Chapter Thirty: Rout
"Good morning everyone! Hey, Ouyang, you haven't gone downstairs to attend the flag-raising ceremony yet?" said Xiao Yuchen with a relaxed expression, speaking to Ouyang who was just about to leave the classroom.
"So, you came to school alone?" Ouyang asked with some surprise. Xiao Yuchen seemed to think it was no big deal: "What's up, you didn't really think I'd bring my parents to school with me, did you? I'm not that stupid." After saying this, Xiao Yuchen saw Wang Lin point to the left, and standing there was Luan teacher.
"Ouyang Chenxi, why haven't you gone downstairs yet? If you don't go down now, you'll be late." Upon hearing the teacher say this, Ouyang reluctantly followed everyone downstairs. When they reached the first floor, they happened to run into Mu Yuhan, who had just arrived at school. Wang Lin then told Mu Yuhan to take his time gathering his things in class and to come listen to what the teacher was saying to Xiao Yuchen.
"You guys really love gossip." Mu Yuhan left with these words and went up the stairs to the second floor classroom. After climbing three steps, he heard Xiao Yuchen's voice coming from upstairs.
"I wouldn't take the initiative to find my parents, and I don't think there's anything wrong with what I've done. I don't like this math teacher, and neither does anyone else. Can't we just change to a different math teacher?" Xiao Yuchen sounded very confident in his words. Mu Yuhan turned around and continued up the stairs, already able to see the classroom door. The class's entrance was facing the staircase, and it wasn't until Mu Yuhan reached the classroom door that he discovered Luan teacher standing with Xiao Yuchen at the office door. What followed was something Mu Yuhan couldn't believe his ears.
"You can choose not to call your parents, but since you're a team member, let's go talk about it at the school league committee office." After saying this, Luan teacher took Xiao Yuchen upstairs. Mu Yuhan knew that the third floor was where the school's political education department and the league committee office were located. Generally speaking, students who went there either transferred schools or dropped out; if they were lucky, they would receive a disciplinary warning and be allowed to continue studying. Mu Yuhan thought this as she arrived at her seat, being the last student to arrive. As soon as she sat down, she saw a box of "Water Crystal Love" on her desk, but there was no note indicating who had sent it.
"Could it be him?" Although only for a moment, this thought still flashed through Mu Yu's mind, but he immediately shook his head and thought to ask Wang Lin after the flag-raising ceremony was over. He put on his school uniform and walked down the stairs.
Outside the playground, the students of Class 1, Grade 1 didn't have the heart to watch the flag-raising ceremony. Almost all the classmates were discussing what kind of punishment Xiao Yuchen would receive. Ou Yang Si asked around and it seemed that really no parents would come to school at noon. Although there were not a few students who secretly took the note back home, most parents were like his mother, thinking that less trouble was better than more. Wang Lin saw Mu Yuhan walking out of the teaching building and beckoned her over, with about five minutes left before the flag-raising ceremony began.
"Quickly, what did you hear?" Wang Lin's expression could be described as excited. What made Ouyang feel a bit surprised was that Xu Xue Mei also leaned in, apparently she was very concerned about the direction of this matter. Mu Yu Heng seemed to not care much, glanced at Wang Lin and said: "Just now, Luan teacher took him to the political education office."
"What?" Although he had expected this outcome, he was still a little surprised when he heard it. Ouyang continued to ask, "Teacher, aren't you going to find his parents?" Seeing Muruohuang shake her head, Ouyang didn't ask any more questions. "Compared to this matter, Wang Lin, do you know who bought the jelly on my desk?" Muruohuang stared at Wang Lin with her eyes, wanting to see if he was telling a lie. Wang Lin glanced at Ouyang and saw that she had slightly shaken her head, so he said, "I don't know." Muruohuang immediately got angry, "You're my deskmate, how can you say you don't know who put it there? You guys came to school so early on the bus, don't tell me it was someone from another class. I'm telling you, if you don't tell me who put it there today, I won't speak to you all day." After finishing speaking, she turned around and stood in line, no longer looking at Wang Lin. Wang Lin could only lean over to Muruohuang's side and whisper, "I only know that the milk tea on Xuyu Jie's desk was bought by Ouyang." Muruohuang's body shook when she heard this sentence, but she didn't turn around. She just said "I know" and then lowered her head.
Before long, the flag-raising ceremony began. It was only then that Ou Yang discovered that Xu Yue Jie wasn't in school today. He glanced at the back of their class's lineup and also looked over to where she usually stood when late, but there was no sign of her anywhere.
"Alright, I'll give her a call after class at noon." Ouyang thought to himself.
After the flag-raising ceremony, everyone returned to their classrooms. Today, Teacher Luan did not come to the classroom as usual to give a lecture. Everyone thought she would continue to scold them about the note incident. The first class on Monday was Chinese language and literature, and Teacher Pan walked in from outside. Before he even reached the podium, Xue Mei stood up from her seat and asked, "Teacher, do you think Xiao Yu Chen did anything wrong? Do we want to improve our academic performance by changing math teachers? Why are you treating us like this?" Ouyang knew that these questions could only be asked of Teacher Pan, who had just graduated from university and come to Fengmao Middle School to teach. Last semester, Ouyang and his classmates would often ask Teacher Pan about college life, and they thought of him as their spiritual mentor.
This time, Teacher Pan didn't say a word. He put the lesson plan on the table and walked directly to Xu Xue Mei's front. Xu Xue Mei's body was trembling, Ouyang knew she was very angry. Xu Xue Mei's eyes were wide open, waiting for Teacher Pan's response. Teacher Pan smiled, putting his hand on Xu Xue Mei's head, saying: "You're all right, standing in your respective positions, no one did anything wrong. Of course, Teacher Luan didn't do anything wrong either. The only thing that's wrong is the school's rules and regulations. The school stipulates that a teacher cannot be replaced within one semester of teaching. You won't know how much trouble Teacher Luan has gone through for this matter. Do you think she wants her students to be unhappy in math class every day? I know everyone has also discovered that our class is not doing well, compared to the other seven classes, from the beginning of school until now, our average scores in all subjects are last in the grade. But do you really want to use non-action to silently resist the school?" As soon as Teacher Pan finished speaking, the classroom was silent at first, and then one by one, classmates stood up to refute Teacher Pan.
"Teacher, when we came to school, the school promised that our teachers would not change for all four years of junior high. What's going on now?"
"Teacher, our class monitor was decided by drawing lots, so why wasn't our new head teacher elected by us and our parents?"
"Teacher, what you call rules and regulations, are those what we must follow?"
Yang Hongyu, who is best friends with Xiao Yuchen, also spoke out and said "If this is what the school calls rules and regulations, then I'd better leave early." As soon as he said that, several classmates in the class actually expressed their agreement.
Miss Pan's forehead was sweating, she had no idea that the students' thoughts were so strong, and she couldn't feel it at all, nor could she understand the harm caused to these children by changing class teachers and math teachers. So she didn't speak, waiting for her classmates to stand up one by one until they all sat down, then said: "Sorry, I can't help you, let's have a self-study session in this class." After saying that, Miss Pan walked onto the podium, picked up a chair from the side and sat down. The rest of the class passed in silence. When the bell rang, Xu Xue Mei came over to take Ouyang's phone and made a call to her family, asking her father to cancel his trip to school to reason with the leaders. When Ouyang asked for the reason, Xu Xue Mei smiled coldly and didn't say anything.
Xiao Yu Chen didn't return for the entire morning, and during the fourth period math class, perhaps because Cheng teacher knew about the note incident, he scolded the students of Class 1, Grade 1 fiercely. Ouyang could feel that the conflict between teachers and students was getting bigger and bigger, but what could he do? Thinking back to elementary school days, there were only two outcomes when a student did something wrong: either the teacher criticized the student or the teacher called the parents to criticize the student together. However, city students really had their own ideas, just like the note incident, which couldn't have happened in District D. Teachers in District D always had the final say, but it seemed that this method didn't work in the city, especially in a semi-private school like this one. Cheng teacher first criticized the class cadres and then began to accuse his classmates, apparently not thinking that there was anything wrong with his teaching methods. Every day, he only assigned single practice books to his students, lectured according to the textbook during class, and sometimes spoke in a way that made it hard for students to understand. If this was the case, it would be better for them to study on their own using the textbook, rather than listening to some inexplicable words that translated the textbook. This was how Class 1, Grade 1 evaluated this math teacher.
At the end of the fourth class, Xiao Yuchen returned. Under everyone's gaze, Xiao Yuchen's expression was very relaxed, and he naturally returned to his seat, picked up his math book, and said to Cheng teacher who wanted to dismiss the class: "You continue to lecture."
At noon, everyone gathered around Xiao Yu Chen and asked him about the situation after going to the political education office. Xiao Yu Chen's response was: "The school still won't change our math teacher for us. As for me, nothing much happened, but I really don't want to stay in this kind of school for even one more day. When I get home today, I plan to discuss with my mom about transferring to 67 Middle School. It's a public middle school, and the atmosphere should be better than here. Plus, my house is nearby, so you guys can come visit me later."
Xiao Yu Chen's words can be understood as a defeat for the students. In this battle between teachers and students, the students have thoroughly lost. However, thinking carefully about it, the problem still lies in the fact that the teacher found out about the note-passing incident. Ou Yang couldn't figure out whether it was just a coincidence that Luan teacher happened to be at the back window listening to their conversation at that time, or if someone from within the class had informed Luan teacher. But even if all the parents got together to negotiate with the school administration, according to Feng Mao Middle School's rules, the outcome wouldn't change anyway. Ou Yang thought this way and stopped surrounding Xiao Yu Chen, walked out of the classroom onto the playground, took out his phone and dialed Xu Yue Jie's number...
