I trailed behind Mistress Extinction with my head hung low. Mistress Extinction wasn't short, about 5 feet 5 inches tall, but compared to my 6-foot frame, the height difference was huge.
Following her, from a distance, I probably looked like her personal bodyguard. But in reality, she constantly yelled at me, forcing me to keep my head down.
I followed the Old Witch down the corridor. I looked around, and I was the only student out here. That made sense. This was, after all, a top class in a key high school, and the students who made it in were all exceptionally bright. "Oddities" like me were in the minority.
Teachers usually liked to scold students in front of the whole class to achieve a "kill-the-chicken-to-scare-the-monkeys" effect. But it was morning reading time, and there was no way the teacher would spoil the soup for a single "rotten mouse," so she pulled me out alone.
I was preoccupied with my own thoughts, but the Old Witch suddenly stopped in front of me. As they say, the greater the mass, the greater the inertia. My weight almost prevented me from stopping. Although I quickly adjusted and managed to stop just before colliding with her, my upper body lurched forward, and my face nearly touched the Old Nun's face. At such close range, we were suddenly staring wide-eyed at each other. At this distance, I could feel her warm breath puffing on my face. A faint scent of cosmetics drifted to me, carrying the fragrance of a mature woman, giving me a ticklish feeling, not just on my face, but also a strange sensation welling up in my heart.
But I instantly realized the distance was too close, too intimate, so I quickly lowered my head, trying to step back. Due to the height difference, I couldn't help but glance downward, and my body froze, nearly forgetting to move. A large expanse of white cleavage filled my vision. The fabric of her top seemed almost translucent, revealing a significant portion of her full bust, which looked even rounder and more voluminous under the restraint of the black material.
Black and white intertwined into a seductive image that instantly assaulted my mind. My breathing became erratic. I realized this was the first time I had seen a woman's chest up close. And this stern Old Witch was wearing such a daring outfit, briefly overturning my worldview. The two stimulating words, "huge contrast," instantly surged into my mind.
Though I thought a lot, all of this happened in a very short time. Mistress Extinction had made too deep and unpleasant an impression on me, so I quickly snapped back to reality, instinctively taking steps backward. A blush crept onto my face, and I stumbled back several steps, as if I couldn't stand steadily, until I hit the wall and finally stopped.
"What is wrong with you?"
Mistress Extinction didn't seem to notice that I had seen her cleavage, but my series of flustered movements instantly ignited her anger. I saw her eyebrows furrow tightly, and the eyes behind the black-rimmed glasses looked at me with slight fury.
I took two breaths, feeling like my vision was still filled with those white, round shapes from a moment ago. Looking at the ground, I saw the white, round outlines there, too. The fleeting glance had made a profound impression, lingering on my retina for too long. I rubbed my eyes hard, and when I opened them again, everything was back to normal.
I finally looked back at Bai Manwen (Mistress Extinction), gently shook my head, and said, "Nothing."
The Old Nun's attire was unchanged. I'd never seen her wear casual clothes. She felt like a formula in a math textbook: solemn, impersonal, and the standard for her profession.
She wore those thick black-rimmed glasses and a light-black business suit skirt. I didn't know how this woman, as a homeroom teacher, managed to keep her hair so dark and thick. She had it pulled back and twisted into a bun. I had to admit, on closer inspection, the Old Witch was quite good-looking: a straight nose, a delicate face with light makeup, and a bright red mouth. Paired with the black-rimmed glasses, she had a certain intellectual beauty.
Below, she wore black sheer pantyhose and black high heels. The skirt revealed her somewhat full thighs and two segments of long, delicate calves. She was dressed all in black, her typical attire. We used to secretly joke that she was "all in black, an old perv," but we didn't care whether that described a man or a woman; we were just having fun.
She wore black high heels. The tip exposed the plump, pink arch of her foot, and the heels added to her height, making her stand like a compass on the floor. The area around her stiletto heel was her sphere of influence, her rule. She appeared extremely shrewd, capable, and aggressively domineering, radiating the aura of a manager. Her figure was well-proportioned, but the most eye-catching feature was that pair of full, towering breasts, high and upright, quite substantial. That fleeting glance moments ago gave me a solid understanding of Mistress Extinction's chest size. It was a shame such beautiful breasts belonged to this Old Witch with her rigid, oval-shaped face and perpetually stern expression, as if everyone owed her a fortune.
Her fair nose bridge was quite prominent, which meant the glasses suited her well, providing a good rest for them. But to me, and indeed to the entire class, this fierce Old Witch was a nightmare.
The morning light hadn't fully broken, and the ceiling light in the corridor emitted a soft white glow. Several flying insects circled it, and the light cover was dotted with small black spots—the bodies of dead insects. The remaining insects circling promised more to come soon.
The light from above diffused, shining on Bai Manwen, making her profile and lips slightly reflective. She seemed to have applied lip gloss, making her lips look fuller and redder, somewhat tempting for a moment. But nothing good ever came out of that mouth; only a torrent of deeply hurtful words.
"You took a week off. Did you leave your brain at home too? Don't you know when morning reading starts?" Mistress Extinction crossed her arms and scolded me. "Did you just gain weight during all those days at home? Or did it just reduce your brain capacity?"
Sure enough, the Old Witch was starting up again.
I could only stand there, head bowed, obediently facing the shorter Mistress Extinction. I forced a smile, not daring to argue at all, because opposing her usually led to nothing good. I didn't want my parents to be called in, because I didn't want to see my mother again in that humiliating context. Although I was constantly embarrassing myself, I couldn't let my mother lose face, which is why I rarely talked back.
Go ahead and yell. I was used to it. It wasn't like I was losing anything. If I could shed a few pounds of fat, I'd be happy to listen.
I stood meekly in front of the Old Witch, looking like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, waiting for the Old Witch's attack.
Predictably, my attitude quickly fueled her anger. A barrage of words was hurled at me. I selectively tuned out what she was saying, instead looking up at her constantly opening and closing full lips. I wondered, What else can this little mouth do besides scolding people?
This ten-minute torrent of accusations finally slowed to a stop. Honestly, I admired her ability to speak so much without pausing for breath or thought. Was this a professional requirement?
"There's a parent-teacher conference this semester. I want your parent to attend. I need to have a serious talk with her." Although I had my automatic filtering function on, this sentence instantly registered. I froze, my nonchalant attitude gone.
"She's very busy; she won't come," I said softly, my voice unconsciously tinged with loss. She hadn't come during my freshman year. Although she kept explaining that her work was busy, when I saw her and my sister return home together, I was stunned. I felt a sense of loneliness I had never felt before. I didn't follow her to question her but found a place to cry hard.
Since then, it seemed my communication with her had become less and less.
"If she doesn't come, then you can get out and move to the regular class!" My remark infuriated Bai Manwen, and her voice rose several pitches.
I flinched at her sudden loud voice. My lips moved, but in the end, I said nothing.
"I truly don't know how you got into my class. Do you know that because of your score alone, everyone else in the class has to give up at least one or two points to compensate for you? You alone are dragging down the average score of our entire class!"
Her words were sharper than ever, and her voice was loud. I even felt the reading volume inside the classroom drop. They heard it. At that moment, I felt an unprecedented humiliation. I especially hated being stared at by so many people, especially when their eyes weren't friendly.
In this oppressive atmosphere, I felt something welling up inside me, traveling along my veins to my tear ducts, ready to burst out. I quickly took several deep breaths, finally suppressing the surging emotion, but my vision remained blurry.
Having said all that, Bai Manwen seemed to realize her remarks had been a bit excessive. She took a deep breath, looked again at the tall but timid figure, and the anger in her heart nearly flared up again. She wanted to say more, but the noise inside the classroom had quieted down, so she just said in a low voice: "Go back inside."