She Came To My Concert

A gust of autumn wind and drizzle swept away a few dead leaves on the branches, and also blew away the last remnants of summer’s heat.

The children had fun chasing and playing in classrooms and corridors.

There was a long corridor between the office and the teaching building, which couldn’t cover the rowdy noise.

Zhu Wenshu finally finished grading yesterday’s homework. She put down the red pen, picked up another  colored pencil, and prepared to trace the tabloid template.

Just two words into writing, a little girl rushed into the office and cried, “Teacher! Zhang Zhihao pulled my hair!”

Zhu Wenshu sighed, reached out and touched the back of the little girl’s head. She looked back and saw a chubby little boy hiding at the office doorway and looking inside.

When he saw Zhu Wenshu looking over, he turned around and tried to run.

“Zhang Zihao, come in.”

She spoke in a deep voice.

Zhang Zhihao had no choice but to walk in shyly twisting and swinging along the way with his little hands behind his back.

Translator’s note: 扭扭捏捏 is a Chinese idiom that describes a body twisting and swinging from side to side as an individual walks to indicate embarrassment. The idiom comes from the Journey to the West.

Without waiting for Zhu Wenshu to even speak, with just one look, he was so frightened that he took the initiative to confess: “Teacher, I didn’t use much force!”

“You did use force!” The little girl said while wiping away her tears, “You broke all the braids my mother made for me!”

“I-I was only joking.”

“Woo, woo, woo…”

“Zhihao.”

Zhu Wenshu waved her hand, motioning for him to come closer, “You hurt your classmates, and you can’t make jokes that others don’t like. Understand?”

Zhang Zhihao put his hands behind his back, drooped his head and said, “I understand.”

“What should you do now?”

Zhang Zhihao curled his lips, turned around and said, “I’m sorry.”

“Woo, woo, i-it’s okay.”

Zhu Wenshu: “Then shake hands. In the future, you two will need to be united and friendly.”

Seeing the two fleshy short hands holding each other, Zhu Wenshu tried her best to pull out a smile, “Quickly return to the classroom. It’s raining outside. Don’t go out to get wet.”

After the two children left, Zhu Wenshu straightened her hair and continued leaning over to draw tabloids.

Two minutes later.

“Teacher! Teacher! Ling Siyuan and Wang Xiaopeng are fighting!”

There was a “click.”

The colored pencil in Zhu Wenshu’s hand was crushed by her.

Who would’ve known that in just twenty-five minutes of recess time, this would have already been the fifth student to come over to complain.

If it wasn’t about fighting over things, then it was quarreling.

After the quarrel, there still came two more fights.

In the past ten days as the acting class teacher, Zhu Wenshu felt that her lifespan had already been shortened by ten years.

If there were no accidents, she would have to substitute for another three months.

Just in terms of proportion and ratio, there was a chance that she may not survive tomorrow.

“How did they start fighting?”

Zhu Wenshu turned around and asked.

The little boy who came to tip off the news shook his head, “I don’t know. They were playing before they just started fighting! Ling Siyuan is so fierce!”

At this moment, Zhu Wenshu finally understood why the former classroom teacher left a whole box of Mrs. Jingxin Oral Liquid on the day before packing up her things and going on maternity leave.

She sighed, got up, and walked towards the classroom.

Passing through the corridors of chasing and fighting, and up the disaster-ridden stairs.

Translator’s note: 危机四伏 is an idiom that means “danger lurks on every side.” In this case, I abbreviated it to “disaster-ridden” because that is what the idiom is implying.

Before reaching the door of the classroom, she had already heard the earth-shatteringly loud noise.

“What is going on!”

She muttered and hurried to pick up the pace

The moment she pushed open the back of the classroom, all she was met with was the sight of black heads piled up in a mess, and the shouts and cries almost overturned the roof.

“Quiet!”

Zhu Wenshu shouted, “Everyone, be quiet!”

When the children outside heard the sound, they turned their heads in unison, and ran around in fright.

After the crowd dispersed, Zhu Wenshu finally saw the perpetrator in the innermost part.

The legendary fierce Ling Siyuan—

…was being ridden to the ground by another child,  unable to move.

Translator’s note: 动弹不得 is a Chinese idiom that means unable to move.

“Stop!”

Zhu Wenshu rushed in two or three steps, and after a closer look, found that Ling Siyuan’s face was covered with blood.

“Wang Xiaopeng! Stop it!”

As soon as the little boy who was yelled at heard the voice, he was so frightened that he rolled off Ling Siyuan’s body.

“It’s not that big of a deal, it’s just that his nose was hit. Just stop the blood, and it’ll be fine.”

The school doctor was already accustomed to this kind of fighting, so he threw Zhu Wenshu a disinfectant wipe with no expression, and motioned for her to wipe the blood off her hands.

After receiving these words, Zhu Wenshu’s violently beating heart slowed down a little.

Fortunately, nothing major happened. Ling Siyuan only had a nosebleed, and he had stretched out his hand to touch it twice before wiping it all over his face.

But Zhu Wenshu was not in the mood to wipe her palms. She frowned, stared at the little boy in front of her, and asked, “Why did you hit someone?”

Ling Siyuan’s nose was stuffed with gauze, and his appearance looked comical.

Coupled with his stubborn expression, he looks more like a cartoon character.

“You won’t speak?”

Zhu Wenshu said solemnly, “It doesn’t matter if you did something wrong. The important thing is to have the correct attitude.”

“…”

“Tell Teacher. Why did you fight?”

“…”

Seeing that he refused to speak whether living or dying, Zhu Wenshu had no choice but to be soft.

She half-squatted in front of Ling Siyuan, touched his sweat-dampened hair, and said softly: “Tell Teacher, okay? We said we would be good friends.”

Zhu Wenshu’s voice was like fine bean paste that flowed out of glutinous rice balls, so gentle and sweet that even the school doctor beside him felt his heart melt.

But this seven-year-old boy was still indifferent, turned his head and said nothing.

Translator’s note: 无动于衷 is a Chinese idiom that means indifferent. Directly translated, it essentially means that his heart was not touched.

“If you continue to be like this…”

Zhu Wenshu said, “Then Teacher can only talk to your parents.”

Inviting parents was worthy of being the killer move.

Translator’s note: 杀手锏 is the killer move. It’s her trump card.

No matter how stubborn the child who heard it was, there would be immediate panic.

His dark pupils gurgled, rolling like a black grape.

“”I-I… It was Wang Xiaopeng who insulted me first!”

Zhu Wenshu asked, “What did he insult you for?”

Ling Siyuan opened his mouth, and he was about to say something, but he didn’t know what he thought of.

Puckering his lips, twisting his head, he turned into a saw-jawed gourd again.

“No matter what, we cannot solve problems with our fists.”

Under this gentle voice, no one knew that Zhu Wenshu’s patience had been exhausted.

“If you don’t speak, then Teacher will really have to invite your parents.”

Ling Siyuan’s cheeks flushed suddenly, and his fingers fiddled with the hem of his clothes uneasily.

Only after a long time did he stammer, “M-my father is very busy! He’s not available.”

“How busy can he be?”

Zhu Wenshu asked, “Even if he’s really busy, he must still have time to come to school?”

“My father i-is a doctor! He saves patients every day!”

“Doctors also have off-duty time.”

Zhu Wenshu took it unhurriedly, “It’s fine for Teacher to go to the hospital to find your father.”

A child is still a child, and when they tell lies, they cannot withstand fear.

Seeing that he was about to be exposed, he was so anxious that his baby fat was shaking. He lowered his head and thought for a while, then suddenly said again.

“No, no, my father switched careers! He isn’t at the hospital anymore!”

“Oh?’

“He-he has become a big star!” Ling Siyuan rolled his eyes and recalled, “He always goes out in a super cool car to pick me up! More than 100 reporters are blocking him downstairs! Hundreds of fans take pictures of him every day to sell ​​for money! Teacher, if you don’t buy a ticket, you won’t be able to see him!”

“Why don’t you say that your father is an astronaut and is not on Earth right now?”

Zhu Wenshu resisted the urge to laugh, taking out her mobile phone as she said, “Yuanyuan, everyone makes mistakes. As long as you correct them, you are still a good boy, but it is wrong for you to lie.”

Translator’s note: Saying Yuanyuan to Ling Siyuan is a form of endearment.

Open the DingTalk parent group, and Zhu Wenshu found “Ling Siyuan’s father”.

When Ling Siyuan saw it, he jumped out of the bed in a hurry, but he didn’t dare to do anything. He could only hold onto Zhu Wenshu’s clothes pitifully with tears in his eyes.

Translator’s note: 可怜巴巴 is an idiom.

“Teacher…don’t tell my dad. He will scold me…”

Zhu Wenshu sighed, pressed the phone, and asked Ling Siyuan again.

“Then do you want to tell the teacher why you fought?”