Xiao Chen lowered his head to look at his own outfit.
- White T-shirt, jeans, white sneakers.
Since he didn't have much to do in the afternoon, he went home early and changed into casual clothes.
Although Xiao Chen was about to enter his thirties, his face looked very young and full of youthful spirit.
However... he shouldn't still be mistaken for a high school student!
He gave an awkward laugh, "I'm thirty, can't you tell?"
"Stop nonsense, show me your leave slip."
"..." Xiao Chen: "No, there's no leave slip. My brother got into trouble, the teacher called for a parent meeting, please let me in quickly, everyone is waiting."
The security guard was not one to be easily trifled with.
He showed no mercy, "You said you were called here by your brother's homeroom teacher?"
Xiao Chen: "Don't believe me?"
Just then, a woman in professional attire also rushed to the school gate.
She told the guard, "Uncle, I'm a student's parent. The teacher asked me to come over. Please let me in for a bit."
Uncle Wang immediately changed his tone, "Alright, please sign in here."
Xiao Chen: ?
After the woman finished registering her information, Uncle Wang let her in.
Xiao Chen wanted to ignore him and follow the woman inside, but Uncle Wang blocked his way.
Xiao Chen was exasperated: "Come on, why the double standard? I'm also a student's family."
Uncle Wang: "Unless you call the homeroom teacher and have her personally tell me, you cannot enter."
Xiao Chen laughed in annoyance, "Fine."
He thought to himself, this works out perfectly.
Xiao Chen called Yu Na.
She picked up very quickly.
After confirming it was really Yu Na, he lazily opened his mouth: "Teacher Yu, your school guard is quite strict, huh?"
Yu Na politely asked: "What's the matter?"
Xiao Chen held in his laughter: "The guard said unless you come down to get me, he won't let me in."
Uncle Wang: ???
There was silence on the phone for two seconds, then he heard her say: "Alright, please wait a moment for me."
Xiao Chen: "No problem, I'm right at the school gate."
After hanging up, Uncle Wang pointed at him, "Hey young man, I only need the homeroom teacher to tell me over the phone. Can't you understand?"
Xiao Chen slowly put away his phone, unfazed, "But it's more convincing if the teacher comes down herself, right?"
"......"
Xiao Chen and Uncle Wang stared at each other with the school gate between them.
Yu Na quickly arrived, out of breath. She told Uncle Wang, "This is a student's parent. I asked him to come over to discuss some matters."
Hearing this, Uncle Wang was surprised, "He really is a parent?"
Yu Na explained, "He's the student's older brother. The parents work out of town so he's taking care of the student."
"Oh I see! No wonder he's dressed like a high schooler. My apologies young man!"
Xiao Chen responded with an insincere smile.
After registering his information, Uncle Wang further explained to Yu Na: "Teacher Yu, I just meant you could tell me over the phone. I didn't ask you to come down!"
Yu Na: ?
She glared fiercely at Xiao Chen.
...
Once inside the school, Xiao Chen looked back again at Uncle Wang's figure.
"That old guy is pretty fierce."
Yu Na said, "He's a relative of the principal, and just started working here."
"......No wonder."
Yu Na warned him in advance: "Qiao Rui and a girl from our class were mistaken by the principal and vice principal for dating. The girl's mother just arrived too. You... need to mentally prepare."
"Oh." He didn't take it seriously. As they neared the elevator, Xiao Chen suddenly asked: "Are there cameras in the elevator?"
Yu Na: ?
Was he even listening to her?
She honestly replied: "...No, what's up?"
"Nothing."
As soon as they entered the elevator and the doors closed, Xiao Chen put his arms around her waist, roaming up and down. "Baby."
Yu Na tried to break free of him: "Oh stop playing around! This is school."
"You said there were no cameras, right?"
"I..."
Without waiting for her to speak, Xiao Chen clasped the back of her head and kissed her lips, prying them open.
Extremely ambiguous kissing sounds could be heard in the elevator.
Yu Na placed her hands against his chest. "When we get... home."
"If you weren't at school—" Xiao Chen released her, but his hands still lingered around her waist. Exerting some strength, he pulled her against himself, his voice low, "I would've sent my assistant to deal with this headache-inducing matter."
Yu Na: "......"
As soon as the elevator doors opened, the two swiftly regained their composure.
Xiao Chen's face turned cold. He seriously asked: "Where to?"
Yu Na thought to herself, how can he be so shameless!
Begrudgingly she answered: "...My office. Follow me."
Shameless man: "Alright, lead the way."
Yu Na took a deep breath.
Endure. Endure. Endure!
The two arrived at the office together.
Xiao Chen saw the woman from earlier in professional clothing was also here.
The woman sat to the side while the principal and vice principal sat across from them.
Xu Yi and Qiao Rui were standing.
The former hung her head dejectedly without a word; the latter stood lazily, fearless.
Yu Na introduced, "Principal, this is Qiao Rui's older brother."
The principal was still quite courteous to the parents.
With everyone present, she got to the point: "Mrs. Xu, Big Brother Qiao, I didn't want to interrupt your work time, but I felt it best we discuss this matter face-to-face."
Mrs. Xu: "Go ahead, Principal."
Principal: "Just now as the vice principal and I passed by the track field, we saw Qiao Rui and Xu Yi sitting together in the stands, feeding each other food, behaving very intimately. When we asked, Qiao Rui still talked back defiantly."
Xiao Chen glared at Qiao Rui. "Apologize."
Qiao Rui begrudgingly yet obediently bowed to the principal: "I'm sorry."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Xu turned and slapped Xu Yi’s arm, “Xu Yi, you’re a 3rd year student! Do you know what you were doing?”
Qiao Rui spoke kindly to Mrs. Xu to help explain: “Auntie, this wasn’t Xu Yi’s fault. We’re currently studying together. I didn’t eat lunch this afternoon. Xu Yi came by with a sandwich and was explaining questions to me. I was hungry and my hands were dirty so I asked her to feed me a bite. That was all that happened. We definitely aren’t dating!”
He heavily emphasized, “We really aren’t dating!”
Ashamed, Xu Yi tightly bit her lower lip as tears pooled in her eyes.
Yu Na: “Xu Yi, is that how it happened?”
Xu Yi secretly glanced at Qiao Rui. Qiao Rui was blinking hard at her.
Biting her lip and struggling internally, she gave a slight nod.
Qiao Rui swore to them: “That’s exactly what happened. If there’s one false word, then I won’t get into college! Now you should believe me right?”
Xu Yi jabbed him in the side with her elbow.
The action was extremely subtle that no one noticed.
With a high school senior swearing such a venomous oath, it was hard for the teachers to say anything more.
Already third years, their mistake didn’t warrant suspension either.
The final decision was for both students to each write a self-reflection essay, with Qiao Rui writing two because of his worse attitude problem, one of which was for talking back to teachers.
With the issue resolved, Mrs. Xu and Xu Yi went off to talk privately.
Qiao Rui returned to class.
Yu Na walked Xiao Chen out.
When they were alone, Yu Na said: “I’ll change their seats later. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried, but—” Xiao Chen grimaced. “It feels a bit unfair.”
Yu Na understood his feelings.
After all Qiao Rui wasn’t his son. Getting scolded like this every day would make anyone feel wronged.
“I’ll pamper you nicely at night to cheer you up, okay?”
"Mm," Xiao Chen pushed his luck and made a demand, "However, the grievance is now, so you need to dote on me now," he opened his arms, "Hug."
Yu Na: "This is school!"
Xiao Chen: "Anyway, it's dark, no one can see anyone."
Yu Na smiled: "Wait until I finish work, you can do whatever you want."
Seeing Xiao Chen unsatisfied, Yu Na had no choice but to pat his head, "Be good."
However, this intimate move was seen clearly by Principal Qin who suddenly popped up from behind.
Principal Qin was holding a thermos cup and adjusted his glasses, uncertainly calling out: "Teacher Yu?"
