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"I just turned on the camera." Lin Jingming took out a memory card from his pocket. "I have to keep this footage."
"What are you doing?" Xia Zhitang hit him with the teaching plan, "Give me the card!"
Lin Jingming stuffed the card into his trouser pocket and said proudly, "Are you shy?"
"You took pictures of me without permission. Do you understand the impact on my portrait rights?" Xia Zhitang reached into his trouser pocket to take out his card.
Lin Jingming looked at her strangely: "Are you so proactive?"
Then he grinned happily: "I didn't say it was this card, why are you so anxious?"
Xia Zhitang shoved the card back into his trouser pocket with a cold face: "Just wait for me."
"Okay, let's get down to business." Lin Jingming's expression turned serious. "Come with me to the county government tomorrow. As the saying goes, when you arrive at a place, you should first visit the temple. Although we have held a meeting before, there are still things to be coordinated later that require their help."
"What do you want to bring?" Xia Zhitang saw that he was talking about serious matters, so he stopped playing with him.
Lin Jingming thought for a moment and said, "Let's take a few cans of tea leaves. They're inconspicuous and safe, medium-quality ones will be fine."
The next day, the two drove a rented SUV to the county government.
During the routine check-in, the guard glanced at their car several times.
Lin Jingming looked at the bicycles and electric bikes in the parking lot and said with emotion, "Why didn't I notice how down-to-earth this place is last time?"
When the two arrived at the conference room, the two people in charge of education had already arrived.
After everyone shook hands and greeted each other, Lin Jingming handed over two cans of tea: "This is the tea the crew drinks daily. Although it's not expensive, it is also a specialty of my hometown. I hope you don't mind."
After some more pleasantries, they confirmed that it was indeed not expensive and then reluctantly accepted the tea.
Seeing that the groundwork had been laid, Lin Jingming finally made his own proposal: "We would like to follow the students to the village to interview them. After all, understanding the students' backgrounds is an important part of this documentary."
The two education leaders exchanged a glance, and the more senior one spoke first: "If you've confirmed your itinerary, please let the county know in advance. We'll notify them to cooperate with the filming."
He thought for a moment, then added cautiously, "You can go there under the pretext of photographing the new countryside. It's quite difficult for them to recruit students for the girls' high school, and not all villagers in the township are sufficiently persuasive to support girls going to school. I hope you understand."
Lin Jingming readily agreed: "We will follow the county's arrangements."
The lower-ranking section chief glanced at Xia Zhitang's bandaged hand and said, "Are you going with us, female comrades? Your hand is still injured."
"She is the manager of our team. We will be in chaos without her. Besides, the girls like her." Lin Jingming came to Xia Zhitang's rescue.
"That's right. It's better for the girls to communicate with the female comrades." Section Chief Feng nodded. "But the female comrades must pay attention to their safety."
"She once fought off a lone wolf in Tibet with a Tibetan knife." Lin Jingming couldn't help but brag about their experience in Tibet, which drew praise from the two.
Xia Zhitang couldn't help but kick Lin Jingming under the table.
After leaving the county government, Xia Zhitang couldn't help but ask Lin Jingming, "Are you planning to visit families in the countryside?"
"Yes, the people here are too conservative. It's safer with the county's endorsement." Lin Jingming glanced at the cars in the parking lot again. It seemed that most of the cars were government cars. No wonder the guard took a few glances at their car when they came in.
Xia Zhitang was a little worried when he thought about the slow filming progress: "I just don't know when I can get closer to these kids."
"I think it will happen soon." Lin Jingming kept it a secret. "My intuition tells me that the story will collide soon."
On Sunday noon, Xia Zhitang had just finished a new round of teacher interviews when he looked up and saw a furry head looking out the window curiously.
Xia Zhitang recognized that this was Erniu, a student in her class, a rather bold girl.
The girl looked like she was worried about something. She met Xia Zhitang's gaze but did not avoid it. Instead, she hesitated as if she wanted to say something.
Xia Zhitang tugged at Lin Jingming's clothes and whispered, "This girl seems to be looking for me. I'll go out and take a look."
Lin Jingming glanced out the window and nodded.
Erniu saw Xia Zhitang coming out and said softly, "Hello, Teacher Xia."
"You're back so soon?" Xia Zhitang said with a smile. The little girl nodded slightly, glanced at the camera crew who were packing up their equipment in the room, and kept silent.
"Are you busy? If not, can you take the teacher to buy some drinks?" Xia Zhitang invited Erniu with understanding.
"Not busy, not busy." Erniu waved her hand with a red face.
"Let's go." Xia Zhitang took two steps first and waved to Erniu, "Teacher is not familiar with this area, you lead the way."
Erniu seemed to have found her strength and took two steps at a time.
Erniu took Xia Zhitang out of the teaching building. Seeing that she didn't take the initiative to speak, Xia Zhitang had to bring up the topic himself.
"Didn't Erniu go home this weekend?"
Erniu seemed startled, and then stammered, "Yes, I did."
"Where do you live?" Xia Zhitang didn't seem to notice Erniu's nervousness.
"Bata Village." Erniu tried hard to calm herself down.
"How long does school take?" Xia Zhitang was really curious.
"We'll leave at 8 o'clock and arrive at school at 11 o'clock." Erniu finally overcame her nervousness and her answers became fluent.
Xia Zhitang judged in her heart that Erniu should have returned home from Saturday morning and came back from home early this morning. She had a hunch that there was a story behind it.
"It's quite far. Did you come here by car?"
"I walked here." In fact, it would take half an hour to get there by walking to the main road and then taking a bus, but Erniu didn't want to say that she had no money so she had to walk here.
"You're amazing, then." Xia Zhitang praised her. "It's a great thing to have such perseverance."
Erniu didn't expect to be praised. Her cheeks turned red and she lowered her head in embarrassment, not knowing how to respond.
Xia Zhitang didn't care that Erniu didn't respond, but waited until Erniu's awkwardness subsided before continuing to talk to her.
As the two chatted, they unknowingly turned to an inconspicuous grocery store on the corner of the street.
"Teacher, everything sold in this store is genuine." Erniu whispered to Xia Zhitang.
"That's great! The camera crew always complains that the food sold here doesn't taste right." Xia Zhitang thanked him solemnly, "Thank you so much for bringing me here, otherwise I definitely wouldn't have noticed it."
Erniu was both happy and embarrassed when she was praised. She never thought that she could solve the teacher's problem.
The two happily bought a lot of drinks, and Xia Zhitang continued to ask Erniu to help her move back to the hotel where the crew was staying.
After returning the two large bags of drinks to Xia Zhitang's room, she took out one of the bottles and handed it to Erniu: "Erniu, tell the teacher the truth. What did you think of the Wu Zetian I talked about last time?"
Although Xia Zhitang spoke fluently on stage, he was still a little unsure. "This is also the first time I'm teaching students, so I'm a little unsure."
Erniu was distracted for a moment. She had never seen a teacher seeking students' opinions. Then she thought of her own doubts.
"The teacher's explanation was very good, but I have some doubts." Erniu looked a little depressed. "My mother still can't sit at the table to eat. My sister and I have been helping with housework since we were young. They always say that my brother is the hope of the family."
Erniu looked at Xia Zhitang with eyes filled with confusion and pain: "Why is it that there has only been one female emperor in thousands of years, and I can't be the hope of my whole family?"
Xia Zhitang looked into her eyes and felt a little sad. As the only daughter in the family, she was often blamed by her mother for not having a son. However, she felt that now was not a good time to tell the little girl the truth.
"Erniu, rather than being the hope of your whole family, I hope you can be yourself first." Xia Zhitang chose to avoid the topic. "Although your family is very important to you, I also understand that you want to gain their recognition."
She looked at Erniu with a very gentle look: "But the teacher thinks that you should become your ideal self."
Erniu opened and closed her mouth, with a thousand thoughts in her mind, but she didn't know where to start.
Xia Zhitang knew that she should be allowed to think quietly now, and not disturbing her was a sign of respect.
After a long while, Erniu finally murmured, "Teacher, I, I don't know what my ideal self is."
Xia Zhitang couldn't help but touch Erniu's head: "It's okay, think about it slowly and you will get the answer one day. Life is still long, what you need to do now is to study hard. When you have the ability to survive independently in the future, many of the current confusions will no longer be problems."
She couldn't help but think of the young mother she saw here. How great it would be if that child could meet Principal Wang.
After the shooting ended in the evening, Lin Jingming wandered over to Xia Zhitang's room carrying a bag of watermelons.
"Where did the watermelon come from?" Xia Zhitang took a bite and it was quite sweet.
"I bought it at the market this morning and asked the hotel owner to freeze it for me." Lin Jingming asked while eating watermelon, "Did the female student talk to you about something at noon?"
Xia Zhitang suddenly put down the watermelon in his hand: "Lin Jingming, I suddenly feel that I seem a little arrogant."
"What do you mean?" Lin Jingming swallowed the watermelon in three or two bites.
"I told them about Wu Zetian, selfishly because I wanted to tell them that women can also do wonderful things." Xia Zhitang felt a little sad when he thought of Erniu's painful questions about her family. "But in reality, they don't have the ability to live independently. They wonder why Wu Zetian could become emperor, and even if they have good grades, they can't become the hope of the whole family."
Lin Jingming threw away the cold melon in his hand and wiped his hands.
"Xia Xia, people's understanding abilities are different." He looked at Xia Zhitang seriously and said, "In the same shot of the setting sun, some viewers see the magnificence of the sunset glow, while others see the sadness of the setting sun."
He looked at Xia Zhitang's slightly furrowed brows and really wanted to reach out and smooth them for her.
"Although they are not yet able to change reality, Wu Zetian is a window and a hope."
"I'm a little scared. I'm afraid that they will sink into the current situation, and I'm also afraid that they won't be able to accept the truth after they find out." Xia Zhitang realized that he did lack some educational experience.
"Xia Xia, that's their own life lesson." Lin Jingming pointed to a photo of Xia Zhitang's students hugging her after her first class. "At least in that moment, they sincerely thank you for your story. That's enough."
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