Chapter 48: The Gift
The Hunan provincial exam was to be changed to the National Volume I.
A single stone stirred up a thousand waves.
“Holy crap,” Lu Bingjie exclaimed.
“Crap your head,” Tong Yao’s expression was grave. “What does this have to do with your music? My math is the real trouble.”
It was imaginable that the math teacher group would have endless meetings from now on.
“Which one is harder, Hunan or the national one? Your math,” Lu Bingjie asked with a curious face.
“Hunan is harder,” Tong Yao sighed. “After all, it’s one of the major education provinces. But the question types are different, and the teaching methods and directions have been different for so long.”
The previous lesson plans and the practice questions she had searched for everywhere, probably more than half of them would have to be scrapped.
Although her reaction was strong, she wasn’t actually that worried.
First, it was only the first semester of the second year, so there was plenty of time to align with the national exam. Second, since it was just being incorporated into the national exam, the first test probably wouldn’t have any drastic reforms and would most likely be a little simpler than the original.
Relatively simple questions, not to mention for the top students, were at least a good thing for some students with a weak foundation.
Although if it’s simple for you, it’s simple for everyone, but for an individual, the workload was much smaller, especially for students whose weakness was math.
For example… Ruan Ruan.
Simple questions could help hardworking students in the middle and lower ranks to progress faster.
After the meeting, her phone rang. It was a delivery.
“Your package, please pick it up at the mailroom at the school gate.”
She hung up the phone and said goodbye to Lu Bingjie. The mailroom wasn’t far. The delivery guy was waiting there, holding a box of a moderate size.
It was what she wanted.
She signed for the package, tore open the dark yellow cardboard box, and inside was a gift—she had prepared return gifts for the three children who had given her gifts for the Mid-Autumn Festival. The mooncakes were for everyone, but these were exclusively for them.
A small speaker for Yin Jiali, a thermos for Xu Yin, and for Ruan Ruan…
She had spent the longest time choosing the young girl’s gift, ordered it first, and it was the first to arrive.
She thought, against her conscience, that she treated them all equally.
It was evening self-study time now. The young girl was probably rehearsing her dance. She went straight to the rehearsal classroom. Sure enough, the dance teacher was beating time, and a group of children were dancing in a line.
Sorry, it was Girls’ Generation’s “Gee.”
She saw the young girl standing in the very center, the whole group’s movements in perfect sync with hers.
Even during the holiday, she had trained every day without a break. Now, she was already dancing quite well.
That twisting motion… ahem.
She admitted she was a little impressed.
Ruan Xi was dancing well when she suddenly saw Tong Yao push open the door and come in. Her steps almost faltered, and the dance teacher’s eyes looked like they were going to eat her. Fortunately, she adjusted in time and didn’t mess up the others.
She thought, letting Teacher Tong see her in this “seductive” state was beyond embarrassing. She had a heart-making gesture, and due to her position, she made it in Tong Yao’s direction. Then, her face burned even more.
She tried to think self-destructively, sooner or later Teacher Tong will see it anyway—but after knowing that she liked Teacher Tong, she wanted to show her best side.
“Alright, take a five-minute break,” the dance teacher clapped her hands.
The dancing girls collapsed onto the floor like dead dogs.
Ruan Xi resisted the urge to sit down. Seeing Teacher Tong standing at the door, she glanced at the others. No one seemed to have any intention of talking to Teacher Tong, so she walked to the door and called out in a small voice, “Teacher Tong.”
Tong Yao hid her hands behind her back, not wanting to give the gift in front of so many people. She cleared her throat. “Come.”
They went to the stairwell.
Tong Yao turned around and handed the box over with both hands.
“For you.”
The dark night, the bright moon.
For some reason, she felt the atmosphere was a little strange. It was like a cooked sweet dumpling had broken, and the black sesame filling inside was overflowing, scalding and sweet.
“For me?”
Ruan Xi’s eyes widened.
Looking at the dazed young girl, she gathered her thoughts and smiled.
“Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, Ruan Ruan.”
The young girl took it foolishly. Soon, she understood what the gift was—there were countless rattling sounds in the box, thin and long. A normal person might think of chopsticks, but how could Teacher Tong give her chopsticks?
Then there was only one answer left.
“…Drawing pens?”
The young girl’s voice trembled slightly.
“You guessed it,” Tong Yao’s eyes curved. “Markers. It’s about time for you to learn coloring, right? How can you draw manga without a good set of pens?”
“But, but…” Ruan Xi bit her lip. “Didn’t Teacher Tong not support me drawing…”
The young girl sniffled. All along, this hobby had been a dream she had persisted in alone, like a small sapling swaying precariously in the wind and rain of reality.
But now, someone had added some soil to this small sapling, even if it was just a little.
“Yes, I don’t support it.”
Tong Yao turned her head away, quite uncomfortable. “But who told you to be so persistent? Giving you some tools will help you improve your efficiency a little and save some time for studying…”
These words made the young girl, who was on the verge of tears, laugh through them.
“What are you giggling about?” Tong Yao reached out and placed her hand on Ruan Xi’s head. It was fluffy and felt good to the touch.
The young girl hugged the gift box to her chest and shook her head.
“I’m not crying.”
Then, she looked up, the night concealing the blush on her face.
“Teacher Tong is so nice.”
**
Tong Yao returned to her dorm, feeling a little dizzy.
“Teacher Tong is so nice.”
Oh my god.
A cute little girl saying that to her was simply… a critical hit.
She had always liked cute things, like Tamamo. She was immune to handsome men and beautiful women. Beautiful isn’t necessarily cute, but cute is definitely beautiful. That was probably the logic.
But she was a rather calm person, not one to show her emotions. A smile was just politeness. If she liked something, she would just be happy in her heart and would never let it show on her face.
But today, there was indeed a flutter in her heart, and she almost lost her composure.
She didn’t know if it was because her gender had changed and she was overflowing with maternal instincts, but seeing that child, her heart was about to melt.
She lay on the sofa, her hand on her chest, rolling over and over.
—Let’s just think about the national exam.
**
Student dormitory.
Ruan Xi carefully unwrapped the gift box, revealing the black box inside. She gently lifted the lid, and the colorful markers were like three thousand beauties in a harem, for her to choose from.
“Yo, you bought markers?” Chen Xi glanced over. “Are you really going to be an artist?”
The two of them didn’t get along well. Ruan Xi gave a casual reply, and then came He Xueyu’s exclamation.
“Ruan Ruan, these pens are so beautiful! Can I use them?”
“These are for coloring drawings…”
She stingily refused everyone who wanted to borrow the pens.
The exquisite pen case, the high-quality pens, and the black and white Japanese brand.
It seemed very expensive.
It was easy to imagine that with the Tong family’s wealth, even the markers they bought would show a class difference.
She suddenly regretted it. She shouldn’t have accepted it. She hadn’t even won Teacher Tong’s heart yet, how could she accept such a precious gift? She had initially thought these pens would only cost a few dozen yuan, but after opening it, she discovered the treasures inside. Return it? That would be too rude. Give Teacher Tong money? Could she afford it…
She closed the box, her heart full of happy troubles.
She could never repay what she owed Teacher Tong.
