Xu Jianing's Spring
The cafeteria wasn't far from the teaching building; it would only take ten minutes to walk there if you were fast. But the two of them were too leisurely along the way, chatting as they walked, and even blowing on the steamed buns to cool them down before daring to take a bite.
Before pushing open the classroom door, Wen Sheng and Li Qingmiao were still studying the brand-new seating chart to find their positions.
"Why am I still so late?" Li Qingmiao said disappointedly.
"Let me see," Wen Sheng leaned over and looked down the seating chart for her name. "I'll still sit by the window."
Seeing her friend looking downcast, she patted her on the back: "It's okay, this is only temporary. When school starts and we have exams, we should both work hard and try to get good seats to sit together."
After noting down their seats, the two pushed open the classroom door and went inside. They expected it to be as lively and noisy as usual, but it was surprisingly quiet inside. Everyone was sitting upright, and dozens of pairs of eyes were raised in unison, all falling on them. The new homeroom teacher was standing on the podium flipping through the roster.
Wen Sheng was taken aback. She took a half step back and looked at the class sign. She hadn't gone to the wrong place. She then secretly glanced at the wall clock. It wasn't time for the first class yet, and there was no morning reading today, but the whole class had arrived early.
"Report!" Wen Sheng and Li Qingmiao shouted almost in unison, causing the students in the front row to chuckle.
The new homeroom teacher on the podium raised his head, his glasses reflecting the light on his nose, and a pair of cold eyes swept over him from behind the lenses, exuding an imposing aura: "Come in, find your seat and sit down."
The two nodded quickly and hurried to their seats.
The new homeroom teacher closed the roster in her hand and said in a cool voice, "Now that everyone is here, let me give a brief self-introduction."
"My surname is Du, Du Sulan. Starting today, I will be your Chinese teacher and homeroom teacher."
"To check everyone's level, we'll have a short quiz on the first day of school."
The words had barely left his mouth when a low gasp filled the classroom, as everyone secretly groaned, "Huh? The school didn't notify us beforehand."
Du Sulan ignored her and took a stack of test papers from the teacher's desk drawer, handing them to the students in the first row: "Pass them on."
Wen Sheng took the test paper and quickly glanced at the questions. It turned out to be a full recitation of "Memorial to the Throne on the Eve of the Expedition" and "On Teachers", an extracurricular classical Chinese translation, a novel reading appreciation, and a proper essay question.
She looked around and saw that many of her classmates' expressions had changed.
Some students scratched their heads, desperately trying to remember; others tried to secretly pull out their Chinese textbooks from their drawers to copy the answers; the bolder ones had already quietly opened the book a crack and were peeking into the drawer, but before they could copy anything, they met the cold gaze of the teacher on the podium and had to sheepishly put the book back down.
Du Sulan glanced at the clock and said calmly from the podium, "Two class periods are enough."
The entire class was caught off guard by this unexpected quiz on the first day of school.
When the bell rang, Du Sulan reminded everyone, "Time's up. Stop writing and pass the papers forward."
A collective sigh of relief filled the classroom. The test papers were passed around one by one, and once the last one was collected, Du Sulan picked up the papers and left without looking back, leaving the class looking at each other in bewilderment.
Wen Sheng's temporary deskmate was a shy girl. After collecting the papers, she still clutched her pen tightly in her hand. After hesitating for a long time, she mustered up her courage and whispered:
"Um... how did your essay go?"
“Me?” Wen Sheng recalled for a moment, “This time the argumentative essay is about the topic of ‘Youth and Responsibility’. I wrote that young people should dare to take responsibility, and my responsibility is to enable more girls to go to school.”
"More girls? Shouldn't it be 'more people'?" The classmate asked cautiously, puzzled.
Wen Sheng explained in a low voice, "I wrote it based on what I saw. I have never seen any boys around me have their chance to study blocked. Most of the time, if they want to continue their studies, they can do so naturally. Some people even have the opportunity but choose to give it up."
She paused, her eyes darkening slightly: "But it's different for girls. They clearly have good grades, even work harder than boys, but they're often shut down by the phrase, 'What's the point of girls studying so much?' Some are called home to help take care of their younger siblings, others are advised to prepare for marriage early. Tell me, should their desire to study be suppressed like this?"
My deskmate paused for a moment, his eyes slowly widening, before finally nodding in agreement: "You're right."
She looked down at the cap of her pen, then pursed her lips. "Your point of view is quite fresh. Most people probably write things like 'Young people should serve their country' or 'Serve the people.'"
Wen Sheng tilted her head and asked, "Doesn't what I'm doing count as serving my country? Enabling more girls to study and do more things in the future is also contributing to the country's strength, isn't it?"
Zhang Qin didn't expect her to answer like that. It was also the first time she realized that the so-called "serving the country" was not just an empty phrase written in an essay, but could also be a deep-seated conviction like Wen Sheng's in real life.
“You’re right,” Zhang Qin agreed softly, a slight upturn at the corners of her lips. “I’ve never thought of it that way before.”
"My name is Wen Sheng."
"My name is Zhang Qin, and I'm from the capital."
"capital?!!!"
"Then why did you come to study in our small county?"
Zhang Qin seemed to have anticipated her reaction, and said with a smile, "My parents were transferred here for work, so they brought me along. They live in the provincial capital, and they heard that Cangzhong High School is better than Shizhong High School, so they arranged for me to come here."
Wen Sheng continued, "So how did you get here? Cangshui County is so far from the capital, so very far!"
"Take a plane, fly from the capital to the provincial capital, and then take a train and then a bus."
"Fly, airplane?!" Wen Sheng's hand, which was gesturing the distance in mid-air, suddenly froze. She had only heard the word "airplane" in magazines and radio news. In her impression, it was something that only important national officials and cadres on overseas business trips could ride, which was ridiculously expensive and not something she could imagine in her daily life.
Zhang Qin was amused by her reaction and asked, "Wen Sheng, are you from the provincial capital?"
“No,” Wen Sheng shook his head and said frankly, “I’m from the village. I finished elementary school in the village and went to junior high school in the town. I only came to the county to attend high school this year.”
Zhang Qin looked Wen Sheng up and down carefully, her eyes full of surprise. "But you don't look like one at all. You look like a city person, with fair and delicate skin. You're even prettier than my former classmates."
Wen Sheng's ears burned with embarrassment at the praise, but before she could respond, she heard someone behind her deliberately drawling out the words:
"Wen-Sheng-"
She turned around and saw Li Qingmiao, who excitedly approached her. "Want to go down and jump rope together?"
“Okay, okay! Zhang Qin, do you want to come along?” Wen Sheng immediately turned around and asked.
Zhang Qin looked slightly troubled and shook her head: "I'm not in good health, I can't do too much strenuous exercise..."
“It’s okay, you can count the beats from the side,” Wen Sheng said.
“Yeah, you be the referee. If we step on the rubber band, you yell ‘Foul!’” Li Qingmiao said with a grin.
Zhang Qin nodded: "Okay, then I'll be the referee."
As they talked, the three of them walked together towards the open space outside the teaching building. The sun was shining brightly on the open space, and several tall locust trees cast dappled shadows, making the entire open space shady.
The long break had just begun, and the open space was already packed with people. The sound of basketballs going up and down echoed from the basketball court, accompanied by cheers and shouts of approval. In the shadows near the teaching building, a group of girls clapped and sang nursery rhymes, while further away, several rubber bands were stretched out, and seven or eight girls were jumping in groups.
Li Qingmiao shouted at one of the girls' teams, "Can we add more people? We have two people plus a referee."
"Sure, sure!" The girl playing jump rope waved, "We're short-handed, come on over."
Wen Sheng and Li Qingmiao exchanged a glance, then immediately ran over with smiles to join the jump rope team. Zhang Qin found a shady spot to sit down, put her hands on her knees, and watched them with a smile.
At the same time, in the corridor on the second floor, the second-year (1) class had just finished a physics quiz. Xu Jianing and Li Changshui stood side by side by the railing to get some fresh air.
Li Changshui looked up and sighed deeply, leaning against the railing: "Ugh, this quiz was a disaster. I couldn't write a single word on the electromagnetism questions in the second half, and I've forgotten all the mechanics formulas."
"Why can't Newton possess me?"
Xu Jianing remained calm, unscrewed the kettle, took a sip of water, and replied in a low voice, "It's difficult to begin with, I'll write as much as I can."
"Don't try to comfort me." Li Changshui turned to look at him. "Someone like you has probably finished writing it all, ugh, ten times over, right? Don't think I don't know."
Xu Jianing did not deny it, but simply put the lid on the kettle and gave a faint "hmm".
Li Changshui rolled his eyes, about to complain a few more times, when he suddenly noticed that Xu Jianing's gaze was fixed downstairs and hadn't moved away for a long time.
He followed the gaze and saw several rubber bands stretched out on the open ground in front of the teaching building, with girls laughing and jumping around energetically. One of the figures with a ponytail stood out, and it was Wen Sheng.
Li Changshui's eyes darted around, and he immediately understood. A mischievous smile crept onto his lips, and he nudged the person next to him with his elbow.
Xu Jianing raised an eyebrow, then looked away and said, "Let's go."
Where are you going?
"Come with me to see which spot in the teaching building is the best for moon viewing."
So the two of them, one in front of the other, looked around the entire teaching building from one end of the corridor to the other, checking almost every spot where they could lean against the railing.
First, the front of the second floor was mostly blocked by the branches and leaves of the locust tree by the field. Xu Jianing frowned and drew a big X on his notebook.
Continuing to the side, "the west side of the second floor offers a wide view, but there are streetlights that will affect the observation."
Li Changshui peeked to the other side and asked, "Aren't we going to the east?"
Xu Jianing's expression remained unchanged: "The teachers' offices are on the east side."
The two continued upstairs to the third floor. Xu Jianing glanced at the sky and nodded: "The third floor is higher than the second floor, so it can avoid some of the tree branches. It's barely acceptable." He wrote "The view is acceptable" in his notebook.
Li Changshui snapped his fingers and suggested, "What about the rooftop?"
Xu Jianing walked towards the stairs, her expression unchanged: "I went there a long time ago, the door was locked."
"What about the open space outside the first-year high school area? It won't block the view, will it?" Li Changshui asked again, still not giving up.
Xu Jianing paused, turning her head to look at the railing beside her. She saw Wen Sheng jumping rope with her ponytail swinging in the open space below, her smile bright and radiant.
"Spring has arrived." His eyes softened, and the corners of his lips gently curved up as he murmured to himself.
"Spring?! It's still more than a month away, the Spring Equinox hasn't even arrived yet." Li Changshui heard this and curled his lip in disdain. "How come you've forgotten all your geography knowledge after studying science?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Jianing gave him a cold glance, and Li Changshui immediately shut up.
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