Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I took another day off the next day. This time, instead of the head teacher, I went to see the English teacher.

She was a new hire, young, and this was her first graduating class. To her, Zhou Yanqing was more than just a student at the bottom of the class rankings.

“Zhou Yanqing’s parents are divorced, and he lives with his father.”

“His grades aren’t great, but he has a shy personality.”

The head teacher must have mentioned the situation to the other faculty members because she started trying to persuade me as soon as I asked.

“We should respect the child’s personal wishes,” she said. “In today’s society, this kind of thing is very common. One of my college classmates was like that, too.”

I gave her a thin smile.

Just because her college classmate was gay, I was supposed to just accept that the child I had raised for over a decade was also into boys?

This wasn’t something that could be settled with such vague platitudes.

Furthermore, the current situation was far more complicated than some innocent puppy love.

Who took those photos?

Who coached him into those suggestive poses?

And those revealing clothes-were those things a child his age should even know about?

“Could you let me meet him?”

The English teacher readily agreed. “Of course.”

He arrived quickly. He was a bit different from what I had imagined.

He was tall-at least a head taller than my son.

As he walked closer, my first thought was: *He’s too thin.*

His school uniform trousers hung loosely around his legs, and the protruding bones of his wrists looked like they were about to burst through his sleeves.

“This is Qi An’s mother,” the teacher introduced.

He looked at me and spoke first. “I’m sorry. I only just found out that Qi An doesn’t like boys. I’ll keep my distance from him from now on.”

Before I could even open my mouth, he had already shut down the conversation.

But I hadn’t come to interrogate him. I interrupted, “You’re far too thin. Do you not eat properly?”

He froze, stunned.

I continued, “This Sunday is Qi An’s fifteenth birthday. I’m here to invite you.”

“Qi An considers you a very good friend, and he really wants you to be there.”

Zhou Yanqing didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no either.

He just said vaguely, “If I can finish my part-time job on time that day, then I’ll go.”

I pressed further. “What time do you finish? I can arrange for someone to pick you up.”

He left an address. After he walked away, the English teacher couldn’t help but chime in again.

“It’s so wonderful that you can accept this. Zhou Yanqing works part-time to support himself…”

The head teacher was completely unaccepting, while the English teacher was far too accepting.

Blind opposition and blind trend-following were both problematic.

These teachers were only looking at things from their own perspectives, without considering what the two children actually thought.

I interrupted her. “Do you have a brother?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“If your brother were in this situation, what would you do?”

She fell silent instantly, her expression turning awkward.

“I’ll be going now.”