Without saying a word, Qu Ling scooped all the beef from his bowl into my hands, making me feel embarrassed. I hurriedly took it back to him, saying, "Dean! I was just kidding!"
Qu Ling slowly put the beef in her mouth and said, "I know you're joking, that's why I deliberately gave you the beef. Do you think I'd be afraid you wouldn't give it back?"
Oh no! I've been tricked again!
My Dean Qu's personality is completely different from what I initially imagined!
He was more peaceful, more interesting, and more enigmatic than I had imagined.
After we left the beef noodle shop, the proprietress chatted incessantly with her son as she closed the purplish-red shop door.
After finishing my noodles, walking under the midnight starry sky, I felt a warm, bloated feeling in my stomach, making me feel lightheaded. All the day's hardships and frustrations vanished; the happiness of being full made me want to sing.
“I have a little donkey, but I never ride it.”
One day, on a whim, I rode my bike to the market.
I held the small leather whip in my hand, feeling quite pleased with myself.
Suddenly, I slipped and fell, covered in mud.
Qu Ling chuckled softly behind me, snapping me back to reality from my daydreams. Remembering that a dean was also following behind me, I blushed instantly, awkwardly giggling, "I was so happy... I couldn't help but shout..."
"Happy?" Qu Ling finally showed a hint of doubt on her face: "You must have had something unpleasant happen to you today, right? Just now at school..."
I know he was referring to the tears on my face.
"Hehe, I was a little down just now! But I'm all better now!" I patted my stomach and laughed, "As long as I'm full, nothing, no matter how big, can make me unhappy!"
"Really..." Qu Ling looked at me and exclaimed, "She's exactly the same as when she was a child!"
"Huh?" I looked up at him blankly and smiled.
"Yuanyuan, I can sing this nursery rhyme too."
"Huh?"
“You forced me to learn it on the top of Huangshan Mountain.” Qu Ling reached out and touched my head, as if she had returned to the time eleven years ago. Her smile was exceptionally gentle. “Back then, you refused to walk by yourself and insisted that I carry you. You sang this nursery rhyme all the way and made me sing along. If I didn’t sing, you would strangle me with all your might.”
"...No way?" I stood there dumbfounded. "Was I really this violent when I was a kid?"
Qu Ling nodded. "The level of violence is directly proportional to the level of cuteness."
"That's impossible!" I pouted and refused to admit it no matter what.
"It's true."
"Absolutely impossible!"
I didn't realize I'd arrived at the staff dormitory building, only to find that the path we were on had come to an end.
"Dean Qu, thank you for treating me to noodles!" I waved to him before going upstairs.
Qu Ling simply smiled slightly, watched me go upstairs, and then turned and left.
I leaned on the second-floor railing, watching his receding figure in the moonlight. That thin back—could it have carried me, a tiny little ball of flesh, back then?
My face suddenly felt slightly hot, and when I gently touched it with my fingertips, it must have turned red.
****
The second day of work was still busy, but I don't know where I suddenly found superhuman strength, and I finished most of the day's work in just one morning. Because of my high work efficiency, I was able to take a short nap at noon. Thinking that it was a bit far to walk back to the dormitory, I grabbed my small pillow and ran to the infirmary to find Auntie San.
My third aunt had been working hard to help me create a weight loss plan, but because of the assessment, both of us were busy. She temporarily stopped supervising me and instead focused on preparing for the medical office work.
"Third Aunt! I'm going to take a nap in your rest room!" I hugged my rose-shaped pillow and rushed into the doctor's rest room in the back.
"Yuanyuan! Have you eaten yet? Your mom said you haven't been home for several days. Is your department this busy?" My third aunt followed me into the lounge.
"Everyone's just as busy, but I'm lazy and don't want to run around, so I stayed in the dormitory." I lay down on my aunt's small bed fully clothed, the scent of pink roses wafting from the pillow, intoxicatingly sweet.
My aunt came over and carefully examined my face. Finally, she nodded and said, "You've really lost some weight. It seems my weight loss plan is working!"
Third Aunt, I weighed myself this morning, and I haven't lost a single pound, okay? Oh well, I don't want to dampen Third Aunt's confidence, so I'll let her be a little smug.
"Is the doctor in?" A student was knocking on the door.
"Yes! Coming!" Third Aunt pinched my bottom, patted her white coat, and went out the door.
"Doctor, my classmate has a fever, please take a look at him!"
When Third Aunt left, she didn't close the inner room door properly, and I could hear the people talking outside very clearly.
"How long has it been burning?"
"It started burning the night before last."
"Why are you only coming to see a doctor now? Don't you know that prolonged high fever is dangerous for adults?"
"...He absolutely refused to come, insisting that his fever would be gone in two days. Today I saw that his fever was getting worse, so I dragged him here no matter what!" The boy's voice sounded both anxious and aggrieved.
"Tuck this under his arm."
"good!"
They were probably taking temperatures; it was quiet outside for a while.
"Thirty-nine degrees! Help him lie down, I'll give him an IV drip!"
"Doctor..." another voice, sounding somewhat weak, said, "I...can I not get an IV drip?"
"Why?"
"I...I'm afraid of pain..." The boy's voice trembled, and I could almost picture in my mind his pitiful appearance, pleading with my third aunt with tears in his eyes.
*Slap!* Auntie slapped the child on the ground, somewhere. "What's a grown man like you afraid of pain? Believe me or not, I'll give you an injection with this big needle later!"
Third Aunt's voice sounded rather fierce.
"Doctor...no!!!"
"Lie still and get the IV drip, don't move around! I'll give you the injection, I promise it won't hurt at all, okay?" This time, Third Aunt used a gentler approach.
“Okay…” The boy’s voice was still a little trembling.
After a moment of silence, a bloodcurdling scream, like a pig being slaughtered, suddenly erupted from outside, "Ahhhhhh!"
"What are you yelling about! I haven't even had my injection yet!" Auntie San roared.
"I'm...I'm sorry, I thought it had already been done. Could you...please let me know before you do it?"
"It's already been done."
"Huh? What?"
"It's already in place. Does it hurt?"
"No...it doesn't hurt that much..."
"Okay, lie still and don't move. I'll go get you an ice pack."
"Doctor...don't go!"
"What's wrong now?"
"As soon as you leave, it seems... it starts to hurt a little..."
Pfft—I couldn't help but burst out laughing while lying on my pillow in the inner room. Where did this little rascal come from? He's just too cute.
"I'll only be gone for a little while, just thirty seconds, okay?"
"Okay... alright..."
"Then why don't you let go of my clothes?"
...
Because of that little rascal, Third Aunt stayed by his side the whole time and didn't go into the inner room again. I was originally very sleepy, but after the little rascal made a ruckus, I laughed for a long time and couldn't fall asleep.
I could vaguely hear voices outside, so I involuntarily pricked up my ears to listen.
Which department are you from?
"Design major."
"Oh?" Third Aunt's voice clearly perked up.
"I heard you have a few new teachers in your department this year. What do you think of their teaching?"
"Not bad, the teachers who teach sketching and color are the most interesting!"
"Oh? Colors?" Third Aunt asked casually, "How are they interesting?"
"The sketching teacher is as thin as a chopstick, while the color teacher is round and plump. But they are good friends and often hang out together in the teaching building. It looks really funny!" The little boy said, already laughing loudly.
"So, your color teacher is a fat man?" Third Aunt said loudly on purpose, as if afraid I wouldn't hear her from inside.
"Hehe, she has round eyes and a round mouth, she's so cute! I heard her name is Su Yuanyuan!"
Hearing this, I wouldn't be Su Yuanyuan if I could still lie comfortably in bed.
I jumped out of bed, grabbed my pillow, rushed to the outer room, and yelled at my third aunt, who was raising an eyebrow at me, and the two terrified boys, "I'm not a fat teacher! I want to lose weight!"
Failed weight loss
This time I'm truly determined to lose weight, and it's entirely voluntary.
Even though I knew Auntie was deliberately using reverse psychology, I couldn't help it; I still couldn't stand my students calling me "Fatty Teacher" behind my back. Besides, having fatty liver isn't something to be proud of. Just thinking about my liver covered in a layer of white fat made me lose my appetite for braised pork.
*****
Day 1 of voluntary weight loss:
I got up at six in the morning, put on my sportswear, and prepared to run five laps around the school track. When I was a hundred meters away from the finish line of the first lap, I had a splitting headache due to lack of oxygen. I leaned on the railing and passed out for ten minutes. After that, I crawled back to the dormitory like a cripple, collapsed on the bed, and never woke up again.
At 9:11 a.m., Dingding burst into the dormitory, grabbed me from the bed, and said that the department head had been waiting for me in the office for more than half an hour, and had drawn a big red cross on my attendance record.
I am the first teacher who lives at the school and is still late.
At 11:45 a.m., I was in a terrible mood because I was being scolded by the department head. I found some scrap paper and continued to draw little figures and stab them with a pen until the little figures were completely covered in wounds. Then I took my meal card and went to the cafeteria to eat.
At exactly twelve o'clock, thinking about my grand weight loss plan, I didn't buy anything and silently swallowed a bowl of vegetable soup.
Tears streamed down my face as I drank the soup. I realized how painful it was to endure hunger, and that even willingly forcing myself to endure it couldn't lessen the suffering in the slightest. After finishing the soup, I stared intently at the green beans and stewed pork on the plate of the little girl at the next table, my saliva dripping into the soup bowl.