Chapter 25: Past Events

Hearing that familiar yet strange voice, Li Heng turned his head abruptly.

Sure enough, a long-absent figure in black was crossing the street, heading toward him.

Her name was Wang Runwen.

She was about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old and served as the English teacher for Class 204. During their high school years, she left two distinct impressions on her students:

First, she had a very voluptuous figure—curvaceous in all the right places and quite busty. She was a frequent guest in the dreams of many adolescent boys.

Second, there was her catchphrase. She would interact with students in class countless times, saying, "I'm going to lose weight next month."

Whenever they heard her say she was going on a diet, many boys would protest inwardly, thinking, "Why lose weight? You're perfect as you are!"

As it turned out, her talk of dieting was just talk—and she would forget about it as soon as the words left her lips.

Over the course of three years, she never lost any weight, nor did she seem to gain any; she remained exactly the same.

She was very good to Li Heng, with a kindness that seemed to have no particular reason.

Starting less than three months after he entered the tenth grade, she began giving him private tutoring in English. Whenever she went on business trips or vacations, she would occasionally bring back supplementary study materials for him.

By the time he was in the eleventh grade, their relationship had progressed to the point where she would occasionally invite him to her home for meals during monthly breaks.

This excessive kindness made his classmates envious, but it also plunged Li Heng into distress.

Due to a weak foundation in junior high school, English was one of only two subjects where he lagged behind.

Well, this "lag" was relative; he wasn't exactly failing. For instance, in Chinese, which was worth 120 points, he could always score around 96, but never much higher.

Compared to top students like Yang Yingwen, Xiao Feng, Chen Hanjie, Song Yu, Wang Jun, Mai Sui, and Xiao Han, there was still a gap.

If it weren't for the fact that his mathematics was consistently brilliant—almost always near a perfect score—he would have been left far behind by those academic elites.

Coming from a rural background, he had initially felt a natural discomfort with her kindness, but didn't think much of it.

That was until one day, his classmate Liu Yejiang teased him in the dormitory: "Li Heng, the English teacher is single right now. If you proposed to her, we all think you’d have a high chance of success."

That single malicious joke struck Li Heng to the core, making him feel incredibly awkward.

It was malicious because Liu Yejiang was a high achiever, but fate was cruel; he was always ranked just below Li Heng. Being constantly overshadowed by Li Heng over time, he grew resentful and was always determined to outdo him.

Beyond grades, what infuriated Liu Yejiang most was that he heard from girls close to him that Sun Manning, the girl he had fallen for at first sight, seemed to have a crush on Li Heng.

With all these grievances tangled together, he saw Li Heng as a rival—even a romantic one!

Because of this "joke," Li Heng began to re-examine his relationship with his English teacher. In truth, he felt they were too close even without anyone saying anything.

He had even suffered from bouts of paranoia, wondering if the teacher had feelings for him.

Although their relationship was innocent, he couldn't stop the jealous people from gossiping and making jokes. Once or twice was fine, but if it happened too often, he had to worry about his reputation.

After all, he was just a country boy who hadn't seen much of the world, only in his teens and untouched by the harshness of society. He felt helpless and unable to withstand the rumors.

Consequently, for a period, he began to intentionally distance himself from Wang Runwen.

During that time, whenever it was English class, he would either look down to study and do exercises or review other subjects. Sometimes he would deliberately sleep or chat—he used all sorts of tricks, but he refused to listen in class.

Wang Runwen saw his transformation but said nothing, until one month, he only scored 61 on his English exam.

61 out of 100!

What did that mean?

It meant missing out on a top-tier university!

Not only was his head teacher, Wang Qi, anxious, but the other subject teachers were also getting worried.

After the exam, Wang Qi immediately sought out Wang Runwen to understand the situation, asking why such a thing had happened. Why had Li Heng’s English grade dropped so much?

Facing the inquiry, Wang Runwen pondered for a long time before finally saying, "I'll go talk to him tomorrow."

Because of his exceptional talent in mathematics, Wang Qi had always valued Li Heng highly and pinned great hopes on him, so he immediately said, "I'll go with you."

To his surprise, Wang Runwen refused. "No need. I'll have a heart-to-heart with him alone."

This was their second year working together, and they had a very good, trusting partnership.

Wang Qi said, "Alright then. You talk to him first. If he changes, that’s great; if not, we’ll figure something out together."

It was a foggy morning, one he remembered vividly.

When he returned to the classroom for morning study after exercises, the English teacher first walked around the room at a leisurely pace, urging everyone to recite words, sentence patterns, and texts. Then, she walked from the back aisle to Li Heng’s desk in the fourth row of the seventh group.

Her finger tapped silently on his open textbook, and she said in a voice only he could hear:

"Come out with me for a moment."

Seeing this, his deskmate, Sun Manning, asked with concern, "Is she looking for you because of your grades?"

Li Heng nodded. "I think so."

Sun Manning put down her pen and asked, "Are you sure you want to be alone with her? Do you want me to come with you?"

Hearing this, Li Heng, who had been hesitant, suddenly felt no more doubt. He stood up and said, "No need."

He knew Sun Manning had the confidence to say that because the principal of the First High School was her father—her biological father.

Under the gaze of the whole class, Li Heng walked around to the back door and headed outside.

Perhaps fearing he would be uncomfortable, the English teacher didn't wait for him in the office as usual, but stayed in the hallway where everyone could see them through the windows.

Wang Runwen rested her hands on the concrete railing, looking down at the basketball court. She didn't speak immediately, waiting for a moment.

When she felt his mood had calmed down, she began: "Are the results for the other subjects out?"

Li Heng nodded.

Wang Runwen asked, "What did you get in math?"

Li Heng replied, "148."

Wang Runwen asked again, "Which question did you get wrong? Was it the last big problem?"

Li Heng shook his head. "No, my handwriting on the final answer of the second big problem was sloppy, and the grader mistook the 5 for an 8."

Hearing this, Wang Runwen finally looked away from the playground and turned to him. "If you had written it neatly, would it have been a perfect score?"

Li Heng dared not meet her eyes. He looked away slightly and gave a soft, non-committal hum.

After a while, she asked, "Do you know what your school-wide ranking is this time?"

Li Heng lowered his head. "My deskmate went to the academic office to check; she told me, 29th."

At this point, Wang Runwen looked into his eyes, then gazed into the distance and asked, "The 61 in English—was that on purpose?"

Li Heng replied, "No."

Wang Runwen frowned. "Do you hate me?"

Before he could speak, she continued, "If you don't like my teaching style, I can apply to the school to have you moved to another class, and have the English teacher from Class 206 teach you all instead."

In their grade, there were four experimental classes, two for liberal arts and two for science.

The liberal arts classes were 204 and 205.

The science classes were 206 and 207.

Li Heng and Zhang Zhiyong were in Class 204.

Xiao Feng was in Class 205.

Yang Yingwen and Xiao Han were both in Class 207.

As for Yang Cheng, when they were divided in the eleventh grade, his grades didn't meet the requirement, and he unfortunately ended up in a regular liberal arts class.

Of course, that guy Zhang Zhiyong didn't meet the standards either, but he had strong connections.

Hearing this, Li Heng suddenly realized something. He lifted his head sharply and raised his voice, "Teacher, this was just a mistake on my part. I will definitely do better next time."

The outcome was different from what he had anticipated.

Wang Runwen was stunned. She turned to stare at him, surprised by his change of heart. After a long moment, she smiled.

She reached out and patted his shoulder with relief, then walked away.

After this conversation, the two cleared the air.

The English teacher didn't dwell on his past antics, and Li Heng stopped worrying about what others thought. He started walking with his head held high, acting with integrity and openness.

He even used a method his second sister had used on him as a child: he found a random excuse to provoke Liu Yejiang, then beat him up in front of the entire class, pulling out the root of the rumors.

In the eyes of Xiao Han and Yang Yingwen, he had been a troublemaker back in the seventh grade; his style of doing things had long been set. He had always been ruthless and vicious toward enemies—he’d even broken chair legs before.

After the beating, Liu Yejiang had to go to the hospital for 11 stitches.

Li Heng, however, was completely fine. After the school investigated the ins and outs of the incident, the dean only gave him a perfunctory verbal warning.

PS: The structure of this book, "March," is quite vast. I’ve been mulling it over for half a year, and the outline and detailed breakdown add up to 70,000 words.

I want this book to be story-driven. Every character’s appearance is connected to the core of the later plot. I hope you all will have patience with me. I also hope this will be the final urban novel I write, one that I am satisfied with and one that satisfies all of you.

Also, many of you are complaining about the slow update speed. I am innocent! I really write over 4,000 words every day.

How about this? I will strive for 5,000 words a day from now on; I can't do any more than that. Small authors like me don't get traffic exposure, so we must rely on recommendation slots during the new book phase, or we’ll just crash and burn. I hope everyone understands the plight of a small author like me.

I will increase the output after the official launch!

(There will be another chapter tomorrow at 12:00 PM.)