You hidden in my heart - Chapter 34.4

Chapter 34.4

Under Teacher Zhou’s laser-like gaze, Li Xining felt she couldn’t lie, but Lu Yuling’s matter involved private matters; therefore, she couldn’t tell her teacher.

After struggling for a while, she said hesitantly, “This matter… this matter is very complicated; I’m afraid I can’t explain it clearly.”

The more she behaved like this, the more Lao Zhou wanted to know what was going on. “Tell me, I heard a different story from somewhere else.”

Li Xining, who had no excuses, decided to say some irrelevant things related to Lu Yuling and her. “Teacher Zhou, my grandparents, and his grandpa are old friends. Then, during the parent-teacher meeting that day, my grandpa recognised his uncle and talked with them. And his uncle asked me to give him extra lessons.”

Those words were enough to convince Lao Zhou. “I told your mother the other day that Lu Yuling’s family situation is relatively complicated. As for how complicated it is, I can’t say. After all, he’s a mother… but I think your family should have known his specific situation.”

Li Xining lowered her head and said, “Yes.”

Lao Zhou sighed and said sadly, “Girls your age have unrealistic thoughts, and you girls can easily confuse sympathy or gratitude with liking someone. In your situation with Lu Yuling, both of you have it.”

“Compared to ‘thankfulness’ and ‘feeling sorry for someone’, these two words were more painful to hear, and Li Xining didn’t like this word because she didn’t feel that way for Lu Yuling. She knew she loved Lu Yuling genuinely, and she didn’t agree with her teacher. However, she couldn’t deny it in this situation.

Teacher Zhou didn’t let this matter go easily, as he advised more. “I said to your mother that Lu Yuling would lead you astray, but your mother said you’d never like him. And she indicated she wouldn’t like him either. I talked to Chen Lin and Xu Dongruo, and they both said it was not possible for you to like Lu Yuling. They are the people who understand you the most.” He looked at Li Xining, who was looking at the ground and continued. “I believe we should talk about this. I believe you are telling me the truth. I think you are a nice and well-behaved child too. You are almost finished with high school and will be taking the college entrance exam soon. I think it’s important for you to know what really matters, what doesn’t, and what you are capable of doing. Do you understand?”

Li Xining understood Lao Zhou’s thoughts and said, “I understand.”

Lao Zhou wanted more information and asked, “Can you tell me exactly what you understood?”

Li Xining said without thinking, “I don’t like Lu Yuling, and I can never like him.” She was upset and wanted to cry, but she held back her tears and replied to her teacher with a lowered head. She clenched her teeth and fists and said firmly, “I don’t want to have anything to do with him, and I will stay away from him in the future.”

Lao Zhou felt better and took a breath, but then something unexpected happened in the utility room behind him. 

There was a loud noise like the door was slammed shut.

Lao Zou got scared and stood up from his chair. He opened the door and yelled, “Who slammed the door?”

Li Xining felt very scared, and her face turned pale instantly as she saw something in front of her. She was shocked like someone had slapped her out of the blue.

There was nobody in the utility room. 

Lao Zhou groaned and shook his head. He then resumed teaching Li Xining while reclining in the office chair, saying, “If you understand these things, it’s good. It is a great thing that he saved you, but you are not Guanyin Bodhisattva. His family situation is very complicated, so you just mind your own business and study hard. And didn’t you learn a lesson from yesterday’s incident? Now go to the class. Remember what I said.”

“Okay…”

“I hope you will do what you say.” Lao Zhou originally wanted to say something more but suddenly looked out of the window. Seeing Lu Yuling’s hurried figure, he frowned instantly. “The bell has rung; where is Lu Yuling going?”

Hearing Teacher Zhou’s words, Li Xining gasped, looking outside the window in a panicky mood. ‘That’s Lu Yuling. Where is he going?

Lao Zhou sighed again, feeling very tired. “Forget it; leave him alone; just remember what you promised me today.” This matter finally came to an end, and then Lao Zhou began to give Li Xining instructions regarding the class. “Li Xining, keep an eye on the self-study task tonight because I will not be in school tonight. You and Chen Lin will keep an eye on the self-study class. There will be two exams tomorrow. Maintain discipline and let everyone study well.”

Li Xining controlled her feelings of impatience, nodded firmly, and promised. “I understand, I understand.”

Lao Zhou: “Okay, now you can go.”

Li Xining left quickly as if she had been pardoned. The class’s back door was still open; therefore, she went into the classroom through the back door. Lu Yuling was not in his seat, and she realised what had happened just a moment ago.

‘He heard all of those words.’

Li Xining felt very worried and stressed. She wanted to ask Ma Pang where Lu Yuling had gone, but then Teacher Zhou came out of the office, so she quickly went back to her spot.

Lao Zhou just entered the class and walked around for a bit.

Lao Zhou had just left, and then Xu Dongruo quickly asked Li Xining what Lao Zhou had said to her.

Li Xining didn’t have time to answer her question. “I’ll talk to you later.” Then she stood up and quickly walked towards Ma Pang.

The class was quiet because students were all studying on their own. So Li Xining had to talk quietly. “Where is Lu Yuling?”

“I’m not sure. He abruptly left moments ago.” Even though Ma Pang was perplexed, he was still fully aware of the goddess Li’s inquiries. “However, I believe Brother Lu got mad for some reason. He even grabbed something from his school bag. Oh, his eyes were also red when he left.”

‘It’s over…’. After inhaling, Li Xining cast a sidelong glance towards Lu Yuling’s backpack, which was resting next to the desk. It was an Adidas bag with a white logo on a black background. Only a silver key chain was left on the zipper buckle, and the lower end of the key chain was still hanging. There were only a few remaining pieces of pink fabric and white cotton.

Li Xining’s eyes turned red, and her breathing began to quicken. She opened the back door and rushed out, running all the way to the stairwell on the west side of the corridor.

Near the entrance of the stairs were two trash cans. Inside one trash can, she saw a broken pink rabbit key tag. ‘He threw the rabbit away.’

End of chapter 34

Have a nice day!