The sunlight inside the school always feels much more piercing than outside, perhaps due to the vast red running tracks and the lush green grass on the playground.
Fang Yize sat in the spectator stands watching the students in their physical education class. She wore a baseball cap, which cast a dark shadow over her eyes; when her face was expressionless, her usual sense of cuteness vanished entirely.
In her hand, she held a bottle of sunscreen she had just applied—this was also from Sun Lin’s brand. Ever since Sun Lin entered the industry, she had forbidden Fang Yize from using any other brand of beauty products.
Fortunately, the brand was indeed high quality and suited Fang Yize’s skin type perfectly; moreover, it saved her a considerable amount of money on cosmetics.
“Teacher Fang!” Zhang Ning held two bottles of chilled mineral water. After handing one to Fang Yize, she sat down beside her.
A smile spread across Fang Yize’s face, and the sense of distance from a moment ago vanished instantly. “It’s rare to see you so free today.”
“Because I can’t really help with anything regarding the monthly exams,” Zhang Ning replied, taking a small sip of water. She then looked toward the three or four groups on the playground and asked curiously, “Teacher Fang, which one is your class?”
“The one in the middle.”
“The sun is so fierce. It can’t be good to exercise right under the direct sunlight.”
Looking across the field, four groups were under the shade of trees, while only Class Two remained under the sun. Fang Yize didn’t know how those students had offended the PE teacher this time, but since the teacher was currently conducting class, it wasn’t appropriate to go over and interfere.
Before long, a small group of students—both boys and girls—stepped out from the Class Two formation. Those left behind were likely the ones with more serious issues.
Several girls walked hand-in-hand. Chen Xinyi was the first to spot Fang Yize in the stands and immediately pulled the other girls over to find her; two or three boys followed behind to join the fun.
“Teacher Fang, sunscreen! I want to put on sunscreen too!” Chen Xinyi plopped down next to Fang Yize.
Fang Yize was never stingy with these students. Upon hearing this, she opened the cap and handed the sunscreen over.
Seeing Chen Xinyi use it, the other girls scrambled to use it as well. Even the boys sitting behind tried to grab it; what was worse was that they directly wiped the sunscreen off the girls’ hands to apply it to themselves.
The girls weren’t angry; instead, they looked a bit… shy?
Two question marks instantly popped up in Fang Yize’s mind.
She was all too familiar with those blushing expressions typical of early adolescence when facing someone they liked; she saw through the mystery with a single glance.
Furthermore, after the boy wiped the sunscreen from her hand, another boy nearby cheered for two seconds. Likely realizing a teacher was present, he quickly suppressed it.
In Fang Yize’s impression of them, they spent every day with their heads down studying, and during breaks, they would fall asleep in large numbers. Where did they find the time to fall in love?
Zhang Ning watched them scramble for the sunscreen with a silly grin and asked, “Teacher Fang, have you always had such a good relationship with your students?”
Actually, it was just alright. After all, she hadn’t been a headteacher for long; it was just that she was always generous with these students, so they had naturally developed the habit of never feeling embarrassed to ask her for things.
For instance, like the last time Chen Xinyi got into a fight, students were still jeering even after Fang Yize arrived. In their eyes, there was a total lack of fear or respect for the headteacher.
Fang Yize didn’t quite know how to answer Zhang Ning’s question, but in the next second, Chen Xinyi chimed in: “Of course! Teacher Fang is simply the best teacher I’ve ever met in my dozen years of schooling!”
The surrounding students chimed in one after another.
“You’re right. Teacher Fang is also the best colleague I’ve ever met!”
Fang Yize clicked her tongue at the words and turned to look at the beaming Zhang Ning, saying, “Why are you joining the commotion? How many colleagues have you even had?”
“Many! I started working part-time back in high school and have continued until now. I have at least six or seven years of work experience, so naturally, I’ve met all sorts of people. But a colleague as gentle, kind, generous, and magnanimous as you is a first for me.”
Fang Yize pressed down the corners of her mouth that wanted to curl upward. “Is that so? You’re praising me so much I’m getting a bit embarrassed.”
“Oh no!”
A girl’s voice cried out. The two looked over and saw Chen Xinyi holding the sunscreen bottle upside down, shaking it hard. She said sheepishly, “Sorry, Teacher Fang… it’s all used up…”
“You knew it wasn’t yours and you still didn’t know how to use it sparingly! One look and you can tell this is a big brand. Even if you guys pooled a week’s worth of pocket money, it wouldn’t be enough to buy it!” a boy behind them mocked.
One of the girls snapped back, “What’s it to you? Why are you yapping? If one week isn’t enough, then two weeks. We aren’t like you, living like there’s no tomorrow.”
“Holy crap, is it necessary to be that mean?”
“This is mean? Your grandma hasn’t even started trying yet!”
The girls’ voices were high-pitched and easily became piercing when they spoke loudly, while the boys’ voices were relatively coarse and deafening. Sitting to the side, Fang Yize felt as if her brain was being repeatedly ground down; it hurt quite a bit.
“Alright, alright,” Fang Yize said. “It’s just a bottle of sunscreen. If I dared to give it to you, would I be afraid of you using it up? Besides, the bottle was small to begin with and there are so many of you. It’s normal for it to run out when everyone dabs a bit. Furthermore, I’ve used it before, so there wasn’t much left anyway.”
Fang Yize took the empty bottle from Chen Xinyi, replaced the cap, and added, “You kids have the most fragile skin; you should usually pay more attention to sun protection.”
The boy countered again, “Teacher, they have dark skin anyway. Do they even need sunscreen?”
Fang Yize shot the boy a glare and patiently explained, “While preventing tanning, you also need to prevent sunburn. If you do get sunburnt, you must cool down your skin and hydrate in time…”
“But the most important point is to drink plenty of water.”
“Teacher, is there anything you don’t know?”
Hearing this, Fang Yize shrugged and said, “Try me.”
The boy immediately raised his hand. “Teacher Fang, I want to know what that thing girls use is called. The one that sticks to the eyelid and reflects light.”
As soon as these words came out, several girls rolled their eyes in perfect unison. Even Zhang Ning was looking at him as if he were a fool.
“What’s with those reactions? My sister wears that stuff every day; I’m about to be blinded by the light reflecting off her!”
Fang Yize sighed and replied, “Listen, the thing you’re talking about… is most likely double eyelid tape. If you’re really concerned, go buy your sister a box of the non-reflective kind. Be a good brother, okay?”
“There’s a version that doesn’t reflect light?”
Chen Xinyi slapped the boy’s leg with the back of her hand. “Duh! Do you see light reflecting off Teacher Fang’s eyelids?”
The boy stared intently at Fang Yize for a moment and said in surprise, “Oh, wow! You really have to look closely to see that she’s wearing that stuff. But does Teacher Fang even need to wear something like that?”
“Everyone has a love for beauty. I’ll send you the link later; buy it immediately and mail it to your sister.”
“Got it! Mission guaranteed!”
Having talked to them about sunburns today, some students actually did end up sunburnt. Fortunately, none of the students who were left behind for punishment suffered from heatstroke, but their skin was flushed red over large areas, making them cry out in pain.
Consequently, Fang Yize went to reason with the PE teacher.
“No, Teacher Fang. Your students were distracted in class and ignored my repeated reminders. I merely gave them a slight punishment. To think it would actually disturb you, Director Shan’s favorite person?”
These words made Fang Yize feel very uncomfortable. Her face darkened—a rare sight—as she said, “I believe there are more appropriate ways to punish them rather than making them bake in the sun. They are still children. Nothing major happened this time, but what if one of them had a heatstroke or fainted? You—”
“Enough!” Teacher Yang interrupted. “You said it yourself—nothing major happened. Since nothing major happened, what is the point of wasting your breath here?”
“They are sunburnt. They are all crying out in pain. Do you still think you were right, Teacher Yang?”
Teacher Yang let out an unbelievable laugh. “What kind of ‘Holy Mother’ act are you putting on here? I, Yang, have been a PE teacher at No. 2 Middle School for nearly ten years. You think I don’t know what should and shouldn’t be done? Does a green girl like you have any business talking nonsense here?”
“Feeling sorry for these students… truly laughable.”
Fang Yize was about to continue arguing back when she was grabbed by the arm by another teacher and pulled out of the office.
“Teacher Fang! Don’t lower yourself to his level. We see each other every day; it’s no good for the relationship to become too strained. Besides, we are only responsible for teaching knowledge to the students. Let’s ignore the rest as much as possible to avoid bringing trouble upon ourselves.”
Fang Yize couldn’t understand it. She was fuming. She was simply speaking up for her students—how could that bring trouble? If everyone were like him, punishing students at will, what rules would be left?
After the other teachers had finished work and left, Fang Yize sat alone in the office with her arms crossed and her eyes closed to calm down, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
In the next second, the phone beside her lit up. It was a message from Jiang Xule.
Fang Yize instantly perked up because the two of them hadn’t spent much time together these past few days. They were both busy with their own matters, and Fang Yize had used all two hours of her noon break to catch up on sleep.
Jiang Xule: [Are you still in the office? I bought dinner.]
Fang Yize: [Yes!]
After sending the message, Fang Yize rushed out of the office and leaned over the railing, looking toward the school gate.
She saw Jiang Xule carrying a white bag, which likely contained something delicious. She was at the small window of the security room, talking to the guard inside for a good while.
Presumably, the guard wouldn’t let outsiders into the school without reason, and her excuse wasn’t sufficient.
Soon, a call came through to Fang Yize’s phone. It was the security guard.
“Teacher Fang, there’s someone here claiming to be bringing you dinner, but she’s not wearing a uniform. Did you order food delivery?”
As the words fell, Jiang Xule’s voice immediately followed into her ear: “I told you I’m her friend, not a delivery person! Don’t you know how to relay a message, Uncle!”
“Quiet down. I have my own rhythm.”
Fang Yize suppressed a laugh and replied, “Yes, she’s my friend. Please let her in.”
“Oh, a friend. Alright then, I’ll open the gate for her.”
Jiang Xule gave Guard Chen a spirited eye-roll and walked in with a swagger.