CHAPTER 407: CHAPTER 402: THE BEST TEACHER

"Bang!" Xuanyuan Junrui arrived earlier today; at this time, there were only a few students in the classroom. He kicked open the classroom door and sat down at his seat with a gloomy face. Seeing him like this, the few originally noisy students suddenly fell silent, exchanging glances and pretending to have seen nothing.

He returned home late yesterday, thinking he could avoid his father, but didn’t expect his father and that pretentious woman Liu Qin to be waiting for him in the living room.

It’s not hard to imagine what happened next; father and son quarreled fiercely, and because of Liu Qin’s interference, they nearly came to blows.

Xuanyuan Junrui felt that the woman Liu Qin did it on purpose. Commoners are commoners; they’d do anything for a little bit of wealth. He sneered, looking at the desk next to the podium becoming even more irritated.

"Bang!" Another loud sound as he kicked over Liu Tong’s desk and chair.

Hmph! This Liu Tong is just like his stepmother, striving by any means to jump into the circle of the wealthy. He refused to let him succeed.

"Why such a big temper." Sima Kai just walked in, tilting his head with a smile.

Xuanyuan Junrui said nothing, his face slightly improving: "Playing basketball, coming?"

"Sure."

After the two left, the noise in the classroom gradually became louder, with some feeling sympathy and others schadenfreude toward Liu Tong’s situation.

When Liu Tong came in, facing the mocking looks of the crowd, he habitually set his desk and chair straight, took out his books without a word, and began to study.

"Hey, bumpkin, don’t you want to know who did this?" a boy laughed at him from behind.

"What does it matter if he knows? Dare he retaliate? Hahaha..."

"So boring, don’t you have any self-esteem? We treat you like this and you don’t get angry?"

"What do I need self-esteem for? As long as you have money, that’s enough. Aren’t all poor people like that? If you have money, you’d do anything."

"Does ’anything’ go that far as well? Heh heh..."

Liu Tong’s grip on his pen loosened and tightened, then tightened and loosened. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. No, he couldn’t retaliate; they wouldn’t do much, but if he made a mistake, he would be expelled. Without school, without a scholarship, what would his Mom do?

It’s nothing serious, just a few snide remarks. As long as he knew they weren’t true, that’s enough. He had to study; he couldn’t let down his Mom and Teacher Ye Qiu’s expectations.

"So uninteresting." Seeing that Liu Tong had no reaction, those boys taunted a few more times and gradually lost interest, then started joking among themselves.

Liu Tong breathed a sigh of relief and concentrated even more on solving the problems.

"Mr. Gao, I’ve noticed Liu Tong’s English has been slipping lately, I’m counting on you." In the teachers’ office, Ye Qiu sincerely entrusted the English teacher Mr. Gao.

"It’s nothing, it’s what I should do." Mr. Gao was sweet-talked by Ye Qiu for a long time and became somewhat soft-hearted. Like most teachers here, his family conditions were ordinary, and teaching here was for the high salary. Likewise, like most teachers, he only taught his classes obediently and didn’t dare to offend the students with powerful family backgrounds in the school.

School bullying against Liu Tong was not a new issue, but no one dared to intervene, his academic performance equally ignored by everyone.

Liu Tong’s family conditions were poor, and although his grades were decent, he was out of place here, especially with English as his weak point. Compared to other students who traveled abroad almost every year, his spoken English was even more dreadful.

After being entreated by Ye Qiu, Mr. Gao finally agreed to pay more attention to Liu Tong during class and also compiled some study materials suitable for Liu Tong. However, he only dared to help him in secret; he absolutely would not openly support Liu Tong against those influential students.

Ye Qiu understood his difficulties and didn’t press further. Similarly, he also obtained learning materials for various subjects from other teachers. Mr. Tang, who taught physics and was the head of the teaching group at a provincial key high school, even promised to get Ye Qiu the key high school’s monthly exam papers, which Ye Qiu was deeply grateful for.

"I know you mean well, but you have to think it through. Those students are not easy to provoke. What if they turn on you?" Mr. Tang gave Ye Qiu the monthly exam papers of that month, advising him.

Ye Qiu smiled dismissively: "I’m different from you guys. You have families; I’m a loner. Even if I lose this job, it’s not much of a loss to me. But I can’t just watch Liu Tong be ruined; he’s a good kid."