Chapter 39: Preparing for Teacher’s Day
Even with Song Yi and Xia He helping, Gu Qinghuan didn’t finish choosing until nearly seven o’clock.
She felt a bit embarrassed. Originally, she’d wanted to treat them to dinner, but Song Yi said his family had already prepared the evening meal, so he needed to go home.
Xia He had wanted to eat dinner with Gu Qinghuan, but seeing that she looked tired after shopping for so long, he claimed to have other plans and drove her home instead.
When Gu Qinghuan entered the house, Gu Haiyan was sitting on the sofa watching TV. Hearing the door, she looked up.
“Huan Huan, you’re back? Did you decide on the desk and chairs you wanted?”
“Mm, decided. The store said they’ll deliver them to school tomorrow morning. I’ve already told Senior Bai, and he’ll arrange for someone to handle it,” Gu Qinghuan replied.
“Have you eaten?” Gu Haiyan asked again.
“Not yet. Is there anything to eat at home?” Gu Qinghuan glanced at the dining table — empty, nothing on it.
“Cook yourself some instant noodles,” Gu Haiyan said after a moment. “There’s still some boneless chicken feet in the fridge.”
The boneless chicken feet had been made by Wang Jia’an. After boiling and deboning them, he’d added minced garlic, small chili peppers, lemon, and cilantro, then poured in a sauce bought online. After soaking for a few hours, they were ready to eat.
Gu Qinghuan had an even more unconventional method — skip the sauce entirely and just buy a cup of iced lemon water, then add other seasonings depending on her mood: vinegar, soy sauce, chili oil, pickled chili, and so on.
The downside was that she seasoned by feel, so the taste was different every time. Once, she’d accidentally made an especially delicious batch but could never recreate it.
She cooked a pack of instant noodles, using only half the seasoning powder but all of the sauce packet, leaving some broth to help dissolve the other seasonings. Then she mixed it all up and ate.
After finishing the noodles and gnawing on a few chicken feet, she cleaned up the kitchen and was about to head back to her room to rest a bit before doing homework.
Gu Haiyan waved her over. “Don’t go just yet, I have something to ask you.”
Gu Qinghuan came back and sat beside her.
“You…” Gu Haiyan paused to choose her words. “How are you adapting to life at Mingde High?”
“It’s fine,” Gu Qinghuan replied directly.
“You’ve been busy since the start of term,” Gu Haiyan said. “I trust you know your limits, but you’re still inexperienced. If you ever need help, remember to tell your family.”
“I know,” Gu Qinghuan agreed, then added, “Right now I can handle everything fine. If there’s really a problem, I’ll definitely come to you and Dad.”
Gu Haiyan waved it off — she was just reminding her. She knew her daughter’s personality well enough; sometimes it was just a matter of overlooking things in the moment.
Back in her bedroom, Gu Qinghuan didn’t start on homework right away — instead, she dropped a little “bomb” in the class group chat:
[Gu Qinghuan]: Tomorrow’s Teacher’s Day. How are we celebrating?
Her classmates responded with a row of ellipses… and then the chat exploded.
[Qin Yue]: Uh… I forgot about that.
[Ming Xiaolan]: I forgot too! I didn’t even think about buying a gift!
[Xu Xinghe]: It’s Monday… just after the weekend… no energy…
[Jiang Chuchu]: It’s only been a week since school started, we don’t really have feelings for the teachers yet.
[Qin Yue]: That’s a bit blunt, don’t you think?
[Jiang Chuchu]: Just being honest. Still, we should celebrate — it’s polite.
Everyone agreed with Jiang Chuchu — it had only been a week, so claiming to have deep feelings for the teachers would be a lie.
But as students, it was only right to respect their teachers and offer well-wishes on their special day.
After doing a few fill-in-the-blank questions, Gu Qinghuan glanced at her phone.
Sure enough, her classmates had already come up with several celebration ideas.
[Gu Qinghuan]: @Qin Yue Have you compiled everyone’s suggestions?
Qin Yue, who had been in the chat the whole time, hadn’t realized this was Gu Qinghuan’s first message.
[Qin Yue]: Almost. I’ll go through the chat history and sort it out.
[Gu Qinghuan]: Once it’s sorted, let’s make a class vote. Do you want to do it or should I?
Qin Yue thought making a poll was too much trouble and quickly passed it off:
[Qin Yue]: You do it.
[Gu Qinghuan]: Alright, send it to me then. I’ll handle it. Voting closes during tomorrow morning’s big break.
[Gu Qinghuan]: @Ming Xiaolan Once the results are in, let’s plan together.
[Ming Xiaolan]: OK.
A while later, Qin Yue sent her the compiled chat log.
Looking at the pieced-together suggestions, Gu Qinghuan twitched the corner of her mouth, took a few minutes to organize them into clear proposals, then used a mini-program to create a poll and tagged everyone in the class group.
Then she went back to her homework.
Monday’s assignments weren’t much, but since she’d gotten home late, she finished around nine. After a shower, she checked the poll results.
The good thing about a small class — in just about two hours, all the votes were in.
She took a screenshot, posted it in the group announcing the early close, and then messaged Ming Xiaolan privately.
The winning plan was simple — give each teacher flowers.
The classmate who suggested it knew a lot about flowers and matched each subject teacher with blooms that had symbolic meanings. With pictures included, they’d convinced everyone easily.
This was Lian Fenghe, a boy whose family ran a flower business. He’d been interested in plants since childhood and took this chance to show off.
With such a ready-made source, it would be silly not to use it.
Gu Qinghuan chatted with him briefly, and he readily agreed to sell to them at cost.
He even volunteered to make the bouquets himself — but one look at his “works” in his Moments made Gu Qinghuan politely refuse.
[Gu Qinghuan]: Discuss the exact cost with Lian Fenghe. Don’t spend too much class money.
Ming Xiaolan sent back a “Got it” sticker.
It wasn’t that Gu Qinghuan was stingy — she just felt that going overboard might not be a good thing for the teachers.
She didn’t know what other classes were doing, but if their gifts were too expensive, it could attract unwanted attention.
This was about showing respect — not about the price.
The next morning, Yu Xin woke up earlier than usual.
Maybe it was because she’d joined the discussion last night and was excited about celebrating the teachers today.
Group activities had never been a part of her life before.
Whether it was school outings or organized events, she’d never been able to join.
Her foster mother never gave her money, nor allowed her to waste time on such things.
Her job was to come home early, do housework, and take care of her younger brother.
But this time, she had taken part in the vote — and her chosen plan had won. Everyone even said that, since she had the best grades in math, she should be the one to give the math teacher their flowers…
How could Yu Xin not be excited? She was overjoyed.
As she left her room, she was still thinking about what blessing she should say to the math teacher.
She’d already memorized the flower’s meaning from Lian Fenghe, but she wanted to add more…
She wasn’t paying attention when —
Bang!
She’d walked straight into a door that suddenly swung open, her forehead smacking into it with a dull thud.
Wincing, Yu Xin instinctively covered her forehead and squatted down.
From above came a girl’s deliberately surprised voice:
“Sis, how can you be so careless?”
