malicious defamation
The classroom was filled with the sound of students reading aloud.
Xu Tangmian was leading her students in reading the text when she suddenly heard several shouts and curses coming from outside. The voices sounded familiar.
One by one, little heads peered curiously out of the classroom. Xu Tangmian tapped the desk and said in a deep voice, "Free reading! Stay inside, I'm going out to check on things."
Upon exiting the school gate, I saw a disheveled man in rags standing there casually; he looked like Zhi's stepfather. He said he was coming to the school to find her—and he actually dared to come?
Xu Tangmian was not one to swallow her anger, and besides, there were so many people at school, she wasn't afraid of him! She immediately rolled up her sleeves and walked towards the school gate.
The teacher on duty wouldn't let him in, so Liu Peng started cursing loudly in his thick rural accent at the school gate. It was around eight or nine o'clock, and the market next to the school was bustling with people. Hearing his shouts, they all gathered around to watch the spectacle.
"You shameless bastard surnamed Xu! Get out here right now! You've corrupted my daughter and sowed discord between us! I've never seen such a despicable woman, she's a complete troublemaker, and she calls herself a teacher!"
A bystander who knew him asked, "Old Liu, what's wrong? Why are you hurling such nasty insults? Your child is in class."
He then stepped forward with his hands on his hips and said, "Oh, Lao Wang, you don't know, I just got married a few days ago, and I won't even mention that my wife brought a little girl with her. I've been serving that girl the best food and drink, but the little girl won't call me 'Dad' and she even gives me the cold shoulder."
“I’m an adult, so I won’t argue with a child. But this teacher is an adult, and I don’t know where she found out my address, but she brought her lover to my door and insisted on taking my daughter away. She even said things like ‘If you have a stepfather, you have a stepmother,’ and wanted my daughter to go with her. Can you believe she’s a human being?”
"Stop talking nonsense!" Xu Tangmian was furious at his fabricated lies and immediately retorted, "Is anything you said true? Did you really treat them well? Dare to bring your wife over so everyone can see the scar on her face?"
“What business is it of yours if my husband and I have a little argument? Even the police can’t handle this, so why are you interfering?” He pulled the man who had spoken to him earlier over. “Old Wang, you be the judge. How can this be? What couple can live in harmony forever, especially since we’re a second marriage?”
"Oh, people just had a few words and a few punches, and you're going to take their daughter away? Then everyone else in the village might as well give their kids to you to raise."
Xu Tangmian had never seen such a shameless person, and was so angry that she couldn't speak.
Liu Peng, taking advantage of the situation, sneered, "I've heard that neither you nor your partner are from around here. You probably eloped with some random guy, right?"
Xu Tangmian was furious. "Watch your mouth! We are a legally married couple."
"Legal?" Liu Peng walked into the crowd again and shouted, "Everyone come and listen! A teacher at Hongxing Elementary School can't have children, so she brought a pretty boy to snatch the child!"
"Damn it!" Xu Tangmian couldn't help but utter a silent curse, and stepped forward to tear his mouth apart.
After taking only two steps, the principal's voice came from behind: "Teacher Xu, what are you doing!"
Xu Tangmian's eyes were red with anger, and she was about to vent her frustration. When she saw the principal coming over, she couldn't help but complain, "Principal! He's spreading rumors!"
"I didn't spread rumors!" Upon hearing that the visitor was the principal, Liu Peng immediately perked up and stepped forward confidently, pointing at Xu Tangmian and saying, "You dare say you didn't come to my house with your partner yesterday? My wife can vouch for that!"
He then turned to the principal: "This teacher from your school openly came to my door to snatch my daughter, and she even brought her gigolo to beat me up. I'm still in pain!"
"Teacher Xu, is that true?" Principal Ding asked with a serious expression.
Xu Tangmian gritted her teeth and said, "My boyfriend and I did go, but that was because of Zhi... because I hadn't seen that little girl for a long time. I heard she had moved, so I went there. When I got there, I saw him hitting the little girl, so I couldn't help but take the child back with me."
"Who hasn't hit their child?" Liu Peng asked the onlookers with a straight face. "You haven't hit your child? You have, haven't you? I don't believe anyone hasn't hit their child. This is the countryside, and this is how we country folk discipline our children."
"That's not your child at all!" Xu Tangmian said sharply. "Her biological mother has been married to you for less than three days, and it's not even certain if they have a marriage certificate. What right do you have to hit her? No, even if they did have a certificate, you still can't hit her!"
"I knew you'd say that!" Liu Peng suddenly pulled a bright red marriage certificate from his pocket and handed it to Principal Ding: "My child's mother and I are a legally married couple. Shouldn't I discipline the child when she's naughty? Even if I go to the ends of the earth, she'll still be my daughter! When I'm gone, the child will live with her mother in the next man's house. It's not your place to raise her!"
He squinted and gave Xu Tangmian a lewd look, then joked, "You like raising kids, huh? Just have sex with your man a few more times tonight, why bother going to someone else's place?"
"Shut up!" Xu Tangmian slapped him without saying a word.
"Hey!" Liu Peng was furious and immediately tried to pull her away. Principal Ding stepped between the two and sternly rebuked Liu Peng: "What are you doing here! Stop it!"
"Who's arguing with you? She hit me first!"
Principal Ding and several male teachers who had come upon hearing the commotion pushed him aside, pointing their fingers at his nose and yelling, "Are you leaving or not? If you don't, I'll call the militia!"
"Why would I leave! If you don't give me an explanation today, I'm not leaving!"
Principal Ding was also quite angry. He put his hands on his hips and it took him a while to calm down before saying, "Teacher Xu, don't come to school tomorrow."
"Principal?" Xu Tangmian couldn't believe this was the result.
What did she do wrong?
"That's more like it!" Liu Peng spat at her triumphantly. "I told you, you just wait!"
"Principal, you are truly wise and understanding!" He gave the principal a smug fist salute, as if he were acting in an ancient drama, and then rode away humming a song.
“Principal…” Xu Tangmian lowered her head and tried to explain to the principal after he had walked away.
"No need," Principal Ding interrupted her with a raised hand. "I'm very disappointed in you, Teacher Xu."
“I can explain,” Xu Tangmian said again.
"No need to say anything more." The principal interrupted again: "Go back and rest for a few days, and wait for my notification. In the next few days, stay at home and reflect on whether you are truly ready to be a qualified teacher."
The crowd dispersed, and the teachers who had come to help followed the principal into the school. Amidst the various gazes of the crowd, Xu Tangmian, disheartened, walked home with her head down.
Sitting at the kitchen doorway, looking at the withered flowers in the yard and the gray sky, Xu Tangmian felt that her heart was colder than the outdoor temperature.
But the crowing of the chickens in the coop annoyed her again. Xu Tangmian came back to her senses and glanced at the time; it was already 11 a.m.
Yu Chunsheng went to work and no one cooked lunch for her. If she stayed here any longer, besides the situation not improving, she would also end up with a hungry body.
She picked out a nearly rotten cabbage from the vegetable basket, removed the rotten leaves, and looked at the overflowing kitchen waste bin. Only then did she belatedly realize that she no longer needed to feed it to Zhi Meizi's pigs.
After washing and draining the vegetables, Xu Tangmian glanced at the empty soy sauce bottle and saw that it was empty. She then carried the empty bottle across the river to the convenience store on the other side.
The group was chatting happily and no one paid any attention to her arrival.
“I told you long ago that she’s no decent person. What young and pretty girl would leave the city to come to the village to teach these days?”
"You can't say that. Look at Xiao Song, he's from the city too, and he's been working at our clinic for over ten years."
“That’s different from Xiao Song, who’s a man. Look at Xiao Song, he’s over thirty now, and there are still plenty of women who want to date him. That female teacher is chasing after him every day, wanting to date him.”
"Oh? Wasn't she married? She lives right by the bridge."
"It's not the one surnamed Xu, it's another female teacher. The one surnamed Xu is married and lives near the bridge. She was just cornered and verbally abused at the school gate today; the one pursuing Xiao Song is another female teacher, also in her twenties."
Why are you scolding her?
"Didn't Wang Si die a few days ago? He left behind a widow with a son and a daughter. She was kicked out by her mother-in-law and then married that gambler from the fourth team next door. She gave him a lot of money, but he gave it all to his mother-in-law and son."
"The remaining little girl, wasn't she taught by this Teacher Xu for a while before? She took her husband to the gambler's house to try and hug this little girl."
"She deserves to be scolded! If she wants a child, she should have one herself. What's the point of going to someone else to hold a baby? And it's a girl, no less."
"Who doesn't say that! Look, they've been living here for almost half a year now. They might have been married before, but there's still no sign of pregnancy."
"I doubt they can have children. If they could, who would have the time to run around to someone else's house and hold a baby girl?"
Xu Tangmian stood there expressionless and listened for a while until a male voice coughed from inside the shop, at which point the group looked up and saw her.
"Hey, isn't this Teacher Xu...?" A few people who were talking greeted her awkwardly: "Just passing by?"
Xu Tangmian glanced at them coldly, then picked up the empty bottle and left.
"Teacher Xu, wait a minute!" The man limped after him; it was Song Weidong.
"Is there something you need?" Xu Tangmian asked calmly.
“You don’t really need to pay attention to what they say.” Song Weidong said helplessly, “That’s how it is in the village. They have nothing to do all day but gossip.”
"Thank you, I don't mind." Xu Tangmian said and turned to leave.
Song Weidong quickly caught up with him again, "Your husband didn't accompany you today?"
"His arm is healed and he's already back at work."
"How's the letter of introduction coming along?" he pressed. "I heard from Teacher Li that you've been busy with this."
Xu Tangmian stopped. "You have connections?"
Song Weidong smiled shyly, "It's not really a connection. Didn't you always want to get a letter of introduction from your work unit? I have a good relationship with the village committee. If your household registration is here, I can get the village to issue you a letter of introduction."
Xu Tangmian excitedly grabbed his hand, "Really? It really works?"
Song Weidong lowered his head, his gaze falling on their touching hands, and remained silent for a long time.
Xu Tangmian belatedly withdrew her hand. "Sorry, I got a little excited. But was what you just said true?"
"Really." Song Weidong said with a slight smile, "You're going back to Beiping, right? Once you've decided on a time, you can come to the clinic to find me, and I'll have the brigade issue you a permit."
"Thanks!"
"You're welcome!" Song Weidong said, but showed no intention of leaving.
Xu Tangmian had no choice but to ask him again, "Is there anything else?"
"It's nothing." Song Weidong hesitated for a moment before asking, "Will you come back after you return to Beiping?"
"Of course." Xu Tangmian didn't know why he asked that, but thinking about how the principal had just "approved" her leave today, she smiled wryly and said, "If the school still needs me."
“Yes, it will.” Song Weidong looked down at her, his gaze intense: “Life will not let down those who fight for their beliefs.”
Xu Tangmian looked into his burning gaze and subconsciously turned her head away. As she turned, she saw Li Yutao standing on the other side of the river behind her kitchen, hands in her pockets, looking at them with a cold expression.
I don't know how long she stood there.
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