Chapter 41: Self-Exposure
Class Three spent the whole morning in a cheerful bustle. Every time a teacher came in, Gu Qinghuan would call out, “Stand up!” and the whole class would greet in unison, “Happy Teacher’s Day!”
From the storage room, Chen Zelin dug out a bunch of vases, cheerfully handing them out to other teachers and placing his own bouquet inside.
His flowers were from Xie Xiangxue. Planning to study abroad in the future, Xie Xiangxue had always worked hard at English, and her grades were the best in class.
A teacher who didn’t even teach Class Three came over, fiddled with the flowers twice, and said sourly, “Your class is quite proactive.”
“Oh, it’s just a bouquet, nothing worth mentioning,” Chen Zelin quickly waved it off. “I heard other classes prepared even better gifts.”
“Those are from individual students,” the teacher glanced around and lowered their voice, “I saw a few teachers from Class Twelve holding envelopes.”
Chen Zelin’s movements paused, and he also lowered his voice. “Didn’t we just have the morning meeting…”
The teacher gave him a meaningful look, then slowly shook their head. Chen Zelin dropped the subject.
After all, Mingde High was a private school — not as strict as public schools. The principal’s meeting was just passing down the higher-ups’ requirements; the actual implementation depended on the teachers…
And also on the students and parents giving the gifts.
Some students and parents weren’t afraid of being checked at all. In such cases, not accepting the gift could actually make things more awkward.
In the end, the teacher might be the one to suffer for it.
“Class Twelve… that’s the Yan family, right?” Chen Zelin asked quietly.
The teacher nodded. “With the Yan family’s situation, they can explain away anything they give.”
The Yan family worked in media — their gifts were concert tickets, celebrity autographed photos, posters, albums, and the like.
You could say they were “cheap” because they were the family’s own things and cost no money.
But market value was market value. For certain limited-edition items, to the right people, they were priceless.
Whether it became an issue depended on how the recipient handled it. As long as it didn’t involve direct monetary transactions, it was hard to define or judge.
When that teacher left, Chen Zelin sat at his desk, feeling complicated.
Last week’s incident — when Yan Zhengqing barged into Class Three to cause trouble — had been privately reported to him by Gu Qinghuan, in a very objective tone.
Chen Zelin had quietly asked Class Twelve’s homeroom teacher about it, but the other teacher brushed off the topic without giving details.
Whether they were covering for Yan Zhengqing or simply didn’t want to get involved, it was hard to say.
Still, that attitude alone was enough to confirm that Lin Xiaoxue and Yan Zhengqing definitely had some kind of relationship.
Chen Zelin just wanted to protect his own students and keep them out of trouble.
Not to mention, Xie Xiangxue’s and Gu Qinghuan’s family situations couldn’t compare to the Yans’. Even if the Jiang family could crush the Yan family, could he just leave Jiang Chuchu exposed?
Of course not. A wise man avoids standing under a dangerous wall — if you know there’s a problem, you keep your distance.
Judging by Class Three’s current situation, trouble with Class Twelve was probably inevitable. He’d have to be extra cautious.
—
Gu Qinghuan knew nothing of her homeroom teacher’s thoughts or Class Twelve’s situation.
After lunch with Jiang Chuchu and Yu Xin, she headed straight to the office to check out her newly installed desk and chair.
“That was quick,” Jiang Chuchu said, pressing a hand on the desk to test its sturdiness before turning to Gu Qinghuan. “What about the other stuff you bought?”
“About to look now.” Gu Qinghuan switched on the air conditioner and flopped straight into her “dog bed.”
Yu Xin noticed a folder lying nearby, picked it up curiously. “Qinghuan, can I look at this?”
Gu Qinghuan glanced over. “What’s that? Not mine.”
Yu Xin didn’t open it, just walked over and handed it to her. Gu Qinghuan took it and flipped it open — a slip of paper fell out first.
The handwriting was elegant:
The student council has secured new sponsorship. Each office may add up to 3,000 yuan worth of furniture. See the catalog in the folder. Please submit your chosen furniture list to the Life Department before the end of school on Friday.
Note: This amount is separate from your 10,000 yuan allowance.
Jiang Chuchu leaned in to read, remarking, “Nice student council perks.”
Though she wasn’t impressed by a few thousand yuan worth of furniture, being able to straightforwardly replace all members’ office furniture was still a noteworthy benefit.
“Who left this note?” Gu Qinghuan set it aside and started looking through the folder’s catalog.
“Senior Bai?” Yu Xin guessed. “Didn’t he say you had a 10,000 yuan allowance?”
“This isn’t Senior Bai’s handwriting.” Gu Qinghuan shook her head.
She’d just asked Bai Hanshan for help with a question on Saturday and had seen his writing — it didn’t match.
“Maybe it’s just some other student council member passing the message,” Jiang Chuchu said casually. “If they don’t have you as a friend on social media, a note’s the only way.”
That was possible. Gu Qinghuan thought it over, then turned back to the catalog.
The listed products came from three main brands — one of which was the very shop she’d visited yesterday with Song Yi and Xia He.
Even more coincidentally, several pieces she’d liked yesterday were in the catalog.
A vague guess formed in her mind, but she didn’t say it out loud.
“Big sis, are you here?” Xia He’s voice came from outside the office, followed by a knock.
Gu Qinghuan glanced at Jiang Chuchu and Yu Xin. Seeing no objection, she raised her voice: “I’m here, you can come in.”
Xia He opened the door and walked in. Seeing Jiang Chuchu and Yu Xin didn’t surprise him; he greeted them with a smile. “Hi.”
Jiang Chuchu kept her face stiff. “Hello, senior.”
Yu Xin was more reserved, just murmuring, “Senior Xia.”
The three girls were all curled up in their dog beds at the moment. Yu Xin’s little blankets hadn’t arrived yet, but in this weather, sleeping in uniform was fine.
With nowhere to lie down, Xia He simply pulled out a chair, sat, and leaned over the desk, his dark eyes fixed on Gu Qinghuan. “Big sis, can’t you get me a bed too?”
No way! Jiang Chuchu screamed inwardly.
“No,” Gu Qinghuan refused without hesitation. “I can’t accept sleeping in the same room as a boy.”
That wasn’t just rejecting the bed request — it killed any chance of Xia He sleeping in this office at all.
Xia He puffed his cheeks in frustration. After weighing lines like I wouldn’t do anything or Don’t you trust me?, he decided to say nothing at all.
Neither would work — Gu Qinghuan wasn’t someone who could be distracted or swayed so easily. If she couldn’t accept something, then she couldn’t accept it.
Pestering her would only be annoying. Forget it — he’d only been testing her boundaries anyway.
“Did you need something?” Seeing he’d given up, Gu Qinghuan changed the subject.
“Oh,” Xia He’s lips curled, “just wanted to see if you’ve picked out your furniture yet~”
Gu Qinghuan paused, holding up the folder in her hand. “Was this your doing?”
She’d just started to suspect, and now he was confessing?
“What’s this?” Xia He looked puzzled, then said frankly, “I just saw you liked some furniture, so I wanted to buy it for you. But knowing you wouldn’t accept it so easily, I decided to sponsor the student council instead.”
He knew that once this sponsorship plan appeared, Gu Qinghuan would definitely get suspicious.
So, to keep his identity as the student council president hidden a little longer, he decided to deliberately expose something else.
