"Oh, it's Dean Su, I'll be right there," I said, picking up my teacup.
“It’s not Dean Su,” Dingding shook her head, “It’s Dean Qu! Dean Qu Ling!”
Qu Ling? What does my fatty liver have to do with him?
On my way to the dean's office, I kept wondering what Qu Ling wanted to see me about. Lost in thought, a boy suddenly darted out from around the corner.
"Teacher Su... Teacher Su!" The boy's forehead was covered in sweat, and his cheeks were red.
"Uh, who are you?" I felt his face looked familiar, but I couldn't remember who he was.
"This!" The boy looked around hurriedly, then shoved a slip of paper into my hand, saying, "Dean Su asked me to give this to you! You have to read it!"
"Huh? Dean Su?" I stared blankly at the note, completely bewildered. I wanted to ask the boy for clarification, but the brat had already vanished without a trace.
When I opened the note, there were only a few words inside.
"They insist there's no such thing! It's just a screenshot!"
The large black exclamation mark looked rather alarming. But I still couldn't figure out what my third uncle meant by that note. Could it be related to Qu Ling's visit to me?
I couldn't help but feel uneasy, and I had a bad feeling.
Despite walking slowly, the dean's office finally appeared before me.
The note was still clutched in his left hand, soaked with sweat. He raised his right hand and gently knocked on the door. Knock knock—
The person who opened the door for me was Director Zhou from the department's teaching and research office.
"Director?" I asked in surprise, raising my right hand.
Director Zhou's face was ashen. He gave me a deep look and said, "Come in."
I shivered as I entered the room, feeling the cold air emanating from it.
In the dean's reception room, a circle of leaders sat: Dean Qu, Dean Su, Dean Wang, Director Liu, Director Zheng...
These leaders sat in a circle, and I stood in the center of that circle, like the target of everyone's criticism.
"Good morning, leader." I forced myself to remain calm, and my face didn't change color. I secretly glanced at my third uncle; he had his head down and wasn't looking at me at all.
"Teacher Su, please sit down!" Qu Ling, who was sitting in the middle, pointed to a small chair next to me. His voice was still gentle, and there was no sign of anything unusual about it.
"Thank you!" I sat down on the small chair, my back ramrod straight. Although I didn't know what had happened, I was definitely not the kind of coward who would be terrified at the mere sound of thunder.
"Professor Su, I have a few questions for you now. Please answer them truthfully, okay?" Director Zhou suddenly spoke up.
"Okay." I nodded.
"What did you teach the students in the color class last Monday?" Director Zhou's voice was serious and solemn, as if he were interrogating a murderer.
“Last week,” I frowned as I recalled, “it must have been the relationship between composition and color.”
"Really?" the director asked me in return.
I looked at him with a puzzled expression and didn't say anything more.
"But someone reported that you showed cartoons to students in your color class, and... it was even the nationally banned 'Death Note'!" Director Zhou suddenly raised his voice.
My heart skipped a beat, as if struck by a hammer. The contents of that note resurfaced in my mind.
"They insist there's no such thing! It's just a screenshot!"
I swallowed hard, looked up, and was met with the sharp, piercing gazes of the leaders.
Apart from my third uncle and Qu Ling, all of them had a bloodthirsty glint in their eyes, as if they were excited about tearing me to pieces at any moment.
Suddenly I realized what kind of world I live in.
The struggle for power and the infighting never cease.
They wouldn't even consider me, a nobody like Su Yuanyuan, as a threat; their target is my third uncle.
My mind went blank for a moment, then raced back to normal. My third uncle had given me that note; he must have known what was going on but didn't have time to tell me personally, so he was trying to get me to do what he said. To protect me, he would definitely do something that might give others leverage against him.
No, I can't let my third uncle fall into someone else's trap because of me. What am I? At worst, I'll be laid off and go back to selling lottery tickets. As long as I have food and drink and can paint, I, Su Yuanyuan, will live just as well. But my third uncle is different. He's been upright his whole life, and he earned his position as vice president entirely through his own hard work and sweat. Grandpa once said that my third uncle's heart is like a lotus, too pure and noble. If he were willing to bend his back even a little, how could he only be in this position today!
Dear Third Uncle, for the sake of my job, you had to make a deal with those old turtles and loaches. Yuanyuan doesn't want you to do those things against your will for my sake anymore!
"I—" I opened my mouth, about to confess all my crimes, when Qu Ling suddenly interrupted me.
“Teacher Su might not remember clearly. Let’s ask the students who attended the class that day.” Qu Ling waved to Director Zhou. “Where are those students? Please invite them in.”
The first person to come in was the boy who gave me the note. No wonder he looked familiar; he was one of my own students.
The child had clearly been instructed beforehand. No matter what the other leaders asked, he answered fluently, insisting that I had only shown a few pictures for teaching purposes, and that they didn't know where those pictures came from or what the storyline was like.
The students who came in afterward gave the same answer as the first boy. Clearly, it had all been pre-arranged.
I've finally seen what it means to lie through your teeth and what it means for public opinion to be powerful.
But they did all this to save me.
The most suspicious person is Qu Ling. My third uncle didn't say a word from beginning to end, and he was the one who handled things with the other leaders.
Why would he defend me like this? I've only met him twice, and we barely even exchanged a few words. Why would he offend those old foxes for my sake? Did my third uncle reach some kind of agreement with him?
Thinking this, I couldn't help but look up at him.
His long eyebrows were relaxed, and a smile always played on his lips. No matter how sharp the sword strikes were, he could defuse them with a single, witty remark. When he looked at those people, I felt that his seemingly gentle smile concealed a subtle mockery.
I am no longer able to openly admit my mistakes.
It was too late; Uncle San and Qu Ling had already laid their cards on the table. If I were to foolishly utter another word at this point, I would be putting them on the brink of disaster.
After several rounds of bargaining, the final punishment for me was to be suspended from school for a week and write a self-criticism at home for using the image inappropriately.
What kind of punishment is this? It's basically giving me a vacation!
But I couldn't feel at ease. My unintentional mistake had caused my third uncle so much trouble. And then there's Qu Ling; we owe him a huge favor, and we don't know what price we'll have to pay to repay it in the future.
****
Armed with my fatty liver diagnosis report and the school's decision to suspend me from school for further investigation, I sheepishly rode my electric scooter home.
What an incredibly unlucky day! I was staring blankly at the stone in front of my house and tripped over it, falling flat on my face. It was a perfect reversal of the fall I had this morning.
Upon entering, I was greeted by a room full of dark faces.
Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom, Uncle and Uncle, and Su Tiantian.
"Huh? Everyone's here! Hehe, are you waiting for me to eat?" I forced a smile, clutching my pants that had a huge hole in them.
“We’ve already eaten.” Su Tiantian winked at me slyly.
"Oh...I see...Well...I'll go eat by myself then..." I carefully moved towards the kitchen.
"Su Yuanyuan!" the uncle roared, "You actually have fatty liver just like me!"
"Um... Uncle, I only have mild symptoms, and... it's not on the same level as yours..." I explained softly.
"Yuanyuan, how much do you weigh now?" My second uncle always spoke gently, but his heart was anything but. I always thought that he was the most difficult to deal with among my father's four brothers.
"I...I...My weight is on my medical report! You can see for yourselves!" I nervously handed over my medical report. Actually, I didn't weigh myself during the checkup. The old lady in charge of weighing me asked me how much I weighed, and I just blurted out a not-too-embarrassing number. Maybe the old lady's eyesight wasn't good; she filled it in without even looking at it.
My second uncle took my medical report, found the height and weight section, and read out: "Height 1.68 meters, weight 55 kilograms."
"Impossible!" My dad was the first to jump up. "I carried her on my back last time, she was as heavy as a little pig, she's definitely much heavier than this!"
The rest of the group nodded in agreement.
"Hehe, how about this," Su Tiantian grinned mischievously, "Third Sister, why don't you weigh yourself in front of the whole family today?"
"What?" I glared at Su Tiantian through gritted teeth. You brat, are you asking for trouble? You actually gave me such a bad idea at a time like this!
"Yes! We'll weigh him in front of all of us!"
"Okay! I still trust my eyes!"
"I'll go get the scale!" Su Tiantian happily went to find the electronic scale.
"I don't want to!!" I yelled, trying to run out the door, but my dad held me firmly and I couldn't move.
Why, why have I ended up in this state? Why is this happening?
Su Yuanyuan reflects
My true weight has always been a mystery that my whole family is curious about. They've asked me countless times to weigh myself in public, but I've always firmly refused, citing my privacy. Today, they finally have a legitimate reason to force me into submission—it's all because of that damned fatty liver!
Just as everyone was pressing me onto the electronic scale, and my weight was about to be revealed, I yelled at the top of my lungs, "I've been suspended from school for inspection today!"
Since it's going to be exposed sooner or later anyway, we might as well use it now to divert everyone's attention.
Sure enough, the whole family was stunned by my words and stared at me blankly, frozen in place.
"Yuanyuan, what...what did you say?" Mom asked in an incredulous tone.
"I..." I swallowed hard and said, forcing myself to speak, "I've gotten into trouble and I need to be suspended from school for a week and write a self-criticism at home."
Mom held her head and collapsed onto the sofa behind her; she seemed to have fainted from anger.
Dad remained calm, letting go of my hand and asking, "What trouble have you gotten into? If the school is deliberately making things difficult for you, I will never let them get away with it!"
"It's my fault...it's all my fault. The materials I showed the students in class were inappropriate. This punishment is already too lenient." I glanced at Su Tiantian, who was watching the commotion from the sidelines. Ultimately, it was all her fault!
"Yuanyuan, is it really that simple?" My second uncle asked, tapping my forehead with his index finger. His sharp gaze made me feel guilty.
"In short, it was my fault, I made a mistake, and I caused my third uncle a lot of trouble! I... I'm sorry everyone!" I blinked hard, my eyes reddening, pretending that I was about to cry. I covered my face and ran back to my room, leaving everyone behind.
Of course I didn't eat dinner. How can someone who's feeling so sad eat? Plus, with my fatty liver, I guess no one left me any food.
Sigh, even good luck eventually comes to an end. I think I used up too much of my good luck in the past twenty-three years, so now I'm probably starting to have bad luck.
*****
The birdsong at dawn reminded me that a new day had begun. Lying still in bed, I could hear my parents talking at the bottom of the stairs.
"I'm going in to see Yuanyuan!" came the father's voice.
"What's so interesting about this! Let her reflect on her actions herself. You go to work!" Mom stopped Dad.
"Everyone makes mistakes. Yuanyuan just started working, don't be so demanding of her!"
"My demands are too high?" The mother's voice sounded a little angry. "These are just basic demands! It's because you spoiled her too much since she was little, letting her have her way with everything, that's why she's so fat and made such a big mistake at work!"