BSS - Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Xu Wei sat in her office for a while. The class bell had already rung once. Guessing that Deng Chuan and Jiang Meng had finished their talk, she got up and walked towards the classroom.
The classroom had already quieted down. The students were diligently bent over their desks. Jiang Meng and Deng Chuan were in their seats. Jiang Meng seemed to have recovered, though her eyes were a little red. Deng Chuan, on the other hand, still looked very calm. The two of them were discussing something over a test paper, and the atmosphere seemed quite harmonious.
Xu Wei stood at the doorway. When He Ying saw her, she stood up, walked over, and said in a low voice, "Teacher, I want to apply to change dorms."
She was a little surprised but didn't ask much. She just nodded, signaling with her eyes for He Ying to follow her outside the classroom to talk.
The two stood face to face in the hallway. Xu Wei asked her, "What's wrong? School has been in session for a month. Why the sudden desire to change dorms?"
He Ying opened her mouth, a little aggrieved. "I feel like I can't get along with my roommates. It's already affecting my studies."
Xu Wei was very patient. "Do you have some irreconcilable conflict with them?"
"Our relationship was fine at first. But I don't know why, they've suddenly started ignoring me recently, and they even pass notes talking about me. In the dorm, whenever I speak, they all go quiet. Being deskmates was already stressful enough, and now the dorm on top of that. I feel so suppressed, I'm unhappy in the dorm every day. And..."
Her roommate, Bei Qingqing, was also her deskmate. Xu Wei nodded, gesturing for her to continue.
"Every night after lights-out, they keep talking and turn on their desk lamps to study. I'm already a light sleeper, and now I can't sleep well at all. I mentioned it to them, but they ignored me and secretly said behind my back that I'm high-maintenance..." After speaking, He Ying bit her lip and looked at her. "Teacher, can I change dorms?"
Xu Wei knew that changing dorms was very troublesome for the school administration. Dorms were assigned by class. To change dorms, first, there was no guarantee of finding a dorm with a suitable empty bed. Second, even after changing, there was no guarantee the student wouldn't have new conflicts. Once conflicts arose in a new dorm that crossed class lines, they would be even harder to mediate. This could lead to an escalating vicious cycle. Therefore, when faced with such a request from a student, Xu Wei's choice was to first mediate the source of the conflict.
"How long has this been going on?"
"For over a week."
"Go get Bei Qingqing and have her come out now. We'll go to the office."
"Okay."
He Ying went back to get Bei Qingqing. Xu Wei stared blankly at the night sky and sighed wearily.
After a moment, the two girls walked up to her. Both had their heads down, wilted like dehydrated bean sprouts. Xu Wei, feeling a bit helpless, put her arms around their shoulders to comfort them. "Let's go."
The three of them walked through the hallway. It was quiet all around, with only the occasional glimpse of light from a desk lamp brought by a student who had come out to memorize texts.
When they reached the office, Xu Wei had them pull up stools and sit down. She poured two glasses of water for them, placed the water on the table, and sat down herself. Looking at Bei Qingqing, she said, "He Ying has already told me her thoughts. Why don't you tell me yours?"
Her tone was gentle and sounded unbiased.
Bei Qingqing, however, was slightly defiant. "Teacher, I have nothing to say."
Xu Wei didn't speak. She glanced at He Ying, who was looking down at the glass of water on the table. The atmosphere froze for a moment.
Bei Qingqing opened her mouth, then seemed to think better of her words and added, "Everyone has different living habits. If she feels we're not suited to live together, then Teacher, you should just let her change dorms."
Xu Wei had a headache. "Who you make friends with is your own choice; a teacher can't interfere with that." She slightly changed the subject. "But I heard from He Ying that you guys use desk lamps to study after lights-out. Is that true?"
Bei Qingqing raised her voice. "It was just once. And I turned the light off right after she said something. It wasn't on for more than five minutes."
He Ying looked up. "But you guys always talk after lights-out, it's so noisy I can't sleep."
Bei Qingqing grew even angrier. "You used to be the one who talked the most. How come you can't sleep now?"
"Who told you to ignore me? What did I do to offend you?"
"I don't want to talk to you. We're not suited to be friends."
"Fine, then."
Two pairs of eyes stared at Xu Wei in unison. "Teacher, just let us change dorms."
Xu Wei was finally starting to understand a little. She took a calm sip of water. "Since your request is so firm, and you won't explain the situation clearly to me, there's nothing I can do. It's just that changing dorms isn't up to the homeroom teacher. I can only help you apply to the school. When the time comes, you can explain the conflict to the school."
"However, I can tell you right now that based on the information you've provided, it's impossible for the school to approve a dorm change."
The two bean sprouts wilted again. He Ying turned her head away, silent.
Seeing the atmosphere was at a stalemate, Xu Wei stood up. "Alright, go back and study for now. I've received your request." She then glanced lightly at Bei Qingqing. "No talking after lights-out tonight, okay? Go to bed early and get some rest."
Bei Qingqing looked like she wanted to say something more, but after opening her mouth, she held back and replied softly, "Okay."
After sending the two students off, Xu Wei sat down and rubbed her temples.
She flipped her draft notebook to a blank page and drew two circles to represent the two main characters. They seemed to have had a good relationship before, so she connected the two circles. From this connecting line, she drew another line and noted: Reason for rupture.
Reason to be determined.
The reason for the rupture with her current deskmate was uncertain. She could only start with the individuals involved; conflicts often stem from personality. Xu Wei had just taken over this class and wasn't yet familiar with the specific personalities of the students. She drew another line from He Ying's circle. Who would be the best person to ask about her? Her best friend might know something, but their perspective would be biased and not hold much reference value.
After thinking for a moment, she noted on the line: Information from former deskmate.
Who was He Ying's former deskmate?
Xu Wei didn't know. Her current desk used to belong to Jiang Qian. Jiang Qian had left for maternity leave in a hurry. After taking over, Xu Wei hadn't had time to organize her materials. Perhaps there were some clues in the drawer. She rummaged through the drawer for a bit and actually found the seating chart for Class 1 from the previous semester. Fortunately, He Ying had also been in Class 1 last semester.
Her gaze scanned the thin sheet of paper for a moment. Her eyes widened in surprise.
It was Deng Chuan.
Just as she was thinking this, the bell for the end of class rang. Xu Wei put away the draft paper and the seating chart, stood up, and walked towards the classroom.
She passed through that dim hallway again, paying attention intentionally. But this time, it wasn't silent, nor was there the faint scent of laundry detergent. Students walked past her, some stealing glances at her.
The moving, sincere gazes of youth.
Accompanied by the raw whispers of youth:
"This teacher is so pretty."
"Her legs are so long."
"I'm so into this beauty!"
"Shhh, keep it down, she's coming over..."
Xu Wei found it rather amusing. She wasn't annoyed; on the contrary, she found them quite cute.
Her expression remained placid as she glanced at the speakers' faces before quickly looking away. Seeing their flustered expressions, the corners of her lips curled up slightly.
In a flash, she reached the classroom. By the water cooler, Xu Wei called out to Yu Xiao and asked her to get Deng Chuan.
She leaned against the hallway railing, unconsciously gazing at the night sky, where a perfectly round and bright moon was hanging.
Deng Chuan quickly stood before her, her posture upright and her gaze clear. "Teacher."
Xu Wei confirmed, "Was your previous deskmate He Ying?"
"Yes. I was her deskmate last semester."
Xu Wei got straight to the point. "Would you mind telling me what happened between you two?"
It was clear that Deng Chuan was a bit surprised, but she still agreed. "Of course, Teacher."
Deng Chuan was a bit taller than her, and she stood so straight that it felt a little intimidating. Xu Wei subtly took half a step back while gesturing for her to begin.
"We were deskmates for one semester. When the seating chart first came out, a lot of people told me she was a bit strange and pitied me, saying I was unlucky to be her deskmate." Deng Chuan was very frank. "But when we actually started being deskmates, I found it was fine. There was nothing strange about her."
"It's just that sometimes, her mood would become very strange. She'd lash out at me for no reason or make sarcastic remarks." Deng Chuan gave a wry smile. "And for certain interactions between classmates, like asking for help picking up a pen or passing something, she would refuse very abruptly. So everyone sitting near us thought she was strange and was afraid of offending her somehow. But it was still okay, because we weren't very close and didn't need to interact much. We just had a normal deskmate relationship."
"Until the end of last semester, a... uh... a friend of hers would often come looking for her at night and would sit in my seat. That was also fine; when he saw me coming, he would give up the seat and then squat next to her to talk. They would talk for a long time. Sometimes it would get a bit annoying." Deng Chuan looked a little embarrassed. "Because I didn't know what was going on between them. Most of the time, they would start arguing as they talked, and then He Ying would cry. The other students would look over, and the boy would go outside and watch her cry with her head on the desk."
"His stare made me feel quite awkward."
"And sometimes, if He Ying wasn't there, the boy would ask me how she was doing that day and ask me to pass on some messages to her that I found very awkward to say. And when I did relay the message, He Ying would either be completely unmoved or ask me to pass another message back..."
At this point, Deng Chuan wore a wry, exasperated expression.
"After this happened back and forth a few times, I told her not to ask me to pass messages anymore, that they should just communicate themselves. And then He Ying got angry."
"Angry at whom?" Xu Wei asked.
Deng Chuan said with a hint of helplessness, "Angry at me."
"..."
"She hasn't spoken to me since then. But the final exams were not long after that, so even now, I don't know if she's still angry at me. Thankfully, we're not deskmates this semester."
Deng Chuan finished speaking. Seeing no change in Xu Wei's expression, she said, "Teacher, I'm done."
But unexpectedly, after listening, Xu Wei asked another question: "Do you know what's going on between He Ying and Bei Qingqing?"
For once, Deng Chuan let out an "uh," and said with difficulty, "I... probably know."
Xu Wei gestured for her to continue.
But Deng Chuan hesitated. "Teacher. Is it okay if I don't talk about this?"
After voicing her refusal, she felt uneasy and secretly sized up Xu Wei. She saw that Xu Wei wasn't angry, but rather seemed to be pondering. Her beautiful eyes were cast down calmly. A moment later, her red lips curved into an extremely captivating smile.
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