Fifty-nine, find your parents.
Finally, one weekend after school, Ms. Liu took action.
The bell rang for the last class. Teacher Liu hastily assigned a pile of homework, and amidst the students' groans, she casually said, "Li Wei and Luo Jianhua, come to my office after school." Ignoring the suddenly silent students, Teacher Liu picked up her things from the podium and walked away lightly.
Completely oblivious to the situation, Li Wei packed her things while secretly delighted. "Teacher, you're so considerate. You even invited Luo Da along. Now I don't have to walk home."
Based on Li Wei's consistently excellent performance, she naturally assumed that the teacher might have asked her to do something. As for Luo Da, he would naturally do some physical labor or keep order, since he was young but exuded a fierce aura.
Li Wei's deskmate, Su Xiuli, was from a different village than Li Wei. She came from another elementary school in the town. She could guess the teacher's purpose in calling Li Wei, but she wasn't quite sure. She asked hesitantly, "Do you... do you know why the teacher called you?"
These are things that the person involved is often the last to know. Li Wei didn't even look up: "I don't know, who cares? I didn't do anything bad. Anyway, they won't criticize me, but Luo Jianhua might. Maybe the Imperial Army asked me to pass on a message to his parents or something, hehe." She did this kind of thing a lot when she was in elementary school, so she was very good at it.
Su Xiuli looked at Li Wei, who was still busy adjusting the things in her schoolbag, with great suspicion, and then glanced at Luo Jianhua, who was carrying his schoolbag and walking out of the classroom. Could the rumors be false?
Today, Class 6 of Grade 7 was unusually well-behaved. Even though class had been over for quite a while, they didn't rush out like usual. But saying they were well-behaved wasn't entirely true. They were whispering and looking around furtively towards the teachers' office area outside the classroom. Some even went to stake out the path leading to and from the office area.
The gossip spirit of a group of naive people who had never seen much of the world was stirred up.
Li Wei and Luo Da entered Teacher Liu's large office for the first-year students almost one after the other. Besides Teacher Liu, who was waiting, there were several other homeroom teachers, including Li Lin, whom Li Wei knew, and Teacher Wang, the homeroom teacher of Erpangzi.
The two approached their stern-faced homeroom teacher. Li Wei greeted him first, "What can I do for you, teacher?" She didn't think she could do the same thing as Luo Daneng, especially when Luo Daneng had made a mistake.
Teacher Liu's face was ashen. He stared at Li Wei and her companion for a long while before finally saying, "Li Wei, I've noticed you haven't been riding your bicycle lately. Is it broken?" Years of experience told Teacher Liu that it was best to verify this cautiously.
Li Wei casually replied, "Oh. It's not bad. It's just that my legs hurt whenever I ride a bike. Especially after working at the nursery last time, it's become a chronic condition. I can't ride a bike anymore." She made it sound like she'd suffered some great hardship. Actually, she just wanted to indirectly remind the teachers: "We're children, after all. We can't overuse child labor. Teachers should talk to the school about this when they have time. Education can't be neglected, no matter how poor we are. Children can't suffer, no matter how hard life is."
Teacher Liu immediately remembered Li Wei looking around the nursery, trying to get Luo Jianhua to help with the work. This was blatant lying! She'd seen plenty of kids like that. Looking at Li Wei's calm, pretty smile, she became increasingly displeased. Her tone grew more serious: "How old are you? You've already developed a chronic illness. Tell me the truth. What happened? Why don't you ride your bicycle anymore?"
Li Wei noticed that Teacher Liu was staring intently at her, asking about the bicycle. Luo Da, standing to the side, was ignoring the teacher. She found it strange. She wondered if Luo Da had committed some serious crime, and the teacher had summoned her to accuse him. But that couldn't be right. She and Luo Da were definitely not on the same side. How could she have seen him do anything like murder or robbery? At most, he'd kicked the person and bike into the roadside ditch. Or... could it be... that the guy who fell into the ditch was Teacher Liu's relative?
Aside from being able to make some money at a good time, the only two other advantages Li Wei had after transmigrating were that she wasn't intimidated by adults, including teachers. As for intelligence, for some people, living longer doesn't necessarily make them smarter, especially for someone like Li Wei who doesn't have any grand goals to strive for. Otherwise, why are there so many ordinary people in the world, some living long lives, and others with short but brilliant lives? The former are called senile, the latter are called geniuses. Li Wei isn't a genius, and she's not very old either. So sometimes wisdom isn't necessarily proportional to age.
So, considering the possibility that the unfortunate fellow who blew the hooligan whistle was a relative of Teacher Liu, I couldn't help but take a closer look at Teacher Liu. It's strange that such an upright person like Teacher Liu would have such a despicable relative. Having such an unethical relative is one thing, but how could he even have the nerve to stand up for someone else? He must be out of his mind.
Li Wei's behavior was seen by Teacher Liu as a typical case of a guilty conscience, and her tone became even more unfriendly: "Tell the teacher the truth about what's going on. You are still young, and the teacher doesn't want you to go down the wrong path. It's not too late to correct it now. Everyone has moments of impulsiveness. The teacher is doing this for your own good..." Teacher Liu had already begun to make bold assumptions.
Li Wei felt increasingly uneasy listening to this. What was going on? It was just a light kick to that kid, why was it being elevated to such a theoretical level about life and the world? This teacher wasn't young anymore, surely he wouldn't make such a fuss over something so trivial? Could the problem lie with Luo Da? Did that guy beat someone up again later for no reason? Turning her head to look at Luo Da, who was equally unyielding, she didn't think he was such a vengeful child!
To the incessantly nagging Ms. Liu, the two exchanged a knowing glance, seemingly plotting a conspiracy. All her painstaking efforts to reason with them had been for nothing. She knew it! Pretty girls are always cunning. Look at them, even in the teacher's office, they're shamelessly unfazed. Ms. Liu grew angry and raised her voice: "Alright, I'm not going to play games with you anymore. I don't know how long you can keep up this act. I don't have time to waste. I'll be frank. Some classmates have reported that you're in a relationship. You're both good students, and I don't want you to go astray. At such a young age, you should focus your energy on your studies. You have a long road ahead of you..."
Li Wei felt a little dizzy listening to this. Looking at Teacher Liu's lips moving, she wondered, "Is he talking about me? No, us?" She turned to look at Luo Da, who was also looking at her. Both of them were confused. What were they doing? What was going on? Had they escalated to the theoretical level of male-female relationships again?
Li Wei, in particular, found it utterly absurd. She'd never been involved in such a scandal in either of her two lives combined. Not counting the one in elementary school, at their current age, even princes and grandsons wouldn't be having any romantic relationships this early! This teacher was just too ridiculous. She now realized why her classmates had been so quiet today; they all guessed that she and Luo Da had been called in for a lecture by the teacher.
Li Wei looked up at the roof beam and rolled her eyes, while Luo Da turned his head to look to the side and rolled his eyes as well.
Ms. Liu was provoked. She was all too familiar with this "whatever" attitude, this shameless, dead dog-like expression. She only ever saw it on those reckless, self-destructive students in their final year of junior high. She never expected it to appear on two barely-grown-up freshmen. This was unacceptable! If this continued, she wouldn't be able to control them anymore. Pointing at Li Wei and Luo Da, she said angrily, "Fine, fine, so I wasted my breath. I'm not going to waste my breath on you. You're so shameless at such a young age. Tomorrow, no, Monday, I'll have your parents come in. You can leave now!" With that, she angrily slammed her notebook onto her desk.
Li Wei had no desire to explain to this teacher who thought she was being reasonable but lacked common sense. Even if she did explain, it was uncertain whether the teacher would believe her. But she had to at least explain; otherwise, if her parents came and she, a grown woman, got a scolding from the teacher, it would be disrespectful of her as a daughter. So, Li Wei tried to explain: "Teacher, I only rode on Luo Jianhua's bicycle because my legs hurt. I've also ridden on his brother Luo Jianzhong's and Lin Fuwei's bicycles from Class 3. We're neighbors, we've played together since we were little, there's nothing to it about puppy love, really, I..."
Unfortunately, Ms. Liu's impression of Li Wei had deteriorated to an all-time low after today, so all her efforts were in vain. Without even glancing at Li Wei and the others, she waved her hand and said, "Go on, go on. Don't forget to have your parents come over on Monday. I can't reason with you anymore. Let your parents discipline you. Go on."
Seeing the teacher shooing them away like flies, Li Wei was furious and didn't explain anymore: "Teacher, I'm fine, but Luo Jianhua's parents aren't home, only his grandmother is. She's so old and her legs aren't very convenient. I think you should still do a home visit."
Teacher Liu slammed her notebook down again, extremely dissatisfied with Li Wei and Luo Da's nonchalant expressions: "I don't need you to teach me how to do things. Just do what I tell you to do. Why are you making such a fuss? I'm off work. Go do whatever you need to do!" Looking at Luo Da, who was half a head taller than her, and Li Wei, who was about the same height as her, she felt endlessly annoyed.
Li Wei said nothing more and followed Luo Da, who had already turned and walked out of the office.
The teachers who remained in the office immediately started discussing among themselves, all expressing their disapproval of the two students' fearless behavior. They argued that all students, whether they had made mistakes or not, were cautious and respectful when they came to a teacher's office. How could someone be so nonchalant after clearly making a mistake? Only incorrigible students would act like this. Therefore, they all felt that their authority had been challenged and voiced their support for Teacher Liu.
Li Wei and Luo Dayi walked out of the office area, startling a flock of gulls. Several of her classmates who had come to inquire about the situation scattered like birds, leaving Li Wei both amused and exasperated.
Upon arriving at the bicycle shed, Li Wei, seeing that Luo Da showed no sign of expressing any opinion, couldn't help but ask, "Luo Jianhua, what's going on here? Does the teacher dislike you, and I'm being dragged into this?" The man thought himself to be very upright and righteous.
Luo Da was used to teachers contacting his parents and didn't care much. He went into the bike shed, took out his bicycle, and rode off, but not very fast. Li Wei saw the back seat with the small cushion in front of her and quickly grabbed it and jumped on. As usual, Luo Da sped away.
When the homeroom teacher, Ms. Liu, saw this scene through the office window, she felt her anger burning even more fiercely than the firewood pile that Li Lianhui set on fire during the Spring Festival that year. There was no law at all!
When Li Wei got home that evening, she went to her parents' house first and chatted casually about how the teacher wanted to see her parents on Monday because she had ridden on Luo Da's bicycle and the teacher suspected that the two of them had an improper relationship.
Before Li Zhaoxing could say anything, Cheng Min couldn't hold back any longer: "The bicycle I bought you is fake! You insist on having others give you rides instead of your own, acting like a freeloader every day. It's shameful. Look at Wu Feng, she's happy riding her mother's old bicycle every day. But you, you don't even like riding the new one. You deserve it!"
Of the children, only the three Li siblings and Luo Er rode new bicycles; the others rode old adult bicycles. Li Wei's behavior displeased her mother, who, now that they were relatively well-off, was quite fond of showing off. However, she didn't suspect the children had done anything outrageous. She had watched them grow up; they had fought before, but she didn't believe they were as close as the teacher described. Besides, the children were so young; judging from her daughter's behavior, the child didn't even know what love was. The teacher was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Luo Da dropped off his schoolbag at home and went out to play. When he returned home in the evening, he found that his mother had come back. Now, Luo Da and his wife are doing quite well outside, and they come home less and less.
Luo Da casually told his mother that the teacher had called his parents. His mother, Zhao Chunyan, then asked, "Why did they call your parents? Who did you fight with this time?" Although she was rarely home, she had heard her mother-in-law nag about this kind of thing many times. She was used to it, as long as she hadn't been beaten up.
Luo Da gulped down his water and put down his cup: "The teacher said I'm having a puppy love affair with Li Xiaoming from the backyard."
"Oh, son, although your dad always says it's better to beat someone up than to suffer a loss, isn't fighting with a girl a bit... What! You're dating that girl from the Li family?"
Zhao Chunyan nearly jumped up, pointing angrily at her son: "You brat, of all people you could have chosen, you had to fall for that brat! Even her sister is better than her! Have you forgotten how she bullied Xiao Er and Xiao San? I heard from Xiao Er that she even scratched you before! You forgetful thing, you're infuriating..."
Luo Da: ...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
