Hu Tong's Revenge
Considering Yang Qianlang's feelings, he was ultimately not publicly reprimanded throughout the school. The homeroom teacher held an impromptu class meeting and severely criticized his behavior of pulling on the female classmate's tie, but Hu Tong's anger remained unabated.
She soon got her chance for revenge.
It was a Chinese language class, taught by a student teacher in her early twenties.
The student teachers were young and always wore a forced serious expression, like they were wearing a paper mask. The students could easily reveal their liveliness and cuteness by teasing them with their playful words.
Hu Tong often affectionately called her Teacher Li, after all, this intern teacher was much more lovable than their homeroom teacher, Lao Li!
Ms. Li is a great teacher with a variety of engaging teaching methods, and her students are very enthusiastic about her classes. One day, Ms. Li arranged for several students to be "little teachers" and teach a class in her place.
Hu Tong, who always loves to be first, volunteered to be the last to finish, and Teacher Li agreed while suppressing a laugh.
Cheng Zhou sat upright in the center of the classroom, watching Hu Tong's constantly twitching lips, and vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
Hu Tong strode confidently to the podium, and with a thud, she slammed her book down on the desk, mimicking her homeroom teacher, Mr. Li. She frowned, glanced around, and spoke in a deliberately rough tone, "Before class, I'll call on two students to answer questions to check your understanding of what you've learned after class!"
The students below the stage were stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter that almost lifted the ceiling. Apart from Cheng Zhou, only Yang Qianlang, who had a conflict with Hu Tong, did not laugh. He stood stiffly in his seat like a nail, expressing his dissatisfaction with Hu Tong with eye rolls and silence.
Teacher Li gestured with twitching lips, signaling everyone to keep quiet.
Amidst the joyful and lively atmosphere, Cheng Zhou lowered his head, praying in vain...
"Ah, it's you! The student who doesn't dare to look up, you obviously haven't been studying properly." Hu Tong's crisp voice came from the podium, constantly hitting Cheng Zhou's eardrums, "Cheng Zhou!"
Cheng Zhou sighed resignedly, gently pulled out a chair, and stood up.
His fair complexion made his thick, long eyelashes stand out even more. The slightly trembling eyelashes were like many miniature swords, piercing straight at Hu Tong on the podium, making her feel a little guilty, yet also giving rise to a rebellious spirit that rose stronger when faced with a strong opponent.
“Hey, Cheng Zhou, come and recite ‘Viewing the Sea’.”
To be fair, the question was simple and basic, but it only made Cheng Zhou more flustered. He didn't know what Hu Tong was up to.
"East of Jieshi..."
Cheng Zhou carried it slowly and deliberately, but as he watched Hu Tong's expression grow more and more serious, his heart began to sink uncontrollably.
"...How fortunate I am! I sing to express my aspirations."
Cheng Zhou finally finished reciting "Watching the Sea," and finally understood Hu Tong's meaning from her veiled glare.
She didn't want to answer the question. Why?
Hu Tong reluctantly praised him: "You did a pretty good job. The second question is, who is the author of 'Bring in the Wine'?"
Cheng Zhou bit her lip and slowly lowered her head, "Du Fu..."
Even Yang Qianlang couldn't hold back anymore. He burst out laughing, leaned on the desk, and gave it a couple of energetic punches.
"Is the one surnamed Cheng a spy?" Yang Qianlang turned to his deskmate and said, "Even someone with a screw loose would know that the author of 'Bring in the Wine' is Li Bai, right?"
"Yang Qianlang!" Amidst the murmurs and teasing, Hu Tong seized on this typical case. "What are you laughing at? Stand up! Cheng Zhou, sit down."
Hu Tong met Yang Qianlang's annoyed gaze, puffed out his chest, and practically wrote "I am a teacher now" on his face.
Teacher Li stood by the door, smiling, and did not stop them.
Yang Qianlang stood up hesitantly.
"What are you laughing at? What's so funny?" Hu Tong asked, hands on her hips. Before Yang Qianlang could answer, she continued, "Whether he answered correctly or not, Cheng Zhou at least had the courage to answer. You think you're so great? You're laughing at him? Fine, then I'll ask you a question. If you can't answer, walk around the classroom. I want to see who's the one who's funny!"
Hu Tong rattled off the lines he had rehearsed countless times in his mind and asked, "What were the first-place winners of the second and third ranks in the Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations called?"
The power of this question was indeed extraordinary. Not only Yang Qianlang, who was asked the question, but all the other students in the class fell silent. It was worth it for Hu Tong to have specially bought a book on "High School Chinese Cultural Common Sense" and to have been secretly flipping through it before class.
"Can't answer that, huh?" She shook her head smugly. "The answer is: 'Chuanlu' (传胪). Alright, walk around the classroom by yourself before you sit down. Remember to watch yourself next time!"
Yang Qianlang walked around the classroom with his head down, then returned to his seat dejectedly.
Hu Tong felt the pent-up frustration in his heart finally dissipate, and he began to teach with great enthusiasm until the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class.
"That concludes this lesson," Teacher Li clapped her hands and reclaimed the podium. "The student teachers all taught very well..."
Hu Tong returned to her seat, smiling contentedly as she listened to the teacher's comments. But then, after finishing her speech, Teacher Li beckoned to her, signaling her to follow her out.
Hu Tong's heart tightened, and he followed her out with trepidation.
Teacher Li praised her, saying she had a loud and clear voice and was very well prepared...
But Hu Tong vaguely realized that behind all the praise was something she didn't want to hear.
Sure enough, Ms. Li sighed and said, "But... what I did just now will hurt Yang Qianlang's self-esteem..."
Hu Tong burst into tears, fully demonstrating her loud voice to the intern teacher.
Ignoring her teacher's attempts to comfort her, she burst into tears. Teacher Li was unaware of the connection between her and Yang Qianlang, but Hu Tong still felt a strange resentment towards her teacher.
In the end, it was Cheng Zhou and Miao Wei who managed to pull Hu Tong away.
Teacher Li glanced at Cheng Zhou, who was carrying Hu Tong's schoolbag, and a mischievous smile crept into her eyes. Cheng Zhou met her gaze and obediently said, "Goodbye, teacher. I'm going home with my cousin now."
Teacher Li shuddered, cleared her throat, smiled awkwardly, and said goodbye to the group.
It was lunchtime when school let out. Miao Wei was holding Hu Tong's arm, Cheng Zhou was carrying Hu Tong's schoolbag, and Hu Tong was wailing and crying. This eye-catching group slowly moved out of the school. The sunlight delicately outlined the three of them with gold.
Hu Tong cried uncontrollably and didn't hear what Cheng Zhou said to the teacher.
She was heartbroken, not for Yang Qianlang's pride, but for herself and for her own lost kindness.
Miao Wei suddenly hugged her neck, gritting her teeth as she said, "Fine, you and Cheng Zhou messed with Yang Qianlang without telling me!"
"How can I call you!" Hu Tong said, sobbing. "It's more effective to have Cheng Zhou answer simple questions. Making you do it... isn't that deliberately bullying you?"
Miao Wei shook her forcefully, "I do know who the author of 'Bring in the Wine' is, okay!"
"Okay, okay, okay, I'll call you next time." Hu Tong was so dizzy from being shaken by his friend that he felt like his brain was about to be shaken out, and he agreed repeatedly.
But the "next time" that Hu Tong mentioned never came.
From that day until they graduated from junior high, Yang Qianlang and Hu Tong treated each other as if they were invisible. No one in the class dared to associate these two formidable figures with each other anymore.
On the day after the graduation photos were taken, Yang Qianlang stopped Hu Tong, scratching his head as he said, "I know you've always looked down on me, Hu Tong, because I pulled on your vest tie earlier, I'm sorry..."
Hu Tong stood still, his sharp brown eyes staring straight at him, filled with doubt and impatience.
Under such gazes, Yang Qianlang's neck slowly turned red.
He took a deep breath and mustered his courage to speak, "We won't be going to the same school anymore. My dad said I won't amount to anything at vocational high school and should just go to work in a factory. So I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that I really like you, but I just don't know... I don't know how to express it to you, you're such a good student..."
Hu Tong suddenly chuckled. Yang Qianlang cautiously raised his eyes to look at her, but seeing that the person in front of him was smiling with a hint of contempt, he quickly lowered his head.
Hu Tong recalled the scars he had seen on Yang's mother, and the father who had never attended a parent-teacher meeting and only existed in Yang Qianlang's words. He accidentally glimpsed the boy's family situation.
Yang Qianlang didn't learn the correct way to express love from his family's way of getting along. He likes her and wants to see her anxious, helpless, and ashamed... Pshaw!
These were just excuses Hu Tong subconsciously made for him, since he still had a little bit of kindness left. He might just be a jerk who couldn't resist a good word.
Regardless of the truth, Hu Tong no longer cares; this matter is long past for her.
The weather was exceptionally fine that day. The dense foliage shimmered the sunlight into tiny, golden particles, which gently and softly blanketed the graduates' hair and school uniforms, while waves of laughter rose and fell.
Miao Wei linked arms with the other female classmates, chatting and laughing while curiously glancing in their direction.
Cheng Zhou sat on the raised tree roots, writing in each yearbook page one by one. His patient yet serious demeanor made several classmates cover their mouths and chuckle.
Hu Tong always said he was silly. Everyone else had their contact information saved on their phones, and writing in the yearbook was just a formality, but he filled every single blank in the yearbook to the brim.
Now, no one will forget it. The classmate named Cheng Zhou was a Taurus, dreamed of becoming a painter, and loved eating the pickled radishes made by his grandmother.
Oh, there's only one place I didn't write about: the person I like.
While everyone else was randomly filling in celebrity names on the lines, Cheng Zhou carefully dotted the question and then moved his pen away.
"Tsk, an old relic." Hu Tong thought to himself, then looked away.
It must be said that Hu Tong was in a good mood, just like the weather, and had no desire to argue with anyone.
She looked at Yang Qianlang, whose forehead was almost touching his chest, and asked out of the blue, "Is your mother still being beaten?"
“No…” Yang Qianlang suddenly raised his head, his eyes flickering, his ears turning red with shame. He stammered, “My dad, my dad, he won’t hit me anymore. I’ll fight him to the death.”
Hu Tong nodded.
"Okay, then I won't look down on you anymore."
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