Chapter 150: Distance
At first glance, Tong Yao didn’t recognize her. Because the student serving the soup was wearing a mask that covered half her face, she found her familiar and looked a few more times before she realized it was Xia Zhi.
“Another work-study?” she held out her bowl. “You’re working two jobs?”
The girl was a little dazed. She noticed that Teacher Tong was still holding that book in her arm, and then she lowered her head and carefully scooped up a spoonful of kelp soup with pork ribs.
“Mhm.”
“Oh, thanks,” Tong Yao noticed the pork rib, which was bigger than the meat in her dish, and thanked her with a smile. It wasn’t that she wanted to eat it, but the child at home needed to grow.
“You’re welcome…” Xia Zhi said in a small voice.
Before she could finish, Tong Yao had already left.
“Hey, Xia Zhi, you’re also in charge of serving the soup?” A classmate who had already gotten his meal came over. “Do you get paid?”
“…Yes.”
She didn’t hide it and said a number.
“So little…” The classmate shook his head, dismissing the idea.
Xia Zhi lowered her eyes and, with a bias, also scooped up a piece of pork rib for her classmate.
“Hehe, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
She watched the classmate’s departing back and slowly moved her gaze back.
She was very envious.
**
“Dongyang, I don’t know if you’ll like today’s dishes,” Tong Yao said with some apology when she got home. “You have to finish the soup, okay? It will help you grow taller.”
Dongyang looked at the dishes, her face wreathed in smiles.
“I like them all.”
Tong Yao flicked the little girl’s nose.
“You say that every time.”
The rice bowls were placed on the dining table, and the two of them started to eat together. As they were eating, Dongyang said vaguely, “Little Aunt… can you call Ruan Xi?”
“You miss her?” Tong Yao raised an eyebrow. “Then let’s call. She should be eating at this time too.”
She took out her phone, dialed the number, and after a few rings, an uncertain question came from the other end.
“Yao Yao?”
She gave a “mhm,” and then, Ruan Xi came with a lingering, “I miss you so much.”
She had it on speaker, and these few words were heard by Dongyang, which was strangely embarrassing. She quickly buried her head in her food.
“…Dongyang misses you and asked me to call you. How are you over there? Is the military training tiring? Is it hot?”
This city was a furnace. She felt sorry for the students in her class who were in military training, so she didn’t want her girl to be exposed to such a sun.
“I’m in the north, and the military training is in a base in the mountains,” Ruan Xi said warmly. “It’s not hot during the day, and it’s a little cold at night. The training intensity is very low, not tiring at all.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
The whole time, Dongyang, who missed Ruan Xi, didn’t get to say a word.
“Do you need anything?” Tong Yao didn’t eat anymore, her chopsticks held dryly in her hand. “The military training conditions are not good, right?”
“…There’s no place to charge here,” Ruan Xi thought for a moment and said with frustration. “I can only charge at a shop, and it costs 20 yuan to fully charge.”
Her manga had been adapted into an anime and a TV series. The manga had been reprinted several times, and the sales were still decent. She had already earned a lot of money, but she was still reluctant to spend it on herself.
And, this way of earning money was too slow.
She wanted to break out of the shackles of a manga artist.
Of course, these thoughts were all in her heart and she wouldn’t tell Tong Yao.
They chatted for a long time, and the food was already cold. Only then did Tong Yao hang up the phone.
“Alright, that’s all for now. Bye-bye.”
“Mhm,” she smiled. “Goodbye, Yao Yao.”
Yao Yao.
Every time Tong Yao was called this way, a soft, fluttering warmth stirred in her heart.
It was as if she had returned to the night before they parted.
At night, she was so tormented that she was powerless to respond. Whatever Ruan Ruan said, she would agree in a daze.
“Shall I call Teacher Tong ‘Yao Yao’ in the future?”
She had said yes.
“Then… Yao Yao.” She vaguely remembered the young girl’s eyes were smiling at that time.
She seemed to have answered.
After that, when she wanted to hear a “Teacher Tong” on the phone, the young girl wouldn’t say it. She seemed to have inexplicably dropped a generation, and was very unaccustomed to being called this by a child younger than her—but… she had been slept with by her, and so many times. What was there left to be coy about?
After the call, she silently ordered five power banks and sent them to the distant north.
“Little Aunt, I’m going upstairs to play with Bailu,” Dongyang said.
“Mhm, go on. Don’t cause trouble for others.”
A child’s energy is infinite, but she, who had woken up early, had limited energy. She took a nap and, after being woken up by the alarm clock, she rushed to the school.
Of course, there was also military training in the afternoon.
Two o’clock was the hottest time of the day. The outdoor temperature reached 39 degrees Celsius, and the air looked distorted.
“Attention!”
“At ease.”
“Attention!”
The instructor’s three commands.
A group of little brats were trained to be submissive and began the daily routine of standing at attention.
The sun was going to kill them.
There was a building next to the sports field. It stood there, blocking the sun, creating a patch of shade on the vast sports field. Some instructors were soft-hearted and let their students practice in that area, but Instructor Wang was different. He was iron-hearted. Even though that patch of shade was only ten steps away from the children of Class 9, he didn’t let the team go over.
“If you stand well, you can rest. If you don’t stand well, you’ll stand forever.”
He said with a cheerful smile.
Some students had already cursed him countless times in their hearts.
Xia Zhi squinted her eyes. Large beads of sweat rolled down from her forehead. Some passed through her delicate eyebrows, hung on her eyelashes, and got into her eyes, which was both itchy and spicy, very uncomfortable, but she didn’t dare to move at all. She was tired and sleepy. The price of her work-study was a reduction in her rest time. She could usually hold on, but in the face of such a large physical exertion of military training, her stamina gradually gave out.
“Rest for five minutes.”
Instructor Wang finally opened his mouth.
Her body collapsed, and she sat on the ground with her legs bent, her head buried in her arms. Not long after, just as she had recovered, the instructor blew his whistle again.
This time, he had them do the horse stance.
The standard horse stance was too painful. Her whole body was tense, and she struggled to straighten her back. She hoped so much that the instructor would have a conscience and show some mercy, but the instructor would only say, “Hold on a little longer.”
“Reporting!” Song Zhifei shouted.
“Speak!”
“I’m not feeling well,” the girl said pitifully.
“Go rest on the side.”
Song Zhifei made a “yay” gesture and succeeded again.
Is military training tiring? Very tiring, but it was just at the level that most people could endure. Whoever asked for leave in the middle was a weakling, at least many boys thought so.
And the girls, most of them did not have Song Zhifei’s thick skin.
The training continued, marching, marching in unison, squats, frog jumps.
Finally, back to basics, continue to stand at attention.
Suddenly.
In the ranks, a girl cried out in surprise.
“Ah!”
“She fainted!”
Tong Yao, not far away, was startled and quickly ran over. The ranks had already dispersed. A few girls were supporting the unconscious Xia Zhi. It was clear that she was the one who had just fainted.
“Is it heatstroke?”
Tong Yao squatted down anxiously and helped Xia Zhi up.
Xia Zhi didn’t like to be touched by others, but this time, her heart felt no discomfort. She opened her lips slightly, not even having the strength to speak. Tong Yao called a few girls to help, and together they helped Xia Zhi to a shady tree.
Instructor Wang was also scared and quickly let the students rest. He had indeed increased the amount a little, wanting to tame these unruly little calves, but if something went wrong, it was not a joke. No one dared to take this responsibility.
Xia Zhi was dazed. She felt someone put a wet tissue on her forehead. Teacher Tong was talking to someone, who seemed to be a doctor. She gradually came to her senses. In front of her, Teacher Tong was holding a bottle of mineral water and pouring it onto the tissue.
“Feeling better?” Tong Yao asked gently, seeing her open her eyes.
Xia Zhi didn’t have much strength and nodded lightly.
“I’ll call your parents in a bit,” Tong Yao said. “You should also tell them about your physical condition.”
However, as soon as she finished, Xia Zhi’s reaction was unexpectedly large.
“Don’t… don’t call them…” She even reached out to grab her phone.
“Okay, okay, I won’t, I won’t,” Tong Yao had never seen such a scene. She quickly stopped dialing and said carefully, “Then, can you tell the teacher why I can’t call?”
Xia Zhi pursed her lips, curled up on the ground, like a stray cat shivering in the winter rain.
For a child who had just had a heatstroke, whether she didn’t want to say it or didn’t have the strength to say it, Tong Yao didn’t plan on asking for the time being.
A student had a heatstroke, and the school took it very seriously.
The grade group leader had specially come to ask about the reason, whether the student was weak, whether the training was excessive… Tong Yao explained that the temperature was too high, the training intensity was indeed large, and this child was also doing a work-study program and had no lunch break.
The grade group leader thought for a while and said, “Then how about we stop the work-study for now?”
Xia Zhi trembled, almost wanting to get up.
“No,” Tong Yao was shocked. “I think… it would be better to reduce this child’s training intensity a little? Or she can do clerical work with those students who have asked for sick leave.”
“Mhm,” the group leader thought for a moment. “That’s fine, but we’re not short of people to write reports now. We’re short of people to take pictures. Do you have a camera?”
The last sentence was addressed to Xia Zhi.
Xia Zhi’s eyes dimmed. How could she have a camera?
“I have one. I can lend her one,” Tong Yao interjected.
“Alright,” the group leader agreed. “Hand in the application later.”
Xia Zhi was dazed for a while. She watched the group leader go and didn’t expect that a heatstroke would change her entire military training.
No, not just a heatstroke, but also Teacher Tong.
She wanted to sit up, her head moved, and a sound came from below. Only then did she realize that she was pillowing on a ladies’ bag. This bag was quite shiny, and she had heard those girls say it was very expensive, something like… Gucci, and now it was covered in dust on the ground.
Thinking that she was pillowing on tens of thousands of yuan, she immediately got up, her heart still pounding.
“Don’t you want to lie down for a while longer?” Tong Yao was surprised. Seeing Xia Zhi shake her head, she didn’t force her to rest. “I have a camera at home. I’ll bring it to you tonight to try. You’ll be in charge of taking pictures tomorrow.”
Xia Zhi lowered her head, her hair hanging by her cheeks, and said softly, “Thank you, teacher.”
Tong Yao smiled and said, “It’s nothing.”
The rest of the training in the afternoon was not strict. For some lazy movements, the instructor began to turn a blind eye.
At dinner time, the team was dismissed.
On the way back, Tong Yao suddenly thought, what would the old me have done?
Probably would have let the heatstroked Xia Zhi sleep on my lap, and given Xia Zhi my ID card like I did to a certain little rogue. In the past, she didn’t know how to keep a distance, and in the end, she had gotten herself into a pit.
But now, those were the exclusive enjoyment of that little rogue.
