Chapter 42 She needs to borrow her precious little aluminum pot…
In the afternoon class, Shu Ran deliberately set aside time for several older children to practice writing on the back of discarded reports using newly made bone charcoal pencils and stone chalk.
The classroom fell silent, with only the scratching sound of pens slicing across rough paper.
Tiger was writing with the most enthusiasm, gripping the slightly rough bone pen and vigorously scribbling his name on the paper. As he wrote, he frowned, hissed, and instinctively put his finger in his mouth.
"Tiger, what's wrong?" Shuanzhu asked in a low voice.
"N-nothing," Tiger mumbled, putting his hands behind his back and secretly wiping them on his pants, a drop of blood seeping from his fingertips.
He didn't want Teacher Shu to think he was being delicate. What was this little cut? His mother wouldn't even utter a sound when she pricked her hand with an awl while sewing shoe soles. He shook his hand, picked up his bone pen again, and continued writing.
Shu Ran was on patrol when she noticed Hu Zi's little movements. She assumed he was just stretching his fingers because he was tired from writing and didn't pay much attention. With resources scarce, it was good enough to just make do with what he wrote; there was no time to worry about being meticulous.
The wind swirled across the Gobi Desert, and gossip spread like wildfire throughout the company.
The next day at noon, as soon as Shu Ran saw the children off from the classroom, Sister Wang rushed over, looking rather grumpy.
"Teacher Shu! Something's happened!" Sister Wang grabbed her arm, lowered her voice, and led her to a secluded spot.
"What's wrong, Sister Wang?" Shu Ran's heart skipped a beat.
"Oh dear, this is terrible!" Sister Wang slapped her thigh. "I don't know which gossipy person spread this nonsense! They said that the bone pens you and Xiulan used for the children were... were made from dead people's bones! They said those things were evil, that they brought bad luck and made the children's hands rot! They even said that you were practicing feudal superstition, using dead people's things to teach, and that you were going to corrupt the children's minds!"
Shu Ran's face immediately darkened: "Nonsense! Those are lamb leg bones and cow bones left over from burning in the stove! Xiu Lan and I dug them out of the garbage heap and the ashes in the stove!"
“I know! I believe you!” Sister Wang quickly said, “But some people are spreading rumors! They’re saying it in such detail, that Tiger used your pen and his fingers swelled up like radishes! They even said… they even said they might rot!”
Tiger? Shu Ran immediately recalled Tiger's subtle gasps and the way he put his hands behind his back yesterday. Her heart sank. Infected? This was no small matter!
"Sister Wang, thank you for telling me!" Shu Ran turned and ran towards the classroom, rummaging through the teacher's desk drawer to find the bottle of mercurochrome and a small roll of bandage that Xu Junjun had given her, and stuffed them into her clothes. "I'm going to Hu Zi's house!"
Tiger's home was not far from the company headquarters; it was a semi-dugout. When Shu Ran arrived, Tiger's mother was squatting at the door washing clothes, while Tiger sat listlessly on a small stool next to her. A small piece of dirty cloth was wrapped around the index finger of his left hand, and the exposed fingertip was indeed a little red, swollen, and shiny.
"Tiger's mother!" Shu Ran called out.
Tiger's mother looked up and saw Shu Ran. She quickly wiped her hands on her apron and stood up: "Teacher Shu? What brings you here?"
Shu Ran walked over in a few steps, squatted down in front of Hu Zi, and tried to soften her voice: "Hu Zi, let the teacher see your hand? Did you scratch it while writing yesterday?"
Tiger glanced timidly at his mother before sticking out his fingers, which were wrapped in cloth.
Tiger's mother sighed and helped untangle the dirty strip of cloth. The wound wasn't big, just a small cut, but the surrounding area was noticeably red and swollen, and slightly hot.
"Tiger's mother, I'm so sorry! It was my oversight!" Shu Ran apologized immediately, her tone sincere. "That pen was made by Xiulan and me from a thoroughly heated sheep bone. We thought it would be fine as long as it could write, but we didn't expect that the bone shavings weren't smooth enough. It cut Tiger's hand and caused him to get an infection. It's all my fault!"
As she spoke, she deftly took out some mercurochrome. "Here you go, Tiger, let me disinfect this for you and put some medicine on it. Sanitary worker Xu said this works."
Watching Shu Ran skillfully treat her son's wound with gentle yet practiced movements, Tiger's mother's tone softened: "Teacher Shu, please don't say that. This child is tough; a little scratch is nothing. How can you blame him? In our area, it's not uncommon for children to bump and bruise themselves. Which child doesn't have a few scars on their hands?"
She paused, lowering her voice slightly, "Don't take those gossipy rumors outside to heart! What nonsense about dead bones! If a sheep dies in our company, we boil the bones for soup and extract the marrow, we don't bury the whole thing. Even if we did, wild dogs would dig it up! We know exactly what's going on!"
Shu Ran carefully applied the red medicine to Hu Zi, then stopped wrapping him in cloth: "It heals faster if it's left open. Hu Zi's mother, thank you for thinking this way. I really didn't consider that bone pen properly, and it made the children suffer. I'll definitely polish it smooth before using it again."
"Hey, what's the big deal?" Tiger's mother waved her hand. "As long as they can write, it's better than nothing. Teacher Shu, we know you really care about the children. As for what's going on outside, it's probably just some jealous person spreading rumors. Don't pay any attention to them!"
Having ruled out Tiger's family as the source of the rumors, Shu Ran felt a little more at ease, but the stifling feeling of being slandered lingered. She told Tiger not to get wet for the next couple of days, thanked Tiger's mother, and then turned to leave.
I hadn't gone far when I saw Li Xiulan standing by the roadside, her face pale. She had obviously heard what I had just heard, and her eyes were red.
“Teacher Shu…” Li Xiulan’s voice was choked with sobs, full of self-blame, “It’s all my fault… If I had been more careful when picking up the bones and had smoothed off all the sharp points, Hu Zi wouldn’t have…”
"Xiulan, this has nothing to do with you," Shuran interrupted her. "It was my oversight. The bone was too hard to polish, so I slacked off. I made the pen, I came up with the idea, and I take the responsibility. You've helped me a lot, so don't take the blame."
Li Xiulan bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes, feeling both guilty and wronged. She had vaguely overheard some unpleasant words at the sideline work team, and she was still feeling upset.
"Alright, let's go back first." Shu Ran patted her shoulder. "Rumors stop with the wise. As long as we have a clear conscience, that's enough. We still have classes this afternoon."
Shu Ran went straight back to her den, needing to quickly find all those bone pens and re-polish them. Li Xiulan, however, lagged behind, her head bowed, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes.
Just as I reached the vicinity of the row of dugouts in the women workers' dormitory area, a figure emerged from behind a nearby stack of firewood.
"Comrade Xiulan?" It was Zhou Wenbin. He adjusted his glasses, his face showing just the right amount of concern, and he held two small, curled-edge booklets in his hand. "You don't look too good? Is it because of those gossips outside?"
Li Xiulan was startled. She looked up at him without saying a word, but the grievance in her eyes deepened.
Zhou Wenbin sighed, his voice gentle, conveying a sense of understanding: "Sigh, I've heard about it. It's outrageous! You meant well, going to great lengths to find materials so the children could learn, and what did you get in return? You did all that work for nothing and got yourself into trouble!"
He leaned closer and lowered his voice, "Xiulan, in the end, it's all because Teacher Shu... was too presumptuous. How could that young lady from Shanghai understand the taboos of our border region? Bones aren't something you can just give to children casually. If something goes wrong, won't it be us honest folks who bear the responsibility?"
Li Xiulan suddenly looked up, her lips moved, wanting to retort that Teacher Shu wasn't that kind of person, but Zhou Wenbin's words burrowed into her ears like tiny insects. Yes, Teacher Shu was the one who came up with the idea, and she was the one who sharpened the bone pen; she was just helping to pick it up, and now she was being cursed so harshly outside.
“Don’t blame yourself too much,” Zhou Wenbin observed her expression, his tone becoming even more sincere. “You’re an honest girl, just too honest, and easily manipulated. In the future, be more careful in your actions. But…”
He changed the subject, a sympathetic smile appearing on his face. "I feel bad that you helped me and suffered some injustice. Here, these two booklets are about cotton pest and disease control and soil improvement; they're quite useful. They were distributed by the regiment for technical promotion, and I, who's stationed here for soil improvement, can also use them. Take a look when you have time; learning more is better than blindly following along. Knowledge is your own asset."
He shoved the two booklets into Li Xiulan's hands without saying a word, causing her fingers to twitch slightly.
"I...I have to go back..." Li Xiulan lowered her head, her voice barely audible, clutching the two booklets as if they were two hot pieces of coal.
“Go ahead,” Zhou Wenbin nodded understandingly, his voice gentle. “Don’t overthink it. If anything’s wrong, or if you’re feeling down, feel free to come talk to me anytime. We’re all far from home, so let’s understand each other.” He emphasized the words “far from home.”
Li Xiulan didn't say anything more. Clutching the booklet, she almost fled towards her dormitory dugout. Zhou Wenbin stood there, watching her slightly flustered figure, then pushed up his glasses and slowly walked towards his own small, separate dugout, a privilege reserved for technicians.
In the dormitory, Shu Ran was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), carefully polishing the sharp edges and burrs of the bone pencils with a rough whetstone in the dim light.
Li Xiulan pushed open the door and came in to see this scene. Looking at the two booklets that the technician had handed her this week, the grievances and wavering she felt, stirred up by Zhou Wenbin, were instantly overwhelmed by a more complex mix of emotions.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but her throat felt blocked.
In the end, he simply walked silently to his bunk and stuffed the two booklets under his pillow. Then he squatted down next to Shu Ran, picked up a bone pen and a small whetstone, and began to grind them vigorously.
Shu Ran glanced at her, said nothing, put the smooth bone pen she had sharpened aside, and picked up a new one.
The dugout was quiet, with only the soft rustling of grinding.
Li Xiulan lowered her head, her fingers grinding the bone hard, and soon grayish-white bone powder filled the crevices under her fingernails.
“That won’t do,” Shu Ran put down the bone pen that she had polished to a smoother, rounder finish and rubbed her sore wrist. “Just polishing it is too time-consuming and laborious, and it’s easy to not polish it evenly. If we miss a small burr, it will cause trouble again.”
Li Xiulan also stopped what she was doing, looking at the pile of gray and white bones of various shapes on the table, her brows furrowed: "What should we do then? Teacher Shu, we can't really just stop using them, can we? Chalk is so rare, and stone chalk is too dusty, it can't write many words."
Shu Ran didn't say anything, but suddenly, as if she remembered something, she stood up abruptly: "Come on, Xiu Lan, come with me to the clinic to find Xu Junjun! We need to borrow her precious little aluminum pot!"
In the dugout of the clinic, Xu Junjun was cleaning several glass syringes in front of an oil lamp. When she saw Shu Ran and Li Xiulan come in, she was a little surprised: "Oh, rare guests! What's wrong? Is anyone feeling unwell?" She glanced at the two of them.
"It's not that I'm feeling unwell, I just wanted to borrow your secret weapon!" Shu Ran got straight to the point, pointing to the small, dented aluminum pot that Xu Junjun had placed on the shelf in the corner. "I need to borrow this pot! It's very useful!"
"Borrow a pot?" Xu Junjun was even more puzzled. "Your cafeteria is out of pots? Are you going to cook for yourself in my clinic?"
"What kind of special treatment is this, boiling bones!" Shu Ran walked to the shelf, picked up the pot and weighed it in her hand. "You've heard the rumors outside, haven't you? Saying we're using dead people's bones for the kids, that's just blasphemy..." She swallowed the rest of the curse. "Xiulan and I have figured it out, we can't just grind them, we have to steam them at high temperature! We need to properly sterilize the bones! They'll be easier to shave when they're soft!"
Xu Junjun immediately understood, her eyes lighting up: "Disinfection? That's the right idea! High-temperature steaming can indeed kill most bacteria! Shu Ran, you're quick-witted!" She waved her hand readily, "Take the pot! But the smell of boiling bones is quite strong, can you two handle it?"
"We have to accept it, even if we can't!" Shu Ran took the pot. "It's better than letting the kids have no pens to use and being burdened with the dung of feudal superstition!"
She handed the pot to Li Xiulan, "Xiulan, take the pot back first, add water, and put the bones in to prepare. I need to say a few more words to Sister Junjun."
Li Xiulan, holding the pot, responded and left first.
Only the two of them remained in the clinic. Shu Ran's sharp expression softened, revealing a hint of fatigue, and she sat down directly on the small stool opposite Xu Junjun.
"You must be exhausted?" Xu Junjun poured her a glass of warm water and sat down herself. "Don't take those rumors to heart. Company Commander Ma was asking me about Tiger Hand this morning. I told him it's just a superficial wound. A little antiseptic and it'll be fine in a couple of days. It has absolutely nothing to do with any dead body! It's just that some people are bored and jealous that you've made a fuss!"
"Envious?" Shu Ran took a sip of water and sneered. "I bet someone's hoping my Qiming Elementary School will go under! Has Zhao Weidong made any new moves?"
"Him? He's still the same as always, his mind is full of digging ditches and clearing land. But..." Xu Junjun lowered her voice, "Special Envoy Chen came by this afternoon."
Shu Ran paused, her hand holding the cup still: "Him? What's he doing here? Asking about Hu Zi's injury?"
“He didn’t say it explicitly.” Xu Junjun shook her head. “He just asked about the wound, whether there were any signs of infection, and whether it needed special treatment. I said it was fine and that it was treated promptly. He hummed in agreement and then asked,” she paused, looking at Shu Ran, “whether the bone pen you used was really a clean bone picked up from the garbage dump and stove ashes.”
"how do you say?"
"What should I say? Just tell the truth!" Xu Junjun spread her hands. "I said that Shu Ran and Xiu Lan, those two girls, braved the wind and sand to rummage through the garbage pit and the stove for half a day, picking out only thoroughly burned hard bones, clean animal bones. Where would they find any dead human bones?" After listening, he didn't say anything, just nodded and left.
Shu Ran stroked the enamel cup thoughtfully.
Why is Chen Yuanjiang asking this? It's probably just a routine investigation into rumors.
"Oh, right!" Xu Junjun said as if suddenly remembering something, "There's something else, it's a bit strange. Before Special Commissioner Chen left, he seemed to casually ask, 'The supply and marketing cooperative just received some new stone pencils, are they good enough for the teaching waste in the warehouse?'"
"Stone pencils?" Shu Ran looked up abruptly, her eyes lighting up instantly. "The supply and marketing cooperative has stone pencils?"
"He mentioned it briefly." Xu Junjun nodded. "I was wondering too. How could a special commissioner in charge of security know about what the supply and marketing cooperative had received faster than Accountant Shi? But he said it could be approved as a teaching loss, so it should be pretty much true."
Shu Ran was overjoyed. The stone pen was far superior to the bone pen! Was he hinting? Or simply conveying information he happened to know? In any case, it was truly good news!
"Okay, I got it." Shu Ran suppressed the turmoil in her heart, drank the water in her glass in one gulp, and stood up. "I've taken the pot, I'll wash it and return it to you later! Thanks, Jun Jun!"
"Why are you being so polite with me!" Xu Junjun waved her hand, then remembered something and instructed, "By the way, keep an eye on Xiulan lately. I think that girl is a bit preoccupied. Zhou Wenbin has been hanging around the side business team a lot lately, and he's run into Xiulan several times."
Shu Ran's eyes sharpened: "Zhou Wenbin? What is he planning now?"
"Who knows? What good can a weasel do when it comes to wishing a chicken a happy new year?" Xu Junjun pouted. "Anyway, you should keep a close eye on things and not let that honest Xiulan get taken advantage of. Let's start our plan as soon as possible."
"Okay, I understand." Shu Ran made a mental note of it, picked up the pot, and said, "I'll go back and cook the bones first!"
Back in her dugout, Li Xiulan had already poured the bones into the pot, added water, and placed the pot on the small firebox of the earthen stove in Sister Wang's cooking shed, stuffing firewood into it.
Shu Ran put the pot lid on, leaving a small gap for ventilation, and rolled up her sleeves: "Xiulan, you go back, I'll stay here!"
Li Xiulan shook her head and sat down on a bench. "It's okay, Sister Shuran, I'll stay with you."
The water in the pot gradually boiled, and the bones bobbed and simmered. The smell was indeed pungent, but neither Shu Ran nor Li Xiulan complained. Shu Ran held the fire tongs, occasionally stirring the bones in the pot.
As they were talking, Chen Yuanjiang appeared next to the shed.
His gaze habitually swept over the scene in the shed first, and finally landed on the bubbling pot and the pile of bones, his eyebrows twitching almost imperceptibly.
"Special Envoy Chen?" Shu Ran was the first to react.
Li Xiulan also stood up: "Special Envoy Chen, what brings you here?"
Chen Yuanjiang didn't come in; he just stood at the entrance of the shed. "Company Commander Ma and Secretary Liu both know about the rumors circulating in the company." His gaze swept over Shu Ran and Li Xiulan. "It's having a very bad impact, undermining unity, and hindering literacy work. The company will investigate the source."
He paused, his gaze returning to the small pot: "What are you doing here?"
"Process the bones and disinfect them," Shu Ran answered frankly, picking up a boiled and shaved bone pen and handing it over. "These are thoroughly charred animal bones, boiled at high temperatures, and then carefully polished. They're safe and hygienic and can be used as pens. We can't let the children have nothing to write on."
Chen Yuanjiang didn't take the pen; he just looked at it, then at the bones bubbling in the pot, and then at Shu Ran's face, which was covered in bone meal and sweat.
He nodded, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately only briefly stated, "Regarding the rumors, continue teaching as usual and don't pay any attention to them. The company will handle it." After saying that, he turned and left.
"That's great, Teacher Shu! The higher-ups can keep the rumors under control!" Li Xiulan happily grabbed Shu Ran's arm.
Xu Junjun laughed as well: "Special Envoy Chen is quite well-informed."
She knew that Chen Yuanjiang's seemingly casual words were, within the bounds of his principles, a silent form of support for her actual teaching difficulties.
"Alright, we still need to keep boiling and grinding the bones." Shu Ran looked away and picked up the whetstone. "We can't waste these bone pens right now. Tomorrow, we have to show the children that rumors are just paper tigers!"
The next day in class, Shu Ran didn't rush to teach new characters. She moved the small aluminum pot that still smelled of bones, a bunch of boiled, shaved, and polished bone pens, along with a whetstone and a kitchen knife, all to the front of the classroom.
The children stared wide-eyed with curiosity.
"Class, sit down, everyone." Shu Ran clapped her hands, her voice clear and bright. "Before class today, I'll tell you all about where these precious pens in your hands came from!"
She picked up a bone pen: "See this? These aren't bones from monsters or demons! They're leftover lamb and beef bones from the fire in our cafeteria!"
She pointed to the pot, "The teacher and Aunt Li Xiulan picked them out of the ashes in the stove and the garbage dump, washed them clean, and then used this pot to add water, put it on the fire, and simmered it for more than half an hour! Why simmer it? Sanitary worker Xu said that high-temperature steaming can kill the dirt and disinfect it!"
She picked up the millstone: "After boiling it until it's soft, use this millstone to slowly grind down all the sharp, prickly, and rough parts until they're smooth and round! It took a lot of effort!" She exaggerated on purpose, and the children listened intently.
"Why bother with all this trouble?" Shu Ran's gaze swept over the little faces. "Just because someone is spreading rumors outside! Saying that our bone pens are made from dead people's bones and that using them will rot your hands! That's utter nonsense!" She rarely raised her voice, which startled the children, and even Adil sat up straight.
"Tiger!" Shu Ran looked at Tiger, "Does your hand still hurt?"
Tiger quickly held up the finger that was coated with red medicine and had already gone down in swelling, and said loudly, "It doesn't hurt anymore! It's much better!"
"Look everyone," Shu Ran pointed to Hu Zi's hand, "Hu Zi's hand is a little scratched and red and swollen. Why? It's because he got scratched by a small splinter that wasn't properly ground down, and he didn't tell the teacher in time! In the future, if anything happens in class, you must tell the teacher immediately!"
She picked up a smooth bone pen. "Now, I've boiled and smoothed every single one! When you use them, be careful and use light pressure. If you find any pen that's difficult to handle, report it immediately! Got it?"
"Got it!" the children answered in unison, their voices loud and clear. Shi Tou led the applause, and Xiao Ya followed suit. Adil looked at the smooth bone pen in Shu Ran's hand, then at Hu Zi's fingers, and pursed his lips.
"And another thing," Shu Ran pressed, a sly smile playing on her lips, "I have some good news for you! The company knows we're lacking supplies for our studies, and they're about to get us a better 'stone pencil'! It'll be even neater than this one! But—"
She then changed the subject, "These bone pencils were made by the teacher and Aunt Xiulan through wind and sand, enduring strange smells, with great effort! We can't waste them! Before the stone pencils came, they were our good helpers! Everyone, don't you think we should take good care of them and use them properly?"
"Yes!" The children's voices rang out louder, filled with a sense of participation and pride.
Shu Ran didn't go to explain the rumors to each person individually, nor did she confront the people who spread them. Instead, she laid out the production process in front of all the children and then presented the more tangible hope of using a slate pencil, easily dispelling the rumors.
Two days later, when the "dead man's bone pen" was mentioned again in the company, some people scoffed:
"Nonsense! Teacher Shu was cooking in front of the kids and grinding stones! Clean lamb bones!"
"Exactly! Tiger's mother said it's just a scratch, a little antiseptic will do! Teacher Shu even came to apologize, what a kind person!"
"I heard they're getting stone pencils soon? That's great!"
The rumors dissipated quietly. The company never found out exactly who started it, but with the accusation of "sabotaging literacy work" hanging over their heads, no one dared to spread them openly anymore.
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