pjbooks Chapter 14 Class
Chapter 14 Class
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going then?"
After seeing that Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan had finished exchanging their grain coupons, Li Xiufang spoke up.
"Okay, sis, you should go back now. The corn stalks are tall in the field, so be careful on the way."
Li Xiujuan said.
Li Xiufang then looked at Tang Huaiyi.
Tang Huaiyi initially felt there was no need for further greetings, but seeing Li Xiufang's expression, he felt compelled to speak: "Goodbye, Sister Xiufang, take care on your journey."
Li Xiufang smiled and said, "It's alright, I'm being careful."
"Oh, right, Erni, I brought you some pickled vegetables. Share some with Tang Huaiyi."
"Okay, I got it, sis." Li Xiujuan nodded, then turned to Tang Huaiyi and said, "My sister got me a pickled vegetable dumpling this time, enough for us to eat for a long time."
Tang Huaiyi thought to himself, "Why did you bring me along?"
Having meals with Li Xiujuan in the future? This was something Tang Huaiyi had never considered before.
However, with both Li Xiufang and Li Xiujuan looking at him, Tang Huaiyi couldn't very well refuse.
"Thank you, Sister Xiufang. I was just wondering what to eat with my meal."
Li Xiufang immediately smiled happily: "You're welcome, you're welcome!"
"If you need anything, just let me know, and I'll bring it to you both!"
As he spoke, he waved and turned to leave.
On the dusty road, a faded floral shirt billowed in the wind like a blooming trumpet flower, and two glossy black braids hung down to her waist, brushing across a wide arc.
The cloth shoes, covered in grass seeds, crunched over clods of mud as they walked further and further.
Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan walked towards the classroom. At this moment, the morning reading ended with the bell, and the students came out of the classroom.
Because of their poor family background, Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan never ate with their classmates. They didn't have any particularly close friends. When they saw more than ten familiar faces among the students in Class 1 of Senior Three, who were classmates from Senior Two or Senior One, they didn't go up to greet them. They just stood at the door and watched their classmates flow out like a stream, joining other classes and heading towards the cafeteria.
After all the other students had left, Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan entered the classroom.
The new textbooks hadn't been distributed yet, so the two of them tidied up their desks and chairs and put their schoolbags in the desk drawers.
Tang Huaiyi tried sitting on it; his desk was slightly lopsided and wouldn't sit flat on the ground, tilting as soon as he pressed it. Although the classroom floor was also simply paved with bricks, and equally uneven, the two didn't compensate for each other; instead, they exacerbated the unevenness.
Looking at Li Xiujuan's table, it was in even worse shape. It was even more broken than Tang Huaiyi's, with a section of it broken off and making a creaking sound, like an old woman complaining that she was "too old and useless."
Tang Huaiyi glanced outside and saw a pile of bricks and stones in the corner of the playground, which no one knew who had put there. He got up, took two of them, and put them on his and Li Xiujuan's desks.
Finally, the two tables settled down and stopped shaking.
The desktop is so uneven that writing on it will puncture the paper, so there's no way to fix it. I can only use old books as a base.
Not long after, the students returned from the cafeteria one after another after finishing their breakfast, and put their political science books on the table.
Tang Huaiyi realized this wouldn't work; he didn't even have new textbooks yet, so how was he supposed to teach?
He took out the grain coupons and handed them to Li Xiujuan.
"Li Xiujuan, could you give the food coupons to the class committee to arrange our meals? I'll go find Teacher Tian to get our textbooks back."
"Okay, I understand."
Li Xiujuan took the grain coupons, glanced at Tang Huaiyi, and her face felt slightly flushed.
Before their senior year of high school, the two would only glance at each other and rarely spoke; but after experiencing the "marriage exchange" these past two days, Tang Huaiyi naturally became a different person to Li Xiujuan.
Even if it's just an ordinary action, she can't help but think about it more deeply.
He handed over the food coupons and went to get his textbooks, which inexplicably resembled a married couple where the husband was the breadwinner and the wife stayed home...
Tang Huaiyi went to the senior high school teachers' office and met with the short and stocky Teacher Tian, explaining his purpose.
Teacher Tian then handed him and Li Xiujuan's books.
At this moment, Tang Huaiyi saw a female teacher sitting in the corner of the office, with her head down and not saying much to anyone—this was Xu Ruyun, the female teacher Tang Huaiyi had mentioned to his third uncle Tang Zhengcai, whose husband had divorced her due to gambling. She had a very hard life, and she looked very depressed.
Tang Huaiyi had no intention of causing her any trouble; he simply wanted to get back the money that Tang Zhengcai had lent out.
However, the atmosphere in this office is really stifling.
The homeroom teacher, Ms. Tian, was stern and never smiled. Looking at Xu Ruyun, she also looked dejected and appeared to be living a difficult life.
Tang Huaiyi walked out the door with his books in his arms, and immediately felt the sky brighten and the air freshen up. When he looked back at the senior high school teachers' office, he couldn't help but gasp in amazement.
Such a stifling work environment, wouldn't it feel like torture to stay there for a day?
Back in the classroom, after putting down her books, Li Xiujuan told Tang Huaiyi that she had handed over the food coupons to the class committee. Tang Huaiyi would have one steamed bun for breakfast and dinner, and two for lunch; this would be his three meals a day from then on. Li Xiujuan, on the other hand, would have one steamed bun for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
As they were talking, Tang Huaiyi saw a classmate sitting one seat to his side turn around, seemingly wanting to say something but not saying anything. He immediately smiled and said, "Song Siyuan, you're in this class too?"
Song Siyuan stood up with a smile: "Tang Huaiyi! We were in the same class in the first year of high school. I thought you didn't remember me."
Just as he was about to speak, a thin, middle-aged man walked in carrying a political textbook: "Alright, alright, class is starting..."
Li Xiujuan said softly, "Oh? It's him? He's teaching us politics this year?"
Tang Huaiyi also noticed that the politics teacher was "Monkey Butt" Teacher Hou, and whispered, "Be careful, he's not a good person."
Li Xiujuan nodded, and the two opened their textbooks to begin the lesson.
Early in the morning, during the first class, "Monkey Butt" hadn't had time to drink yet, and his lecture was fairly normal. After finishing the class, he picked up his textbook and left the classroom.
Tang Huaiyi wanted to say a few words to Song Siyuan, after all, he had come by riding in his parents' vegetable-selling cart and had even eaten a rather large tomato from him on the way.
However, Ms. Tian walked in with a stern face and said, "Class begins."
Tang Huaiyi had no choice but to abandon his thoughts of speaking and looked down at the first lesson of the fifth volume of high school Chinese textbook, "Fan Ainong," by Lu Xun.
The whole class fell silent, waiting quietly for Teacher Tian to speak.
Teacher Tian's lectures are very direct and not particularly engaging, but he covers everything that needs to be covered.
After two classes, during the slightly longer break, Song Siyuan ran over: "Tang Huaiyi, why are you only coming to class today? You didn't come yesterday when the classes were divided and books were distributed?"
"Yes, I couldn't come because of family matters," Tang Huaiyi said with a smile. "I ran into your carriage this morning when I came here. It was your parents who brought me to the county town."
Song Siyuan was a little surprised to hear this, and then asked nervously, "My dad didn't tell you anything about what I was doing at home, did he?"