Chapter 47: Soda

Before Lin Qiao arrived, students never knew they could conduct experiments themselves. Teachers rarely demonstrated experiments, and they were not interesting.

It was Lin Qiao who first led the students in fun, small experiments they could do at home.

It was Lin Qiao who first had students make practical items like handmade soap.

It was also Lin Qiao who, after the school prohibited her from conducting experiments with students, wrote a letter to the leaders suggesting the establishment of laboratories.

Now, her suggestion has been accepted, and their school is about to start building a laboratory, giving every student the opportunity to conduct experiments themselves.

Before Principal Zeng finished speaking, the students below were already buzzing with excitement. Then, led by Classes 2-3 and 2-4, everyone started applauding.

Even students who had never taken an experimental class were excited. Being one of the first pilot schools in the country was a big deal. Out of so many middle schools nationwide, they were among the first!

Moreover, just because they hadn’t taken experimental classes before didn’t mean they couldn’t in the future. Once the school laboratory was built, everyone would have the chance to take hands-on experimental classes.

The applause drowned out the speaker, and Principal Zeng had to pause until the crowd calmed down before continuing.

As a pilot, the initial approval was only for a chemistry laboratory, likely because Lin Qiao was a chemistry teacher and worked at this school. It could even be said that their relatively small school became a pilot because of Lin Qiao’s suggestion. This was not an exaggeration. Some larger and better schools in Yandu did not become pilots this time.

After announcing the news, Principal Zeng gave the usual speech, urging students to cherish the rare learning opportunity, study hard, and make progress.

In truth, the students’ minds were already elsewhere, especially the two classes taught by Lin Qiao. As soon as the morning exercise ended, they cheered and surrounded Lin Qiao.

Lin Qiao was even hugged by a few girls, making her laugh and cry, “Don’t block the way here. The school leaders will criticize me for disrupting the order.”

As soon as she finished speaking, someone shouted from behind, “Principal Zeng is here!” The students who had crowded around her immediately dispersed.

This made Principal Zeng seem like a flood or a fierce beast, causing him to stop in his tracks and feel a bit helpless. He had witnessed how popular Lin Qiao was with the students. No wonder the mailbox received several letters explaining on her behalf when he stopped the experimental classes last time.

Not far away, at the back of the first-year science class, Song Jing, who had recently started her internship, saw this scene and felt equally complicated. The last time she saw Lin Qiao, the students booed her during her trial lesson. She didn’t expect that the same group of students would now like her so much.

Just a few months? If it were her, could she have achieved this?

Song Jing considered herself a good teacher but wasn’t confident enough to guarantee such results. Lin Qiao always seemed to exceed expectations, making people admire her even more. Who could now associate her with the village girl she once was?

Having personally pushed such a person away, she wondered if Aunt Ye would regret it if she knew. Even if Aunt Ye didn’t regret it, wouldn’t Ji Ze?

With someone like Lin Qiao in front, no matter how good you were, you would inevitably be compared to her.

Song Jing, who was already reluctant, now doubted even more whether her mother’s plans would succeed. Watching Lin Qiao from afar, she even felt a tinge of envy.

Of course, Lin Qiao knew nothing of this. As soon as she entered the Class Four classroom, she was again drowned in applause.

Junzi even stood up and led the cheer, “Let’s welcome our hero, Teacher Lin, to say a few words!”

“Yes, say a few words!” Other troublemakers echoed, and someone, too excited, couldn’t help but whistle.

“Do you really want me to speak?” Lin Qiao raised an eyebrow with a smile.

“Say a few words!” “Say a few words!” The applause grew even more enthusiastic.

Lin Qiao placed her hands on the podium, “When I took over our class this semester, I was very fortunate to see the grades in our other subjects.”

This opening seemed a bit off…

Though still focused on her, the students couldn’t help but think.

Sure enough, Lin Qiao smiled meaningfully, “To be honest, there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

Such a familiar formula, such a familiar taste.

Smiles began to fade from some students’ faces, but Lin Qiao continued, “The school is about to build a laboratory, so we need to keep up with the times and focus on overall development, right? How about we start with a small, achievable goal…”

She looked at the students below, pretending to ponder, “For example, improving the average score in all subjects by two points. Do you have the confidence to achieve that?”

“Yes…”

The response was sparse and hesitant, filled with uncertainty.

Lin Qiao noticed and held back a smile, “You can score third in chemistry, but you can’t do well in other subjects? Show some spirit.”

However, Teacher Lin didn’t teach the other subjects; the students didn’t say this, but after Lin Qiao left, they couldn’t help but whisper among themselves.

The troublemakers in the back row were even more hesitant, “When will the school’s laboratory be built? The military recruitment is about to start, and we might miss it.”

If the laboratory wasn’t built in time and they left for the military, it would be a pity.

Junzi was even more troubled, “You guys have no idea. Yesterday, Qi Huaiwen came back, and I was so happy that I told my family.”

“You really told your family?” The others were surprised, “We thought you liked Teacher Lin so much that you wouldn’t leave once she started teaching us.”

“I do like Teacher Lin, but I can’t focus on other subjects. Sitting in the classroom is unbearable. With my grades, I won’t get into a military academy even if I study for another year. Why waste time here? I’d rather join the military early. Besides, Teacher Lin lives next door to me.”

This sounded a bit like bragging, and the nearby students immediately gave him side glances.

Junzi didn’t care, knocking his head on the desk, “I just said it yesterday and got a beating from my dad. Now they’re building a laboratory today.”

While Junzi was conflicted, Lin Qiao hadn’t walked far and ran into Wu Haiyang outside the office.

“Teacher Lin, can I speak with you privately?” The young male intern teacher stood in the corridor, clearly waiting for her.

Busy with finding someone these past few days, Lin Qiao hadn’t paid much attention to him. To be honest, her feelings were a bit complicated.

But since he sought her out, she nodded, “Where would be convenient? How about the stairwell?”

Choosing a nearby location was considerate of his leg, and Wu Haiyang understood, “Sure, I just need to say a few words.”

Soon, the class bell rang, and the corridor and stairwell quieted down. Wu Haiyang sincerely thanked Lin Qiao for addressing the students’ mockery, “That situation has stopped. I assume Teacher Lin talked to them. Thank you for your effort.”

“It wasn’t much effort. I was also concerned about the students’ character,” Lin Qiao replied straightforwardly.

Wu Haiyang paused and said, “Let Qi Huaiwen return to class. When Teacher Qi is discharged, I’ll transfer to another school.”

Was this his purpose for seeking her out? Lin Qiao was a bit surprised.

“I studied physics and came to this school for an internship because I wanted to take over Teacher Qi’s class and stand on the podium where he once stood.”

Even though Vice Principal Qi had long been promoted, Wu Haiyang still habitually called him Teacher Qi. The young intern teacher looked towards the classroom where the lecture was coming from, his eyes filled with longing and gratitude, “You might not know, but I had truly given up back then. I tore up my textbooks and used them as toilet paper. It was Teacher Qi who rushed over, gave me a new set, and encouraged me not to lose hope.”

No matter how Teacher Qi performed in other areas, to him, he was the person who changed his life.

Without Teacher Qi, he would have just been the crippled boy people laughed at; without Teacher Qi, he would have given up long ago and never taken the college entrance exam. But these days at school, he heard that Teacher Qi’s conflict with his son was likely related to him.

Although he hadn’t done anything, Teacher Qi had indeed devoted more time and effort to him, so he couldn’t say he was entirely innocent.

Rather than letting the father and son remain estranged, making Teacher Qi uncomfortable and Qi Huaiwen not coming to school, it was better for him to leave. Wu Haiyang turned his gaze back, “Now that I think about it, I was narrow-minded. Students are students everywhere, and being a teacher is about spreading knowledge wherever you are.”

The young man’s eyes were open and relieved, “Let Qi Huaiwen come back. He is also a student, and all students deserve a bright and beautiful future.”

Meanwhile, in the military camp, Ji Duo was handling the work accumulated over the past few days when he received a call.

“Uncle?” The voice on the other end started tentatively but quickly turned to surprise, “Uncle, you’re finally back. I’ve been calling for days without getting through.”

Ji Duo didn’t have time for small talk, “What’s the matter? Speak.”

“A few days ago, I called you, and Aunt answered. I almost let slip about my business. She didn’t ask you about it, did she?”

Ji Duo’s action of flipping through files paused. Indeed, Lin Qiao hadn’t asked. The key was that Lin Qiao hadn’t asked about anything, not just this. This nephew was bringing up things he hadn’t even thought about. He was already busy and hadn’t remembered.

Ji Duo frowned, even less inclined to talk, “If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

“Wait, Uncle! Please forgive me this time, considering I helped Aunt find someone personally.”

“Personally?” Ji Duo’s hand paused, ready to hang up.

“Yes.” Hearing he hadn’t hung up, Ji Ze quickly seized the opportunity, “Originally, Aunt said she wanted to find Uncle Su Zheng. I thought I had several salespeople under me who roam the streets every day. They know these places for temporary work better than Uncle Su Zheng. So I thought I’d help her look, and we found him.”

“At a construction site?” Ji Duo remembered Lin Qiao mentioning it yesterday.

“Yes, at a construction site. Don’t worry, I took good care of her. I even bought her a bottle of soda because it was hot.”

Ji Ze assured over the phone, but there was a long pause on the other end, making him uneasy. Suddenly, Ji Duo asked, “What’s soda?”

This question puzzled Ji Ze, “It’s the soda that’s become popular in the past two years, sold on the streets and in cinemas.”

Hearing the silence again, he cautiously probed, “Uncle, have you never taken Aunt shopping or to the movies?”

Ji Duo really hadn’t.

In fact, before they got married, he had asked Lin Qiao if she wanted to go, but she didn’t seem interested, so he never brought it up again. Now that he thought about it, what young couple hadn’t been to the movies? Lin Qiao probably never had high expectations for this marriage from the start. Their family even changed the marriage partner, so how could they expect her to have any expectations for this marriage?

Ji Duo put down the file and rubbed his temples, “What else did you buy for her?”

“Huh?”

“Besides the soda, what else did you buy for her?”

“Nothing else. I just bought it casually.” Ji Ze felt this topic was awkward and quickly started talking about Song Jing.

Ji Duo listened, lowering his eyes and flipping through the file, “Did she come to see you?”

“No.”

“Did she call the military camp to find you?”

“No,” Ji Ze said, then suddenly realized, “Right. My mom wants someone to keep an eye on me, but the person might not be willing.”

This kid thought Song Jing was sent by his mom to monitor him. Ji Duo didn’t say anything.

Hearing the silence on the other end, Ji Ze quickly hung up, “Uncle, you’re busy. I won’t disturb your work.”

Ji Duo was busy until noon.

Old Zhou passed by after work and peeked in, “Not going home for lunch?”

“Right away.” Ji Duo quickly packed up his things and took the keys from the desk drawer.

Seeing this, Old Zhou didn’t rush off. Unexpectedly, as Ji Duo turned to lock the door, he suddenly asked, “Have you ever bought soda for your wife?”

“Yes.” Old Zhou said, “As soon as it came out, I bought it for your wife. She said it was just sugar water and thought I was wasting money.”

Old Zhou’s wife was known for her bluntness. She even told him to get lost when he wrote poetry.

Ji Duo put away the keys and walked out with Old Zhou, “Doesn’t it bother you that your wife doesn’t understand you?”

“How could it not? Poor me, full of talent, with no one to share it with.” Old Zhou sighed deeply, “But we’re married, so we have to make it work. Besides, my wife may not understand romance, but she manages the household well. That’s just how it is for a couple.”

Is that how most people think about marriage?

Ji Duo frowned slightly, hearing Old Zhou’s puzzled question, “Why did you suddenly ask this? Did you two have a fight?”

“No.”

Some subordinates even argued with their leaders, but Lin Qiao never argued with him, and he used to think that was normal.

Ji Duo silently got into the car, and Xiao Fang drove in silence. It seemed that without Lin Qiao, the atmosphere in the car was always this quiet and somewhat desolate. Passing by a store, Ji Duo suddenly called for a stop, got out of the car, and asked the store clerk, “Do you have soda?”

When he got home at noon, Lin Qiao noticed something new by the sofa—a whole box of soda. She asked the man washing his hands in the kitchen, “Did Xiao Ze bring this over?”

Ji Duo paused and looked at her before turning off the faucet. “Why do you think he bought it?”

“Didn’t he?” Lin Qiao was surprised.

In the past, Ji Duo might not have pursued the question, but this time, he wiped his hands with a towel and asked again, “Why do you think Xiao Ze bought it?”

Since he asked, Lin Qiao answered honestly, “You don’t seem like someone who would pay attention to this kind of thing.”

The last time she made liquid soap, he didn’t know if it was available in Yandu. She bought ice cream and put it in the fridge, but he never ate it. This man had almost no demands for food, except that he didn’t eat seafood. His daily life was rough because he was always in the military.

So, did he really buy this box of soda? Did the sun rise in the west?

Lin Qiao found it very surprising, but Ji Duo fell silent again before hanging the towel on the rack, “Do you want to drink it?”

“Of course, why not drink it if it’s already bought?” Lin Qiao took out a bottle and looked for a bottle opener.

Unfortunately, they didn’t eat at home often, and Ji Duo didn’t drink beer, so they didn’t have one.

“Give it to me.” Ji Duo directly took a chopstick from the kitchen.

The man’s arm muscles were well-defined, and he easily opened the soda bottle with a slight effort.

“Your training in the military really paid off,” Lin Qiao praised as she took the bottle.

Ji Duo’s expression remained unchanged as he glanced at her, tossed the bottle cap into the trash, rinsed the chopsticks, and put them back in the holder.

Lin Qiao, carrying the soda, was about to head to the cafeteria for lunch when she saw Liu Cuiying, the wife of Captain Liang next door, looking around at the door.

As soon as she saw Lin Qiao, Liu Cuiying approached, looking worried. “Teacher Lin, did you know that Junzi said he didn’t want to continue his second year of high school?”

Lin Qiao knew, but she couldn’t share the student’s secret with Liu Cuiying, so she asked, “Did Junzi tell you he doesn’t want to continue?”

“Yes, he told his father last night, and his father was so angry that he gave him a good beating.”

Junzi must be quite resilient. When Lin Qiao saw him at school this morning, he was lively and energetic, showing no signs of being beaten.

“He came back at noon today and said the school is going to build a laboratory, and it’s related to you. He seemed quite happy, so I told him to stick it out and finish his second year. But after a long silence, he still said he wants to join the military this year.”

Liu Cuiying couldn’t help but complain, “Why does he want to join the military at such a young age? Others join because they’re old enough, but he’s not. Besides, his father said getting promoted in the military is harder now; you need to attend a military academy. Isn’t he just being foolish?”

Lin Qiao wasn’t aware of this, as she wasn’t in the military. In her hometown, joining the military was often to get a job assignment afterward.

She looked at Ji Duo, who nodded, “It’s not as easy to get promoted as it used to be.”

“Exactly.” Liu Cuiying quickly added, “I’m really at my wit’s end, so I thought I’d talk to you. If you get a chance, could you help persuade him?”

“I’ll try,” Lin Qiao replied, not making any promises.

Liu Cuiying didn’t insist on a promise, “Just try. At least you have some education, unlike me. I don’t even know how to talk to him.” She chatted with Lin Qiao for a while longer before suddenly realizing, “Oh, are you and Xiao Ji going to eat?”

“Just about to go.”

“Then you two go ahead. I won’t keep you. I guess the father and son are almost done eating, and I need to return and clean up the table.”

Liu Cuiying hurried back home, leaving Lin Qiao and Ji Duo to continue walking to the cafeteria. Lin Qiao found the situation a bit tricky.

It wasn’t that it was hard to refuse Liu Cuiying; it was that she really didn’t understand the military. Even if she wanted to persuade Junzi, she wouldn’t know where to start.

“Your school is going to build a laboratory?” Ji Duo, who had been mostly silent, suddenly asked.

Still lost in thought, Lin Qiao nodded after a moment, “Yes, we’re going to build a laboratory. It’s part of the first national pilot program.”

She had seen him earlier but hadn’t mentioned it as if it were only a trivial matter. Thinking back, whether she was assigned to the junior high school or later went to teach Junzi, she never seemed eager to rush home and share.

Ji Duo felt like frowning, but Lin Qiao had always been like this since he met her. Her personality couldn’t have formed overnight.

Ji Duo couldn’t help but think of her family, which made him want to frown even more. Seeing her still deep in thought, he suggested, “How about I talk to him?”

“You talk to him?” Lin Qiao was stunned, and then her expression turned a bit strange.

This reaction made Ji Duo feel a subtle displeasure as if she was rejecting his involvement in her matters. His eyes darkened, “Is that not okay?”

“It’s not that.” Lin Qiao mainly remembered their last conversation, “Your expression is too serious. I’m afraid you’ll scare him.”

“If he can’t handle that pressure, how can he be a soldier?”

Lin Qiao couldn’t argue with that, so she didn’t. “When are you available? I’ll let him know.”

“In a couple of days. I’ll check the data from the past few years.” Ji Duo never fought an unprepared battle.

No one knew military matters better than him. With him handling it, Lin Qiao felt relieved and went to the cafeteria for lunch.

Principal Zeng was cautious but not slow in his actions. Within a few days, the new laboratory’s site selection began.

Around the 1980s, these were the years with the most students nationwide, and the school didn’t have any empty classrooms. After all, in 1963 and 1964, the country had just come out of three difficult years, and people finally had enough to eat and started having children. However, even if there were empty classrooms, they wouldn’t be suitable for conversion into laboratories. After some research, the school decided to build a new, small, two-story building to serve as the future laboratory building.

On the day the site was being measured and the plans drawn up next to the teaching building, Vice Principal Qi was finally discharged from the hospital. His illness was mainly psychological, and once Qi Huaiwen was found, he quickly recovered.

Wu Haiyang, who was leaving, probably spoke to him personally. He didn’t say much and quietly handed over his duties to his most promising student.

In the end, he failed as a father and wasn’t necessarily a successful teacher. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have put his son and student in such an awkward situation.

However, the students in Class Four didn’t have such complicated thoughts. They were only familiar with and close to Qi Huaiwen, and having him back in class was the best thing.

The school was bustling with activity, preparing to complete the laboratory building before the cold weather set in. Meanwhile, Ji Duo obtained the data he needed. But before he could help Lin Qiao talk to Junzi, Ji Ze came to settle the accounts for the past half month. “I just moved to a bigger yard and added four production vats that can hold over a thousand pounds each. They were quite expensive, over two hundred each, so this month’s expenses are a bit high.”

Despite saying the expenses were high, the money Ji Ze handed over was still a thick stack, equivalent to a year or two of an average person’s salary.

Liquid soap had now made a name for itself in that area and was selling very well. His salespeople could barely keep up with the demand. If bicycles weren’t so expensive and he trusted his people more, he would have given each of them one to sell in more distant places.

After Ji Duo counted the money and checked the accounts, Ji Ze winked and revealed a bit of schadenfreude, “There’s another good thing, Uncle. You’d never guess.”