Chapter Fourteen: Who Are You Calling a Dog?
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Of course, Teacher Ke at the front of the classroom could not miss the little exchanges between Wen Leyu and Li Ye.
She made no effort to stop them from passing notes. After all, they had known each other before, and in her impression, Li Ye was a slightly dim-witted but exceptionally kind boy.
That was important—very important when it came to her daughter.
She was merely puzzled. They had not seen each other for only a few months, yet Li Ye gave her the feeling that his entire bearing had changed.
Earlier, when Li Ye reported Class Monitor Xia Yue, his reasoning had been clear, his tone sharp, and his strike at her weak point devastatingly precise. He simply could not be reconciled with the shy boy he had once been.
One might say that if Li Ye’s face had not been so distinctive, Teacher Ke would have thought she had mistaken him for someone else.
Perhaps Lu Jingyao’s departure had not been a bad thing for the boy after all.
Teacher Ke graded the test papers very quickly. The students in Class One handed in their answers one after another, and by the time they had all been submitted, she had nearly finished grading them.
Through the students’ recitation of the text and the short classroom test, she had already gained a preliminary understanding of Class One’s English level.
She then wiped the blackboard clean, filled it with a fresh set of English questions, and began explaining them in detail.
This time, most of the students in Class One were able to follow along. When Teacher Ke occasionally asked questions, she even received some fairly good responses.
A master!
Li Ye could not help admiring Teacher Ke’s precise command of the classroom. With her arrival, he believed that County No. 2 High School’s English scores would improve dramatically this year.
Just before the bell, Teacher Ke assigned some homework and then asked who the English class representative was.
Xia Yue stood up proudly. “Teacher, I’m the English class representative.”
Teacher Ke gestured for her to sit down. “Remember to hand in everyone’s homework before tomorrow morning. Class dismissed!”
“Stand!”
“Goodbye, Teacher!”
The moment Teacher Ke left the classroom, Xia Yue hurried up to the podium.
The test papers the students had just handed in were spread across the teacher’s desk. Since Teacher Ke had left no further instructions, Xia Yue naturally assumed that she should announce the results herself.
“Wu Chi, thirty-one points.”
“Liu Mang, thirty-four points.”
“Hu Man, forty-nine points.”
“Jin Shengli, fifty points.”
When Xia Yue read out her own score, the corners of her mouth curved upward involuntarily.
Hu Man had been the monitor of the former Repeat Class Two, and now she had been defeated by Xia Yue herself. Who else could possibly compete with her for the position of monitor in Class One?
“Li Dayong, thirty-three points.”
“Hong Zhiyuan, twenty-six points.”
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As the test papers on the teacher’s desk grew fewer, Xia Yue became increasingly pleased with herself. All the elite students of County No. 2 High School were gathered here, and in English, no one could rival Xia Yue.
That was, until she revealed the final two papers—the ones at the very bottom.
“Wen Leyu…”
Xia Yue stared in astonishment at the page covered with red check marks. Only after several seconds could she force out two words.
“One hundred.”
What shocked her even more came afterward.
The final test paper belonged to Li Ye. It, too, was filled with check marks, without a single wrong answer.
Xia Yue instinctively demanded, “Li Ye, did you cheat?”
Li Ye was writing his English homework. Hearing her accusation, he raised his head and replied coldly, “Can you say something a human being would say? Stop barking like a dog all the time.”
“…”
It took Xia Yue a full two seconds to process what he meant. Then she completely lost control.
“Who are you calling a dog? Who are you calling a dog? Who are you calling a dog?”
Li Ye slowly capped his fountain pen and said calmly, “A dog is something that bites anyone it comes across. I was just bitten by one. Who do you think I’m calling a dog?”
“Li Ye, you son of a bitch, you bastard raised by a stepmother—”
Overcome with rage, Xia Yue began hurling maternal insults without thinking. Women could curse just as viciously as men.
Then she saw a book fly through the air and slam heavily into the middle of her broad forehead.
Xia Yue was stunned. Ever since becoming class monitor, she had never been openly defied, let alone physically attacked.
“Just you wait… Just you wait…”
After her brief daze, Xia Yue charged out of the classroom and headed straight for the teachers’ office.
Reporting someone to the teacher was a tactic she knew better than anyone.
No matter how capable or physically formidable you were, as long as you were still a student, you had to kneel before a teacher.
Seeing Xia Yue storm out like a madwoman, Li Dayong sidled over and whispered worriedly, “Bro, Xia Yue’s a piece of work. She can turn black into white. You’d better get your story straight with Little Mute first.”
“Get our stories straight?” Li Ye stared at him. “You think I cheated too?”
“I don’t… I…”
Li Dayong stumbled over his words and fell silent.
Do you have any idea how capable you are, bro? Your college entrance exam score wasn’t even as high as mine! Copying your way to sixty or seventy points might be believable, but a perfect score? Do you really think everyone else is blind?
Li Dayong complained inwardly without pause, but he did not dare actually talk back to Li Ye, and the frustration nearly suffocated him.
Then, all at once, he felt a chill run over his body. Looking up, he found Wen Leyu staring coldly at him.
“Who did you call Little Mute?”
Her lips were at normal human warmth, yet the words that came from them were as cold as the depths of winter. And still, her voice was as sweet and melodious as an oriole’s song.
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“…”
Li Dayong had accompanied Li Ye to Liuqiao Township Primary School and had met Wen Leyu before, but he had never seen her look so sharp and intimidating.
Why was it fine when other people called her Little Mute, but not when I did?
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I said the wrong thing…”
Unable to make head or tail of the situation, Li Dayong could only apologize repeatedly. Wen Leyu continued glaring fiercely at him until Xia Yue returned to the classroom.
Xia Yue lifted her chin high and said to Li Ye, “Li Ye, Wen Leyu—the teacher wants to see you in the office.”
Li Ye had been mentally prepared for that, but the moment he heard that Wen Leyu was being called in as well, his expression darkened.
“What does Wen Leyu have to do with this? Don’t go biting everyone you see.”
Grinding her teeth, Xia Yue’s chest heaved as she said, “You copied Wen Leyu’s answers. How could she have nothing to do with it? She’s a key witness.”
Li Ye finally understood why Xia Yue was so certain that he had cheated. His answers and Wen Leyu’s were both completely correct, and the two of them were deskmates. On top of that, Li Ye had once been a hopeless student. Once all those clues were connected, they formed a perfectly complete chain of evidence.
Thus, on the way to the teachers’ office, Xia Yue, walking ahead of them, was visibly elated, as though she could sentence Li Ye to death the very next moment and drag him out to be executed.
Perhaps she was thinking that Li Ye had reported her for opening a package without permission, while she had reported him for cheating. The two offenses should cancel each other out…
No. Li Ye’s offense was more serious.
Watching her back, Li Ye could not help silently sneering.
You think you’re the one scheming against me? You have no idea that I’m the one scheming against you.
In fact, once Li Ye learned that he would be entering Repeat Class One, he had already decided to deal with Xia Yue.
If someone like her, who was always trying to manipulate and dominate him, became class monitor, would she not make extravagant use of the little authority in her hands?
A toad crawling across your foot might not bite you, but it could disgust you to death.
She had to be crushed.
Xia Yue thought she had seized Li Ye’s weakness, never realizing that from the moment she began cursing him, she had already lost completely.
At most, Li Ye would receive a few words of criticism for insulting someone. But what would the teacher think of a class monitor who cursed at others?
It was much like that question a delicate young woman once posted online in a later era:
“I’m going to City Z to eat barbecue. Is it safe there at night?”
“Absolutely. Everyone there is preparing for the civil service exam.”
Different identities came with different expectations.
What was the point of petty squabbling that did not hurt anyone or cause any real trouble? If you wanted to solve the problem, you had to make it serious enough to reach the teachers’ office.
The teachers had made Xia Yue class monitor so she could resolve and eliminate problems within the class and lighten their burden. But if she kept dragging every little matter before them without rhyme or reason, did she think teachers did not need rest?
What use were you?
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