"Yaoyao, why are the teachers acting so strange today? They didn't explain the new lesson content, but just told us to read on our own, regardless of what we read. Don't we have a final exam? Also, usually after class, the teachers wait until we finish asking questions before leaving, but today they left right after class. And why didn't our Russian teacher, Mr. Wang, come to class today? He has two classes today."

"Xuemei, keep your voice down. After school, find a quiet place and I'll tell you. Shh..."

"Xuemei, shall we go to the grove?"

"What are you looking at, Yaoyao."

"I'm checking to see if anyone is nearby. No one is safe. I'm telling you, I've been feeling suffocated for the past few days. My parents won't let me go out and talk nonsense, fearing that I might say something wrong and be overheard by someone with ulterior motives."

"What's wrong? What happened recently? I came to the county today and found that there are many more Red Guards. Some of them even asked me about the contents of the Little Red Book."

"You don't know, a lot of things happened during this autumn harvest. Several families in our Hongqi compound were arrested, and several teachers in our school were reported. Our Russian teacher, Teacher Wang, was also reported. Now the teachers in the school are afraid of us students, afraid that one of them will report them if they are not careful."

"Teacher Wang is usually very kind. Why would someone target him? Teacher Wang is very kind to every student in our class and often gives extra lessons to those who are struggling."

"But the person who reported him was Yang Xiaodong, the person Teacher Wang usually helps the most."

"How can he be so heartless? What a bastard! I've seen him without food coupons several times, and it was always Teacher Wang who invited him to dinner."

"If he had any conscience, he wouldn't have reported Teacher Wang. He's just a small soldier now, so arrogant. Do you know why he reported Teacher Wang? He said Teacher Wang knows English and must be colluding with foreign capitalists. He also said that Teacher Wang's dinner invitations were slowly corrupting his thinking."

"He's such a piece of shit. I didn't expect him to be such a rotten hearted guy."

"Xuemei, keep your voice down."

"Okay, Yaoyao." Xuemei looked up and saw that there was no one around, then she felt relieved.

"Yaoyao, how is Teacher Wang now?"

"Teacher Wang's wife divorced him a few days ago, and also disowned his two younger children. However, his eldest son refused to sever ties with him and may have to accompany Teacher Wang to the lower levels of the countryside."

"Then where were Teacher Wang and the others sent to? Do you know?"

"I heard they're going to parade through the streets tomorrow at noon, and then they're going to the rural areas of the northwest to carry out reforms."

Xuemei thought for a while before speaking to Yaoyao.

"Yaoyao, can you help me a little?"

"What is it? Tell me."

"Go home later and find some really worn-out cotton-padded clothes. The more worn-out the better. Then bring them to me secretly tomorrow morning."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to see Teacher Wang tomorrow."

"Aren't you afraid, Xuemei?"

"I'll pay attention, don't worry."

After Xuemei talked to Yaoyao, she went to the school cafeteria to get food.

"Auntie, is there anything else now?"

"Classmate, now we only have coarse grain steamed bread and corn cakes."

"Auntie, how much is left? Several of our classmates haven't eaten yet. If no one else has eaten, I'll take it all."

"It's so late, there should be no one here."

"There's also a pound of corn cakes and a pound of whole grain steamed bread."

"Then I'll take them all. We might not even be full. Auntie, could you please help me fill this cloth bag?"

"Okay, classmate, the total is 17 cents. Xuemei took the things and went to the principal's office to ask for leave, saying she wanted to watch the parade tomorrow. The principal didn't dare to stop her and immediately approved it."

The next day, Xuemei secretly took the things Yaoyao brought and ran into the woods.

"Yaoyao, why are you following me? Aren't you going to class?"

"There are no classes now. It doesn't matter whether I go or not."

"Then why don't you take a leave?"

"No need. There's no need to ask for leave now. My mother told me to help you if I can. My parents used to know Teacher Wang, but now they can't and don't dare to help."

"Okay then, keep an eye on me and alert me if anyone comes."

Xuemei opened the package and took out the cotton-padded jacket to have a look. The cotton inside was still quite new, and there were some holes on it that seemed to have been torn not long ago.

"Yaoyao, these two cotton coats are quite new."

"One was worn by my brother three years ago, and the other was my dad's, and he hasn't worn it for many years."

"Okay, I'll take care of it, and you keep watch for me."

"Xuemei pretended to take out thirty yuan from her schoolbag. Inside was a large black ten-yuan note, two five-yuan notes, five one-yuan notes, seven fifty-cent notes, six twenty-cent notes, and six five-cent notes. She folded one of the notes around her waist and hid it in the cotton padding inside her cotton-padded jacket."

"Xuemei, my mother also gave me two big black notes. You can put them in there too."

After Xuemei folded Yaoyao's money, she took out some fever-reducing pills, wrapped them one by one in oil paper, and hid them in cotton wool. After hiding everything, Xuemei smeared the cotton wool with dirt.

"Xuemei, what are you doing? Why did you get your clothes so dirty?"

"If we don't get it a little dirty, will the Revolutionary Committee let Teacher Wang and the others take them away?"

After Xuemei had fixed the cotton inside, she sewed up the torn hole with needle and thread. She found it was so good that she sewed it again. Seeing that the two coats were covered with centipedes and earthworms, Xuemei stopped and sprinkled mud on the outside of the coats.

"Yaoyao, don't you think it's not dirty enough? If someone threw away clothes like this, they would still be suspicious, right?"

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