The homeroom teacher pushed up the black frames on her nose and asked tentatively, "Are you sure you're Ji Xiangzhou's guardian?"
Fang Ning took off the black sunglasses she'd worn to look cool and gave the homeroom teacher a big, friendly smile. "Teacher Chen, why would you ask that? Do I not look like a guardian?"
The homeroom teacher really wanted to say, No, not in any way. You don't look like a guardian. You look like someone hired to pretend to be one.
Of course, as a teacher, she wouldn't say something like that. Instead, she put it in a more acceptable way. "You said you're Ji Xiangzhou's guardian. May I ask how you're related to him?"
Fang Ning put her sunglasses away. "Me? I'm his sister-in-law. His brother's been a little busy lately, so I came in his place."
The homeroom teacher had met Ji Xiangzhou's guardian, a man in his thirties, but the person in front of her looked only about twenty. If what she said was true, society really was going downhill, and morals were crumbling!
Since Fang Ning had said that, the homeroom teacher could only half believe her. She poured Fang Ning a glass of water, and the two sat facing each other.
The homeroom teacher explained what had happened with Ji Xiangzhou. "Here's the situation. Ji Xiangzhou climbed over the wall last night to play games at an internet café, and he also got into a fight. Although his grades are very good now and he doesn't need much supervision academically, I hope you'll keep a closer eye on his conduct."
Fang Ning had only intended to come and go through the motions. She was calling herself Ji Xiangzhou's guardian now, but the truth was that she had no right to discipline him.
So while Fang Ning outwardly agreed with Ji Xiangzhou's homeroom teacher, her words actually went in one ear and out the other.
A student who had come to deliver homework overheard their entire conversation outside the door.
Partway through listening, the boy abandoned handing in the homework and stumbled off toward the dean's office.
He shouted, "News! Huge news!! Brother Zhou, your guardian's here!"
Ji Xiangzhou had been sent to the dean's office by his homeroom teacher to be confined there and reflect on his actions. The dean had moved to another office, leaving this one empty.
Since it was sitting empty anyway, it was sometimes used for students to study and discuss things during evening study sessions. Previously, when a student from another class had broken the rules, his homeroom teacher had sent him to the dean's office to reflect on his own. Over time, it had become a space reserved for students who violated school rules.
Today, Ji Xiangzhou stood there. Of course, he wasn't alone. Another student stood beside him, a steadfast comrade in climbing over the wall to play games at an internet café.
His name was Ye Yang.
Ye Yang scuffed the floor with his foot and said glumly, "Brother Zhou, we definitely won't be as lucky as last time. Last time, our homeroom teacher didn't call anyone in. This time, we even ended up at the police station. She's definitely going to call our guardians. What a pain. My mom will definitely come, and I'll have to be Sun Wukong again. What about you, Brother Zhou? Who do you think will come get you out?"
Ji Xiangzhou stood perfectly straight, looking at the leaves swaying in the wind outside the window, his eyes utterly unruffled. In a rare response, he uttered two words: "No one."
Ji Xiangnian only knew how to stay busy with his lousy job every day, forever chasing money. He wouldn't come.
The twins were even less likely to come. Ji Xiangyi was just like Ji Xiangnian. Every day, there was nothing in her life besides work.
Ji Xiangchen spent every day acting in those lousy TV dramas about love and romance.
Back in middle school, he'd been naive. He'd thought Ji Xiangnian, Ji Xiangyi, and Ji Xiangchen would be like other guardians and come to his parent-teacher conferences if he got good grades.
But whether his grades were good or bad, they had never once come to school for a parent-teacher conference.
Whenever he invited them to a parent-teacher conference, either an assistant or the butler showed up in the end. Over time, the other students began asking why his guardian was different every time.
After starting high school, he'd wised up. When his homeroom teacher told him to call his guardians in, he couldn't even be bothered to tell them. He simply brushed her off by saying they weren't available.
After that, his homeroom teacher had never called his guardians in again.
This time was no different. If his homeroom teacher hadn't insisted on making him call his guardians, he wouldn't have bothered making the calls.
As for the outcome, he'd predicted it long ago. Every one of them was either unavailable or had something to do.
Coming to school to get him out? Impossible. The sky could fall, and they still wouldn't come.
Ji Xiangzhou stood straight, his gaze fixed on the green trees outside the window. As he recalled these things, a trace of melancholy clouded his eyes.
Ye Yang had never seen Ji Xiangzhou so melancholy and composed before. He'd been Ji Xiangzhou's roommate for two years.
How could he put it? His Brother Zhou was cold and barely bothered responding to people. He went to class alone and left class alone all day long. Apart from eating, drinking, relieving himself, going to class, leaving class, and playing games, he paid no attention to anything else. He seemed to have little feeling for this world, always looking placid and detached, like an immortal banished to the mortal realm, untouched by worldly affairs.
He was a man who wouldn't even furrow his brow if the sky fell.
Yet today, Ye Yang had actually caught a trace of melancholy in those unruffled eyes. Strange. It really was far too strange.
"Why? Why won't anyone come get you out?" Ye Yang couldn't help asking.
Ji Xiangzhou lifted his eyelids slightly, his tone betraying little emotion. "Don't ask why. If you ask, they have things to do, they're unavailable, they're busy."
Ye Yang: "..."
How was that any different from saying nothing at all?!
But barely a few seconds after Ji Xiangzhou finished speaking, a voice bellowed outside. "News! Huge news!! Brother Zhou, your guardian's here!"
Immediately afterward, the door was pushed open. Ye Yang saw that it was his good buddy, Zhao Fei. "Zhao Fei, what's going on? Why are you shouting so loudly? You've practically deafened me!"
Zhao Fei stopped just in time, panting. "Ah, ah, ah, I was just trying to tip you off! Brother Zhou, your guardian's here! She's in Abbess Chen's office right now, taking you to task!!"
Ye Yang asked in confusion, "What?! Brother Zhou's guardian? But Brother Zhou said his guardians couldn't possibly come?"