A Tale of Two Cities Supporting Xinjiang

Chang Peng walked to the window of the teaching building, where Guzalinur was taking notes stroke by stroke, following the teacher's blackboard writing.

If we told this child that her application was rejected, her newly ignited hope might be extinguished in an instant.

Chang Peng made up his mind: he absolutely could not let this matter ruin his child's studies.

That afternoon, Chang Peng went to see Tursunjan Yasin and told him everything.

"What should we do then? We can't just let our child drop out of school again, can we? Maybe I should talk to the people at the education bureau again and see if they can make an exception?"

"It's no use, the rules are there, you can't do it without the certificate."

Chang Peng shook his head. "I thought of two solutions: one is to contact several social welfare organizations that I knew before. They specialize in sponsoring talented rural children. I will send Guzalinur's paintings and information to them to see if I can apply for funding."

Secondly, if there's no news from the charity and the school asks for tuition fees, I'll pay them for her first. I absolutely cannot let her leave the classroom because of money.

Tursunjan Yasin was taken aback: "You're going to pay for it? Tuition fees are several thousand yuan a semester, and your monthly salary is so low, how can you afford to pay that?"

"I'll figure out the money problem; the priority is to focus on the child's education."

Most of the emails sent out disappeared without a trace, with only one out of ten receiving a reply, and even those were just platitudes like "Thank you for your attention, we will review them as soon as possible".

Chang Peng had no choice but to communicate via office phone.

"Hello, I'm Chang Peng, Guzalinur's teacher. This child is truly exceptional; her artistic talent is rare. However, her family is facing significant financial difficulties. Could you perhaps make an exception and give us priority to review her materials?"

"You'll definitely like her paintings. All that's missing is the tuition fee, and then she can continue studying art at school. Please give her a chance?"

Several times, the call was disconnected as soon as it connected, and subsequent calls went to a busy signal; some operators were even impatient, saying things like, "I've already said I'm in a queue, calling back won't help!"

Finally, Chang Peng got through to a well-known foundation. After listening to his story about Zailinur, the other party's tone softened slightly: "We happen to have an arts grant available. Send us your child's transcripts, artwork, and family information. We'll get back to you within three days."

After hanging up the phone, Chang Peng worked through the night to organize materials for Guzalinur's award certificate, and was still sitting in front of the computer at one o'clock in the morning checking them, afraid of missing anything.

He sent the materials first thing the next morning, and for the next three days, he checked his email every now and then and never let his phone out of his sight.

After waiting for four days without any news, he couldn't help but call the foundation again. The person on the other end hesitated and said, "That spot was given to a child recommended by a leader. I'm really sorry, we'll consider it again next time."

"Guzalinur, you're the only one missing from the whole class."

During break time, Teacher Li approached Guzalinur, somewhat helplessly, "The school has given a strict order: if tuition isn't paid within three days, you'll have to withdraw from school. What's going on here?"

Guzalinur lowered her head and murmured, "Teacher Li, Teacher Chang Peng... he said he's helping me contact people about tuition assistance, I... I'm still waiting for news..."

Upon hearing this, Teacher Li turned around and went to find Chang Peng. When she pushed open the door, Chang Peng was hunched over his desk grading students' homework.

"Teacher Chang, Guzalinur hasn't paid her tuition yet. The school said she'll have to drop out in three more days. She just said you were helping her with the support program. What's going on?"

"Drop out of school? Why so soon?"

He pondered for two seconds, then, without asking any further questions, stood up and picked up his coat from the back of the chair: "Teacher Li, wait a moment, please pay the tuition before you leave work today."

Chang Peng went to the bank, withdrew his salary, and handed it directly to the homeroom teacher: "This is my salary. Use it to pay for the child first. Don't tell her the truth. Just say that the subsidy process is complete and the money has been deposited into her account, so that she won't feel burdened."

Teacher Li held the money, feeling uneasy, but knowing Chang Peng's thoughts, she nodded in agreement. However, when she turned to see Guzalinur, seeing the little girl's nervous yet expectant eyes, the homeroom teacher couldn't help but tell her the truth.

As soon as the school bell rang, Guzalinur walked towards Chang Peng's office.

She stood at the door of Chang Peng's office and knocked twice. "Professor Chang, are you... are you there?"

"Come in."

Guzalinur pushed open the door, lowered her head, walked to the desk, and handed over the handkerchief she was holding: "Teacher Chang, I heard from Teacher Li that... you helped me pay my tuition? The school is pressing for payment, is there a problem with my subsidy?"

Chang Peng quickly put down his lesson plan, got up and walked to her side. He reached out and patted her head, his tone particularly gentle: "There's no problem. It's just that the subsidy review process takes a little longer. I was worried about delaying your classes, so I told the school to cover it first. Just focus on your studies, and you can pay me back when the subsidy comes through. No rush."

"But...but your money doesn't come from thin air..."

Guzalinur's eyes immediately reddened. "My dad doesn't earn much in a year, and my tuition fees..."

"It's alright, the money will be available soon. Just focus on your drawing studies, design some nice packaging in the future, so our village's cotton can fetch a higher price, and your parents and the villagers can earn more money. That's the best way to thank your teacher, understand?"

Guzalinur nodded vigorously, tears finally welling up in her eyes. "Teacher Chang, don't worry, I will definitely study hard and design the most beautiful cotton packaging in the future!"

After saying that, she bowed again, turned around, and skipped away.

After resolving Guzalinur's troubles, Chang Peng immediately devoted all his energy to Abudu.

This child is good in every other way—he's hardworking and honest—but his English grades are atrocious. He consistently scores around 30 on tests, with more red crosses than checkmarks on his papers. He's almost given up on himself.

"Abudu, starting today, I'll tutor you in English for an hour after class every day." Chang Peng's tone was full of certainty.

When he first started repairing the wound, Chang Peng tried every possible method.

He tucked apples and cotton balls into his pocket, and patiently taught Abudu to recognize words: "Look at this apple, it's round and plump, and it's very sweet when you take a bite. It's called apple, say it after me: apple!"

Abudu opened his mouth and whispered, repeating, "apple, apple."

"That's right, your pronunciation is getting more and more accurate!"

Chang Peng gave a thumbs up and then held up the cotton in his hand. "Your family grows a lot of this, right? It's soft and can be used to make clothes and quilts. It's called cotton, cotton, say it after me!"

"cotton...cotton..."

Abudu repeated the words to Chang Peng again and again until Chang Peng said he remembered them. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and quickly copied the two words into the most conspicuous place in his notebook, afraid that he would forget them as soon as he turned around.