I was so excited by my own idea that as the car drove across the vast wilderness, I was suddenly inspired to write a poem. I exclaimed, "Alas!" Li Bai was startled. I gave him an apologetic smile and said, "Brother Taibai, I also have a poem, and I would like to show off my amateur skills in front of you."
"Oh, why don't you recite it?"
I stopped my motorcycle, stood up, opened my arms, and said in a low, lyrical voice, "On this vast land..."
Li Bai looked at me, indicating his approval, and then asked me to continue.
“There’s nothing there…” I blurted out suddenly.
Li Bai nodded slightly and said, "It's very straightforward, but very moving."
Then I was dumbfounded. Sigh, my inspiration was so fleeting, it didn't even last as long as ejaculation.
Li Bai was still listening, and after a while he looked at me without making a sound and said, "Continue, we haven't gotten to the point yet."
After holding it in for a long time, I finally blurted out the title: "The vast and desolate earth!"
"Is it over?" Li Bai asked.
"Hmm," I said somewhat sheepishly, "Brother Li Bai, what do you think of my poem?"
Li Bai said expressionlessly, "Are we almost there?"
I quickly sat down and said casually, "Yeah, almost there."
Chapter Seventy-Six: School Completion
The school has now grown quite large, with its walls stretching endlessly to the residential area of Yaocun village, overlooking the highway to the east. From the railway two kilometers away, the red walls appear to expand infinitely, like bloodstains left by a battle between gods. However, within the vast campus, the school buildings occupy less than a tenth of the space, making them look somewhat incongruous.
Li Yun once asked me why I didn't distribute the dormitories and teaching buildings more evenly. I said I didn't want them to have too much trouble. What if they had to walk a long way from their dormitories to the teaching buildings, attend classes, and then shout as they rushed to the cafeteria? That would be fine for Dai Zong, but what about Wu Yong and Jin Dajian? They would have to walk to the teaching buildings after lunch, and by the time they got there, it would be time for dinner.
So now the dormitories, canteens, and teaching buildings are all built together. Although the distance is quite reasonable, in such a vast and desolate landscape, it seems like nothing at all. If you stand at one point, you can't see any walls in the distance; it's the same as being in the middle of nowhere.
My desire for a wall, much like the Great Wall of China, stems largely from psychological needs.
The 300 tents were near the school gate, so I had to pass them first. The motorcycle's high beams shone, blinding the young soldier on guard duty across the way. Not knowing how to stop him, he instinctively shouted, "Password!"
The moment I saw them, I was drenched in cold sweat: two warriors opposite me, one half-crouching and the other standing, each holding a bow with arrows nocked and drawn!
I yelled, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! It's me!"
"Sir Xiao?" The two men put down their bows.
"Who is it?" After the commotion, Yan Jingsheng put on his clothes and came out. I quickly signaled the two soldiers to hide the bow.
"Director Xiao, what are you doing here so late?"
"...give it to a Chinese language teacher."
Yan Jingsheng put on his glasses and then noticed that there was another person sitting in the truck bed. He smiled and greeted Li Bai: "Hello, hello. We'll be colleagues from now on. Just call me Xiao Yan."
"This is Teacher Li," I quickly introduced Li Bai. Li Bai had just recovered from the effects of the alcohol and was feeling sleepy; his little topknot had been blown away by the wind, making him look like an old immortal. He nodded vaguely to Yan Jingsheng.
Yan Jingsheng frowned and asked, "Has he been drinking?"
Upon hearing the word "wine," Li Bai, half-asleep and half-awake, exclaimed, "Wine, bring me!"
Yan Jingsheng pulled his clothes tighter around himself and whispered to me, "Can this person be a role model for students? He might corrupt the children."
Listen to how affectionately he calls me, "children"—his "children" almost turned me into a pincushion just now. I said impatiently, "Alright, go and rest."
Yan Jingsheng, relentless, grabbed Li Bai and said, "Hey, tell me, what kind of phrase is 'pretty little dog'?" I glanced across the way and suddenly noticed that the Liangshan heroes' tents were all empty. I grabbed Yan Jingsheng and asked, "Where are the people on the other side?"
"Ask them, they've all moved into the dorms?"
"Huh? Weren't we supposed to move in together the day after tomorrow?"
"They said that since there are houses, why do they need to live in tents? Today, as soon as the construction team left, they all moved in."
I cursed, "These bastards!"
Yan Jingsheng smiled and said, "Actually, what they said is quite right. Why make things difficult for yourself just to put on a show?"
I never expected him to understand something. I said, "Why don't you go with us? You're a teacher too."
"I'm used to being with children, and I find them more and more adorable."
Just then, the "cute kids" he mentioned split into two groups and flanked me. Countless bows emerged from the depths of the bushes, already aimed at me. As an elite unit accustomed to harsh environments, they couldn't possibly remain indifferent to such a commotion. In less than a minute, they had circled around from behind the tents and surrounded me. It was remarkable that they had left some men inside their tents to continue snoring, so as not to alert me.
Fortunately, Yan Jingsheng's eyesight was poor. He only saw the soldiers who suddenly appeared from both sides and Xu Delong, who had a dagger hidden inside his wrist. He asked in surprise, "Why aren't you asleep yet? Where did you go?"
When Xu Delong saw it was me, he waved his hand towards the distance, and the bow and arrow disappeared. He said evasively, "We couldn't sleep, so we went for a walk."
Yan Jingsheng said to me emotionally, "See? The students are so excited about the school's completion that they can't sleep."
I wiped my sweat and said, "Teacher Yan, you should go and rest first. Tomorrow, the students can move into the dormitory building as well. The tents can be left behind."
Yan Jingsheng nodded and said, "That's a good idea." He then turned to Xu Delong and the others and said, "You guys should go to bed early too. If you really can't sleep, memorize some vocabulary and formulas..."
I'm really scared now. If I had encountered a teacher like Yan Jingsheng when I was in school, I might have gotten into university, and I'd definitely be unemployed now...
After Yan Jingsheng left, I glanced at the dagger in Xu Delong's hand and the bow that the sentry had thrown in the grass, and said to him very seriously, "Didn't I tell you to put your weapons away? Any one of these could cause big trouble, do you understand?"
Xu Delong rarely saw me so serious, and said somewhat discouragedly, "We don't want the previous two reconnaissance missions to happen again; it was a disgrace to us!"
"Then you can make some simple things that won't kill people, remember to use modern materials."