A Young Woman's Heart

"They're coming up."

"Why did they come up? Shouldn't they have run down?"

"Because they thought we would continue searching."

"So all we need to do is block the road from above?"

"It's right here."

There were no footsteps.

"Heh... intuition."

(eight)

The tranquil moonlight shone into the corridor of the laboratory building.

This place is separated from the main teaching building by a dark alley, as if they were in a completely different world.

"Let's go into the women's restroom," Hua Yinyin suggested.

"Shouldn't you go to the men's room?"

"That's why we usually go there, and that's why we need to go to the women's restroom. Also, there's a storage shelf on the ceiling over there, and I know how to get up there! You have to go into the stall first, and then step on the toilet seat—only that stall has a toilet seat, the others are squat toilets, right, Yaoyao?"

"I've never been to the restroom on this floor before, but... I roughly know which one it is."

The two tiptoed into the women's restroom, with Mo Xueyao leading the way and opening the stall door first.

She always felt that the atmosphere inside was somewhat oppressive, and even the moonlight shining in was much less than outside.

Then, suddenly, something jumped out of the shadows ahead and landed with a thud.

"Roar!" A ferocious monster suddenly appeared in front of her, hissing in a low voice.

Mo Xueyao shuddered, then quickly turned and ran.

"Why are you running... Wow! Wanyan, you were actually hiding here waiting for us..." Hua Yinyin grinned awkwardly, pointing her thumb to the bathroom door. "Xiao Yaoyao seems to have been scared by you..."

"Hmm." Li Wanyan's tone was calm, but her face couldn't hide the satisfaction of having successfully pulled off a prank.

(Nine)

Mo Xueyao, who had just rushed out of the restroom, suddenly saw a dark figure dart out from around the corner.

"Wow!"

"Eek! Phew... What is it? It's just Lele."

"Hey, why isn't anyone scared of me?! It's infuriating!"

……

Chapter 52 Communication between Teachers and Parents

After the parent-teacher meeting, the teachers do not leave immediately, because they know that many parents will have many questions to ask.

As the homeroom teacher, Ye Wen had to stay. She was already surrounded by two circles of people, with parents talking all at once, making it feel like she had come to the noisiest duck farm.

"Alright, alright, everyone ask one by one. I can't answer all of your questions at once. Come on, parents who have to go back in a hurry can ask their questions first. Parents who aren't in such a rush, please sit down on the chairs over there for a while, okay?"

Ye Wen pressed her hands down, signaling the parents to be a little more orderly.

A few well-mannered people consciously left the crowd, but many others felt they were in a hurry to go home, and the noisy situation did not change.

Ye Wen had no choice but to find the parent closest to her—her spittle was practically flying onto her face—so she figured she might as well answer her question first.

"Who is this...?"

“I am Jun Ruohuan’s mother.”

Jun Ruohuan is a boy who had good grades in his first year of high school, but after the class reshuffling in his second year, his grades became very unstable, fluctuating wildly.

So Ye Wen arranged for him to sit next to Li Wanyan as her deskmate, hoping that he could learn good study habits like Li Wanyan.

"Oh, it's Jun Ruohuan's mother..."

"Hey, my son told me that his teacher keeps him after school every night for extra lessons to improve his grades. Is that true? The extra lessons are fine, but could he go home earlier?"

"Tutoring?" Ye Wen was stunned for a moment, her mind racing, then she shook her head firmly. "Impossible. I almost never keep anyone after school for tutoring anymore. Even if I do, it's only occasionally, not long-term."

"what?"

"What did he say? Hmm, when did he start talking about needing extra lessons?"

"They've been saying we need to make up for it since the start of this semester."

Ye Wen sighed helplessly: "Then you should pay attention to where he goes after school in the afternoons. If he doesn't stay at school, and he goes home very late, he might pick up bad habits from bad people in society. You must take this seriously."

Jun Ruohuan's mother remained silent for a long time, then silently took two steps back and squeezed out of the crowd.

Ye Wen stood on tiptoe and called out to her, "I'll keep an eye out for you usually too. I'll ask the other boys next week, maybe I'll find out where he went!"

"Okay, thank you for your concern, teacher."

"Oh—by the way." Ye Wen saw Old Chen who was about to leave, stood on the stool and called out to him, "Chen Cheng's father, could you stay for a moment?"

"Me?" Old Chen turned his head somewhat awkwardly. "Is there something you need?"

"There are some things I need to say, um... If you're busy, you can go back first, but it would be best if you stayed a little longer."

"Okay, okay... I'll wait for you." Old Chen sat down again, but he sat very uncomfortably, as if the chair was made of protruding pebbles.

"Hello, Teacher Ye, I am An Ruosu's mother. My daughter Susu has been quiet lately when she comes home on weekends. Is she being bullied at school?"

Ye Wen felt a little embarrassed. She only knew that the students called An Ruosu "Susu", but she didn't expect that his nickname at home was also this.

"Him? He's doing fine at school. He gets along well with everyone, plays basketball every day, and nobody bullies him."

"Oh—so he's in a relationship? He has a girl he likes?"

"Um... well, that's something you parents need to talk to." Ye Wen scratched her cheek sheepishly. "After all, there are so many students, and if they're intentionally hiding it, it's hard for me to guess whether they're dating or not."

"Early romance is not good. You have to wait until the college entrance exam is over..." An Ruosu's mother muttered to herself, seemingly thinking about how to communicate with her son when she got back.

Ye Wen was busy answering many parents' questions and it took her a long time to finally relax. More than half an hour had passed since the parent-teacher meeting ended.

She sighed deeply and wearily wiped the sweat from her forehead.

She disliked parent-teacher conferences during her school days, and she never imagined that even after becoming a teacher herself, these conferences would still be so painful...

Goodbye, Teacher Ye.

"Oh, goodbye. Remember to keep an eye on Zhou Yong's homework when you get back. He hasn't been doing his homework lately and just comes over to copy other people's every day."

"sure."

"Teacher Ye, thank you for your hard work. I'll be going now."

"Okay, Xiaxia is a very hardworking girl, but everyone's talent is different. Don't be too harsh on her, give her more encouragement."

"Okay..." The parent's reply was very reluctant.

"Hua Yinyin's father, your daughter has a serious imbalance in her subjects. Although we are in the humanities class, we still have to take math. For humanities students, getting more points in math can make a big difference in their ranking, because this is a weak point for humanities students. It depends on who can overcome it. If you want to get into a good university, you have to start working hard. There's not much time left. This semester will end soon and she will be a senior in high school."

"Haha, I'll talk to her, but it depends on her mood. As long as she can get into university, that's fine." Hua Yinyin's father was very easygoing and seemed completely unconcerned.

Ye Wen looked around the classroom, making sure she had nothing more to say to the parents who were about to leave, before finally walking up to Old Chen.

Old Chen was just tidying up Chen Cheng's drawer, which was filled with a jumble of test papers and crumpled notebooks.

This reminded him of his carefree and irresponsible behavior when he was in school, making him even more embarrassed.

Because I didn't do well in the past, I'm embarrassed to talk about my son now.

This kid passed every subject in this exam, which is much better than before.

"Hello, Chen Cheng's father."

"Hello, teacher." Old Chen, who looked much more weathered than other parents, sat up straight like a primary school student.

"What's your name?"

"Just call me Lao Chen."

"I think you missed a few parent-teacher conferences before, didn't you?"

"Uh... this is my first time here." Old Chen touched his rough face, and the young teacher in front of him made him feel even older.

Time is the most merciless thing.

"Well, I won't ask about the reason why you didn't come before. It's really not easy for you to come this time. The main reason for asking you to stay is to find out about Chen Cheng's recent situation."

"Hmm, what's wrong with this kid? Has his grades dropped again? Or is he just causing trouble all the time?"

"On the contrary, his grades have steadily improved this semester. If it was a bit uncertain before that he could get into a university, now the chances are much better. If he can maintain this momentum, he should be able to get into a junior college. But it would be best if he worked a little harder and got into a third-tier university, which would be better than a junior college. If he could get into a second-tier university, he could save a lot of tuition fees."

"Oh……"

"So hopefully he'll try harder recently. And, does he smoke?"

"Yes, cough..."

“I can’t control him at home either, but I hope he won’t bring cigarettes to school to smoke. Last time our dean caught him smoking and confiscated the cigarettes, he said his dad gave them to him. Is that true?”

"That brat..." Old Chen cursed under his breath, then looked up and said with a forced smile, "Yes... I'm used to it. I think he'd rather smoke better cigarettes than those cheap ones, so I gave him mine."

"It's best not to bring this to school. If you want to smoke, do it at home. After all, it's not a good thing."

"Okay, I know."

“I also make sure he goes home early after school in the afternoon. Although we have recently increased the management of social order, there are still many idle people loitering around here. We have even caught a few drug users and drug dealers here before.”

"Okay, I never liked him because he always lingered after school and didn't come home."

Seeing that Lao Chen was so cooperative, Ye Wen couldn't help but smile with satisfaction. She walked to the podium, picked up a small bag, and placed it on the table in front of Lao Chen: "I heard that Chen Cheng's studies have improved because he has a girlfriend who can't go to school but is very studious, right?"

"Ha...yes, that's right. She lives with us. She...uh, she's the kind of girl who has nowhere to go. She's a really nice person, sigh."

"I don't mind anything about puppy love," Ye Wen smiled. "High school students aren't young anymore, it's normal for them to date. I just hope he doesn't become an irresponsible man."

"Absolutely, I will definitely keep this brat in check," Old Chen nodded firmly.

Ye Wen poked the paper bag and said with a smile, "Here, these are some small gifts. Inside are stationery and supplementary teaching materials that are not easy to buy on your own. If you want to take the adult college entrance examination, this should be helpful. There are also several book vouchers of different denominations inside, which can be used at any Xinhua Bookstore. For example, a voucher is worth 20 yuan. If you want to buy a book worth 25 yuan, you only need to pay an extra 5 yuan. Unlike some vouchers, you can only redeem them after spending a certain amount."