A Young Woman's Heart

"Mmm!" Hua Yinyin nodded vigorously, as if she had been captivated by the beauty of nature and was now completely absorbed in it.

As the sun rose higher and higher, the moon was finally completely submerged by the sea.

The sky brightened completely.

"Yinyin, are you going back?" Mo Xueyao turned her head and found that the guy had fallen asleep on her shoulder.

……

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Teaching Support Program Officially Begins (Part 1)

The sun on the island seemed much harsher than on the mainland. Although it was still early morning, Mo Xueyao already felt that the sunlight was a bit dazzling.

After returning home, she applied some sunscreen, but after being exposed to the sun for a minute or two, she still felt a burning pain.

The school gate was unusually lively today. Even though this was summer tutoring, it was still the first day. Most of the adults living on the island personally brought their children up.

The island has more than 200 households and is located in the center of several nearby islands. The total population is more than 800, nearly 900, but the actual permanent residents are only about 300, which is a bit sparse on this relatively large island.

Of these 300-plus people, there are about 50 children of school age—that is, children in the sixth grade of primary school.

In fact, those who remain on the island are basically the elderly and the children who still need adult care for the time being.

The vast majority of junior high school students live on campus, while many children over the age of fifteen are not in school and are working outside.

"Come on, everyone, go to Room 101 to report first. The teachers there will give you textbooks and tell you which classroom to go to—" Qiu Yi maintained order at the door while also dealing with the enthusiasm of these adults.

This Hope Primary School was able to be established because most of the islanders supported their children's education.

Especially young people who go out to work.

Although they don't have time to take care of their children, they are well aware of the importance of learning.

Those who can carve out a niche for themselves despite lacking formal education are few and far between. Many of the stories of so-called "nouveau riche bosses" are more of a psychological comfort than a reality. If they were given the chance to do it all over again, they would definitely yearn to study hard.

"Hey teacher! My kid's here! Tell him to study hard, or you'll have to spank him!" An elderly woman, probably in her fifties or sixties, grabbed a chubby boy's shoulder. "Don't hold back, this kid just needs a good beating!"

"Haha, we usually try to reason with our kids."

"That won't work, this brat can't reason with anyone!"

"Okay, okay... You can leave it here. Let the child go in by himself."

"Okay."

Duanmu Ji, dressed in formal attire, stood under the blazing sun, sweat dripping from his forehead, doing the same work as Qiu Yi.

"Go to classroom 101. Parents can drop their children off here." However, compared to Qiu Yi, he seemed somewhat unnatural and stiff.

"Such a young teacher, did you just graduate?"

"Oh—is it—a high school graduate teacher?"

"almost……"

"The teachers who came this time are all highly educated. There's one college graduate standing at the door and another high school graduate."

"Yes, all the teachers at this school used to only have a junior high school education!"

Duanmu Ji, who was initially a little guilty, immediately stood up straight.

This is actually quite normal; how many top students are willing to go to rural areas to teach?

Especially in those impoverished times, those who lived in the city wouldn't go, and those who left were less willing to go back.

The teachers in these remote areas are all either junior high school graduates teaching elementary school or high school graduates teaching junior high school...

"Haha, we even have master's degree holders here!" Qiu Yi laughed as she overheard the conversation. "Not only that, our school's future president will be a full-fledged PhD!"

"Would someone with such a high level of education really be willing to come to the countryside?" This question made the islanders quite skeptical.

However, these older people didn't dwell on the matter and started chattering about other things.

"Teacher, this is my child. Oh, this is just a small token of my appreciation, please don't be shy—" A wrinkled old woman smiled and handed over a bamboo basket filled with chicken and duck eggs.

"Hey, teacher, and these are from my family too. They're all vegetables I grew myself."

"Teacher! These are fish that we caught ourselves this morning. We brought them over as soon as they were brought ashore!"

Once one person started, the others quickly offered their "gifts." Qiu Yi and Duanmu Ji waved their hands to refuse, but they couldn't stop them. By the time the parents left, there were already many things displayed at the school gate, mostly seafood, a local specialty, and various kinds of vegetables.

Chili peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers... there's a little bit of everything.

Some people even brought eggs, honey, and milk. Most importantly, the milk was supposedly freshly boiled and needed to be put in the refrigerator immediately.

Are there several dairy cows kept on the island?

Is there really that much fodder to eat?

Qiu Yi and Duanmu Ji, who were at the door, were busy stuffing these things into the refrigerator. Those that couldn't fit would have to be used for lunch later. The weather was so hot that they would spoil if left outside for too long.

In classroom 101, Ye Wen and Wang Qianyu were busy compiling the list, with Mr. Xue helping them.

"The number of people who came was about what we expected, and there were even a few more..." Ye Wen estimated roughly.

As the number of students increased, the student population across different grades became much more evenly distributed.

However, there are still quite a few students in the third and fourth grades after the summer vacation, with about ten students in each grade.

Other grades had between five and eight students.

Mr. Xue handed the list he had compiled to Ye Wen, and Wang Qianyu also put her copy aside.

The three of them got together and counted; there were a total of sixty people.

There were ten more than originally planned.

In other words, almost all the school-age children on the island came.

Although the number of subjects and classes is the same, it is obviously impossible for each class to have completely different courses. Even if the proportion of elective courses is increased, it will not be as many as the main courses.

In such situations, the importance of having two teachers to teach a subject becomes apparent.

However, according to the temporary timetable prepared by Ye Wen, the first two periods today can be different for each class.

Since it was the first day of the official start, the time for the first class in the morning wasn't exactly standard. Class would only begin once everyone had arrived.

Mo Xueyao was in charge of teaching fourth-grade students this time. She was still in the office preparing her lesson plan, feeling somewhat nervous.

Light footsteps came from outside the door, and Mr. Xue pushed the door open and walked in.

Besides her, everyone else was in the office. Although there was no air conditioning, there was an air cooler. Even if it was not very effective, it was still better than an electric fan, at least it blew out cool air. It was just a bit of a hassle to add ice.

"All the students are here, and the list has been compiled." Mr. Xue grinned, revealing his white teeth, and said with a smile, "Awen asked me to tell you that we need to take attendance every time we go to class, and we can only start when we are sure everyone is here."

"Okay, then give me the list of fourth-grade students I'm in charge of this class?"

“Awen told me to hang them all here by the door.” Mr. Xue hung the six lists on nails on the wall by the door. “Put them away when you’re done so others can use them.”

"Then, shall we begin?" Mo Xueyao took a deep breath and picked up her study guide.

"You can begin now. A bell will ring when the time is up."

"Let's go!!"

"Yinyin is so excited!"

"Together."

The other five students followed them out of the classroom.

The teachers in this class are Hua Yinyin, who teaches music to first graders; Xuan Anyi, who teaches art to second graders; Cha Li, who teaches English to third graders; Mr. Xue, who teaches physical education to fifth graders; and Li Wanyan, who teaches math to sixth graders.

The classes are distributed on the second, third, and fourth floors. There are plenty of empty classrooms, which helps to avoid the sounds from affecting each other.

301 is for third grade, and 304 is for fourth grade.

From afar, Mo Xueyao could hear the noisy chatter of the children. Although there were only about ten children in the class, they made such a racket that it seemed like they were trying to lift the roof off.

"Xiaoyao, are you nervous?" Chali, who lives on the same floor as her, asked with a smile while holding her study materials.

"fine……"

"Actually, I'm a little nervous."

"Hey? No problem!" Mo Xueyao patted her shoulder in return, comforting her, "Keep it up!"

"Okay, let's do our best together, Xiaoyao. My classroom is further in."

"Go on, go on." Mo Xueyao watched Cha Li walk to her classroom door, and suddenly noticed that the latter also turned her head to look at Yi.

Yi smiled somewhat awkwardly, then turned her head, took a deep breath, and stepped into the classroom.

"Buzz—" The classroom, which had been noisy just moments before, fell silent in an instant.

It was as if the noise just now was purely an illusion.

But the silence didn't last long, because a child pointed at her eyes and exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, the teacher's eyes are blue!!"

"Really?!"

"Foreigner?"

The atmosphere was once again stirred up by a few lively and energetic children.

"Ahem! Quiet." Mo Xueyao spoke gently at first, but seeing that the children didn't react, she raised her voice, "Okay, quiet!"

The children quieted down again, but some rustling whispers could still be heard.

Clearly, these fourth-graders weren't afraid of her.　

Mo Xueyao breathed a slight sigh of relief and cleared her throat: "Hello everyone, I am your Chinese teacher. My surname is Mo, you can just call me Teacher Mo."

"Wood?" someone asked, puzzled.

"Mo!" someone else repeated the correct pronunciation.

If we're talking about crosstalk, these kids are definitely the best straight men.

“Mo—” Mo Xueyao turned around, wrote her surname on the blackboard with chalk with a “shasha” sound, and gently pointed to it, “You should have seen this character before, right? If you haven’t, now is a good time to learn about it. This is the Mo of inexplicable reason. Most of the time, it means ‘don’t’ and ‘no’.

"No fun?" another boy chimed in.

“Come on, student,” Mo Xueyao glanced at him sideways, “stand up and make a sentence using ‘Mo’.”