Struggle Life in the 1970s

"I...I was talking nonsense just now! I was drunk and my head was not clear. I didn't know anything." Zhou Wenlong shook his head and tried hard to deny it.

Chu Ye had wiped away the blush on her cheeks, which was originally applied with rouge. After hearing what Zhou Wenlong said, she picked up the wine bottle on the table and splashed it on Zhou Wenlong's face.

"You don't know? I think you are the one who knows this best! I have already found out a few days ago that the rumors about me first came from the male teachers' dormitory. How dare you say you don't know?" Chu Ye's eyes were extremely cold. Although he was questioning, his tone was full of affirmation.

Zhou Wenlong was splashed with wine. He was surprised how Chu Ye could be sober at this moment. The next second, the wine fell into the corner of his mouth. He pursed his lips and there was no taste of alcohol in his mouth. Instead, it tasted like plain water.

He looked incredulous, then looked at Chen An and the director behind him, and finally realized that this was a trap set against him.

"Teacher Zhou, I was very optimistic about you, a group of interns, but I didn't expect you to do something like this." The director looked disappointed.

"No, Director, she was the one who got me drunk and tricked me into saying that. And Chen An!" Zhou Wenlong raised his hand to accuse, "In the evening, Chen An told me that Chu Ye was going to do something stupid, so I hurried out to look for him. I had good intentions, but they were the ones who tricked me and framed me!"

"I framed you? Aren't you afraid of biting your tongue when you say that? Would I have done that if you hadn't spread rumors about me in school first, causing teachers and classmates to make up stories behind my back?" Chu Ye's expression was cold, and he had a new understanding of the shamelessness of the person in front of him.

Ever since she was sure that Zhou Wenlong was the one who spread the rumor, she has been planning today's actions. She has said before that in the face of rumors, the best way to stop them is not to clarify yourself to people, which is the most useless method. To clarify, you have to catch the person who spread the rumor behind the scenes and make him admit the dirty things he did in person. This is called innocence.

Zhou Wenlong wanted to refute, but was interrupted by the director. "Stop explaining. I have already talked to those interns, and they all said that they heard bad things about Teacher Chu from you."

The director frowned, feeling a bit of a headache when thinking about what had happened recently.

A few days ago, he was happy for Chu Ye's good teaching results. He deliberately attended a few classes and felt that the learning atmosphere in the class was strong. Teacher Chu was also original in teaching. From time to time, he set up English games in class, which greatly increased students' interest in learning English.

But during those few days, he also heard rumors about Chu Ye in the school. He didn't want to interfere, but the rumor spread more and more. Not only did the teachers know that the new female teacher was very popular with the boys, but even some students began to talk about her behind her back.

Now he couldn't sit still. School is a place for imparting knowledge and solving problems. Students not only learn knowledge from teachers, but also their words and deeds affect students invisibly. Although he thinks highly of Chu Ye, a young and capable teacher, but if she really has a bad private life as the rumors say, he can only bear the pain and consider ending her internship career early.

However, in order to find out the reason, he specially called Chu Ye to his office three days ago to find out whether the facts were as the rumors said. Although he recognized Chu Ye's teaching ability, he also valued the teacher's character.

The result of the questioning still made him very satisfied. Chu Ye admitted that she had also heard these words recently. Fearing that it would have a bad impact on the school, she had privately arranged for students to question them secretly and had preliminarily found out the source of the rumors.

At this point, Chu Ye also called the four students over after class and let the director listen to the gossip they had heard. Because of this, Chu Ye sincerely admitted her mistake to the director, saying that her approach was inappropriate in asking students to do things that were not related to study.

The director waved his hands and gave a few verbal reprimands. He knew that the girl had no choice but to do this. She had just come here and encountered this kind of thing. It was understandable that she asked a few familiar students to inquire. Moreover, after the four students had explained, he also asked if it had affected the students. The students said that they listened to Teacher Chu and asked after dinner in the cafeteria.

After knowing that Chu Ye was innocent, he wanted to speak up for Chu Ye in front of the teachers to stop the rumors, but Chu Ye thanked him and refused, asking him to wait for three days, after which the truth would be revealed.

And just this evening, Chen An knocked on the door of his office and led him to ask several male teachers who came here for internship. After their careful thinking, they all replied that they vaguely remembered hearing rumors about Chu Ye from Zhou Wenlong.

His heart sank at that moment. He learned from those students that the rumor first appeared in the male teachers' dormitory. Now these male teachers all said that they heard Zhou Wenlong say bad things about Chu Ye.

What's going on? Is Zhou Wenlong a repeater? Does he like to spread rumors about girls to everyone he meets?

When he heard this, the director already had the answer in his mind, but that was not the end. He followed Chen An to the hotel again. The two hid in the room behind the hotel counter. After waiting for a while, Zhou Wenlong walked in.

What happened next was a natural progression. Although Zhou Wenlong was drunk and spoke incoherently, when Chu Ye asked him to say it again, the two of them could hear his admissions clearly.

"Come back to school when you're sober. Write a self-criticism tomorrow morning, and we'll hold a teachers' meeting in the afternoon." The director's words made the final decision, completely putting an end to Zhou Wenlong's any thoughts.

The next afternoon, when it was supposed to be dinner time, their office was full of people. Everyone was confused. The director only informed them that there would be a meeting after school, but it was not clear what the meeting was about.

The director sat in the first seat, looked around, and cleared his throat when everyone was present. "The reason why we notified the meeting today was sudden. That's because of some things that happened in the school recently. There are some things that have to be said." Everyone in the room listened quietly. Some people guessed something and subconsciously looked at Chu Ye.

Chu Ye sat upright in her seat with her back straight. She had her hair tied in a high ponytail today and looked particularly energetic.

"As teachers, our responsibility is to cultivate pillars for the country. This cultivation is not only about imparting knowledge to children, but more importantly, it is about teaching them how to be human beings. The children in our school are still young, and many concepts need to be instilled by us as teachers. Similarly, these good concepts are not just about talking, but we must teach by example and become role models for children to learn from."

"But recently, there have been some rumors circulating in school. I believe some of you have heard about them. They are about some things in Teacher Chu's private life."

"I originally didn't intend to intervene, but the matter gradually escalated and some of the words even reached the ears of the students."

The teachers present were silent, but their eyes were all directed in the direction of Chu Ye. They found that the new intern teacher stood straight with no guilt or shame on her face. Seeing that everyone was looking at her, she even raised the corners of her mouth and smiled at everyone in a friendly manner.

The teachers silently looked away, murmuring in their hearts, not knowing whether the new teacher was mentally strong or if there was some other hidden story.
The director took in everyone's expressions and became more and more satisfied with Chu Ye's performance. He continued, "A teacher's profession is not only to teach and educate, but also to have a good character. Otherwise, you are unworthy of the title of teacher! If there is a teacher in our school who lacks self-cultivation and has a scandal that leads students astray, don't blame me for being rude."

The director's words were very serious. He also used this incident to warn the teachers to keep their moral integrity. Seeing that no one dared to speak, he softened his expression and said, "Of course, if any teacher was falsely accused, I will also find out the truth and clear the teacher's name."

The director then called Zhou Wenlong to the front and asked him to face everyone.

Zhou Wenlong's face flushed red and he clenched his fists, but he knew that it was useless to say anything at this moment, so he could only move forward step by step amid the puzzled eyes of everyone.

The director did not urge her and continued, "So I also investigated the rumors about Teacher Chu in the school, and even asked some people privately before I figured out the matter."

"The rumors in the school are false. They were all made up by Teacher Zhou. Then the rumors became more and more intense, which also caused a lot of trouble for Teacher Chu."

He watched Zhou Wenlong walk to the front and said, "Teacher Zhou, am I not wronging you by saying this?"

"No, it was indeed my fault. I was possessed by a devil for a moment. Seeing Teacher Chu with a guy made me feel uncomfortable, so I told others some nonsense. I didn't expect that the rumors would become more and more outrageous..." Zhou Wenlong's voice became lower and lower. He didn't dare to look up or look at the contemptuous eyes of the crowd.

"Tsk! Stop making excuses and just admit it. You've caused Xiao Ye so much trouble and ruined her reputation. Do you think you can get away with just a few words?" Chen An was the first to stand up and speak up. She rolled her eyes and the disgust in her tone was soaring.

Chu Ye's expression remained unchanged. She didn't care how people looked at her. She just did her best to be herself.

"Okay, Mr. Zhou, now that you realize you're wrong, read your self-criticism, apologize to Mr. Chu and try to get his forgiveness. Everyone makes mistakes, and if you admit your mistakes and correct them, you can continue to stay in the school." The director patted him on the shoulder. After all, he didn't want to force him into a dead end.

Then, Zhou Wenlong read out his letter of self-criticism in front of everyone and solemnly apologized to Chu Ye. Chu Ye did not say the word forgiveness, but did not hold on to it either. He just asked him to be a good person in the future.

After this incident, the teachers had a new understanding of Chu Ye, and they also knew that this girl with delicate looks was not an easy target.

Zhou Wenlong also left the school quietly a few days later. Everyone knew that he was too embarrassed to stay here any longer, and the rumors about Chu Ye also disappeared like smoke after this incident.

When Mu Jiajun found out about this, Chen An accidentally said it when he came to find Chu Ye. After Mu Jiajun begged Chu Ye to explain the whole story from beginning to end, he felt so distressed that he was about to cry. He blamed himself for not being with Chu Ye and kept saying that he was useless.

Chu Ye originally didn't feel bad about defeating the bad guy. He just looked at Mu Jiajun, and the words swirled around his tongue for a few times before he swallowed them down reluctantly. Finally, after Mu Jiajun's tantrum, he promised that he would never hide anything from him in the future.

It was on this day that Chu Ye gave the first hug of her life in order to comfort the depressed Mu Jiajun. The two young bodies fit together, and her head was pressed tightly against his chest. Through the thin shirt, she could hear his heart beating wildly inside.

And she felt extremely at ease.

(End of this chapter)