Teacher Zhou Apologizes

Like many children, Su Li held a fundamental reverence for his teachers. Hence, he felt an innate sense of trepidation towards them.

Now, his homeroom teacher was a woman named Zhou, who seemed to have a particular dislike for him. Her demeanor would shift abruptly, one moment calm, the next stormy, which frightened Su Li. He quickly lowered his head, apologizing, "Teacher Zhou, I'm sorry."

Gu Zi noticed her son's fear and felt a pang of concern. She couldn't understand why the teacher would behave in such a manner. She could ignore the teacher's nonsensical words, but she couldn't stand by and watch her son be wronged. She stepped forward to reason with Teacher Zhou.

"Teacher Zhou," she began, "handing out test papers is a task assigned to you by your superiors. If you don't want to do it, you can report it to them and refuse the task. You can't blame the child for this, especially when we were called here instead of picking up the papers ourselves."