A Lifetime of Peace and Care

Chapter 20: In Captivity

“Actually, I’m already married.”

After saying this, Yi Ran saw the other person’s stunned expression.

She never wore a wedding ring, and she hadn’t even taken a wedding leave, much less host a banquet. Of course, no colleagues would know about it.

Yi Ran scratched her ear and said, “Aside from my family and good friends, you’re now the only one from the school who knows about it. You should not say it out for a while.”

Yao Juan had a bad premonition. He reluctantly asked, “Who did you marry?”

“He’s Gu Tai’s uncle, Gu Tingchuan.”

His heart dropped like a stone, and he couldn’t say half a word for a long time.

Yi Ran had some feelings in her heart. Just now, Yao Juan words made her a bit suspicious, but she was afraid of being arrogant. Now that he was so slow to respond, she felt that she wasn’t overthinking matters after all.

She could only blame Yao Juan for being slower to act. When she first came to Haben International School, she also had some thoughts on the handsome male teacher. However, after not getting any reactions from the other party and considering that they were getting along as friends, she also put down the thought.

Well, now that things might develop, it would go no further than this.

Yi Ran looked straight at him and said very generously, “So, I can’t just leave it alone.”

Yao Juan understood and furrowed his eyebrows into a frustrated line. After thinking for a while, he said: “How long...How long were you together? You got married so soon?”

“The time wasn’t very long, but everything has been normal so far.”

Yao Juan still had some traditional ideas about the marriage process. This, combined with his feelings for Yi Ran, caused his tone to be slightly heavy. “Why did you get married in such a hurry? Was it….Did your family have some difficulties?”

“Hey, don’t think too much. This is not a TV series with forced marriages and such hardships,” Yi Ran said very easily. “Why can’t I have a flash marriage with him? He looks so good. ”

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Yao Juan was completely stunned speechless her words.

Seeing his expression, Yi Ran smiled and laughed, “Just kidding. Of course, he is very handsome, but there are other reasons as well.”

Yao Juan smiled bitterly, his fingers subconsciously tightening into fists. “Mr. Gu has good looks and an outstanding family situation.”

Yi Ran’s expression turned serious, and her eyes looked passed him to the children taking physical education classes not far away. The sounds of the playground were endless.

She said, “The most important thing is that he gives people a sense of trust worth relying on.”

She understood in her heart that she was not normally someone who tend to act rashly. But, Gu Tingchuan had such a heart-warming charm.

What’s more, the words that he said to his parents that day only made her more determined that she had not chosen wrong. Gu Tingchuan was usually very cold to others, not only in the entertainment circle but also to the rest of the world. It was probably very difficult to find men like him...loyal to art and loyal to one’s heart.

Yi Ran licked her dry lips and thought of the weekend’s entanglement. Suddenly heat bloomed across her face. In fact, she had behaved very shamefully. Afterward, she went and took a shower.

As for Gu Tingchuan, after he did a lot of unspeakable things, she dared not think about whether the man was satisfied.

“Oh...” Yao Juan’s sigh pulled her out of the memory. The male teacher in front of her said with a smile, “A good flower is thus being kept in captivity.”

Yi Ran squinted slightly and agreed with a nod. But, she unexpectedly said, “I like your analogy, but that ‘good flower’ probably refers to my husband.”

......

The whistling autumn wind was gradually rising and the plants in the school were starting to show a withered color, unwittingly presenting layers upon layers of yellow with mottled hues.

In the cold air that was slowly blowing, Yi Ran wrapped the cardigan sweater tighter around herself. She was holding the lesson plan that had just been used in class, and the children who came and went when they saw her called “Good teacher.” She smiled and nodded. When she turned to the stairs, she heard a sharp female voice.

“Since you absolutely insist that I need to make a trip to the school, then go ahead and lay out this matter!”

Yi Ran was dumbfounded and looked across the distance at the other woman. She was unexpectedly younger that Yi Ran had imagined. On her head was a short curly perm dyed the color of linen. She was wearing a tight-fitting hip skirt and a blouse with low neckline. The way she was dressed made her appear as if she was only twenty years old.

In the end, Yi Ran wasn’t sure what to say, particularly since the woman’s eyebrows were furrowed so unhappily.

Yi Ran wasn’t sure if she was Hao Ziyue’s mother. After thinking about it, she turned to Yao Juan.

In the vacant conference room, the bright afternoon sun streamed through the four windows, the lighting making everything looked very lazy and relaxed.

But, obviously the indoor atmosphere was not as good.

The sun gently fell on Yi Ran’s head. She raised her eyes to look at Yao Juan, who sat next to her. Sitting opposite them was Hao Ziyue’s young mother, Zou Qiyun.

The moment the mother opened her mouth, she began to complain that they were not responsible for their work. She dismissively said, “Our family’s business is so big, but here you are wasting our time.”

Then, she turned her head and went after Yi Ran. “Were you the one who called me? What kind of teacher are you? Are you so in love with things that your clothes can’t even get a little dirty? So what, you must call the parents to complain?”

She was just too strong and incredible, making them momentarily speechless.

“Teacher Yi, do you only have that one piece of clothing? It’s not a problem to buy you a hundred pieces of this kind of clothes.”

Even though Yi Ran didn’t normally pay attention to brand names, she could safely guess that the bag in Zou Qiyun’s hand was worth thousands of dollars. Yi Ran lips slightly rose in a sneer. “Hao Ziyue did not get along with other students in the class. You know that a dispute happened.”

“Who? That Gu Tai? I already asked my family Yue Yue and he said he didn’t bully the child. If he said he didn’t, then he didn’t. Do you understand?”

The implications was that even if the answer was a “yes,” it would still be considered as a “no.”

Yao Juan was about to speak when the principal, Shi Xiang, suddenly broke into their conference room, his fat body slightly jiggling with his enthusiasm.

In the next second, Zou Qiyun’s face showed a happy sneer.

Yi Ran seriously suspected that the woman’s previous call was to Shi Xiang, just so the other party would rush over and intercept.

“How come Mrs. Hao is here? Welcome. The hospitality is a bit lacking. There is no coffee or snacks....”

“I’m here to give you all face. Principal Xiang, later you also need to give these teachers brain. Clearly, it’s their responsibility to watch over the children. Why bother us parents?”

Yi Ran thought this woman’s brain circuit was very strange, but when she wanted to refute, Yao Juan patted her hand. Even Shi Xiang looked at her with a warning expression.

It was the first time she saw such a terrible gaze from a teacher.

Looking at Zou Qiyun, Yao Juan quietly said, “This is not Hao Ziyue‘s first time. Before that, he had also harmed other students in the class. To be fair, this is truly something that we cannot put off. We have a responsibility to protect the safety of other children. Moreover, there are some contradictions between him and Gu Tai that he himself admits. I hope that parents can still care more about their children and don’t shirk their responsibility to the teacher.”

After listening to these words, Zou Qiyun was unsurprisingly indignant. It was a pity that though her facial features were good, they were layered over with heavy makeup. Her eyebrows drew angrily together and she retorted, “How do we not care about him? I gave him food to eat, let him come to school here, and now we’re in a transitional period. Once he’s in junior high school, we plan to send him abroad. I tell you that our family has earned money for my son’s next life. People like you can’t understand.”

Shi Xiang also glared at Yao Juan: “Well, Teacher Yao, since Hao Ziyue’s mother already knows this, then it’s ok, and that’s final. What misunderstandings? They’re only in the third grade of primary school. This is just a small fight so don’t go and enlarge the problem!”

Yao Yuan’s expression was quite calm. It seemed that he had long predicted this outcome. Usually, he was quite good-tempered, but Yi Ran was also aware that when he is faced with problems at work, he will be more stubborn than anyone else. When this happened, his aura will be completely different, and the whole person will become colder and colder.

The man lowered his face to look at the woman in front of him, and his expression was very focused as he said, “I’ll only say this. Ms. Zou, not only are you unqualified as a parent, as an adult, you also have personality defects. You’re not responsible for your child’s education, ddin’t care about him blindly using violence to solve all his problems, and, at the very least, don’t even want to sit down and think and talk about the problem. Aside from those things, there’s really nothing else to say. ”

After saying this, he turned to Yi Ran and said, “Let’s go out.”

Obviously, he felt that there was no need to offer any additional basic courtesy to this kind of person.

Zou Qiyun was stunned for a few seconds and then shouted: “Who do you think you are?! You dare to talk to me like this!! Come back here! Say it again! What kind of teacher are you? Ah? What nerve!!”

Yi Ran’s patience finally reached its limits. She didn’t want to see what the woman was doing. She didn’t want to care about the consequences after this. She will start with Zou Qiyun.

“Yao Juan, let me go! Don’t look down on teachers just because you’re a parent... Zou Qiyun, you...”

Yao Juan grabbed her wrist and forced her outside the meeting room.

After the two left, Shi Xiang hurriedly got up to comfort Zou Qiyun. Her angry complaints continued for a while and finally slowly faded.

Everything that had happened was like a raging tsunami that threatened to drown Yi Ran completely.

“Why didn’t you let me talk?! Teacher Yao, even if we can’t convince her, at least I have to show my position to that woman! She thought she had the power to bully us?!”

“I told you before that she will infuriate you. There is no good outcome from quarreling with her. She will only implicate you.” Yao Juan could clearly see that Yi Ran was angry, but he also understood that nothing could be solved in this dispute.

He frowned and tried to convince her. “Our job is to cultivate people. But even if we explain it, she won’t listen. She may not understand our position for a lifetime... This narrow-mindedness, I think, is probably the worst situation in the world.”

This was a reality that was both realistic and helpless.

Yi Ran regretted it too much. Why couldn’t she be more thoughtful earlier? Why not be brave? While she allowed Yao Juan to come forward to earn a little dignity for them, she did nothing. Just thinking of it made her feel ashamed.

She was entangled in her heart, and her mind kept returning to the scene over and over again. Zou Qiyun’s sharp voice, her words lingering in Yi Ran’s ears; it was all making her dizzy.

However, it was useless to regret it. In the end, she couldn’t do anything.

The evening sun fell over Yi Ran’s face, slowly illuminating her eyes, but it failed to illuminate her heart.

On the way home, she was absent-minded. When she returned to Gu Tingchuan’s apartment, she finally regained her senses and remembered – these pathetic self-blame and sadness, even if she went home, there was no one to talk to.

Moreover, she was still alone, and Mr. Gu was still in his studio.