In the second year of high school, we got a new homeroom teacher, who was said to be very strict, unlike the more lenient homeroom teacher we had in the first year. During the first class meeting, the homeroom teacher said that everyone could voice their suggestions. At that time, I was quite honest, so I wrote down my thoughts as they were and even criticized certain issues. In the afternoon, I was called out by the homeroom teacher and was lectured for four to five hours in a temporary office at the end of the hallway. Throughout the process, I was not allowed to voice any objections and could only keep admitting my mistakes.

Later, our class lost a competition against other classes due to improper venue arrangements. The homeroom teacher, who had not yet arrived, told us during the summary meeting that we could not blame external conditions for this incident. Although there were some issues with the venue, we should understand that the internal causes are fundamental, and we should look for reasons within ourselves.

Those classmates who had originally complained about external factors suddenly fell silent. They knew that if they brought it up at that moment, it would definitely provoke the homeroom teacher's wrath, and they would really be in trouble.

If these two incidents are not enough to illustrate the homeroom teacher's concern for face, then another incident fully demonstrates his issue with face. I remember that the homeroom teacher wrongly accused a certain student based on hearsay. During a themed class meeting, the homeroom teacher cheerfully said, "Even though I wronged you, this is something I only found out later. As the homeroom teacher, and you as a student, I can't possibly apologize to a student, can I?"

The homeroom teacher's statement surprised me greatly. I believed that the homeroom teacher should lead by example and apologize if he had indeed wronged a student. However, in the homeroom teacher's view, this was absolutely impossible. Perhaps in that era, becoming a teacher or a homeroom teacher was through non-standard channels. If it were like today, where teaching qualifications require strict examinations, such a simple principle should be understood.

Through these incidents, although the homeroom teacher cared about face, we should consider him a relatively strict person, right? He would not give anyone a chance to continue making mistakes and would act decisively, right? But that was not the case.

At that time, a few students who catered to the homeroom teacher were appointed as class leaders, such as being appointed as class monitor or study committee member. However, one incident was quite shocking. One evening during self-study, the class monitor left the classroom first and then called the study committee member out. At that time, it was not completely dark yet, and the hallway lights were still on. The class monitor began to touch the female student, and eventually, the two started hugging and kissing.

Unfortunately, right across from the teaching building was the staff dormitory, and many teachers saw this scene and criticized it, saying that students from that class actually did such an indecent thing? Of course, the homeroom teacher also saw this scene and felt extremely embarrassed and very angry. He rushed over and criticized them outside the classroom, which finally made them return to the classroom.

However, the homeroom teacher did not spare them any leniency but went straight to the podium, called out their names, and gave them a severe reprimand. But afterwards, the homeroom teacher did not replace the class monitor or the study committee member, after all, these were his chosen people. If he replaced them, wouldn't that be slapping his own face? He probably thought that way at the time.

Of course, although the homeroom teacher cared about face and had some biased perceptions, he genuinely cared about the students. Before the college entrance examination, I had surgery at a traditional Chinese medicine hospital, mainly because I had a benign tumor behind my ear, which greatly affected my social interactions and made me very sad. Later, after my grandmother and father sold some grain, they decided to take me to the hospital for this surgery.

The surgery used anesthesia, but I could still feel pain and probably lost quite a bit of blood. After the surgery, I did not stay in the hospital and immediately went back to school. However, due to blood loss and lack of nutrition, I often found it hard to wake up after sleeping. I remember during the noon break, when I woke up again, it was already evening. However, the homeroom teacher did not blame me for missing class due to this situation, which made me feel somewhat comforted. But the substitute teacher, especially the English teacher, was not forgiving, which made me increasingly dislike English. I even refused to attend his class, and once, for some reason, I left midway through.

At that time, the school required students to get up early and gather for morning exercises. I remember getting up at dawn, but because I was sleeping too deeply, I had a serious urge to urinate. After finally making it to the bathroom, while I was urinating, I suddenly felt my vision darken, and I seemed to see two green orbs of light. When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on the bathroom floor. I didn't even know how I fell; only the classmates nearby told me that I suddenly collapsed to the ground.

When the homeroom teacher found out, he immediately ran to the dormitory to check on me and kindly asked how I was doing, which warmed my heart. Later, the homeroom teacher also visited my home once, learned about my family situation, and became less strict with me.

At that time, there was a snack street outside the school, and the homeroom teacher's wife ran a small restaurant. I happened to go there to eat, but the teacher's wife did not charge me for my meal when she saw my situation, and the homeroom teacher did not mind such things. So in this sense, both the homeroom teacher and his family were very kind people.

We may have had differences in management and in how to handle teacher-student conflicts, but in terms of caring for and protecting students, the homeroom teacher did quite well.

Due to my illness, I missed half a year of classes, which affected my learning progress. The homeroom teacher even thought about keeping my student status and having me repeat a year, which would be better for the college entrance examination. However, I knew my family's situation; even if I got into college, I wouldn't have the means to attend, so I declined the homeroom teacher's good intentions and decided to participate in the college entrance examination normally.

On the eve of the college entrance examination, students had not had good rest for a long time and hoped to get enough rest before the exam to participate with full energy. However, the academic affairs director had a different view; he believed that maintaining regular habits was more important, so he required all students participating in the college entrance examination to continue the usual early morning exercises.

At that time, the homeroom teachers wanted to ensure that students had a good sleep, so they conducted dormitory checks before 11:30 PM. At that time, every dormitory was indeed very quiet. However, after the lights were turned off and everyone left, the dormitory became chaotic, at least in my dormitory. A few people kept talking until three in the morning, which made it impossible for me to fall asleep. In the end, it was only after my unbearable accusations that they finally quieted down. However, I still had to face the fact of getting up at 6:30 AM for assembly. I remember at that time I got up with my eyes closed, ran exercises with my eyes closed, and then had a few bites of breakfast before having to board the bus to the second high school examination site. I remember it was very hot that day, and the whole process was a blur, severely affecting my performance in the exam.

Of course, this incident also highlighted the subjectivism of the school's academic affairs director, who made decisions based on his own assumptions, leading to some negative events.