"Is this love…?"
"Your mother is very strict with you, but she doesn't seem to have taught you what love is—or rather, she never taught you how to love someone properly."
"Love is an ability. It's a responsibility. It isn't equivalent to happiness, and it's not just the yearning you feel for someone you admire. It also includes your attitude toward your family, your friends, and the world."
"People who understand love carry warmth in their eyes and light in their hearts. Even if they walk through thick fog and pitch-black night, they won't lose their way."
Du Ming had been raised under very strict discipline. His mother had already crossed the line into harshness. If things continued like this, Du Ming would grow into an outstanding person, but something was destined to be missing from his heart.
The wind on the rooftop howled past. Chen Ge gave Du Ming some time to think, then took out his phone and crouched in front of him.
"Were you the one who spread those rumors at school?"
Chen Ge opened his photo gallery. The photos inside had already been cleared out—only two remained in the favorites folder. One was a covertly taken shot of
"I didn't spread them." It took Du Ming a long time to squeeze out those words. He lifted his swollen face. "My mom snooped through my phone. She found the photos and asked who that woman was. I told her it was our new teacher."
"What does that have to do with the rumors?"
"She saw you and the teacher walking home under the same umbrella and decided such an intern teacher was completely unfit. So she brought it up in the parents' group chat." Du Ming's eyes were full of self-blame and guilt. He hated how powerless he was.
"The parents' group chat? When was this? Did my dad know about it?"
"It was the day you and the teacher walked off together. Your dad probably knew—someone in the group recognized you from your silhouette, and a lot of people demanded that your dad come forward and give an explanation. Your dad kept defending you. Later he was kicked out of the group. I assumed he would have told you about it."
"My dad already knew?" Chen Ge did the mental math. That night he had been staying at Zhang Ya's place and hadn't gone home.
His father had never reproached him. Instead, he had proven his trust in Chen Ge through action.
"The parents all felt that a teacher like that was completely incapable of educating students. They thought she had a character problem, so they decided to approach the school about it. Some of the parents even told their own children, warning them never to do something so foolish." Du Ming had known everything all along, but he had never said a word. No wonder he had later been too afraid to speak to Chen Ge—instead, he left all his homework on the desk, as though trying to express his apology that way.
"Zhang Ya had ranked first among all the intern teachers in both the interview and the written exam. Naturally, the school wasn't going to fire her over a few photos. The two sides were deadlocked for a few days." At this point, Du Ming's guilt deepened. "Because of all this, I became very resentful toward my family. I had never defied them before, but this time I didn't want to back down. Yet my resistance wasn't understood—instead, my mother decided that the new teacher had corrupted the child she had worked so hard to raise."
"So your mother blamed Zhang Ya for her own failure as a parent?" Chen Ge realized there was someone he had overlooked: Du Ming's mother. That woman was the person in the world who cared most about Du Ming—and at the same time, the one who hurt him the deepest.
Chen Ge had never understood why Du Ming, with such outstanding grades, was so unpopular—why he so often behaved selfishly and coldly, never responding to anyone. Now he finally understood the reason.
"The real explosion came because I did poorly on a recent test. My mother decided my grades had dropped entirely because of Zhang Ya. She believed that letting this new teacher continue educating me would ruin me." Du Ming's expression was bitter, agonized. He was like a bird locked inside a jar. The people outside the jar admired his beautiful "chirping" and credited it entirely to the trainer's skill, never once considering how the bird actually felt.
"That night, my mother brought the whole thing up in the class group chat. A lot of parents came out in support of her. When it came to their own children's education, they refused to take any chances. They decided to go to the school and discuss it with the administration." Du Ming had no energy left to continue. "You know what happened after that. They called it 'discussing,' but it was really just a shouting match. My mother is a very domineering person."
"Adults don't understand children. My mother thought that after everything she'd done for me, I should have been able to appreciate her good intentions. She believed that her shouting in the office was for my sake. But when I heard her shrill voice, all I wanted was to find somewhere to hide. I know she loves me, but right now I'm terrified of anyone saying she's my mother."
Du Ming's mother's approach to parenting was indeed deeply flawed. Chen Ge felt he should meet the woman at least once. "I think you need to have a real conversation with your mother. Refusing to ever admit fault, using strict demands and moral pressure to bind a child—that's not education."
Du Ming could now communicate normally. Chen Ge pulled him to his feet. Both of their eyes were shot through with red veins. "Listen. There's still one chance to keep Teacher Zhang Ya, but I don't know if you have the nerve to do it."
"Me?"
"Yes. Go to the office right now with your phone and tell everyone the truth about those photos. There's nothing improper between Zhang Ya and me. The reason we shared an umbrella that day was because I forgot mine. You know all of this. You can testify. You can expose those rumors." Chen Ge pressed the phone back into Du Ming's hands. "The key question is: do you dare?"
Du Ming stood there holding the phone with its cracked screen, silent.
"Think it through, then tell me." Chen Ge didn't push him. He simply watched Du Ming quietly, and the face that surfaced in his mind was Yu Jian's.
"I…" Du Ming's fingers clenched together into a fist. His eyes were bloodshot, and after a long while he finally spoke in a slow, halting voice. "I can't go."
"Just now—how did you question me? Your pain is no less than mine, so why can't you face it? You'd rather just keep sinking like this, wouldn't you?" Chen Ge wanted to help Zhang Ya, but he was also helping Du Ming. If Zhang Ya left because of this, Du Ming would likely carry the guilt for the rest of his life—a knot in his heart that could never be untied.
"If I go and clear all this up, my mother will be furious. After all, she did everything for my sake. It's her way of loving me." Du Ming put the phone away. A grayness slowly crept into his eyes, and his entire face seemed to lose all vitality. Making this decision was not easy for him. "Teacher Zhang has you, but my mother only has me. My father left when I was very young. She's been strict with me because she's placed all of her hopes on me."
"So because she wants what's best for you, she turns you into a selfish monster? She strips away your happiness, robs you of your ability to love others? Does your mother always like to emphasize how hard her life has been, how much she's suffered, how much she's sacrificed for you?" Chen Ge could understand, but he did not agree. "Your mother didn't raise you to be yourself. She raised you to be the version of you that she wanted. I'm not denying that she loves you, but her love shouldn't be built on the foundation of crushing your personality. Love is mutual. There may be certain inequalities, but fundamentally it should be fair."
Du Ming clenched his teeth after hearing Chen Ge's words.
Chen Ge didn't disturb him. He looked at the chubby boy standing before him.
Physically, Du Ming had no defects. But he was also missing something—something that every human being ought to possess. That something was "love."
"I'll go with you and explain the whole situation." Chen Ge gripped Du Ming's shoulders. "I can drop out. I can give up everything. Because this was my mistake, and I'm the one who should be punished—not Zhang Ya."
Under Chen Ge's persistent efforts, Du Ming finally nodded.
Seeing that Du Ming had changed his mind, Chen Ge let out a breath of relief. He accompanied Du Ming off the rooftop.
They knocked on the office door, and Chen Ge—along with the bruised and battered Du Ming—walked up to Director Shi's desk.
"What's going on with you two? Who did you fight?" Director Shi was startled by Du Ming's appearance. After all, Chen Ge had hit hard—he had beaten Du Ming to the point where he couldn't even stand before he'd started reasoning with him.
"Director Shi, Teacher Zhang actually isn't what the rumors make her out to be. She hasn't done anything that violates professional ethics." Du Ming took out his phone. "This was the photo that first circulated in the parents' group chat. The truth of that day was that Chen Ge had forgotten his umbrella. Teacher Zhang was worried he'd get wet, so she walked with him under hers. I was right there beside them."
"But your mother came in yesterday and told a different story. Didn't you tell her all this?"
"I did. But she didn't believe me." Du Ming placed his phone on Director Shi's desk.
"So it was all a misunderstanding. Well, this has gotten out of hand. Call your mother right now and have her come over. We'll sort this all out face to face." Director Shi wanted to resolve the situation. Zhang Ya was the most outstanding teacher he had ever interviewed. Firing her over a misunderstanding—no matter how you looked at it, that was unjustifiable.
Du Ming called his mother. She arrived quickly. Director Shi also tried calling Zhang Ya, but couldn't get through.
"Is Teacher Zhang okay?" Chen Ge wanted to go check on her at her home, but Director Shi wouldn't let him leave, saying he was one of the parties involved and had to be present to testify on Zhang Ya's behalf.
After waiting roughly half an hour, footsteps sounded outside the door. There was no knock—the office door was simply pushed open, and a middle-aged woman walked in.
Her face was initially set in impatience, but the moment she saw Du Ming's wretched state, her expression changed instantly. She half-ran to his side.
"What happened? Who did this to you? Was it him?" The woman glared at Chen Ge. "I told you long ago not to associate with people like this. He's a bad influence—are you going to follow him down that road? Since I'm already here today, Director Shi, how about you consider moving my son to a different seat?"
"I asked you to come today because I wanted to talk to you about what happened before. You've wronged Teacher Zhang." Director Shi produced Du Ming's phone. "Teacher Zhang did nothing inappropriate with any student. The reason they shared an umbrella was that Chen Ge had forgotten his."
"Who told you that?" The middle-aged woman's face darkened in an instant.