Hearing Xie Yan's angry grumbling, Yu Yue patted his hand with a smile, "Alright, stop being angry. He doesn't care anymore, he's already forgotten about it, why are you angry! Besides, it happened a long time ago! Fewer people mention it now. I was in school with Wang Cai back then, so it left a deep impression on me."
"Back then, Wang Cai suddenly stopped going to school!"
We were all very curious, wondering what had happened.
"I only found out later that his father had run away and abandoned them!" This was a huge shock for them when they were young!
Xie Yan's thoughts immediately wandered off course, "You even went to school with him!"
Yu Yue nodded. "Yes! He was two years older than me. He was in second grade and I was in first grade. We sat in the same classroom for classes."
Xie Yan turned around to face Yu Yuehui, whose figure was only vaguely visible in the darkness. "Aren't you in different grades? How come you're having class in the same classroom?"
Yu Yue replied matter-of-factly, "We have few teachers!"
Xie Yan frowned. "Even if there are few teachers, there should still be one classroom! And with different grades, how are classes going to be held?"
"It's very simple! When we were in first grade, we did our homework in second grade. When we were in second grade, it was the other way around—we did our homework in first grade. Sometimes when the teacher was busy, the second-grade class monitor would lead us in reading the text!"
Xie Yan was puzzled; this whole thing seemed wrong no matter how she looked at it! They weren't even in the same grade; wouldn't sitting together just be disruptive? "Who proposed and implemented this absurd decision to have the two classes sit together?"
Yu Yue thought for a moment and answered with certainty, "It's Teacher Wang. He's the oldest teacher here, and he makes most of the decisions about things at school."
After thinking for a moment, he added, "Almost!"
Xie Yan was puzzled; this sounded like a very experienced teacher!
So why make this decision in the first place?
Could it be due to some historical reason?
"Have you always had primary schools around here?"
"Yes! It has always existed. My dad and his generation already had this primary school! But it was only a primary school. There was no junior high school. If you wanted to go to junior high school, you had to cross five mountains. There was a junior high school over there! You had to go there to attend junior high school."
“But it’s too far. Most people here only go to elementary school. Over the years, only Wang Feifei has gone to junior high school. He has an aunt who married over there, and he lived with his aunt and that’s how he went to junior high school!”
“The others live too far away, and even families with a little money can’t afford to go. Besides, most people don’t have much money, so only a handful of people can go to school.”
Hearing the envy in Yu Yuehui's voice, Xie Yan reached out and took her hand. He originally wanted to comfort her, but his attention was drawn to her hands. Yu Yuehui's hands had a thick layer of calluses, and there were old scars on the tiger's mouth!
These are the hands of a true working person! They might not be considered beautiful at all! But these hands have provided her with a safe haven!
Yu Yuehui's hand was touched by Xie Yan, which tickled her slightly. She subconsciously flinched away, but this only brought Xie Yan back to his senses. He pulled her hand back, gently stroking her fingertips, and leaned closer to her, asking softly, "Do you want to learn middle school or high school material?"
Yu Yuehui was terrified. Her heart pounded wildly, her hands trembled slightly, and her mouth moved faster than her brain, stammering but with unusual firmness as she refused, "No, no! I can't, I... I've already forgotten everything I learned in elementary school, let alone junior high school! It's definitely not possible!"
After she finished speaking, she carefully let out a sigh of relief!
Xie Yan was startled. How could a single sentence elicit such a strong reaction? This was clearly not right. Moreover, based on his understanding of Yue Hui, what she just said was obviously a lie.
Yu Yue's elementary school textbooks are still well preserved, although the covers are frayed, showing that they are not just left unused! Someone looks at them often, and it goes without saying who that person is.
From his everyday words and actions, Xie Yan could tell that Yue Hui had a natural reverence for scholars, even a bit of blind worship!
The reason she took a liking to him so quickly was largely because he was a sent-down youth and a high school student. In Yu Yuehui's mind, people who could go to high school were all smart.
That won't do! It would be better if I met a college student later!
Xie Yan was determined to break Yu Yuehui's blind worship of knowledge!
He intertwined his fingers, holding Yu Yuehui's hand tightly, and said in a gentle tone, "Don't be afraid, you have to trust me. I'm very good at teaching others! I'll definitely teach you very well. If you feel there's anything you don't know or have forgotten in elementary school, then we'll start learning from elementary school again!"
"Don't feel guilty! Let's treat learning as a pleasure. We'll study when we have time, and if we don't have time, we'll study when we do! There's no exam, so what are you afraid of!"
Yu Yue shook her head again, "No, I'm too stupid! I can't learn it!" Her voice was so soft that Xie Yan wouldn't have been able to hear her if he hadn't had such good hearing!
Xie Yan pinched her cheek. "Who said that? They must be lying to you. I think you're very smart. Even if you don't learn well, it's not your fault. It must be because I didn't teach you well!"
"Shall we give it a try?"
Yu Yue took a deep breath. "Okay! I'll give it a try! If I really can't do it, could you... could you please not yell at me? Or at least yell at me less?"
Xie Yan's eyes darkened; this tone was off! Considering her previous behavior, something must have happened to cause Yu Yuehui to both yearn for and fear studying! So he coaxed, "Why would you think I would scold you?"
Yu Yuehui's body trembled slightly, and it took her a long time to say, "Don't teachers scold and beat stupid students?"
Xie Yan was certain from this reaction that she must have suffered severe oppression at school before, otherwise she wouldn't be so afraid when talking about it!
This was the first time he had ever seen Yu Yuehui so scared. A person who wouldn’t be afraid to go up the mountain all night and confront wolves was actually this scared!
He tried to soften his tone, "How could that be? Don't worry, I definitely won't scold you. Besides, how do you know you can't do it without even trying? What if you're a hidden genius?"
Yu Yue shook her head. "No, I'm really stupid! When I was in school, my teacher said I was the dumbest in our class, like a big black bear!"
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