Song Lei was oblivious to everyone’s gossip about her, and even if she knew, she wouldn’t care.
Classmates are just companions on a part of the journey, destined to go their separate ways after high school graduation. Even if there are class reunions, few attend.
While Chiang Yi and the others were huffing and puffing as they rode their bikes to school, Song Lei had just finished her shower, was sitting at the dining table eating breakfast, and watching an American TV series.
Although her English was good, she at least wanted people to know how she was improving; besides, it doubled as relaxation.
After eating breakfast, she washed her bowl on impulse and then grabbed her backpack and walked to school.
Song Lei left the house every day at 7:10 am. It took her until 7:15 am to reach the school gates and until 7:18 am to get to her class. After tidying her desk briefly, she started studying.
Today, at the school gates, Song Lei happened to encounter Chiang Yi and his friends as they were getting ready to disembark.
Her leisurely demeanor was a sharp stab to Chiang Yi, considering the rush and effort he had put into getting here, arriving sweaty and out of breath.
Even without looking in a mirror, he knew he must look awful.
Song Lei glanced over and went about her business, not giving Chiang Yi a second look, and continued walking to school.
Chiang Yi pushed his bike, watching Song Lei’s retreating figure. Of course, he also noticed the snack bag in her hand.
Once, those snacks were for him; now, Song Lei ate them all by herself.
Indeed, Song Lei had even started bringing her water from home, all in the name of saving money.
The money Song Lei’s parents gave her was entirely her own. Once it was spent, it was gone. As for household supplies, those were arranged by the old Song family residence.
A few steps ahead, a classmate noticed Chiang Yi had not followed and turned to see him staring at Song Lei’s departing figure.
The classmate shook his head incessantly, knowing Chiang Yi liked Song Lei yet pretended not to.
Now, turning his head back and keeping his thoughts to himself, he finally called out to Chiang Yi, "Chiang Yi, hurry up, morning self-study is about to start."
Ah, Chiang Yi then realized it was almost 7:16 am. He quickly pushed his bike to the bike shed and then sprinted the rest of the way.
The rest of the classmates swiftly parked their bikes as well and, carrying their backpacks, rushed to their class; it was close to the end-of-term exams, and the homeroom teacher was already lying in wait at the classroom door.
Chiang Yi also ran at full speed, but his shoelace came undone, he stepped on it, and fell flat on his face.
The noise he made was loud, and the surrounding classmates, who were also sprinting to class, saw the fall but dared not stop. Instead, they ran faster.
Chiang Yi climbed up in pain, only to hear the bell for self-study chime, signaling his tardiness. This infuriated him, but no amount of anger changed the situation.
He had no choice but to get up and run to the classroom. The homeroom teacher stood at the door watching Chiang Yi, who hurriedly tried to explain his lateness.
"If you had come earlier, how could you be late?" the homeroom teacher said indifferently. "Late is late."
"You know the rules." The homeroom teacher was still angry over Chiang Yi’s recent quiz.
What could Chiang Yi do? He could only apologize in front of everyone and then post his reflection essay on the blackboard for a month.
In Chiang Yi’s eyes, this was humiliating, especially when the homeroom teacher added, "Chiang Yi, you’ve already written four reflection essays."
"Four times in less than a month," the homeroom teacher scoffed. "Alright, let’s begin self-study."
Chiang Yi was surprised to realize that he had been late four times in less than a month.
Even though he was already leaving the house at 6:30 am, what was he to do? He simply decided he would leave ten minutes earlier from now on.
Chiang Yi managed to stay awake for the first two periods, but the third period was English, and he knew he had to persist, absolutely unable to give the homeroom teacher any room to fault him.
The more he tried to stay alert, the harder it became to resist nodding off from time to time.
The class teacher saw this and became furious, "Chiang Yi."
In the beginning, Chiang Yi didn’t hear her, and the angry teacher raised her voice, only to find he still didn’t wake up.
The teacher was so angry that she felt like her head was about to burst, thinking it was Chiang Yi’s dissatisfaction with the morning’s punishment.
Everyone turned to look at Chiang Yi, genuinely admiring his courage. He had just offended the teacher in the morning, and now he dared to do this.
Song Lei never bothered to look at Chiang Yi throughout the ordeal—after all, his ups and downs had nothing to do with her. She’d rather spend the time reading a book.
It was only after his desk mate nudged him that Chiang Yi woke up, and upon looking up, he heard the teacher’s roaring voice and knew he was in trouble.
With two issues coming together, there could be no good outcome; he truly wanted to cry but had no tears.
But he was just too tired and had fallen asleep, which led the teacher to catch him red-handed, "I, I..."
"No wonder my English grades are poor. It turns out I’m just too tired," the teacher said angrily. "Starting today, you’ll stand during class."
"I don’t believe you can fall asleep standing up."
Wow, Song Lei knew the teacher wasn’t very tolerant but didn’t expect her to mock the original character so harshly and in such an unpleasant way.
After changing her "heart," she had been very attentive to this person’s grades, which were steadily improving. Although there had been no praise, at least there were no nominations for criticism, let alone any targeting.
Now, Chiang Yi was in for trouble, becoming the bane of the teacher’s existence. Song Lei sent her blessings to him.
In the future, having to stand during classes every day would definitely make him famous. It would be better to write a self-criticism, which didn’t seem like a big deal since he was used to it.
Chiang Yi was stunned too, wondering whether he’d have to do a public self-criticism or something, but instead, the teacher had him stand during class.
And the key point was that it wasn’t just for one class but for all future ones.
Chiang Yi could already imagine becoming the butt of jokes once the word got out, his face going pale with the thought.
The teacher signaled Chiang Yi to read the text, and he stammered through it. The teacher snorted coldly, "What do you think of your level?"
What could Chiang Yi do? He was at his usual level, certainly not one to draw the teacher’s ire.
"If you don’t pay attention in class and won’t heed advice, you can either stand or just not attend my classes since you don’t listen anyway."
"By the way, have your parents come to school tomorrow," the teacher remembered there was another matter to attend to.
Chiang Yi was dumbfounded. Ah, so now he had to have his parents come to school. What to do? If his parents found out, they would definitely scold him.
"My parents are busy with work, could we not..." He had never thought that one day his parents would actually have to come to school.
"Busy with work, so they can neglect their son’s grades?"
"Fine, your grades are slipping. Don’t say I didn’t call your parents. When the time comes, don’t say the teacher isn’t concerned," the teacher continued with the lesson.
Chiang Yi was utterly embarrassed, unsure whether to continue calling them or not. After much thought, he decided to ask his parents to make the trip.
If he didn’t have the teacher come, there would definitely be no good consequences.
Chiang Yi was truly annoyed. Why did he have to dwell on things yesterday? It wouldn’t have come to this otherwise. He glowered at Song Lei fiercely; if it hadn’t been for her, he wouldn’t be in this situation.
As for that malicious glare, Song Lei knew exactly who it was from. A mere clown jumping up and down, not worth her attention.