"No need, no need, as a teacher it’s my duty to take care of my students." Teacher Wang declined repeatedly, and while the two children weren’t paying attention, he discreetly accepted the money, continuing to say, "No, no, you make it difficult for me ."
"It’s as it should be," the woman said, ignoring Teacher Wang’s refusals and talking to herself, "My Jingjing isn’t in great health either, she doesn’t like the sun, and dust makes her throat uncomfortable..."
"Not in good health, eh? Then naturally, as her teacher, I must take care of her."
Luo Qianqian kept her head down pretending not to notice, but it was obvious from what the woman said that Teacher Wang had indeed taken the money. Could it be intentional?
"Mom, I also want to sit in the front row." Zhang Jingjing looked triumphantly at the two with their heads bowed.
The woman said, "Alright, alright, Teacher, you see..."
"Jingjing is a bit tall, but no problem, good students should be treated preferentially," said Teacher Wang.
"Mom, I want to share a desk with the class president." Zhang Jingjing saw Luo Qianqian look up and gave her a challenging tilt of her chin.
"Teacher, as you see..." the woman directly looked at Teacher Wang upon hearing Zhang Jingjing’s demand.
"That’s no problem, Jingjing used to be Jiang An’s deskmate." Teacher Wang responded with a smile, making Luo Qianqian feel that this was not the Teacher Wang she had known before.
"Teacher, we’re going to leave now, I guess mom’s finished here too," Luo Qianqian pulled He Wenyu to their feet, politely taking leave.
"Alright, go ahead," Teacher Wang couldn’t wait for Luo Qianqian and He Wenyu to disappear from his sight.
Luo Qianqian pulled He Wenyu out of the door and finally let go of him.
"Qianqian, why wouldn’t you let me speak? That was clearly a bribe. We could report this to the principal."
Luo Qianqian looked at He Wenyu helplessly: "Better not to meddle in others’ business. Aren’t you afraid that afterwards no one would dare to teach us?"
Luo Qianqian’s words seemed to sink like a stone in the sea, receiving no response. Seeing He Wenyu’s unwilling expression, Luo Qianqian could only further persuade him:
"Xiao Yu, a female knight’s role is to punish evil, but aside from this incident, Teacher Wang has always been a good educator. You shouldn’t deny a person’s entire character based only on one issue."
"..." He Wenyu gaped at Luo Qianqian, speechless.
"Come on, let’s go find mom?" Luo Qianqian pushed He Wenyu to move forward. "Thinking too much is exhausting. Pretending not to know when you actually do is true wisdom."
"You’re always right, are we going to the math teacher’s class soon?" He Wenyu huffed at Luo Qianqian, expressing his dissatisfaction, then pulled her along, "I heard from Zhang Jingjing’s mom that even if you go back to Class One, there’s no spot for you. That’s Zhang Jingjing’s spot now. But Zhang Jingjing’s mom is so young, if it wasn’t for Zhang Jingjing calling her mom, I’d have doubted she was her sister. She spoils her so much, agreeing to compensations without even asking, not even a word of blame."
"She does seem really young, almost like a college student who hasn’t graduated yet." Luo Qianqian’s hand was tightly grasped by He Wenyu; she was annoyed by the woman’s brashness, took a deep breath, and continued, "It all seems not as it appears, but what does it have to do with me?"
"Yeah, whether she’s good or bad really has nothing to do with us." He Wenyu paused, then continued cheerfully, "Zhuzi’s brother is really handsome though, looks just like a celebrity."
"Why don’t you say that Zhuzi is also called Tie Zhu by his brother?" Luo Qianqian pouted, "I still have to tell his brother to not let Zhuzi bring breakfast anymore."
"What happened? Didn’t Zhuzi say it was for tuition?" He Wenyu didn’t understand why Luo Qianqian suddenly said that; she had already gotten used to the breakfast brought by Bai Yizhu.
Although Luo Qianqian hadn’t seen that receipt, she knew that the cost of bread she often ate was just a few yuan, even if it was expensive it wouldn’t exceed ten yuan; hats generally cost about ten yuan, very good ones at that, and double compensation was one hundred yuan, which made the cost of the milk obviously exorbitant.
If she still pretended to be unaware and accepted Bai Yizhu’s breakfast, she would always feel it was immoral.
"Hey, we could just do homework together, casually give each other some pointers, but do you think it’s worth spending a dozen or twenty yuan every day? Joining a tutoring class might even be more cost-effective than studying together," Luo Qianqian thought as Bai Yixian winked at her, not knowing what that implied.
"That’s true, we learn so much at Grandpa Zhang’s, and we don’t spend as much in a month as Zhuzi does," He Wenyu counted on his fingers, "It really isn’t cost-effective. It’s kind of taking advantage."
"Right?" Luo Qianqian looked at He Wenyu, shook her head to cast out those ludicrous thoughts, and said, "Let’s go back to the classroom to pack our bags and then find mom."
"Okay." He Wenyu always agreed to Qianqian’s decisions without refusal.
If it hadn’t been for Zhang Jingjing’s targeting, would she have even considered leaving the third grade? After all, Jiang An was a very good desk mate.
Luo Qianqian thought that perhaps in this world, she was the only person who decided to skip a grade because she was afraid of being troubled by targeting.
It was as if she were the only one who could have the chance to return to the present from the future, know what the future held, and have the opportunity to change past regrets.
As Luo Qianqian thought of this, she curved her lips into a smile, quite happy and entirely content.
When Luo Qianqian and He Wenyu returned to their classroom, it happened to be during English class. The English teacher glanced at them and gestured for them to return to their seats.
"Teacher, we came back to pack our bags," He Wenyu spoke up, surprising both the classmates and the English teacher of Class One.
In the eyes of the English teacher, although these two children were young, their English was among the best in Class One. What was going on? Were they transferring schools or had they been granted sick leave? The questioning from the classmates resolved her confusion:
"What’s going on? It’s not your fault, why are you the ones going home? Was it Teacher Wang’s decision? I’ll go find the teacher! I’ll testify for you!" said Jiang An, who had spoken those words.
Although he had been on good terms with Zhang Jingjing, he had witnessed the whole ordeal and could not allow his current desk mate to be falsely accused and to leave.
"Hey hey hey, class leader, who told you that we’re going home? We are moving to Class One of the fourth grade," He Wenyu said, seeing Luo Qianqian’s reluctant to speak and resignedly explained.
The two of them were still standing at the classroom door, and as the words fell, they were greeted with a mix of glances from their classmates—some envious, some jealous, some disdainful, and some reluctant.
"Skipping a grade again..." Jiang An looked at his good friend Luo Qianqian and clenched his fists.
The English teacher raised an eyebrow and said, "Congratulations to the two youngest in our class for becoming our seniors," she said, leading the applause.
"Thank you, teacher. We’ll pack up now," Luo Qianqian said, then went back to her seat, opened her bag, and began packing, followed closely by He Wenyu.
Luo Qianqian and He Wenyu quickly packed up; they didn’t have many books anyway, and stood up, ready to leave the classroom.
The classroom was very quiet, the teacher wasn’t teaching anymore, and suddenly Jiang An spoke:
"Luo Qianqian, see you next semester."
Among the surprised looks of everyone in the class, Luo Qianqian turned around and smiled at Jiang An:
"Jiang An, see you next semester."