——
The water in the office hadn't been boiled yet, and steam was billowing out of the kettle lid, spraying Su Jinning's face and making him feel irritable from the heat.
Han An was still flipping through the books on his desk, probably preparing for the midterm exam. He was clearly not angry about what had just happened, and even gestured for him to sit down.
Su Jinning sat down opposite Han An somewhat awkwardly, looking at Han An behind a layer of white steam, and gently said, "Teacher, just now, I wasn't chatting with Shen Moyu."
Han An looked up, paused slightly, and then smiled, "What are you doing?"
Su Jinning was speechless.
Looking at Han An's somewhat gossipy face, she regretted it a little. She should have kept those words to herself.
"We were talking about which unit you were on..." Su Jinning lowered her head and told him everything, her voice barely audible, hidden in the sound of boiling water.
This statement is not very credible, especially coming from him. A teacher might believe it if it were someone else, but since it's him, the teacher is being lenient by not blaming him for corrupting the top students.
"I see." Surprisingly, there wasn't a hint of doubt in Han An's words. He smiled as usual and reminded him, "Next time, we should discuss it after class; doing it during class will disrupt the lesson."
Su Jinning was slightly stunned. If it were any other teacher, they would have already questioned him about whether it was true or false, then given him a good scolding, and might even have confiscated his phone.
Han An saw the puzzled look on his face but didn't offer an answer. Instead, he stood up and poured the boiled water into the cup.
The sound of flowing water suddenly rang out, followed by rising steam that eventually settled in mid-air.
Han An placed the steaming cup of water on the balcony. A gentle breeze blew, and some of the steam from the cup dissipated.
Su Jinning looked at the swaying gas, her thoughts suddenly drifting out the window.
"You've been copying notes the whole time in class, were you copying them for Mo Yu?" Han An asked, looking down as he studied the exercises.
Su Jinning was pulled back to her senses by Han An's sudden question, and then answered truthfully, "Ah, yes, he's been unable to attend classes in the hospital recently, and he was afraid of missing some lessons, so I thought I'd copy today's class notes for him. He's smart, he might be able to understand it by looking at the notes."
Han An nodded in agreement: "I didn't expect you to be so helpful."
Su Jinning lowered his head and rubbed the tip of his nose. He was a little confused about Han An's true purpose. Was he here to criticize him, or to chat?
"No, midterms are coming up soon. He might get anxious if he misses a class and fails the exam." Perhaps the bright sunlight in the office made him sleepy, and he blurted out the truth to Han An.
Han An didn't seem to care, nodded, and turned a page of his book: "Is he alright?"
Su Jinning scratched her head: "Yeah, everything's fine."
He realized that the teacher had only called him over for a casual chat. However, seeing that Han An seemed quite concerned about Shen Moyu's situation, he added a few more words: "She should be able to be discharged from the hospital in less than half a month."
Han An paused, then thoughtfully twirled his pen: "Okay, then I'll go see him after school tomorrow and buy some fruit while I'm at it."
Su Jinning was startled and quickly waved her hand, smiling as she declined, "No need, no need, I already bought it for him, so please don't spend any more money."
"Oh?" Han An took off his glasses with interest, looking at him with a smile that wasn't gentle: "I'm buying it for him, not for you, so why are you so eager to refuse?"
Su Jinning was momentarily speechless, embarrassed and unsure how to respond. He pursed his lips and sighed, "Teacher, did you call me here today for something?"
"Of course," Han An said, his tone becoming somewhat serious.
Something's wrong? What is it?
Is it time to start criticizing? Su Jinning lowered her head and looked down. Was he saying he was corrupting the top student? Or that he was affecting other students' studies?
Perhaps it's because Teacher Han An is a gentle person and didn't want to launch a full-blown attack of criticism.
Forget it. These are just his labels anyway, who would really believe what he says?
Han An suddenly bent down and opened the drawer of his desk. After a clattering sound of books clattering together, Han An placed about four or five notebooks on the desk.
Su Jinning was a little confused.
Does making a phone call during class really warrant such a grand execution?
Han An, oblivious to Su Jinning's dark expression, moved his chair forward and began carefully flipping through the books one by one, as if examining something.
A moment later, Han An smiled and handed over the notebooks, his eyes still full of smiles: "These are all the Chinese notes for this semester. I have some simpler and clearer ones here. Take a look."
Su Jinning was stunned by his words and stared blankly at the four neatly bound notebooks on the table: "Teacher, you, give these to me?"
Han An was going to give himself these notes that he had spent half a semester compiling. This news was perhaps even more surprising than the fact that he had started studying.
Su Jinning didn't touch the four notebooks; he felt it was a waste. "Teacher, do you want me to take these notebooks to Shen Moyu?"
Han An chuckled, his gentle eyes suddenly filled with certainty: "No, it's for you to see."
Su Jinning tilted her head, this was the first time she hadn't understood someone's plain language.
Han An tidied up the somewhat messy lesson plans and exercises on the table, picked up one of the notebooks, flipped through it, pointed to a page and said, "This page is quite important. Some of the core reading comprehension points are in here. Take it back and take a good look. If you don't understand something, ask Mo Yu for help."
What's going on?
Su Jinning suddenly saw a scene from his junior year when his grades dropped and all the teachers frantically stuffed notes into his hands to make him review.
But in the end, he still couldn't get over his mother's situation and just kept giving up and wallowing in self-pity.
"Teacher," Su Jinning suddenly laughed, her laughter somewhat dry, as if she were mocking herself, "Isn't that a bit unnecessary?"
"Why isn't it necessary?" Han An suddenly asked, rubbing his fingers on his notebook. "We're going to be divided into classes soon, and the teacher hopes..."
He emphasized, "The teacher still hopes to see you in Class A or B."
The dimness in Su Jinning's eyes suddenly brightened considerably.
Even his own homeroom teacher, Jin Shuoshuo, probably wouldn't say this to him so solemnly.
"Teacher... why did you do this?" Su Jinning shook her head, puzzled and surprised, her fingers trembling involuntarily. "What exactly did you do this for?"
Are you trying to bring a bad student who sleeps in class, plays games, skips school, and gets into fights back to a good life?
When did I acquire the capital?
"You'll know the answer." Han An looked at him steadily, stuffed the notebook into his hand, and patted his shoulders with both hands, as if giving him great expectations: "Someone will give you the answer."
In that instant, Su Jinning felt pierced by Han An's burning gaze.
The grip on his hand suddenly tightened with each heartbeat…
——