students’ property, but it is very strict about the students’ personal safety—because if something happens to their personal safety, they really have to pay, such as losing a limb, or losing their chastity. These are all the school’s problems.
Then who will compensate the students who were stolen from?
—The culprit.
They will pay with money. If the money is gone, they will pay with a longer prison sentence.
The school’s compensation is a matter of kindness, not a duty. For the class funds Xu Yin had lost, it would be unfair to make the whole class pay again, and it would also be improper to make her bear all the losses alone—it was not her fault for putting the money in the classroom. You could say she was careless, that she should be more vigilant and wary of strangers, but you can’t stop a girl from wearing a floral dress just because there are bad people in the world.
Otherwise, what was the use of adults like them?
She couldn’t help many people, but the umbrella in her hand was more than enough to cover her students.
Nationwide, there were nearly ten thousand theft cases every day, and countless thieves were at large. A loss of twenty thousand yuan would not have made a splash, but because of her one phone call, this small splash had alarmed the police station.
A theft at the best high school in the province, and a well-known reporter had expressed that they would continue to follow and report on the case. The police station valued performance and knew even more that they had to establish a positive image of serving the people and publicize their efficiency in handling cases. The two sides hit it off, and that afternoon, two police officers went to the community to check the surveillance, and then found someone to identify them frame by frame.
The thieves were drifters in society and were not easy to catch, but at night, the police’s preliminary news reached the school—one of the perpetrators was confirmed to be a student of the school.
The school leaders were shocked. In the many years since the school was founded, petty thefts had not been unheard of. Group fights and bullying would occasionally occur, and black swan events like jumping off a building had also been experienced. The century-old famous school had stood firm in the face of great storms, but such a vicious theft was the first in the history of No. 1 High.
This time, Tong Yao didn’t have to urge them. Even the leaders of No. 1 High were urging the police station, vowing to remove this black sheep from No. 1 High.
Evening self-study.
Xu Yin was doing her homework. She had lost the money, and it was hard to let go, but the final exams were there, neither sad nor happy, like a judge preparing to judge the students. She would think of the morning’s events from time to time, and would hate her own carelessness, hate the thieves who reaped without sowing, and wish she could go back to last night and take her bag back. But what’s past is past.
The broadcast sounded.
Ye Wei’s voice was buzzing.
“Hello, classmates. Just now, the police have told us that one of the thieves is our student. Hearing this news, I am very heartbroken.”
Surprised cries began to be heard in the classroom. A few people buried their heads and muttered, guessing who the suspicious person was.
“A student who got into our No. 1 High, your grades are not bad. But you chose to steal, to do such a despicable thing! I’m telling you, your life is over! The amount is very large, you are already over 16 years old, this will be recorded! How will you stand in society in the future? How will your parents face people?
“We already know who you are. Finally, we will give you a chance to turn yourself in. I hope you can grasp it and give yourself a chance.
“The speech is over. Everyone, continue with your self-study.”
The whole school sighed, and a heated discussion broke out.
“Damn, it was a student who stole?”
“So awesome… but I guess they still don’t know who it is, otherwise they wouldn’t ask him to turn himself in.”
“Quiet,” in Class 7, Tong Yao on the podium tapped the desk. “Are you going to study or not? If you think you have too little homework, I’ll assign some more.”
The students immediately begged for mercy, not daring to discuss anymore.
The young girl in the first row under the podium looked at her with a smile. Tong Yao blushed. For some reason, her authority just now became very shameful, as if she had been seen in an embarrassing photo from her childhood.
Halfway through the evening self-study session, Ruan Xi came up to ask a question. When they got close, the whole class suddenly “ooh-ed” in unison, making both of them blush.
“What are you ooh-ing about?” Tong Yao’s scolding was weak. “Study your studies.”
“Ooh—”
The jeering came again.
“…I’m adding homework.”
“…”
Looking at the quiet class below, Tong Yao was satisfied and continued to explain the problem.
The young girl’s face was flushed. She was hunched over, listening obediently beside her, like a crouching little animal.
Everything was as Ruan Xi had planned. Being close to Teacher Tong in front of everyone, everyone would tease them, and Teacher Tong… was not disgusted. The classmates’ teasing was well-intentioned and would not think of the heavy words “homosexual.” And she, enjoying her special status in the eyes of her classmates with regard to Teacher Tong… was too bad.
For the person they like, people can learn many things without being taught.
After asking the question, Ruan Xi held her book and asked in a small voice, “Did they really find the thief at our school?”
The warm breath tickled Tong Yao’s ear. She looked down at the class, lowered her voice, and answered, “Not yet. Teacher Ye was bluffing.”
Ruan Xi smiled. “Okay, just like how he bluffs those who cheat.”
“Mhm,” Tong Yao said. “Hurry down and do your homework.”
The young girl, with her back to the class, made a cute face at her, and then lightly returned to her seat.
Tong Yao quickly lowered her head to manage her expression.
This kind of thrilling feeling of an underground office romance… was really fatal.
