Chapter 53: Come with Me to the Black Room
As Chen Mo approached his classroom, he felt something was off. It was unusually quiet.
It should have been bustling with noise right now.
Sure enough, when he rounded the corner of the stairwell, he saw his homeroom teacher, He Xiaoyun, sitting inside the classroom.
As Chen Mo and Su Yuqing drew near, He Xiaoyun’s gaze immediately shot to the hallway. She walked out quickly, her expression complicated as she looked at the two of them.
"You two, come with me." Seeing that there were still fifteen minutes before class started, He Xiaoyun immediately called Chen Mo and Su Yuqing over to the small, dark room next to the teachers’ office.
The room was normally used to store teaching materials. Occasionally, stricter teachers would shut naughty students inside to make them reflect on their actions.
He Xiaoyun had clearly never done anything of the sort.
Seeing that their homeroom teacher seemed to have been waiting for them specifically, Su Yuqing felt a surge of anxiety. But under Chen Mo’s gentle gaze, she soon began to relax.
Meanwhile, back in the classroom, the students who saw this scene erupted.
"No way! Did Chen Mo and Su Yuqing really get together?"
"It makes sense for them to be a couple. A handsome guy and a beautiful girl—they’re a pretty good match."
"Does that mean I don’t have a chance anymore? Chen Mo is such a great catch."
"Lin Wei’s family is well-off too, right? You still have a chance with him."
"Lin Wei’s family might be well-off, but he’s lacking in the looks department. He’s nothing like Chen Mo, who’s the total package. Damn it, I should’ve confessed to him sooner!"
"What are you even thinking? A guy like him isn’t someone you can just win over that easily. Don’t make a fool of yourself."
"Are you saying I’m not pretty enough?"
"You’re pretty compared to other girls, but next to Su Yuqing... you should know where you stand."
"You...!"
As the two girls whispered, other students nearby were also gossiping about Chen Mo and Su Yuqing.
"Looks like the homeroom teacher caught them. That explains why she was acting so out of character, coming to sit in the classroom in the middle of the day."
"They’re in for it now. She’s probably going to call their parents."
"No way. Didn’t Su Yuqing’s mother already come this morning? It didn’t look like she was causing any trouble for Chen Mo then."
"Yuqing’s mother did come this morning, but she probably didn’t know about it then. I heard she came to the school again around noon; I wonder if it was because of them."
As the gossip swirled, Zhao Yuanyuan nervously CLICKED her mechanical pencil. She suddenly grabbed Huang Mao’s uniform sleeve, her face etched with worry. "This is bad, this is bad! You damn Yellow Hair, do you think they’re going to be in trouble?"
Huang Mao, however, just laughed with a carefree, unconcerned air. "Relax. I saw Old Mo’s expression just now. He looked totally casual. I bet even if the teacher found out, he has a way to handle it."
"Really?" Hope instantly ignited in Zhao Yuanyuan’s eyes.
"Just you wait and see." Huang Mao was very confident in Chen Mo.
"Oh, good, good. Brother Mo and Yuqing make such a great couple. It would be a real shame if they were split up. Please, please, let them be okay."
Zhao Yuanyuan even started praying as she spoke.
Watching her adorably earnest expression, Huang Mao found himself a little captivated.
In a corner in the back of the room, Lin Yu’an watched as the homeroom teacher led Chen Mo and Su Yuqing away. His gaze fixed on the doorway and did not move.
But his face was completely expressionless, making it impossible to know what he was thinking.
「In front of the small, dark room next to the teachers’ office.」
"Come in." The homeroom teacher’s voice was as sharp as a snapping twig.
Su Yuqing was so nervous she subconsciously gripped Chen Mo’s arm, her fingertips digging into his flesh without her realizing it. He covered her hand with his, clasping her cold fingers and tracing the words "Don’t worry" into her palm.
The small, dark room was filled with teaching equipment, and the faint smell of ink washed over them as they entered.
He Xiaoyun stood with her back to them, organizing textbooks, her spine ramrod straight and tense.
"Do you know why I called you here?" she asked, still focused on her task.
Just as Chen Mo was about to speak—THUD! A dull thump came from outside as something heavy hit the ground.
The sound startled all three of them. He Xiaoyun quickly pulled open the room’s only small window and saw a plane tree below, its leaves RUSTLING as a few fluttered down.
The Dean of Discipline’s bald head glinted in the shadows of the tree. He was bending over to pick up a stack of scattered books, and as he looked up, his eyes met theirs.
He Xiaoyun shut the window. Without waiting for an answer to her first question, she turned to them and said, "Yuqing’s Mother came to the school at noon."
"What did she say?" Chen Mo asked with a smile.
"I know you’re both good kids." He Xiaoyun’s tone suddenly softened, a habit of hers when counseling students. "For some things, you should try to communicate in a gentler way."
"Ms. He, please don’t beat around the bush. Just tell us what’s going on," Chen Mo said, cutting through her usual tendency to talk in circles.
"Yuqing’s Mother went to the security office at noon and asked to see the surveillance footage. She saw the scene of you two clashing with Yuqing’s father at the corner by the school gate." He Xiaoyun looked at Chen Mo, her expression troubled. "You’re both good kids. You could have found a better way to communicate instead of letting things get so hostile."
"So, it looks like her father went and tattled to her mother," Chen Mo replied with a smile.
"And you can still smile." He Xiaoyun reached out and poked Chen Mo on the head. "You’re in big trouble now. I’m not against you two dating. As long as you don’t let it get in the way of your schoolwork—as long as you can channel that energy into your studies—I can turn a blind eye to you two being a little close."
With a sigh, He Xiaoyun continued, "But now that it’s blown up to the point where your parents are involved, it’s very difficult for me to stay out of it, even if I want to. Do you understand?"
Su Yuqing had been in a complete panic. ’She was afraid the teacher would blame her, and blame Chen Mo. If that happened, it would be incredibly difficult for them to act normally around each other at school. They’d probably be under the teacher’s constant watch.’
But she never, ever expected to hear her homeroom teacher state her position so directly. She was stunned. ’Her own teacher is this open-minded?’ She couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
’As long as they could get past this hurdle with their teacher, the situation at home wouldn’t be such a big deal.’
After hearing Chen Mo’s plan at noon, Su Yuqing wasn’t too worried about it anymore.
But then it hit her, and she thought it over. She and Chen Mo weren’t even dating. ’So what exactly was I so relieved about? And what was I so guilty about in the first place?’