Chapter 15

Monday.

Outside the school, crowds streamed in, adults and children alike.

Pei Songxi led Yu Mian to the school gate, crouched down, and straightened her collar. “Mianmian, time for school. Are you scared?”

Yu Mian shook her head, smiling. “Not scared at all!”

Pei Songxi stroked her head. “Then go on in. Class is starting.”

Yu Mian nodded like a little pecking chick, thought for a moment, then asked, “Auntie Pei. Can I still come home?”

Pei Songxi froze, an inexplicable sourness rising in her chest.

She still remembered how Wei Yi had dropped her off in a strange place and left.

She crouched down, her lake-calm eyes clear and open, her gaze tender, meeting the girl at eye level. “Of course. That’s our home — not mine alone. Understand?”

Yu Mian pressed her lips together, eyes black and bright. “Understood!”

Pei Songxi’s lips curved too, and she couldn’t help adding instructions. “I put an orange in your schoolbag. You’ll eat lunch at school — remember to have fruit after. If anyone bullies you, tell me… and your teacher…”

She had never liked talking, yet somehow her instructions came out long-winded — even she found herself strange.

But Yu Mian listened intently. With every sentence, she nodded hard, her smile slowly blooming.

“Yu Mian!”

Xu Xiaoyan came running over, dragging her mother Zhao Ruo’s hand. “Yay, we’re going to be classmates from now on!”

Yu Mian was delighted to see her too — this was her first friend. The two little girls ran in hand in hand, and before they’d gone far, Yu Mian turned back to wave. “Wait for me to come home, Auntie Pei.”

“Mm. I’ll wait.”

The school broadcast was playing “Morning on Campus”: Along the familiar little paths of our campus… the rising sun shines on our faces…

The song was lively and bright, the morning light just right.

Pei Songxi stood where she was, waving.

…

On the first day of school, Yu Mian and Xu Xiaoyan were placed in the same class — and, by great fortune, became deskmates.

Xu Xiaoyan was a carefree, rambunctious child; during breaks she chattered away at Yu Mian and quickly became fast friends with the rows in front and behind. During class she still wanted to fool around, but Yu Mian ignored her, sitting straight and proper.

Halfway through the first period, heavy rain began outside the window, and the children all stirred. The Homeroom Teacher, Teacher Qin, was a young, pretty woman; seeing this, she wasn’t annoyed at all, only smiling gently. “It’s a bit noisy outside, so let’s not have break just yet. Everyone introduce yourselves, and tell us your dreams, okay?”

The little students were delighted, chattering: “Okay!”

“Class Monitor, you go first.”

Teacher Qin called on the Class Monitor sitting up front first. The little girl with twin ponytails sprang up at once, chin held high. “My name is Lin Yuyao, and my dream is to become the nation’s leader.”

“HAHAHAHAHA!”

The classroom suddenly erupted in laughter — but after laughing, quite a few asked:

“Then can I be the Finance Minister?”

“I want to be Minister of Education! I’ll change all the classes to PE!”

Xu Xiaoyan propped her chin on her hands. “They’re so silly.”

Yu Mian blinked. “Hm?”

“The girl behind the Class Monitor,” the teacher called, landing on her, “introduce yourself.”

Xu Xiaoyan stood up with total confidence. “My name is Xu Xiaoyan — Xu as in ‘words plus noon,’ yan as in the yan that means pretty. My dream is… to grow up and never have to work. I’m going to play happily every day.”

The class froze; even Teacher Qin froze. “…Never work?”

Well… this little girl was certainly one of a kind. Wasn’t this the age when you were supposed to say you wanted to be a scientist, an astronaut, a teacher?

She hurriedly called the next one. “Xu Xiaoyan’s deskmate.”

Called upon, Yu Mian shot to her feet.

Outside the window, rain poured in sheets; inside, the little classroom buzzed with energy.

She heard herself say above the rain: “My name is Yu Mian. Yu as in ‘lush and green,’ mian as in ‘rolling on and on.’ My dream is to buy a big house one day, for Auntie Pei to live in!”

The class burst into laughter again, and even Teacher Qin couldn’t help laughing. This batch of students refused to follow the script one after another; she hardly knew what to say. “All right then, you’d better work hard, Student Yu Mian — big houses are expensive.”

Yu Mian nodded hard.

The teachers at No. 1 Primary School were young and open-minded, and the curriculum was cutting-edge — beyond the standard subjects of Chinese, math, English, and art, there was a dedicated critical-thinking course.

Today’s thinking class was the last period. The moment the bell rang, a male teacher in black-framed glasses strode in, hands behind his back, effortlessly suave. “Hello, new students, everyone. My surname is Zhou.”

“Teacher Zhou, why didn’t you bring a book?”

“Is this class like PE — no books needed?”

“Yay! Does that mean we can go home?”

“All right, everyone, quiet.”

Teacher Zhou clapped his hands, smiling. “No books — but this isn’t PE, and you can’t go home.”

“Then what are we doing?”

Teacher Zhou turned and wrote two characters on the blackboard: “Arguing.”

“Huh?”

“Note — not the noisy kind of arguing, not the shrewish kind, not the tantrum-throwing-at-grandma-and-grandpa kind. I want you to point out the flaws in what I say. Can everyone follow?”

“Huh? Teacher? We don’t get it!”

“Fine, let’s try an example.”

“You, there.”

Teacher Zhou walked over and rapped on Xu Xiaoyan’s desk. “Do you like dark chocolate?”

Xu Xiaoyan guiltily crumpled the chocolate wrapper on her desk, big eyes blinking rapidly. “Teacher?”

Teacher Zhou smiled. “How can you like dark chocolate? Something as disgusting as dark chocolate — you like eating that?”

Xu Xiaoyan was dumbstruck, bewildered and a little indignant.

Dark chocolate was delicious! How could the teacher call it disgusting? But she really did like it.

Under the desk, Yu Mian tugged her hand. “Teacher, you’re wrong.”

“Oh?”

“Everyone likes different things.”

“Mm. And?”

“You can say chocolate doesn’t taste good, but you can’t say it’s wrong for Little Yan to like dark chocolate. You’re disrespecting what other people like — disrespecting their freedom and their right to choose.”

Xu Xiaoyan: “…”

What is Mianmian saying?

Teacher Zhou was startled too, then burst out clapping and laughing. “Yes, yes, exactly! Did everyone learn that? That’s how you argue!”

“Huh?”

“Critical thinking has two kinds of thinking to train. One is rational thinking — you’ll develop that by doing math problems on your own, slowly. The other is the example I demonstrated today.”

Teacher Zhou held forth at the podium and thoroughly bewildered his students. By the end of the class, he’d even assigned homework: “Go home and have one argument with your parents, and write it down. Note: an argument backed by reason and evidence.”

After school, Xu Xiaoyan dragged Yu Mian toward the gate. “Mianmian! You’re amazing! That mean teacher picked on me — good thing you were there.”

The moment Yu Mian said it, it all sounded so right to her — yet when she was the one being put on the spot, not a single word would come out.

Yu Mian smiled a little sheepishly. “It was nothing.”

Truthfully, she’d been afraid of being too fierce. That was her first time ever ‘arguing’ with someone.

“Come on, to my house! I’ll treat you to chocolate and we’ll watch cartoons.”

They were nearly at the school gate when Yu Mian refused with great principle. “I can’t. I have to go home and do homework.”

“Why? Homework can be done any old way.”

“Aiya, homework can’t be done any old way.”

Xu Xiaoyan didn’t get it. “Huh? Isn’t being happy enough?”

Yu Mian looked at her very seriously. “No. I have to study hard, because I’m going to buy a big house for Auntie Pei to live in.”

Xu Xiaoyan burst out laughing. “Hey, you little dummy!”

Yu Mian huffed. “You’re the dummy… Ah, Auntie Pei’s here to pick me up!”

Xu Xiaoyan spotted her mother’s car too. Before getting in, she asked, unwilling to give up, “You’re really not coming to my house to play?”

“Sunday! I’ll come Sunday!”

Yu Mian waved at her, then ran toward Pei Songxi, flinging her arms around her leg and climbing up it. “Auntie Pei!”

Pei Songxi laughed despite herself, bending to scoop her up. “Mianmian, how was your first day of school?”

“Great! The teachers are so gentle, and Little Yan is in my class — she’s even my deskmate! It’s the best.”

Pei Songxi lowered her lashes, gazing at her with tender light in her eyes. “Mm. That’s wonderful.”

She had instructed Wei Yi yesterday to think of a way to seat the two little girls together — but she would never let Yu Mian know. Letting her believe it was fate was enough.

She hoped Yu Mian would make new friends, grow up in a stable environment, meet gentle, kind teachers… This child had suffered enough in her early years, yet never liked to cry, bright and warm as a little sun.

Pei Songxi had always considered herself cold of heart, yet somehow, silently, a corner of her heart kept caving in for this girl.

She would pave her road step by step — wishing her a lifetime of unclouded smiles, promising her a lifetime of peace and ease.