SYLM Chapter 53

Chapter 53 “Am I no longer your favorite teacher?”

Chapter 53 “Am I no longer your favorite teacher?”

A summer afternoon, the sweltering air seemed to solidify.

Although the corridors and classrooms had all the windows open, the occasional breezes seemed insignificant in such hot weather. Everyone seemed to have their moisture sucked out by the high temperature, listless and unable to muster any energy.

Class 12 originally had a P.E. class this period, but it was changed to English.

When Chen Lu returned to the class after collecting the Chinese papers, the English teacher, Jiang Wen, had already put on her headset microphone and was standing on the podium, fanning herself with a test paper in one hand and tapping the blackboard with the other, shouting at the top of her lungs:

“Wake up, wake up everyone, class is starting! Call those in front, behind, left, and right, take out yesterday’s homework. Class representative, go down and check who hasn’t done it, write down their names for me. Those who haven’t done it, please be aware and stand up, don’t wait for me to catch you when I ask questions later!”

“…”

Under the “forced restart” of English teacher Jiang Wen, the students who had been slumped over one after another straightened up.

Some students hadn’t even opened their eyes, but their hands automatically started rummaging through their desks for the test paper.

When Chen Lu returned to her seat, Fu Yi Wen, who sat behind her, was also one of those who had just been woken up.

Her sleepy, chubby little round face was pressed red, and you could faintly see the marks from the pen. Fu Yi Wen mumbled, “So sleepy, so annoying, why is class starting so soon?”, but she didn’t dare delay her search for the test paper for a moment.

—

As the saying goes, spring drowsiness, autumn fatigue, summer naps.

Logically speaking, at this time in the afternoon, with this kind of weather outside, plus the constant stream of incantations-like English coming from the podium, it would be difficult for the students not to be sleepy.

The classroom was filled with yawns, but Chen Lu didn’t feel sleepy at all at the moment.

Of course, she wasn’t in the mood to listen to the class either.

The scene that had just happened in the Chinese language office kept replaying in her mind, and Chen Lu’s thoughts were racing, the more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong.

This directly led to her spacing out several times during this English class.

She didn’t even hear Jiang Wen asking her to get up and go over the answers for the error correction in the short passage. In the end, it was Fu Yi Wen, who was propping up her head and dozing off, who reacted first and kicked her chair wildly, which was how she avoided being put on the English teacher’s “hit list”.

—

In the second half of the class, Jiang Wen divided the task of explaining the questions among the various groups, and it was time for group discussions.

The trio huddled together, Fu Yi Wen yawning non-stop, her eyes watery, and she didn’t forget to complain about Chen Lu:

“Chen Lu, what’s wrong with you today? That old Jiang Wen called you so many times, even I almost fell asleep and was woken up by her, why were you just sitting there without moving? You weren’t asleep, were you? That’s not right, when do you ever sleep so soundly?”

Jiang Zhen Zhen, who was next to her, glanced at Chen Lu, then shook her head at Fu Yi Wen:

“No, Chen Lu wasn’t asleep, I saw her just now. Besides, when has she ever slept in English class?”

“Not asleep?”

Fu Yi Wen sniffed, her eyelids blinking slower and slower, and it looked like they were about to close:

“If she wasn’t asleep, then— ha— uh— if she wasn’t asleep, why didn’t she get up to answer the question?”

“…”

Fu Yi Wen’s yawns never stopped, and even Jiang Zhen Zhen next to her was infected and covered her mouth with her test paper to yawn quietly.

Seeing that the English teacher hadn’t patrolled over yet, Chen Lu, who couldn’t figure it out, retold what had happened in the Chinese language office to her two friends, wanting them to help her analyze it from an outsider’s perspective.

As soon as she heard something unrelated to studying, Fu Yi Wen immediately perked up. She manually peeled open her eyelids and listened to Chen Lu.

After listening, Jiang Zhen Zhen was thoughtful and didn’t say anything. Fu Yi Wen, who was peeling open her eyelids, spoke up first:

“What’s the big deal? She didn’t say anything, that teacher might just be casually chatting with you, aren’t you overthinking it?”

“I don’t think it was just casual chatting.”

Jiang Zhen Zhen shook her head, expressing a different opinion:

“Think about it, Chen Lu is very familiar with the teachers in the Chinese language office, and likewise, they are very familiar with Chen Lu. No teacher has ever asked Chen Lu this kind of question before, so why suddenly today? And didn’t Chen Lu say a few days ago that she felt the atmosphere in the Chinese language office was a bit strange?”

“Really? Did she say that?” Fu Yi Wen scratched her head, struggling to remember.

“Yes, you were busy copying Tang Ying’s calligraphy at the time, so you might not have heard it, but Chen Lu definitely said it, I didn’t remember wrongly, did I?”

As Jiang Zhen Zhen spoke, she turned to look at Chen Lu, and Chen Lu nodded in agreement:

“Yes, I said it, from a few days ago I felt the atmosphere in the Chinese language office was weird, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was weird about it.”

“Weird…”

Fu Yi Wen lowered her head and repeated Chen Lu’s words in a low voice, as if she had thought of something. She looked up at Chen Lu and said her understanding:

“Chen Lu, this is just my guess, it might not be right, but do you think it’s possible that it’s because other people see you getting too close to Gu Wan Jun, and she’s now our homeroom teacher, so others think you’re trying to curry favor with her?”

“…”

As soon as the words fell, Chen Lu’s expression paused for a moment.

To be honest, she hadn’t considered this possibility.

Because compared to the polite and thoughtful interactions with Zheng Wei, she was indeed more enthusiastic towards Gu Wan Jun.

But she did all this not to curry favor with Gu Wan Jun, but because she liked Gu Wan Jun.

Forget it, if everything she did was really misunderstood as trying to curry favor with Gu Wan Jun, she would accept it.

…

Seeing that Chen Lu wasn’t speaking and seemed to be lost in thought, Jiang Zhen Zhen pursed her lips and spoke up for Chen Lu in a low voice:

“It shouldn’t be, Chen Lu is just doing what a normal Literature Representative should do, right? And Chen Lu is definitely not the kind of person who would try to butter someone up…”

“Yes, we know Chen Lu, we definitely know she’s not that kind of person, but other people don’t know that!”

Fu Yi Wen shrugged her shoulders, patted her small, fleshy hand, and analyzed things in a logical manner:

“Just say it, which student goes to school and leaves school with the teacher every day, and eats lunch together every day? If someone really wants to find fault with Chen Lu, these few things alone would be enough to get her pinned down!”

“…”

Indeed, it seemed like that was the case.

After listening to the analysis, Chen Lu’s heart turned cold.

…

On the other side, as if she had remembered something, as she spoke, a bitter smile appeared on Fu Yi Wen’s face, and she continued to talk to herself:

“I was like this before too, when I used to go to the liberal arts office to give Sun—”

Fu Yi Wen paused. Now she didn’t even want to say the three words “Sun Li Xia”. She directly changed her wording to a pronoun:

“When I was delivering things to that person and checking test papers, working myself to death, many teachers would say openly or secretly that I was buttering her up. They probably thought I was thick-skinned and couldn’t hear it. I am thick-skinned, but I’m not stupid, how could I not hear it? But at the time, I was infatuated and afraid that that person would have a hard time, so I always smiled and pretended not to hear it. From beginning to end, that person never said a word for me.”

“…”

Listening to Fu Yi Wen’s relieved and calm tone, Jiang Zhen Zhen’s tone had a bit more pity in it:

“You’ve never told us about these things before…”

“Hey, you guys didn’t like that person in the first place, I was afraid that if I said anything, you would like her even less.”

Fu Yi Wen sighed and pouted her lips:

“Actually, the teachers in the office say all sorts of things. Chen Lu, you don’t need to take it to heart. Isn’t it true that after I broke up with that person last time, I never paid attention to her again? As a result, some people started saying that I was trimming my sails to the wind and currying favor with Tang Ying, saying that Tang Ying was a rich second generation who relied on her power to bully others. Hey, guess what, this time they messed with the wrong person! Tang Ying doesn’t put up with their nonsense. One by one, anyone who dares to talk about her behind her back, Tang Ying will find them and confront them face to face, shutting them up and nearly making me die of pleasure, I tell you…”

When Tang Ying was mentioned, Fu Yi Wen’s sleepiness disappeared completely, and she became more and more energetic as she spoke.

Seeing that this person couldn’t stop talking about Tang Ying, Jiang Zhen Zhen pulled on Fu Yi Wen’s sleeve from the side, reminding her in a low voice:

“Um, Fu Yi Wen, I know you get excited whenever you talk about Teacher Tang, but should we finish discussing Chen Lu and Teacher Gu’s matter before talking about other things…”

“Oh, right, right, right, how did I get off topic as I was talking!”

Fu Yi Wen slapped her forehead a few times:

“Chen Lu, where were we just now? Were we talking about you and Gu— about error correction in the short passage! Yeah! That’s right! That’s it!”

The sharp-eyed Fu Yi Wen instantly picked up the test paper, the topic changed abruptly. Chen Lu and Jiang Zhen Zhen, who got her meaning, also immediately took out their test papers to cooperate.

Two seconds later, English teacher Jiang Wen came to their group.

In Jiang Wen’s eyes, Chen Lu and Jiang Zhen Zhen were both top-notch students. Jiang Wen had also seen Fu Yi Wen’s recent efforts and improvements. Jiang Wen was very relieved about their group.

…

“Yes, the discussion is very serious. Fu Yi Wen, your English scores have improved a lot recently. You can go over the answers for the error correction in the short passage later. If any of the students don’t understand anything, you can explain it to them.”

“Ah? Teacher, you must have remembered wrongly. The question-explaining task assigned to our group is C reading comprehension and D reading comprehension…”

“I know, the error correction in the short passage is a task assigned to you alone. If you have any questions, quickly ask Chen Lu and Jiang Zhen Zhen in your group. Explain it well later.”

“…”

Okay, okay, the world where only Fu Yi Wen is hurt has been achieved once again.

Her English level has improved, but not ascended! Asking her to explain the entire error correction in the short passage by herself? Is she crazy or is the English teacher crazy?!

Jiang Wen left satisfied. Fu Yi Wen tearfully snatched Chen Lu and Jiang Zhen Zhen’s test papers to check her answers, and while checking her answers, she whispered to them that they could talk about things later, she had to save her life first.

…

Listening to Jiang Zhen Zhen explaining the questions to Fu Yi Wen next to her, Chen Lu’s gaze drifted off into space, and her brain repeatedly thought about what Fu Yi Wen had just said.

If other people really just thought that she was unilaterally trying to curry favor with Gu Wan Jun, then Chen Lu could just treat those words as nonsense.

But if someone really seized on the few points that Fu Yi Wen had just said to make a big deal out of it…

Then it wouldn’t just be a matter of a student currying favor with a teacher.

Should she start keeping a distance from Gu Wan Jun from now on?

—

Chen Lu was absent-minded the entire time during the last double period, including evening self-study.

After evening self-study, school was dismissed.

The soft and bright moon hung high in the sky, and the high temperature that had been steaming all day finally dropped at night. A gentle breeze blew, bringing a hint of coolness.

Rose Garden.

When she swiped her access card to enter the residential complex, Gu Wan Jun said with a sigh of relief, “The open class is finally over.” Chen Lu, who was immersed in her own thoughts and thinking about things, didn’t hear her.

“Chen Lu? Chen Lu?”

“Huh?”

The thoughts that had drifted off somewhere were gradually called back. Chen Lu, who had come back to her senses, responded. The next second, she suddenly felt something cool and soft on her cheek. When she looked closely, it was Gu Wan Jun reaching out to pinch her face!

Chen Lu was startled and immediately jumped away, taking two steps back, almost bumping into the other people entering the residential complex behind her.

The hand that was hanging in mid-air fell to nothing, and a trace of astonishment flashed in Gu Wan Jun’s eyes.

She would usually pinch Chen Lu’s face like that, so why did this child react so strongly this time?

…

“What’s wrong? Did I pinch you too hard?”

“…”

Meeting Gu Wan Jun’s uncomprehending and even somewhat aggrieved gaze, Chen Lu realized that her reaction seemed to have been too intense. Her CPU was almost burning out, and she immediately explained:

“No, I, I just had a leg cramp, I’m moving around to loosen it up…”

“Leg cramp?”

“Yeah.”

“…”

Gu Wan Jun didn’t say anything, but just stared straight into Chen Lu’s eyes.

Sure enough, people with big eyes aren’t good at hiding their emotions.

This child is too bad at lying.

Gu Wan Jun sighed in her heart. She didn’t expose Chen Lu’s lie, but instead went along with it and directly reached out to hook Chen Lu’s arm:

“If you have a leg cramp, I’ll support you as we walk.”

“Ah?”

Panic and awkwardness were about to overflow from Chen Lu’s big eyes. She quickly shook her head and waved her hands, refusing:

“No need, I don’t have a cramp anymore, I can walk by myself.”

“Even if you can walk, I’ll still support you.”

“Teacher, I—”

“Come here.”

Without giving Chen Lu a chance to refuse, Gu Wan Jun directly stepped forward and hooked Chen Lu’s arm, pulling her towards Unit 6.

—

On both sides of the road in the residential complex stood street lamps for lighting, and the soft light fell on the glass windows of the buildings, leaving behind scattered spots of light.

Logically speaking, most of the residents in the building should have rested by this time, but Rose Garden was a school district housing, and at the moment, there were still quite a few square windows shining with light.

On the road from the entrance of the residential complex to the entrance of Unit 6, neither of them spoke, and they could only vaguely hear the sound of cars outside the residential complex and the occasional chirping of insects and cicadas inside the residential complex.

Gu Wan Jun kept hooking Chen Lu’s arm, and hooked it very tightly, as if she was afraid that Chen Lu would run away in the next second.

What Fu Yi Wen had said during the day was still fresh in her ears. Just as Chen Lu was hesitating whether to keep her distance from Gu Wan Jun on the grounds that “it’s too hot to hook arms,” Gu Wan Jun’s voice came over the next second:

“The teachers in the Chinese language office sometimes like to joke around, don’t take what they say seriously.”

Gu Wan Jun took the initiative to mention the afternoon’s events, which gave Chen Lu a chance to speak:

“Is something going on?”

“What?” Gu Wan Jun turned to look at Chen Lu’s eyes.

“Is something going on in the Chinese language office recently?”

“What’s wrong, why would you ask that?” Gu Wan Jun asked instead of answering.

After a moment of silence, Chen Lu told the truth: “I feel like the atmosphere in the office has been a little different from before these past few days.”

“…”

So this child had noticed something was wrong before her.

A hint of surprise flashed quickly in her peach blossom eyes, and Gu Wan Jun marveled at Chen Lu’s emotional perception.

Although Chen Lu seemed to have noticed something, Gu Wan Jun didn’t plan to talk about it until things were resolved.

She didn’t want to add a burden to their interactions, and she didn’t want Chen Lu to become distant from her because of this.

…

“Everyone has been preparing for the open class during this period, and they’ve been under a lot of mental and physical stress. After you left in the afternoon, we even said that we’d be much more relaxed after the open class was over.”

Chen Lu heard Gu Wan Jun say this.

Her face was smiling, her tone was gentle, and there was nothing to criticize.

But was the reality really what Gu Wan Jun said?

…

—

Unit 6, third floor.

Before they went their separate ways home, while Gu Wan Jun was looking for her house key, Chen Lu, who was still worried, tentatively said:

“Today in the office, Teacher Tian Jing asked me whether I liked Teacher Zheng Wei or you.”

As soon as the question came out, Chen Lu carefully observed Gu Wan Jun’s micro-expressions, trying to see something from them.

But who would have thought that as soon as she finished speaking, Gu Wan Jun’s action of looking for the key suddenly stopped, and she immediately turned her head, her beautiful peach blossom eyes filled with a pool of water, and she just stared at her seriously like this:

“Then how did you answer?”

“…”

Finished.

She originally wanted to use this to test Gu Wan Jun’s attitude towards their relationship, to see where the problem was, but not only did she not observe anything, she also set herself up with a death question…

Chen Lu blinked her eyes, her brain working at top speed: “I didn’t have time to answer at the time, and then you came back.”

“Then answer now, I want to hear.”

“…”

Finished, finished.

Gu Wan Jun’s attitude didn’t change at all, and she even seemed to be more direct than before?

Could it be that she guessed wrong?

How was she supposed to answer this?

How did the topic develop like this!?

…

Regarding Chen Lu’s moment of silence, Gu Wan Jun almost wrote the three words “not satisfied” on her face.

Gu Wan Jun narrowed her beautiful peach blossom eyes slightly, and she didn’t bother looking for the key anymore. She directly reached out and poked Chen Lu’s shoulder with her index finger, in a posture of questioning her to the end:

“You little ingrate, weren’t you very direct when you said I was your favorite teacher in the taxi last winter? What’s wrong today? Am I no longer your favorite teacher?”

“…”

Finished, finished, finished, this time it’s really over…

Chen Lu, who couldn’t decide whether to keep a distance from Gu Wan Jun, didn’t know how to answer. She stiffly looked away, but she couldn’t hide the fact that her entire face was red to the roots of her ears.

Who was going to save her!?

…

Seeing that Chen Lu’s face was extremely red, although Gu Wan Jun didn’t know the reason, she couldn’t help but smile.

This child was very direct when she said she liked her the most before, so why was she shy today?

So it turned out that the black-bellied little rabbit also had moments like this.

Cute.

…

Until the end, under Gu Wan Jun’s relentless insistence on hearing an answer, the conversation ended with Chen Lu’s stammering, “You’re still my favorite teacher, I still have homework to do, goodbye Teacher.”

—

301.

After returning home, Chen Lu immediately took out two cans of iced cola from the refrigerator and stuck them to both sides of her cheeks. Only then did the scalding temperature on her face reluctantly subside.

No, it seemed that asking Gu Wan Jun about this wouldn’t work, and she almost accidentally boiled herself.

She could only change direction.

But what direction should she change to? Besides Gu Wan Jun, who else could she ask?

While lamenting her lack of self-control, Chen Lu couldn’t help but become increasingly worried about what exactly had happened in the Chinese language office that she didn’t know about.

—

On the other side, 302.

Teasing the child was teasing the child, but combined with Chen Lu’s various unusual behaviors just now, Gu Wan Jun felt that Chen Lu had probably guessed something.

It seemed that things had to be resolved as soon as possible, she didn’t want to become estranged from Chen Lu.

These people were really something, they couldn’t believe in any rumors, but they had to believe in rumors about her and Chen Lu.

Did they think she would fall in love with her student?

Did they not have an older sister or younger sister?

Gu Wan Jun didn’t understand the thought processes of those who believed in and spread rumors. She picked up her phone and wanted to send Tang Ying a WeChat message to ask if the investigation had made any progress, but at the moment she opened the chat box, a sentence that Tang Ying had said during the day suddenly popped out of Gu Wan Jun’s mind—

“When you and your little follower are in the same frame, you look more like a couple than you do with me.”

Once, twice, three times, four times… Tang Ying’s words were like magic, constantly ringing in Gu Wan Jun’s ears.

That Tang Ying was really something, she couldn’t make any other jokes, but she had to make this kind of strange joke. How did she and Chen Lu look like a couple when they were in the same frame? They were clearly just a big sister and a little sister, they—

Eh? Wasn’t she just about to send Tang Ying a message to ask about the investigation? How did she accidentally open the photo album and happen to find Chen Lu’s photo???

Gu Wan Jun was somewhat speechless about her own mistake.

But since she had already opened it, Gu Wan Jun’s index finger and thumb still subconsciously zoomed in on the selfie that Chen Lu had sent her last year during the New Year, examining it carefully.

…