Today will be a great day, or so I thought. It was not until the unfathomable event happened. In a hall full of students and music coordinators, our homeroom teacher Jian He unconditionally stared at everyone like the fairy of doom. On this day, people dealt with me unfairly. That mad ghost, Jian He, chased me out and disgraced me in front of everyone. They were irritated because I did that trivial thing, especially Jian He. However, that thing wasn't worth mentioning because that gloomy ghost took it upon himself to exorcise me. "Wait, why does it look like I'm reporting?" I continuously cursed.
The hall I stood inside was specially designed using soundproof, and there were a lot of musical instruments. The seats were arranged orderly with pipa, Guzhen, and Qin instruments. The academy placed these instruments in different chairs. I walked out of the hall with shame; the curtain of humiliation mocked me severely. However, there was nothing I could do other than go away with that humiliation. In any case, I'm shameless, and no one could say otherwise.
How did this happen?
After the music assignment given by Jian He, we came to class, as usual. There was nothing too complicated after the students understood the basic things. Friends shared opinions within themselves, and gradually the problem became nothing but a joke. Nonetheless, it didn't mean unexpected things wouldn't happen. The homeroom teacher, in any case, was unhurried—he was the same as before: waiting. Then the time gradually crawled away to the third day. It was the day when he expected every one of us to submit our assignment. This day came eventually.
As everyone entered the class early that morning, Xiu Ying and Fu Wei began to collect our assignments. At the same time, after they obtained them, they headed to the teacher's office to submit them.
"Jian He's office still looks the same as when I had come during summer," Muttered Xiu Ying to herself.
"Yes! Did everyone do the assignment? " Jian He said curtly.
It was not a secret who Jian He placed his concern—it was me, Guang Fang. But Xiu Ying nodded to him while Fu Wei beside her said nothing. In the end, they succeeded in submitting the file containing the assignments and left the office.
During the last period before the end of the class, Jian He came to the classroom with a single piece of paper. He had distributed our scores on that piece of paper. He wore his usual gloom, but anyone could sense the air around him was abnormal. His presence had plummeted the temperature to the lowest degree, making the class appear chilly. In fact, no matter how he pretended to stay poise, I could clearly feel his mood—he was boiling with anger. The students also noticed this vast transition. So everyone remained vigilant, not daring to provoke such a vengeful creature, much to my free thoughts. Jian He was not totally surprised by the class vigilance. After all, the student in his class had learned to be careful of him.
As he entered the classroom, we greeted him solemnly. How dare we ignore him in his foul mood!? However, he ignored our courtesy as he climbed the platform. Things were no longer simple! The students had begun to churn their minds for various reasons. Why did Jian He's ghost wail stronger than usual? His abnormality was not a surprise to the class. However, what made everyone alarmed was the extremity of his behavior. It was like he scaled up his quirks.
"Prepare yourselves tomorrow because I will give you a practical test on music. That will serve as your music exam." Jian He huffed—he was totally exasperated over something.
It was apparent someone had provoked Jian He. But who was that person? The situation plunged the students into chaos. No one was ready for music exams because they knew how difficult the said exam was. Not to mention fast preparation, exceptional preparation still had no hope of acing that exam. The people's minds became muddy; ideals ran wild. We hoped to understand the cause of the matter.
At this moment, my attention locked on the pasted list on the blackboard. I suddenly remembered I did only half of the music assignment. Also, I boldly gave a comment, saying that the music was sad and boring, thus destroying my mood. Could it be that—well, I had understood a kind of punishment would await me. It was only surprising that the whole class had to shoulder it, much to my happiness. Jian He was definitely odd. He could have me shoulder the problem alone. However, it looked more like the jab was so painful that he wanted everyone to feel what was a real pain.
"Teacher Jian He, why are we suddenly having an exam?" Qing You spoke with dissatisfaction.
The class saw the opportunity to unleash their pain, pulling attention to themselves. There was no way he could do that without explanation. Jian He was dangerous, but that didn't mean anyone allowed him to be wild and unreasonable.
Jian He knew that he had to give an explanation for his action; he snorted coldly. His action made the classroom become as quiet as a graveyard—there was no atom of hissing. However, everyone's expression betrayed their action. It was much to Jian He's displeasure. He wanted absolute reign, but there was no way to control people's thoughts because at that moment, many people might be loudly cursing him in their minds.
"Teacher, we can report this to the school administration, you know?" A student at the rear spoke. He had a defiant attitude, and he folded his arm to his chest. This person also had a toothpick in his mouth, much to the expectation of everyone. Sometimes I wondered if he wasn't afraid of unintentionally swallowing that stuff. The class knew this person very well: a burly giant with small eyes and yellow teeth. He was the only one in the class with a beard, unmasking his early maturity. However, he had a small group and was charismatic, contrary to his look and behavior—he was like a gang leader.
"Changming Quan, teachers are free to teach their class how they wish in their entire employment duration. It's not against the academy's rules to do as they wish concerning their education scheme. So we can set our exams anytime, as long as we have sufficient reason to do so. Every teacher has their own routine; it's yet your time to teach me my job. However, if you are dissatisfied, I suggest you ask this miscreant seated over there—he knows more."
Just as Jian He spoke with irritation, everyone simultaneously directed their baleful gaze at me. Fu Wei stood in abrupt resentment as he pointed at me.
"You are no good. You are completely useless; the class cannot craft out your benefit, no matter how little. Why is it that you can't give us a moment respite?" He ranted; others murmured in agreement. However, I remained quiet because I believed that guy could grouse however he wanted; it had nothing to do with me. What reason did I have to understand the situation? Depending on how things went, there may be people I might have to deal with sooner or later.
"I suggest we kick this loafer out."
Changming Quan spoke arrogantly, gathering magnificent support from the people. Changming Quan himself was an average student. If I remember correctly, He was carefree, easily angered, and effortlessly snapped on people without control. Thus this person didn't value people's opinions and loved to boss others around. Of course, he was still charismatic as a gang leader. However, in this situation, no one cares about his personality. They wanted to solve the immediate disaster, which was me.
"In this assignment, everyone scored above 80%. But this person scored 64%, which is the school's exact average point. The worst part was that he abruptly stopped his answer after the first chorus. Just when he was about to start the second verse—he gave me a footnote. That's the first time my student had given me a footnote! I can't get used to it! Honestly, it is absolutely unbearable! Jian He erupted with unreasonable justification. Indignation!?
'However, it happened to be because of his pride that he decided to bury the class. What nonsense!'
It was easy to understand that he could not tolerate the humiliation. But I didn't think that I perpetrated any crime. It was never terrible to say how you feel regarding a particular subject matter. However, if people could shoot bullets with their eyes, they would have killed me by now. Everyone was seriously glaring at me. At this rate, I might die before I could defend myself. In any case, I wasn't about to give them a reason to devour me. What a joke!
"Um… teacher Jian He, I don't think I'm guilty to voice how I feel, right? Honestly, everyone was free to do as they pleased when tackling their assignment. Let's all assume that something stuck me in the middle of the assessment without any more options; you know there was nothing I could do to finish the rest of the verses and the choruses. Except you wanted me to bring it to your dormitory to help me." I flanked my hands in the declaration of my innocence.