Teacher Liu, who hadn"t planned to attend the cla.s.s initially, changed his mind after I had put away the notebook, saying he had decided to see the results of the test.
He kindly said to me, "I only ever taught the students how to speak. I never verified the results of my teaching. This idea of yours is a good one. I have some pens for you here. You can give them to the students."
"Teacher Liu is really thoughtful. I"d nearly forgotten that the students might not have pens. If they don"t have pens, how can they take a test?"
I smiled at Teacher Liu in tacit understanding and boarded the school bus with my examination papers and pens.
After working for a month, I had finally established a friendly relationship with my colleague. This was a big step forward in my career.
The driver saw Teacher Liu and me get on the bus with our arms around each other"s shoulders and made an expression like he"d just seen a ghost. Probably it was because Teacher Liu seldom had physical contact with people.
My mood was very good. Seeing the driver, I greeted him energetically. "Sir, you"ve driven me so many times, but I still don"t know what I should call you."
"My name is Qi Dazhuang," the driver said concisely.
"Qi-dage! Is it all right if I call you that from now on?"
"Whatever you want." The driver started the bus. He seemed not to want to communicate with me.
The driver just had a reticent nature. I was used it. I chatted with Teacher Liu about my school days, telling him how I"d studied English word lists every morning and evening, memorized an ancient poem every week, copied a page of model characters every day.
Listening to this, Teacher Liu slapped his thigh. "My teaching methods are really behind the times. I didn"t know practices like these existed. Although this type of education isn"t suitable for our students — we might cut back on quizzes, unit exams, monthly exams, mid-term exams, and final exams — they should at least understand the rules before we let them go."
"Right!" I nodded. "Afterwards, we can"t let the students graduate casually like Mu Huaitong. They"ll have to pa.s.s a graduation exam first."
"Well..."
"Yes? Does Teacher Liu have a different suggestion?"
"No, no, I fully support Teacher Shen"s teaching methods!"
The driver slammed on the brakes. There was no seat in front of me to block my momentum, so I flew forward. Fortunately, I had practiced Taekwondo and was in excellent physical condition. I grabbed the pole in time to avoid getting hurt by the abrupt stop.
"Qi-dage, what is it?" I asked, horrified.
"Avoiding a cat." The driver turned his head slowly. The streetlights reflected in his eyes looked unexpectedly green. "So there is something you"re afraid of."
"How could there be a person who isn"t afraid of anything? I"m afraid of lots of things. I"m afraid of being bald, of having no money, of not being able to find a job. There"s plenty of things."
The driver looked at me for a moment, silently turned around, and started the bus again.
I didn"t dare to sit in the front row seat anymore. I ran behind Teacher Liu and grabbed the back of the seat, terrified that the driver would make another sudden stop.
"Teacher Shen, Xiao Qi didn"t mean anything by it. Don"t be angry." Teacher Liu hurriedly started to mediate the situation.
"It"s OK, I"m not angry." I waved my hand.
I"d always thought that the driver had a story. I could slowly find out about it later.
When I got off the bus, I saw Xiao Ning waiting in front of the school gate. This time, he wasn"t even wearing his yellow robe. He was wearing a black shirt and looking particularly handsome.
I abandoned Teacher Liu and ran over to Xiao Ning with the test papers in my arms. I offered them to him. "Have a look at this, what do you think of the questions?"
Ning Tiance pulled out a test paper, flipped through it, and laughed quietly. "Very good!"
"I"ll take you through the back door. Don"t jump over the wall this time."
The three of us entered by the little door in the back. Benevolence Middle School was the first place where I"d had cla.s.s, and the place where I"d met my first student, Mu Huaitong. Although she was mischievous, she was very studious. Every time she"d sat in the front row, listening to me lecture with her chin in her hand and her head tilted.
It was sad to come back to Benevolence Middle School again when Mu Huaitong had gone abroad.
It would have been a good thing if she could also have taken the test. Student Mu was so clever and studious, she would definitely have been able to get a good grade on this test.
The lights in the Fourth Cla.s.s, Third Year cla.s.sroom were brightly lit. There were twenty-four seats in the room, three of them already empty. Mu Huaitong had graduated, Tan Xiaoming had gone to get treatment, and Tian Bowen had been expelled. There were still twenty one students remaining, 42,000 yuan...
No, no! I fervently shook my head. How could I think like that? These were my lovable students, not money! Even if Princ.i.p.al Zhang hadn"t been paying me, I still would have given them my whole lifetime"s store of knowledge.
Ning Tiance and Teacher Liu sat in two of the empty seats, which were in the back row. There was still an empty seat in the middle of the cla.s.sroom, which would have been Mu Huaitong"s.
Duan Youlian was sitting in the seat behind Mu Huaitong"s. On her table were the notebook and pen I had given her.
I put the papers on the lectern and said to everyone, "h.e.l.lo, students! It"s been a week since we last saw each other. Has anyone read the books I recommended?"
The students shook their heads as one body. Xiao Ning raised his hand up high. "I read them."
"Those auditing the cla.s.s can come speak to me in private after cla.s.s if they have something to say." I motioned for him not to disturb the teacher during cla.s.s.
It hurt me that the students hadn"t read the books, but it was all right. As long as I tested them on fundamental legal principles, I didn"t need to be afraid that they weren"t learning.
I said to everyone, "This week I"ve adjusted my teaching methods to add a new element to our studies — tests."
The pen on Duan Youlian"s desk clattered to the floor.
She looked at me with her mouth open wide, her raincoat constantly dripping water onto the floor.
This time, I was prepared. I picked up a mop and went to Duan Youlian to mop up the water at her feet. While I was accommodating Duan Youlian"s preferences, I could still make sure not to impact the other students.
"I don"t take tests!" Duan Youlian said, grabbing my arm. "Don"t think you can make me answer questions!"
This young lady was extremely strong. My wrist even hurt. Fortunately, I was stronger. I pulled away her wrist and said, "As a student, you should obey to your teacher"s instructions."
"And if I don"t take the test, what are you going to do to me?" She snorted coldly. "Even though you can cut my nails, I can still not come to cla.s.s."
This move was so bold that it left me with nothing to say. I stared silently for a while, then sighed and said, "Then I could only make a home visit."
Duan Youlian was stupefied.
"As a teacher, I can"t get rough with my students. If all of you don"t care about attending school and don"t cooperate with your teacher, it"s no loss to you. The only thing I can do is deploy a teacher"s methods, go door to door, earnestly advising you to study." I sighed. "This is my only job. I have plenty of free time, and luckily I don"t have many students. I can pay visits to your families day and night, ask them to cooperate with me in teaching you to study."
The disobedient auditor Xiao Ning raised his hand again and said, "I"ll go with Teacher Shen."
"Me too…" Teacher Liu said after thinking about it. "I can"t go during the day, but I can go with Teacher Shen at night."
"You-you don"t know where I live." Duan Youlian took a step back, looking very frightened. It seemed that she was afraid of her parents getting involved. All students were afraid of that.
"I can ask Princ.i.p.al Zhang."
There and then I picked up my phone and sent a message to Princ.i.p.al Zhang: Could you please tell me, if I wanted to make a home visit, could you tell me the student"s address?
Princ.i.p.al Zhang replied in seconds: Whose do you want?
Such an understanding princ.i.p.al. I smiled and sent a voice message: "No need for it at the moment, but if a student doesn"t cooperate with my teaching, then I really will have to."
Duan Youlian looked around desperately. "You... all of you, when did you sell out to Shen Jianguo?"
Teacher Liu sighed and said to Duan Youlian, "Xiao Lian, this is what life is like. Haven"t you already understood this? Study hard, and one day you will be able to graduate."
Duan Youlian sat down weakly. I put a test paper on her table, along with a pen, one of the ones Teacher Liu had given me.
I distributed twenty-one test papers, leaving nine. I slipped one each to Xiao Ning and Teacher Liu so they could look at the questions.
Proctoring tests was a tiring and boring thing. You couldn"t make a sound to disturb the students, and you also had to monitor them to make sure they weren"t cheating. You also couldn"t play on your phone. It was very hard work.
Especially in the middle of the night. If I sat in my seat, I would definitely fall asleep. I could only stand up and walk around the cla.s.sroom, preventing the students from cheating and also getting a glimpse of their answers.
If I didn"t look, I wouldn"t know. As soon as I looked, I nearly died from anger.
This question, for example:
Multiple Choice Question: Among the following subjects, those who are not included in the electorate according to the electoral law of our country are:
A. the mentally ill
B. drug addicts
C. seniors
D. incarcerated criminals
Everyone"s answers were uniform, just as if they had consulted about it beforehand. Ignoring all the options, they wrote "me" in brackets.
For another example, this short answer question: A and B have a quarrel. In the dispute, A picks up a brick, kills B, and escapes. If you are a family member of the victim B, how can you use the law to get justice for B?
Everyone"s answer were once again uniform: kill A.
But everyone"s methods of killing were different. For example, Duan Youlian"s was drowning. The student dressed as a mummy wrote in strangulation. There was also pushing down the stairs, electrocution, poisoning, smothering, scaring to death. In short, no one wrote go to the police.
The most exasperating one was Teacher Liu, who was also answering the questions and even using a brush. He answered this question very carefully, writing many words in the blank: After A is found, he should be washed clean with hot water, then steamed for three days and fed nourishing food. Once the skin becomes tender and elastic, cut from the back and peel. In this way you will obtain a fresh human skin. This type of degenerate should be subjected to the most severe torture. It is very painful to be skinned. I have experience.
I stood at the lectern, pounded my hand on the top of it, and loudly said, "Enough! No need to go on answering! I already perfectly understand everyone"s level of common sense!"