SYLM Chapter 36
by VolareThe language arts office.
It was the last class of the morning, and almost time to get off work. There were hardly any teachers left in the office.
Gu Wan Jun, who had been writing lesson plans all morning, finally stopped her pen. She let out a long breath and got up to stretch her neck and back.
Seeing Gu Wan Jun, who had been sitting for almost the entire morning, finally move, Yang Jin Feng, whose desk was directly opposite hers, tidied up her things while smiling and striking up a conversation:
“Looks like you’ve been writing all morning, are you done?”
“Yes, I’ve finally finished catching up.”
Gu Wan Jun rotated her slightly stiff wrist and jokingly teased herself:
“My hand is almost broken from writing. Procrastination is really harmful.”
“Sigh, that’s just how it is being a homeroom teacher, there’s always endless things to write. But your efficiency is pretty high, you finished catching up in just one morning.”
After all, she was a language arts teacher, Yang Jin Feng made it a point to provide positive emotional value. While speaking, she glanced down at the time on her phone, then looked up at Gu Wan Jun again:
“Hey, it’s time to get off work, are you leaving?”
“No, I still have to go to the surveillance room later to check on my students.”
“You’re really acting like a proper homeroom teacher.”
Yang Jin Feng gave Gu Wan Jun an admiring thumbs up, then asked casually:
“So, you’re not going home for lunch again?”
“There’s so little time at noon, I don’t want to cook even if I go home, I’ll just find a place near the school to eat something.”
Gu Wan Jun smiled. She said she’d just find a place, but in her heart, she was already looking forward to the hotpot restaurant she was going to with Chen Lu later.
She wondered if the newly opened restaurant was really as good as the other teachers said, and whether Chen Lu would like it.
If she did like it, they could go there often in the future.
…
After a few casual chats, Yang Jin Feng was already dressed and ready to leave. She had to pick up her child from school at noon.
The other two teachers who had also packed up left the office with Yang Jin Feng. Soon, Gu Wan Jun was the only one left in the office.
Closing her lesson plans, capping her pen, and quickly tidying up her desk, Gu Wan Jun put on her coat and straightened her hair in front of the mirror. Just as she was ready to go downstairs to the surveillance room, there was a sudden knock on the office door.
“Please come in.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the office door opened from the outside.
Wang Zhen De and Chen Lu walked into the office one after the other.
Seeing who it was, Gu Wan Jun was visibly stunned.
The current situation was exactly the same as when she first took over Class 12 last year, when Chen Lu was caught writing a novel during math class.
But this time, unlike the last time when he was furious and had a grim face, Wang Zhen De’s expression was relatively calm. On the other hand, Chen Lu, who always stood up straight, was now hanging her head, as if she had made a big mistake.
What’s going on?
Did Chen Lu write a novel in math class again?
Gu Wan Jun pursed her lips and quickly dismissed this guess.
That’s not right, there was no math class after Class 12 swapped classes this morning. Besides, Chen Lu had promised her, and based on her recent performance in math class, she shouldn’t be writing novels in math class again…
What exactly happened?
…
In an instant, a thousand possibilities flashed through Gu Wan Jun’s mind. She glanced at the head-hanging Chen Lu, then respectfully and politely took the initiative to ask Wang Zhen De:
“Teacher Wang, is there something you need from me?”
Wang Zhen De looked back at Chen Lu, then told Gu Wan Jun everything that had happened in the office just now.
“Ever since she apologized to me in the office for writing novels in class, this child’s attitude towards math has become much more serious. Whenever she has time, she comes to the office to ask me math questions. She gets all the small quizzes right every time, and I can tell from her homework that she’s writing seriously. Honestly, I don’t believe she would do something like this.”
Wang Zhen De pushed up his glasses, his tone calm. Clearly, the stern old man’s impression of Chen Lu had greatly changed.
“When the small quiz fell on the ground, Teacher Liu asked Chen Lu what she was doing in the office. Chen Lu didn’t say anything. When I came back, Teacher Liu told me about it. I asked Chen Lu again what she was doing in the office, and Chen Lu said she wanted to take her small quiz.”
“But I just looked at Chen Lu’s small quiz from this morning. She only missed writing a formula for the second question, and everything else was correct.”
“I also checked the surveillance in my office and found that Chen Lu did pick up the small quiz at first, but before Teacher Liu came into the office, she put the small quiz back exactly where it was. I asked Chen Lu why, and she didn’t say anything again. I don’t know what’s going on in this child’s head, Teacher Gu, you can handle it.”
“…”
Gu Wan Jun was shocked again and again by what Wang Zhen De said. Her originally smooth brow unconsciously furrowed into a small hill. She told Wang Zhen De that she would definitely handle this matter properly.
After Wang Zhen De left, only Gu Wan Jun and Chen Lu, who had been hanging her head, remained in the office.
Dozens of seconds of silence were extremely painful for Chen Lu, but she still didn’t dare to look Gu Wan Jun in the eyes, until—
“Raise your head and look at me.”
Gu Wan Jun spoke, breaking the silence.
There was a rare sternness in her usual gentle tone, which made people feel a tremor in their hearts. Helplessly digging her nails into her palms, Chen Lu had no choice but to raise her head.
“What exactly is going on? Did you really go to the office to get your own small quiz?”
“Yes,” Chen Lu’s voice was very small, almost inaudible.
“Why?”
“Because…”
Knowing that she had done something wrong, Chen Lu’s dry lips barely moved before she subconsciously wanted to lower her head and avoid Gu Wan Jun’s gaze. But the next second, Gu Wan Jun directly reached out and held her chin:
“Look into my eyes and tell me, why?”
“…”
This was the first time Chen Lu had personally felt the authority and pressure of a teacher from Gu Wan Jun. Meeting those no longer gentle, even somewhat sharp peach blossom eyes, Chen Lu’s clear voice was no longer as steady as before:
“Because I missed writing a formula. I didn’t know that formula when I memorized it, and I didn’t write it down when I took the dictation.”
“Why didn’t you go to the math teacher during class time to memorize it?”
“I went, I went all four class times, but the math teacher wasn’t there,” Chen Lu said truthfully.
Although this sounded like an excuse, Chen Lu wouldn’t explain herself to anyone else, but she didn’t want Gu Wan Jun to misunderstand her.
“So you thought about taking out the small quiz?” Gu Wan Jun’s face became even colder.
“Yes.”
“Do you know what kind of behavior you’re doing?”
“I know, but I don’t want to stay in class at noon.”
“…”
When they reached this point in the conversation, both of them fell silent.
Didn’t want to stay in class at noon… Could it be because of what she said this morning about going to eat hotpot?
Shock, belated realization, self-blame, self-doubt… For a moment, complex emotions mixed together and came crashing down like a landslide, instantly submerging Gu Wan Jun. She subconsciously took two steps back to distance herself from Chen Lu, turning her back and no longer looking at Chen Lu.
After all this time, the trigger for this incident turned out to be herself?
Remembering that she had repeatedly assured the grade principal, Lü Jiang Hong, that she would take good care of Chen Lu, but only a few days later, this child had gotten into trouble because of her, Gu Wan Jun closed her eyes, feeling extremely guilty.
She hadn’t grasped the proper boundaries between herself and Chen Lu.
…
Seeing Gu Wan Jun turn her back to herself, knowing that she would definitely think of the hotpot at noon, Chen Lu was about to open her mouth and take all the blame on herself when she heard Gu Wan Jun, who was facing away from her, ask:
“Teacher Wang said just now that you picked up the small quiz and then put it back exactly where it was.”
“Yes.”
Chen Lu lowered her head, her seemingly calm tone suppressing a strong sense of self-condemnation:
“When I picked it up, I suddenly realized that I couldn’t do that. It was wrong to do that. I was wrong, teacher, punish me.”
“…”
—
Second Grade (12) Class.
The last class for Class 12 was politics class.
Seeing that Chen Lu hadn’t returned after almost half the class, Fu Yi Wen was a little anxious.
Why is it taking so long for Lu Lu to memorize formulas in the office?
Her right eyelid has been twitching non-stop. Could something have happened to her Lu Lu?
Fu Yi Wen had never hated her “bad luck” so much, until—
When more than half of the politics class had passed and Tang Ying asked the students to discuss in groups, Chen Lu, who had returned from the office with a pair of reddened eyes, knocked on the door of Class 12.
…
After returning to her seat, Fu Yi Wen noticed the traces of Chen Lu having cried, which made her extremely anxious.
But no matter how Fu Yi Wen asked, Chen Lu didn’t say anything.
Until she used the politics paper to cover her face, her always straight shoulders slumped down, and the tears circling in Chen Lu’s eyes fell onto the paper like broken pearls.
…
“I have a general understanding of this matter, and I will consult the math teacher for his handling suggestions.”
“Today’s hotpot appointment is canceled. You can take care of your own lunch.”
“You and I both have our own things to do. Let’s reduce the number of times we eat together in the future. It’s better for both of us.”
“…”
A gentle but resolute voice kept echoing in her ears.
Gu Wan Jun was starting to deliberately distance herself from her. What should she do?
Chen Lu didn’t know.
—
The language arts office.
After Chen Lu left, even though Gu Wan Jun’s thoughts were a mess because of what had just happened, she still had to shoulder her responsibilities as a homeroom teacher.
Ten minutes later, Gu Wan Jun came to the surveillance room in a daze.
Her fingers quickly tapped on the keyboard, and the surveillance footage was adjusted to Class 12, with the direction facing the window seats in the classroom.
The colored image came into view, and Gu Wan Jun clearly saw Fu Yi Wen in the fourth row by the window stealthily handing Chen Lu a tissue.
And Chen Lu was covering her face with a paper.
Gu Wan Jun couldn’t see her expression.
Is this child crying?
The hand holding the mouse was a little cold. Recalling what she had said in the office just now, Gu Wan Jun lowered her eyes. She knew that those words were too cruel for Chen Lu.
But she had no choice.
This incident could be said to have been caused by her. Although Chen Lu had reined herself in at the last moment and held onto her original intentions, there might be a second time if there was a first time. She had to prevent this from happening again.
She wouldn’t allow anyone to delay Chen Lu’s future, including herself.
At this moment, Gu Wan Jun was unknowingly caught in an emotional dilemma. If it were someone else, she would definitely be able to realize that her handling method today was definitely not the most appropriate, and could even be said to be problematic.
But this happened to Chen Lu.
Excessive concern leads to confusion for Gu Wan Jun.
So much so that after she completely calmed down, she belatedly realized that her “one-size-fits-all” approach seemed a bit inappropriate.
And at that time, a new problem arose between her and Chen Lu.