After taking the keys and helping Professor Deng put on his coat and one shoe, Xia Baozhu wrapped a silk scarf around her neck, put on gloves, and carried Professor Deng out the door.

Seeing Xia Baozhu's completely covered-up attire, Professor Deng was surprised but did not ask any further questions.

"Professor Deng, it's been several days. Why are you out? How are your legs?"

On the way, they ran into some of Professor Deng's acquaintances, and Xia Baozhu stopped her wheelchair so they could chat.

"I feel much better. I wanted to go out for a walk today."

"You really should go out for a stroll, but be careful of your legs, don't hurt them. And who is this?" the acquaintance asked, looking at Xia Baozhu.

“These are relatives from my hometown. They came to take care of me after hearing that I had injured my leg.”

Professor Deng didn't say that Xia Baozhu was her family's nanny, but instead introduced her to others as a relative of hers, which made Xia Baozhu feel a warm current flowing through her heart.

She came here and met the disgusting Leng family, the rampant thieves and robbers, as well as the warm-hearted Aunt Song and the considerate Professor Deng.

It made her floating soul feel much better.

"Xia, this is Professor Wang. You can just call her Aunt Wang."

"Hello, Aunt Wang."

"Not bad, you're a filial child." Although he was curious about why Xia was wearing a headscarf, Professor Wang wasn't one to pry into other people's business.

In many places, people basically cover their heads when working, and some ethnic minorities also do so. If she asks, it seems a bit strange.

Professor Deng and Professor Wang chatted for a few minutes before parting ways, and Xia Baozhu pushed her wheelchair onto the willow-lined path.

Beside it was a small, emerald-green lake, where the lotus flowers had already withered, and the remaining lotus pods were slowly turning black. Some students sat on the blue stones by the lake, quietly memorizing vocabulary words from their books.

Upon hearing the student's pronunciation, Professor Deng asked Xia Baozhu to stop and helped the student correct the mispronunciation.

Amidst the grateful gazes of the students, Professor Deng once again felt as if he were standing on a lecture platform.

"Professor, what dialect do you mean by 'allowance' and 'analogous'?"

It's normal for Xia Zhaodi, who had never been exposed to English before, to ask such a question out of curiosity.

Professor Deng turned around in surprise to look at Xia Baozhu, and she said,

"Xia, you have a great memory. I just said it a few times and you remembered the pronunciation. These are English words. I think you have a talent for languages. Would you like to learn English? I can teach you."

"Can I learn it?" Xia Baozhu feigned surprise and delight, but her joy quickly faded. "But I can't afford the tuition, and I don't have the time."

"I'll say two words first. If you can repeat them, I'll increase it to three, and so on. If you can memorize ten at once, I'll teach you for free."

Professor Deng did not immediately agree to teach for free; she wanted to test whether Xia Baozhu was worth her dedicated teaching.

"operate, machine."

“operate, machine,” Xia Baozhu repeated without pausing.

Then they kept increasing the number to ten. Except for the tenth one, which Xia Baozhu deliberately mumbled, the other pronunciations were as standard as Professor Deng's.

Professor Deng clapped his hands excitedly. What a promising talent! Xia Xia was held back by her background. If she had received a good education from a young age, she might be a diplomat now.

Unfortunately, life doesn't offer "what ifs," but luckily, Xia met her.

Professor Deng was eager to go home, and on the way, he even tried to persuade Xia Baozhu to attend a night school.

"It's never too late to start learning. Xia, you're so talented. Learn a foreign language and a skill. If you work hard for a few years, you can get a diploma and find a job more easily."

Professor Deng's words are undoubtedly a guiding light for ordinary people.

Although Xia Baozhu's main purpose was to gain a clear understanding of what she already knew, she was still very grateful to Professor Deng for planning and guiding her in this way.

"I will study hard without neglecting my work. Thank you so much, Professor Deng," Xia Baozhu said sincerely.

Back home, Professor Deng sat down at her desk and directed Xia Baozhu to take out her grandson's English primer from the bookshelf.

"English has 26 letters. Once you memorize these 26 letters, words will be easy to remember."

Professor Deng asked Xia Baozhu to sit next to her, took out a four-line, three-grid paper, taught her letter by letter, and then let Xia Baozhu write on her own.

Xia Baozhu tried to imitate Professor Deng's stroke order, but her writing wasn't very good. However, Professor Deng still praised her as a promising student.

In just over an hour, Xia Baozhu mastered the 26 letters of the English alphabet and was able to write them down from memory.

"It's indeed similar to pinyin," Xia Baozhu concluded after learning.

"Look at my memory, you must have learned pinyin by the time you were in third grade."

Professor Deng smiled and touched her forehead. She only needed to read it a few times with Xia, but she wasted more than half an hour teaching her how to write.

"Professor, I need to go prepare dinner."

"Wait a minute, see that cassette tape? It says 'English Songs for Kids' on it. Yes, take it down and put it in this tape recorder."

Professor Deng taught Xia Baozhu how to correctly insert the cassette tape into the bulky tape recorder, explaining the function of each key.

"Listen to it while you're picking vegetables or cleaning, get used to it, and you can even hum along," Professor Deng suggested as he pressed the play button.

Professor Deng wanted to accelerate Xia Baozhu's learning by utilizing her spare time at work. She wanted to see how far this smart girl from the countryside could go.

Xia Baozhu immediately felt like she was back in high school, just short of studying hard and studying diligently.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!