With Ning Tiance"s consolation, my mood improved at once. I was a new employee. There were many things I would have to ask Teacher Liu for instruction on. It was entirely normal that my teaching abilities wouldn"t be as good as his. For those of us engaged in education, our own gains and losses weren"t the most important thing. What mattered most were those students standing at the crossroads of life. As long as they could choose the right path, what did it matter if I endured some hardship?
Every time Xiao Ning replied to my messages so quickly, I felt a sliver of expectation in my heart.
I considered, then continued writing: It"s so late and you aren"t asleep yet. It seems like you stay up late every night.
Ning Tiance: I absorb the essence of the moon and stars every night, so I go to bed late. Lately I have also been concerned about you.
I was at once full of emotion. I wildly typed into the input box: I"m concerned about you, too. I really like you!
Before I clicked send, Xiao Ning sent another message: About your roommates.
I silently deleted the unsent text, restrained my surging emotions, and switched to a calm, professional tone: Yes, Xiao Ming is really concerning. I hope Teacher Liu will be able to persuade him to move on. Now that I mention it, I also have another student who has gone too far.
My fingers moved quickly, briefly describing the circ.u.mstances related to Tian Bowen. In my opinion, Teacher Liu was a teacher who should be deeply loved by his students. Tian Bowen had really gone too far in bullying him. I wanted to use insecticide to teach Tian Bowen a lesson and make him stop growing bugs. But when I considered that he was perhaps a student with psychological problems, I couldn"t tell whether this would hurt him.
So I wrote to Princ.i.p.al Zhang about this issue. Princ.i.p.al Zhang was such a kind and responsible person, she would certainly have a clear understanding of all the students" situations. Her advice was very useful to me.
Two messages came in at the same time. First, I read Xiao Ning"s: Generally insecticide wouldn"t be useful for dealing with your student, but it will be if you buy it. Also, I"m going to be staying in H City for some time, and I still lack some basic necessities. Do you have time tomorrow?
Of course I did! I quickly arranged to meet Xiao Ning to go shopping. We were going to Xia Jin"s mall. I often worked part-time there, so I had coupons and discount cards. Naturally it was more cost-effective to go there.
Then I read Princ.i.p.al Zhang"s text: Tian Bowen"s behavior is very bad. It goes beyond the level of a prank. You can carry on with your plan, Teacher Shen. If this continues, I will hand the matter over to a professional to be dealt with.
But isn"t he a student with psychological problems… I still hesitated. Although I had been disgusted by him, as a teacher, I should have an inclusive att.i.tude towards my students.
Princ.i.p.al Zhang replied: He has a record of harming other students. I expelled him three years ago but he refused to leave. He has also bullied students and staff.
So that was it. There was no need to go easy on him. As Princ.i.p.al Zhang had said, I would carry on!
After making arrangements with Ning Tiance, finding out that Tian Bowen no longer belonged to the school and discussing how to deal with him, my mood improved a good deal. I went out to make myself instant noodles. Seeing that the light was off in Tan Xiaoming"s room, I returned to my room, ate my noodles, and peacefully went to sleep.
The next day, my alarm went off at 8 am. While I was feeling around for my phone, my hand touched Teacher Liu"s notebook.
Although the notebook was old, the cover was of extremely good quality. It felt like genuine leather, which ought to be water resistant. Precisely because of this I had felt comfortable using it to kill bugs.
The traces of the bugs had been cleaned off. I had forgotten to clean it last night, so did that mean that Teacher Liu had snuck into my room in the middle of the night to clean it?
On opening the notebook I found that a line written in another person"s handwriting had appeared in it: I"ve taken Xiao Ming to see a psychologist. Teacher Shen doesn"t need to worry. Also, please remember not to take this notebook with you except when you go to cla.s.s.
The handwriting was very elegant, the writing of someone who had spent many years practicing calligraphy, consistent with the impression I"d gotten of Teacher Liu.
Only Teacher Liu had written in traditional characters. If I hadn"t spent many years reading Taiwanese comics, there were some characters I wouldn"t have understood.
He really cherished this notebook. A very important person must have given it to him…
It was really too bad of me to have used it for killing bugs and as a cushion to sit on. Afterwards, even if it meant using my c.r.a.ppy old computer that took three minutes to boot up, I still wouldn"t use the notebook.
I wiped the cover of the notebook with a towel, then applied a coating of clear protective oil. I put it facedown on the windowsill to dry. My room got sunlight from seven in the morning to twelve. It was eight now; four hours should be enough time to dry it out.
After taking proper care of the notebook, I went to wash up. I"d agreed to meet Xiao Ning to go shopping at 10 am. We were meeting right in front of the mall. Taking the bus from the Farther Sh.o.r.e Estate to the mall would take about an hour, so I was short on time.
I went downstairs to eat a hurried breakfast of soy milk and youtiao, then charged onto the bus. I got to the mall at 9:50. As soon as I got off the bus, I saw a luxury car stopped near the mall and Ning Tiance getting out of it.
As if it had been decreed by fate, he looked over and saw me. He smiled and came over.
At the moment, I practically couldn"t see Ning Tiance"s handsome smile. My eyes were glued to the wildly expensive car. I didn"t recover until the car had driven away and Ning Tiance had waved his hand in front of my face.
"That car..."
"It"s reserved for the use of Maoshan"s disciples while in H City. The driver comes from the hotel," Xiao Ning said casually.
I clutched my chest, which hurt a little.
So Xiao Ning really was rich. So rich, and he still rode on a hard seat to train his endurance. He really was a nice young man!
Looking at Xiao Ning now, there seemed to be a brilliant golden glow of goodness enveloping him, making him look even more handsome.
Seeing me hesitate, he reached out a hand to me and said, "What is it? Let"s go."
Looking at his hand with its clearly defined knuckles and long slim fingers, the strange distress in my heart disappeared at once. I hopped over and patted him on the shoulder. Laughing, I said, "Xiao Ning, you"re pretty handsome now you"re not wearing your yellow robe!"
Ning Tiance blushed faintly. "The yellow robe is ceremonial attire. I can only wear it when I"m out on an a.s.signment. Of course I wouldn"t wear it out in public under ordinary circ.u.mstances."
"But when you went to the hospital yesterday morning to find me, you were wearing the yellow robe. Hadn"t you just gotten off the train?" As far as I remembered, last Sat.u.r.day at the mall was the only time I had seen him wearing ordinary clothes. He"d been especially good-looking with that clean student look.
Ning Tiance"s face went even redder. "I changed while I was running along the highway. On the train I was wearing a black elbow-length shirt and shorts."
Broad-minded as I was, I was still shocked by Xiao Ning"s behavior. Had he exposed himself by the side of the road in the middle of the night?
"The ceremonial clothes add power during rituals," Xiao Ning explained. "I don"t have enough power, so I still need help from objects."
My heart ached even more. Feudal superst.i.tion was a killer! Such a kind-hearted, handsome young man, cheated into becoming a highway exhibitionist. Fortunately, there had been no one on the road at the time. What if it had happened in the middle of the street?
My determination not to be corrupted by money was once again restored. No matter how rich he was, he couldn"t be left to become the victim of outdated ideas. I had to help Xiao Ning love science and love life.
The first floor of the shopping mall where Xia Jin worked was a big supermarket carrying all kinds of goods, as well as bargain-priced clothes. Because I had coupons, I often came to the mall to shop for clothes. Right now I was wearing bargain-priced clothes I"d bought last year.
Ning Tiance needed to buy some basic household goods, so naturally I took him to the supermarket. If he needed casual clothes, we could go upstairs to pick some out.
Not long after, Xia Jin, having heard that we"d come, took some time out of his busy schedule to entertain us. I waved and said, "You go back to work. We"re old schoolmates, there"s no need to be so polite."
"Who"s here for you? I came to entertain Ning-tianshi." Xia Jin kicked me and said enthusiastically to Xiao Ning, "Ning-tianshi, anything you like, just say the word and you can have it. We"ll say it"s on the house."
Ning Tiance shook his head. "We have rules. We can"t be greedy in accepting gifts from believers. Last time, my part in exorcising the ghost was negligible. If you want your mall to be free of troubles in the future, you can invite Teacher Shen to work for you. With him here, there"ll be nothing to worry you."
In fact I really could take on another job. The training inst.i.tute"s cla.s.ses were all at night, and there were no more than ten cla.s.ses per month. I wouldn"t have to miss anything.
I immediately recommended myself to Xia Jin, saying that I wouldn"t require the salary that came with a graduate degree. I could take a job that only required an undergraduate one, do office work at the mall or something.
"Our marketing department is looking to recruit people right now." Xia Jin looked at me. "But your specialization isn"t right."
"Then you can treat me as an intern for the first month," I said. "After the first month, if I"m useful, you can pay the standard salary. If I"m not useful, you can just fire me. Isn"t that a good deal?"
It wasn"t that urgent to have a salary now. It would also be good to have a job that would allow me to acc.u.mulate social experience.
"That"s fair." Xia Jin nodded. "Send in your resume tomorrow and our HR department will talk it over."
With the hope of a part-time job in my future, I was quite pleased. I took Xiao Ning all over the place to buy stuff, and bought a spray can of insecticide for myself. On Xia Jin"s recommendation, I bought the most effective insecticide.
The so-called most effective one was only meant for mosquitoes. There was no guarantee it would work on Tian Bowen"s maggots.
I told Xiao Ning my concerns. After thinking about it, Ning Tiance said, "Our Maoshan Sect is located in a scenic area. The landscape is beautiful, the vegetation is lush, and there are no mosquitoes, because we have a special method for repelling insects."
"Can you tell me a little about that?" I looked at him expectantly.
Ning Tiance nodded, took the insecticide, and removed the spray nozzle.
Then he took my hand. As I watched him with my heart beating like a drum, he bit down firmly on the middle finger of my right hand, then squeezed a few drops of blood into the insecticide.
He screwed the spray nozzle back on, gave it a good shake, then handed the insecticide back to me. "That"ll do. Next time you have cla.s.s, use this to get rid of those bugs. I guarantee the outcome."
What… What kind of secret recipe was this?