Under the scorching sun, with the sound of cicadas piercing through the sky.
In a certain classroom on the second floor of Xuri Middle School.
Chen Mingxu stood on the platform, holding a teaching triangular ruler, giving a lecture. His upper garment was soaked with sweat.
The air was so hot that it felt like it could bubble. The ceiling fan was spinning, making a loud noise. Under this high temperature, the breeze blowing from the fan felt like hot air.
The students below appeared drowsy and lethargic.
He couldn’t help but feel somewhat irritable.
”Look at the blackboard.” Chen Mingxu noticed the state of the girl sitting in the third row and furrowed his brows slightly. He intensified the force of the ruler tapping the blackboard. “Can you hear me? Look at the blackboard!”
Several students who were about to doze off suddenly woke up, opening their hazy eyes and forcing themselves to look at the blackboard.
The girl seemed as if she hadn’t heard anything, still keeping her head down and doodling on the paper with a pencil. She had a pretty and innocent face, appearing even more adorable due to her young age and a hint of innocence.
Her sitting posture was upright, her temperament calm and gentle, making her look like the type of obedient student that teachers loved.
—Except that she was behaving as if the teacher on the platform didn’t exist.
Chen Mingxu’s brow furrowed even deeper, and he continued reciting, “Angle one is equal to angle two, angle three is equal to 108 degrees—”
As the lesson was almost finished, there was still no sign of her lifting her head. Chen Mingxu had been suppressing his anger for a while, but in an instant, it exploded. He forcefully slammed the triangular ruler onto the desk.
The collision of the plastic ruler and the wooden desk produced a loud noise.
The sound startled the entire class, causing them to shrink back, and the following angry roar made the atmosphere tense.
”Sang Zhi!”
Sang Zhi, the one called out by name, looked up and glanced at Chen Mingxu for two seconds. Then she put down the pen in her hand and stood up voluntarily
Chen Mingxu restrained his temper and asked, “What did I just say?”
Sang Zhi looked at the diagram on the blackboard calmly and replied, “Angle four is equal to 72 degrees.”
Having grown accustomed to her appearance of being a well-behaved student at any given moment, Chen Mingxu wasn’t fooled this time. He tapped the desk with the ruler again and sneered, “I haven’t mentioned that yet!”
”…”
Sang Zhi began to find this a bit tricky. “Then, why did you ask me to stand up…?”
Chen Mingxu retorted, “What do you think I asked you to stand up for?”
Sang Zhi pondered for a few seconds and guessed, “You don’t know?”
Chen Mingxu: “…”
Sang Zhi: “So, you asked me to stand up for…?”
Chen Mingxu: “?”
”I understand,” Sang Zhi said knowingly, looking at the blackboard. “Because angle one is equal to angle two, so AB is parallel to CD, and when two lines are parallel, the alternate interior angles are supplementary—”
Chen Mingxu couldn’t bear it any longer. “You’re quite capable. Why don’t you take my place as the teacher then?”
Interrupted by him, Sang Zhi appeared a bit puzzled. She opened her mouth to speak, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said, “But I can’t take your job away.”
”…”
After a few seconds of silence, the whole class burst into laughter.
Chen Mingxu was fuming. “Quiet down! Be quiet!”
The children still had smiles on their faces, and the classroom became as noisy as a marketplace. Some students in the back row even cheered mischievously ——
”Teacher, I think it’s a great idea! Let Sang Zhi be our class teacher!”
”By then, can we skip doing homework?”
”Can I just not come to school at all?”
Chen Mingxu yelled, “Shut up!”
”Sang Zhi.” Chen Mingxu looked at Sang Zhi again, his breathing heavy. He tried to keep his composure, but in the end, she infuriated him to the point of roaring, “Tomorrow, I’m calling your parents!!!”
-
The bell rang for the end of the class.
Chen Mingxu left the classroom with a stern face without even looking back.
It happened to be the last period, so most of the students packed up their things and left together.
”How did you manage to provoke Baldy Chen again?” Yin Zhenru, a friend, approached her as soon as the bell rang. “Don’t you know he likes to call parents over for any little thing?”
Sang Zhi stuffed her notebook into her backpack and zipped it up forcefully. “I don’t even know what I did to provoke him.”
Yin Zhenru widened her eyes. “You don’t know?”
Sang Zhi looked annoyed and muttered, “Didn’t I just answer him?”
”Your answer seemed like you were deliberately looking for trouble.” Yin Zhenru laughed. “What was that about ‘I can’t take your job away’? If it were me, I’d want to punch you too.”
Sang Zhi let out a low hum. “Well, he’s just as unreasonable as you are.”
”Seriously though,” Yin Zhenru said, “Why don’t you pay attention in class? And you keep getting caught.”
”Don’t you think Baldy Chen’s way of speaking is like hypnotizing?” Sang Zhi slung her backpack over her shoulders and yawned. “If I actually listened seriously and didn’t find something to do, I’d definitely fall asleep.”
”…”
Makes some sense.
While Yin Zhenru was about to say something else, she noticed a few boys standing at the school gate. She changed the subject and brought up another matter: “By the way, are you going to the bookstore?”
Sang Zhi glanced at her. “Why should I?”
Yin Zhenru explained, “Fu Zhengchu asked you to go, and some boys from Class Six are also going. Let’s all go together.”
Sang Zhi asked again, “Go for what?”
”Well,” Yin Zhenru thought for a moment, “to buy ‘Queen’s Hero’?”
”…”
What on earth was ‘Queen’s Hero’?
Sang Zhi remained silent for a few seconds. “Do you mean ‘King’s Hero’?”
Yin Zhenru replied, “Yes, yes, that’s it! Will you go?”
Sang Zhi said, “I’m not going.”
”Why not?” Yin Zhenru lightly bumped her shoulder and said ambiguously, “Fu Zhengchu is quite handsome, you know.”
The two walked side by side out of the classroom.
Hearing this, Sang Zhi’s expression became somewhat indescribable. “You should get your eyes checked.”
Yin Zhenru was unconvinced. “What’s wrong with my eyes? It’s not just me who thinks he’s handsome! Many people think so too.”
Sang Zhi nodded and suggested again, “Then you guys can go as a group.”
”…”
After saying that, Sang Zhi took out her phone from the backpack. She opened her text message editor, hesitated and sent a message to Sang Yan: [Gege, you haven’t been home for a long time. When are you coming back? Can you come back tomorrow? I miss you so much TAT]
Yin Zhenru didn’t notice her actions and said disappointedly, “You really won’t go?”
”Yup.”
”They’re all waiting at the school gate…”
”If you want to go, then go,” Sang Zhi replied absentmindedly, “I’m just not in the mood today.”
Yin Zhenru asked, “Ah, is it because of the parent-teacher meeting? What are you going to do? Why not ask your dad to come this time?”
Sang Zhi shook her head. “They won’t come.”
”Huh? Why?”
Sang Zhi kept her eyes on her phone, waiting for Sang Yan’s reply. “I won’t tell them.”
Yin Zhenru reminded her, “But if your parents don’t come, Baldy Chen will call them.”
”It’s fine.”
She hadn’t even finished saying the words “I’ll call my brother.”
A text message came in just then.
Sang Yan: [?]
Sang Yan: [I can’t come.]
”…”
-
Peek-Aboo 
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