It's the students' fault if they are too popular.

Long Ting was sitting at her desk drinking tea, the hot water in the cup covering her glasses with a layer of mist. She put down the cup, saw Ruan Qian coming, sneered, stretched out her hand, and knocked on the table with her knuckles:

"Bring me your homework book."

Ruan Qian didn't dare to resist and handed it to her. Then, she heard Long Ting's sarcastic remarks:

“Tsk tsk.

"Look how wrong you are."

Long Ting flipped through the pages one by one, "Did I talk about this in class? Right? And this question!"

Don't talk back, let her scold you as much as she wants.

Ruan Qian said nothing, just lowered her eyes and accepted everything.

"Ruan Qian, did you listen in class?" Long Ting almost laughed when she spoke, with a tone that was uncomfortable and harsh. Swearing without using dirty words was a more aggrieved insult, and every word hurt the girl's fragile self-esteem.

Ruan Qian whispered: "I heard it."

"Is it wrong to hear that?!"

As if she was waiting for her to say this, Long Ting flipped to today's homework and slammed it hard on the table, causing the paper to wrinkle. The force of the slam almost broke the table:

"Write! Write right here! Today's homework, take it back when you finish it!"

Ruan Qian was so frightened that she trembled and her body went limp:

"But... there is a math class next period..."

"Take care of your chemistry first!" Long Ting yelled, "You can't have lunch if you don't finish! I'm going to keep you company, start writing now! I'll watch you write!"

After saying that, Long Ting leaned aside and gave up half of the table.

It means letting Ruan Qian write while standing.

The school bell rings.

Long Ting stared at Ruan Qian, as if she might be angered again at any time.

But what about me? Wouldn’t I be angry? Wouldn’t I be sad and wronged? Why couldn’t I just speak properly?

Ruan Qian walked closer with her head lowered, silently holding the pen and biting her lips hard. She succumbed to such intimidation, bent over and began to do the questions.

Teacher Tong will definitely notice that he is not in his seat, right?

Would you think she skipped class?

She is actually... not a bad kid, she is just a kid with poor grades. It doesn't matter if anyone doesn't know, but she wants Teacher Tong to know. She is still very bad, but she is trying her best to become better.

She wanted to go to math class. She had finally caught up with the current pace and was afraid that if she missed a class she would fall behind again. But she was so scared that she didn't dare to say a word.

Long Ting looked at her phone for a while, then glanced at the girl's draft paper. She discovered something and suddenly laughed strangely:

"Hey, you're still drawing on the draft paper? You do this during class. No wonder you can't learn well and have no future."

Ruan Qian wanted to pretend she didn't hear it, but the more she held it in, the more she couldn't stand the grievance of being misunderstood. Her hand holding the pen kept shaking, and she gritted her teeth and tried to explain:

“This is what I drew after class…”

"Okay, you're playing tricks on me as a teenager? I'm not a student? Do you think I'm easy to fool? Write your questions carefully!"

This woman's mean face is almost engraved in her bones.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but Ruan Qian blinked and held them back. Crying is useless, it will only make people who look down on you look down on you even more.

She would never be defeated by someone like Long Ting.

-

-

In math class, Tong Yao looked at the empty seat at the back of the classroom and felt a little worried.

"Where is classmate Ruan Xi?" she asked.

I discovered it when the class just started and thought he was in the bathroom, but it turned out he hadn't returned for ten minutes into the class.

The students in the class wanted to tell her something at once, which made her feel overwhelmed.

Jiang Yiming raised his hand and stood up: "Ruan Qian was called to the office by Teacher Long."

"Office?" Tong Yao was puzzled. "Why did she take so long? What happened to her? She couldn't miss math class."

"It's just... It's similar to talking back. It made Mr. Long angry."

The matter was a bit complicated, and it was not convenient for students to discuss the teacher's behavior, so Jiang Yiming was speechless.

But in fact, in this matter, everyone in the class stood on Ruan Qian's side, even though many of them were not familiar with Ruan Qian.

There is an atmosphere of shared hatred against a common enemy.

Nursery rhyme: support the forehead.

This kind of thing actually happened...

It has been almost three weeks, and she has had a general understanding of the personalities of the teachers in the office. Long Ting is indeed a person with a bad temper, but she did not expect that Ruan Qian would be the one who would fall into her trap.

That child is so well behaved...how could he talk back to the teacher?

After spending quite some time together, she realized that Ruan Qian was a pretty cute girl apart from her poor grades, and would not likely do that kind of thing.

Besides, I have to take the math class no matter what.

Tong Yao thought for a while and marked a few questions on the blackboard with chalk:

"Students, please write down these questions in your books. I'll go over and take a look. Class leaders, please maintain discipline."

She glanced at Ji Chen, and Ji Chen quickly said that he could take care of it and leave it to him.

The nursery rhyme is out.

And then...the class exploded.

"Fuck! Teacher Tong went to see Ruan Qian?!"

"They won't fight, will they? I mean Ruan Qian and Long Ting."

"Who dares to go and take a look? I want to honor him as the strongest!"

"Quiet!" Ji Chen roared. The class was quiet for a while, and then immediately started talking in low voices again.

Ji Chen had no choice. It was really hard to control the whispering that was happening everywhere. It was like a guerrilla war.

-

-

in the office.

Long Ting glanced at the questions Ruan Qian had just finished, rolled up the chemistry book, and pointed:

"wrong."

Ruan Qian paused, poked a small hole on the paper with the trembling pen tip, and then started to work on the question again on the draft paper.

"It's still wrong. It's wrong to start writing." Long Ting said sarcastically, hitting Ruan Qian's head with the book, not too hard, but not lightly, "What on earth are you thinking about? Huh?"

Ruan Qian bit her lip, her eyes full of tears.

"Oh, you're still feeling wronged?" Long Ting laughed, "If I were to do as well as you in the exam, I would be so desperate that I would not even bother studying."

"Teacher Long."

At this moment, a voice sounded in this office where only two people were.

Long Ting was startled to find that the door had been opened at some point. Tong Yao was standing at the door, looking at her, with no emotion in her words.

No one knew that this was Tong Yao's angry look.

She suppressed her anger, her soft features but her eyes were sharp and her face was cold. She regarded every student as a precious and fragile celadon, but the treasures she held in her hands and protected were trampled into dust by her fellow teacher.

Long Ting felt guilty and asked awkwardly:

"…Why is Teacher Tong here?"

Tong Yao looked at Ruan Qian, then looked back:

"What do you say? I'm picking up my students for class."

Ruan Qian, who had lost control of her emotions since she saw the nursery rhyme, almost burst into tears on the spot.

"Ruan Xi, come here."

Tong Yao stretched out her hand and gave a reassuring smile.

The girl shrugged her nose, responded with a crying voice, walked over with her homework, and held Tong Yao's hand tightly.

Tong Yao responded by shaking her hand and looked at Long Ting calmly:

"Teacher Long, how did Ruan Qian make you angry?"

"She..." Long Ting's face was not looking good. "She talked back to me, talked to her deskmate in class, and wrote her homework in a mess."

"I didn't!" Ruan Qian didn't know where she got the courage from, and she cried out.

After analyzing the personalities of both parties and Long Ting's obvious lack of confidence, it was not difficult for Tong Yao to draw a conclusion.

More importantly, what she had just seen and heard.

"Teacher Long," Tong Yao stared at Long Ting, protecting the girl behind her, and said word by word, "I respect you as a senior. I don't want to, and I don't have the right to say anything, but as teachers, we graduated with an oath and should abide by the teacher's ethics and care for students as if they were our own children. This is the basis of being a teacher. Ask yourself, people who are not teachers would not use such hurtful words to attack a child, right? Books are not a tool for corporal punishment. I think being a human being is more important than knowledge. These children are at the most critical period of their lives. Don't you think you should be more patient?"

If she wasn't really angry, she wouldn't have said such a long speech at once.

Long Ting's face was gloomy, but she didn't refute a word. It was not until Tong Yao took Ruan Qian away that she threw the book on the table. The book with the scars on it was quietly spread out, and the curled pages looked like petals falling to the ground.

-

-

"Teacher Tong..."

The girl followed behind him, blowing her nose, tears streaming down her face, her face all red from tears.

After walking a few steps with the little girl, Tong Yao sighed, turned around, smiled helplessly, and took out a tissue to help her wipe away her tears:

"Okay, don't cry, don't cry. Why are you crying as soon as I get here? If you don't know, you might think I'm bullying you."

——I am crying because you came.

Ruan Qian wiped her tears and hiccuped while crying.

If no one cares about her, crying will be like a joke, and others will laugh at or pity her as if they were watching a play; but if someone cares about her, she can cry as much as she wants like a child.

Tong Yao patted Ruan Qian on the back. As it was still class time, they were the only ones in the corridor. She rubbed her temples, feeling a little distressed. After all, there were so many students waiting for her in the classroom. After some struggle, she gave up and chose to let the little girl do as she pleased.

"Be good, don't cry." She coaxed softly. They were about the same height, but she was wearing high heels, which gave her a slight advantage and allowed her to hug the little girl. Ruan Qian cried even more wildly. She hugged Tong Yao's waist and sobbed in the corridor.

"She...she said I would have no future...she wronged me..." Ruan Qian choked with sobs, her tears almost soaking Tong Yao's shirt, "I really tried hard...I listened to the lectures, but...I'm stupid...I was very bad in my first year of high school..."

"Yeah, I know," Tong Yao stroked her fur and said softly, "I know your efforts best. You are not stupid at all."

Although it was just a joke, it was indeed the truth of the nursery rhyme. She didn't know about other subjects, but at least in mathematics, she knew that Ruan Qian had put in enough sweat in the past few weeks.

"No one can decide your future except yourself." Tong Yao slightly pushed the little girl away, pressed her shoulder, looked at her and smiled, "You crying like this will make those who care about you feel so distressed. We just don't listen to others, we just need to work hard and be worthy of ourselves, right?"

The little girl closed her eyes and nodded vigorously: "Yes!"

"Then...is it time to go back to class? Do you want to have lunch with the teacher at noon?"

"……think."

Ruan Qian's eyes turned red, and she felt that she was becoming spoiled because of the favor she received. Her tearful face was tinged with a layer of cherry red.

"Teacher Tong...can I hug you again?"

Tong Yao smiled and said, "Of course."

She opened her arms slightly, and the little girl threw herself into her arms, as if she was afraid that she would run away.

"Thank you, Teacher Tong."

When she fell into darkness, helpless and hopeless——

Teacher Tong is her light.

Chapter 12: Her answer flashed by