Chapter 4 Getting Lost [X: Time to eat.]
As soon as Mu Tingyu entered the classroom, more than a dozen pairs of clear eyes, like bright searchlights, shone on her.
One of the bolder children spoke up: "Who are you?"
Mu Tingyu made a "shh" gesture and said mysteriously, "I am a fairy who has come down to earth for training."
"Really?" said an older child. "I don't believe you. Do you have magic?"
"Hmm..." Mu Tingyu frowned, feigning distress, "Fairies who descend to the mortal realm can't just use magic casually, but..."
She rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a handful of colorful fruit candies, saying with a smile, "I can conjure up candies!"
The children exclaimed "Wow!" and all crowded around.
Mu Tingyu placed candy in the hands of each child, including the little boy Shitou whom she had met yesterday.
Shi Tou stood awkwardly at the back, and only after all the children had been led did Mu Tingyu wave to him, and he stepped forward.
Mu Tingyu pulled his somewhat dirty hand over, winked at him mischievously, and whispered, "We meet again."
He stammered, "Teacher Mu, Teacher Mu."
Mu Tingyu opened his palm and let him choose a flavor. He pursed his lips and chose an orange flavor, then pulled his hand behind his back.
"Alright, alright, everyone, sit back down." Seeing that the classroom was about to become chaotic, Zhuang Ren quickly spoke up to maintain order and introduced Teacher Mu, the "ringleader of the trouble," "Classmates, this is our new teacher this semester, and she will be teaching you all with me from now on!"
Mu Tingyu picked up the chalk and wrote her name on the blackboard stroke by stroke.
The children didn't recognize the character for "shepherd," so they all chanted in a drawn-out voice, "Listen—"
They listened for a long time, but they didn't quite recognize the next character, "语" (yǔ), so they all started shouting, "Listen to the teacher!"
Mu Tingyu was amused: "It's Teacher Mu! It sounds like the 'mu' in 'tree.' Say it after me, Teacher Mu!"
The crowd below shouted "Teacher Mu" in unison, while others continued to call out "Teacher Tingting".
Mu Tingyu thought "Listen to Teacher" sounded nice too, so she smiled and agreed to each one.
To make work easier, Mu Tingyu brought almost all simple and convenient clothes. At this moment, she was wearing a plain white T-shirt and light-colored jeans, without any makeup, and her eyebrows and eyes were curved.
She has a very cheerful personality; her smile is bright but not ostentatious, like a jasmine flower fluttering in the wind.
Zhuang Ren silently repeated the three words "Mu Tingyu" to himself several times, his ears turning red.
Mu Tingyu sat down on an empty chair to the side, and Zhuang Ren continued the lecture he had just given.
The children in the classroom all looked to be six or seven years old, with a few slightly older ones, but none exceeding ten years old, and all had dark skin.
Their clothes had loose, baggy necklines and were almost completely faded from washing; some even had their chest prints worn off. They wore old sandals or simply dirty slippers.
Mu Tingyu gestured for the fifth child to turn around and look at her child listening attentively to the lesson.
Addition and subtraction are not beyond the curriculum for these children, and the older ones have already learned equations, but their minds are clearly not on the lesson.
After finally getting through half an hour, Zhuang Ren was exhausted from talking and said he wanted to take a break.
The children immediately flew out of the classroom through the doors and windows like birds with wings, gathering in groups in the open space in front of and behind the door, and magically producing all sorts of strange and wonderful little things from their pockets that Mu Tingyu couldn't name.
Zhuang Ren walked up to her and said with a wry smile, "The children aren't very enthusiastic about learning, I'm sorry to have made you laugh."
“So what?” Mu Tingyu saw a few little boys squatting by the window whispering to each other, as if they were watching insects. She said, “It’s normal for kids not to like studying. When I was little, I used to make a fuss about wanting to be a mountain king every day, and my mom would chase after me and beat me.”
Zhuang Yi looked surprised: "Really? I didn't realize that."
"Can't you tell?" Mu Tingyu looked away, her tone serious. "When I was little, I was so naughty I was practically climbing on the roof. My teacher called my parents to complain that I wasn't studying properly at school and was always encouraging my classmates to climb trees and steal bird eggs. So my parents had to give me a boiled egg every day before school so I wouldn't even think about the birds in the trees."
Zhuang Ren couldn't help but laugh: "Your parents are quite interesting too. Judging from your tone, you have a very good relationship with them, right?"
Mu Tingyu looked out the window, a smile playing on her lips: "Yes."
She asked, "And you? Are you from the village?"
Zhuang Ren nodded.
"How did you come up with the idea of becoming a teacher?"
"Ah...that's a long story." Zhuang Ren scratched his head. "My parents were very insistent on my education from a young age, saying that education would lead to a better future. But there were no schools in the village at the time, so they would rather save money themselves to send me to the town school. Later, I went out and studied until I graduated from university and found a job in the city. But not long after I started working, I realized that I didn't want to stay in the city. I wanted to go home, so I quit my job and came back."
"Isn't that pathetic?" Zhuang Ren said, sounding very embarrassed. "My parents don't understand me either, and we even had a big fight."
"Whether you succeed or not is up to you to decide." Mu Tingyu shook her head, her gaze falling on the large, leafy tree by the door. Two little girls were sitting on the tiles under the tree, whispering to each other. "Besides, people don't live for the sake of success. You didn't come here to teach to become successful, did you?"
Zhuang Ren followed her gaze and looked over. “There are very few people in the village as thoughtful as my parents. They all think that studying is useless, and that it’s enough for people to be able to work. The children here can help with farm work and beachcombing by the age of ten, and they start fishing at sea at fifteen. They get married and have children by the age of twenty. I have been educated, so I don’t want backward thinking to be passed down from generation to generation.”
He paused, looked at the children outside the window, and said with a touch of melancholy, "It's not that I want them to reach a certain level of education. It's just that people always need to recognize some words and understand some principles; they can't stay trapped in a well forever."
“You did the right thing,” Mu Tingyu affirmed him. “And you are very courageous and decisive.”
Zhuang Ren's face flushed red instantly.
Her fingers tapped rhythmically on the windowsill, her tone slightly playful: "Others may not understand you, but that's okay. Do you feel like you're doing something meaningful?"
Zhuang Ren didn't dare to look up at her, but his tone was firm: "Yes!"
"That's good," Mu Tingyu said with relief. "Isn't that what people live for—for these intangible meanings?"
Zhuang Ren finally felt the heat on his face subside a bit. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Mu Tingyu walking towards the door.
He couldn't help but ask, "Where are you going?"
Mu Tingyu's back was beaming with excitement, and her voice was light and cheerful as she said, "I'm going to see if there are any bird eggs on that tree!"
.
After class in the evening, the children walked out of the classroom in pairs.
"Did they walk home by themselves?" Mu Tingyu asked curiously, peeking out.
“Yes, they know the village very well; they’ve been playing together since they were kids.” Zhuang Ren wiped the blackboard with a rag, raising a cloud of dust. “But they don’t go home now.”
Mu Tingyu glanced at the setting sun: "Is it lunchtime?"
"It's still early. People in the village don't eat until it gets dark," Zhuang Ren chuckled. "Is it a little unusual? They go to watch the tide go out and then collect some sea snails and mantis shrimps in the wet mud. If they're lucky, they might even find crabs."
"I see..." Mu Tingyu stroked her chin thoughtfully.
A short while later, Zhuang Ren finished cleaning the classroom and prepared to close the door. As she walked out, she took out her phone.
As soon as I turned on the screen, a new message popped up.
[X: Let's eat.]
Mu Tingyu looked up at the setting sun. The sky was bathed in a hazy yellow light. The sun had just reached the top of the mountain and looked like a sizzling salted egg yolk.
She touched her stomach and lowered her head to type.
[Ignoring: Okay! I'm coming back!]
There was no further reply.
Mu Tingyu hopped on her bicycle and waved goodbye to Zhuang Ren.
Zhuang Ren arrived on foot. He glanced at the bicycle and asked, "Teacher Mu, are you staying at Brother Xing's house now?"
Mu Tingyu: "Yes."
"Do you know the way back? Do you want me to take you home?"
"No need!" Mu Tingyu waved her hand. "I remember."
She made a point of remembering the way when she came!
Zhuang Ren didn't insist any further, scratched his head and said, "Okay... then be careful on the road."
Relying on the route in her memory, Mu Tingyu chose one of the many forks in the country road and confidently rode back.
Soon, she came to a stop with a creak under an unfamiliar large tree, looking around blankly.
Why are there so many forks in the road?!
She doesn't remember there being this many when she came!
She hesitated for a moment, then chose a road that seemed familiar. She rode forward for a while, but the scenery around her became increasingly unfamiliar, and the road became narrower and narrower, so she had to stop.
It looks like it's going to ride to someone else's house.
She returned the way she came, only to find herself in an even more remote place. There were no buildings around, only dense thickets that blocked her view.
Mu Tingyu stood there, bewildered.
Damn, she seems to be lost!
She made a quick decision and pulled out her phone to call for help.
X's chat window was quiet. Mu Tingyu moved her finger and made a voice call.
A few seconds later, the phone was answered, and Xing Ze's deep voice came through: "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry, Xing Ze," Mu Tingyu apologized immediately, her voice sincere. "Although I really don't want to trouble you, could you please come and pick me up? I, uh, I'm a little lost."
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end. "Where are you?"
“I…” Mu Tingyu rarely stumbled over her words. She looked around and honestly said, “I don’t know.”
"......"
Fearing that the other party might hang up in anger, Mu Tingyu quickly added, "I didn't mean to. There are too many forks in the road back, and I got them mixed up. I don't know which road I'm on now. There are a lot of trees around, and... wait, there seems to be a graveyard over there."
Mu Tingyu stopped the car, took a few steps closer, and looked through the gaps between the tree trunks and weeds. There were many stone tablets standing there indistinctly.
She parted the weeds with her hand, took a step forward, and felt her foot sink slightly into the soft soil. Her voice trembled slightly as she said, "It's... a cemetery, there seem to be quite a few tombstones..."
Xing Ze suddenly said, "I know, stay where you are."
Upon hearing this, she obediently withdrew her foot: "Okay."
A note from the author:
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