Cheng Siyi

Biodata

Background / History

Cheng Siyi joined the school immediately after graduating and is its youngest homeroom teacher. By Pu Yu’s arrival, she has taught Yuan Su for three years and knows both his academic potential and his difficult family circumstances 5 21.

At the beginning of Yuan Su’s second year, she assigned him an outgoing deskmate. The other boy’s mother protested, publicly insulting Yuan Su because of his father’s gambling and his mother’s mental illness. Cheng Siyi repeatedly argued that a child should not be judged by his family; the dispute ended when the year-level director transferred the other student to another class. Afterward, she left Yuan Su without a deskmate to avoid exposing him to further humiliation, though she later questioned whether that decision had reinforced his isolation 23.

Appearance

• Young-looking: Described as a young-looking teacher when she receives Pu Yu’s transfer documents 4.
• Gentle expression: Frequently wears a faint smile, including when addressing the class and distributing essay copies 21 22.

Personality

Cheng Siyi is gentle, approachable, and attentive to her students’ emotional state. She checks whether Pu Yu’s reassuring smile is genuine, comforts her after learning why she was forced into the science track, and readily grants leave when she appears unwell. Xu Suiran recommends her as someone students can approach with problems 5 8 32.

Her kindness does not exclude discipline or self-examination. She reprimands Yuan Su’s defiant self-reflection, challenges an invigilator’s neglect, and questions whether prejudice has unconsciously shaped her own treatment of Yuan Su. When reconsidering his seating, she also insists that Pu Yu’s education must not be sacrificed out of sympathy for another student 21 23.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Pu Yu’s transfer and financial difficulties

• Reviews Pu Yu’s records, recognizes her strengths in Chinese and English, and warns that Tingnan has fewer resources than City No. 1 High School 4.
• Processes the transfer after Li Suhua explains that Pu Yu’s father and stepmother tried to force her out of school and into marriage for a bride price 4.
• Places Pu Yu beside Yuan Su temporarily because no other seats are available 4 23.
• Gives Pu Yu extra time—until the following week—to pay the 860-yuan tuition and textbook fees 6 7.
• Learns that Pu Yu’s father chose her science track while drunk and refused to change it. She encourages Pu Yu to improve her mathematics and physics so that her future choice of university major can be her own 8.

Monthly examination and disciplinary dispute

• Announces Pu Yu’s first-place results in Chinese and English, alongside Yuan Su’s full marks in physics and 148 in mathematics 21.
• Questions Yuan Su over a complaint that he tore another student’s exam paper and threatened him. Pu Yu intervenes, explaining that the complainant had harassed her and demanded answers for cheating 21.
• Challenges Teacher Liu after he admits closing his eyes while invigilating, emphasizing his responsibility for examination discipline 21.
• Promises to investigate, requires Yuan Su to write a thousand-word self-criticism, and states that the other student will also face consequences if responsible 21.
• Distributes Pu Yu’s model essay for the class to study, focusing on its structure and central idea 22.

One-to-one peer support

Yuan Su’s self-reflection combines Pu Yu’s carefully written account with his own declaration that he would tear another paper if someone targeted a classmate again. Although Cheng Siyi reprimands him, his willingness to submit the work prompts her to reconsider his isolation and the effect of Pu Yu’s companionship 23.

• Consults the physics teacher, who confirms that Yuan Su’s explanations have helped Pu Yu 24.
• Asks Pu Yu privately whether she wants to remain his deskmate and offers a regular seating arrangement if she feels pressured 24.
• Approves another month together, conditional on Pu Yu maintaining her twentieth-place year ranking and completing her homework 24.
• Introduces academically complementary deskmates and groups, encouraging discussion, questions, and mutual improvement during final-year revision 24 25.

Pu Yu’s first publication

• Reviews two manuscripts and praises the town essay’s nuanced emotion and vivid writing 47.
• Offers to recommend Pu Yu’s work to a university friend who edits the Nanhua Daily literary supplement 47.
• Announces that the newspaper has accepted the essay for its forthcoming supplement, with payment and a contributor’s copy to follow 48.
• Unable to wait until the lesson ends, calls Pu Yu out of physics class, hugs her, and celebrates the acceptance 48.

Relationships

• Pu Yu — Student and aspiring writer whom she supports through transfer difficulties, academic planning, and publication submissions 4 8 47 48.
• Yuan Su — Long-standing student whose talent, disengagement, and social isolation concern her; she balances discipline with efforts to reconnect him to classmates 21 23 24.
• Li Suhua — Pu Yu’s grandmother; supplies the family circumstances that help Cheng Siyi understand the transfer request 4.
• Xu Suiran — Student comfortable approaching her; Cheng Siyi declines her request to sit beside Pu Yu because both need help in physics 24.
• Teacher Wang — Physics-teaching colleague. She urges him to accept that Yuan Su cannot be forced into the Physics Competition and later consults him about Pu Yu’s progress 17 24.
• University friend at the Nanhua Daily — Literary-supplement editor through whom she recommends Pu Yu’s writing 47 48.

Notable Quotes

“You can’t judge a child by his family.” 23

“We’ve assigned deskmates and groups so you can complement each other’s strengths. I hope you’ll discuss more, ask more questions, and improve together.” 25

“Congratulations, our little writer!” 48