Chapter 95: Got Set Up

Ever since Monday, Erdan had been a little restless. This state lasted until the bankbook was sorted out and Su Qinghu managed to scrape together a full hundred yuan to deposit for him—only then did he finally calm down. But once he was back to normal, he started acting a bit floaty, his words and actions radiating a nouveau riche vibe that you could practically see with the naked eye.

Dadan tried to talk some sense into him a few times, but when it didn’t work, he just gave up in frustration.

Su Qinghu had noticed these past few days that the kid was practically floating when he walked, but putting herself in his shoes, she thought: if someone had suddenly deposited ten thousand yuan for her back in her childhood, she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t be strutting around like she didn’t recognize her own family…

Let him enjoy it, she thought. The excitement would pass.

It wasn’t until Saturday, when Su Qinghu came home from work and was greeted not just by her two kids but also by a strange woman, that she belatedly realized—this might be serious.

Seeing how awkward the kids looked in front of this woman, Su Qinghu didn’t even have to think—she immediately pegged her as a teacher.

—Oh no.

Su Qinghu wanted to turn around and walk right back out.

She’d never been called in for a talk with a teacher in her life!

“You’re Gao Haisheng’s parent, right?” The teacher stood up and looked at Su Qinghu, who had frozen at the door. “I’m Zhou Jiaqi, Haisheng’s Chinese teacher and his homeroom teacher.”

Su Qinghu forced herself to smile normally. “Hello, Teacher.”

Just a second before seeing Zhou Jiaqi, Su Qinghu had still been in that easygoing, let-the-kids-be-happy mood. But when she realized Zhou Jiaqi wasn’t smiling at all as she greeted her, Su Qinghu started to feel a chill.

Just what kind of trouble had Erdan gotten himself into this time?

With zero experience as a parent or in dealing with teachers, Su Qinghu was panicking inside. “Yanyan, Shengsheng, why didn’t you invite the teacher into the living room?”

Dadan was so shocked by the “Yanyan” that he froze on the spot, staring at Su Qinghu as goosebumps broke out all over him.

He opened his mouth a few times but couldn’t get a word out.

Erdan was just about to chirp a cheerful response, but then he caught sight of his homeroom teacher next to him and quickly shut his mouth. Seeing his brother stay silent, he stammered, “Teacher said you weren’t home, so she waited in the yard. She said she’d go into the living room to… talk… with you when you got back…”

The further he got, the softer his voice became. By the time he said the last two words, he was starting to get nervous himself.

One of his little buddies who sat at the back of the class had gotten a home visit from the teacher, and his parents had spanked him so hard he didn’t dare sit down for days…

He’d had to stand for class for almost a week!

Erdan sucked in a breath, looking at Su Qinghu with a mix of fear and suspicion. Was she going to beat him after the teacher left?!

Su Qinghu also drew in a sharp breath. “A talk,” huh…

“Mrs. Gao, would you prefer we talk here in the yard, or go to the living room?” Zhou Jiaqi’s expression hadn’t changed since the beginning, her tone flat and unreadable. “This might take a while…”

—This might take a while?

Su Qinghu’s heart started to float, but she kept a bright smile on her face as she quickly stepped forward to welcome the teacher into the living room. “Please, Teacher Zhou, let’s talk inside.”

The teacher hadn’t said anything yet—no need to scare herself.

Zhou Jiaqi hadn’t expected the student’s parent to be so young, but no matter how young, she still had to take responsibility. So her attitude softened just a touch, then hardened again.

“Please have a seat, Teacher,” Su Qinghu said, ushering her to a chair and instructing Dadan to pour her a glass of water. Only then did she smile and say, “Thank you for coming all this way in this heat.”

Zhou Jiaqi was in her early thirties and didn’t seem to smile much—there were barely any lines at the corners of her eyes. She finally sat down and replied, “It’s my duty.”

Su Qinghu had never faced a teacher as a parent before, so she could only go with her gut. “Shengsheng… what happened?”

It didn’t feel right to call them Dadan and Erdan in front of the teacher, but using their full names felt weird too. As she was debating what to call them, Erdan’s earlier “Yanyan, Shengsheng” popped into her head, so she just went with it.

Awkward as it was, it didn’t seem too out of place… maybe just a little sappy?

“What happened?” The teacher glanced at Erdan and said calmly, “He recruited a few underlings.”

Su Qinghu: ?!!

“Oh, and he started a gang.” The teacher looked at Su Qinghu and dropped another bomb. “The gang even has a name—Qing Yan Hai.”

“Cough, cough, cough!” Su Qinghu choked so hard she started coughing uncontrollably.

The teacher continued, “I checked—the children’s father’s name isn’t in the gang name. So, is there someone in your family whose name starts with the first character of the gang’s name?”

Tears sprang to Su Qinghu’s eyes as she looked at Teacher Zhou. She really wanted to say, “Teacher, you already know the answer, so why ask?”

She was one step away from being asked to state her name…

“The kids may be young, but the gang name is actually quite nice—it has a sense of vastness, like the five lakes and four seas, and a bit of heroic chivalry,” the teacher said, looking at Su Qinghu. “Whether it’s in business or naming, the first character is always significant—it carries meaning.”

Su Qinghu felt like she was sitting on pins and needles. What was the teacher getting at with this slow, methodical analysis? She wasn’t their ringleader, or even a member, for crying out loud!

“Gao Haisheng’s older brother is Zhang Anyan—‘Yan’ comes first, then ‘Hai’. That suggests the order is based on some sequence, or maybe the importance of each person in his mind. The fact that ‘Qing’ comes first means the person with that character in their name holds a certain weight in his heart.”

Su Qinghu: …Who cares about importance? The real question is, am I about to take the fall for this?

Dadan kept his head down, not looking at the teacher, Su Qinghu, or Erdan.

Erdan, on the other hand, wasn’t scared at all—in fact, he looked a little impressed. If it weren’t for the situation, he might have applauded the teacher.

So cultured! Having his gang’s name analyzed like that made it sound so grand and impressive.

Noticing the look of admiration directed at her, Zhou Jiaqi paused, then looked at Su Qinghu even more sternly. “You understand what I mean, right, Mrs. Gao?”

Su Qinghu’s head was spinning. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Erdan’s expression and almost laughed in exasperation. Understand? What was there to understand? She didn’t want to understand at all…

But—

“Don’t worry, Teacher Zhou, I understand. I’ll make sure to educate him properly,” Su Qinghu said solemnly. “When school starts on Monday, I promise you’ll see a brand-new Erdan.”

Erdan was dumbfounded, staring at Su Qinghu as alarm bells rang in his head. Was she really going to give him a beating and make him turn over a new leaf?

“There’s one more thing besides forming a gang and recruiting underlings,” Zhou Jiaqi said. “Did you know he’s been skipping school?”

Su Qinghu: !!!

What? Erdan skipped school?

Even Dadan, who’d been embarrassed by his brother, suddenly looked up and glared at Erdan. “You skipped school?”"