"What? Wait a minute! It's no use telling me that. You have to talk to the principal to see if I can get leave approved!"
"And what do you mean I can come back to be a teacher? Teacher Qu, I never said I wanted to come back to be a teacher." Jiang Xiaoman couldn't stand Qu Jingjiang's conjectures anymore, so she decided to just expose him!
"Who told you I was coming back to take your place?"
Qu Jingjiang's face flushed red instantly.
During this time, some people in the village have indeed been talking about whether Jiang Xiaoman, now that he has graduated from university, should be allowed to come back and become a teacher. After all, they are all family, so they feel more at ease. As for him, the "outsider," even though he has worked diligently at the school for so long, now that Jiang Xiaoman, a college graduate from the village, has graduated and returned, many people in the village have been gossiping behind his back, wondering if Jiang Xiaoman could replace him as a teacher after he leaves.
In reality, this was all wishful thinking on the part of the older generation. A monthly salary of less than two thousand yuan was considered a secure job for a substitute teacher by them. However, neither Qu Jingjiang nor Jiang Xiaoman ever took the salary seriously. Jiang Xiaoman was determined from the beginning to lead her fellow villagers to prosperity, while Qu Jingjiang didn't care whether his job would be taken by someone else.
What he truly cares about is whether his selfless dedication over the past few years has been recognized.
Judging from his expression, Jiang Xiaoman could roughly guess that it was probably those villagers gossiping behind his back again. Actually, the villagers didn't mean any harm; they were just too bored. If they couldn't find any gossip, they would create it. The villagers only had a few dark histories to gossip about, and only he and Qu Jingjiang, one a recent graduate and the other from out of town, had a lot of talking points, so people used them to create gossip.
“Brother Qu, although you’re older than me, there’s something I really have to say.” Jiang Xiaoman stood up, rinsed the soap bubbles in her hands, and led Qu Jingjiang to sit down at the kitchen doorway. “You just care too much about what other people think of you!”
"Actually, the villagers don't want to drive you away; they just always thought you'd leave sooner or later. Why don't you think about why you've always given people that impression?"
"Brother Qu, even if I hadn't come back, given your situation, you would definitely have had to leave anyway. A real man shouldn't back down once he's made up his mind!"
"Look at me, I haven't even received my graduation certificate yet, and I've already come back. Why?"
“Let me tell you, I decided on this from the first day of college: I’ll come back to be with my dad after I finish college and take care of him in his old age! Your family situation is probably similar to mine. We’re both only children, and our parents are relying on you to take care of them. If you don’t go back, what will happen to your parents when they get old?”
“You don’t understand! If I leave, Principal Jiang and Sister Caiyun will only be two people, and they simply can’t support so many grades,” Qu Jingjiang said painfully.
"If you can't handle it, then don't. The older students can go to boarding school in the countryside! That's how I got through my childhood." Jiang Xiaoman pouted. "Brother Qu, you think too highly of yourself, and you also think too little of yourself."
“It’s not that I’m heartless. Students going to school is their parents’ business. But your parents only have you. You always feel like the school can’t do without you, but fifth and sixth graders aren’t little kids anymore. They live at school and don’t have to cook for themselves. Can you take care of them forever? But if you don’t go back, your parents will really starve to death in the hospital…”
Qu Jingjiang kept his head down and didn't say anything, no one knew what he was thinking. Jiang Xiaoman was really annoyed with him and was too lazy to talk to him anymore, so she simply stood up and carried the dirty clothes to the backyard to wash.
Qu Jingjiang wasn't the first person he'd seen who constantly struggled between ideals and reality; there were plenty of them in university. People this age had already shed the unrealistic fantasies of their teenage years and were starting to try to compromise with reality, yet deep down they still harbored the restless fantasy of "what if I were the exception?"
Jiang Xiaoman admired these people's courage to take that first step, but he himself did not want to become such a person.
He wants to stay by his aging father's side, wants to make his hometown better and better through his own efforts, and wants the children at his school to eat meat at least twice a week... All of this requires him to abandon his fantasies, be down-to-earth, and do it step by step.
Chapter 36
Qu Jingjiang still left, not even before the end of the semester.
His family situation was dire. Both his parents were farmers; his father hadn't even finished elementary school and had been an honest, hardworking farmer his whole life. His mother was somewhat strong-willed, and the whole family scrimped and saved to send their son to teacher's college. However, in recent years, Qu Jingjiang's salary had been so low that he had almost no money to bring home. The family was like a leaky little boat, slowly sinking in the torrent of fate…
Upon hearing that his father was ill, Jiang Baichuan readily agreed to let Qu Jingjiang return immediately, promising to handle his resignation procedures. Before leaving, he secretly placed a thin envelope in Qu Jingjiang's backpack—his remaining salary for the month, just over a thousand yuan. For the Qu family at that moment, it was truly a drop in the bucket, but that was all Jiang Baichuan could offer.
This is all thanks to Jiang Xiaoman's "skill in making money." Normally, after deducting his own living expenses and subsidizing the cafeteria, plus the fact that the school buildings are old and sometimes need to be repaired, he would basically be broke every month.
Qu Jingjiang left on a Monday. Since train tickets for Monday and Tuesday were more readily available, he didn't inform anyone before leaving. However, when he walked out of the dormitory with his luggage, downstairs, Jiang Baichuan led all the students in two rows, waving wildflowers picked from the back mountain. The children's eyes were red, and they sang "Wishing You a Safe Journey," a song that Jiang Xiaoman had secretly taught them for three days.
Qu Jingjiang burst into tears instantly, hugging the nearest boy and sobbing uncontrollably. The students could no longer contain themselves and gathered around, hugging their beloved teacher Qu and crying loudly.
There are only three teachers in this school. If Jiang Baichuan is a strict father and Jiang Caiyun is a loving mother, then the young and handsome Qu Jingjiang is like their older brother. The students would secretly confide in Qu Jingjiang about things they didn't dare to tell their principal father. Every time Qu Jingjiang came back for winter or summer vacation, he would always bring them all sorts of delicious food and fun things from outside the mountains. But today, their older brother is leaving this family for good…
"Alright, stop crying, or your teacher, Mr. Qu, will miss the bus." Jiang Baichuan wiped away his tears, picked up Qu Jingjiang's backpack from the ground, dusted it off, and helped him put it on his back.
"Go back and spend some quality time with your aunt and uncle. Langshan Primary School will always be your home. You are welcome to come back anytime you have the chance!"
"Yes! Brother Baichuan, thank you~" Qu Jingjiang wiped away his tears fiercely, not daring to stay any longer. If he stayed any longer, he would not want to leave.
As soon as I stepped out of the school gate, I was surrounded by a group of villagers who had heard the news.
"Teacher Qu, I boiled a few free-range eggs. Take them with you on the way!"
"This is homemade cured pork, it's all smoked. Take it back for your parents to try!"
"These are mugwort cakes that I just made yesterday. Take them with you on the road; they're cleaner than the ones you buy outside."
The villagers were not wealthy, and they couldn't prepare anything good on the spot. They just took whatever they had at home. But little by little, they accumulated and soon both of Qu Jingjiang's arms were covered with clothes.
Jiang Xiaoman quickly went back and got a woven bag to pack it all together for him.
Qu Jingjiang was surprised that these villagers, who usually seemed to dislike him, would actually bring him gifts to see him off. He was deeply moved and almost wanted to stay, but Jiang Baichuan pushed him onto the bus to the county town.
"Remember to call me when you get home! Have a safe trip!"
"Have a safe journey, Teacher Qu!"
The children chased the bus for a long way, all the way to the village entrance. Qu Jingjiang leaned against the window and waved frantically until the mountain road turned a corner and he could no longer see the familiar Langshan Village. Only then did he hug his backpack, bury his head in the window, and cry silently.
Although Qu Jingjiang didn't get to wait until summer vacation, fortunately, the final exams are approaching. All the content that needed to be taught for each grade has been taught, and all that's left is review. Since there are few students in the class, Jiang Baichuan figured out that they could simply combine grades one through three into one classroom, so that only one teacher would be needed to help the students review their lessons.
Seeing that Jiang Baichuan was too busy, Jiang Xiaoman's eyes lit up, and she silently opened the class group chat.
"Emergency help, brothers! Does anyone know anyone majoring in Chinese literature or mathematics who's interested in teaching at a primary school in a mountainous area? Room and board included, plus a small living allowance. Please share!"
He also included his contact information at the end.
This is one of the advantages of studying at a teacher training college: the vast majority of students there are teacher trainees, the future teachers!
With summer vacation approaching, freshmen and sophomores are probably looking for internships. As a future teacher, what place is more suitable for an internship than a primary school in a mountainous area?
Sure enough! Not long after the message was sent out, Jiang Xiaoman received several calls inquiring about the internship situation. However, Jiang Xiaoman did not dare to make a decision on her own. She registered the information of these people and hurriedly went to Principal Jiang for approval.
"Interns? Can they even handle this hardship? Besides, we don't pay internships here." Jiang Baichuan was also envious. This is a teachers' college! Even if the county recruits students, they wouldn't be assigned here. Even if it's just an internship for a few months, they'll still be making a profit.
"No need, just choose whichever you want. I've already figured out a way to pay the internship salary." Jiang Xiaoman pointed to her phone. "I'm going up the mountain to build a house with my dad in a few days, so I definitely won't have time to film videos for the school then. If an intern comes, we can have him continue maintaining the school's video account. As long as he keeps updating, the video account will generate revenue, and then the intern will get his stipend, right?"
That's all we can do.
Jiang Baichuan didn't really want interns, mainly because he knew that these interns couldn't be retained in a rural primary school like theirs, and would only waste their precious youth. But there was nothing he could do now. Qu Jingjiang had resigned, and Jiang Caiyun was about to go home to have a baby, so she wouldn't be able to come back to teach for at least three months.
In other words, for a period of time after the summer vacation, he would be the only teacher left in the entire school. Even if he submitted a report to the higher-ups now, it was unlikely that a new teacher would arrive so quickly. It seemed that Jiang Xiaoman's method was indeed the fastest.
"Wait a minute! First and second-year students, don't they have to go back to class after the semester starts? Can they come out for internships?"
“So I found two seniors and two freshmen and sophomores.” Jiang Xiaoman pointed to the few people who were willing to intern after talking to him. “Especially these two freshmen and sophomores, one is from the physical education department and the other is from the music department. It seems that our school teaches these two courses as a side course, right? That won’t work. I heard that the education reform has been fully implemented now. If they don’t have a foundation in these two courses in elementary school, they will suffer when they go to junior high school.”
"Sigh! Who can argue with that? But as you can see, with our school's limited resources, how can we afford to hire music and physical education teachers? We teach them ourselves as a side job," Jiang Baichuan sighed.
“That’s why I wanted to recruit these two students. It’s only a little over a month of summer vacation, so we can run a crash course for their special skills. Anyway, kids just watch TV and play in the mud at home during summer vacation, so it’s better to bring them over for extra lessons,” Jiang Xiaoman suggested to his uncle. “Uncle, to be honest, the kids in our mountains are no less intelligent or physically capable than city kids. Why can’t they do as well in exams? It’s simply because they lack skills and perspective. I’m thinking of recruiting a few interns for the school, not expecting them to significantly improve the students’ grades. Exams now focus on overall abilities. I just want them to supplement the kids with things we can’t teach!”
“Okay! I’ll do as you say! But we still need to make things clear with them about the internship stipend. The school really doesn’t have a budget for that. If we don’t make money from making videos, we might not get the internship stipend.” Jiang Baichuan didn’t like lying.
"Don't worry! If it were just for that little bit of internship pay, they wouldn't even call to sign up. Uncle, you need to have more faith in young people these days." Jiang Xiaoman smiled.
A few hours later, in the teaching building of J Province Normal University, Chu Mengluan, who had just finished class, habitually opened her phone and suddenly saw a WeChat message: "Hello Chu Mengluan, we are Langshan Township Primary School. Your internship application has been approved by the principal. Here is the internship arrangement and internship instructions. Please take a look. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me."
At the same time, three other students from the Normal University also received job offers from Jiang Xiaoman's group message. However, the two students who would be seniors next semester were scheduled to report for duty before the end of summer vacation, which would coincide with the summer "specialty class" to avoid having to support four interns at once, which would easily bankrupt Uncle Baichuan... cough!
Chu Mengluan was from the music department, and Fang Xingchen was from the physical education department. As soon as their exams were over, the two packed their bags and went to Langshan Township Elementary School together to register.
"You brought your violin?"
"Didn't you bring badminton shuttlecocks too?"
"Hehe~ I also brought a basketball and a soccer ball, but they're not inflated yet, and I also have dozens of new jump ropes."
"Do you really need to bring this yourself? Are you stupid? I packed it all up and sent it by express delivery in advance. Senior Jiang said the school can accept packages."
"What?!" Fang Xingchen screamed in despair.
If he had known they could receive packages there, he would have borrowed all the basketballs in the class, deflated them, and sent them over by package.
Fang Xingchen and Chu Mengluan set off early in the morning, first taking the high-speed train and then transferring to a bus. Because they missed one bus in between, it was almost dark when they arrived at the school.
Knowing they were coming today, Jiang Xiaoman specially came down from the mountain to help, and brought a lot of wild vegetables and half a wild boar.
The wild boar wasn't very big, only about 30 pounds. His father caught it in a trap he set in their cornfield.
The corn is already starting to form ears this season, and wild boars in the mountains will come down to steal it because of the smell. Every year at this time, Jiang Youliang will go to the cornfield to set traps.
For some reason, there are a lot of wild boars in the mountains this year. His family has already caught three wild boars. Perfect, they won't have to spend money on fresh pork when building a house or hosting guests. Today, they are going to welcome two student teachers, so Jiang Youliang cut off half of a wild boar and had Jiang Xiaoman carry it down the mountain for the teachers from the city to have a taste of something new.
Besides wild boar meat, Jiang Xiaoman also dug up some fresh bamboo shoots and picked a bag of bitter greens—these things are especially delicious when blanched and stir-fried with cured meat, and they are also cooling and detoxifying. The two teachers had traveled a long way and were probably quite hot-tempered, so eating some bitter greens would be good for their health.
He had just finished stewing the wild boar meat and was about to call to ask where they were when he heard Jiang Baichuan chatting with someone at the door. When he went out to check, he found that they had indeed arrived.
Chu Mengluan was full of ambition when she set off, but now she's almost collapsing. She practically clings to Fang Xingchen's arm. Fang Xingchen tries his best to maintain his manly dignity, carrying his own luggage on his back, with Chu Mengluan's luggage hanging in front, and a human-shaped pendant on his arm. He also looks a bit shaky.
Jiang Baichuan was startled and rushed over to help him take off his luggage, then invited them to sit down and rest in the office for a while.
The two exhausted intern teachers didn't bother with formalities. They dragged their limp legs to the office and plopped down in bed.
The bus broke down on the road. The passengers were all villagers from the surrounding area. They thought they weren't far from home and worried that if they waited any longer it would get dark and they would have trouble walking on the mountain road, so they simply got off the bus early. Fang Xingchen and Chu Mengluan asked the driver and heard that Langshan Village was "not far away", so they picked up their luggage and decided to walk there.
Who would have thought that the driver, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, was actually a conman!
What he meant by "not far" took the two intern teachers almost half an hour to walk!
Normally, Fang Xingchen could walk for half an hour without any problem, given his physical strength. But today was different. He was already carrying a lot of heavy luggage. After walking for a while, he took the initiative to help Chu Mengluan with her backpack. A little while later, Chu Mengluan was hanging on his arm. They walked like this for half an hour with heavy loads. Even as a physical education student, Fang Xingchen almost couldn't handle it.
"Come on, Fang and Chu, drink some honey water to soothe your throats." Jiang Xiaoman had already come out, but seeing the two of them panting heavily, she ran back to the kitchen, took out a jar of honey that she had harvested recently, and made a bowl of honey water for the two of them.
These two are really carefree. They only brought a bottle of mineral water with them when they went out. They had already finished eating on the way, and now they were so thirsty that their throats were practically burning. They didn't care about being polite to Jiang Xiaoman and picked up the big bowls from the school and started gulping them down.
I must say, the water made with this local honey is really delicious. Jiang Xiaoman was worried that it might hurt their throats, so she picked a few mint leaves and put them in for them. After drinking it, their throats felt cool and soothing.
"Are you two stupid? The bus broke down halfway, couldn't you have even called me? I could have borrowed a tractor from the village and brought you two back long ago!" Jiang Xiaoman looked at her two junior classmates speechlessly.
"How was I supposed to know it was this far? The bus driver told us it would be a short walk." Fang Xingchen was extremely aggrieved. He had originally wanted to arrive in a sunny and handsome manner, but instead, he was forced to do a heavy-duty off-road exercise, which almost exhausted him to death. This entrance was anything but handsome!
Chapter 37
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault. If you hadn't been dragging me along and carrying my luggage, you would have arrived much sooner by yourself." Chu Mengluan looked at him with a guilty expression.
As the saying goes, true friendship is revealed in times of trouble. After supporting each other through a cross-country run with weights, the two classmates who had previously been bickering each other immediately became close comrades-in-arms in a united front.
"It's okay, just don't be so silly next time. What the mountain people call 'a while' usually takes half an hour. It also takes a while to get from my house to school, but it will probably take you more than an hour to climb up." Jiang Xiaoman wasn't trying to scare them; she just wanted to prepare them mentally.
After all, Jiang Baichuan planned to take them to visit students' homes, the furthest one of which would probably require a two-hour walk through the mountains.
Seeing that Jiang Baichuan had started introducing the school and students to the two student teachers, Jiang Xiaoman quietly returned to the kitchen.
The wild boar stew with dried bamboo shoots is already cooked. Now that everyone is here, we can start cooking the remaining stir-fried dishes.
First, blanch sliced wild boar meat in boiling water with some cooking wine and ginger to remove the gamey smell. After draining, stir-fry it with shredded chili peppers and bean curd strips. This stir-fried pork with chili peppers is particularly appetizing, and the texture is somewhat similar to twice-cooked pork. Blanch the cleaned bitter greens first, then rinse them twice, squeeze out the excess water, chop them, and stir-fry them with minced garlic. Only a little salt is needed.
Because he wanted to treat the two student teachers, the stingy Principal Jiang gave him an extra "permission" to kill a free-range chicken today. The chicken was used to make a big pot of chicken soup, with oyster mushrooms that Jiang Xiaoman had grown herself added, and a bunch of green scallions floating on top. It smelled delicious.