Let's rewind ten minutes, shortly after Song Ying and her classmates went out to get the cake.
The Director wanted to have a chat with the Class Teacher about not splitting up Class 1, but being a Class Teacher meant no slacking off.
She was a typical workaholic. Once she thought about work-related matters, she absolutely couldn't wait until the next day.
Disregarding that it was almost lunchtime, she wanted to discuss this matter with the Class Teacher.
So she dialed the Class Teacher's number. The ringtone echoed melodiously on his office desk, but the Class Teacher himself was in Class 1's classroom, fighting over food with the kids, naturally unable to hear the phone ringing.
With no one answering the call, the Director went to his office to look for him.
The office was empty, but his phone lay on the desk, sunlight reflecting off the screen, quite dazzling to the eyes.
The Director didn't consider that the Class Teacher might be in the bathroom or heading to the cafeteria for lunch.
She still thought of the Class Teacher as a very dedicated teacher, perhaps taking advantage of other classes being split up to give his students extra lessons, or encouraging them to keep up the good work in the coming year.
Thinking of Class 1's progress this year, the Grade Director nodded approvingly to herself.
The Class Teacher truly lived up to his reputation. In just half a year of taking over Class 1, he had led them from the bottom of the grade to become the top class in average scores.
She recalled the Principal's speech at the school's mid-level leadership meeting, saying that Class 1 would be a pilot demonstration area, and if they could achieve certain results in two years, the Class Teacher's teaching methods would be promoted throughout the school.
As she walked towards Class 1, the Grade Director thought to herself that when she talked to the Class Teacher later, she should also ask him about his teaching methods. Even if they couldn't implement them on a large scale now, introducing them to other teachers to help other classes improve would be good too!
Because all the students were busy moving up and down the stairs, every class was particularly noisy.
So when she heard the clamorous voices from Class 1 as she approached, she didn't rush in to intervene immediately.
However, she was somewhat puzzled. After all, in her imagination, Class 1 should be having a lesson now, or listening to the teacher speak. How could they be so rowdy?
As she entered Class 1's classroom and saw white papers plastered all over the corridor-facing door and windows, the Grade Director's brow furrowed even more.
An inexplicable sense of unease welled up in her heart.
This... doesn't look like serious studying at all.
Any teacher would be skilled at the art of peeking through windows to see which student wasn't studying, which one was reading extracurricular books, which one was playing on their phone.
But as the Director approached the window, she could only see that it wasn't white paper stuck to the windows, but toilet paper!
She felt faint for a moment, but bravely pushed open Class 1's door.
For their mischief, they had quite a sense of security, with both front and back doors locked.
However, Song Ying had gone out to get milk tea and cake, making two trips, and she had unlocked the door when she left.
This is why the Director could easily open the door.
After pushing the door open, the Director first smelled a pungent, spicy aroma.
Then she saw a group of students gathered in the middle of the classroom. Among the students in school uniforms, a tall figure in casual clothes stood out particularly.
He held disposable chopsticks in his right hand and a disposable plate in his left, leaning over to scoop food from the pot.
For the first time, the Director cursed her excellent eyesight, as she saw the Class Teacher's chopsticks pick up a bright green vegetable.
The Class Teacher had finally managed to snatch some food from these kids, feeling quite proud. Then he looked up and met the gaze of the bespectacled Director.
Plop, the vegetable he had just snatched fell back into the pot.
Having gone through thick and thin together, his students didn't mind. The vegetable was quickly picked up by Little Fatty standing next to him, who blew on it briefly before popping it into his mouth.
The other students in the class hadn't yet realized the danger that had arrived. Those who had finished eating and were resting on the side were all scrolling on their phones.
Hearing the door open, they thought it was Song Ying returning, and no one paid attention.
Little Fatty wanted to show off to the Class Teacher, but then he saw the Class Teacher's somewhat dazed gaze. He followed the Class Teacher's line of sight.
And saw the Director staring at the Class Teacher across the hot pot.
The other students who hadn't left the pot also noticed their gaze, and the classroom quickly fell into a deathly silence.
The previously noisy classroom suddenly went quiet, and the students playing on their phones away from the desks also noticed this eerie atmosphere.
They looked up and finally saw the Grade Director.
The group wasn't too panicked, after all, if the sky falls, the tall ones would hold it up.
The Class Teacher was present for this activity, so he should be the one to take the blame. They were just kids, after all!
Looking at it this way, inviting the Class Teacher to join the hot pot was truly a wise decision.
The Class Teacher panicked for a moment, but it didn't last long. Although his students' behavior was inappropriate, the school had no explicit rules against it.
He spoke quite calmly, "Director, would you like some? There's still plenty of food!" Just vegetables left though, the meat had long been devoured by these kids.
The Director closed her eyes briefly, finally directing her anger towards the Class Teacher. Just as everyone had thought, they were just kids, so all responsibility fell on the Class Teacher who hadn't properly managed his students.
"You're the children's teacher, how can you lead them in such mischief? The classroom is a place for learning. Look at your entire class eating, the smell everywhere. What kind of example is this?"
"And what if something dangerous had happened?"
The Director glared at the "culprit," "You come with me to the office!"
Everyone: Hooray!
The Director's gaze swept around the room. This group of students didn't look very innocent either.
So she added, "All of you come with me too!"
Well, they hadn't escaped this ordeal after all.
So when Song Ying returned to the classroom, she found an empty room.
Fortunately, the Director's office was large enough to accommodate over thirty people.
The Class Teacher, being the homeroom teacher and the oldest among them, bore ninety percent of the fire.
"Tell me, whose idea was it to eat hot pot in the classroom?"
Class 1 was a united family, how could they betray their own comrade?
So everyone's gaze turned uniformly towards the Class Teacher. As our patriarch, if you don't go to hell, who will?
Besides, the Class Teacher wasn't innocent either. He had eaten the hot pot too, several pieces of meat in fact.
Class Teacher: Yeah, you're not betraying your comrades, you're just framing me instead.
