Chapter 356 - 157: The Lonely Watcher (Part 1)

Chapter 356: Chapter 157: The Lonely Watcher (Part 1)

Xu Aiping was circling problems in a workbook that she planned to cover in the next class.

She had taught a graduating class just last year, so she knew the key points of every question type like the back of her hand. However, the exam committee adjusted the curriculum’s focus every year. Two years ago, the emphasis was on language and literacy, but last year’s new standard shifted to testing students’ "visual" comprehension. This led to a sharp increase in questions featuring images, and even veteran teachers couldn’t afford to be complacent.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in," Xu Aiping said without looking up. "What is it?"

A male student walked up to her and said bluntly:

"Teacher, I’d like to request leave for this afternoon."

Xu Aiping looked up. It wasn’t to see who it was; it was because the request struck her as unbelievably audacious.

"Absolutely not!" Xu Aiping slammed her pen on the desk and frowned. "Zhang Shutong, I haven’t even talked to you about yesterday’s incident, and now you’re trying to pull something else?"

"Teacher Song is leaving this afternoon. I’m going to the port to see him off."

"What does Teacher Song’s departure have to do with you?"

"He’s not in good health, his car broke down, and he still needs to move his things from the dorm. I’m going to help him."

"You..."

Xu Aiping’s temples throbbed. She pressed her fingers to her forehead. ’This kid has no shortage of excuses,’ she thought. ’Yesterday it was a bad arm, today it’s the teacher’s bad health. Is anything ever just fine? But still, you can’t really find fault with this kind of excuse.’

She had approved more leave requests than these students had ever dreamed of making. The most basic lies often involved the classic themes of life and death. For instance, some students were always feeling unwell and heading to the nurse’s office. For others, an uncle might die last month, only for a grandfather to pass away this month...

But by the same token, the most troublesome reasons were also inseparable from those same themes.

The problem was, this student was telling the truth.

She had seen Teacher Song Nanshan that morning. He hadn’t just shown up for the fourth period, as the students might have thought. In fact, he had arrived at the school right after the morning reading session ended.

It was just that the two of them had been talking in her office the entire time. They discussed the students’ habits, their academic weaknesses, and the children who were a handful versus those who were self-sufficient. His health really was poor; he had to pause to catch his breath every few sentences. Truth be told, she was a little annoyed. He could have easily visited the graduating class in the afternoon rather than right in the middle of the school day.

Any bit of news on campus was like a stone tossed into water—it created a violent splash, not gentle ripples. And kids this age were like a kettle of boiling water. She could already predict they would be worked up until school let out in the afternoon before they finally settled down.

And sure enough, here was one whose mind had already run off.

During their morning conversation, the student named Zhang Shutong had been a key topic of discussion. By now, she had a pretty good grasp of his personality: taciturn and unbelievably stubborn. The type who’s stubborn as a mule.

"I’m not going to try and discourage you. It’s a good thing that you care this much," Xu Aiping said, taking off her glasses to wipe them. "But you’re not a child anymore. Don’t just act on a whim. You need to think. If every other student asked for leave like you, clamoring to go see Teacher Song off, how would we have class this afternoon? How would the school maintain order?"

"That’s why you only need to approve leave for me," he replied. His calm tone held a certain resolve, as if he had anticipated her words. "If anyone else asks you, you can just tell them that someone has already gone, and that they should focus on their classes."

She took a deep breath.

"You’re dead set on going?"

"Teacher Song had a great impact on me." This was a clever answer, not directly stating whether he would go or not. "There will be very few chances to see him in the future."

Xu Aiping fell silent.

What was there to criticize about seeing a former teacher off? It was an unimpeachable reason. Far from stopping him, if it were any other student, she should be praising them in front of the class. She was a teacher, too; she couldn’t be bothered to play the villain. But she also disliked the feeling of things slipping out of her control.

But Xu Aiping knew that once things had reached this point, there was no need to say anything more.

’Am I supposed to say, "What if I just refuse to grant you leave?" Or should I just pretend I didn’t hear him and ignore him completely?’

A typical kid might just stand there, at a loss, but that wouldn’t work on this student.

Some students just can’t be controlled.

Whether you said yes or no, he was merely observing the surface-level rules and maintaining a superficial harmony, giving everyone a way to save face.

So, saying something like that would not only be foolish, it would also make her, the teacher, seem incompetent. Most importantly, she had no doubt that he would tear away that last shred of decorum. The next time he wanted to leave, he probably wouldn’t even bother to ask for permission.

Ultimately, this wasn’t about getting into a spat with a student.

Xu Aiping picked up the pen from her workbook.

"Go on, but be back quickly."

"Thank you, Teacher."

She wrote a few words and then, out of habit, added a word of caution:

"Xiaozhang, once this is over, you need to settle down and refocus. Your teachers have high hopes for you. And you... don’t have any misunderstandings about your teachers, and don’t get any confrontational ideas. Set a good example for your classmates. Understand?"

He nodded in agreement, which satisfied her a little.

"Alright, you can go. Close the door on your way..."

"Teacher, I’d also like to request leave for someone else."

"What?"

"I’d like to request leave for Lu Qinglian as well."

Xu Aiping finally slammed her hand on the table, furious.

"Zhang Shutong, don’t you dare push your luck!"

"Teacher Song specifically asked for her," Zhang Shutong explained. "He said that out of all the students, she’s the one he’s most worried about. I think he probably mentioned her to you."