Falling in Love with High School English Teacher Sakura (GL Teacher-Student Love) - Chapter 4

In the blink of an eye, Children’s Day arrived. Elementary school students happily headed to the playground carrying their small stools and snacks. The well-off kids held bulging plastic bags full of treats, while those from poorer families could only bring a bottle of soda and a bag of sunflower seeds—the two snacks that could last the longest. This was a common sight during class Children’s Day celebrations or spring outings.

This year, Yue Ran deliberately chose a quiet spot toward the back to set up her chair. She was ready to put her teeth to good use today. On her way to school that morning, she had run into the class monitor—the most popular girl in class—who had been waiting for her at the intersection. The monitor had shoved a large bag of snacks into Yue Ran’s arms, probably wanting to avoid being seen by other classmates, which was why she had waited there early.

Happiness came so suddenly. Yue Ran’s eyes lit up as she looked at the heavy, assorted bag of snacks in her hands. She quickly rummaged through it and found all her favorites. Finally, she picked out a hawthorn fruit strip and handed it to the monitor.

With a warm smile, Yue Ran said, “Here, Class Monitor, this is for you. Don’t say I didn’t leave you anything later.”

The monitor stomped her foot in frustration at Yue Ran’s smug expression. Through gritted teeth, she retorted, “I don’t want it! Keep it yourself!”

So much for good intentions being mistaken for malice.

Soon, it was Yue Ran’s class’s turn to perform for Children’s Day. Their act was the Bunny Dance, with Yue Ran assigned to hold a prop tree in the back. As long as she didn’t have to wear a skirt, she was fine with holding anything—even a landmine would do.

From behind the prop tree, Yue Ran watched as over a dozen adorable little girls stood at the front of the stage, dressed in princess dresses, white leggings, and canvas shoes with white rubber soles, their hair adorned with colorful clips. Suddenly, elementary school life didn’t seem so bad after all.

The class monitor led the dance from the center—though “leading” mostly involved simple hopping movements.

Ever since Yue Ran had topped the class rankings, the old witch Wang Piaopiao had done a complete 180 in her attitude toward her. Now, Wang greeted Yue Ran with nothing but kindness and warmth. If Yue Ran hadn’t witnessed Wang’s true colors before—her ruthless disciplining of students—she might have actually believed the act.

After the Bunny Dance performance ended, the little girls and boys returned to their seats. Under the envious gazes of her classmates, Yue Ran pulled out the big bag of snacks the monitor had given her. She rummaged through it and found a pack of malted chocolate balls, which she generously shared with the kids nearby. To her surprise, there were even jelly cups inside—she didn’t remember listing those in the note she had given the monitor. Oh well, might as well eat them now.

By the end, Yue Ran was too full to eat any more, so she distributed the remaining snacks to the kids sitting closest to her, who were overjoyed.

Cao Yu also had snacks to spare and asked Yue Ran if she wanted any more.

Looking at Cao Yu’s thin frame, it was clear he wasn’t a big eater. While Yue Ran had some meat on his bones, Cao Yu was all skin and bones.

Yue Ran said to Cao Yu, “Hand it over! I’ll take it back to the classroom and eat it when I’m hungry!”

Since Yue Ran had taken something from him, he felt obliged to return the favor by complimenting Cao Yu’s rabbit dance. “That rabbit dance of yours was really good!” he said. The class beauty and monitor, sitting just in front of Yue Ran, overheard the praise and wasn’t happy at all. Hmph, does that mean my rabbit dance wasn’t good enough? she thought.

Honestly, the competitive spirit among these elementary schoolers was no joke. The class beauty fumed inwardly—I was the lead dancer! This Yue Ran has no taste at all! And that jerk even shared the snacks I bought for her with others. How infuriating!

Of course, Yue Ran had no idea about the class beauty’s grievances. The fun times of bullying the younger kids were always short-lived, and Children’s Day passed in the blink of an eye.

During self-study class one day, the class beauty sat on the teacher’s platform, maintaining discipline. Most students were diligently doing their homework, while a few dozed off at their desks. Others whispered or passed notes. Whenever the noise level rose, the class beauty would cough or clear her throat as a warning.

But there was always that one troublemaker—Liu Yugang—who never behaved. No one knew what his lackey, Zhang Qiang, had done to provoke him this time, but suddenly, Liu Yugang stood up, slammed Zhang Qiang to the ground, and slapped him hard across the face several times.

The whole class was stunned. No one dared to intervene, afraid they might be next. Liu Yugang, having been held back a grade, was two years older than his classmates and often bullied the younger ones.

“Liu Yugang, stop hitting him!” the class beauty shouted from the platform.

But Liu Yugang wasn’t about to listen to a girl. He struck a domineering pose, slapping Zhang Qiang’s face with loud, crisp smacks.

“Stay in line from now on,” Liu Yugang warned Zhang Qiang. “Or you won’t even know how you died.”

Zhang Qiang had a habit of being obnoxious—pulling girls’ braids and picking on them—so when Liu Yugang beat him up, not a single student stepped in to help. Only the class beauty, out of duty as monitor, tried to intervene.

This time, she resorted to her tried-and-true tactic. “Liu Yugang, I’m telling Teacher Wang you’re bullying classmates!” she declared sternly before immediately marching out of the classroom.

Meanwhile, the class PE monitor, Wang Chong, told the onlookers, “Break it up, everyone. Go back to your seats.”

By then, Liu Yugang had had enough. He returned to his seat, leaving Zhang Qiang curled up on the floor, motionless.

Yue Ran believed that no matter what, they were still classmates, and there was no need to resort to the thuggish methods used by street hoodlums. Especially among elementary school students—what kind of deep-seated hatred could justify humiliating a classmate by slapping them in the face like this? Watching Li Yugang sitting calmly in his seat, Yue Ran felt that Liu Yugang was simply trying to use the unlucky Zhang Qiang to establish his dominance in the class. After all, with the mental age of a 30-year-old, Yue Ran wasn’t afraid of Liu Yugang at all. To him, Liu Yugang and all the other students were just little kids.

In the quiet classroom, Yue Ran’s voice suddenly rang out: “Liu Yugang, what’s so impressive about bullying your own classmate? If you’ve got guts, go pick a fight with Yan Fei (the top dog in the grade).” Liu Yugang couldn’t believe that Yue Ran, who had always been silent and easy to push around, would dare to challenge him at this moment.

Liu Yugang roared at Yue Ran, “Yue Ran, you think I wouldn’t dare? Say it again if you’ve got the guts. Believe me, I can beat you up too!”

Liu Yugang saw that Yue Ran’s eyes were still fixed on his textbook, giving him nothing but the back of his head. Yue Ran didn’t even glance in Liu Yugang’s direction. His deskmate, Cao Yu, worried that Yue Ran might really get a brutal beating from this troublemaker.

Calmly, Yue Ran said to Liu Yugang, “Oh, I believe you, Liu Yugang. But first, you’d better think about how you’re going to explain this to our homeroom teacher, Wang Piaopiao, later.”

All the students in the class turned their heads from Yue Ran to Liu Yugang, ears perked up as they listened to their exchange, completely forgetting about Zhang Qiang, who was still lying on the floor after being beaten. Some wondered if Liu Yugang would suddenly jump up and start pummeling Yue Ran. They had just witnessed how ruthless Liu Yugang was when he hit Zhang Qiang—it was genuinely terrifying. Others were curious: how did Yue Ran, usually so quiet and even seemingly timid, suddenly find the courage to stand up to Liu Yugang today?

Liu Yugang paused at Yue Ran’s last remark about explaining things to Wang Piaopiao. Slowly, he stood up and helped Zhang Qiang off the floor, even pretending to be friendly as he dusted off Zhang Qiang’s uniform.

Finally, with a forced smile, Liu Yugang whispered in Zhang Qiang’s ear, “We were just fooling around, right?”

Zhang Qiang, thoroughly terrified by Liu Yugang’s earlier violence, didn’t dare say a word against him. Afraid of another beating, he quickly agreed, “Y-yeah, we were just messing around.”

By the time the class monitor (and class beauty) brought homeroom teacher Wang Piaopiao over, the “battlefield” had already settled. Wang Piaopiao was puzzled—the monitor had just reported that Liu Yugang had beaten up Zhang Qiang, yet now the two were sitting peacefully at their desks, doing homework. The monitor was equally baffled. Just moments ago, Zhang Qiang and Liu Yugang had been at each other’s throats—what happened?

Wang Piaopiao cleared her throat and sternly asked Zhang Qiang, “Zhang Qiang, what exactly happened just now? Explain.”

Zhang Qiang, called upon, stood up and glanced at Liu Yugang, who sat beside him expressionless. Then he said to Wang Piaopiao, “Teacher, we were just fooling around, and I accidentally fell.”

Wang Piaopiao turned her scrutinizing gaze back to Liu Yugang. After observing him for a while and finding no major issues, she warned Liu Yugang sternly not to bully his classmates. Addressing the entire class, Wang Piaopiao declared, “In my class, I absolutely will not tolerate any student bullying others. If I catch anyone doing so…”

After allowing Zhang Qiang to sit down, Wang Piaopiao assigned today’s Chinese homework to the class.

Cao Yu whispered to Yue Ran, “Yue Ran, aren’t you really afraid of Liu Yugang?”

Yue Ran countered, “Are you that scared of him?”

Cao Yu replied fearfully, “Liu Yugang can be really terrifying when he fights. But Yue Ran, you were so brave just now.”

Yue Ran said nonchalantly, “I just don’t want to see infighting among our classmates.”

Cao Yu expressed concern, “Yue Ran, I heard Liu Yugang’s brother is a troublemaker from the streets. What if he gets his brother to ambush you?” Yue Ran thought to herself—who would help their younger brother ambush a girl? Unless they had nothing better to do.

Yue Ran joked seriously, “I’ll just eat until I’m really fat. When his brother sees such an ugly girl, he’ll run away scared!”

Her words made Cao Yu’s face darken with exasperation. He rolled his eyes at Yue Ran’s nonsense and decided not to engage further.

Now, Yue Ran’s homework notebook had become a hot commodity in class—all because of its high accuracy rate. Previously, only a select few could borrow the class beauty and monitor’s notebook, including the PE representative Wang Chong. This had led to all sorts of rumors about them.

Yue Ran set a rule: anyone who could provide a “108 Heroes of Liangshan” card (from Xiaodangjia instant noodles) or a rare black marble (most marbles were colorful) could borrow her notebook once.

However, she soon realized that students who copied her work would then lend it to others, cutting into her profits. So, Yue Ran added another rule: those who borrowed her notebook couldn’t lend it to anyone else. Violators would be banned from future borrowing.

Now, Yue Ran’s desk was filled with marbles and “108 Heroes” cards—her treasures. She knew Shuo Shuo would be wide-eyed with envy when she brought them home, as he loved collecting marbles and these cards.

No one in school had ever amassed as many marbles and “108 Heroes” cards as Yue Ran—not even the richest kids. In her past life, neither she nor Shuo Shuo had managed to complete the full set of 108 cards, despite buying countless packs of Xiaodangjia noodles. Some obsessed kids even bought whole boxes just to get the cards, throwing away the noodles afterward.