Chapter 31: A Mentor as a Mirror? Li Tiegun Is a Funhouse Mirror!

"Are you going or not?"

He Chen ignored the ashen-faced and speechless Li Tiegun, continuing to press her. The parents wouldn't actually do anything to her—"voluntary" and "understanding" were just formalities—but Li Tiegun had to go face them. It would keep her from acting so high and mighty, always feeling she was so superior and so considerate of the students' parents. How could someone so incompetent and arrogant have the nerve to lecture and scold everyone else all day long?

"I'll go!" At the critical moment, the sycophant had to step up. Pan Shuai’s voice rang out from afar, and he was soon seen rushing over. "I will go in Teacher Li's place to explain things to the parents. After all, this isn't just her mistake; it is a failure of our entire Grade 12 faculty."

"..." The other Grade 12 teachers watching from the sidelines almost vomited in disgust. Since when was it a failure of the entire faculty? Were the two of you—one at the beginning of the chain and one at the end—just going to represent all of us? Besides, your "goddess" didn't give any of us a chance to speak or discuss anything. Never mind whether we dared to or not; whenever we brought something up, she would just play dumb or spout platitudes. And since your goddess was so bold that she dared to argue with the principal in public, we only dared to touch the surface—we never dared to say anything more.

These unspoken grievances made them feel incredibly stifled. They looked at He Chen with anticipation, shifting from viewing him as an unusually troublesome student to secretly hoping that he would continue to speak the harsh truths everyone longed to hear.

He Chen did not disappoint them. He retorted directly, "Teacher Pan, as a homeroom teacher for a basic-tier class, how can you represent everyone? You’d be better off saving your energy to think about how to appease the parents of those 'voluntarily understanding' students after the class streaming is finished! Is it appropriate for the Grade 12 head teacher to avoid showing her face in a matter like this? Are you just going to scramble for the benefits and honors, but the moment you cause a disaster and need to take responsibility, you shrink back? Looking at it that way, the birthday presents that Fang Yifan and his father gave previously were indeed quite calculating!"

At this, Li Tiegun’s face turned deathly pale. She gritted her teeth and said, "I will go! This is indeed my responsibility, and I have never shirked my duties!" With that, she strode away. It was just facing the parents to apologize; she wasn't afraid. It was embarrassing, but it was still better than standing here being mocked and grilled by a student in front of everyone else.

"He Chen, you!" The sycophant Pan Shuai was heartbroken, looking at He Chen with palpable hostility. How could anyone treat his goddess like that?

"Teacher Pan, what about me?" He Chen did not indulge him, directly firing back, "Was any part of what I said incorrect?"

"Regardless, Teacher Li is your teacher. Shouldn't you observe the most basic traditional etiquette of respecting your teachers?" Pan Shuai couldn't discuss the specific details, so he could only take the moral high ground.

"That depends on how you look at it!" He Chen refuted. "For teachers nowadays, teaching is mostly just a job; it has fundamentally detached from tradition. In ancient times, the 'Teacher' was ranked alongside 'Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, and Parents.' One was expected to respect and follow them, but those weren't just teachers—they were mentors, and students had inheritance rights just like children. Do we have that now? Even if we set aside the evolution of the teacher's identity, let's talk about the basic respect that teaching and nurturing should earn. 'Use a person as a mirror to straighten your attire.' A teacher is supposed to be a role model, a mirror for students to correct their conduct. But what if this mirror is a funhouse mirror? Wouldn't it just distort the students? How can they 'straighten their attire' then? 'Among three people walking, there must be a teacher for me.' A disciple is not necessarily inferior to the teacher, and the teacher is not necessarily wiser than the disciple. The traditions you uphold also support this behavior of using each other as mirrors. Now that the teacher has become a funhouse mirror, I don't mind acting as a mirror for her, letting her take a good look at her own actions. If she does something wrong, she should be reminded and corrected immediately, so she doesn't actually think of herself as a saint, wallowing in self-admiration while harming herself and others! You don't honestly think your goddess is perfect and never makes mistakes, do you? Or is it that a teacher must always be right, and if she's wrong, she shouldn't have to change, nor should she allow anyone to speak of it?"

"…I didn't mean that." Pan Shuai was left speechless, unable to fathom where He Chen came up with such rhetoric. At the same time, seeing his proud goddess being relentlessly grilled by someone like this only made his heart ache more.

"He Chen!" Huang Zhitao finally couldn't help but call out.

He Chen glanced at her, caught a glimpse of Fang Yifan’s face shifting through various colors as he struggled to keep his composure, and nodded at her with a smile, deciding not to pick on her cousin any further. That’s right—Pan Shuai was Huang Zhitao’s cousin, which was a major reason why her parents felt comfortable leaving her alone.

Seeing that He Chen had actually stopped his tirade just because she called out to him, Huang Zhitao felt a small surge of joy. But when she noticed her best friend Qiao Yingzi glancing at her with a strange look, she lowered her head in embarrassment to hide her expression.

However, this sight was already tearing Fang Yifan’s heart apart. First, He Chen had taken the opportunity to mock his embarrassing "filial piety" incident while grilling Li Tiegun, which had already left him feeling humiliated and miserable. Now, the interaction between his goddess and He Chen made him want to beat his chest and stomp his feet in frustration. Yet, he dared not say anything, fearing he might make things worse and push his goddess right into He Chen's arms. How many young couples had ended up together simply because public opinion linked them until they eventually grew closer? He, Fang Yifan, would not do something so stupid!

But! It was so infuriating!

Fang Yifan felt this way, and Ji Yangyang, who had been standing outside and was about to leave but stayed because of the commotion, was also looking sour. Huang Zhitao had always had an ambiguous relationship with him; as a top student and beauty, she had always shown him—a slacker—special favor, constantly asking after his well-being. Just a moment ago, she had asked how his exam went. To appear cool, he had, as usual, kept walking without stopping, brushing her off with a dismissive "I don't care," prioritizing his cold and aloof persona. He had always thought Huang Zhitao liked that about him.

But now, he suddenly felt a sense of impending doom. With someone like He Chen—who was slightly better-looking than him and even better at putting on a cool act—constantly hovering around Huang Zhitao, his status in her heart was in grave danger. He Chen was no pathetic sycophant like Fang Yifan! And although he didn't want to admit it, he knew clearly that the reason Huang Zhitao favored him was because their situations were similar: both were left home alone by their parents. They shared a common language. But now his parents were back, while hers were not. And the suddenly appearing He Chen was an orphan who had lost both parents. If this were a "pity contest" like in *Flirting Scholar*, he had already completely lost.