MTLY | Chapter 38

◎I’ll teach you.◎

Song Tinghuan turned to look. The playground was packed with a dark, restless sea of people, and she couldn’t see the person she wanted to see at all.

“Ear, let’s go. Next period is Susan’s class, and I still haven’t studied.”

“Oh.”

In this English class, Susan announced the lineup for the bilingual arts festival and assigned the lead reciters for the poetry reading, Song Tinghuan and Chen Yuan.

Some people glanced at He Yingran beside Chen Yuan. Last year’s New Year’s Eve gala, Classes Three and Four had put on an all-English stage play, and the lead in Class Three was He Yingran. In fact, some classmates had even been joking privately lately that for this bilingual arts festival, the face of their Class Three would still be He Yingran.

He Yingran’s face darkened a little. His grip on the water pen tightened.

During the break, Susan called Song Tinghuan and Chen Yuan to the office and asked which poem in the poetry collection from before would be more suitable for recitation. Chen Yuan suggested a few standard selections, and there were plenty of videos online to learn from.

Susan asked Song Tinghuan, “What about you, Song? What do you think of these?”

Song Tinghuan hesitated. “These are good, but I think the piece Summer, *Summer Carol*, is really good too. It fits this year’s arts festival theme very well.”

Susan raised a brow. “Tell me more.”

“I heard this year’s theme is youth and mission. Summer matches that perfectly. The rhythm of the whole poem is very strong, and a group recitation would bring out the vitality and energy of summer even more. It would be stirring, and very powerful.”

Beside her, Chen Yuan was also deep in thought. After Song Tinghuan finished, Susan smiled and nodded. “Chen Yuan, what do you think?”

“I think it’s great, teacher. If possible, let’s do *Summer Carol*.”

After leaving Susan’s office, Chen Yuan still looked a little ashamed. “Summer is the last piece. You read through the whole poetry collection over the holiday?”

Song Tinghuan froze slightly. She hadn’t meant to show off in front of Susan, but she didn’t explain much either.

“I really like English, I’m just not very good at speaking it.”

“Actually, your instinct for the language is really good. It’s just a bit accented. More practice will fix it.”

“Really?”

“Mm.”

“Pfft…”

Song Tinghuan turned her head. She had just passed by the entrance to Class Four, and the one laughing was the side-bangs girl who always followed Tang Qing around. Tang Qing herself was there too.

Tang Qing looked at Song Tinghuan and smiled, but said nothing. The side-bangs girl beside her immediately chimed in, “I don’t know what Susan was thinking. Choosing He Yingran would still be better than choosing some country bumpkin whose English is bad.”

Song Tinghuan lowered her eyes and didn’t respond. Chen Yuan beside her frowned slightly.

Because she had been assigned the lead recitation task, Song Tinghuan planned to go to the cafeteria a little later, when there would be fewer people and she could save time by avoiding the line.

At this hour there were almost no people left in the classroom. Song Tinghuan recited *Summer Carol* several more times before standing up to head for the cafeteria.

Just after turning a corner, she heard voices in the hallway. Too familiar. It was Tang Qing and her side-bangs follower.

Side-bangs girl said, “Qingqing, do you know why Susan picked Song Tinghuan this time? I heard Song Tinghuan volunteered and asked Susan herself. She’s really something. On the surface she acts like she doesn’t fight, doesn’t compete, doesn’t want anything, but behind people’s backs she pulls tricks like this. I almost feel bad for He Yingran.”

Tang Qing said, “What’s there to feel bad about with He Yingran? Even if she gets on stage, she still won’t become the center of attention.”

Side-bangs girl caught the displeasure on Tang Qing’s face and quickly fawned, “Exactly, exactly. No matter who goes on stage, the spotlight will still be on our Qingqing. The main lead reciter will definitely be you, Qingqing.”

Tang Qing laughed once, but said nothing.

“Qingqing, do you think Song Tinghuan and Jiang Yu… could they really be dating? Even if they know each other, they’re way too close. I’ve never seen Jiang Yu care this much about any girl before. That Han Jingjing from before was nothing much either, and they were childhood friends too.”

“Are you annoying or what?” Tang Qing’s voice was obviously unhappy.

“Oh…” Side-bangs girl paused, a little embarrassed, but she was still smiling. “Actually, I also think they’re not dating. How could Jiang Yu possibly like someone like Song Tinghuan, a country bumpkin dressed so tackily? It must be Song Tinghuan with no shame. I heard she lives at Jiang Yu’s house. Who knows how she’s been seducing Jiang Yu behind the scenes. Girls from small places like that, I’ve seen plenty. They act innocent and like they don’t know anything, but actually they know everything, so slutty that they can’t…”

Her voice stopped abruptly.

Song Tinghuan stepped out from the corner, her dark eyes fixed dead on the two of them.

She had a pair of very beautiful eyes, soft and clear, but right now, for the first time, those pretty pupils were filled with fury.

Beneath the thin layer of anger was a faint, almost imperceptible loss of focus.

Shameless, pretending to be pure, seducing… For the past sixteen years, Song Tinghuan had never once been associated with words like these.

Tang Qing and side-bangs girl had not expected their gossiping to be heard by the person involved. The panic on their faces was obvious.

Side-bangs girl was the first to crack. “Song Tinghuan, why are you eavesdropping on other people’s conversations? I’m telling you, y-you don’t need to act all pitiful. We didn’t say anything. Even if you go tell the teachers, do you really think anyone will believe you?”

Tang Qing was still calmer than her sidekick. After only a brief pause, she curved her lips and said, “It doesn’t matter if you heard it. I like Jiang Yu. You’re always clinging to him, of course I hate you.”

Side-bangs girl instantly got bold too. “Yeah. You cling to Jiang Yu on one side, then act ambiguous with Liang Shiyi and Chen Yuan on the other. If that’s not shameless, what is it?”

Song Tinghuan sniffled. Grief and grievance surged in her chest, but she forced back her tears.

She cried easily, but she did not want these two to see her crying nose and all.

Song Tinghuan walked up to Tang Qing and side-bangs girl. Her eyes were still soft and dark, but they now carried a sharp edge, and her voice remained gentle and clear. “Do you really think no one knows what you just said? There are cameras in the hallway. Every single word you said is recorded clearly. If I go tell the teacher today, that’s your own fault. If I don’t tell the teacher, that doesn’t mean I’m easy to bully, so you can just make up whatever you want about me.”

Tang Qing visibly tensed. Side-bangs girl was even more direct, threatening her. “You dare!”

“Why wouldn’t I dare?”

“…”

“As for who I cling to, and who I befriend, that’s my own business. What does it have to do with you, or with you people?” Song Tinghuan stressed the first “you” and turned her gaze to Tang Qing.

“You think the main lead reciter has to be you?”

Susan had mentioned the main lead reciter before, hoping all four reciters could compete, but Song Tinghuan had never been confident in her speaking, so she hadn’t really thought in that direction at all.

But now, a fierce desire to win had been kindled in her.

Being looked down on like this, having them say over and over that her English was country bumpkin English, felt terrible.

Seeing her say that, Tang Qing sized her up and seemed unconcerned. “What, you want to compete with me?”

Song Tinghuan said, “I’m not competing with you. I simply have the right to compete.”

Tang Qing frowned.

The side-bangs girl next to her burst out laughing. “You? You want to compete fairly with Qingqing? With your country bumpkin English?”

Song Tinghuan said nothing more. She withdrew the sharpness from her eyes and went straight downstairs.

Behind her, side-bangs girl gritted her teeth and stamped her foot. “Qingqing, look at her. What’s that attitude?”

Tang Qing gave her a cold glare. “Are you sick? Do you want Song Tinghuan to hand the surveillance video to Lao Qin?”

Side-bangs girl said, “I…”

*

The first class of the afternoon was physics. Song Tinghuan wasn’t in her seat, and Guan Linlin kept calling her, but no one answered. When the physics teacher saw the empty seat, he asked, “Where’s Song Tinghuan?”

“Huh? She… she’s not feeling well and went to the nurse’s office.” After Guan Linlin made that up, she wanted to bite her own tongue off. That lie was way too easy to expose.

“Teach… teacher, I’ll go check on her.”

The physics teacher nodded.

Guan Linlin stood up, and behind her Chen Yuan asked, “Need help?”

“No need.” Guan Linlin hurried out of the classroom.

Song Tinghuan had never gone missing during class before. Guan Linlin was anxious. She wanted to find Qin Shuxia, but she was also afraid of causing trouble for Song Tinghuan.

After running through the contacts list, she only found Han Shuming.

Right, find Han Shuming. Han Shuming would definitely be able to contact Jiang Yu!

Class Nine of sophomore year had PE this period, together with Classes Seven and Eight. When Han Shuming found Jiang Yu, Jiang Yu was being egged on by Li Yiliang into joining the city basketball league.

He had done practice sheets until 1:30 in the morning last night, and now he was so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open. Listening to Li Yiliang ramble on and on only made him more annoyed.

When he saw Han Shuming rushing over and blurting out that Song Tinghuan was missing, Jiang Yu, who had been lazily leaning under the basketball hoop, suddenly opened his eyes. “What do you mean, missing?”

“I don’t know. Guan Linlin said on the phone that she wasn’t there for the first class this afternoon, her phone was off, and she didn’t tell the teacher or classmates where she went.”

The lazy look on Jiang Yu’s face vanished in an instant, and his brows pulled together slightly.

“Did you ask Lao Qin?”

“Not yet. Guan Linlin doesn’t dare say anything.”

“I’ll go find her. You take her to find Lao Qin.”

Li Yiliang quickly said, “I’m coming with you.”

Not long after, Qin Shuxia’s call came through. Jiang Yu was breathing a little hard as he listened to Qin Shuxia say that someone in the class had told him that at noon, two girls from the neighboring class seemed to have had a dispute with Song Tinghuan.

“Impossible.” Jiang Yu cut Qin Shuxia off right away. “With her personality, what kind of people could she possibly get into a dispute with?”

Qin Shuxia: “…”

Jiang Yu said nothing, but his brow tightened.

It wasn’t entirely impossible. What if the other side had said something especially nasty?

Even rabbits bite when they’re cornered.

Qin Shuxia said, “Don’t panic yet. That’s just one-sided from the classmates in her class. I’ll go find Director Li right now, and we’ll go to the security room together to pull the surveillance footage.”

Jiang Yu answered. The early summer wind was already a little hot. He stood on the playground, suddenly blank for a moment.

It felt like something in his chest had been pinched tight, squeezing the breath out of him.

Then his gaze stopped on the direction of the library.

Almost instinctively, Jiang Yu took off running toward the library.

There was an art room on the top floor of the library. Could she be there?

It happened to be class time, so there was basically no one in the library. When Jiang Yu rushed in, the librarian at the front desk was slightly stunned. Jiang Yu sprinted up the stairs all the way to the fifth floor. Just after turning a corner, the instant his steps slowed, the door to the emergency stairwell was pushed open, and Liang Shiyi, who was also out of breath, came into view.

Their eyes met.

Jiang Yu had just sent messages in every group chat, asking if anyone had seen the first-year Class Three student Song Tinghuan. He rarely spoke in group chats, so the moment his message popped up, it set off a bomb.

[555]
[Captured a school heartthrob in the wild]
[Who is Song Tinghuan?]
[A freshman junior from Class One, follows Yu-ge around every day]
[Yu-ge’s accessory]
[Have you ever seen an accessory like that? You’re all blind]
[That is…]
[Class teacher Hao Wenqiang @everyone: smile.jpg]
[I’ll shut up]
[Shut up +1]
[Shut up +10085]
…

Liang Shiyi had learned the news from the group chat. The moment he hesitated, Jiang Yu had already stepped up the stairs and run toward the art room.

*

It was lunch break. Song Tinghuan didn’t know where to go. A knot of frustration was stuffed in her heart, charging around wildly in her chest. In her previous schools, she had never encountered such intense malice, and she had never had a conflict like this with classmates before.

She usually didn’t pay much attention to this kind of gossip, but today, she just couldn’t hold it in.

When they kept saying, over and over, that her English was country bumpkin English.

When they said she was deliberately seducing Jiang Yu.

Song Tinghuan sniffled. The early summer wind was a little stifling. She wandered aimlessly, and before she knew it, she had reached the art room.

She wasn’t very good at drawing, but drawing made her very happy.

She swiped her card and pushed open the art room door. Sunlight spilled into the clean space, where easels stood neatly in rows, and in the slanted beam of light, tiny dust motes seemed to drift.

Most of these easels already had owners, so Song Tinghuan didn’t dare touch anything randomly. There was also a small open terrace beside the art room, and she pushed the door open and stepped inside. Sunlight fell on her face and dried the wetness around her eyes.

Her feelings of grievance and humiliation gradually ebbed away, and Song Tinghuan calmed down too. She needed to think carefully about how to improve her speaking, and not just for this one recitation.

No one knew how long had passed when, with a creak, the glass door behind her was pushed open. Song Tinghuan turned around and stared blankly at Jiang Yu, who had appeared in her line of sight.

The boy was wearing a black T-shirt. His chest rose and fell as he panted lightly, and the fair line of his neck was tinted with a thin flush. He had clearly run here all the way.

“How did you…”

Jiang Yu walked closer, heat still rolling off him, but his expression was cold. Song Tinghuan’s heart jumped hard. It seemed like… it was already the time for first class in the afternoon.

Had she skipped class?

She lowered her head to check the time, only to realize her phone was out of battery.

A little late, Song Tinghuan finally started to panic. Her mind suddenly became a mess. She roughly guessed why Jiang Yu had shown up here. Then what about Qin Shuxia?

She suddenly realized that she might have made a mistake.

But the scolding she had imagined never came. Jiang Yu just walked over and didn’t ask her why she hadn’t answered the phone, or why she had run here alone. He raised a hand, and the boy’s warm fingertips landed at the corner of her eye. She heard his low, steady voice, like a breeze in early summer.

“Coward.”

It settled right against her heart.

The tears Song Tinghuan had been holding back finally burst out the moment she heard Jiang Yu’s voice. A hand pressed against the back of her head, and she was almost forcefully pulled into a warm chest.

“If you want to cry, then cry. What are you being so tough for?”

In an instant, her tears poured out like a river breaking its banks. Song Tinghuan gripped the side of Jiang Yu’s shirt tightly, her slender shoulders trembling.

She really was very wronged, very upset.

She hadn’t had many friends before, and she also didn’t tell these bad things to Song Mingcheng. Sometimes when negative emotions came, she would digest them herself, work through them herself.

Give her a little time, and she could adjust on her own.

The summer wind passed through the branches of the phoenix trees, stirring a rustling sound in the quiet campus. The tall, slender boy stood by the terrace, one pale hand hanging at his side, letting the girl in front of him crumple his shirt, lean against his chest, and tremble with her thin shoulders.

Ten minutes later, Song Tinghuan’s eyes and face were both red. She lowered her head, somewhat awkwardly.

Jiang Yu stood beside her, his eyelashes lowered.

Song Tinghuan sneaked a glance at the front of Jiang Yu’s T-shirt. The black fabric had already been soaked through in a large patch by her tears. She had only been thinking about venting her emotions at the time, and after she finished crying, she felt a little embarrassed.

“Sorry.”

“Starting tomorrow, get up half an hour earlier every day. I’ll teach you.”

“Huh?”

Song Tinghuan had just finished crying, with tears and a runny nose, and hiccuped out the reason she had run here alone.

She didn’t say anything about Tang Qing and side-bangs girl’s nasty words. She only said that her speaking wasn’t good and her classmates had laughed at her, so she felt awful.

“Weren’t they just laughing at your pronunciation for being off?” Jiang Yu’s lips curved faintly, and the sunlight of a bright summer afternoon gathered in his eyes. “What’s the big deal? We’ll fix it.”

It really didn’t seem like a big deal.

It was as if, because he said so, she could believe she really would manage it.

“Song Tingting, be more confident. No one is born able to do everything well. If you think you’re not doing something well, then put in more effort and work harder.”

“I…”

Her forehead was suddenly flicked. Song Tinghuan looked up in a slight daze and met Jiang Yu’s deep black eyes. The boy was still smiling. “What, you’re still afraid with the double buff of school bully and school heartthrob?”

Through the glass doors, Liang Shiyi stood quietly inside the art room, watching the scene on the terrace.

Author’s note:

One step late, every step late.

Second update is in the afternoon, and there’ll be a tiny red packet~