Chapter 11 Adil stared back without any politeness...

The first lesson of the new semester.

Eight children, of varying heights, huddled around an adobe desk.

The oldest boy, Shi Tou, already had the physique of a teenager, while the youngest, Tie Dan and Xiao Ya, were only seven years old, sitting on the ground looking up at their teacher.

Adil sat on the far side with his arms crossed, occasionally rolling his eyes at Shu Ran, while his sister Ayman sat close to him, her big, dark eyes looking back and forth at Shu Ran.

Shu Ran picked up the red willow branch that she was using as a pointer and tapped it three times on the mud-brick platform.

The children's whispers were finally silenced. All eyes were on her, filled with excitement.

"Students," Shu Ran cleared her throat, trying to make her voice gentle and clear, "from today onwards, this is Qiming Elementary School. I am your teacher, Shu Ran. We will learn to recognize characters, do arithmetic, and sing together every day, okay?"

"Okay!" Stone responded loudly.

Chuncao and Xiaoya echoed in hushed tones.

Shuanzhu absentmindedly hummed in agreement, but his eyes were glancing towards the direction of his home outside the shed.

Tiger and Da Mao exchanged knowing glances.

Adil let out a nasal sound and quickly muttered something in his native language, which made Ayman secretly tug at his clothes.

Shu Ran took a deep breath and pointed to the four characters "Qiming Primary School," "This is the name of our school—Qiming Primary School! Qi means to open; Ming means light. It means that knowledge will be like the sun, illuminating the path ahead of us!"

Stone listened attentively, while Chuncao and Xiaoya strained their eyes. Ayman stared at the unfamiliar, square symbols, her little mouth slightly agape, filled with wonder.

Adil rolled his eyes, crossed his arms, and impatiently shuffled his toes on the ground.

Shu Ran moved the chalk next to the character "启" and drew a small sun. "Look, doesn't it look like the sun is rising?"

She then pointed to the character "明" (míng, meaning bright) and drew a crescent moon on its right side, saying, "At night, the moon comes out."

She finally pointed to the word "small" and drew a tiny stick figure below it.

“Qiming Primary School!” she read aloud again, tracing each word with her finger.

"Qiming Elementary School!" Stone immediately repeated, his voice loud and clear. Chuncao, Xiaoya, Huzi, and Damao also joined in.

"Great! That was excellent!" Shu Ran encouraged the children. "Now, each of us has our own name. Learning to write your own name is very important! You'll need it to get things and record work points later!" As she spoke, her gaze swept over the roster, "Stone!"

"Here!" Stone answered loudly, puffing out his chest.

"Come up here," Shu Ran beckoned, "the teacher will teach you how to write your name."

Stone immediately darted forward, a hint of pride in his eyes.

Shu Ran stuffed another, smaller piece of lime into his hand, held his hand, and wrote the word "stone" stroke by stroke in the empty space below the door panel.

"Shi, it's the 'Shi' in 'big rock.' Tou, it's the 'Tou' in 'head,'" Shu Ran explained.

Stone enthusiastically followed along, the lime lumps trembling violently in his hands, the characters he wrote were crooked and uneven, but he never tired of it.

"Spring Grass!" Shu Ran called out the next one.

Chuncao walked up timidly. Shuran held her little hand and wrote "Chuncao" on it, then drew a small blade of grass next to it. "The grass in spring is so green and beautiful."

"Mmm!" Chuncao looked at her name, smiled shyly, and nodded vigorously.

When it was Xiaoya's turn, Shuran drew a little girl with braids next to her name. Xiaoya exclaimed in surprise, reached out her little finger to touch the drawing, then quickly pulled it back, her face turning bright red, which made the children next to her laugh.

The classroom atmosphere gradually became lively. Even Shuanzhu, who had been absent-minded, was attracted and craned his neck to watch.

"Tiger!"

Tiger ran up excitedly.

"Big Mao!"

Da Mao went up too.

It was Tie Dan's turn. The little guy was only seven years old and didn't understand much. When Shu Ran held his hand to write his name, his attention was entirely on the shiny watch on Shu Ran's wrist, and the two characters "Tie Dan" he wrote were a mess.

"Alright, Tiedan is great too!" Shu Ran patted his head encouragingly.

Now, only Adil and Ayman remain.

The other children in the shed also turned their attention to them. Ayman nervously clutched the hem of her brother's clothes, while Adil pursed his lips, looking wary.

“Ayman,” Shu Ran smiled at the shy girl, speaking slowly and clearly, “Come on, let me teach you how to write your name.”

Ayman's eyes lit up, and she instinctively tried to move forward, but Adil grabbed her arm.

Adil frowned and spoke quickly and urgently to his sister in his native language, his voice carrying obvious displeasure and warning.

Ayman stopped in her tracks immediately, the light in her eyes dimmed, and she shook her head in fear.

Shu Ran's smile froze on her face. She took a deep breath, didn't insist, and turned her gaze to Adil, asking, "Adil? Would you like to try writing your name?"

Adil stared back at her without any politeness, raised his chin, and clearly uttered two words: "No—learn!"

The atmosphere inside the shed instantly became somewhat awkward.

Shi Tou glared at Adil with displeasure, while Hu Zi and Da Mao also pouted. Shu Ran smiled and said, "It's alright, it's fine if Adil wants to see. Let's continue."

She picked up the lime block again, faced all the children, and wrote a new word on the door panel: "hand".

"Look, what's this?" Shu Ran raised her left hand, fingers spread, and gestured next to the word "hand" on the blackboard. "Hand! Our hand!"

She traced the character again with great effort, "Read after me, hand—"

"Hands—!" the children repeated in unison.

"What can hands do?" Shu Ran prompted, demonstrating various actions, "They can pick things up, eat, write, and do chores..."

“We can herd sheep!” Stone exclaimed eagerly.

"We can gather firewood!" said Shuanzhu.

"I can help Mom hold my little brother!" Chuncao added softly.

"Yes! That's very well said!" Shu Ran nodded repeatedly, picked up a new piece of lime, and said, "Now, we not only need to recognize it, but we also need to learn how to draw it! Everyone take a small piece of lime and draw the character 'hand' on the mud brick in front of you, following what the teacher wrote! Just like drawing a picture, let's see who draws the most realistic one!"

She distributed the small pieces of lime she had collected.

The children immediately became excited, and they all lay down on the adobe bricks, sticking their bottoms out, and began to create with chunks of lime.

A cacophony of scraping sounds and whispers erupted inside the shed.

"Oops, mine's crooked!"

"Look at my drawing! Does it look like the real thing?"

"Tie Dan, don't steal my spot!"

Shu Ran stepped down from the podium and walked among the children, providing guidance.

"The horizontal stroke of the stone should be written flat..."

"Spring grass, stand upright..."

"Little girl, this stroke should be a little slanted, yes, like this..."

She walked over to Ayman. The little girl squatted on the ground, the gray mud brick in front of her still blank.

She held the small piece of lime that Shu Ran had given her, her eyes filled with confusion and helplessness, and looked up at Shu Ran in fear.

Shu Ran's heart softened. She squatted down, gently took Ayman's small hand, and guided her, moving stroke by stroke on the adobe bricks.

“This is horizontal…” Shu Ran said in simple Chinese, while gesturing, “Horizontal, flat.”

Ayman seemed to understand, but she could feel the warmth of her teacher's palm. Her tense body relaxed a little, and she obediently followed Shu Ran's movements.

“This is vertical… vertical, straight,” Shu Ran continued to guide.

A crooked "hand" character slowly appeared on the surface of the adobe brick.

Ayman looked at the words she had written herself, first in surprise, then with joy in her eyes.

She even forgot her brother's warning, stretched out her index finger and traced the white words, then looked up and gave Shu Ran a bright smile.

Shu Ran smiled and patted Ayiman's head.

Don't touch her!

Adil rushed over suddenly. He couldn't understand Shu Ran's words, nor could he understand the symbols. He only saw the Han Chinese teacher holding his younger sister's hand tightly, drawing inexplicable things on the dirty clods of dirt, and finally touching his sister's head!

He shoved Shu Ran away violently.

Shu Ran gasped and staggered backward, her back hitting the corner of the adobe platform. A dull pain shot through her back, making her vision go black.

Adil was still not satisfied, so he kicked the mud brick in front of Ayman that had just been inscribed with words.

"Clang!"

The adobe brick was kicked and slid backward, crashing into another adobe brick. The two desks collapsed with a crash, and shattered pieces of adobe and billowing dust filled the air.

Little Ya burst into tears in fright. Tie Dan was so frightened that he fell to the ground with a thud. Hu Zi and Da Mao jumped up in surprise. Shuan Zhu instinctively covered his head. Chun Cao's face turned deathly pale.

Stone glared angrily, stood up abruptly, and pointed at Adil: "What are you doing?!"

Adil showed no weakness, stiffening his neck and shouting angrily at the stone in a language Shu Ran couldn't understand, his fists clenched tightly, as if he was about to pounce on it and start a fight.

The small classroom was in complete chaos. Cries, shouts, incomprehensible curses, and the sound of clods of dirt rolling down the wall were all mixed together.

Ayman was stunned by the sudden turn of events. Looking at the collapsed desk and then at her furious brother, she pouted and burst into tears.

The air inside the shed was choking. Shu Ran clutched her aching lower back, her heart sinking as she looked at the out-of-control scene before her.

All the carefully prepared lesson plans and all the beautiful expectations were shattered at this moment.

"Don't move!" Shu Ran shouted with all her might, enduring the pain.

This shout finally brought the chaos to a temporary halt. The children stopped and looked at her, even Adil temporarily ceased yelling and stared at her warily.

"Shitou!" Shu Ran called out sternly, "Lead everyone, lift these adobe bricks up and move them to the wall! Be careful! Shuanzhu, you look after Xiaoya and Tiedan!"

Shi Tou paused for a moment, then immediately replied, "Yes!"

He called to Hu Zi and Da Mao: "Hu Zi, Da Mao, come with me!" The three older boys began to move the collapsed adobe bricks.

Shuanzhu quickly went to pull Xiaoya, who was sitting on the ground crying, and Tiedan, who was terrified.

Shu Ran quickly walked to Ayman, who was still sobbing, squatted down, took out a clean handkerchief, and gently wiped away the tears and dust from the little girl's face.

"Ayman, don't be afraid, it's alright now." Her voice was gentle, comforting Ayman.

Ayman's crying gradually subsided into soft sobs, her big eyes still brimming with tears, but as she looked into Shu Ran's gentle gaze, the fear in her eyes slowly faded.

Shu Ran then turned to Adil. The boy still had a fierce look in his eyes, and his chest heaved violently.

She stood up and calmly looked directly at him. She pointed to herself, then to Ayman, and finally to the character for "hand" on the door panel, and slowly said, word by word, in the simplest Chinese: "Teacher. Teach Ayman. To draw a hand. It's not bad. It's good." She tried her best to express goodwill.

Adil glared fiercely at Shu Ran, then abruptly turned his head away, no longer looking at Shu Ran or his sister, but staring intently at the outside of the shed.

The only sounds in the shed were the children's panting as they moved the mud bricks and their soft sobs.

Just then, a voice trembled with tears: "Teacher Shu... I... I want to go home..."

A note from the author:

----------------------

The descriptions of the cultural background of ethnic minorities in the border regions have been blurred for creative reasons. This is out of respect for cultural diversity and to avoid potential misunderstandings arising from dramatic treatment. This approach aims to reduce labeling and focus more on the cultural collisions and integration between individuals within a specific historical context, as well as the universal challenges of universal education. Thank you for your understanding. [Hugs]