Has a new teacher arrived in Hongqi Village?
Xu Xinghe had never heard of this before.
The other person's name sounded unfamiliar as well.
Just to be on the safe side, she still asked, "Aunt Zhang, where is this Teacher Shen from?"
“Su Yang, he and his wife are both from Su Yang.”
Su Yang?
Xu Xinghe was slightly taken aback. That place was not far from her hometown of Shanghai, and was considered a neighboring city. It had always been a place with a strong literary tradition, producing many literary figures. It was also said that the land and water there were very nourishing.
"Where does he live now?"
"You're going to find him in that empty tile-roofed house at the west end of the village?"
Xu Xinghe nodded, "Let's go and take a look. It's always good to know more about the situation."
Even if the other party is not the murderer, this sudden appearance of an outsider is worth noting.
The truth is often hidden in some inconspicuous details.
"Eat first, then I'll go with you." Aunt Zhang brought over a bowl of steaming millet porridge, accompanied by a plate of crisp pickled cucumbers, which looked very appetizing.
After finishing her meal, Xu Xinghe declined Aunt Zhang's offer to accompany her and walked alone towards the west end of the village.
She stood in front of the whitewashed tiled house, knocked on the door, and someone came quickly.
The person who opened the door was a woman. Her features were not particularly outstanding, but she had fair skin and a quiet, city girl's demeanor, which was quite different from the women in the village who worked year-round.
When Feng Qiushi saw Xu Xinghe, his heart tightened, but he pretended to be completely unfamiliar with her and asked softly, "You are...?"
"My name is Xu Xinghe. I'd like to ask if Professor Shen An is home?"
Feng Qiushi looked her up and down. Just as the villagers had said, she was exquisitely beautiful and had a good temperament. No wonder she was the pampered daughter of the richest family.
She smiled gently, her eyes crinkling into a smile. "So you're the lucky star everyone talks about. What a beautiful girl. Shen An isn't home today. He went to town yesterday to find some textbooks for the children. He probably won't be back until this afternoon."
Xu Xinghe nodded; the reason was reasonable.
There is no formal primary school in Hongqi Village, and the children's textbooks are all provided by the teachers themselves, either by applying to the education bureau or by paying out of their own pockets to buy them in town.
"I heard you're from Shanghai?" Feng Qiushi took the initiative to strike up a conversation, trying to build rapport. "Shen An and I are from Suzhou and Yangzhou, so we're practically fellow townsmen."
"I guess so." Xu Xinghe continued the conversation, then changed the subject, "Why did you decide to come to the countryside? You're already married, you should have stayed in the city."
Feng Qiushi deliberately feigned a troubled expression and sighed, "Alas, it's all because Shen An is so stubborn. He always says he wants to do something meaningful and insists on coming to the countryside to teach. As his wife, I have to follow him wherever he goes, I can't let him suffer here alone, with no one to take care of him, not to mention the possibility of him falling for someone else..."
She suddenly stopped talking, smiled sheepishly, and said, "Look at me, why am I saying these things to a young girl like you? It's really inappropriate."
The two chatted for a few more minutes before Xu Xinghe got up to say goodbye.
Since Shen An wasn't there, she could go and ask the others to see if anyone had seen anything unusual.
"Comrade Xu, wait a minute!" Feng Qiushi suddenly called out to her. "I guess you're investigating Er Laizi's father, right? I was watching the commotion at the village entrance earlier. There's an old man named Lao Wang who's quite close to Er Laizi's father. I didn't see him earlier; he might be at home. You could go ask him."
Xu Xinghe felt a warmth in her heart; Feng Qiushi was quite kind-hearted.
"Thank you, I'll go take a look right away."
"You're welcome, it's my pleasure." Fearing she might have gone to the wrong place, Feng Qiushi specifically instructed, "It's the second house on the left at the village entrance, there's an old jujube tree by the courtyard gate."
Following her directions, Xu Xinghe quickly walked to the village entrance and indeed saw the old jujube tree.
She tapped the metal ring on the hospital door and gently knocked, "Is anyone home?"
The courtyard was quiet, and no one responded.
She knocked again with more force, but there was still no response.
Is the person not home?
Xu Xinghe was wondering whether she should wait a little longer when she saw a man walking towards the village entrance.
The other person was wearing a clean and tidy dark gray cotton-padded jacket, a blue scarf around their neck, black-rimmed glasses on their nose, and carrying a cloth bag. They looked to be in their twenties or thirties and had a refined and gentle demeanor.
The man saw her too, stopped, and gave a faint smile that hinted at familiarity. "Are you here to see Uncle Wang?"
"Yes." Xu Xinghe immediately realized his identity. The only person she hadn't met in Hongqi Village was the newly arrived teacher. "You must be Teacher Shen from Shen'an Village, right?"
"It's me." Shen An nodded, a hint of curiosity in his eyes. "You look unfamiliar. Are you from the neighboring village?"
"I live in the military. Do you know where Uncle Wang went?"
"I don't know, I just came back from town." Shen An shook his head, then thoughtfully reminded, "It's windy today. If you can't find anyone, don't stay outside in the cold for too long. It's easy to catch a cold in spring."
After saying that, he nodded to Xu Xinghe, then picked up his cloth bag and walked towards the west end of the village.
After walking a few steps, he pulled up his scarf to cover half of his face, leaving only his eyes visible.
Not far away.
When the villagers saw him, they all started to speak.
"Teacher Shen, you're back."
"Teacher Shen, you just got back?"
The man responded to each one, his gaze sweeping over the gates of each house without making a sound, finally settling on a house with three strings of red chili peppers hanging in the air.
Two short and one long – these are the agreed-upon symbols.
He strode forward and knocked on the door.
Feng Qiushi quickly opened the door. Upon seeing the person, he instinctively looked around to make sure no one was paying attention before stepping aside to let him in and quickly closing the courtyard gate.
Xu Xinghe saw this scene from afar and then looked away.
It seems that the person just now was indeed the new teacher, Mr. Shen. However, since Uncle Wang isn't here, we should go ask someone else first.
inside the house.
"When will Shen An be back?" Feng Qiushi's tone instantly turned distant and indifferent.
The man pulled down his scarf. "It'll probably be tonight, after it's completely dark."
"Okay, you can go and wait in the inner room first."
"Okay." The man didn't say much and obediently followed Feng Qiushi to the small side room.
Feng Qiushi watched him go in, then immediately locked the door from the outside, checked it twice more, and only then did he turn around and go back to the main room with peace of mind.
In the side room, the man took off his cotton-padded coat and casually threw it on the kang (a heated brick bed).
There was water and food nearby, and he didn't stand on ceremony, eating as he lay down comfortably.
He is not Shen An at all; he just looks somewhat like him, especially in the middle of his face and the area around his eyes.
He deliberately covered the lower half of his face with a scarf, which is why the villagers mistook him for Shen An.
In reality, he was just an ordinary resident of the town who had been unemployed because he couldn't find a job he liked.
Everyone says he's arrogant, but he doesn't think so.
What is his purpose in studying?
Isn't it all about living a better life?
If he has to settle, he'd rather not start at all.
Just two days ago, Shen An found him and asked him to pretend to be a rural teacher a few times, and then he would use his connections to send him to the city.
He can develop his career in a big city in the future, and things will definitely be better!
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