After seeing her aunt and Wang Dong leave, Liu Chen sat in the classroom, tilting her head to look at the ginkgo tree that had grown to the third-floor classroom window.
The bright yellow ginkgo leaves, illuminated by the sunlight, shone with a brilliance like gold. A gentle breeze rustled through the branches, causing the crown to tremble slightly, as if greeting her.
"Chenchen! Awoooo!"
Liu Chen, who had been looking out the window at the ginkgo tree, was suddenly hugged from outside her desk by Mi Zhuzhu. Turning her head at the sound, Liu Chen was immediately engulfed by Mi Zhuzhu's rather ample chest.
"Mi Zhuzhu! What happened to your hair!" a sharp scolding voice rang out.
Huh? Hair?
Liu Chen, struggling to create a path and looking up, finally noticed.
"Zhuzhu, did you dye your hair black?"
Her originally red curly hair had now turned into black curls, much like the Korean female stars popular in her past life. In fact, this made Mi Zhuzhu's skin, which was as white as milk, appear even more radiant.
Liu Chen couldn't help but praise, "Zhuzhu, this hairstyle looks great." kuAiδugg
"Great what! As students, your sole duty is to study. You spend all day not focusing on your studies, but on losing weight and putting on makeup. Liu Chen, Mi Zhuzhu, both of you, go and remove your makeup now! And Mi Zhuzhu, straighten your curly hair. Otherwise, you'll both have to stand in the hallway and attend class!"
Xue Miao, the class teacher who was 28 years old, sat at the podium and reprimanded them sternly. Looking at Liu Chen's indifferent expression, she felt even angrier for some reason. She felt as though Liu Chen was looking down on her today.
In fact, Liu Chen really did look down on Xue Miao. Being a class teacher for a senior class at 28 made her sound quite capable, but in reality?
Liu Chen remembered that when she was working part-time at a hotel, she had seen the single Xue Miao checking into a room with the school's vice-principal, who was over forty. At the time, due to her own inferiority complex, she had hidden under the front desk without revealing herself. She had personally heard Xue Miao asking the vice-principal to bring her an experimental class next time, saying that ordinary classes had too poor results for her to present.
"To teach an experimental class, you need experience teaching an ordinary class, otherwise the principal won't agree. Be good, darling, teach another cohort from the second year of high school until graduation, and then I'll let you teach an experimental class. This way, you'll definitely get a promotion."
Only then did Liu Chen realize that their ordinary class was actually a training ground for Xue Miao, and she even looked down on them for their poor academic performance.
But in reality?
Xue Miao, the so-called class teacher, never checked morning self-study. If she didn't have class that day, she simply wouldn't come to school.
Since she taught English, she never prepared her lessons. Relying on her background of studying abroad, she would speak entirely in English during class. If you understood, great; if not, you could review it yourself after class.
Of course, this led to Class 4 of the third year having the lowest average English scores in the entire grade. But Xue Miao didn't see it that way. Xue Miao believed that the students in the ordinary classes were too stupid to adapt to her elite education.
Having been reborn, the thought of studying under Xue Miao for another year made Liu Chen start considering the possibility of transferring classes.
This contemplative look, in Xue Miao's eyes, was interpreted as Liu Chen not taking her words seriously and not respecting her as the class teacher.
Xue Miao was not a good-tempered person to begin with. Yesterday, she had flirted with the vice-principal for a long time, but she still couldn't get transferred to an experimental class in the second year of high school. She had been holding in a lot of anger, and now seeing Liu Chen, whom she considered a hopeless case that would only lower the class average, dare to ignore her.
The ball of fire that had been simmering in her stomach immediately flared up to her head. Striding forward in her seven-centimeter high heels, she walked quickly to Mi Zhuzhu's side, raised her right hand high, and was about to strike Mi Zhuzhu.
Mi Zhuzhu, with her back to the podium, only heard the sound of high heels. Liu Chen, however, saw Xue Miao's expression and her actions and immediately pulled Mi Zhuzhu down onto the chair.
Xue Miao's slap missed. Due to inertia, her entire upper body toppled to the left. Xue Miao quickly stepped out with her left foot to regain her balance, but the seven-centimeter high heel, which normally allowed her to walk with brisk steps, could not bear her body's weight at this moment.
*Clack*
The heel of her high heel snapped, and Xue Miao, with wide eyes, fell face-first.
The previously noisy classroom instantly fell silent.
A few students standing nearby froze in place, unsure of what to do. Logically, they should help their fallen class teacher, but Xue Miao's behavior throughout the previous year had made it clear to everyone that she was not mentally stable.
Thus, out of the students filling more than half the classroom, not a single one stepped forward to help Xue Miao.
Liu Chen saw Xue Miao on the ground, glaring at her with hatred. She offered a polite smile in return. Who told you to dare touch Zhuzhu? You deserve to fall.
Xue Miao tried to get up, propping herself up with her hands, but a sharp pain shot from her ankle. Xue Miao's face turned pale, she felt certain her bone was broken!
Hu Qian, who had been standing outside the door five minutes earlier, watched Xue Miao lying on the ground, unsupported. She pursed her lips. Nowadays, the classmates were all distancing themselves from her because of Liu Chen's words. It would be better to cling to the class teacher.
After making up her mind, Hu Qian jogged in from the door and helped Xue Miao up, saying in a comforting tone:
"Teacher Xue? Are you alright? Oh dear, your ankle is swollen. Could it be fractured? Class monitor, could you help me escort Teacher Xue to the infirmary?"
The class monitor, who was clearly standing the farthest away yet was still named: Annoying.
Despite her reluctance, she walked over to support Xue Miao. Mi Zhuzhu, sitting in her seat, finally realized that Xue Miao had intended to slap her just now.
Noticing Mi Zhuzhu trembling slightly, Liu Chen quickly grabbed her shoulders with both hands and whispered earnestly, "It's okay, Zhuzhu, don't be afraid."
Often, students believe that a teacher disliking them is a monumental issue. However, for Liu Chen, who was mentally nearly thirty years old, this was more akin to campus bullying, except that the bully was a teacher who naturally held a position of advantage, rather than a student.
Don't talk about how teachers don't bully. For someone like Xue Miao, being a teacher was merely a stepping stone for her to climb higher.
Xue Miao, who had been helped to her feet, saw Liu Chen speaking and glared at her fiercely, shouting:
"Liu Chen, Mi Zhuzhu, I, Xue Miao, cannot teach trash like you! People like you, even after graduating, won't get into university. At best, you'll become scum of society! Fine! You don't listen to me! Good! Very good! Then let the principal talk to both of you! I want to see how stubborn you two can be!"