Chapter 7 Going to a School in the Middle of Nowhere
Xu Sirui felt numb after only being in the village for a few days, and he thought this was an extremely dangerous signal.
He considers himself a person who can neither be said to love life that much nor to hate life that much. Being indifferent to life is normal, while being numb to life is rare. Although the two seem similar at first glance, their core are completely different. The former is at best a synonym for dullness, while the latter is a precursor to mental illness.
Driven by anxiety and fear, the desire to go home has escalated into an urgency.
**
When he woke up the next day, the numbness was slightly relieved because Xu Sirui was frightened again - going to school.
The school was five kilometers away from Zhujia Village. He had thought they would take a bullock cart, but Zhu Yingning said the carts were reserved for the villagers: "We'll walk to school."
"But my foot isn't healed yet?" He felt like he was listening to a fairy tale.
Zhu Yingning explained in a considerate manner: "I know, that's why I woke you up early. An hour is enough time for us to walk slowly."
“…”
He had never suffered such torture as walking five kilometers to go to school even when he was not injured. But now he had to drag his injured leg, use crutches, and limp towards a school built deep in the mountains, recorded by countless cameras.
He had no unrealistic expectations of the school. He knew with a simple calculation what kind of educational resources could possibly exist in such a remote mountain village. But in stark contrast to her reserved image of a few days ago, Zhu Yingning seemed like a completely different person when she mentioned school, her eyes sparkling. She even took the initiative to introduce the school to him, even though he didn't want to hear it.
Things like "Our head teacher is a Chinese teacher. He is very knowledgeable and very nice to students. He has lent me many books to read" and "Although the school is not big, everyone cherishes the opportunity to go to school"... He listened to all of them in one ear and out the other. The words flowed away from his hollow ear holes like river water.
When they arrived at the destination, they looked up and saw, as expected, a school that was not even as big as the gymnasium of their previous school standing alone at the foot of the mountain. There was no village or shop around it, not even a small store.
"Why not build the school in town?" He didn't understand.
Zhu Yingning smiled shyly. "There is a school in town, but it's too far from our home. This school is built at the midpoint of several nearby villages. All the children around here who can't go to town like me can go to school here."
...Okay.
The school was so small that its layout was easily discernible at a glance. The main entrance led to a single, five-story teaching building. To the right of the building was a 50-meter running track and a tattered basketball hoop. To the left was a row of small houses, likely housing staff. Clothes hung on clotheslines outside.
At this time, many students came up and when they saw Xu Sirui, they couldn't help but cast curious glances at him.
There was no way around it. Anyone who was on crutches and followed by a bunch of photographers would inevitably attract attention. What's more, he was a stranger, not wearing a school uniform, tall and handsome, with skin so white that it reflected light, like a walking light bulb, which made him even more eye-catching.
Xu Da Dengbao followed Zhu Yingning towards the teaching building. After going up a few floors, he realized the problem: "Is your school a combined elementary and junior high school?"
"Yes," she said, "the first three floors are the elementary school, and the fourth and fifth floors are the junior high school."
The Grade 8 classroom is on the fifth floor and there is only one class, Grade 8 (1).
The teacher had not arrived yet, but most of the students in the classroom had arrived. When they saw Xu Sirui walk in, everyone raised their heads and looked at him.
Xu Sirui felt uncomfortable being stared at like a monkey. He couldn't help but tsk, and asked Zhu Yingning unhappily, "Where do I sit?"
"You can sit in my brother's seat, right in front of me." She pointed to a seat for him.
Xu Sirui moved over and sat down.
His new deskmate was a chubby, round-headed boy with a clear, foolish look in his eyes. He seemed quite interested in him, constantly glancing at him from the corner of his eye, a sight that made him wonder if he was squinting. Unfortunately, Xu Sirui wasn't the easygoing type, disinclined to engage with anyone. Even when he received attempts at friendship, he simply ignored them. He'd come to school with the sole intention of earning points, so he hadn't even brought a bag, paper, or pen.
I was planning to lie down on the desk to catch up on some sleep, but before I could do that, a voice suddenly rang out from the podium: "Please turn to page 17 of your Chinese textbook—"
This familiar voice made Xu Sirui stunned for a moment. He turned around and saw that Zhu Yingning's seat behind him was empty. The person who was supposed to sit in the seat suddenly appeared on the podium. It turned out that she was the leader of the morning reading.
He found it a little funny, shook his head and went to sleep.
"Xu Sirui."
Before he could find a comfortable position, he was called out. He raised his head angrily and glared at Zhu Yingning on the podium.
She wasn't frightened by him at all. Holding the textbook, she said in a businesslike manner, "Please turn to page 17 of the Chinese textbook. Don't let the whole class waste time waiting for you."
"?"
Xu Sirui almost wanted to vomit blood, "I didn't bring my textbook, didn't you see everything?"
"My brother's textbook is under your desk," she reminded him.
Xu Sirui felt under the table, and damn, there was actually a stack of textbooks.
The whole class was looking at him, the camera was facing him, he could have continued to fall asleep, but only a god could sleep soundly in such a situation. He felt that he was not yet able to reach that level, so he had to take out his Chinese textbook, flipped a page at random, and perfunctorily lip-synced to the rhythm of other students' morning reading, pretending that he was also reading in the morning.
In Xu Sirui's impression, morning reading has always been lackluster, with only first and second grade students having the enthusiasm to read aloud. But he didn't know what was going on in this class. Everyone seemed to be injected with chicken blood and read exceptionally loudly, especially the chubby boy next to him. He straightened his back, looked straight ahead, and shouted so loudly that his throat was about to be torn out, causing his eardrums to hurt.
After finally making it to the end of morning reading, Xu Sirui felt his head was buzzing.
The first class was English. The English teacher was a woman in her forties with a serious temperament. She wore a pair of thick glasses on her nose and had two clear nasolabial folds at the corners of her mouth.
"Class begin." she said.
"Stand up!" Zhu Yingning's passionate and loud voice came again from behind.
“…”
Xu Sirui stood up along with the rest of the class and greeted them weakly, wondering if Zhu Yingning might have served as any other class leader besides being the morning reading leader and class monitor.
Then, as if to verify his conjecture, the next day, he witnessed the limits of human multitasking.
When the physics teacher asked the physics representative to stand up and distribute the test papers, Zhu Yingning stood up.
When the math teacher asked the math representative to help organize the homework, Zhu Yingning stood up.
When the Chinese teacher asked the Chinese department representative to come to the stage and read the model essay, Zhu Yingning stood up.
…
After a whole day of classes, Xu Sirui couldn't help but count silently in her mind and found that except for the cultural and arts committee member and the sports committee member, all other class cadre positions fell on her.
This efficient exploitation of human resources is not only reflected in students, but even teachers are not spared.
The stern, old-fashioned English teacher who had taught them in the morning was unexpectedly in math class in the afternoon. The Chinese teacher, who was also the homeroom teacher, also taught music, art, and physical education. Politics, geography, and history were all taught by a single liberal arts teacher, as were physics, biology, and chemistry. Eleven subjects in total, but only four teachers, covering all classes from grade seven to grade nine.
With such a small number of teachers working around the clock, you can imagine the teaching quality.
After a day of classes, Xu Sirui didn't fall asleep much because it was so funny. He felt like he had watched a day of comedy for free.
It's funny to hear the English teacher's dialect accent when reading English, it's funny to hear the biology teacher mistakenly identify mitochondria as chloroplasts, and it's also funny to hear the geography teacher mistakenly say Gansu Province as Gansu City.
Of course, the funniest thing is the music class in the afternoon.
The head teacher brought an electronic keyboard and prepared for the class for a long time. He said, "Students, today we are going to learn a very beautiful, elegant and charming Chinese pop music." Then he lowered his head and played the melody of "Let's Row the Boat Together".
By the early 2010s, the peak of the Chinese pop music scene had faded, but its afterglow lingered. Everybody on the streets could sing a few songs by Jay Chou and JJ Lin. The soundtrack to "Chinese Paladin III" became a nationwide hit, along with the TV series. The favorite song for square dancers was Phoenix Legend's "The Most Dazzling National Style," and Jam Hsiao's "Princess" was a must-have at KTVs. In the online pop music world, Xu Song had already made a name for himself with his album "Customization" in 2009. It wasn't until the second half of 2010 that Xu Liang and Wang Sulong, two of the "non-mainstream" giants, began to emerge.
This is the most glorious age. You can be ignorant, but you can't be unsophisticated—for trend-chasing adolescent city kids like Xu Sirui, being unsophisticated is the original sin.
When he heard his homeroom teacher classify the last century children's song "Let's Row the Boat Together" as Chinese pop music, he couldn't help laughing out loud.
A faint sneer mixed in with the piano melody successfully attracted the teacher's attention.
He stopped playing, pushed up his glasses, and asked him awkwardly, "Xu Sirui, do you have any suggestions?"
Countless pairs of eyes turned to him. He leaned on the table behind him, tapping his crossed legs. His left hand drooped naturally, and his right index finger nonchalantly touched the table. He poked his tongue into his mouth, shook his head and smiled, "No."
A short and concise word.
But everyone subtly sensed the mockery in his posture and tone, like the bean under dozens of quilts in the Princess and the Pea. No one could clearly point out its existence, but everyone felt the disgust and discomfort it brought.
Flowing in every bit of silence is the unspeakable embarrassment of the mountain children.
"Okay, let's continue singing."
The head teacher pushed his glasses again, clapped his hands, and drew the attention of the whole class back.
**
Music class was the last class on Monday. When the bell rang, students rushed out. Xu Sirui was about to stand up with the help of his crutches when he saw his homeroom teacher walking towards him. He knocked on his desk and whispered, "Xu Sirui, come to my office."
Are you trying to bring an army to hold someone accountable?
He raised his eyebrows and followed indifferently.
The cameraman was stopped outside the office by the homeroom teacher, who said he wanted to speak to Xu Sirui alone. The office door was half-closed, and Xu Sirui leaned against the corner of his desk, arms folded across his chest. He watched him coldly as he rummaged through a drawer, finally pulling out a stack of yellow-covered exercise books and a pencil.
"I see you didn't bring a notebook or pen to class. Take these and make do with them for now." He handed him a piece of paper and pen and asked with concern, "How's life in the mountains? It's hard to get used to it, right? It was like this when we first arrived. I wasn't used to it either."
Xu Sirui said nothing, nor did he reach out to take it. He had encountered teachers who patiently and respectfully taught him, but he wasn't sold on this.
The head teacher had no choice but to withdraw his hand and silently ponder how to win his heart. Before he could figure out the reason, he saw Xu Sirui suddenly staring blankly in one direction, his eyes fixed on the same spot. He followed his gaze and found that what caught his attention was the old landline phone on the desk.
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