SYLM Chapter 9
by VolareChapter 9 Friend Request Accepted
After entering the unit door, she stomped her foot hard, and the aging sound-activated light in the hallway lit up.
Gu Wan Jun immediately turned off the flashlight, stuffed it into her cotton coat pocket, and then shook off the snowflakes while walking upstairs.
Gu Wan Jun lived on the fifth floor. When she reached the third-floor landing, she stopped and listened carefully for any sounds from upstairs.
401 was unoccupied, and 402 was home to a middle-aged man who was drunk every day.
Gu Wan Jun had encountered the drunk several times before. In this kind of old residential area, it was impossible to find property security late at night, and Gu Wan Jun didn’t want to cause trouble.
Hearing no sounds from the fourth floor, Gu Wan Jun held her breath, lightened her steps, and ran up the stairs in one breath, her heart pounding.
…
Fifth floor.
As she stepped onto the last step, Gu Wan Jun took off her scarf, finally daring to breathe. She walked towards 502, thinking about whether she should consider moving.
In front of 502.
Gu Wan Jun stomped her foot, the sound-activated light came on, and she took out her key to aim at the lock to open the door. But the next second, she saw two small slips of paper pasted on her door.
Gu Wan Jun looked closely and found that they were overdue rent notices.
It was time to pay rent again.
Gu Wan Jun pursed her lips and sighed. She tore off the two overdue notices, unlocked the door, and entered her home.
…
It was more like a high cost-effective rental than a home.
The room was simple and bright, and Gu Wan Jun had arranged everything neatly, clean, and tidy.
The bedroom had a simple wooden bed and a matching bedside table. The bed was neat and clean, and various books and reading materials were neatly placed on the bedside table. There was also a simple desk in front of the cabinet, which Gu Wan Jun had bought herself. It held a small table lamp, a computer, and some teaching materials that she hadn’t finished preparing.
In the living room, the windows were clean and bright, providing a clear view of the outside scenery. Two potted green plants were placed on the windowsill, adding some life and vitality to the room. There was also a sofa against the wall, which the original landlord didn’t want. Gu Wan Jun bought an off-white sofa cover and kept it for her own use.
As soon as she entered the house, she hung up her coat and scarf, changed into slippers, and Gu Wan Jun threw herself on the sofa against the wall in the living room.
It was okay when she didn’t relax, but once she let her guard down, she felt like she didn’t even have the strength to bend a finger.
Being a high school homeroom teacher was really hard work.
Remembering the advice given to her by the breakfast vendor in the morning, Gu Wan Jun sighed deeply and raised her hand to rub her temples, but the overdue notice stuck to her fingertips.
Looking at the numbers on it, Gu Wan Jun didn’t know how many times she had sighed tonight.
Gu Wan Jun had just come to Ningcheng No. 1 High School this year and didn’t have a formal position yet. She only had a fixed salary of 2,800 yuan per month.
This little money was only enough to barely make ends meet, but after being transferred to the second-grade level this month, she also spent nearly 2,000 yuan to buy some learning supplies and books as commemorative gifts for each of the students in the first-grade class she originally taught.
Now it was time to pay the rent for the next quarter, and she was wondering if she should move to another house. After all, it was too far from the school. If she re-rented, she didn’t know if her limited savings would be enough…
Everything was mixed together. Just as Gu Wan Jun was hesitating about the rent and feeling a headache, the sound of a couple arguing and smashing things came from the direction of 501 across the hall. This nightly event that had been indispensable since she moved in instantly strengthened Gu Wan Jun’s idea of moving.
She definitely had to move out of this house. If she stayed here for a while longer, she would probably either be exhausted from getting up early and rushing for the bus, or she would escape with neurasthenia.
But…
Thinking that Chen Lu lived in the next residential complex, Gu Wan Jun became more hesitant.
As a teacher, Gu Wan Jun not only valued the studies of each of her students, but also paid attention to everyone’s living problems. She definitely had to care for a sensible and distressing child like Chen Lu.
But how should she do it? Continue to live in this residential complex and take the bus with Chen Lu every day?
Gu Wan Jun didn’t think this method could provide substantial help to the two of them.
After thinking for a long time, Gu Wan Jun decided to start looking for a house herself. If she found one that was affordable and not too far from the school, she would take the listings and ask for Chen Lu’s opinion. If Chen Lu accepted, then solving the other person’s living problem first would also be good.
Yes, that’s what she’ll do.
After making the decision, Gu Wan Jun dragged her tired body, got up, and went to the coat rack by the door. She took out her phone from her pocket, ready to go to the house-hunting software to see if there were any listings.
But when she unlocked her phone, the screen was filled with more than thirty voice messages from her parents. She hadn’t heard them before because she had set her phone to silent.
Gu Wan Jun rubbed her temples. Without even opening them, she knew that her parents’ voice messages were nothing more than persuading her to return to Yunjiang City.
In the few months since coming to Ningcheng No. 1 High School, Gu Wan Jun had heard too many such voice messages.
It was twelve o’clock in the middle of the night, and there was no ready-made food at home. Gu Wan Jun took a piece of bread and a bottle of milk from the cupboard and used it as her dinner for the day.
After sitting down on the sofa, Gu Wan Jun marked the messages from her parents as read while eating the bread, and then swiped down to find that her sister, Gu Wan Rong, had also sent her a message.
Gu Wan Rong was six years older than Gu Wan Jun. After graduating with a master’s degree, she had been working in the emergency department of a well-known tertiary hospital in Yunjiang City.
Gu Wan Jun’s parents were both teachers when they were young and were too busy to take care of their two daughters. When they were young, their older sister Gu Wan Rong took care of her younger sister Gu Wan Jun. The two sisters had always had a good relationship. It could be said that Gu Wan Jun was raised by her older sister.
…
Opening the chat interface with her sister Gu Wan Rong, the message was from twenty minutes ago.
Sister: [I just finished an operation and I’m getting ready to go home. Your brother-in-law is on duty at the police station tonight and will pick me up on the way.]
Sister: [Mom called me today. Don’t take to heart whatever they said. They’ve been teachers all their lives and know how hard this profession is. They’re afraid that you won’t have a good life in a small county.]
Sister: [By the way, I heard that you became a homeroom teacher. Being a high school homeroom teacher is very hard. You must take care of your health.]
Sister: [In the afternoon, I transferred 50,000 yuan to your bank card. Use it. I’ll be angry if you don’t accept it.]
Sister: [When you’re out, you need money everywhere. Just consider this money as a small support for your educational career. Don’t worry, Mom and Dad don’t know.]
Sister: [No matter what, your health is the most important thing. Contact me anytime if you need anything.]
…
Looking at the message sent by her sister Gu Wan Rong, Gu Wan Jun’s nose felt sore, and she raised her hand to cover her hot eye sockets.
From childhood to adulthood, her sister was the one who loved her the most. When she decided to devote herself to education in a remote county, her sister Gu Wan Rong was also the only one who respected her decision.
Gu Wan Jun wouldn’t take this money for nothing. She would definitely pay her sister back when she had the chance in the future.
…
After simply finishing her dinner, Gu Wan Jun washed up and went to bed.
Before going to sleep, she opened the parents’ group for the second grade (12) class, which she had just joined today.
From the time evening self-study ended at ten o’clock until now, the parents in the group had initiated a “child has arrived home safely” chain.
About twenty minutes ago, Chen Lu became the last person to join the chain.
Looking at the pure blue background avatar that sent the last chain message, Gu Wan Jun’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. She couldn’t help but think of Ye Zhendongxian’s social school novel “Blue.”
Those who are not prepared to be parents and do not have the ability to love and be loved should not have children.
Was that what Chen Lu meant?
Thinking of the various contents in the book, Gu Wan Jun felt complicated. After a long while, she clicked and sent a friend request.
—
Half an hour ago.
Under the dim and yellowish light, Chen Lu braved the wind and snow to enter the unit door.
Saying that there was a spare flashlight was just to reassure Gu Wan Jun.
Moreover, Chen Lu had long been used to walking at night alone.
…
Third floor, 302.
This was where Chen Lu had lived with her grandmother before the age of 13.
After entering the door, Chen Lu changed into slippers and went straight to the side bedroom without even taking off her winter school uniform.
She pushed open the door, turned on the light, and an old-fashioned wooden bed came into view, covered with a thin quilt and an old blanket. Although it was an old style from many years ago, it was washed very clean.
The walls of the room were covered with traces of time, and it could be vaguely seen that some places had yellowed and some places had peeled off.
In the center of the wall hung a black-and-white photo of an old woman. The old woman had a smile on her face, and her eyes were as kind and caring as they were when she was alive.
Chen Lu leaned against the door frame, her straight shoulders relaxing a little. She stared at the photo on the wall, her usually calm tone with a hint of long-lost well-behavedness:
“Grandma, I’m back from school.”
Outside the window, the cold wind was whistling, but inside the room it was silent, and no sound could answer Chen Lu’s words.
Returning to the table in the living room, Chen Lu completed the “arrived home” chain in the parents’ group, then took off her winter school uniform and took out her liberal arts test paper from her pocket to prepare for homework.
The moment the liberal arts test paper was taken out, a separately packaged wet wipe fell out from the paper.
It was what Gu Wan Jun had handed her on the bus to wipe her shoes.
Chen Lu picked up the wet wipe and recalled everything that happened today. She temporarily put the liberal arts test paper aside and took out a brown cowhide notebook from the drawer under the table.
This was a graduation gift that her grandmother had given her when she was promoted from elementary school to middle school.
Chen Lu sat down in the chair at the table, opened the notebook, and turned to a new page. She wrote in elegant handwriting—
[November 28, 2017 Tuesday Moderate Snow]
[The class has a new Chinese teacher, who is also our new homeroom teacher.]
[The new homeroom teacher is a gentle and patient person who has read many books and has her own opinions on many things. The students like her very much.]
[Her name is Gu Wan Jun.]
[…]
…
After finishing her diary, Chen Lu put the diary back in the drawer, then set her phone to silent and started writing the liberal arts test paper.
Half past one in the morning, Beijing time.
Finally, she finished writing the remaining political and historical essay questions.
Chen Lu moved her stiff neck and wrists, picked up her phone and glanced at the time, only to find a friend request on the WeChat page.
…
The heating in the old residential area was not very good. In the middle of the night, the person on the bed subconsciously wrapped themselves tightly from head to toe with the quilt.
In her sleep, Gu Wan Jun turned over. At the same time, the screen of the phone on the bedside table lit up, showing that the friend request had been accepted.