When I woke up the next morning and looked, sure enough, no one was next to me again.
I washed my face and brushed my teeth like usual. Seeing the new vegetable sprouts that had just popped up in the yard, my mood instantly brightened. I leisurely finished the food left in the pot and tidied myself up a bit. I also put on some newly bought vanishing cream, then slung my small bag over my shoulder and went out.
A few days ago, I promised Su Jiayi I would go for a trial lesson at the literacy class. If I could keep up, I would sign up right away. Otherwise, being home alone was just too boring. It was nothing but eating and sleeping, utterly dull.
After walking for about ten-something minutes, I finally arrived at Su Jiayi's workplace. It turned out to be a school. It was just divided into two sections. The left side was for the children's school and the right side was where we adults had our classes.
Su Jiayi saw me from a distance. She shouted my name while waving vigorously. "Lin Yao. I thought that was you from way over here. Come on. Come on. I'll show you where you'll be having classes. Class officially starts on Monday. What do you think?"
She had really arranged everything in one go. I smiled and nodded. I quite liked this girl, Jiayi. She had a good, straightforward personality. Although she was a bit hot-tempered, she was incredibly endearing.
When she led me into the classroom, wow. Every single person's gaze snapped over to me. I glanced over the crowd and, sure enough, I saw Li Qiu. I couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Of course, Li Qiu saw me too. She was sitting there and immediately gave me a huge eye roll, then turned to whisper with the woman beside her.
Su Jiayi quickly leaned in and whispered an explanation in my ear. "I swear I didn't mean to put you two in the same class. You know that woman came to the compound in the same group as you. A few days ago, the director personally went to invite her. Everyone from our group who hasn't been to school has to attend these lessons."
I nodded to show I understood.
"But don't worry, there are several classes here," Su Jiayi continued. "If you study hard, there are placement tests every month. Just work hard and test into a better class. Then you won't have to be in the same class as her anymore."
She had a lot of confidence in me. She arranged a seat for me far away from Li Qiu, and then she left.
With the teacher not there, everyone stared at me even more brazenly. The moment I sat down, it was as if a fairy had descended to the mortal world. I seemed to be on a completely different level from them. Some were envious, some were jealous. I just pretended not to see their stares.
Li Qiu was sitting in the front row, staring at me, this ethereal vision, with a look in her eyes that made it seem like she wanted to rush up and slap me, to rip off this vixen skin.
Her deskmate asked in a low voice, "How do you think Comrade Lin got a body like that? I mean, look at her chest, her waist, her legs. Why don't we have that?"
Li Qiu snorted coldly. "Who knows how? She must be a reincarnated vixen. That's how."
Her deskmate spoke again. "Her husband must be so happy."
Li Qiu remembered how Lu Jiao had treated me that day and immediately retorted with a cold smile. "Oh, give me a break. Don't be fooled just because she looks like a vixen. Her husband can't stand the sight of her."
Her deskmate was a little speechless. She thought to herself, how would you know about their married life? But her gossipy heart got the better of her and she pressed on. "What do you mean by that?"
Li Qiu immediately began to embellish the story. She recounted the story of meeting me on the train with great animation, finally concluding, "He didn't even go to pick up his own wife when she arrived. How much do you think Commander Lu could possibly like her? He's such a high-ranking official. What kind of woman hasn't he seen? You think he'd fall for a vixen who only has a pretty face?" Her face was full of disdain.
After listening, her deskmate was half convinced and half doubtful. Before they could continue talking, a female teacher holding a textbook walked in.
"Quiet down, everyone," she said. "For the next few days, I'll be in charge of your language class. My name is Wu Min, and I hope everyone will cooperate with my work."
Wu Min then explained her lesson plan and expectations. She quickly began the lesson. The content was actually quite simple, just the most basic words and characters. But the students in this class were almost all military dependents who had never touched a book in their lives. After just a short while, everyone's attention had completely scattered. A huge group was talking, chatting, or just staring into space.
The woman's expression soured, but then she saw me sitting up straight and listening with intense focus. She felt a little better. At least there was one student who was paying attention. Her impression of me improved even more.
Actually, I already knew all the words and characters on the blackboard. The reason I was still so attentive was because I believe in respecting a teacher's hard work. When someone is up there teaching, the least you can do is not cause trouble. Every teacher deserves respect.
As the class was about to end, Wu Min, clinging to a final shred of hope, asked, "Would anyone like to come up and write the words we learned today from memory?"
Not only did no one respond, but a wave of laughter broke out instead. It was led by Li Qiu. She was used to forming cliques in her village. By now, she had already gotten pretty friendly with a few of the other women.
"Teacher, this is only our first day of class. How could we possibly learn so quickly?"
Someone immediately chimed in. "Yeah, if we could all learn that fast, what would we need a teacher for?"
"No way. We can't do it."
Standing at the podium, Wu Min's face grew even darker. It was one thing for this group to be uneducated, but they didn't even have the most basic respect. This was an open challenge to her authority as a teacher. She suppressed her anger. Literacy classes were already difficult to manage. She couldn't just lose her temper. What if they all stopped coming? That would be a failure on her part.
"Teacher, I can."
A clear, loud voice drew everyone's attention. Meeting everyone's gaze, I deliberately gave Li Qiu a scornful smile. "How can you blame the teacher when you don't even try to learn?"
After saying that, I pushed my stool back and walked straight to the podium. "Teacher, I think it's boring to do this alone. Can I find a classmate to compete with?"
"Of course, you can." Wu Min immediately agreed.
I picked up a piece of chalk and pointed it at Li Qiu in the front row. I asked word by word, "Comrade Li, do you dare to come up and compete?"
"Are you crazy? I just said I can't write." Li Qiu snarled at me, grinding her teeth in anger.
"I know you can't write," I said, deliberately raising my voice. "But after this entire class, surely you can't be unable to write a single word, can you? Is there anyone here who can't write even one word?"
No one made a sound.
Wu Min quickly encouraged her. "Just write as many as you can. There's no punishment. Just set an example for everyone."
"Don't you even have the courage to come up here?"
All at once, everyone's eyes focused on Li Qiu. Just like that day in the auditorium when she had to read her apology. Li Qiu's face flushed red, then went pale. In her head, she was probably cursing me and my entire family. In the end, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and stand up, shuffling her feet and keeping her head down as she walked to the blackboard.