26 Earnest Snow

After sending Hu Chunmei off, Sun Xiubin stepped on the stage and said, "The school is still discussing the candidate for the role of your new homeroom teacher. Please relay the situation to your parents tonight. The school will choose the most exceptional teacher. Your parents needn't worry."

"Discipline mistress." Liu Xin raised his hand and said, "Does that mean we'll spend the next few days without a homeroom teacher?"

"Student Liu Xin," Sun Xiubin smirked. "Mr. Qiao Sheng already told me that once he's done with some things he has to attend to, he'll make special provisions for you alone."

"..."

Liu Xin didn't feel too good.

"Why not switch schools?" he thought.

…

The class was still deep in discussion after school was over.

They mainly discussed the candidate for the new homeroom teacher.

The guys crowded around Jiang Qinghua and started talking.

"Class monitor, can we suggest something?"

"Give the school some feedback, and get Mrs. Xiaotang to come and be our homeroom teacher."

"What a coincidence. You also hope that it'll be Mrs. Xiaotang?"

"Isn't that obvious? Whoever has the largest breasts should have priority."

"Hey!" Jiang Qinghua said, a serious expression on his face. "Don't talk like that about a teacher. It's disrespectful. Plus, isn't Mrs. Xiaotang's legs long and slender?"

"F***!"

"You with your large eyes. So you only looked at the lower part of her body."

"Alright, alright, let's stop with the jokes." Jiang Qinghua gestured as he said, "Have you all forgotten about what happened last year?"

"Sigh…"

"Those foolish parents from class 2-5…"

"I wanted to beat them up that time."

Jiang Qinghua packed his bags and sighed. "We're in the middle of judging for a model school, so the school will probably choose a more dependable teacher… But if they choose Mrs. Xiaotang, we'd have to deal with our parents. We shouldn't let our parents do anything embarrassing."

"That's for sure!"

"In my house, my mum ranks first, me second, my dog third, and my dad fourth. Don't worry, I can control him."

"Alright, let's go snatch a spot at the basketball court."

"Oh d*mn, that's right. Get the ball, get the ball."

Jiang Qinghua finished packing his bag and stood up with a smile.

He instinctively turned his head.

He noticed that Li Zheng was talking to Lin Yujing.

Li Zheng walked over with a magazine in hand. He gave Lin Yujing one last chance: "Do you want to read it or not? If not, I'm going to return it."

"Tch!" Lin Yujing turned her head. She carried her bag and waved her hand disdainfully, signaling to Li Zheng to move away.

Li Zheng no longer bothered himself with her. He returned to his seat and packed his bag.

Lin Yujing carried her bag and took out a box of lozenges as she walked past Li Zheng's seat toward the door. She then ate another lozenge.

"It's best if the pain kills you!" Li Zheng cursed.

"~~~"

"I'll tell you again, the lozenges aren't mine," Li Zheng said nonchalantly. "Jiang Qinghua gave them to you."

"Puuu!!!" Lin Yujing instantly spat the sweet out.

The lozenge fell in an arc onto the ground.

It bounced back up, then landed on the ground again.

It finally traveled along a circular path and rolled over to Jiang Qinghua's feet.

"..." Jiang Qinghua looked down at the lozenge, then looked at Lin Yujing.

Lin Yujing was wiping her mouth with a paper towel, spitting now and then.

In that instant, Jiang Qinghua felt a little old.

"Am I that disgusting to you?" he thought.

"Cold."

"So cold."

"Has winter arrived?"

In his daze, he felt as though bleak snow had fallen in the classroom.

"The snow fell so deeply."

"So earnestly."

"It reflected the scar of…"

"When I laid in the snow."

Lin Yujing hurriedly covered her mouth when she saw how hurt Jiang Qinghua was. She felt very embarrassed.

She quickly closed the box of lozenges, then ran over and placed the box on Jiang Qinghua's desk.

"My… My throat is fine now, thank you…"

She then turned her head.

She stared.

She stared with all her might.

She pressed her feet down and stared.

It was as though she'd heard the sound of a can being opened.

Only to find that it was a can of dog food.

It was that kind of fury.

Li Zheng couldn't understand her.

"I'm an honest person. I was sleeping on my pillow of books. How did I offend you?" he thought.

"Women sure are unreasonable creatures."

"." Lin Yujing grabbed her bag and left after she bowed and expressed her thanks to Jiang Qinghua again.

Jiang Qinghua was still immersed in his background music.

Sometime later, Li Zheng walked over with his bag.

"Are we still playing basketball today?" he asked.

"Li Zheng… Why… Just why…" Jiang Qinghua grabbed Li Zheng's shoulder.

He had a ridiculous look in his eyes.

"??" Li Zheng was both flustered and confused. "For… relaxation? What's your reason?"

"Ah…" Jiang Qinghua grabbed his head. He felt hatred.

But he couldn't completely hate Li Zheng.

There was no way. He was Li Zheng. No one could hate Li Zheng.

"I knew I didn't have much of a chance… But I never would have expected… That it's you… Sigh…" Jiang Qinghua let out a long, melancholic sigh. He pounded on Li Zheng's chest fiercely, then said, "I'm going to go all out during basketball today."

"Is that so?" Li Zheng grabbed his slightly pained chest. He couldn't help but feel a little excited. "After the exercise just now, I also feel full of energy."

"Let's stop talking. I'll see you on the court! I won't be on the same team as you today. I have to let you know what resistance is." Jiang Qinghua grabbed his bag and walked out the door. "I won't lose to you on the court."

Li Zheng wasn't easily triggered.

However, after being goaded slightly by Jiang Qinghua, he felt a fire burn within him.

"Then I'll have no choice but to go all out."

…

Before heading to basketball, Li Zheng seized the time to jog to the library.

He first ducked his head inside and scouted the area.

The old, sanctimonious librarian was sitting in front of a table and reading a book.

There was no one else around.

Lin Yujing wasn't there.

"Safe," he thought.

Like an elite troop from an anti-terrorist team, he walked briskly over to the table and whipped out his library card and the two magazines.

The old man looked up and only recognized Li Zheng after he took off his glasses. He said hurriedly, "The female student yesterday didn't come for her student card."

"Oh." Li Zheng ran over to a bookshelf and searched around as he asked, "Do you still have copies of 'Science Fiction World,' teacher?"

"The past issues are all there. You'll have to search for it." The old man kept the two magazines and looked at the inner pages. "You didn't take good care of it," he grunted.

Li Zheng only remembered the incident with his saliva.

Even though he didn't want to interact too much with the old man, it was still ultimately his fault.

He had no choice but to lower his head and admit his mistake.

"I'm sorry… I fell asleep while reading the book."

"Hmph." The old man looked at him from the corner of his eye and said in a serious tone, "According to the rules, people who damage the books must pay three times its cost. They'll also be stripped of the rights to borrow books."

"Don't do that." Li Zheng quickly grabbed his bag. "I'll pay, but please make an exception for the borrowing rights."

"Sigh, you also know that people have to make exceptions." With a straight face, the old man took out a locally-made phone. "That BaliBali…"

"I'll download it for you." Li Zheng immediately grabbed the phone and fiddled with it. "There are still those kinds of videos on the platform."

"What?"

"... Study videos."

"It's hard enough to access the internet. Who would watch those?" The old man waved his hands and said, "Let's talk about BaliBali later. I'll ask you first, has your homeroom teacher gone to the hospital yet?"

"Yes, she said her goodbyes just now."

"Hm…" The old man rubbed his chin. "Then what about your new homeroom teacher?" he asked.

"We don't know who it is yet."

"Then if your new homeroom teacher is to be chosen from your other subject teachers, who do you think is most suitable?"

Li Zheng finished downloading BaliBali and pushed the phone back toward the old man. "That's not a question I have to think about."

"Sigh, the rules are quite strict." The old man licked his lips as he took out a piece of paper. "There's finally a name to write in the library's blacklist. I have to write it down nicely."