Linfengchun

Kapitel 71

The Fifth Middle School is located near a reservoir, nestled against the mountains and beside the water, boasting beautiful scenery.

It's very close to home, only a fifteen-minute bike ride. For someone as superhuman as Li Changsheng, pedaling incredibly fast, the wheels spin like lightning, and he can arrive in ten minutes. The school primarily enrolls boarding students, though a small number live nearby and are day students. With such a large student body, the day student group also appears quite large. Every day after school, two security guards work together to open the large iron gate, and the day students, pushing their bicycles, run out like madmen. Once outside, they transform into wolves, howling and calling to their friends, exuding boundless freedom and joy.

Qiu Xialin and Li Changsheng both day students, while Qiu Shanglin insisted on living at school.

"You haven't truly experienced student life if you don't live on campus," she argued vehemently.

Chang Sheng was secretly delighted and rummaged around in Qiu Xia Lin: I finally have my own space...

The two younger children covered their mouths, unable to hide their laughter. Zhang Hongwei frowned for a long time, and only after much persuasion did he finally relent. Once the bedding was delivered to the dormitory, his face remained expressionless.

What kind of dormitory is this? And they call it a key middle school!

In the past two years, No. 5 Middle School has expanded its enrollment, resulting in a large number of students. The old classrooms and buildings could no longer accommodate the students, so they had no choice but to temporarily convert one floor in the teaching area into dormitories for the first-year students. When Zhang Hongwei went up to take a look, the classroom, which was filled with more than a dozen bunk beds, was packed full, with not even enough room to put his feet down.

To save space, the beds were placed close together. It was fine for those living on the upper bunk, as they could take off their shoes and go directly to their bunk. But those on the lower bunk had a hard time – they had to climb over other people's beds to reach their own.

Zhang Hongwei frowned as he touched the bedding he had just received.

It's thin and light; it's rough to the touch on the wooden board and prickly to the skin. My daughter sleeps on a Simmons mattress at home, uses a down comforter, and has Suzhou hand-embroidered pillowcases. What should I do?

Shanglin comforted him, saying, "Make do, I can endure hardship. We're all in the same boat. If others can sleep, so can I. Besides, we have our own bedding!"

As he spoke, he unfolded the bedding he had brought from home, placed it at the bottom, and touched it again; it was indeed much softer.

Then I fiddled with putting the blue duvet cover the school gave me over my own soft cotton quilt. When it comes to cheating, I'm better than anyone else.

Shanglin lived in the outermost upper bunk. Opposite her was a short-haired, bespectacled, and energetic young girl who smiled at her in a friendly manner: "The school inspects the dorms every day. Your quilt is too soft and can't be folded into a neat square. You'll get points deducted."

She smiled kindly, quickly folded the school-issued quilt into a neat square, patted it, and said, "Don't worry, I've got this!"

I've already thought it through. I'll sleep under my own quilt, and change into this one after I get up. I'll stuff my own quilt into the closet, and nobody will know. It saves me time tidying up!

The little girl's eyes lit up: "That's right, how come I didn't think of that!"

He turned to his mother and asked her to bring a quilt from home next week.

There were more than a dozen beds and more than twenty people, plus parents, grandparents and even maternal grandparents who came to help. The air was not circulating and the smell was not good.

After hanging up the mosquito net, Zhang Hongwei asked worriedly, "Will this work? If not, we'll go home and stay here. We'll waive the accommodation fee."

Seeing her concern and worry, Shanglin felt a warmth in her heart and gently hugged her, saying affectionately, "Okay, your daughter is the most capable and amazing, how could she not be able to..."

Knowing the company was busy, Shanglin packed Zhang Hongwei's luggage, filled two bottles of hot water, and urged him to go home. She walked out with a mixture of relief and worry, pondering all the way.

Let's donate money to No. 5 Middle School to build new school buildings... and send a water dispenser to each floor of the dormitory, so my daughter won't have to run up and down the stairs every day to grab water, which isn't safe... or we can replace all the bunk beds in the first-year junior high school...

After tidying up a bit, Shanglin climbed out of bed—alas, he looked just like a monkey, climbing up and down…

The girl living below her was a shy-looking country girl. Her father brought her there, silently helping to make the bed. The two remained silent for a moment. The father muttered that he was leaving, and the girl simply saw him to the door without even saying goodbye.

At first glance, you can tell she comes from the countryside—Qiu Shanglin also comes from the countryside. But there are different definitions of "countryside".

In places like Qiujia Village, most of the land is vegetable fields. It is near Zifang Town, and the farmers there are relatively wealthy.

Like my maternal grandfather's family, a typical mountain village, there were hardly any flat plots of land. They relied on the weather for their livelihood, were self-sufficient, and were dirt poor all year round.

The girl had a noticeable rosy blush on her cheeks, and her skin was dark and quite rough. Because she was going through puberty, she had a few pimples. But she had a pair of big, bright, dark eyes that were captivating and endearing.

Shanglin smiled at her in a friendly manner: "Hello, my name is Qiu Shanglin. What's your name?"

Instead of following the normal procedure, they directly asked for the other person's name.

She had interacted with many girls from mountain villages. Most of them were shy and reserved, not good at conversation. The best way to get close to them quickly was to be direct and more enthusiastic than they were to start a relationship.

The girl smiled shyly, her voice barely audible: "Hello, my name is Chen Zhaodi."

Zhao Di… He hesitated. In rural areas, many girls are named Zhao Di, meaning "to attract a younger brother." The preference for sons over daughters has not been completely eradicated even after more than a decade, and it is even more pronounced now. It is more serious in remote areas, even to the point that girls are drowned at birth, and the whole family is driven to madness by their longing for a boy.

With a bright smile, she said, "I'm from Qiujia Village. I have a younger brother named Qiu Xialin, also in the first year of junior high, but he's in class nine. He's a bit of a troublemaker. I'll introduce you to him sometime. Oh, by the way, you know what? Our names are really interesting. There's a forest that divides our village into Upper Village and Lower Village. When I was born, people asked my dad what my name was. He thought for a long time and finally said, 'Upper Forest.' Later, when my brother was born, people asked again, and he said, 'Since there's Upper Forest, there should also be Lower Forest…' Hahaha, thank goodness it's not Upper Village and Lower Village, otherwise I'd be in big trouble!"

This dialect and slang is interesting, but also incredibly rustic.

Qiu Shanglin always valued his image, and he would never call Qiu Jianguo "father" in public, otherwise he would be laughed at.

However, she deliberately used rough language because she wanted to befriend Chen Zhaodi.

Why? Seeing Chen Zhaodi is like seeing the weak and timid Qiu Shanglin when she first entered the big city, a sheep running into a pack of wolves, trembling with fear and not knowing when the day would come.

I didn't think about whether they were good friends or not.

She was an oddity to begin with, her mindset severely aged, and she never dared to hope to make close friends among her peers. To date, among her peers, only Gu Zhiyuan was someone she could get along with—and even that was only on certain levels.

I'll lend a hand if I can.

Judging from Chen Zhaodi's appearance, it was clear that she didn't often interact with outsiders. After speaking a few words, her cheeks turned red, and she stammered for a long time without uttering a sound.

It's not easy to get into No. 5 Middle School; they must be top students in their village.

Getting familiar with the environment as early as possible will help with future life and studies.

Seeing her carrying a thermos to fetch water, Shang Lin jumped off her bed, helped her spread out the sheets, smoothed out the wrinkles, snatched a thermos, and grabbed her hand without saying a word: "Come on, come on, I'll go with you to fetch water, and you can show me around the campus!"

She was kind and gentle, but a little obsessive about cleanliness, and couldn't stand anyone touching her bedding. Putting myself in her shoes, I lifted a corner of Chen Zhaodi's sheet before sitting down on the bare bed.

Just then, the girl across the street also went to fetch water, and the three of them went together, making it even more lively.

While the girl was getting her water bottle, she heard a commotion at the back of the room. Peeking out, she vaguely recognized the spoiled and willful girl as one of her own students. She seemed to be from Huaiqiao City. Her parents, grandfather, aunt, and seven or eight other girls were there, forming a circle and trying to persuade her.

She was incredibly arrogant: "I don't care, I don't want to live here—what kind of place is this, and what kind of people are here? Who knows if there are fleas!"

The person who seemed to be her aunt advised, "Ruru, listen to me. The school buildings at No. 5 Middle School are not good, but the teaching quality is very good."

"I don't care, I don't care! I don't want to study here anymore! I want to go back to the city! This place is too shabby..."

Several students and parents from Huaiqiao City also chimed in, criticizing the dilapidated state of Zifang Town and No. 5 Middle School; while many more students from remote rural areas remained silent, busy tidying up on their own.

What is honey to one is poison to another; conversely, it is hell for some and heaven for others, a path to success.

The three girls chatted and laughed all the way. The girl who lived opposite Shanglin was named Liang Meihua. She lived in Dongxu Village, below the reservoir, which was a little far from the school, but much closer than Chen Zhaodi, who came from Wopu Village in Qiaoshan Town.

The three of them were in Class 1 of the first year of junior high school. Liang Meihua was eloquent and chattered incessantly like a little trumpet. Her home was close to the Fifth Middle School, and she used to come here often to play. She knew everything about the canteen, the school buildings, and the teachers' gossip. Shanglin joined in the fun and asked a lot of questions. Soon, Chen Zhaodi let down her guard and chatted and laughed.

I wasn't in a hurry to get water, so I took a walk around the school first.

Although the school buildings of No. 5 Middle School are old, the greenery is quite nice.

Behind the two main teaching buildings, a large garden was built, planted with many ornamental trees. Flowers and trees were also planted all around the school wall. What was particularly interesting was a wooden pavilion with a red roof and green pillars, built inside the wall. A long row of roses was wrapped around the fence. In September, the roses in the surrounding area had all withered, but here, sheltered by the greenery, it was cool and damp, and the roses were in full bloom, pink and deep red, crowded together, noisy and lively.

A few steps further, another pond surrounded the artificial hill. Chen Zhaodi exclaimed that there were goldfish and rushed over, lying down on a low rock to watch.

Liang Meihua laughed and said that the ice was freezing in winter, making it a good place for ice skating. She said that they used to sneak in to skate and accidentally fell into an ice hole, which made Shang Lin and Chen Zhaodi laugh.

After strolling around, I went to fetch water, feeling quite satisfied. On the way, I ran into Pan Ling and Li Wenwen and greeted them.

They both got into No. 5 Middle School and were assigned to Class 4. Pan Ling secretly tugged at Shang Lin and complained, "Why am I so unlucky to be in the same class as her? My parents asked her to take care of me... You're so lucky to be in Class 1. I want to be in Class 1 too!"

Li Wenwen, as always, stood to the side with her head held high and chest puffed out. With her floral dress, Liang Meihua secretly muttered, "A peacock."

They all chuckled to themselves.

After Pan Ling finally finished complaining, Li Wenwen snorted at Shang Lin as she was leaving. She was puzzled and touched her nose, feeling that she hadn't provoked her recently.

When they arrived at the water room, the three girls were dumbfounded.

The water dispenser was packed with people, shoulder to shoulder. There was no one queuing or maintaining order; everyone was grabbing and pushing. The three men looked at each other, bewildered. How were they supposed to get water?

Just as I was worrying, someone called out from the side, "Sister, sister!"

Qiu Xialin ran over happily, and Changsheng and another person also came over.