A whole month had passed since Luo Daoyang last appeared at school. Everyone was talking about it, speculating about what kind of trouble the young master was brewing this time.
“Teacher Qi, that student in your class, the one who hasn’t been to school for a month, do you know what's going on with him?”
A teacher from the same office was worried that Qi Zhi, being a new teacher, might not know how to handle Luo Daoyang, offered a kind reminder.
Qi Zhi paused while marking homework, and the red ink of the fountain pen lingered on the white paper, leaving a conspicuous red dot.
He looked up, adjusting his glasses, and said innocently, “It’s nothing serious. I heard he has a bit of a cold.”
Luo Daoyang was beaten up by him, and it would take a hundred days to heal his broken bones. Qi Zhi would consider Luo Daoyang lucky if he didn't stay in the hospital for a few more days.
“Tsk, a cold that lasts a month?”
The colleague joked, “It’s for the best that he’s not here. Class Four is peaceful, and Teacher Qi can save himself some trouble.”
Qi Zhi smiled without responding and lowered his head to conceal the sharp glint in his eyes as he continued to check assignments.
Monday morning’s first and second periods were Class 4’s Chinese language classes. When the bell rang, Qi Zhi gathered his teaching materials and headed for their classroom.
Shangjing had been in the grip of autumn for quite some time. It was early November, and the wind was strong and chilly.
Before Qi Zhi could enter the classroom, the autumn wind whipped at his collar. He paused and stood at the door to adjust it.
In that brief moment, Qi Zhi saw a female student deliberately bump into Gou Zhinian as she passed by her seat.
Gou Zhinian looked up at her, wanting to speak but finally held back.
"What kind of behavior is that?" The classmate who was at Gou Zhinian's table muttered indignantly.
Gou Zhinian patted her shoulder, comforting her, “Shh, class is about to start.” Don’t quarrel.
Qi Zhi frowned. The girl who bumped into Zhinian was the typical female supporting role in a typical high school drama.
Her name was He Xixi. She had been infatuated with Luo Daoyang since childhood. Born noble, spoiled, and arrogant, she despised her commoner classmates.
He hadn’t expected that just two months into the school year, she was already at odds with Gou Zhinian.
In the original storyline, Luo Daoyang's malicious targeting and Gou Zhinian's upright nature as class monitor made her unpopular in class.
By the second semester of senior high, the few class cadres who were friendly with Gou Zhinian were forced to stay away from Zhinian due to the power of the female supporting role.
Gou Zhinian became the target of school bullying.
The most serious incident was when the female supporting role led people to beat Gou Zhinian in the bathroom, and then Luo Daoyang played the hero, heroically rescuing Gou Zhinian, and finally the relationship between the two quickly heated up.
“Stand up!”
“Good morning, teacher!”
The students' greetings interrupted Qi Zhi's thoughts.
“Good morning, everyone. Please sit down.” Qi Zhi collected his thoughts, temporarily pushing aside his thoughts about He Xixi.
“Gou Zhinian, Shu Siye, please help distribute the homework.” Qi Zhi nodded towards Gou Zhinian and the Chinese class representative, signaling them to help hand out the assignments.
“Before we begin the lesson, let’s have a dictation of the words I asked you to review last week.”
Qi Zhi's words met with wails from Class Four, some students hurriedly snuck glances at their textbooks.
Gou Zhinian, holding half of the assignments, began to move around the classroom, distributing the homework books.
Wearing her glasses, her gaze shifted between searching for classmates and glancing down at the workbooks. She didn't pay attention to her feet for a moment.
In a split second, He Xixi stuck out her foot, intending to trip Gou Zhinian.
Standing at the podium, Qi Zhi saw everything clearly. His eyes turned cold, and just as he was about to stop her, he saw Gou Zhinian step over He Xixi's leg without changing her expression.
“Tsk.” He Xixi snorted lightly. She propped her chin with her hand and looked at Gou Zhinian with disdain. “Consider yourself lucky.”
Hearing this, Gou Zhinian paused. She turned her head to look at He Xixi, her face in disbelief.
After class, Qi Zhi called He Xixi to his office alone.
In the previous life, it was the class teacher's inaction and failure to guide the students properly that allowed them to bully their classmates without fear.
Now that He Xixi was showing signs of bullying classmates, Qi Zhi was determined to nip it in the bud in advance.
“Teacher Qi, what's the matter?” He Xixi sat across from Qi Zhi with her arms crossed as she looked at him.
Crossing one's arms was a typical defensive posture.
Qi Zhi noticed her posture, his eyes flickered slightly. He raised the corner of his lips slightly, making his face look gentle, "Has student He Xixi been adapting well to the class lately?"
He Xixi studied at another private school before. She had only transferred to Shengying Middle School after hearing that Luo Daoyang was there.
She came to Shengying after National Day, coincidentally, at the same time Qi Zhi took over as the class teacher for 4th class.
“Pretty good.” He Xixi gave a vague answer, secretly guessing what Teacher Qi was planning.
Having liked Luo Daoyang for years, she naturally wouldn't let anything related to him slip by.
Luo Daoyang did not come to school for a whole month, she naturally knew that Luo Daoyang was in the hospital recuperating from his injuries, but didn't know the details. She only vaguely sensed that it had something to do with their class teacher, Qi Zhi.
“And how are you getting along with your classmates?” Qi Zhi pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up slightly, subtly reminding her, “If there are any misunderstandings or conflicts between classmates, He Xixi, you should resolve them with your classmates as soon as possible.”
Hearing this, He Xixi suddenly realized and said with a fake smile: "Teacher Qi is worrying too much."
"I get along well with everyone."
He Xixi raised an eyebrow. With her family background, she became a celebrity on campus from the moment she stepped foot in Shengying High School. Who would dare to go against her?
Oh, except for that bitch Gou Zhinian.
As soon as she thought of Gou Zhinian, He Xixi suspected that Qi Zhi was speaking for Gou Zhinian. She looked at Qi Zhi with a hint of scrutiny in her eyes.
"It's OK as long as you get along well." Qi Zhi tapped the table with his index finger, continuing to knock on the vicious female supporting role in the original plot—
“If anything happens, He Xixi, you should tell the teacher as soon as possible and let the adults handle it, instead of solving it privately."
Hearing this, He Xixi's eyes flickered and her face stiffened for a moment. It must be that bitch Gou Zhinian who complained to the teacher!
“Yes, Teacher Qi.” He Xixi plastered a fake smile on her face and nodded repeatedly.
“Alright, you can go back to class now.” Qi Zhi nodded and gestured for her to leave.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the office door. The Chinese class representative, Shu Siye, entered, holding a stack of dictation notebooks. “Teacher Qi, these are the dictation notebooks.”
“Okay, thank you, student Shu.” Qi Zhi looked up at her.
Shu Siye, the Chinese class representative, was one of the few close friends of the protagonist Gou Zhinian. At the end of the original plot, she even attended the wedding of Gou Zhinian and Luo Daoyang.
Shu Siye smiled shyly at Qi Zhi and turned to return to the classroom.
Watching her retreating figure, Qi Zhi suddenly remembered something. He subconsciously adjusted his glasses and spoke to the system in his mind.
【System, send me the script of Gou Zhinian's life after the end of the novel storyline.】
【Okay, Host.】
*
After leaving the office, He Xixi continued to speculate about who could have complained to the teacher.
“Hey!” He Xixi stopped Shu Siye, who was leaving Qi Zhi's office, and asked arrogantly, “What were you doing in the office just now?”
“Handing in the dictation notebooks.” Shu Siye rolled her eyes at He Xixi. She still remembered how she deliberately bumped into Zhinian in the morning.
“Really?” He Xixi looked at Shu Siye suspiciously, blocking the classroom door with her right leg, preventing Shu Siye from entering.
Seeing her deliberately blocking the way, Shu Siye said impatiently, "Get out of the way."
“No.” He Xixi raised an eyebrow. Why is Gou Zhinian's deskmate so annoying too?
Seeing the two of them arguing at the classroom door, Gou Zhinian hurried forward. “He Xixi, how are the other students supposed to get through?”
Class was about to start in a few minutes, and many students who had gone to the bathroom were returning to the classroom. Seeing the front door blocked, some wisely chose to enter through the back door.
Seeing this, He Xixi raised her chin, and showed her domineering look. “Through the back door."
Shu Siye stared at He Xixi. If she gave in and used the back door today, He Xixi would definitely become more aggressive in the coming days.
"Get out of the way!" Shu Siye pushed He Xixi.
Seeing this, Gou Zhinian quickly put down He Xixi's leg out of the way.
He Xixi was no match for the strength of the two of them, and was pushed back a step. Feeling humiliated, she immediately aimed a kick at Gou Zhinian with the leg that Gou Zhinian had just moved down!
Gou Zhinian was startled, but fortunately, she was half a meter away from He Xixi. She quickly stepped back, dodging the attack.
"He Xixi! Blocking the doorway to stop your classmates was already wrong, and now you still want to kick me?" Gou Zhinian's expression was stern as she righteously accused He Xixi.
Even a clay figurine has some temper. Having been repeatedly provoked by He Xixi, Gou Zhinian couldn't help but get angry and looked at her coldly.
“So what if I kick you?” He Xixi looked at Gou Zhinian with disgust.
Just as Gou Zhinian was about to continue educating her, the class bell rang at this moment.
"Tsk." He Xixi snorted coldly, and wanted to deliberately bump into Gou Zhinian again.
Gou Zhinian, however, stepped onto the podium, causing He Xixi to miss. Frustrated and angry, He Xixi sneered, “Gou Zhinian, don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you’re the class monitor.” You dare to provoke me? I'll make you regret it!
*
Qi Zhi didn't know about the little conflict between the girls in the class.
On Wednesday afternoon, the principal, head teacher, and all the teachers of Shengying held a meeting to discuss the autumn sports meet next month.
The autumn sports meet was usually held around October. This year, for some unknown reason, it was postponed to December.
The teacher sitting next to Qi Zhi whispered about why it was two months late this year.
Qi Zhi just smiled and said nothing, because the sports meeting was an important plot in the original novel.
The gist of it was that He Xixi schemed against Gou Zhinian during the event, causing Gou Zhinian, who couldn’t swim, to fall into the swimming pool.
Then Gou Zhinian fell seriously ill.
Upon seeing the usually lively and energetic Gou Zhinian in a weakened state, Luo Daoyang's heart moved, and he realized that he liked Gou Zhinian.
Thinking of this, Qi Zhi rubbed his brows.
Both as a teacher and tasker, he had to ensure that Zhinian wouldn't get hurt or fall into the water during the sports meet.
【Host, He Xixi and others have cornered Gou Zhinian in the bathroom.】
【What happened?】Qi Zhi frowned. He remembered that the incident where He Xixi led people to corner Gou Zhinian in the bathroom happened after the sports meet.
【This morning, He Xixi had a conflict with Shu Siye. Gou Zhinian helped Shu Siye, so He Xixi must be holding a grudge against her.】
Today, all the teachers were in a meeting, and there were no classes. The entire school was engaged in a thorough cleaning session, which gave He Xixi the opportunity to retaliate against Gou Zhinian.
After listening to the system's explanation, Qi Zhi's eyes darkened. He suddenly stood up and excused himself. "Excuse me, I have something urgent to attend to. I need to leave."
Fortunately, the meeting was almost over. The principal only glanced at Qi Zhi and tacitly allowed him to leave.
Qi Zhi expanded his consciousness and could sense He Xixi and two other girls were dragging Gou Zhinian towards the girls' bathroom in the laboratory building.
Everyone was busy cleaning, and there was hardly anyone in that building.
Qi Zhi rushed over. By the time he arrived, the door to the girls' bathroom had been locked from the inside by He Xixi and the others.
"Snap!"
Standing outside the bathroom, Qi Zhi heard a crisp slap.