Chapter 84 Green Tea Boomerang

Although Jin Zhao usually tries to see things from her students' perspective and understands individual differences—knowing that some students mature early while others mature late; some are considerate of others while others disregard right and wrong for their own benefit—this actually has nothing to do with her identity. Such human nature varies in any group. However, as a teacher, older than them and a role model, she inevitably shows more tolerance and guidance to her students.

But the fact that she received 44 friend requests overnight without even a name still made her feel disoriented and offended.

However, considering that she had failed her courses in her senior year and was about to graduate, she must be very anxious now, so Jin Zhao immediately clicked "accept".

The other party sent her a long voice message.

"Teacher, I'm sorry to bother you, but you failed my College English Level 4. I didn't expect that I would fail the retake in my senior year. Now, because of this course, I can't graduate and I have to extend my studies. Can you come to the school now and help me change my grade?"

The little dumpling was playing with his aunt nearby, while his grandmother's little dumpling was lying on the ground. Seeing that his mother was ignoring him, he suddenly let out a crisp "hoof".

Jin Zhao was subconsciously unhappy when he heard that impolite voice message, but the unhappiness quickly dissipated the moment he saw the little dumpling's smile.

She stepped forward and patted the baby's head, then picked up her phone and walked aside, replying gently, "I'm on leave this semester. If you took the make-up exam this semester, I didn't grade your papers, and the grading and recording were handled by other teachers. Don't worry, tell me your name? I'll ask around for you."

The other party sent her two words: 【He Yue.】

He then replied via voice message: "I saw that the name of the teacher recording grades in the academic affairs system is Jin Zhao."

Jin Zhao had no recollection of the name He Yue.

Most of the repeat students are rather lazy when it comes to attending classes; not many attend, and some don't show up for an entire semester. She's never even seen one of them.

The College English exam is a university-wide exam covering a wide range of topics. The school uses computer grading for these public courses. He Yue must have failed last semester and was taking a makeup exam this semester. Knowing she was already a senior, she still dared to fail. Moreover, the makeup exam was in the first week or two of the semester, and the results were usually released that week as well. She didn't even realize she had failed until almost the end of the semester.

Jin Zhao asked, "How come you only realized you failed the course now?"

He Yue: "I don't know. I thought I would definitely pass in my senior year, so I didn't log in to the system to check. I didn't expect that during the graduation defense, my advisor said that I had failed a required course and could not participate in the defense, so I would have to postpone my graduation. Teacher, please help me change my grade, please, otherwise I can't live."

Jin Zhao was at a loss for words.

“Teachers can indeed submit a grade correction request, but that's only if there was a mistake in grading or other negligence on the part of the teaching staff. Moreover, the deadline for grade correction is only one week after the grades are released, and it's almost the end of the semester now.” Jin Zhaoxin sighed. “How about this, I’ll ask which teacher graded your paper first and see what the situation is.”

He Yue: "Thank you, teacher."

Jin Zhao immediately sent a message to the department head, who replied that it was Professor Sun.

It's quite a coincidence. When Ms. Sun was on maternity leave before, she was the one who helped Ms. Sun get the make-up exam papers, grade them, and post the grades. This semester, when it was Ms. Sun's turn to be on maternity leave, Ms. Sun helped her grade the papers and post the grades using her academic affairs account.

Jin Zhao immediately contacted Teacher Sun, who replied half an hour later: "Teacher Jin, I'm sorry I just saw your message. I don't have much of an impression of this student, but I generally don't fail students. I give grades to those I can, especially for make-up exams. If He Yue failed, it's probably because I really can't help her. Besides, weren't the make-up exam results supposed to be released at the end of February? It's already mid-May and she's only asking now. She's a senior, what is she thinking?"

Teacher Sun later expressed some helplessness: "The make-up exam papers have been archived. If the student is still not satisfied, we can take her to the exam paper room and take the papers out for her to see."

Jin Zhao politely replied, "Okay, thank you, Teacher Sun."

Jin Zhao thought for a moment, then immediately went out to the school to personally check if there were any points he could award on the test paper.

After all, it relates to whether a student can graduate on time.

When the little dumpling saw her go out, it wanted to follow her, calling out to her from behind with its babbling sounds.

He's still too young to speak, but the little guy is very clever and good at imitating. Occasionally, a sound or two will pop out, and I don't know if she's using her own hearing filter, but she actually thinks it sounds a bit like he's making the sounds of "daddy" and "mommy".

The aunt held him in her arms, and he twisted his little body and rushed towards her, stretching out his arms.

Summer has officially arrived, and the temperature has been over 30 degrees Celsius for the past few days. The baby, wearing only a thin onesie, revealed his chubby, fair arms and legs and reached out to her for a hug. Jin Zhao couldn't refuse and turned around to hug him for a while.

"My little dumpling, Mommy has to go out for work now, but I'll be back soon. You stay home and play with Auntie while Mommy comes back, okay?"

I don't know if he understood or not, but in the end, his aunt took him back and he didn't make a fuss.

The aunt smiled and said, "What a smart baby! You're so young and already listen to your mother. I just don't know if you'll still be this well-behaved when you're older. Maybe you'll want to run off with your mother then."

Jin Zhao smiled and kissed the baby's little face before grabbing her bag and heading out.

The family driver took her there. On the way, Jin Zhao thought about it and decided that she should still learn to drive.

She was busy with school a few years ago and was short of money, so she never got to study. Now she feels it's time, otherwise she will always rely on a driver when she goes out, which is inconvenient.

The exam papers for general courses are archived uniformly every semester. The exam paper archive is filled with the heavy smell of dust mixed with the heavy paper. Jin Zhao found the exam paper bag for this semester's make-up exam.

There were two exam papers inside. Last semester, a total of two students in her class failed the exam.

Normally, final exam scores are based on participation grades, so even if a student's written exam score is low, Jin Zhao helps them recover through their participation grades. However, the recovered points are all capped at 60, which is fair and responsible to other students who want to apply for scholarships.

The remaining two students only scored around 10 or 20 points on the test, and even if she raised their usual grades to 100, they still wouldn't pass. There was really nothing she could do.

For the make-up exam, the academic affairs system doesn't award points for class participation; it only awards points for the exam itself. A score of 60 or above is always 60, and a score below 60 is whatever you get. There were two exam papers in the bag; one person passed, and the other failed. The person who failed was He Yue.

Jin Zhao glanced at her exam paper.

She left all the subjective questions blank, and the objective questions were worth 25 points. There's no way to salvage this situation now.

She took a picture of the exam paper and sent it to He Yue, explaining, "This is your answer sheet. The examiner did not miscalculate the score, so there is no way to correct the grade."

He Yue retorted, feeling wronged: "But doesn't the internet say that good teachers prepare both a red pen and a black pen when grading papers, and if they find that a student can't get the answer right, they use the black pen to write it down for the student? I'm a senior in college, there's no need to be so harsh on me, is there?"

Jin Zhao: "..."

No, how did it become that the teacher was harsh? Did the teacher make her retake the exam in her senior year and then arrange it like this?

At this point, her impression of this student was completely ruined.

Jin Zhao patiently replied, "You can consult your counselor about how to handle this situation. As far as I know, if you are only short of one course credit, you can apply to the school for it, or see if you have any other grades that can be used to replace it."

He Yue did not reply.

When Jin Zhao returned home, Meng Yanxi was already back. The villa was by the river, close to Yun Sheng, and Meng Yanxi usually came home at noon to keep her company while she took a nap when she wasn't busy. Right now, she was sitting on a mat playing with the little dumpling, teaching the little dumpling to say "daddy" and "mommy".

The little dumpling gave a perfunctory "oh" twice, its dark, grape-like eyes fixed on Meng Yanxi's forearm.

He was wearing a shirt with the top three buttons undone, revealing his sexy collarbone and faintly visible pectoral muscles. The cuffs were rolled up, revealing his well-defined forearms. He sat casually on the floor mat, his left arm naturally supporting him on the ground.

Meng Yanxi does have a great figure, Jin Zhao has to admit. Every time he tries to seduce her, he can't control himself, and a large part of the reason is his face and figure.

He was sitting on the ground, looking up at her: "Aren't you on vacation? Why are you always going to school? Do you get overtime pay for this?"

Jin Zhao said, "Where can you find someone as wealthy and powerful as President Meng?"

Meng Yanxi tilted her head and raised an eyebrow: "My money all belongs to Mrs. Meng, and Mrs. Meng has the final say."

Sunlight streamed through the window, and Jin Zhao smiled with her lips pursed.

The little boy stared at Meng Yanxi's forearm for a while, then suddenly reached out to touch it. Meng Yanxi felt his son's touch and turned to look at him.

The baby's hands are milky white, with chubby and soft fingers; touching them feels like your heart is melting.

Meng Yanxi was certainly touched, but his bad habits were deeply ingrained, and he was shameless even towards his son: "How is it? Isn't it good-looking? I don't expect anything from you. Just grow up to look like me when you grow up."

Jin Zhao couldn't help but laugh, thinking to herself, "Meng Yanxi, do you have any shame?" But then she saw the little dumpling grabbing onto Meng Yanxi's forearm with one hand and reaching up with the other.

He can only sit for a short while now, sitting on the ground with great difficulty, looking like he is trying very hard to climb up his father's forearm.

Just as Jin Zhao and Meng Yanxi were wondering what he was going to do, they saw the little dumpling reach out with difficulty, touch Meng Yanxi's rolled-up sleeve with his fingers, and then pinch the fabric with his two chubby fingers and begin to pull his sleeve down with difficulty.

Meng Yanxi: "?"

At first, Meng Yanxi didn't know what he wanted to do. She stared at him and saw that the little dumpling was silent and trying to pull down his sleeve to cover his bare arm, which he said was very beautiful.

Meng Yanxi: "..."

Upon seeing this, Jin Zhao finally couldn't help but laugh.

Recalling the scene of the little dumpling showing off his chubby skin and acting cute, and Meng Yanxi rudely draping a coat over him, Jin Zhao joked, "Your son is afraid you'll catch a cold, so he wants you to put your clothes on properly."

Meng Yanxi: "..."

The little guy imitated him, and his boomerang-like speed was amazing.

*

Jin Zhao received the message early the next morning, before dawn. Meng Yanxi was going on a business trip for two days, so she got up early to see him off.

As soon as I returned to the bedroom, Wang Nan's message came in: [Zhaozhao, He Yue committed suicide and is now in the hospital.]

Jin Zhao's mind went blank, and he almost dropped his phone.

When they arrived at the hospital, Jin Zhao's legs were weak, and Wang Nan couldn't even sit up. The hospital benches were slippery, and her body was weak and trembling.

Jin Zhao then realized that Wang Nan was He Yue's counselor.

A student's suicide is a devastating disaster in any school, especially since Wang Nan had only been a teacher for less than two years and was a new teacher with little experience. She was already terrified when she came to the hospital to deal with two students who had been fighting.

She sat on the bench, her face as white as paper, looking helplessly at Jin Zhao: "Zhao Zhao, what should we do? What if something really happens to the student..."

She couldn't imagine the consequences.

That would be a devastating blow to both her and Imaaki's careers.

Jin Zhao's thoughts were also in disarray.

On the way here, she kept looking through her chat history with He Yue from yesterday to make sure she hadn't said anything harsh, and even told her about other solutions.

Why commit suicide?

Wang Nan wiped her face and briefly explained the whole story: "He Yue's roommates said that after contacting you yesterday, she cried a lot, saying that you were preventing her from graduating, even though she had already found a job. She didn't eat dinner last night and went to bed early, drawing the curtains. This morning, before dawn, her roommates got up to go to the bathroom and suddenly saw bloodstains under He Yue's bed. They were so frightened that they quickly called for her, but she was already unconscious. One student urgently called an ambulance and took her to the hospital, while another student ran to the dormitory to inform me."

Jin Zhao looked at Wang Nan in disbelief and repeated softly, "I'm holding her back, preventing her from graduating?"

Jin Zhao's throat was dry: "I told her that if it's just this one course she failed, she can apply to the school or see if there are other ways to exchange credits."

Wang Nan shook her head helplessly: "She's way behind. She still has three courses she failed."

"What about the other teachers?" Jin Zhao asked softly. "What did the other teachers say?"

Wang Nan: "The other teachers are all experienced senior teachers, and they just did their job properly and ignored her completely. You were the only one who paid attention to her."

Jin Zhao suddenly understood why He Yue had sent 44 friend requests in the middle of the night. It turned out that there was a reason behind all her seemingly absurd behavior, and that the other teachers had ignored her.

She found it a little funny.

So, she was thinking of her students and was afraid it would affect their graduation, so she went to the school and checked their papers. Was she wrong?

She's had bad luck since she was a child, and the brief period of happiness she's had this year has given her the illusion that her luck is finally turning around. But it turns out nothing has changed; she's always been that unlucky girl.

It's not uncommon for college students to threaten suicide to graduate, but she just happened to be one of them. And despite three professors failing her, the students specifically chose her, even though she was on vacation.

But what did she do wrong? She did nothing wrong; she followed the rules at every step.

Her classes are accessible through school surveillance; students' exam papers and grades are available in their records; even yesterday's negotiations are documented via WeChat.

Jin Zhao fixed his gaze on something, then suddenly walked past Wang Nan and strode towards the ward.

"Zhaozhao, what are you doing?" Wang Nan pulled her back. "I've already reported to the dean and the party secretary. Don't act rashly before the leaders arrive."

Jin Zhao pushed open the ward door without turning his head and said indifferently, "I'm just concerned about her injuries."

Jin Zhao hadn't seen He Yue yesterday; this was the first time she'd seen her. The girl was awake, thin, with loose hair, slightly yellowish skin, and wearing black-rimmed glasses, lying on her side in bed. As Jin Zhao pushed open the door, their eyes met.

He Yue's eyes flickered, and she subconsciously gripped the blanket tightly, pressing her hands firmly under it. Suddenly, her eyes hardened, as if she would jump off the blanket on the spot if Jin Zhao dared to lift the blanket to look at her wounds.

Jin Zhao glanced at her, stopped, turned and walked out of the ward.

Wang Nan softened her tone, smiled apologetically, and comforted He Yue before following Jin Zhao.

Jin Zhao went straight to the doctor's office.

After the initial panic subsided, her mind became eerily clear. She quickly reviewed similar cases she had seen in other schools. People tend to sympathize with the weak, and school leaders are used to downplaying major issues and trying to smooth things over, only wanting students to leave school safely. So, apart from a few rare cases where the school was particularly firm in forcing students to suspend their studies, in most cases, it was the teachers who were sacrificed.

She hurried to the doctor's office and, posing as a teacher, obtained the medical records from the doctor before the hospital leaders and students' parents arrived.

The medical record states—

Chief complaint: A cut on the wrist 20 minutes ago, accompanied by mild pain and a small amount of bleeding.

Treatment recommendations: Rinse the wound with saline solution and disinfect with povidone-iodine.

Diagnosis: Superficial laceration of the skin on the left wrist.

Jin Zhao's gaze fell on the eight words: "minor bleeding and superficial lacerations."

As expected, I'm still a coward; I only dared to make a small cut.

She quickly took out her phone and took a picture of the medical record.

This student wasn't from the School of Foreign Languages, so she didn't need to wait for her department head to arrive. Jin Zhao gently patted Wang Nan's shoulder: "Don't be afraid, it's okay, I'll handle it."

After saying that, she quickly left the hospital.

She proactively contacted the dean on her phone. The dean happened to be at the college, so she took a taxi and went straight to the school.

In the car, she prepared a statement of the situation on her phone beforehand, along with screenshots of her chat history with He Yue from the previous day. After arriving at the college, she first went to the exam paper storage room, took pictures of He Yue's final exams from last semester and her make-up exams from this semester, added them to the statement of the situation, and then went to the office to print them out.

Having done all this, she took a deep breath, took the situation report, and knocked on the dean's office door.

Student suicide can be a big deal or a small deal, but even if it's a small deal, if she's ultimately found responsible, her college will also be affected. In such cases, the dean and she are in a community of shared interests.

Dean Showa explained the whole story. After listening with a stern face, the dean nodded and said, "I understand. I will report this to the school immediately and will not tolerate such blackmail."

Jin Zhao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As a fellow woman, the dean looked at her again and said gently, "Look at you, your face is as white as a sheet of paper. It's alright, you did a great job, collecting the evidence and submitting it to the college in time. Secretary Zhao and I will handle the rest. You can continue your leave. You just gave birth, so you need to take good care of your health, otherwise you'll have health problems for the rest of your life."

Jin Zhao then realized that his hands and feet were ice cold.

It turns out that even though she seemed rational and handled everything efficiently, she was still afraid deep down.

After leaving the dean's office, Jin Zhao walked alone on campus for a while. The midsummer sun was quite strong, and students passing by all held up umbrellas.

Jin Zhao walked empty-handed under the sun, but felt a little cold.

Her phone rang, and she hesitated for a few seconds before pulling it out. It was Wang Nan calling.

"Zhaozhao, did you report it to the school?"

Jin Zhao: "Yes, I told our dean. She must have been the one who reported it."

Wang Nan paused for a moment, then said somewhat awkwardly, "Our leader is also at the hospital. He originally asked me to ask you to see if the students' grades could be improved."

Sure enough, thankfully she took a picture of the medical record.

Wang Nan immediately explained: "Don't misunderstand, I don't agree with this approach. Otherwise, if everyone who can't graduate uses suicide as a threat, who will protect the rights of the vast majority of good students who study honestly? It's just that the leaders also have their considerations. They may not want to make this a big deal, since the impact is too bad."

Jin Zhao: "I understand, it's okay, let the leaders handle it. We've already done what we were supposed to do."

Upon hearing Jin Zhao's words, Wang Nan suddenly felt a lump in her throat.

He Yue's parents arrived at the hospital just now, thinking it was really serious, and said some harsh words to her. But she's just a low-level worker, and she hasn't been working for very long. She has to be conscientious and follow the procedures carefully in everything she does. What right does she have to make a senior student who still has three courses to fail participate in her graduation defense?

At that moment, she suddenly realized that the other two veteran teachers who had pretended not to see her from the beginning were the ones who truly possessed great wisdom from years of experience, even though she initially thought they didn't care about their students and were too indifferent.

Because of the decisive action taken by the School of Foreign Languages, which was responsible for offering the course, the outcome was announced within a week: He Yue showed signs of depression, and based on the hospital's diagnosis, the school granted her a temporary leave of absence for home treatment. If her condition improves, she can return to school to retake and retake three courses, and then participate in her graduation defense.

In just one week, Wang Nan lost ten pounds.

Jin Zhao also fell ill.

She didn't tell Meng Yanxi about it. He went on a business trip early that morning and returned two days later. By then, she felt she had recovered, and she could even laugh heartily when her little one teased her. Her only problem was that her immune system was a bit weak, and she caught a cold from being exposed to air conditioning.

She was sick for a week, and Meng Yanxi didn't know why, nor did she say anything.

She thought that people always have to learn to grow on their own; they can't rely on others for everything. More importantly, the problem had been solved.

-----------------------

Author's Note: This chapter is now complete. It's basically an extra chapter added at the end. Thank you for waiting! [heart emoji]

P.S.: The story of losing ten pounds is a colleague's personal experience. This kind of thing is truly terrifying. There's a famous teacher online who said: "If you say you want to commit suicide at school, your counselor will immediately kneel down for you." It's no joke. But this is just an extreme case. The vast majority of us were good students. It's not really about the group, but about individual differences. After all, every group is the same: most are honest and law-abiding, a small minority are cunning and lazy.