Chapter 22 "The gates of Qiming Elementary School will forever remain open to..."
The next day was Sunday.
Zhou Qiaozhen finished washing up with a stern face, grabbed her rice bowl, lifted the curtain and went out, her footsteps heavy and loud.
As the curtain fell, Sister Wang and Li Xiulan exchanged a glance and both breathed a sigh of relief.
Shu Ran sat up, beckoned to them, lowered her voice, and said with a gleam of sharing a secret in her eyes: "Big sister, Xiulan, come here."
The two immediately moved closer.
“Last night…” Shu Ran’s voice was lowered even further, almost a whisper, “I found a place… with water.”
She looked at their eyes, which widened instantly. "It's in that red willow hollow to the west, very hidden, a small spring that seeps out little by little, the water flows very slowly."
"Really?!" Li Xiulan covered her mouth, almost exclaiming in surprise.
Sister Wang excitedly grabbed Shu Ran's arm: "Good heavens! This is... this is really..." She was so excited that she didn't know what to say.
"Shh—" Shu Ran made a shushing gesture, her expression serious. "This is something only the three of us should know. We absolutely cannot let it leak out. The water flow is too small; if too many people come, it will dry up immediately, and no one will be able to wash. Besides," she paused, her voice carrying a realistic consideration, "if others find out, who knows what kind of trouble it might cause."
Sister Wang nodded vigorously and patted her chest, "Don't worry, Ran! I'm good with my mouth! I'll keep this to myself!" She looked at Shu Ran, "However, I can secretly wipe myself down while the dishes are still warm from washing them in the back of the cafeteria, so I won't waste any water."
Li Xiulan quickly assured her, "Sister Shuran, I promise I won't tell! We have plenty of water where we make tofu, but the place is too open and it's hard to wash. If you go, I'll keep an eye on things for you. If Zhou Qiaozhen comes back, I'll cough twice at the door!"
A warm feeling welled up in Shu Ran's heart. The friendship that had blossomed in this simple dugout was especially precious in this resource-scarce Gobi Desert. She nodded vigorously: "Okay! Thank you, elder sister, thank you, Xiulan!"
In the afternoon, the sun shone brightly. After a night's rest and rubbing with medicinal wine, Shu Ran's back injury had finally eased up a bit. She was sitting on a low stool, flipping through her book "General Knowledge of Nature" by the light from the doorway, thinking about next week's lesson plan.
Footsteps sounded outside the door. Shu Ran looked up and saw Zhang Guifen leading three or four women standing on the slope at the entrance of the dugout.
They were all wearing faded old smocks, their heads wrapped tightly in scarves, and their faces showed signs of weathering and unease.
Zhang Guifen was holding a two- or three-year-old child in her arms. When she saw Shu Ran, a grateful yet somewhat embarrassed smile immediately appeared on her face.
"Teacher Shu... I'm sorry to disturb your rest." Zhang Guifen took half a step forward, her voice soft. "We... are all family members of the company. We heard that you teach children to read here, and you teach them very well! We... we'd like our children to come and learn from you, is that alright?"
A tall, thin woman behind her quickly chimed in, pulling out an old cloth bag and dumping out a dozen or so pieces of lime of varying sizes, some still with sharp edges: "Teacher Shu, these are scraps my husband picked up from the lime kiln. Do you think... we can use them as chalk? For the children!"
Another woman whispered, "The kid's a troublemaker at home, why not send him here to learn something proper from you!"
Shu Ran looked at the pile of grayish-white lime on the ground, and then at the expectant faces in front of her, feeling a mix of emotions.
She stood up, smiled gently, and said, "Of course! Welcome, children. The doors of Qiming Elementary School are always open to children who want to learn."
As they were talking, Accountant Shi strolled over with his hands behind his back. His face was as serious as ever, but his eyes were much gentler than usual.
He walked up to Shu Ran, said nothing, and took out a small paper packet from the pocket of his old Zhongshan suit and placed it on the mud brick next to Shu Ran.
The paper package was opened, revealing seven or eight used pencil stubs, the shortest only the length of a fingernail and the longest no more than an inch, all sharpened to a point.
“Shi Tou kept saying at home that drawing certain characters with lime blocks alone isn’t enough to memorize them.” Accountant Shi’s gaze swept over the lime blocks on the ground and the family members. “These pencil stubs are for the kids to practice with in turn.” Without waiting for Shu Ran to thank him, he walked away with his hands behind his back.
Before the words had even finished, a young man in overalls came running up, panting, carrying a thick stack of scrap paper with jagged edges and blurry writing and forms.
"Teacher Shu! Director Zhao asked me to deliver this!" The young man put the paper on the ground, wiped his sweat, and said, "He said it's a waste report that was cleared out of the warehouse, and you can still write on the back!" He said this and ran off as if he had completed a task.
Shu Ran looked at the pile of lime blocks, pencil stubs, and discarded reports on the ground, then at the eager family members in front of her, then at the departing figure of Accountant Shi, and at the pile of papers that Zhao Weidong had awkwardly brought over. She couldn't help but smile.
*
As night fell, the company quieted down. Xu Junjun, carrying her small medical kit, lifted the curtain of the dugout.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, while habitually checking the injury on Shu Ran's back and the bandages on her hands.
"I feel much better, all thanks to your medicinal wine." Shu Ran pulled her along, her eyes sparkling. "Jun Jun, would you like... to take a bath?"
Xu Junjun was taken aback, then smiled bitterly: "I dream about it! But water..."
"Come with me!" Shu Ran smiled mysteriously, picked up a basin and a towel, and gestured for Xu Junjun to bring her basin as well.
Two slender figures once again blended into the night of the Gobi Desert, heading towards the red willow hollow that concealed the secret spring.
The moonlight was cold and clear, and all around was silent.
Xu Junjun was pulled along by Shu Ran, stepping on the salt flats with uneven steps. Her heart was in her throat, and her hand holding the enamel basin was trembling slightly.
"Ranran, are you sure... there's really water? And... a bath?" She asked in a low voice, her voice sounding particularly light in the empty space. The night in this Gobi Desert was so dark it could swallow you whole.
"Shh—" Shu Ran was both excited and wary. "It's in that red willow puddles up ahead, the place where the horses' hooves trod during the day, right? I felt something was off, so I came to test it in the dark last night, and it really is there! But the water flow is pitifully small, like tears, and it takes a long time to collect."
Finally, they reached the low-lying patch of red willows. Shu Ran skillfully parted the camel thorns, revealing the shallow pit beneath. She gestured for Xu Junjun to put the basin down, while she herself used her hands to dig away the surface layer of damp sand.
“Your hand injury hasn’t healed yet, let me do it.” Xu Junjun pushed Shu Ran aside and started to help.
The spring reappeared, and the water gathered in a small depression.
"Good heavens..." Xu Junjun's eyes widened in disbelief. She crouched down, her fingertips touching the icy water. "It's...it really is water! Living spring water!"
Shu Ran placed her basin below the spring, right next to her own. "Quick, fill it up. It's not easy to collect this much water." She quickly unbuttoned her clothes. "Cold...so cold..." Her voice trembled, but she grabbed a towel, dipped it in the little water she had just collected from the basin, and lathered it with soap.
Xu Junjun also snapped out of her daze and hurriedly began unbuttoning the shirt under her white coat, glancing nervously left and right as she did so. "Ranran, do you think... no one will come? It's the middle of the night..."
"So we have to hurry!" Shu Ran's hands moved even faster, quickly wiping her neck, arms, and back with the towel. The spring water washed away the dirt, but also brought a chill. She tried to curl up her body as much as possible, turning her back to the direction where someone might come from, but her eyes warily scanned the surrounding darkness.
Under the moonlight, the shadows of the red willow grove swayed uncertainly, and every swaying shadow made her heart skip a beat.
Xu Junjun followed Shu Ran's example, dipping her brush in water and scrubbing herself with trembling hands. Her movements were even more frantic, the icy water making her hiss and gasp for breath, but she gritted her teeth and dared not stop.
"Ranran, I miss home..." she suddenly said softly, her voice thick with nasal tone, "I miss the big bathtub at home, I miss the rushing hot water, I miss... I miss my mom scrubbing my back..." Her tears finally fell uncontrollably.
Shu Ran paused in her wiping motion. The warm lights of Shanghai, the aroma of coffee shops, the steam rising from her bathroom at home... those images flashed through her mind, bringing a pang of sadness.
She blinked hard to wipe away the tears welling in her eyes, her voice deliberately light, "Why think about those things? We're lucky to have this water! Hurry up and wash!" She quickened her pace.
The two fell silent. Shu Ran's basin had accumulated a shallow layer of water, while Xu Junjun's had even less.
"Are you done yet? I... I'm freezing!" Xu Junjun's voice was trembling with tears, and her teeth were chattering violently.
Shu Ran was also freezing cold. "That's enough! Hurry up and get dressed!" She hastily wiped the water droplets off her body with a fairly clean towel, grabbed her underwear, and put it on.
"Da, da, da..."
The sound of horses' hooves came from afar!
Shu Ran looked up abruptly, her heart pounding in her throat! She grabbed Xu Junjun's hand, which was about to button her clothes, and gestured for her to be quiet.
The two huddled close together in the densest shade of the tamarisk bushes, forcibly suppressing their trembling as they strained their ears to pinpoint the source of the sound.
The sound of horses' hooves seemed to be coming from the direction of the company, unhurried, heading towards...their direction?!
Shu Ran felt a chill run down her spine. Had she been discovered? Sneaking around in the wilderness in the dead of night? Any one of these accusations would be enough to destroy the little foothold she had painstakingly earned in the company!
Xu Junjun was so frightened that she turned pale and clung tightly to Shu Ran's arm.
Every second felt like an eternity. The sound of horses' hooves drew closer... then seemed to fade away... Finally, the sound turned a corner, heading away from the low-lying area, and disappeared into the night wind.
Shu Ran slid down the red willow stalk and sat on the ground, and Xu Junjun also slumped down. "Let's go... Ranran, let's go, I don't want to stay here for another minute..."
Shu Ran forced herself to stand up, quickly inspected the scene, splashed the murky soapy water from the two basins onto the sand in the distance, and used her feet to smooth out the traces near the spring as much as possible before covering it with camel thorns again.
After doing all this, she pulled Xu Junjun up, grabbed the empty basin, and practically tumbled and crawled away from the depression.
A note from the author:
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