After Becoming the Family Head, I Got an Unofficial Fiancée (GL) - Chapter 17
Teacher Yang walked into the office, opened a thermos, and took a sip of tea. Just as she did, she saw Gu Weiyan walk in.
“You’re Jiang Man’s parent, right?” Teacher Yang looked at her with confusion and asked, “Can I ask what your relationship with Jiang Man is?”
“I’m her cousin,” Gu Weiyan glanced around the office. It seemed like a classroom that had been converted into an office, with about a dozen desks and a large filing cabinet. It looked like a space for all the senior year teachers to gather.
It looked a bit shabby.
Teacher Yang put down her cup, grabbed a chair for Gu Weiyan, and smiled. “Please, have a seat. The reason I called you here is to talk about Jiang Man.”
Gu Weiyan sat down naturally and looked at Teacher Yang. “Is there something wrong with little Man?”
Teacher Yang, who was probably in her thirties or early forties, looked a bit stern, likely from being a homeroom teacher for so long. But Gu Weiyan’s strong presence made Teacher Yang hesitate a little. After a moment, she spoke. “Well, before the summer break, Jiang Man’s grades were pretty good, always in the top five in her class. But after the summer, her ranking dropped to over thirty, which is a significant decline in any class.”
“Did something happen during the summer?” Teacher Yang asked Gu Weiyan.
“Nothing much.” Gu Weiyan thought to herself, She suddenly got a marriage partner, but she said, “She probably just had too much fun. She stayed at my house for the whole summer, and there wasn’t much supervision.”
“Oh,” Teacher Yang didn’t suspect anything further and continued, “Actually, there’s another issue I need to bring up with you—Jiang Man’s personality.”
Gu Weiyan listened carefully as Teacher Yang continued.
“Since you’re her cousin, what about her family?” Teacher Yang asked. “I saw in her file that her parents used to come to parent-teacher meetings. But now, during this crucial year, they’re not here. Why is that?”
“I can handle anything you need to discuss, Teacher Yang.” Gu Weiyan smiled. “Right now, I’m the one taking care of Jiang Man.”
“Hmm… well, alright then.” Teacher Yang said. “It seems like Jiang Man doesn’t get along well with her classmates. She doesn’t like to talk to anyone. I’ve seen her working alone several times, even in group activities, she ends up by herself.”
As soon as Gu Weiyan heard this, she imagined Jiang Man sitting all alone at her desk, and couldn’t help but frown.
“With the pressures of society and school, especially for senior students, sometimes the quiet, well-behaved ones are the most likely to have problems,” Teacher Yang said. “I hope the parents can guide her and relieve some of that pressure. No matter her grades, what parents want most is for their child to be safe and healthy. Don’t you agree?”
Gu Weiyan nodded. “You’re right. Little Man really doesn’t talk much.”
Not only does she not talk much, but she also turns red easily, grips her clothes whenever she’s nervous, and even sleeps with something in her arms. If I raise my voice a little, she gets teary-eyed and looks like she might cry.
Thinking about it, Jiang Man would indeed be easily isolated at school with such behaviors.
Afterward, Teacher Yang discussed a few more things with Gu Weiyan, and then added her on WeChat, saying that if anything comes up with Jiang Man in the future, she could contact her directly.
After leaving the staff office, Gu Weiyan looked at the new WeChat contact and couldn’t help but say, “This school seems a bit run-down, but the teachers are surprisingly responsible.”
It was already 6:50 PM. Gu Weiyan glanced at the sky. It was starting to get dark.
She wondered if Jiang Man was still waiting in the classroom.
Gu Weiyan put her phone away and walked toward the classroom where Jiang Man was. She didn’t go straight in but stood by the window to take a look.
Most of the students had already left, leaving only a few to clean up. Gu Weiyan immediately spotted Jiang Man, sitting at her desk doing homework. But she looked very anxious, her face tight with worry, as if something was bothering her.
Seeing Jiang Man’s conflicted expression made Gu Weiyan laugh. She couldn’t help but knock on the window to get her attention.
Knock knock knock—
Hearing the sound, Jiang Man immediately looked up. When she saw Gu Weiyan outside the window, she hurried over and leaned on the windowsill, looking flustered. “Gu Weiyan, the teacher didn’t scold you, did she?”
Gu Weiyan smiled. “What do you think?”
Jiang Man panicked. She leaned on the windowsill, about to jump out, and with a nervous look, she explained, “You… you’re not mad, are you? I’ll do better next time. This time, I just messed up!”
“I don’t know what happened, but when I was doing the test, I just couldn’t think of anything,” Jiang Man said, her eyes red with frustration. “I studied all this last semester, but I just couldn’t get the answers right. I… I…”
Seeing how close Jiang Man was to crying, Gu Weiyan knew that her slip in grades had shocked her more than it had others. She quickly interrupted and comforted her, “It’s alright. The teacher didn’t say anything bad about me. She just asked me to take better care of you.”
Jiang Man froze, looking at her with wide eyes. “Take care of me?”
Gu Weiyan saw that Jiang Man had her half-body leaning out of the classroom, so she stretched out a hand and gently placed it on Jiang Man’s waist. She leaned her face close to the little one and whispered, “We’ll talk about the details on the way home. Don’t you need to go pack up and get ready to head home?”
Jiang Man immediately jumped back like she had been shocked by electricity. Her face turned bright red as she clutched the hem of her shirt, opening her mouth but not saying anything. She hurriedly ran to her seat, stuffing her textbooks and stationery into her bag, then quickly dashed out of the classroom with her brown backpack.
“I’m ready, Gu Weiyan…” Jiang Man stood in front of Gu Weiyan, holding her backpack, and whispered, “Let’s go home now.”
Gu Weiyan reached out, grabbed her backpack, and said, “It’s already 7 o’clock. Let’s eat out tonight. What do you feel like eating?”
Jiang Man thought for a moment and carefully followed Gu Weiyan downstairs. “I heard from my classmates that the hotpot place next to the school is really good, though it’s a bit pricey.”
Gu Weiyan nodded. “Alright, let’s go there. Call Aunt Zhou and tell her not to wait for us for dinner.”
Jiang Man was so happy that she grabbed her phone and called Aunt Zhou. As soon as the call connected, she started chattering like a little sparrow, showing just how excited she was.
The two of them went to the hotpot place Jiang Man mentioned. The food wasn’t expensive, but for students, it was certainly not something you could eat every day. Gu Weiyan ordered some of Jiang Man’s favorite dishes, also getting her a cold drink and a fruit platter.
Seeing the table full of food, Jiang Man carefully tugged at Gu Weiyan’s sleeve and whispered, “You don’t need to order separately, a group deal would be cheaper…”
Gu Weiyan, eating her fruit platter, couldn’t help but laugh. “We’re not even married yet, and you’re already thinking about saving me money?”
The comment made Jiang Man’s face turn completely red. She blushed and didn’t dare speak to Gu Weiyan.
By the time they finished dinner, it was already 8 p.m. If they didn’t go home soon, Jiang Man wouldn’t have enough time to finish her homework. Gu Weiyan finally gave up on the idea of taking the little one shopping and drove her home.
When Aunt Zhou heard them come in, she walked out. “You’re back. What did you have for dinner?”
“We had hotpot,” Gu Weiyan replied as she took off her shoes. Jiang Man, wearing sneakers, swiftly swapped them out in one smooth motion.
Jiang Man rushed to Aunt Zhou, saying, “Aunt Zhou, I’m going to do my homework now. I haven’t started yet!”
Without waiting for Aunt Zhou to respond, she ran upstairs. Watching her hurry off, Gu Weiyan couldn’t help but say, “Why are you in such a rush to do your homework? I was going to ask if you wanted me to cut some fruit for you.”
“No need, Aunt Zhou.” Gu Weiyan changed into her indoor slippers, took off her coat, and hung it on the coat rack. “She ate so much hotpot, she can’t eat anything else now.”
“A hotpot in the middle of summer? Aren’t you hot?” Aunt Zhou grabbed the coat that Gu Weiyan had just hung up, sniffed it, and wrinkled her nose. “It smells like hotpot. You should take off that dress too. I’ll wash it for you.”
Gu Weiyan laughed helplessly and replied, “Well, I’ll need to go upstairs and change first before I can give it to you. I can’t just take it off here in the living room.”
As they were talking, Jiang Man came running out of the guest room on the second floor, holding a small brown teddy bear. She looked down at Gu Weiyan and said, “Did you bring my teddy bear?”
Gu Weiyan glanced at her and nodded. “I brought it with me when we left Jiang’s house.”
Jiang Man hugged the bear, stared at Gu Weiyan for a few seconds, then said, “Th-thank you…”
Gu Weiyan didn’t quite hear her, but seeing the shape of her lips, she figured out what she had said. Just as she was about to say “it’s fine,” Aunt Zhou shouted up to Jiang Man, “Xiao Man, take off your school uniform, I’ll wash it. It smells like hotpot.”
Jiang Man quickly ran into her room to change, not giving Gu Weiyan a chance to reply.
Gu Weiyan: “…Aunt Zhou.”
Aunt Zhou glanced at her, puzzled. “Why are you still standing there? Go upstairs and change, I’ll wash it for you. Don’t you smell the hotpot on your dress?”
Gu Weiyan sighed and went upstairs. She stood in front of the tightly closed guest room door for a moment before heading to her own room to change.
At 11 p.m., Jiang Man finally finished her homework. She sat at her desk, stretching, and looked at the clock in surprise, realizing how long she had been working on it.
She stuffed everything into her backpack, then glanced at the brown teddy bear on her pillow. Unable to resist, she pounced on it and buried herself and the bear in the soft, fragrant blankets.
Rolling over, she held the bear up to look at it. She thought about how Gu Weiyan had attended the parent-teacher meeting for her earlier that evening and how she had taken her out for hotpot. These were things Jiang Man had never experienced before. After her parents passed away and she was shuffled around between relatives, she had grown sensitive and timid. She didn’t make any friends in high school and had no one to go out to eat hotpot with.
But now, Gu Weiyan had already eaten with her twice. No matter what time she came home, she always made sure to take Jiang Man to school the next morning.
Jiang Man was the type who treated others with great kindness when they were kind to her. Holding the bear in her arms, she couldn’t help but think that since Gu Weiyan had been so good to her, maybe she should think of a way to return the favor.
“Hmm…” Jiang Man hugged the bear and muttered softly to herself, “What does Gu Weiyan like?”