PCJ – Chapter 301 The New Teacher

With the arrival of autumn, the air became crisp, and the chrysanthemums turned yellow and orange. The green waves in the rice fields had transformed into a sea of yellow.

The departure of Zhang Wenrong, Zhang Jiagen, and Zhang Hanggou left the young boy feeling a bit melancholic for a while. However, as time passed, Zhang Jiaohua gradually adapted to their absence.

Teacher Gong Ziyuan indeed didn’t return to Meizi’ao. Teachers from the city never stayed long in such a remote mountain village; they were always eager to leave. Many who had connections used this opportunity to get an official position and then leveraged those connections to return to the city. Meizi’ao was too poor. Although a new classroom had been built, the conditions were still far worse compared to the city.

A new teacher had arrived, named Xu Xuehe. He was also very young, freshly graduated from a teacher training school.

Upon arriving at the school, Principal Ma Lishong specifically warned Xu Xuehe that there was one student in his class who was different from the others—this student was, of course, Zhang Jiaohua.

“Just let him be. As long as he doesn’t cause trouble in the classroom, that’s fine. His grades are decent, and he won’t drag the class down. Just manage the other students, and don’t try to control him. He’s beyond control,” Principal Ma warned, fearing that the new teacher might be too strict.

Xu Xuehe, fresh out of school and still full of youthful idealism, replied, “Principal Ma, this doesn’t seem right. Since he has good grades, we should guide him properly. Otherwise, we would be failing him. I won’t give up on any student in my class. I will do my best to manage him.”

“Sigh, Teacher Xu, you’ve just arrived, so you don’t know the situation with this student. After you’ve been here for a while, you’ll understand,” Principal Ma said anxiously, realizing that Xu Xuehe wasn’t going to heed his warning.

However, the more Principal Ma emphasized it, the more interested Xu Xuehe became in Zhang Jiaohua. “What exactly is the deal with this Zhang Jiaohua?” he wondered.

Principal Ma didn’t know how to explain, so he simply said, “Just trust me. For this student, Zhang Jiaohua, turn a blind eye. If anything happens, I’ll take full responsibility.”

Ironically, Principal Ma’s excessive emphasis on Zhang Jiaohua had the opposite effect. Instead of ignoring him, Xu Xuehe became even more determined to pay close attention to him.

When it was time to report to school, Zhang Jiaohua arrived empty-handed.

“You must be Zhang Jiaohua. Where’s your summer homework?” Xu Xuehe immediately noticed something different about him. Very different, in fact—while other students came with backpacks, homework, and student handbooks, Zhang Jiaohua had come with nothing. After the exams last semester, Zhang Jiaohua hadn’t returned to school. His student handbook, report card, and summer homework were all still in Principal Ma’s office drawer.

“I don’t have it,” Zhang Jiaohua said, wondering why there was a new homeroom teacher.

“No homework, no registration,” Xu Xuehe said sternly, seizing the opportunity to establish authority.

“No registration? Fine, I’ll go home then,” Zhang Jiaohua replied nonchalantly, turning to leave.

This was entirely off-script. Shouldn’t a student, when denied registration, start crying, allowing the teacher to step in, give a lecture, and then finally register him? From there, the student would become a model of hard work and progress. But this routine clearly didn’t apply to Zhang Jiaohua.

“Hey!” Xu Xuehe wanted to chase after him.

“Teacher Xu, Zhang Jiaohua never does homework. He didn’t even come to school to collect his report card,” said Liu Wenbo.

“Liu Wenbo, are you tattling on Jiaohua?” Dumb mouthed, pushing Liu Wenbo, who quickly quieted down, knowing Dumb was Zhang Jiaohua’s best friend. If Liu retaliated, Zhang Jiaohua would certainly find out, and he’d suffer the consequences.

“Why doesn’t Zhang Jiaohua do his homework? From now on, in my class, no one gets special treatment!” Xu Xuehe declared. He felt that if he didn’t control Zhang Jiaohua, he’d have no authority in the classroom. If he could handle this troublemaker, the class would be easier to manage.

Dumb quickly ran to Principal Ma’s office to tattle. “The new teacher won’t let Jiaohua register.”

“This troublemaker,” Principal Ma sighed, realizing his earlier talk with Xu Xuehe had backfired. He rushed out of his office, only to stop halfway, return to his desk, and open a drawer. Inside were Zhang Jiaohua’s report card, student handbook, summer homework, and a certificate with some prizes. He turned to Dumb and said, “Go tell Jiaohua he can come to school on Monday. I’ll take care of the registration.”

“Got it,” Dumb shouted, running off.

Principal Ma shook his head and headed to the second-grade classroom.

“Teacher Xu, why didn’t you register Zhang Jiaohua? I told you, he’s not like the other students. While we ask teachers to follow the rules, sometimes you need to adapt to the situation. Zhang Jiaohua is special. In all my years of teaching, I’ve only encountered one student like him,” Principal Ma said, handing the materials to Xu Xuehe.

Xu Xuehe flipped through them, looking skeptically at Principal Ma.

“Zhang Jiaohua is incredibly smart. Even though he rarely attends classes or does homework, he still has the best grades in the class. If he worked harder, he’d do even better. But he’s different, and the usual methods don’t work on him,” Principal Ma explained.

“Is his family very poor?” Xu Xuehe asked.

Principal Ma shook his head. “If his family were poor, then every household in Meizi’ao would be poor. His parents work in Guangdong, and he runs the household by himself. He’s contracted a horticulture field and a pig farm. He’s also involved in tea production. He’s the little rich kid in the village.”

“A second-grade student managing a horticulture field and a pig farm?” Xu Xuehe’s curiosity deepened.

“He’s not old enough to officially contract the land, but he uses his grandfather’s name. Have you heard of ‘bamboo tube black tea’?” Principal Ma asked.

“Bamboo tube black tea, the one that’s a specialty of Zijiang City, has won a provincial gold award, and was even featured on TV? What does that have to do with him?” Xu Xuehe asked, starting to connect the dots but still in disbelief.

“He’s the only one in all of Zijiang City who knows how to make it,” Principal Ma revealed.

“How is that possible?” Xu Xuehe exclaimed.

“I found it hard to believe too, but it’s true. That’s why Zijiang City Tea Factory partnered with him to produce Zijiang Maojian tea. They wanted to brand his bamboo tube black tea under the factory’s name. There are many other strange things about him, but I won’t go into all that. You wouldn’t believe me anyway. Just focus on the other forty-something students in your class and leave Zhang Jiaohua be. I’ve already told the students to inform him to come back on Monday. You can handle his registration then,” Principal Ma said, knowing Xu Xuehe needed time to process everything.

“Alright,” Xu Xuehe reluctantly agreed, frustrated that he had to compromise so soon after arriving in Meizi’ao.

Dumb ran to the horticulture field, calling out from a distance, “Jiaohua, Jiaohua! As soon as you left, I went to tell the principal, and now he’s definitely scolding Teacher Xu. The principal told me to tell you to come back to school on Monday. Did you hear me, Jiaohua?”

“I heard you,” Zhang Jiaohua said, busy harvesting peanuts.

“The peanuts are already pulled? Did you do all this by yourself?” Dumb looked around at the field, amazed at how much Zhang Jiaohua had harvested.

“Want some?” Zhang Jiaohua asked.

“Freshly pulled peanuts are the best,” Dumb said eagerly. He had peanuts at home, but they always tasted better when they came from someone else’s field.

The next day, Zhang Jiaohua returned to school, this time with a green canvas satchel. On the flap of the bag was a bright red five-pointed star. Inside the bag were a pen, a pencil, and an unsharpened pencil.

Zhang Jiaohua arrived last and immediately looked toward his old seat from the previous semester, only to find it occupied.

“Zhang Jiaohua, your seat is over here,” Teacher Xu called out to him.

Once again, he was assigned a seat right in front of the teacher’s desk! Teacher Xu probably had the same idea as Teacher Gong before him: if Zhang Jiaohua didn’t want to study, he’d make it impossible for him to avoid it.

This time, Dumb wasn’t given the same treatment. Zhang Jiaohua’s new deskmate was Liu Wenbo, the student who had tattled on him the previous day.

“Jiaohua, you’re sitting with Liu Wenbo. Watch out for him—he was ratting you out to Teacher Xu yesterday,” Dumb said, unhappy that he didn’t get to sit with Zhang Jiaohua.

Zhang Jiaohua took his seat, while his new deskmate stared at him without saying a word.

“Zhang Jiaohua, I don’t care how you behaved before. Now that you’re in my class, you must follow the school’s rules. Every day, you’re required to complete your homework. If you don’t finish it, you won’t be allowed in class!” Teacher Xu said sternly.

Zhang Jiaohua glanced at his new teacher without much concern. After all, didn’t Teacher Gong say the same thing before?