The Delicate Darling with Her Rough Man

”Teacher Hu, Teacher Gu has also been busy with substitute teaching lately. You need to deal with your own problems. Even though she’s an assistant, that’s no excuse to push your work onto her.”

Without waiting for Hu Xiuqiao to explain, the principal reprimanded her.

He had heard everything from outside. The morning’s test papers weren’t given to Gu Jiaojiao until that evening.

This clearly wasn’t the first time.

In those days, teachers graded test papers and homework whenever they could find a spare moment. Morning tests were graded during the lunch break. Afternoon tests had to be taken home or graded by coming to school early the next day.

There wasn’t much downtime. Every teacher was very responsible, with a heavy workload they had to handle themselves.

But Hu Xiuqiao had been dumping all her papers on Gu Jiaojiao. Never mind that Gu Jiaojiao was also helping out by substitute teaching; even if she had nothing else to do, she shouldn’t have been doing Hu Xiuqiao’s job for her.

The other teachers walked in behind him, and upon seeing the scene, not a single one of them spoke up for Hu Xiuqiao.

They had often seen Hu Xiuqiao hand work to Gu Jiaojiao right as the day was ending, while she herself spent her lunch breaks and the time between classes knitting.

Hu Xiuqiao’s lips trembled with anger. She had intended to set a trap for Gu Jiaojiao, but she never expected to be the one who fell into it.

At this point, explaining was useless.

Fortunately, Hu Xiuqiao knew when to yield. She immediately began to apologize.

”Principal, Teacher Gu, I’m sorry. As a teacher, I failed to do my job properly. I was wrong.”

The principal didn’t make things difficult for Hu Xiuqiao.

Aside from this incident, Hu Xiuqiao’s work had always been quite good.

Hu Xiuqiao pursed her lips and glanced at everyone.

She had deliberately chosen a time to find Gu Jiaojiao when no one else was around. She couldn’t understand how all these teachers had suddenly returned, or why the principal had come with them.

Since no one else was leaving, Hu Xiuqiao felt too embarrassed to leave either.

Soon, she understood why. The lumber had arrived.

All the male teachers at the school went out to help. It was heavy manual labor, so there wasn’t much Gu Jiaojiao could do. Instead, she helped by boiling two kettles of hot water.

Hu Xiuqiao pursed her lips, then finally gathered her things and left.

She couldn’t help anyway. Besides, she was just a teacher; making desks wasn’t her job, and she had no intention of getting involved.

After Hu Xiuqiao left, Gu Jiaojiao saw it was about time and went to the adjacent elementary school to pick up Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang.

She had the two children do their homework in the office. By the time they finished, Leng Yuan and the others were also done with their work, so the group headed home.

It was nearly April, and with spring half over, the days were getting longer.

In the winter, it would have been nearly dark by the time they got home. But today, even after working for an extra hour at the school, the sun was just beginning to set.

The four of them walked along the mountain path. A gentle evening breeze blew as they chatted and laughed, making their way home in the sun’s lingering glow.

By now, the crops in the fields had sprouted, casting a lush green hue over everything. Wild vegetables were also beginning to grow on the mountainside.

As they walked, they saw people on the mountainside, gathering leafy greens to take home and chop up for their chickens.

They watched the four people walk by, and couldn’t help but feel envious.

”The life that Leng Yuan and Gu Zhiqing have is just impeccable. It’s an idyllic life. Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang are so lucky to have been adopted by them.”

Their life seemed so comfortable to her.

But then again, they were capable people!

”Good for what? If you ask me, they’re just young and don’t know how to save. Taking in two money pits and even sending them to school... They must have more money than they know what to do with.”