Chapter 11 School Opening (Revised)
Since that conversation that night, Gu Yin has not left the house.
"Ayin, how come your English is so good!" Gu Hua looked at Gu Yin's homework in surprise.
When Gu Yin went abroad to find Zhou Tengfei in her previous life, she suffered a great loss because of her poor English. After returning, she worked hard to learn it. She was a little worried that her younger brother and older brother might be kidnapped abroad, and she was afraid that she would be delayed because of the language problem when she went to find them. So she put a lot of effort into learning English.
"If you learn phonetics well, you'll know almost everything. Elementary school English isn't difficult!" Gu Yin smiled and took out her Chinese textbook. She mainly wanted to memorize some classical poems because she was worried she would forget them during the entrance exam.
There's no need to worry about math; the hardest part is word problems. After all, she was older in her previous life, so those childish word problems are no problem for her at all.
Gu Hua nodded and turned to get some calligraphy practice books.
"I really can't compliment your handwriting. Please take advantage of the summer vacation to practice your handwriting. We don't expect it to be as flowing as a master's, but at least it should be neat and clean! Look at your composition, it looks like a bunch of scribbles! Your teacher is so kind to still give you points. If it were me, I would have given you zero! Even Ah Le writes better than you!"
Gu Le chuckled as he received the praise.
Gu Yin sighed helplessly. It wasn't that she couldn't write neat characters, but she felt that writing like that was too restrictive and uncomfortable. Although messy handwriting wasn't pretty, it had soul.
"001, do you have any way to improve my handwriting?" Gu Yin asked tentatively.
001: "Practice more"
Still so concise and to the point.
Gu Yin put down her Chinese textbook and picked up a calligraphy copybook to start practicing.
“Well, when you’re old enough to practice calligraphy, I can let you practice Mr. Wang’s calligraphy.”
These words caught Gu Yin completely off guard.
"Mr. Wang? Is he the Mr. Wang I know from history who is known as the 'Sage of Calligraphy'?!"
001 proudly declared, "Who else could it be? This is my master's treasure. Host, if you perform well, you'll get everything you want!"
Gu Yin was excited. It's just practicing calligraphy! She'll practice! She'll practice even if she has to skip meals!
Gu Hua looked at Gu Yin, who had suddenly become agitated for no apparent reason, and shook her head helplessly.
Is anyone home?
There was a knock on the door.
“It’s the village chief’s voice. I’ll go check it out.” Gu Hua said, getting up.
Just as Li Sen was about to knock on the door again, he saw Gu Hua come out.
"Ah Hua, is Ah Yin home?"
Gu Hua nodded: "Yes!" Then she shouted: "Ayin, the village chief is looking for you!"
Li Sen found a stool and sat down, and then saw Gu Yin and Gu Le come out together.
"Haven't you finished harvesting your millet yet?" Not seeing any adults around, Li Sen asked casually.
Gu Yin shook her head: "They've finished harvesting. Grandma and the others went to the back mountain to harvest peanuts. Village Chief, is there something you need?"
Li Sen nodded: "That's right. You saved Xiao Mu from drowning before, you know, the CPR thing. I was thinking since you haven't started school yet, I'll organize some people. See if you can teach them. There are too many kids in the village. They all go to the river in the summer. Accidents are inevitable. We can only learn more life-saving skills!"
Gu Yin thought for a moment and shook her head: "My ability is limited after all, and my injury has not healed yet, so I cannot do strenuous exercise for a long time. Village chief, you can report to the higher-ups and ask the hospital to arrange some doctors or nurses to teach in schools or villages. They are professional and more trustworthy. After all, I am old, and many people do not take it seriously."
Li Sen's eyes lit up; he thought this was a good idea: "Is the hospital really willing?"
Gu Yin nodded: "Definitely, this is also a preventative measure, and it can also reduce their burden, since drowning incidents occur frequently every summer."
Li Sen stood up: "Then I'll go back and write a report now! Thank you, Ayin!"
Gu Yin smiled and shook her head: "No need, village chief. You can go to the county and buy a few swimming rings and put them in places with water. Also, put a few long bamboo poles there. If someone is drowning, and the people nearby can't swim, they can use these things to save them!" In the previous life, the village had these things, and there was also a safety officer who patrolled the villages every morning and evening. However, that was arranged by the government, and he was paid a salary.
"That's a great idea! Okay, I'll go to the county to buy it this afternoon! You guys have fun, I'm off!" With that, he hurried away.
On September 1st, the weather was still very hot. Even though it wasn't market day, the town was more lively than usual.
"How about we take A-Shu and the other two to No. 2 Middle School to register first, and then take A-Le to the primary school?" Li Mengxin asked Li Xiang while putting a baseball cap on Gu Yin.
Li Xiang nodded: "Okay, the junior high school is a bit more complicated, let's go there first. If it gets late, we can go to the market to buy them stationery and school bags, and then register A-Le in the afternoon. Elementary school is very easy."
After saying that, she looked at Gu Yin, who was wearing a hat, and laughed, "After staying at home for more than half a month, I've finally gotten a little whiter. It's just that my hair hasn't grown long yet, so I look a bit like a tomboy. By the end of this winter, my hair should be shoulder-length."
Gu Yin looked at herself in the mirror and nodded: "I am a bit fairer, not bad, and I look a bit prettier too."
Seeing her narcissistic expression, everyone laughed helplessly.
"Stop being silly, let's go!" Li Mengxin patted Gu Yin, grabbed her bag, and then pushed her old bicycle out the door.
The road was long, so they needed to ride bicycles. Li Mengxin took Gu Yin and Gu Le with her. Gu Le sat on the horizontal bar in front, and Gu Yin sat on the back. Gu Shu originally wanted to go with his friends from the village, but Li Xiang wouldn't give him money, so he had no choice but to sit on the back like Gu Yin. Gu Hua sat on the horizontal bar in front of Li Xiang.
Gu Yin was initially quite excited, but she couldn't take it anymore halfway there. Although the road was a dirt road, there were also many stones. By the time she was halfway there, her whole body felt like it was falling apart! She was feeling completely jolted! If the road hadn't been so long, she would have walked! It was too much suffering!
In my past life, the cement road wouldn't be built until next year, so we have to wait another year!
"I wonder if Qinglang and my older brother have bought bicycles yet. They'll be going to school in a couple of days!" Li Mengxin said, panting as she rode with some difficulty.
“It should be possible. Other people in the village who went a few days in advance have already bought them!” Li Xiang replied loudly.
There are two middle schools in the town, No. 1 Middle School and No. 2 Middle School. No. 1 Middle School is relatively far from the town, on the way to the county, so most students from the town and surrounding areas attend No. 2 Middle School.
In junior high school, we had to attend evening study sessions until 10:30 p.m., which meant that after school ended at 5:30 p.m., we would go home, have dinner, and then rush back to school. Evening self-study would start at 7:20 p.m., followed by two classes, and school would end at 10:30 p.m. So everyone needed a bicycle, and in winter it got dark quickly, so walking wasn't safe.
Gu Shu had always hitched rides with people from the same village, while Gu Hua was driven around by her family. This year, her family had just sold their corn and more than ten chickens weighing seven or eight pounds each, which gave them enough money to buy three bicycles.
Bicycles are still quite expensive now, costing over 300 yuan each. Gu Yin remembers that a bowl of noodles on the street only costs 1.5 yuan, and meat only costs 5 yuan per kilogram. Compared to bicycles costing several hundred yuan, they are indeed very expensive.
But there was no other way; it was a necessary part of studying. The three children in the Gu family were in different grades, and sometimes they even got out of school at different times. Gu Shu was even more out of the ordinary; after school in the evening, he would go home with the boys from the village to stay. These young men were incredibly bold!
The Second Middle School isn't actually very big. It has two basketball courts, a football field, a three-story teaching building with six classrooms on each floor, a research building with the same number of floors and rooms, a three-story dormitory building for male and female students with six large communal sleeping rooms on each floor, as well as teachers' dormitories and a canteen. There's also a three-story building with two classrooms for teachers. You can see the entire school from all of these.
The once bustling campus was now overgrown with weeds because no one had visited for two months, and the fallen leaves on the ground were almost ankle-deep.
"Sigh, the first day of school is cleaning. I'll take a sickle later. I'm not taking a hoe this year. It's inconvenient and heavy!" Gu Hua sighed helplessly as she stepped on the fallen leaves.
Gu Yin has a memory of spring cleaning. From elementary school to junior high school, the first thing to do at the beginning of each school year was spring cleaning.
Even the trees planted in the school were planted by their homeroom teacher during their physical education class. After graduating from junior high, those trees would be sold, and the money would be used to pay for the graduation dinner. The homeroom teacher would then use the remaining money to buy more trees for the new students to plant.
"Should we pay the tuition first or go find Teacher Mo Wen and the others?" Early in the morning, Gu Qinglang put the banner in Li Mengxin's bag and specifically told them not to forget it.
"There are too many people. Let's find your name first and see which class you're in. After you pay your tuition, we'll go to the office." Gu Shu led everyone to the bulletin board and started looking for Gu Yin's name.
In her previous life, Gu Yin was in Class 5 when school started, but she was later assigned to Experimental Class 2 after the entrance exam, so she went directly to Class 5 to look for her.
Sure enough, her name appeared in Class 5.
"They're in Class 5. Let's go register." Gu Yin pulled them out of the crowd and headed towards the teaching building.
The classrooms on the first floor were all occupied by teachers, finance staff, and insurance personnel. They went to Class 5, and Gu Yin gave her her name. While processing her enrollment, the teacher informed her, "Classes officially start on the 3rd, at 8:20 AM. Find your seats when you arrive at the classroom, and then wait for the teacher to arrive. Books will be distributed that day. There will be a big cleaning in the afternoon, so remember to bring your tools—anything you like. The entrance exam is on the 4th, so you don't need to know my name now. You might not be in my class after the exam. There won't be evening study sessions for the first week, so you can get used to it. You'll start attending them from the second week. You'll need to bring three jin of rice and 27 yuan to the canteen to exchange for meal tickets. You can eat lunch and dinner at home or at school, but breakfast must be eaten at school. Okay, that's all. If you have any questions later, you can ask your homeroom teacher after you've been assigned to your classes." After saying that, the teacher stamped several times, gave the receipt to Gu Yin, and waved for the next person to come up.
When Gu Yin finished, Gu Shu and Gu Hua had already finished and were chatting with their classmates next to the flower bed.
Upon seeing Gu Yin emerge, the two hurried over.
"How is it? Is it okay now?" Gu Hua reached out and took the receipt from Gu Yin's hand. After looking at it and seeing that there were no problems, she put it into the uniform bag.
Gu Yin nodded and looked at her mother: "Shall we go to the teachers' building?"
"Let's go." The group then headed towards the teachers' building.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com