teaching

On the first morning after deciding to substitute teach at the elementary school, Lin Xueyin, for once, didn't sleep in. She rose at the crack of dawn. Facing the small mirror in her dorm room, she carefully combed her two braids, changed into her most stylish blue Lenin suit, and pinned a small silver butterfly brooch to her collar—a gift from her mother on her sixteenth birthday.

After packing up, she took a deep breath and opened the dormitory door.

The morning mist had not yet completely dissipated, and the air was filled with a refreshing coolness and the fragrance of grass and trees. However, just after leaving the educated youth site, at the corner of the dirt road leading to the village primary school, I saw a familiar tall figure.

Song Zhiyuan stood there, seemingly having been waiting for a moment, his shoulders slightly damp with dew. He saw Lin Xueyin, his gaze lingering for a moment on her meticulously dressed face and the delicate brooch. A subtle flash of surprise crossed his eyes, but he quickly regained his usual composure.

"Comrade Song?" Lin Xueyin was a little surprised. "You...why are you here?"

"On the way." Song Zhiyuan said briefly, turning around and walking side by side with her. "I'm familiar with the elementary school. I'll take you there."

His reasoning sounded reasonable, but Lin Xueyin had a vague feeling that he seemed to be waiting for her here on purpose. This realization made her heart flutter slightly, a ripple appearing, but that was all. She smiled politely, "Thank you for your help, Comrade Song."

The two walked in silence for a while. Song Zhiyuan observed the girl beside him from the corner of his eye. She looked in good spirits today. Her eyes no longer held the fear and resistance to work she had shown in the past few days. Instead, they held a hint of eager anticipation. This reassured him slightly, but at the same time, a deeper unease swirled within him.

He could sense that Lin Xueyin didn't dislike him, and even felt somewhat reliant on his help. But the look in her eyes when she looked at him was filled with gratitude and shyness, but lacked the fiery passion he longed for.

She was like a delicate flower in need of shelter, temporarily resting in the shade of the tree he had propped up, but not digging her roots into the soil that belonged to him. This realization made Song Zhiyuan's heart sink slightly.

"The kids might be a little naughty," he said, breaking the silence and trying to find some conversation. "Don't be too nervous."

"Yeah, I know." Lin Xueyin nodded, but she didn't really take it seriously. Could he still be naughty and cause such a big mess?

Hongqi Commune Primary School, located at the eastern end of the village, consisted of a few shabby tiled houses surrounding a small dirt playground. At that moment, the playground was already packed with about two dozen children of varying ages, ranging from six or seven to twelve or thirteen, noisily chasing and playing around.

When they saw Song Zhiyuan walking towards them with a sister they had never seen before, who was as beautiful as a New Year picture doll, they stopped playing curiously and stared with wide eyes.

"This is the new teacher, Teacher Lin." Song Zhiyuan introduced to the children. His voice was not loud, but he had an aura that calmed the children down.

The children looked at Lin Xueyin timidly, and no one dared to speak first.

Lin Xueyin looked at the tanned, curious, and naive little faces below. Her mindset, which had originally viewed teaching as an easy job, suddenly underwent a subtle shift. She cleared her throat and tried to sound gentle and approachable. "Hello, students. My name is Lin. I'll be teaching you until Teacher Zhang returns."

She walked into the only room that served as a classroom. Inside, there were crooked old tables and chairs, and the blackboard was made of a wooden board painted with ink. The conditions were even more rudimentary than she had imagined.

The first class was Chinese. After reading the text verbatim for a while, Lin Xueyin noticed the children's blank eyes, clearly not taking much in. She paused, thought for a moment, and closed the textbook.

"Classmates, let's not read from the textbook today," she said with a smile. "Let's talk about what you like most about the village? Or, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

The children were stunned. Their teacher had never asked them such a question before. The class was completely silent.

After a while, a braver boy timidly raised his hand and said, "Teacher Lin, I like the river behind the village. I can go fishing there in the summer!"

"I like the wild fruits on the mountain, they are sweet!" another girl whispered.

"I...I want to drive a tractor like my uncle!" shouted a little boy with a runny nose.

The classroom atmosphere suddenly became lively. The children chatted incessantly, vying to express their ideas. Lin Xueyin listened patiently, nodding and smiling from time to time, encouraging them to continue.

She found that although these children lacked knowledge, they had rich natural experiences and simple dreams. She did not act like a condescending teacher, but acted like a guide, respecting every one of their young ideas.

She wrote down the words the children mentioned, such as "small river," "wild fruit," and "tractor," on the blackboard and taught them how to read and form sentences. Thus, knowledge naturally became part of their familiar lives.

After the class, the children's eyes sparkled, and they looked at Lin Xueyin with curiosity and admiration. This teacher Lin was different from all the teachers they had seen before! She didn't scold them or hit them with a ruler. She was pretty, had a pleasant voice, and would even listen to their "useless" nonsense with a smile!

Song Zhiyuan stood outside the classroom window, watching silently. He watched Lin Xueyin's initial confusion transform into her deft guidance of the class, the gentle smile that naturally appeared on her face as she interacted with the children, and the children's shyness, lively demeanor, and apparent fondness for her.

An indescribable feeling welled up in his heart, a mixture of relief, admiration, and a deeper infatuation. She was far more suitable for this position than he had imagined, and far more charming than he had imagined.

Over the next few days, Lin Xueyin gradually figured out some of the tricks. She told the children stories, taught them simple songs, and even used her break time to teach the girls how to cut simple paper-cuts out of old newspapers. The commune primary school seemed to be infused with a breath of fresh energy, and even the sound of reading aloud was much louder than before.

Changes are happening quietly.

The villagers were the first to feel the impact. Instead of playing around in the mud, their children would return home and chirp, "Teacher Lin told me the story of Sun Wukong today," "Teacher Lin praised my handwriting," and "Teacher Lin's songs are so beautiful." They would even take the initiative to perform the words and songs Teacher Lin had taught them for their families.

"Hey, you know what, even though Teacher Lin looks delicate, she's actually quite knowledgeable!"

"My child loves going to school now more than before, and even reads books when he comes home!"

"After all, she's a city girl. She knows a lot and has good ideas."

The villagers, who had initially been critical of Lin Xueyin's "young lady" ways, were slowly changing their attitudes. They might still have thought she couldn't handle farm work, but when it came to teaching and educating people, they saw her value and began to recognize and respect her. Even Zhao Jianguo's expression softened considerably when he met Lin Xueyin.

However, some are happy while others are sad.

Zhao Xiaofeng watched the children surrounding Lin Xueyin and listened to the villagers praising her. Especially when she noticed that Song Zhiyuan's gazes on Lin Xueyin were getting more and more frequent and lasting longer and longer, the jealousy in her heart spread like wildfire, almost burning out her sanity.

She had hoped that Lin Xueyin would make a fool of herself in the dredging work, but unexpectedly she managed to dodge it; she had hoped that Lin Xueyin would not be a good teacher, be disliked by the children, and be replaced by the team, but unexpectedly she would do so well and win the hearts of the people!

"A delicate bourgeois lady is qualified to be a teacher? Who knows what tricks she used to bewitch the children!" Zhao Xiaofeng was throwing things around at home and complaining to her mother, "And Brother Song must have been deceived by her face!"

Jealousy slowly swelled and fermented in the dark corners, brewing an atmosphere of unease. Zhao Xiaofeng stared at the elementary school with an increasingly gloomy look. She couldn't bear to see Lin Xueyin continue to be so proud, and she couldn't let her snatch Song Zhiyuan away from her!

Lin Xueyin was not unaware of this, but she was now immersed in a new and subtle sense of accomplishment.

She discovered that standing on the podium, looking at the eager faces below, and feeling their love and trust, was more fulfilling and joyful than eating braised pork or buying a new brand of vanishing cream. This small podium seemed to have opened up an unexpected corner for her in this unfamiliar land, a place where she could breathe and even flourish.