Doing It Over Again [Rebirth]

8: Pitfalls

When the two people arrived, several other class teachers were also in the office. Although they appeared to be buried in their work, their attention was all on Shen Shao. Who was it who let Li Lu have the number one student in the grade? The highest-ranked student was just called to the office because of a conflict with a classmate. It was natural to feel curious.

Although teachers are like gardeners who cultivate flowers, gardeners like to gossip too.

Li Lu sat down behind his desk with a teacup in his hand. "Shen Shao, I heard you had an argument with Shen ZhengYang of Class 5. What's that all about?" He trusted his student, so his voice was kind. "You're classmates in the same school. It's no good to have quarrels that might affect your studies. Mr. Mao, do you agree?"

Mr. Mao was the class teacher of Class 5. He nodded and said, "Mr. Li is right. Shen ZhengYang, why don't you tell us what happened?" His attitude might appear neutral, but in fact he was protecting his own student. After all, if Shen ZhengYang was the one who told the story, it would naturally be slanted with his own subjective opinion. There were several other teachers in the office. After they heard Shen ZhengYang's explanation, they'd inevitably side with him.

Shen ZhengYang didn't appreciate his class teacher's helpful intentions. He actually thought his teacher was afraid of the teachers from the experimental class, and only asked him to talk in the hopes he'd make a fool out of himself. Shen ZhengYang was a good student, the teacher always treated him well, and his family spoiled him. Since he didn't want to talk about something that aggravated him, he ducked his head and refused to speak.

The atmosphere froze over. Mr. Mao's face was embarrassed. If it weren't for Shen ZhengYang's good grades, he might have started lecturing him again.

"Mr. Li, Mr. Mao, I'm from the same village as Shen ZhengYang. We didn't really say much during physical education class. We were just talking about our relatives back home." Shen Shao scratched his head with an awkward expression on his face. "Sometimes back in the village we used to bicker. That's why we weren't paying attention during class."

After hearing these words, Shen ZhengYang breathed an inward sigh of relief. Thank goodness Shen Shao hadn't said anything about Zhao XiaoXue. If the teacher found out he was in puppy love, Mr. Mao would definitely call his parents.

However, several teachers in the office came to their own conclusions. They all knew about Shen Shao's family, and Shen Shao mentioned the word "relatives". All of these adults could guess what Shen ZhengYang must have said.

Li Lu felt a little upset. His top student was bullied by a boy from another class. It would be strange if he, a teacher, would be happy about it. He put the large tea cup in his hand on the desk. In a joking tone, he said, "Mr. Mao, how do you think we should deal with this?"

What could Mr. Mao do now? He gave Shen ZhengYang a dressing-down in front of Shen Shao and made him apologize before allowing them to leave the office.

Shen ZhengYang was angry. He couldn't figure out what just happened. Why did the teacher yell at him without even asking both of them for details? Wasn't it because Shen Shao had better grades, or because Shen Shao was in the experimental class while he was in the general class?

The more he thought about it, the more indignant he felt. Shen ZhengYang glared resentfully at Shen Shao. When he got to the corner of the corridor, he couldn't help but want to kick the other boy. But Shen Shao seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. The instant Shen ZhengYang's foot jabbed out, Shen Shao dodged to the side. Instead of kicking him, Shen ZhengYang twisted his own ankle and returned to his classroom with a sore foot.

With a slight smile, Shen Shao watched the frustrated Shen ZhengYang hobble away. He'd lived on his own since the age of fifteen—no money and no background. What kind of scumbags hadn't he seen? Kids like Shen ZhengYang were slags with a combat effectiveness of minus five.