Falling in Love with High School English Teacher Sakura (GL Teacher-Student Love) - Chapter 2

After school, Yue Ran followed the crowd out of the school gate and spotted a red Wuling minivan parked outside. It suddenly dawned on her that today was the weekend—every weekend, she would ride home in this van with her childhood friends Miaomiao and Shuoshuo. In their village, only Miaomiao and Shuoshuo were around Yue Ran’s age. While Yue Ran and Miaomiao attended the First Primary School, Shuoshuo went to the Second Primary School.

The First Primary School did have better teaching resources and academic performance than the Second Primary School. Though it would be even better if they could weed out teachers like Wang Piaopiao, a menopausal tyrant who abused students—a true black sheep among educators.

Yue Ran, Miaomiao, and Shuoshuo had grown up together since they were toddlers running around bare-bottomed. Miaomiao had always been more mature than Yue Ran and Shuoshuo, so she rarely wanted to play with them, considering them too childish. Instead, she often hung out with older kids.

Miaomiao’s reluctance to join them actually delighted Yue Ran and Shuoshuo—it meant they could go wild without worrying about someone tattling on them to the adults.

For instance, they once filled syringes with water and injected caterpillars, laughing hysterically as the bloated insects stretched and rolled helplessly. Another time, they built a sand nest for a chick, only to accidentally bury and suffocate it. The two little terrors roamed the village with slingshots, shooting at birds, whipping frogs unconscious with willow branches, and climbing walls and trees—basically wreaking havoc wherever they went. The villagers groaned every time they saw the pair.

In her past life, Yue Ran’s mother had often swallowed her pride to apologize to the villagers for her daughter’s mischief.

As Yue Ran climbed into the van, she saw Shuoshuo, whose chubby, adorable face instantly transported her back to their mischievous childhood. The nostalgia warmed her heart.

Shuoshuo had a big, round head like a watermelon and a pudgy face that made him look like a perpetually wronged little dumpling—utterly comical. He was Yue Ran’s only childhood playmate. Back then, they were inseparable except when sleeping, as close as a scale and its counterweight.

In their past lives, after they parted ways for high school, their bond had weakened. Though they still chatted warmly whenever they met, it wasn’t the same as their childhood intimacy. Yet Yue Ran knew that if she ever needed help, Shuoshuo would step up without hesitation—and she would do the same for him.

Spotting Yue Ran, Shuoshuo’s eyes lit up. “Yue Ran!” he exclaimed cheerfully. “I’m coming over for dinner later. My mom’s cooking is terrible.”

Yue Ran teased him, “All you think about is food. Look how round your face is already!”

Shuoshuo eagerly suggested, “After dinner, let’s go frog hunting tonight!”

“Sure!” Yue Ran agreed. “Let’s see who catches more.”

Perfect timing, she thought. I’ve been craving spicy stir-fried frog legs, and here you are suggesting it. Are you a mind reader?

How could the word “fragrant” alone describe the stir-fried frog legs with chili peppers? Spicy and full of flavor, every time Yue Ran ate this dish, she’d be brought to tears by the heat. When it got too much, she’d gulp down a big ladle of cold water before continuing her battle with the spicy frog legs—this way, their hard work catching the frogs wouldn’t go to waste.

From the yard, Yue Ran’s mother spotted Yue Ran and Shuoshuo walking home with their backpacks. From afar, she called out, “Look! My eldest and second sons are back!”

Yue Ran’s mother had already come to see Shuoshuo as half a son, which led the villagers to often tease the pair, suggesting Shuoshuo should become Yue Ran’s mother’s live-in son-in-law. But both Yue Ran and Shuoshuo knew their bond was purely one of brotherly camaraderie. In her past life, Yue Ran had often felt jealous as a child when her mother seemed to favor Shuoshuo over her.

As for Yue Ran’s poor academic performance—well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Yue Ran’s mother hadn’t been much of a student herself. In her own words, books made her sleepy, but the moment play was mentioned, she was full of energy. Yue Ran had likely inherited her mother’s disinterest in studying.

Yue Ran had always been frail, catching colds and fevers frequently—a child practically raised on medicine. By the age of five or six, she could already go alone to the village clinic for injections. She never cried or made a fuss during the shots, simply pulling up her pants afterward and walking home. The sting of the needle was brief, something she could endure.

Since Yue Ran’s parents were farmers, busy with fieldwork day in and day out, they had little time to look after her, let alone help with homework. So Yue Ran’s mother had no grand expectations—she just hoped her daughter would grow up healthy. Fortunately, Yue Ran was relatively well-behaved. In her past life, she’d often run wild outside with Shuoshuo, causing mischief door to door, becoming a little troublemaker. But at home, she was never any trouble—probably too exhausted from her outdoor antics to do anything but collapse into sleep. While she might have been a nuisance to others outside, at home, Yue Ran was exceptionally well-behaved.

Once home, Yue Ran dutifully reported on that day’s school exam to her mother. In her past life, she had truly felt guilty for letting her parents down, especially when Teacher Wang Piaopiao had harshly criticized them during the parent-teacher meeting, humiliating them in front of everyone.

This time, Yue Ran made a promise: “Mom, I’ll do well on this test. When I get into college, find a job, and start earning money, I’ll take good care of you.”

Tears welling in her eyes, Yue Ran’s mother looked at her obedient daughter and said emotionally, “Yes, our Yue Ran will definitely get into college. I believe in you.”

In her past life, Yue Ran had indeed made it to college—the first in their village to do so. Though it was only a second-tier university, her parents had been overjoyed. She hadn’t let them down, especially after hearing their weekly greeting every time she returned home from school on weekends: “Our college student is back!”

Yue Ran stayed home Friday and Saturday nights before heading back to school on Sunday.

On Monday during class, homeroom teacher Wang Piaopiao began announcing the test scores one by one: “Ma Xue, 100 points; Wang Chong, 98 points; Cao Yu, 98 points…” When Wang Piaopiao read out “Yue Ran, 98 points,” the moment her voice fell, the classroom immediately erupted in hushed whispers. The classmates were all astonished that Yue Ran, who usually ranked at the bottom, could score such a high mark of 98. Yue Ran’s deskmate, Cao Yu, also stared at her in shock, as if there were flowers blooming on her face. Yue Ran thought to herself, “This is just the beginning. You’ll be even more surprised in the future.”

At first, Wang Piaopiao suspected Yue Ran had copied from her deskmate Cao Yu to achieve such a high score. But she soon discovered that Yue Ran and Cao Yu’s exam essays were completely different, and Yue Ran’s essay was far better than Cao Yu’s.

Wang Piaopiao continued announcing the scores: “Liu Yugang, 90; Zhang Qiang, 85; Xu Ning, 72…”

Elementary school exams were relatively simple, with most students scoring above 80, mainly concentrated in the 90s. However, getting a perfect score was quite difficult because elementary students tended to be careless and would inevitably lose a few points here and there.

Cao Yu was shocked because, near the end of the exam, he had clearly seen many unanswered questions still blank on Yue Ran’s paper. With so little time left before submission, it was unbelievable that Yue Ran managed to answer all the questions in such a short time and with such high accuracy. No wonder Cao Yu looked at Yue Ran as if she were some kind of monster.

In elementary school, apart from Chinese, Math, and English, there were also Music, Art, PE, Science, and Computer classes. Yue Ran’s favorite was PE, where she could play soccer with the boys. She was the only girl in class who enjoyed playing soccer, and she was quite good at it. Yue Ran would always participate in inter-class soccer matches, while the other girls preferred to stand on the sidelines, occasionally cheering from the running track.

Today’s PE class was a standing long jump test. The boys in class could all jump over 1.8 meters, with the least capable managing at least 1.7 meters. The more skilled boys could even reach 2.2 meters. Compared to the boys, the girls’ performance in the long jump was truly lacking. Some girls barely managed to jump a little over 1 meter, and there were even a few who couldn’t even reach 1 meter. Yue Ran couldn’t understand how some girls failed to jump even a meter—were they wearing sandbags on their feet or something?

When it was Yue Ran’s turn, she swung her arms twice before jumping. Each student had two attempts, with the best score recorded. In the end, Yue Ran jumped just over 2 meters, making her the best among all the girls in class. She even out-jumped many of the boys. Class beauty and monitor Ma Xue only managed 1.1 meters—how embarrassing.

Despite being a little chubby, Yue Ran was an agile little fatty. On her way to school at noon, she was stopped by the class beauty, who asked curiously, “Yue Ran, how can you jump so far?”

Yue Ran felt a sense of déjà vu—in her past life, the class beauty had also chased her down to ask the same question.

Amused, Yue Ran teased her, “Monitor, just imagine there’s a dog chasing you. You’ll jump farther too.”

Yue Ran wondered how she had answered the class beauty in her past life. She vaguely remembered being shy and awkward, seriously discussing the mechanics of the standing long jump with her.

The class belle, Ma Xue, didn’t expect such a response from Yue Ran and burst into laughter, with Yue Ran joining in.

The class belle then asked Yue Ran, “Yue Ran, how did your grades improve so suddenly?”

After a moment of thought, Yue Ran replied earnestly, “I’ve been studying hard lately, and my sister has been helping me with my homework.” Of course, Yue Ran couldn’t tell her she had been reborn, so she had to make up a plausible excuse.

Hearing about the tutoring, the class belle suddenly understood why Yue Ran’s grades had improved so quickly.

Yue Ran then teased her, “Class president, are you afraid I might surpass you?”

With a look of disdain, the class belle retorted, “As if I’d be scared of you overtaking me!”

Yue Ran prodded further with a hint of challenge, “Really?”

The class belle replied confidently, “Of course!”

Yue Ran continued to tease her, “Then I’ll give it my all next time. What if my grades do surpass yours?”

The class belle’s expression clearly showed she thought it impossible, but Yue Ran pressed on, “Just in case, you’ll have to promise me something if I do.”

After a brief consideration—likely convinced Yue Ran stood no chance—the class belle agreed.

By the time they entered the classroom, most students had arrived, and the class belle returned to her seat.

Sitting down, the class belle found it odd. Yue Ran usually didn’t dare speak to her and would even blush when they talked. Why was she so bold today, even initiating a bet about grades? Oh well, no matter—there was no way Yue Ran could surpass her anyway.

As the class filled up, the afternoon’s first lesson began: math, a subject that had always given Yue Ran headaches. Since starting middle school, her math scores had never exceeded 60, and it was only during the college entrance exams that she miraculously scored 80.

Yue Ran had read countless rebirth novels where the protagonists returned to their younger selves and aced every subject, often scoring full marks. Yet here she was, still struggling with the same problems. Thankfully, she was back in elementary school. If she started paying attention in math now, there might still be hope for her dismal grades.

The class passed by as Yue Ran listened intently. Their math teacher was quite good, explaining equations clearly—unlike her middle school teacher, who droned on in a monotonous tone that lulled even the most alert students to sleep.

Cao Yu was astonished to see her deskmate Yue Ran actually paying attention in math class, occasionally jotting notes. Previously, Yue Ran would either daydream or doze off during math, earning frequent reprimands from the teacher. Today was truly a miracle.

Cao Yu, still confused about a problem despite the teacher explaining it twice, turned to Yue Ran and asked, “Yue Ran, did you understand it?”

“Of course!” Yue Ran replied absentmindedly.

Cao Yu happened to take out that math problem she couldn’t solve to test Yue Ran. He wanted to see if Yue Ran really knew how to do it or was just pretending. To his surprise, Yue Ran earnestly explained the problem to him, and her approach was even simpler and easier to understand than the teacher’s explanation. It seemed Cao Yu would really have to look at his deskmate Yue Ran in a new light.

Though Cao Yu felt a bit uncomfortable inside, he couldn’t help but think self-deprecatingly that he was actually worse than Yue Ran, who had been at the bottom of the class.

During music class, the arts committee member Li Xu led the students in singing. Afterward, the students picked up their newly bought plastic melodicas and followed the music teacher’s instructions on how to play them. The classroom was filled with the sound of kids puffing their cheeks, blowing into the melodicas haphazardly, creating a cacophony of noise. Yue Ran found it hilarious watching the little kids around her puffing their cheeks and blowing into the instruments with all their might—it was downright ridiculous. It was at this moment that Yue Ran finally confirmed she had truly been reborn back into her elementary school days.

After school, Yue Ran and Miaomiao walked back together to the home where they boarded. Carrying their backpacks, their small shadows stretched long under the glow of the setting sun. The air back then was truly fresh, free from the severe pollution of the future, and there weren’t many cars on the road either. Yue Ran felt inexplicably happy.

Once back, after dinner, Yue Ran still had to finish the homework assigned by their homeroom teacher, Wang Piaopiao. In her past life, Yue Ran often skipped homework in elementary school—mainly because she didn’t know how to do it, and there was no one to help her with it. She relied on arriving early the next day to copy other students’ work. Whatever she managed to copy was good enough—she wasn’t picky, as long as the pages were filled, regardless of whether the answers were right or wrong. But if you handed in a blank workbook or didn’t submit homework at all, you were in for trouble. Wang Piaopiao would grab you by the ear and drag you out of your seat, or make you squat by the podium with your butt sticking out to finish the work while the rest of the class continued their lesson normally. With so many classmates watching, the poor students hunched over the podium completing their assignments suffered utter humiliation.

The next day, each group leader collected the homework and handed it to the class monitor, the class beauty. She would check the workbooks and note down who hadn’t submitted their assignments. The students who didn’t turn in their homework always had all sorts of excuses—the most common being that they had left it at home. They never tired of using this excuse, and no one believed it anyway. Sure enough, two students who hadn’t handed in their homework were yanked up by Wang Piaopiao and made to stand as punishment.

Wang Piaopiao sneered at them viciously: “Why don’t you just forget yourselves at home next time?”