Math Teacher, Please Get Lost (GL) - Chapter 33

Seeing that Yao Shuhan hadn’t moved for a long while, Wu Junze weakly reminded her, “Teacher Yao, your phone…”

“Ah, oh… I know.” Yao Shuhan pressed the answer button and walked out onto the balcony. “What are you doing?”

Wu Junze lowered his head to look at his toes. For the moment, he didn’t know what to do, so he just sat on the sofa waiting for Yao Shuhan to finish her call before making any arrangements. Besides, he didn’t have the mood to do anything right now anyway.

The phone in his pants pocket hadn’t buzzed even once.

Was he still waiting for something? He laughed at himself. To think that when his father was chasing him with a stick, he still risked everything to yank out the charging cable and escape, afraid that if his phone ran out of power, he wouldn’t be able to receive that person’s message…

Sometimes the problem lay in one person, sometimes in both—and that determined whether a relationship could continue or not.

Wu Junze didn’t know if it was just him whose thoughts were messed up, or if both he and Gao Tianhong had something wrong in their heads.

From the balcony came Yao Shuhan’s voice, unable to contain her anger: “Are you chewing gum? Why can’t I get rid of you! What are you doing here? I’ll be home soon. What? A man? Can’t you stop being so filthy-minded? Why is it that every time I go out you always link me with some man?”

Wu Junze thought she’d run into some trouble, so he walked over to check. “Teacher Yao, is something wrong?”

Yao Shuhan gave him an apologetic smile. “No, it’s fine.” Then she continued her call: “Yes, it’s a man—my student! A student doesn’t count either? Shu Yan, are you being reasonable? Right now we don’t have anything to do with each other, do we!”

After that, she hung up with a snap, called Wu Junze back inside, and closed the sliding door. “I’ll give you five hundred yuan first. There’s a convenience store inside the complex. See what you need and buy it for now.”

Most students in the advanced class boarded at school. Asking Wu Junze to stay at a friend’s house or borrow daily necessities wasn’t realistic. It was better for him to just buy what he needed.

The most important thing was still his studies. She had to hurry and find study materials to bring him.

Once everything was more or less settled, she asked Wu Junze, “Is there anything else you need?”

Wu Junze shook his head. “No, if anything comes up I’ll contact you.”

Yao Shuhan nodded. “Mm. You’ve kept the key safe, right?”

Wu Junze patted his pocket again. “Mm, it’s safe.”

“Good.” Yao Shuhan put on her shoes to leave. Turning sideways to look at him, she said, “Junze, you must take the exam. Even if you only get into a second-tier university, that’s fine. The point is that you need to walk out of here.”

As long as you walk out, you can create distance. With distance comes the chance to look back. When that time comes, you’ll see things you couldn’t see before.

What people can’t get past is never life itself—it’s themselves.

Wu Junze froze for a second, then nodded and watched Yao Shuhan leave.

The first thing Yao Shuhan did when she got home was grab Shu Yan by the ear and scold her: “So your wings have hardened, huh? You’re getting bolder and bolder, your butt’s just asking for a beating, isn’t it!”

Shu Yan tilted her head and slapped at Yao Shuhan’s hand. “You’re the one who doesn’t come home at night, skipping dinner too, sneaking around with male students in the middle of the night. You don’t uphold teacher’s ethics! And you don’t uphold a wife’s virtue either!”

“…” Yao Shuhan stared into her eyes. “You’re saying I don’t uphold a wife’s virtue? When did I ever get married?”

Shu Yan smacked her lips, unconcerned. “It’s just a matter of time. But if you want to define our relationship earlier, I don’t mind. You’d just have to give me some time to—ah!!”

Yao Shuhan suddenly kneed her in the lower back, flipping her onto the ground, then straddled her back. “And you have the nerve to say my mind is filthy? Tell me, other than addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, what other nonsense do you cram in your brain all day? You don’t even know the meaning of words and just throw them around. Have some shame, Shu Yan!”

With her face down, Shu Yan’s smile was hidden. She only let out two fake wails before saying, “If you have shame, you’ll never get a girlfriend.”

At the words “girlfriend,” Yao Shuhan froze for half a second. That brief daze was enough for Shu Yan to flip her over—“the serf has turned over and sung.”

Shu Yan bucked her hips, tossing Yao Shuhan off, then rolled and sprang up like a carp, pulling Yao Shuhan into her arms. “See? I just care about you. I want to always keep an eye on you. If you don’t come at night, I worry. Don’t be mad at me, or my heart feels awful.”

Yao Shuhan looked at her, then rubbed her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

Shu Yan pressed her hand to her face and shook her head gently. “It’s okay.”

She helped Yao Shuhan up and poured her some water. “What’s with that student of yours? He’s even staying at your place now.” She handed her the cup. “Even I haven’t been to your house.”

“My house isn’t anything worth seeing,” Yao Shuhan replied.

She sat down in the big banana rocking chair by the floor-to-ceiling window, stretching out her arm like a concubine. “Come here, let me hold you.”

Shu Yan bent her knees slightly. “Yes, Your Ladyship.” Then she ran over happily, curled into Yao Shuhan’s lap, rubbed against her, and looked up. “You still haven’t said what’s going on with that student of yours?”

At the mention of Wu Junze, the worry Yao Shuhan had barely suppressed came flooding back.

She pulled the curtain open a little, looking outside. There wasn’t much to see—just a few streetlamps on the school grounds, otherwise pitch black.

She sighed softly. “He was kicked out of his house.”

“Huh?”

Thinking Shu Yan hadn’t heard clearly, she repeated, “A boy from Class One of Grade Three. He was expelled from school. When his family found out, they kicked him out too.”

Shu Yan remembered the morning assembly announcement. That did happen, though since she taught Grade One, she hadn’t paid it much mind.

She wasn’t particularly interested in why the boy was expelled. What she really wanted to know was why Yao Shuhan cared so much about him. “Why?”

Yao Shuhan hesitated over whether to tell her the truth. Looking at Shu Yan’s sweet, innocent face, she couldn’t resist pinching her cheeks. Shu Yan laughed and leaned up to kiss her nose, which made Yao Shuhan blush and turn her head away. Finally, she decided to be honest. “That boy’s name is Wu Junze. He and a classmate were caught in a gay relationship. They expelled him for it.”

“Fvck,” Shu Yan jumped up. “They expel you for being gay? What kind of school is this now?”

Yao Shuhan was more open-minded than her, and smiled. “What did you expect? That’s why I’m so grateful you rejected me back then. Otherwise, I’d have been expelled too, right?”

She hadn’t been expelled—but she had been sent somewhere else: a psychiatric center. Electroshock, then induced vomiting.

It wasn’t much—just a month, 30 days. You live through it, and it passes.

Not even one percent as long as waiting for Shu Yan.

Shu Yan waved her hand. “No, that’s different.” Pinching her nose bridge, she sat back down. “I didn’t know it would be that serious.”

Yao Shuhan nodded, sitting up too, lacing her fingers together. “That’s why I’m giving you three years. Think it through before you decide. There’s no rush.”

After a moment, she added, “If three years isn’t enough, I don’t mind waiting longer. It’s fine.”

Shu Yan frowned.

That sounded especially uncomfortable to her.

What did she mean, “don’t mind”? How could it be “fine”?

Wasn’t she anxious? Wasn’t she afraid?

Shu Yan lifted her head. “Yao Shuhan, are you hiding something from me?”

That was how Shu Yan was. Just when you thought she knew nothing, she suddenly pierced right through you. And when you thought she was hopelessly naïve, she would suddenly be terrifyingly clear.

When she got serious, she never avoided someone’s eyes. Her gaze was always direct, piercing right into your pupils.

And Yao Shuhan’s weakest point was meeting Shu Yan’s direct gaze.

It sounded melodramatic, but to Yao Shuhan, that gaze was like a pair of hands, stripping away every disguise from her body, leaving her bare, exposed under the sun, with no secrets left.

She couldn’t bear it. She turned to walk toward the bedroom. “No.”

Shu Yan squatted on the floor with a weary sigh. “Shuhan, you still don’t know. Whenever you’re brushing people off, your lips tighten, and your hands unconsciously clutch your clothes.”

Yao Shuhan loosened her grip on her sweater. Her palms were soaked in sweat.

Shu Yan said, “If you don’t want to say, then forget it. But I hope you’ll have some faith in me. Believe that people evolve. I will evolve too—for you.”

Just then the clock struck midnight, and Shu Yan’s phone alarm went off.

She walked to the coffee table, turned it off, then looked back. “That’s my daily reminder alarm for summer vacation, to take you to my hometown to herd ducks.”

Yao Shuhan blinked, counted the days, and said, “About three months left, huh?”

Shu Yan walked up to her, closed her eyes. “Goodnight kiss.”

Yao Shuhan smiled faintly, tiptoed up to brush her lips, then quickly closed the door.

Meanwhile, Shu Yan was racking her brain for a term she’d once heard Lan Xi mention offhand. Something like… “aversion therapy”?

Wu Junze was woken from his sleep by a loud ringtone. He hadn’t been able to sleep earlier, but just before dawn exhaustion had knocked him out.

Groggily opening his eyes, he snapped fully awake when he saw the caller ID. He answered, “Tianhong?”

Gao Tianhong was panting, voice urgent. “Aze, where are you?”

Hearing his voice, a sour ache rose up in Wu Junze’s chest and nose. His voice came out nasal. “Teacher Yao lent me her apartment. I’m at her place now.”

Relief softened Gao Tianhong’s taut nerves a little. He said quickly, “Send me the address. I’ll come find you. Wait for me.”

Wu Junze’s heart leapt with joy, but he forced himself to stay calm. “Tianhong, don’t do anything rash. Your family only just—”

“Shut up! Just tell me where you are!” Gao Tianhong roared hoarsely. “Do you want the heart I’ve spent three years feeding to die?”

Wu Junze clapped a hand over his mouth. “Tianhong, we can’t do this, really. Teacher Yao will help me register for the exam. You stay at school, study hard. Whatever it is, we’ll talk after the exams, okay?”

“I want to see you. Now. Right now. Immediately. Whatever we have to say, we’ll say it face to face!”

“Tianhong…”

His voice was hoarse. “I’ve already been beaten like this, and you’d leave me dragging these stick marks all over the street homeless?”

At that, Wu Junze couldn’t hold it in anymore. His hand holding the phone trembled so badly he had to press it with his other hand, but both hands were shaking, and he couldn’t grip it tight. “I’m at Jingxiang Garden, Hengwen Street.”

Gao Tianhong let out a breath and laughed. “I’ll come right away. Aze, wait for me.”