Mud beads

This was the first time Yu Zhu had stood in front of so many students.

Although it's called a lot, there are only six children.

The older children could already stretch their arms out on the table, while the younger ones had their legs dangling in front of the stool, their shoes still slightly off the ground. She held a freshly sharpened piece of chalk and wrote her name on the blackboard. As she turned around, several pairs of eyes immediately lowered their gaze.

These children are not like Su Yan.

Su Yan always listened to her speak in a detached manner, his eyelids half-closed, his face expressionless. He had his own set of behavioral rules, and showing emotions seemed to him to be a rather undignified thing. But the thoughts of these children in front of him were all written on their faces, their sun-darkened faces flushed, and their eyes filled with an unconcealable mix of shyness and excitement.

Yu Zhu patted the dust off her hands, tilted her head and smiled, trying to keep her voice as soft as possible.

"Hello everyone, I'm Yu Zhu. I'm here to teach you a math class today. You can call me Teacher Yu."

No one spoke in the classroom. Several children hid their faces behind their books, only revealing a pair of bright, curved eyes. Xu Ran sat in the second row, her hair neatly combed. Last night, she had dared to lead Yu Zhu all over the mountain, but now, after being glanced at by Yu Zhu, she pursed her lips, her ears turning red little by little.

"Don't be nervous, everyone."

Yu Zhu felt a little embarrassed by their stares: "This is my first time teaching you all. If I don't do well, you can tell me anytime."

After she finished speaking, she turned around and wrote down the addition and subtraction equations that had appeared in the first assignment on the blackboard.

"Thirteen minus five, I've seen many students get this problem wrong in their homework."

Yu Zhu wrote the characters very large, each stroke straight and even. She turned around and found that the children's eyes were all on her, so she raised her hand and tapped the blackboard.

"Could any student point out what they don't understand?"

The children continued to look at her, but the excitement in their eyes faded somewhat, replaced by confusion.

Yu Zhu waited a while, and seeing that no one answered, she smiled and explained her solution again. She spoke slowly, and when she got to the key points, she drew two horizontal lines under several numbers with chalk.

But as the explanation went on, the children's attention gradually wandered away.

A boy in the front row was fiddling with a pencil, his thumb constantly fiddling with the cap, which already had teeth marks on it. A girl by the window was looking outside; a sparrow flew past the windowsill, and her head followed its flight. The boy below the podium was the most focused, rubbing an eraser back and forth on the table, gradually turning the tiny eraser shavings into a thick, long line.

The smile on Yu Zhu's face faded.

"Did everyone understand?"

No one answered.

Yu Zhu tapped the blackboard again, her voice unconsciously becoming a little louder.

"If no one says anything, I'll order it."

Upon hearing this, the children in the classroom immediately focused their attention. They sat up straight, but lowered their heads even further.

Yu Zhu held the chalk, her thumb unconsciously rubbing the broken edge, a thin layer of sweat seeping from her palm.

She looked around the classroom, her gaze finally settling on the second row.

"Xu Ran".

Xu Ran was fiddling with a layer of peeling wood veneer on the corner of the table when he heard his name called and suddenly stood up.

"arrive!"

"Using the approach I just described, answer this question—" Yu Zhu looked at her, trying to soften her tone, "Mom bought twelve eggs at the market at noon, and broke two on the way. How many can she make for lunch?"

Xu Ran frowned and thought for a long time, his face turning red without saying a word.

Low laughter gradually filled the classroom.

Yu Zhu glanced at the whispering students, looked at Xu Ran, and smiled: "Don't rush, think it over slowly."

Encouraged, Xu Ran finally spoke: "Twelve."

Yu Zhu's lips suddenly fell down.

Why?

Seeing the change in her expression, Xu Ran lowered his head, hesitated for a moment, and whispered, "The eggs can't be wasted."

Laughter erupted in the classroom.

Yu Zhu opened her mouth, momentarily at a loss for words to correct him. For a few seconds, her mind went blank, and she even felt that what Xu Ran said wasn't entirely unreasonable.

If Liang Dong were standing here, what would he say?

"It's okay." Yu Zhu took a breath, walked to the blackboard and erased the original equation. "Let's try a different approach and explain it again."

White dust fell from the board, sticking to the back of her fingers and cuffs. Yu Zhu mentally reorganized her thoughts, deciding to temporarily abandon the eggs and replace them with twelve pieces of chalk—no, twelve blades of grass. Take away two, and how many are left?

The chalk had just touched the blackboard when a muffled thud came from behind me.

Yu Zhu turned around and found that a desk was crooked and out of place.

Two boys in the last row were fighting.

"Stop, stop!"

Yu Zhu threw down the chalk and walked over quickly.

Neither boy would let go.

She grabbed one of them with each hand and finally managed to separate them. One of them stumbled back to the table, then suddenly bent down, buried his face in his arms, and started sobbing.

The other boy, his collar askew and his chest heaving, still glared at him with his neck stiff.

Yu Zhu stood between the two, falling silent.

The pencil case that had fallen from the table was at her feet, with several short pencils and glass marbles scattered everywhere. The problem on the blackboard was half erased, leaving a layer of grayish-white marks. All the children in the front row turned to look at her, their faces showing a mixture of panic and cautious curiosity.

She suddenly didn't know whether she should pick up the pencil case on the ground and comfort the crying child, or go back to the blackboard and finish explaining the arithmetic problem about "waste".

Moth

After class, Yu Zhu was called to the side of the playground by Teacher Zhang.

"How are you feeling?" Teacher Zhang's eyes were full of smiles.

Yu Zhu glanced at the white dust on her cuffs, then looked up at the playground, momentarily lost in thought.

The children who were sitting in the classroom just moments ago, too afraid to even lift their heads, are now like a completely different group. Two boys who were fighting just minutes ago are now mingling in the crowd, chasing a half-deflated ball all over the field. Several girls stand in front of an empty netless stand, acting as goalkeepers, their braids swinging rapidly behind their heads.

The dull, bewildered eyes in the classroom were now brightened by the wind. Laughter echoed between the low courtyard walls, never ceasing.

Yu Zhu lowered her eyes: "I don't think I know how to talk about math."

"The children here have a poor foundation." Teacher Zhang looked at the children running wildly on the playground, her gaze drifting into the distance. "The vast majority of students studying here come from poor families. Those who have a little more money go to study in the county town."

Upon hearing this, Yu Zhu slowly raised her head, her gaze following Teacher Zhang as she looked back at the playground.

She had lived with Echizen Toru for so long that even scarcity had become a distant concept. She was like a sparrow that had been kept in captivity for a long time, receiving food at fixed times every day, gradually forgetting that finding food required flapping its wings, looking down from a high place, and scratching with its claws.

"Some children here can't even afford tuition; their families just send them two bags of apples and that's it. Like Xu Ran, a left-behind child whose parents work away from home all year round, so she has to live at school."

As Teacher Zhang spoke, she turned to look for Xu Ran.

Xu Ran was squatting by the tap washing her hands. The water flow was very gentle, and she rinsed them repeatedly. After washing, she wiped her clothes a couple of times. A younger girl ran over, and Xu Ran took her hand and led her to the playground.

Yu Zhu looked away and smiled sheepishly, "I also come from the mountains. When I first entered junior high school, I was last in my first exam."

Teacher Zhang turned to look at her, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, but she quickly regained her composure.

"You're already very lucky to have made it out of this situation."

Yu Zhu was stunned for a moment.

The wind swept through the mountain valley, fluttering the faded red flag in front of the playground. The corner of the flag got tangled in the pole, struggled a few times, and was then unfurled by the wind.

The children were still running on the playground, their shoes kicking up dust and creating a chaotic yet cheerful sound as they stepped on the concrete.

Yu Zhu nodded: "Yes. I'm very lucky to have met so many good teachers along the way."

Teacher Zhang looked at her, his gaze lingering on her chalk-dust-covered hands for a moment, and then slowly smiled.

"So you'll be a good teacher too."