Chapter 95: Keen
Chen Zelin put his phone aside, raised his hand, and rubbed his face hard.
The fact that the person spreading the rumor was Shen Mingzhe really shocked him — but what struck him even more was that, as the homeroom teacher, he had responded passively when faced with the rumor.
If, the moment he had heard the gossip, he had stood up firmly and refuted it, perhaps Shen Mingzhe wouldn’t have passed it along to his students.
Even if Shen Mingzhe still said something, he would have had to mention Chen Zelin’s rebuttal. The students of Class 12, knowing he was tough to deal with, might have had second thoughts and not come over to Class 3 to stir trouble.
The amusement and emotion he felt that morning upon seeing the banner had now all turned into shame and guilt.
As homeroom teacher, it was his duty to protect the physical and mental well-being of his students, yet now it was the students who were taking care of his feelings.
This was his dereliction of duty.
Chen Zelin lowered his hand, forcing himself to calm down and think rationally about what to do next.
He was a teacher, the homeroom teacher of Class 3 — he couldn’t just storm into Class 12 and confront the culprits face-to-face.
Sometimes, the difference in status could help suppress the other party, but once it backfired, the situation would collapse completely, ruining the good environment his students had worked so hard to create.
There was also the helpless fact that — he still didn’t know exactly who had done it.
Although Chen Zelin sensed that his very capable class president might have already found out their identities — she was so capable it actually made him, the teacher, feel ashamed.
She probably hadn’t told him because she was worried he would choose to let things slide, while Gu Qinghuan was clearly not the type to swallow grievances.
Honestly, if this had been two days ago, Chen Zelin might have used the next class meeting to advise the students not to act on impulse, but to get through the three years of high school smoothly.
But now — after seeing that banner — Chen Zelin thought differently.
The students were working hard to defend him, so how could he, in turn, dampen their enthusiasm? No way! He needed to toughen up too — only then would he be worthy of their effort.
Chen Zelin decided: the conflict between students would be handled by the students themselves. He would continue discussing with Gu Qinghuan to find a suitable solution and would back up his students as much as possible.
However — when it came to Shen Mingzhe, he would handle that personally.
After thinking it over, he decided to first get some information from other teachers.
The next day during the big break, Chen Zelin called Gu Qinghuan over.
When she arrived at the office, there were several other teachers besides Chen Zelin. Gu Qinghuan had checked the school’s official website the previous night to look up Shen Mingzhe’s staff profile, so she recognized him immediately.
Shen Mingzhe was chatting with a teacher she didn’t know. When he saw her enter, he glanced at her before looking away.
Gu Qinghuan also kept her eyes straight ahead as she walked up to Chen Zelin, “Old Chen, what’s up?”
“Just the situation we talked about last night — I’d like to hear more details. Are you free tomorrow at noon? Teacher’s buying lunch; we can talk then.” Chen Zelin spoke cheerfully.
“Of course I’m free,” Gu Qinghuan nodded, then asked, “What are we eating?”
When it came to food, she perked right up!
“Let’s go to the second floor of the cafeteria. You can order whatever you want then.” As long as it wasn’t the third floor, Chen Zelin felt confident about treating.
Gu Qinghuan understood that Chen Zelin probably wanted to talk about the Class 12 issue.
After thinking it over, she felt it might not be enough for her to explain alone, so she asked, “Can we bring Bao Qingsong too?”
Most of the intel had been gathered by Bao Qingsong, so he’d be better at explaining.
Although Chen Zelin was surprised why it was Bao Qingsong, since Gu Qinghuan had her reasons, he agreed readily: “Sure, ask him if he’s willing.”
“Okay. After the last period in the morning, I’ll come with Bao Qingsong. If he can’t make it, I’ll come alone.” Gu Qinghuan nodded, then said, “I’ll head back to class,” and slipped away.
The previous night, Chen Zelin had already discreetly asked a few teacher friends about the rumor. He hadn’t been too obvious.
After all, Shen Mingzhe had more seniority than him and had been at Mingde High longer. Chen Zelin couldn’t be sure whose side people would take if he fell out with Shen Mingzhe.
Still, even with vague inquiries, he learned quite a bit, and some teachers subtly reminded him to watch out for colleagues sharing his office.
It seemed there were indeed teachers who disliked Shen Mingzhe’s way of doing things, but for various reasons, they couldn’t say so openly.
As Chen Zelin was thinking about how to exchange information with Gu Qinghuan at lunch, he suddenly heard Shen Mingzhe say meaningfully, “Students nowadays are nothing like before — they’re not respectful to teachers at all.”
Now that Chen Zelin knew the source of the rumor, such words sounded much more grating.
Before he’d seen through Shen Mingzhe, how many times had Shen Mingzhe made such comments about him? And about his students?
Chen Zelin couldn’t prove that Shen was talking about Gu Qinghuan, nor did he have the quick wit to immediately rebut him perfectly — but it didn’t matter. As long as he protected his students, that was enough.
He looked straight at Shen Mingzhe, “Teacher Shen, you’re not talking about my class president who just left, are you?”
Shen froze. When had this Chen Zelin suddenly become so sharp?
His expression turned slightly unnatural. “Of course not — I just thought of it and made a passing comment.”
Chen Zelin smiled faintly, “I thought so too. Our Class 3 monitor, Gu Qinghuan, was elected unanimously on the first day of school, joined the student council in the first week, and even has her own office there. She gets along well with everyone, and the peer tutoring atmosphere in class? She’s the main driver of that.”
Chen Zelin deliberately sighed, “She’s such a good class president that, as homeroom teacher, I barely have any presence anymore.”
Fellow teacher Ling Guying almost burst out laughing, and was also curious — when had Chen Zelin suddenly become so sharp? Did he find something out?
Of course Shen Mingzhe could tell Chen was deliberately showing off. Thinking of the state of his own class made him feel sour.
He coughed. “How are her grades?”
Without batting an eye, Chen Zelin replied, “Currently top ten in the class, top eighty in the year.”
“That’s not very appropriate, is it?” Shen Mingzhe immediately said. “Our class president is first in class and ranked in the top… of the year!”
Even though Yan Zhengqing had his flaws, his grades were indeed excellent.
If Gu Qinghuan heard Shen Mingzhe’s words, she’d probably retort: Exam scores can weed out poor students, but they can’t weed out lousy human beings.
“What’s inappropriate about it?” Chen Zelin widened his eyes. “In Teacher Shen Mingzhe’s view, are grades the only thing that matter?”
Shen Mingzhe choked again — how was he supposed to respond to that?
He forced a change of topic. “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way. But if you think it’s fine, then it’s fine.”
His tone carried a ‘you may not understand, but I’ll be magnanimous and let it slide’ vibe.
Chen Zelin immediately said, “Of course it’s fine! Our class president is the best!”
Shen Mingzhe was left so deflated he didn’t feel like chatting anymore, returning to his seat and lowering his head, doing who knows what.
Chen Zelin withdrew his gaze, clenched his fist secretly. Nice! I’ll do this again next time!
Whether or not Shen Mingzhe was being passive-aggressive, as long as it sounded like he was badmouthing Class 3 students, Chen Zelin would step in — and protect his students to the death!
