Chapter 21 Xu Heye takes classes seriously
After taking a bath, Xu Heye continued reading. This time, she was going through the contents of the first and second year of junior high school.
At ten o'clock in the evening, turn off the lights and go to bed on time.
After a good night's sleep, Xu Heye was awakened by the aroma of cooking noodles.
After brushing her teeth and eating a bowl of noodles with vegetables, the mother and daughter went out separately. Xu Heye went to school, while Dong Taohua went to the train station to buy a train ticket back to Jiangxi Province.
"Xiaoyue, good morning." Xu Heye entered the classroom, greeted her deskmate Kong Xiaoyue, and then took out her Chinese textbook and began to recite ancient poems. She had truly forgotten some of the poems, and now she had to catch up quickly.
"Good morning," Kong Xiaoyue whispered back. Seeing Xu Heye reciting ancient poetry, she took out her Chinese textbook and began reciting as well.
The morning reading class ended quickly, and after a ten-minute break, it was time for the first class of the morning - Chinese class.
The Chinese teacher was Ni Zhuang, a native of Hucheng, in his fifties. He spoke only Hucheng dialect, not Mandarin. Even in class, he used the Hucheng dialect.
The first thing I did in class was to give the students a warning - I asked them to recite ancient poems.
"Last week we assigned a recitation task. Now, I'll pick a few students to recite 'The Thatched Cottage Destroyed by the Autumn Wind.' Those who can recite it, raise your hands."
Kong Xiaoyue lowered her head subconsciously.
Xu Heye looked around and found that most of the classmates had their heads down, only a few still held their heads high.
These students are probably the better students in the class.
Sure enough, Ni Zhuang called out to a few people and they all recited it completely.
Xu Heye was thinking when someone tugged at her sleeve. She came to her senses and heard her Chinese teacher Ni Zhuang calling her name.
Xu Heye stood up and calmly recited: "In August, the autumn wind howled, blowing away the three layers of thatch on my roof. The thatch flew across the river and scattered to the riverside, and the tall ones caught on the treetops... Alas! When will I suddenly see this house before my eyes? I would rather die of cold in my broken hut!"
Fortunately, I prepared in advance.
Ni Zhuang nodded: "Not bad. But don't be distracted in class next time."
"Okay, teacher, I won't do it again next time." Xu Heye agreed obediently.
Ni Zhuang was even more satisfied. "Very good, sit down. If anyone else wants to recite something, please raise your hand."
He glanced around the classroom, his eyes settling on a few other transfer students. Seeing that everyone had their heads bowed like quails, he sighed, "Now, let's get to class. Open your books and turn to page 68. Today's lesson is 'Song of the Thatched Cottage Destroyed by the Autumn Wind,' by the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu."
"Thank you." Xu Heye lowered her voice and thanked Kong Xiaoyue, then opened her textbook.
After everyone opened their books, Ni Zhuang said, "Before we talk about this poem, let's review what everyone knows about the poet Du Fu."
"Du Fu, a Tang Dynasty poet, is known as the Poet Sage. He and Li Bai are collectively known as the Great Li and Du. He is a great realist poet..."
The students all started talking at once, of course, they all spoke in Hucheng dialect.
Kong Xiaoyue didn't understand a word and couldn't help but look at her deskmate.
Xu Heye was taking notes and seemed to understand everything.
Kong Xiaoyue asked in a low voice: "Xu Heye, do you understand?"
"Yeah." Xu Heye nodded.
"That's great." Kong Xiaoyue murmured. Seeing Xu Heye busy taking notes, she felt embarrassed to disturb her. She could only stare at her book with a blank expression.
Seeing this, Xu Heye tilted the book towards Kong Xiaoyue and said, "Take a look at my notes."
"Thank you." Kong Xiaoyue's face was full of joy. She thanked him softly and quickly took out a ballpoint pen to start taking notes.
After a Chinese class ended, Xu Heye went to the toilet and returned to the classroom to start copying the text.
Even if you've memorized poetry, you might not be able to write down every word accurately, so copying it down is essential. Isn't there a saying that goes, "A good memory is worse than a bad pen?"
The exam doesn’t care whether you can memorize it or not, it only cares whether you can write it correctly.
Xu Heye read silently and copied at the same time. Seeing this, Kong Xiaoyue also followed Xu Heye and learned to read silently and copy at the same time.
But she stopped writing. Because she couldn't understand what the teacher was saying, she didn't know the pronunciation and meaning of many words. Although she copied Xu Heye's notes, she didn't mark all the words. Presumably, the words she didn't mark were the ones she knew.
Kong Xiaoyue stopped writing, turned her head to look at Xu Heye, continued copying a few words, and looked at Xu Heye again. She wanted to ask her for advice, but was too embarrassed to speak.
Xu Heye had noticed Kong Xiaoyue's hesitation, but she ignored it and insisted on copying the text. She then picked out the words and phrases that she felt were difficult to write or were unfamiliar with, and wrote them several times until she was sure she had mastered them. Only then did she stop writing.
There were less than three minutes left before the next class started. She turned her head and looked at Kong Xiaoyue, saying, "Three minutes left before class starts." If Kong Xiaoyue could muster up the courage to ask her, Xu Heye would teach her without reservation.
It is indeed difficult to move from a familiar place to this unfamiliar city where she cannot speak the language to study, but if she does not even have the courage to ask for help, Xu Heye does not want to waste her energy on making trouble.
She is going to take the high school entrance exam and then the college entrance exam, so she doesn't have time to waste on others.
Kong Xiaoyue was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered and pointed to the character "罥" in the text "高者挂罥长林挑" (Higher people hang a 罥 on the branches of the trees) and asked, "How do you pronounce this character?"
Xu Heye said, "This word is pronounced juan, with the fourth tone, and has the same meaning as gua. 'The high ones hang entangled in the treetops' refers to the drifting thatch hanging on the high treetops. As for the next line, 'the low ones drift and sink into the ponds and depressions', it means the low-flying thatch flutters and sinks into the ponds and depressions."
"Thank you." Kong Xiaoyue looked at Xu Heye with envy in her eyes, "Xu Heye, you are amazing."
"It's okay." Xu Heye said it was okay, but the corners of her mouth unconsciously raised. She said, "Do you have anything else you want to ask?"
Kong Xiaoyue: "Then can you help me tell what this whole poem is about?"
Xu Heye nodded and said, "According to the meaning of the poem, it can be roughly divided into four sections. The first section describes the worry and anxiety of facing the strong wind destroying the house, the second section describes the helplessness of facing the group of children carrying away the thatch, and the third section describes the pain of the house leaking on a rainy night.
The final stanza, "I wish I had thousands of mansions to shelter the poorest people in the world and bring them joy!", is the culmination of the entire poem. The poet, reflecting on his own experience, wishes that all the poor, like him, could have homes to live in. This demonstrates the poet's lofty concern for his country and its people. Therefore, Du Fu is also known as a great modern poet.
Kong Xiaoyue kept on copying quickly. After knowing the meaning, it would be much easier to recite the whole article.
Xu Heye looked at Kong Xiaoyue and it was as if she saw herself in a past life. She thought for a moment and suggested, "Kong Xiaoyue, read a book a hundred times and its meaning will become clear. The language barrier is indeed a very troublesome problem, but since we don't want to give up our studies, we can only grit our teeth and persevere."
I suggest you go to a bookstore or junk shop and buy a Xinhua Dictionary. Before each class, mark the pronunciation of words you don't know or are unsure of, and study them in advance so you don't end up misunderstanding anything during class."
This was how she did in her previous life. She studied on her own while working hard to learn the Hucheng dialect. It took her more than two years (she was held back a grade in her previous life) to finish her studies and she was finally admitted to high school.
Children of Huihu educated youth like them actually have no way out. If they don't work hard to get into high school or college, they will only be able to work in factories in the future.
They cannot save money by working, let alone buy a house. Even if they have a Hucheng household registration, they are just passers-by in this city.
Good jobs all require academic qualifications. After the college entrance examination system was restored in 1977, the academic qualifications of junior high school and high school students depreciated once.
When university enrollment expanded in 1999 and large numbers of university graduates graduated, there were even fewer job opportunities for junior high or high school students. Even at this time, many junior high school students wanted to apply to technical secondary schools, but there was no room for growth.
Being swept along by the times, they have no right to fight against the tide of the times. All they can do is go with the flow and try their best to scoop up their own share of the water.
The bell rang, and Xu Heye focused her attention, immersing herself in her studies once again. Even though she had studied these textbooks in her previous life, it didn't mean she could be careless and not take her studies seriously.
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