Ruan Bei never expected that his verbal sparring would actually make Teacher Hu cry.

He believed he hadn't said anything too offensive, and his wording was quite realistic; at least compared to Teacher Hu's remarks to the students, it was already very gentle.

As a result, Teacher Hu ran out of the classroom crying, as if she had been greatly wronged.

The classroom was quiet for a moment, then immediately filled with a buzz of conversation as many students began discussing the matter among themselves.

The class monitor ran out of the classroom, probably to find the homeroom teacher.

Ruan Bei awkwardly touched his nose, took the test paper, and went back to his seat.

A short while later, the class monitor returned with the homeroom teacher.

He had obviously already spoken with the class monitor, and as soon as he entered the classroom, he shouted, "Quiet! No noise! ​​Class monitor, maintain discipline! This class will be a self-study period."

After saying that, he looked at Ruan Bei and beckoned to him: "Ruan Bei, come out with me for a moment."

Under the worried gazes of Dong Yangyang and several other classmates, Ruan Bei calmly followed the homeroom teacher out of the classroom.

It was during class time, and there weren't many people outside. The homeroom teacher led him to a quiet corner in the corridor and stopped there.

Instead of criticizing Ruan Bei, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't be nervous. Li Zifan just told me what happened. Let's compare it and see if we've missed anything. You can also tell the teacher what you think, okay?"

Ruan Bei nodded and repeated what had just happened. The homeroom teacher pondered for a moment, probably because Ruan Bei's story matched the class monitor's. He was considering how to resolve the matter.

"So... what do you think?"

Ruan Bei smiled bitterly: "Teacher, what can I think? I don't understand why Ms. Hu has such a bad opinion of me. She used to look down on me because my grades were bad, but now that I've done well, she's still angry. I just couldn't hold back my anger..."

He lowered his head, his long, thick eyelashes trembling slightly, and his clear, dark eyes revealed a hint of confusion and helplessness. His lips were downturned in grievance, which made people's hearts soften.

The homeroom teacher's gaze softened. In fact, there weren't many points of conflict in the whole matter; the main cause was indeed with Teacher Hu.

Her biggest flaw is that she falsely accused a student of cheating without any evidence, not to mention that she later became angry and tried to kick Ruan Bei out.

Teacher Hu has a bad reputation among students because of her unpleasant way of speaking. She has been complained about by parents before, and they almost got into a fight in the office.

After that, she toned it down a bit, but many of their teachers knew about her attitude towards Ruan Bei. After all, Ruan Bei's other grades were quite good, and he was good-looking and had a good personality. He was the kind of student who received a lot of attention from teachers and classmates.

Several of the teachers had tried to persuade Ms. Hu, and Lao Wei almost got into an argument with her, but after all, she was his colleague, and a female colleague at that, so there were many things he couldn't say.

However, given what happened today, Ruan Bei publicly contradicted the teacher and even made the teacher cry. Naturally, the homeroom teacher shared the same stance as the English teacher, and felt a little uncomfortable when she heard about it.

But seeing Ruan Bei like this now, the homeroom teacher felt that Teacher Hu must have gone too far, otherwise Ruan Bei, who had always been silently enduring, would not have suddenly exploded.

"Don't be afraid, I've already asked another teacher to go find Teacher Hu. Don't overthink it, just go back to class and focus on your studies. It's not a big deal."

Ruan Bei blinked; he thought the homeroom teacher would make him apologize to Teacher Hu.

When conflicts arise between students and teachers, especially when students retaliate, unless the teacher has done something outrageous enough to warrant dismissal, the school will usually act as a peacemaker and make the student apologize in order to uphold the teacher's dignity.

But when the homeroom teacher said that, it meant he was taking responsibility and would help him handle the subsequent troubles.

The homeroom teacher hesitated for a moment, then lowered her voice and said, "Actually, Ms. Hu... she didn't mean to pick a fight with you. She just overheard some things and had some reservations about them..."

Ruan Bei: "?"

He was certain that he had only complained about Teacher Hu to Qin Gu in private, and that was after Teacher Hu had targeted him.

The homeroom teacher muttered an explanation to Ruan Bei, roughly saying that when the classes were first divided, one weekend, Teacher Hu went shopping and ate at Ruan's family's snack shop.

At that time, Mr. Ruan was chatting with Aunt Liu, who was helping out, and a few regular customers about their children's grades. They mentioned Ruan Bei, and then Teacher Hu realized that he was the parent of one of his students.

Ruan Bei's English grades have always been poor. At the time, Ruan's father said that his child's other grades were quite good, but his English was not good. He thought it might be because he was not used to the teacher's teaching methods. He was thinking about whether to hire a tutor to help him improve.

He was just saying it casually. Saying that Ruan Bei wasn't used to the teacher was just him being biased towards his own child. He didn't want people to look down on Ruan Bei, so he made up for Ruan Bei's poor English grades.

Ruan Bei was certain that his father had no complaints about the teacher and always spoke of him with great respect.

But Ms. Hu didn't think that way. She loved to overthink things and assumed that Ruan Bei had gone home and complained that she wasn't teaching well.

She was always proud of her achievements at work, so she especially disliked poor students, because they were like a stain on her teaching career.

But now Ruan Bei is a "bad student" who not only can't learn well himself, but also has the nerve to think that she's a bad teacher?!

So she set her sights on Ruan Bei and relentlessly suppressed him in the days that followed, venting her dissatisfaction and resentment.

Ruan Bei: "..."

He felt that the English teacher might be mentally ill. He wasn't swearing; he genuinely felt that she was a bit too obsessive, like someone with a mental illness.

"Alright, go back to class and study hard. Don't overthink it. Now that your English grades have improved, you'd better get a good score next time."

Ruan Bei's smile froze. His English grades had improved, but his other grades had plummeted!

After that, just like the homeroom teacher said, nothing happened and it just passed by.

Their homeroom teacher is also a very experienced senior teacher. I don't know how he handled it. Given Ruan Bei's understanding of Teacher Hu, she certainly wouldn't let him off easily, but the school hasn't contacted him again because of this matter.

Not long after, their class got a new English teacher, the one from before they were divided into different classes in their first year of high school.

Since most of the students in the class were from the original first-year high school class, they didn't feel uncomfortable with the change of teachers. On the day the new teacher arrived, many students clapped with joy.

As for Teacher Hu, I heard that she took a leave of absence for a while, but Ruan Bei didn't follow up on the details.

Ruan Bei was too busy. He originally thought there was no need to rush, and he could find a tutoring system to help him catch up during the summer vacation.

Then it suddenly occurred to me that it would be difficult to explain if my grades in other subjects were too poor at the end of the semester, so I plunged into the sea of ​​learning.

After studying diligently for over a week, Ruan Bei had completely adapted to high school life and had also put Ran Yusheng, who had disappeared without a trace, out of his mind.

One evening, as he and Dong Yangyang were riding their bikes home, he saw Ran Yusheng standing quietly waiting for him at the intersection. A long-lost fear suddenly overwhelmed him, and he almost fell off his bike.

Dong Yangyang reacted quickly and grabbed the wobbly handlebars to prevent his friend from falling face-first to the ground.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?"

"without……"

Ruan Bei, his face pale, forced a smile: "I think I just ran over a stone, and the car wheel twisted..."

"Oh, you scared me! I'm going home now!"

Dong Yangyang waved to him, stood up, pushed off the pedal hard, and rode like the wind towards her residential area.

Ruan Bei hesitated for a moment, then jumped off and pushed the cart toward Ran Yusheng, who was looking at him.

Ran Yusheng kept his promise and did not go to his house or disturb his family, so of course he could not go back on his word.

"Mr. Ran, have you made up your mind?"

Ran Yusheng smiled slightly: "Yes, I've thought it through. Thank you for your help."

Ruan Bei was afraid to go to the small park alone with him at this time.

He hesitated and said, "It's too late today. My parents will worry if I get home late. How about we meet at the nearby park tomorrow at noon?"

Fearing that Ran Yusheng might disagree, he quickly added, "I left the stationery I bought at school. I can bring it with me tomorrow. Otherwise, we can write here?"

Ran Yusheng remained mild-mannered and did not get angry at his delay. She readily agreed: "Okay, then I'll wait for you in the small park."

Ruan Bei breathed a sigh of relief, and for once, he showed a smile when facing Ran Yusheng: "I know, Mr. Ran, I'll go as soon as I get out of school."

After the man and the ghost made their agreement, Ruan Bei rode his bicycle home.

This time, he mustered up his courage and looked back. Ran Yusheng slowly walked towards the small park. Although at first glance he looked no different from an ordinary person, upon closer inspection, their figures seemed even thinner.

Not the kind of person who is physically weak and thin; in fact, Ran Yusheng is tall and, although his temperament is refined, he is by no means frail.

Rather, it was their figures that lacked the solidity of ordinary people, something Ruan Bei discovered after secretly observing them.

Furthermore, Ruan Bei discovered that ghosts really don't have shadows.

The next morning before leaving home, Ruan Bei lied to her mother, saying that she had a lot of homework and wouldn't be coming home for lunch at school.

Ruan's mother felt sorry for him studying hard and thought the school food was not nutritious. She tried to persuade him, but Ruan insisted, so she packed some fruit and milk for him to take with him.

Ruan Bei felt a little guilty for lying to his mother, but he had no choice. He hugged his mother and said sweetly, "Thank you, Mom."

Mother Ruan stroked her son's soft hair, saying that he was still acting like a child even though he was so old, but her heart melted.

After finishing his class at noon, he specially stuffed the high-end letter paper he had bought earlier into his schoolbag and then went to the small park.

On a weekday, during lunchtime, the deserted little park was completely empty.

Ruan Bei went inside and looked around for a while, then quietly called out "Mr. Ran" as he left.

They soon found Ran Yusheng under a large locust tree. He was looking up at the lush tree, seemingly lost in thought.

It would have been better if they hadn't met. But once they did, Ruan Bei remembered that it was a ghost, and her fear returned uncontrollably.

He chuckled awkwardly, trying to make conversation: "Mr. Ran, you've arrived quite early..."

Ran Yusheng smiled and said gently, "It's alright, I came over last night."

Ruan Bei's eyes widened: "Huh?! You..."

Ran Yusheng chuckled softly: "Xiao Bei, I'm a ghost."

It was a bit strange for him to say that, Ran Yusheng frowned and admitted, "I can't be in the sunlight during the day, so I came here early last night."