Chapter 54: You’re Living Together!?
"Teacher, did Yuqing’s mom say anything?" Chen Mo asked, looking at He Xiaoyun.
"She asked for your name and wanted to meet your parents. I managed to put her off for now," He Xiaoyun said, looking at Chen Mo with a sigh. "But this definitely won’t be resolved so easily. I’m planning to act as a mediator and give you a chance to talk with Yuqing’s mother, to help her cool down.
From what I could tell at noon, she was extremely agitated. This won’t be easy to handle at all."
"You’re such a great teacher! I love you, Teacher." Chen Mo immediately grinned and lunged forward to hug He Xiaoyun.
"You little rascal, stop trying to sweet-talk me." He Xiaoyun pushed Chen Mo away with an indulgent smile. "Flattering me won’t do you any good. Tell me, how do you plan to deal with Yuqing’s mother? I’ve come up with a script for you. You should memorize it. When you meet her, stick to what I wrote. It might just save you."
He Xiaoyun took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was completely filled with writing in an elegant, neat script.
If Chen Mo hadn’t bet her this morning that he would score in the top ten of his grade, He Xiaoyun might not have been this invested in the matter.
It was rare to see a student develop such strong academic motivation and ambition because of a relationship, so she was naturally a staunch supporter.
Besides, as long as a relationship didn’t affect their studies, giving kids this age a chance to have memories of young, innocent love was a beautiful thing that could last a lifetime.
She didn’t want to ruin her students’ chance to make such beautiful memories, nor did she want the powerful academic drive Chen Mo had just found to suddenly fizzle out because of this.
That was why she was trying her best to mediate.
She hoped to resolve the situation perfectly, with the least amount of harm to the two of them.
Ever since Su Yuqing’s mother had called to complain at noon, she had been racking her brain for a solution.
Meanwhile, the two people at the center of it all had been completely carefree and blissfully unaware.
Chen Mo and Su Yuqing looked at the contents of the note.
It was filled with apologies and promises. It included pledges that Chen Mo would not have any inappropriate contact with Su Yuqing, nor would he negatively impact her studies. If Su Yuqing’s parents didn’t approve, he would even promise to keep his distance from her, and so on.
It also stated that he would channel his feelings for her into motivation to improve himself. The hope was that after he achieved excellent grades, Su Yuqing’s parents would see how they’d both changed and give them a chance to study and grow together.
In short, the content was all positive and forward-looking, coupled with apologies for his previous irrational and impulsive behavior.
All in all, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the script.
It even framed any future permission to date as an opportunity to study and improve together, presenting it as a hopeful request rather than a demand or a condition.
The strategy was clear: first, admit fault; then, promise to keep his distance; next, guarantee he would strive to improve and become a positive influence on Su Yuqing’s academics; and finally, once his grades had improved, ask for a chance for them to grow together.
It was, for all intents and purposes, a flawless script.
Chen Mo was impressed that his teacher had managed to come up with such a detailed script.
As expected of a veteran homeroom teacher, she clearly had plenty of experience handling these situations.
A normal high school student would have accepted the teacher’s script with tears of gratitude and started memorizing it immediately.
But Chen Mo, clearly, had no intention of doing so.
"Teacher, your approach is perfect," Chen Mo said, carefully folding the paper and putting it away.
Seeing Chen Mo agree, He Xiaoyun smiled in relief. Now, all that was left was for her to mediate a conversation between Chen Mo and Su Yuqing’s mother, convince the mother to accept his apology, and hopefully lessen her resistance to them being in contact.
However, just as He Xiaoyun breathed her sigh of relief, Chen Mo continued, "Teacher, this approach would be perfectly reasonable if we were dealing with normal parents. But in this case..."
He trailed off, then turned to Su Yuqing. "Yuqing, why don’t you head back first? I need to talk to the teacher alone about the rest."
Su Yuqing glanced at Chen Mo, wanting to stay.
"I don’t want to speak ill of your parents in front of you again," Chen Mo said, patting her shoulder with a gentle smile. "Go on, head back."
At his words, Su Yuqing’s eyes reddened slightly. She nodded, opened the door to the "little black room," and walked out.
Watching this from the side, He Xiaoyun felt a stir in her heart.
His gentle attitude and the delicate care he took with Yuqing’s sensitive feelings made He Xiaoyun certain that Chen Mo would make an excellent boyfriend.
For a fleeting moment, though, she felt that Chen Mo was far too mature to be a high school student.
The door closed again. Only then did Chen Mo turn back to He Xiaoyun and begin to tell her about what happened last Friday night.
"Something like that actually happened? If Yuqing is being mistreated by her parents, we could help her contact the Women’s Federation..."
"It’s no use, Teacher. Yuqing’s wounds aren’t physical. The harm is here," Chen Mo said, pointing to his heart. "What proof could we offer? And even if we could prove it, what then? So what if we get involved? If their hearts can’t accept her as family, no amount of outside interference will ever help."
He Xiaoyun fell silent.
She now had a profound understanding of Su Yuqing’s circumstances.
Children at this age are at their most sensitive, and for her to be forced into such a state by her home environment... this was truly not something that could be easily resolved.
As the saying goes, even an honest judge can’t settle a family dispute. Faced with the emotional abuse stemming from this family environment, even with her vast experience, she was at a loss. For a moment, she realized that aside from trying to communicate with Su Yuqing’s parents and persuade them to care more for their child, there was nothing she could do.
’But can more than a decade of indifference really be changed by a single lecture from me?’
It was just as Chen Mo had said: if they couldn’t accept her as family in their hearts, then an outsider’s words would go in one ear and out the other, completely ineffective.
"Then what do you plan to do?" He Xiaoyun asked Chen Mo, her curiosity piqued.
"Yuqing is of age now. With this, her parents can’t come to the school and cause a scene. We have the right to call the police and have them removed. If they repeatedly come here to make trouble, they could be charged with creating a public disturbance," Chen Mo said, taking out the contract Su Yuqing had signed and handing it to He Xiaoyun.
He Xiaoyun froze for a moment after reading it. "Your mother already knows about this?"
"Yeah. It’s all thanks to her full support. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had any good options," Chen Mo replied with a smile.
Hearing this, He Xiaoyun nodded subconsciously, but in the next moment, something clicked.
She sized Chen Mo up with a look of utter shock. "From what I’m reading in this contract... you two are living together?!"