I Might Have Fallen in Love With My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 157 - 153: Protection Everywhere

Chapter 157: Chapter 153: Protection Everywhere

At the end of May, the students finally experienced what real hell on earth was like.

Teachers from various subjects handed out one test paper after another, various baseline tests, various material reviews, and students rushed to and from the toilet and meals as they crammed non-stop.

Students were busy, and naturally, teachers were also busy, as there would always be some changes in the textbooks every year, which required ample preparation every time.

As soon as the new round of baseline test scores for Class One came out, Old Wu sat in the office, arranging the rankings of the students in his class, comparing them with the previous ones, and couldn’t help but beam with joy.

Just as he looked up, Sun Ningzhi, sitting beside his right hand, put down her textbook, took a sip of water, and turned to see Old Wu’s grinning face.

Infected by his cheerful mood, Sun Ningzhi also smiled lightly: "Brother Wu, your class ranked first again this time, didn’t it?"

Her tone was filled with envy.

Old Wu looked up and smiled at Sun Ningzhi, still modest on his lips: "It’s alright. These one or two test scores don’t represent much, the final exams are what really matter."

Sun Ningzhi: "..."

Brother Wu, do you ever look in the mirror?

Your grin is stretching ear to ear, yet you say it represents nothing.

Before Sun Ningzhi could speak, Teacher Liu, the head teacher of Class Two sitting opposite Old Wu, joined the conversation: "The top three in our grade are all from Class One; we teach and teach, but it seems we’re just teaching loneliness."

Her tone was far more envious than envious.

Old Wu’s expression stiffened, but he endured it and unscrewed his water bottle to take a sip.

Sun Ningzhi’s expression also stiffened momentarily, as all the teachers sitting in the office said nothing. Only Teacher Liu was eager to keep up the conversation, and even then, her words carried a sarcastic tone, leaving others wondering what she was thinking.

Ignoring Teacher Liu, the atmosphere in the office turned awkward.

Trying to lighten the mood, Sun Ningzhi chuckled: "After all, Brother Wu teaches well; otherwise, the top three in our grade wouldn’t all be from Class One."

Not knowing what had set Teacher Liu off, she didn’t take the cue from Sun Ningzhi, continuing with her sour tone: "I don’t deny Brother Wu teaches well, but he’s also very lucky. Look, Xie Ying’an has been first in his grade for the past two years without any other ranking, and the transfer student Wen Shiyi immediately stabilized in the third rank as soon as he arrived."

Meaning that the students were naturally smart. What did that have to do with good teaching?

She even mentioned the third-ranked Wen Shiyi, but deliberately omitted Li Qingran, who had made it to second in the grade through hard work.

"It’s just our bad luck," Teacher Liu didn’t give anyone else a chance to speak, starting a new round of self-mockery mixed with sarcasm: "I end up with a transfer student like this, and you—"

She finally looked up at Sun Ningzhi, her narrow eyes filled with schadenfreude: "You’re even worse off than me, burdened with that troublemaker Li Qingmo."

Sun Ningzhi could no longer keep up the forced smile on her face; she had never been known for her good temper. She had previously respected Teacher Liu as her senior and hadn’t responded right away, but now that Liu had overstepped her bounds, Sun Ningzhi couldn’t hold back any longer.

Sun Ningzhi forcefully moved her chair backward, the wooden chair grinding against the marble floor with a harsh sound, and she frowned: "Sister Liu, what do you mean by that? How is my student Li Qingmo a troublemaker?"

The atmosphere between the two was tense and confrontational, and many teachers stopped their work to watch.

Teacher Liu scoffed and gestured around: "Li Qingmo being a troublemaker who gets into fights every day, ask any of the teachers here, who doesn’t know about that?"

Sun Ningzhi certainly wasn’t foolish enough to really ask other teachers. She knew very well how Li Qingmo was perceived poorly by other teachers.

But he was her student, and she would be the one to speak about him; others did not have the right to do so.

Being a top student also has its perks, including quick thinking which comes handy in arguments.

"Even if Li Qingmo is a troublemaker, in the two years I’ve been in charge of him, I’ve never seen him go looking for trouble in other classes..." Sun Ningzhi leaned back in her chair, her demeanor no longer gentle as before.

She caught Old Wu’s encouraging look and glanced at Teacher Liu before continuing: "Sister Liu, instead of envying Brother Wu, you might want to spend more time managing your own students. It’s a common thing to have conflicts within one’s own class, but going to another class to stir up trouble is not acceptable."

It wasn’t long before Liang Fan shifted classes and went off to curse Huang Qianyu, a fact well-known to the teachers in this office.

Teacher Liu struggled to maintain her composure, her anger still somewhat apparent.

Sun Ningzhi didn’t give Teacher Liu a chance to speak. She flipped through a stack of graded papers on the desk and said word by word: "Moreover, my troublemaker student might not be good in many ways, but there’s one thing about him that’s good—his grades. He’s never ranked outside the top ten in his exams."

She looked up, forcing a blatantly fake smile towards Teacher Liu: "Sister Liu, the minor exam results are out, right? The transfer student who just moved to your class must have decent grades, right?"

Between the lines, Sun Ningzhi was consistently defending Li Qingmo.

Hearing this, Teacher Liu’s expression darkened further, her hand unconsciously resting on the ranking list: "It’s okay, although he couldn’t make it into the top ten, overall, it’s still pretty good."

Realizing she was being lead by Sun Ningzhi, Teacher Liu grew even more irritated. She slightly lifted her chin, adopting a senior colleague’s attitude: "Ningzhi, you’ve only been teaching for two or three years. You still have a lot to learn. Take the recent fight between Liang Fan and Song Shize, for example, it really had nothing to do with your student Li Qingmo. Why did he get involved? If he hadn’t, the fight might not have even started."

"Hey hey—That’s not how it is, Xiao Liu." Old Wu couldn’t stand it anymore and stepped in to mediate: "Li Qingmo and his peers value brotherhood a lot. It’s not just meddling..."

"Ridiculous!" Teacher Liu could not stand listening and cut Old Wu off, her tone becoming aggressive: "Brother Wu, do you think valuing brotherhood means helping in a fight? And someone like Song Shize, what kind of good student would associate with him? In the end, they’re all birds of a feather!"

Old Wu shook his head and sighed deeply, finding it hard to argue with a woman, and was completely speechless from frustration.

"Ha!" Sun Ningzhi crossed her arms and scoffed, bringing up past grievances: "Sister Liu, I heard that recently some student in your class bet that Li Qingran wouldn’t make the top ten in the grade. Lots of students in our school participated in that wager, I wonder how that bet went, the playground got cleaned pretty well because of it. In this regard, that student from your second class really played a major role, huh?"

Old Wu actively played along with her act: "Ah! It was a student from class 2 who initiated it, indeed played a major role."

Some teachers who genuinely didn’t know about this now found an opportunity to join in praising the class 2 student’s actions.

Teacher Liu’s fingers tightened on the mouse, her accompanying smile very stiff.

"Sister Liu," Sun Ningzhi’s smile curled up a little, her head tilting slightly, radiating a youthful vibe: "You have nurtured such an outstanding student, I truly have a lot to learn from you."

Teacher Liu was pounding the keyboard, forced to engage with Sun Ningzhi: "We learn from each other."

But in her mind, she thought, it took me two years to realize that this Sun Ningzhi is not someone to be taken lightly and is particularly protective of her own.