Chapter 225: Rebirth Story 2: Trapped on the Cliff
Shengsheng knocked the ashes from his pipe, put it aside, and narrated slowly:
That night, I left your studio and returned to the hotel, and then there was lightning, thunder and heavy rain.
I opened the window and thought, this is an opportunity! Teacher Wan has shown me the way. Look, the world has changed. This downpour is a symbol of cleansing the dirt from my soul. So, I transferred the money to you.
I didn't sleep well all night, worried you'd back off. I've heard that backing off is a bad thing. I want to move forward.
Hearing this, I laughed and said, "I didn't think of returning it because I wanted to make you sad. You spent so much money, wouldn't it be a waste if you don't give it a try?"
Regeneration continued:
The next day, I drove the car back to the factory and gave it to my brother. I told him I was going to a quiet place. Then, I boarded a train overnight.
After arriving in Chengdu, I found a friend, used his connections to get some paperwork done, and then took a bus to the deep mountains of Daliangshan, a place called "Tian Shang Village."
I nodded and said, "I dare not speak loudly, for fear of disturbing the beings in heaven."
Zaisheng took a sip of tea and continued:
Yes, it was too high. I climbed up along the stone steps carved out of the cliff. The village chief who came to pick me up saw that my legs were shaking and told me to only look at the area in front of me and never look back.
I knew that if I looked back, I would collapse completely. So I bravely climbed up. Two hours later, I finally reached the top.
When I reached the top, I hugged a tree and looked down. There was a bottomless abyss. I was so scared that I shouted to the village chief, "Come and pull me up! I dare not go."
The children who had come to watch the fun burst into laughter. Three or four of them came up and took my hand as we walked towards the village. As we walked, they laughed at me, saying that I was too timid and was afraid to look down from the flat ground.
The village chief led me to a few dilapidated stone buildings and said, "This is the school. Several volunteers have come here to teach, but none of them stayed for more than three months. Wait a minute, I'll ask someone to make a bed for you."
He showed me the classroom. There were no tables or chairs, just some stones. The village chief explained that this was where the children attended classes. There was a blackboard on the wall, covered in a thick layer of dust.
He then showed me the kitchen and said that he could make a fire and cook, and that everything was still there, so I could just wash them and use them.
Then he took me to see the playground. It was a small piece of dirt with a lonely basketball post standing there, and only a few strands of rope were left from the net.
Hearing this, I asked: "Did you regret it at that time?"
Regeneration shook his head.
Don't you want me to rise from the ashes? I thought, no matter how difficult it gets, I'll stay here. That afternoon, the village head and the women's director brought me a few quilts, some oil and rice.
They also brought five or six children, saying that these children were students.
"Five or six children?" I asked.
Zaisheng said, "Yes, because some of the children before us studied intermittently for a year, learned some words, and stopped studying. These children had not originally planned to study, but the village chief mobilized them, and several parents sent them here."
"The next day, you started teaching them to read?"
Regeneration shook his head and said:
I thought about it all night and realized they didn't want to send their children to school because they were afraid I would leave after teaching for a few months. So, I decided to let them see my strong determination to stay.
The next day, six children arrived, five boys and one girl, and I announced to them that they would teach me how to climb the ladder first.
They all laughed: "Do you still need to teach me this?"
I said, “If I can’t climb up and down the ladder, sooner or later, I’ll be gone.
If I could climb the ladder and be as agile as you monkeys, I would first take you to town and buy you delicious food and stationery, then take you to the county town and buy you textbooks and computers."
They all cheered.
We ran to the hanging ladder, and the most agile Xiao Liuzi demonstrated where to reach with our hands, where to extend our feet, and where to pass the other foot when we alternated climbing.
After Xiao Liuzi said it, they formed a guard team, with four boys at the bottom and two boys and a girl at the top. Xiao Liuzi commanded: "Down, stop. The other foot, down, stop."
I tried to go down step by step.
Xiao Liuzi criticized me harshly, shouting, "What are you afraid of? You're still an adult."
Hearing this, I couldn't help but laugh. I said, "Xiao Liuzi has a unique personality. He gave the teacher a show of power at the beginning."
After not laughing, he continued to narrate.
They taught me for three days, practicing with me every day. On the fourth day, I gave them the day off. No matter how difficult it was, I had to master the climb. I couldn't always need someone to escort me. Besides, I didn't value my life that much.
That day, I climbed alone. I went up and down twice. The third time, I ran into danger.
Halfway up the ladder, I was just keeping my head down when I looked up and saw a large snake coiled on a branch right in front of me. The snake was motionless, and I was afraid it would attack me.
Fortunately, the place was a little open, so I squatted on the steps, hoping it would crawl away, but it seemed determined to bite me and stayed coiled there. I didn't dare to yell or even breathe.
We fought like this, but the terrible thing was that no one came up from below, and no one came down from above.
I was terrified.
If I continued to fight like this, it would get darker and darker. I had no choice but to retreat down the mountain. But when I stretched my legs, I felt like I was stepping on something soft. I quickly pulled them back and turned around. Oh my god, there was an even bigger snake lying on the steps below.
If it were on flat ground, I would take a stick and, although a little scared, would bravely pick them apart. However, on this cliff, once it bites me, I can only let it bite me and cannot run away.
When Zaisheng said this, my heart was in my throat. I hurriedly asked, "What happened next? What happened next?"
Afterwards, the situation became so stagnant that I almost wanted to die. But everyone is afraid of death. I thought, I haven't taught them a single day.
"You have a cell phone." I suddenly shouted.
Regeneration shook his head very calmly: "There is no signal there."
I stood up, walked into the study, pulled out two packets of powder, and said, "Next time you encounter something like this, just sprinkle it on them. They won't be able to move."
At this time, I was so immersed in the role that I completely forgot to ask further questions and was only thinking about how to help him.
"No need, I have a solution now. It won't be a problem if the snake coils around my hand."
"By the way, what happened next?"
Shengsheng picked up the pipe, slowly filled it with tobacco, and lit it.
I said, "You can smoke it later. Tell me quickly, what happened next?"
He insisted on lighting a cigarette, taking a long drag, blowing out a string of spicy puffs, and then continued his narration. He didn't seem to be telling his own story, but someone else's. His indifference was like a snake, crawling up my back.
Later, Xiao Liuzi went to the school to look for me, but couldn't find me, so he called the village chief. The village chief called a group of people, holding torches, and walked down the cliff stairs.
Xiao Liuzi was crawling in the front and he saw me at a glance.
I shouted: Snake, snake, as if I had seen a relative.
Xiao Liuzi lit the torch, stood still, muttered something, reached out and grabbed the snake, saying: "It's a good meal," while handing it to the person behind him.
Then he reached out and grabbed me, saying, "Teacher Zhang, don't be afraid, just hold my hand tightly."
At this point, Zaisheng gave me an apologetic smile and said, "My real name is Zhang Yimin. Because volunteer teaching requires real-name registration, they all know my name."
I refilled his water and said, "I still prefer your pseudonym, Regeneration Comfortable."
Shengsheng placed his pipe on the ashtray and sighed:
I finally escaped from danger, but was scolded by the village chief. He said: We are not allowed to go in or out after four o'clock in the afternoon. Why did you climb down?
Xiao Liuzi stood up and said: He wanted to learn how to climb well, and then take us to the town to buy stationery, to the county town to buy textbooks, and also computers.
The girl named Camellia said: "He just wanted to stay and asked us to teach him how to climb mountains. We taught him for three days, but he still hasn't mastered it."
The village chief turned around, squatted on the ground and burst into tears. He cried so hard that I thought he was afraid that I would fall to my death and that his superiors would hold him responsible.
Later I learned that he was moved by me. He said, "One came and left, then another came and left too. This one seemed to be really willing to stay and teach."
The next day, he and the women's director went door to door to mobilize the children. The village chief banged a gong and shouted throughout the village: Here comes a real teacher, send the children to school.
When we got to a crowded place, he told me about his experience of climbing a cliff by himself. Xiao Liuzi followed the village chief and when we got to a crowded place, before the village chief finished speaking, Xiao Liuzi rushed in and said, "He's also going to take us to the county town to buy books."
The next day, more than 30 children showed up, plus the original six, making it almost 40. They ranged in age from seven or eight to fifteen. I grouped them all into one class and began teaching them to read.
I said, "Stop for a minute and talk about it after we have dinner." Then I called the restaurant manager on the fifth floor:
"I'm Wan Shanhong. There are two of us, delivering food to 1701. The standards are a bit higher."
The manager said, "Okay, Mr. Wan, I'll be right there."
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