NOVPUBThe five girls looked at each other, blinking in confusion, obviously unclear what the class teacher, who was more merciless than the infamous martial arts character ’Extinction Master’, wanted to keep them for.
"Follow me to the office!" Shan Fengtao slapped her hands to rid them of chalk dust and glanced at them before she walked out of the classroom.
"Brother Qing Fan, she’s even scarier than Extinction Master, why does she want to keep us here?" Lin Wanning dared to whisper in his ear only after Shan Fengtao had left.
"Who knows? Let’s go." Xu Qingfan shrugged his shoulders, left his backpack behind, and got up to follow her.
When they arrived at the office, the teachers of the other classes had already left, and only Shan Fengtao was there.
As soon as she saw the six of them come in, she got straight to the point, "Why aren’t you staying in the dormitory?"
All five girls turned their gazes to Xu Qingfan, waiting for him to speak up.
"The environment is terrible, the food is inedible, I don’t want to stay in the dormitory," Xu Qingfan said, looking her straight in the eye.
Shan Fengtao, caught off guard, slammed the desk, exploding with rage, "School is for studying, not for enjoyment, call your parents right now! I’ve kept your beds; get the dormitory procedures done this instant."
Dorm beds at Licheng Middle School were quite scarce, so Shan Fengtao’s offer was a generous one. She wouldn’t have given this break to the underperforming students at the bottom of the class.
"No need, teacher. Our parents bought a house in the neighborhood next door, it won’t affect our studies," Xu Qingfan said calmly.
Shan Fengtao was left speechless; damn rich folks, buying a house just for their kid to attend middle school!
"Boarders cannot participate in the school’s evening studies. I advise you to apply for dormitory space. Don’t think you can act high and mighty just because you did well in elementary school. With your attitude towards study, you’ll fall to the bottom half within a semester!" Shan Fengtao couldn’t save face, continuing her verbal barrage.
Xu Qingfan still didn’t speak, just smiled and watched her.
"You can’t even endure this little hardship, what good will you be in society? Call your parents right now; I’ll speak to them myself!" Shan Fengtao felt her teaching authority had been insulted and was furious.
Xu Qingfan still smiled, took out his phone, and dialed Zhang Chunxue’s number.
"Hello Mom, our class teacher wants to talk to you," Xu Qingfan said after the call connected.
"Xiao Fan, what have you stirred up now? Aren’t you coming home after school?"
"Hello, are you Xu Qingfan’s parent? Your child..." Shan Fengtao, in a fury, snatched the phone and began ranting into it, criticizing their refusal to stay in the dormitory as an utterly outrageous and intolerable offense.
"Are you done, teacher?" After listening to several minutes of the class teacher’s tirade, Zhang Chunxue couldn’t help but frown and asked.
"I’m done. When will you come to school to handle the dormitory procedures?"
"First off, I don’t think my child needs to board. Secondly, being able to endure hardships only proves that the child can endure hardships; it proves nothing else. Furthermore, I do not believe that a boarding education is good for my child’s development since I am a graduate of Yan University myself, and I was a day student throughout my own school life. Lastly, as a teacher, I hope you can communicate calmly and rationally. Teaching may be a teacher’s job, but nurturing students is equally important. Your every word and deed influences the students under your care!" Being on a loudspeaker phone with severe audio amplification problems, Zhang Chunxue’s structured response was heard by everyone present.
The five girls wanted to snicker, but considering it wouldn’t be proper, they had to stifle their laughter by recalling some very sad things.
"Teacher, do you have anything else? If not, I’m going to hang up; I’m still in a meeting," Zhang Chunxue continued after a long pause from the other end.
"Nothing more," Shan Fengtao said, deflated like a popped balloon, and returned the phone to Xu Qingfan.
The parent turned out to be a graduate of the prestigious Yan University, leaving her, a third-tier English teacher with a bachelor’s from a secondary college, no room to argue.
"Is there anything else, teacher? If not, we need to go have lunch," Xu Qingfan said.
Shan Fengtao waved her hand, signaling them to hurry out.
"Hahaha!" Once the six of them were back in their classroom, no longer needing to hold back, they burst into laughter. 𝒏𝒐𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
