"Yes," Ma Xiuping's voice came through from the other end of the phone.
Zhou Mei spoke in a gentle tone, "Hello Teacher Ma, I'm Miao Yajing's mother, Zhou Mei."
"Oh, so you're Miao Yajing's mom. Hello. May I ask what you need?"
Zhou Mei weighed her words carefully in her mind before responding, "Nothing serious, I just wanted to ask about our Yajing's recent academic performance."
Upon hearing that her mother did not mention the incident from this afternoon's self-study class, Miao Yajing breathed a sigh of relief.
Teacher Ma's voice came through the cellphone, "Miao Yajing's mom, Yajing is a very intelligent child. She's always attentive in class and gets along well with her classmates; you don't need to worry about that."
Not hearing any other kind of response from Teacher Ma, Zhou Mei also relaxed, then continued, "I noticed that her grades dropped by two places this month. Do you know what happened?"