Chapter 44.1: Director Zhao has ill intentions

Niu Xiaoqiang and a group of children blocked the entrance of Zhao Ke’s house after school in the afternoon.

“Teacher Zhao!”

“Teacher Zhao, are you home?”

“We came to find you!”

……

Before Zhao Ke could respond, her neighbor, an old lady with a fierce face, scolded, “What are you yelling for? So noisy all the time, it’s deafening!”

The children were startled, shrinking back and not daring to call out again.

Zhao Ke came out and apologized to her on behalf of the children, “Aunt Jin, we’ll keep our voices down, don’t be angry.”

Aunt Jin gave Zhao Ke a blank look, said nothing, and turned to go back inside.

Niu Xiaoqiang followed Zhao Ke into the yard and whispered very quietly, “She’s so fierce.”

Zhao Ke found it amusing, “You, being the big brother, actually know fear too?”

Niu Xiaoqiang puffed out his chest, “Who’s afraid!”

Aunt Jin was a widow. Her husband had passed away a long time ago, leaving behind a daughter, Jin Li.

In her early years, Aunt Jin might have felt that raising a child alone was too hard and wanted to remarry, but Jin Li made a huge fuss, refusing to accept it, so she raised her daughter alone.

The mother and daughter had a terrible relationship. Jin Li got married in the same village but hardly ever came back, nor did she let her child visit.

The old lady was in her fifties, living alone, with a somewhat eccentric temper.

Zhao Ke’s family didn’t interact much with her, but there were no conflicts either. Just now, they probably really had been too noisy.

Zhao Ke softly reminded Niu Xiaoqiang and the others, “Next time you go to someone’s house looking for them, keep your voices down. They can hear you from inside.”

The children obediently agreed.

Zhao Ke sat down on the long bench outside her house, stretched out her hand, and asked, “What martial arts manual? Hand it over, let me take a look.”

Niu Xiaoqiang told Shu Gen’er to take it out.

Shu Gen’er opened his satchel and rummaged through it.

The satchel was very clean, and he moved carefully, showing how much he cherished it.

Zhao Ke smiled, “Did Teacher Wu give you the satchel?”

Shu Gen’er grinned with a hint of pride, “Newly sewn!”

Niu Xiaoqiang was impatient and urged him, “Shu Gen’er, hurry up, how can it take so long to take out a single notebook?”

Shu Gen’er grinned at him but still moved slowly.

Niu Xiaoqiang looked exasperated, but no matter how much he urged, he didn’t reach out to help.

Zhao Ke watched them with amusement.

Having a little brother was not easy—it seemed Niu Xiaoqiang wasn’t that authoritative as a big brother either.

It took Shu Gen’er quite a while before he finally took out a notebook and handed it to Zhao Ke.

When Zhao Ke saw the hardcover cover, her eyebrows lifted slightly.

The notebooks sold at the supply and marketing cooperative all looked the same—those with colorful, slightly thicker paper covers, often featuring badges, portraits, or slogans.

Otherwise, they were like the simple and crude “work manuals” commonly used in offices. Plastic-covered notebooks were rare.

This kind of notebook wasn’t something their village could have.

Zhao Ke took it but didn’t open it immediately. Instead, she smiled and asked Shu Gen’er, “Where did you pick this up?”

She didn’t suspect Shu Gen’er of stealing.

Shu Gen’er pointed west, “In the grass.”

Zhao Ke believed him and opened the first page.

There was a signature on it, written in a bold and flowing script, and the handwriting varied.

Zhao Ke carefully identified it: 【Given to my son, Fu Hang. Father, Fu Xuelin. Mother, Deng Yi.】

It was a notebook belonging to Fu Zhiqing.

How did it end up outside?

Zhao Ke couldn’t recall if there was such an event in the novel. But casually flipping through someone’s belongings wasn’t very polite, so she closed the notebook again.

Niu Xiaoqiang grew anxious, “Didn’t you say you’d tell us about the manual? Why aren’t you looking? Are you lying to us?”

Zhao Ke opened the first page again and pointed at the name on it, “These two characters are Fu Hang. He’s the owner of this notebook. If you want to learn from it, you have to go find him. That’s basic courtesy.”

Niu Xiaoqiang didn’t know who Fu Hang was. He grabbed the notebook and randomly flipped to a page, showing it to her. “You probably can’t understand it either, that’s why you’re saying this.”

Zhao Ke glanced at it, and her eyes widened instantly.

What was this?

Zhao Ke no longer cared about privacy and quickly took the notebook back, flipping through a few more pages. The more she looked, the more confused she became.

She recognized many of the words, but paired with the formulas inside, they looked like a heavenly script.

Niu Xiaoqiang asked expectantly, “Teacher Zhao, can you understand it?”

Zhao Ke pressed her lips together, “It’s physics.”

The children looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion. “What’s physics?”

Zhao Ke had long since forgotten the knowledge she once learned in this field. Besides, it wasn’t her specialty. She only knew some superficial and general things, which might not even be correct. Speaking carelessly could easily mislead them.

But faced with the children’s curious gazes, she still did her best to describe this magical subject they had never encountered before, hoping to spark their interest.

After rambling on about various things, Zhao Ke didn’t take the notebook but instead encouraged the children to find Fu Zhiqing.

She wasn’t qualified to be their mentor, but she could plant seeds of dreams for them, hoping that in the future, they would pursue, verify, and explore…

.

The educated youth went to the countryside, all quite young. Like Lin Haiyang and Su Limei, both were seventeen this year. Zhuang Lan was a year younger than them, sixteen.

Fu Hang went to the countryside later than the other educated youth, and he was only eighteen this year.

Throughout his entire adolescence, and even now, Fu Hang had been in a state of doubting the world and doubting himself, his emotions deeply depressed. However, his face remained cold as always, looking no different from before.

Eight years ago, Fu Grandma and many knowledgeable elders suffered calamities and were severely impacted. Until his grandma fell seriously ill and passed away, Fu Hang could do nothing but accompany her.

The world seemed to have shattered, never to be rebuilt.

Effort was meaningless, passion was meaningless, studying was meaningless, and the future… should just be like that.

Fu Hang went to the countryside voluntarily. Rather than saying he had no place to belong and had to choose a place where no one knew him to start over, it was more like self-imposed exile.

So when his notebook was lost and couldn’t be found, he just gave up—after all, it wasn’t of any use.

Every day, Fu Hang just worked, finished work, rested… drifting along, day after day.

But things in the village still reached his ears, and he couldn’t help but pay attention to Zhao Ke, as if he were a blade of grass growing in a crack, struggling to absorb nutrients and sunlight.

Unfortunately, sunlight shone over the fields but never reached the cracks.

“Dong dong dong…”

The sound of knocking on the window rang out.

Sitting behind the desk, Fu Hang looked up and saw an utterly ordinary foxtail grass growing by the roadside.

Why was everyone grass, yet the sunlight favored her?

Fu Hang’s face was expressionless, but his heart was full of emotions.

Zhuang Lan always felt that Fu Hang seemed particularly indifferent to her. She wasn’t used to his cold gaze, and after a moment of awkward eye contact, she pointed outside and said, “Fu Zhiqing, someone’s looking for you.”

She paused and added, “A lot of people.”

After Zhuang Lan stepped aside, Fu Hang looked outside, silent.

Niu Xiaoqiang bared his teeth in a grin and waved at him frantically.

The other village children were opening and closing their mouths, forming the shape of “Fu Zhiqing,” but not making a single sound.

Fu Hang: “…”

It was obvious they were all quite outgoing children.

But what were they doing?

Zhuang Lan also found it strange that the village children had come looking for Fu Zhiqing. Seeing that he had been silent for too long, she coughed and said, “Uh… I’ve already passed on the message. We still have to cook, so I’m leaving first.”

With confusion, Fu Hang walked out and asked, “You’re looking for me?”

He didn’t seem easy to approach, so some of the children shrank back.

Niu Xiaoqiang, however, was oblivious. Gripping two bars of the fence gate, he stuck his head between them and blurted out, “Fu Zhiqing, is studying physics really that amazing? If you study physics, can you build something that flies into space? Can you also build an atomic bomb?”

Fu Hang felt a bit uncomfortable and really wanted to correct him: building satellites and atomic bombs wasn’t something a single discipline could accomplish—scientific research required interdisciplinary collaboration.

But with Niu Xiaoqiang speaking up boldly, the other children also plucked up the courage. Before he could answer, they began asking all sorts of wild questions—

“Fu Zhiqing, the village is already so big, and Shuangshan Commune is even bigger. If an atomic bomb goes boom, can it really blow up the entire Shuangshan Commune?”

Fu Hang: The commune would be blown up, and why are you so excited about that?

“Fu Zhiqing, can houses fly into the sky? I want to take my parents up into the sky.”

Fu Hang: Your parents might not want to go up into the sky.

“Fu Zhiqing, are all airplanes made by foreigners? I want to build one myself when I grow up, can I?”

Fu Hang: I don’t know.

“Fu Zhiqing…”

“Fu Zhiqing…”

“Fu Zhiqing…”

Since his grandma’s illness, Fu Hang had never been surrounded by so many little ducks before. He wasn’t feeling too great.

But on the surface, he still maintained a steady, reliable, knowledgeable expression.

The children all looked at him with eyes full of longing.

Fu Hang was silent.

In the courtyard, Liu Xingxue, who had been listening for a long time, suddenly sneered, “You guys really are daydreaming.”

The children looked a little disappointed. “We can’t?”

Liu Xingxue himself was disheartened and couldn’t stand Fu Hang interacting more with the villagers. Deliberately trying to discourage them, he said, “You lot will never leave the countryside. Your whole lives are fated to be bent over the fields. Calling it daydreaming is being polite—it’s pure wishful thinking.”

To a group of innocent children yearning for the unknown world, these words were downright cruel. Some of them, even if they didn’t fully understand his meaning, couldn’t help but get teary-eyed.

Niu Xiaoqiang couldn’t stand seeing the younger kids being bullied and angrily retorted, “You’re talking nonsense!”

Even if one didn’t go out of their way to protect a child’s purity, they shouldn’t deliberately tarnish their innocent dreams.

Zhuang Lan was furious. “Liu Zhiqing, you’ve gone too far!”

Fu Hang’s face was even colder, his expression full of frost. “Don’t use your narrow vision to determine someone else’s life.”

Lin Haiyang and Su Limei also looked at Liu Xingxue with dissatisfaction.

Liu Xingxue let out a cold laugh, filled with resentment. “My vision is narrow? Aren’t you all the same as me? Farming, farming, farming every single day… Forget them—what kind of future do we have? Our whole lives will be nothing but this!”

What future did the educated youth have?

No one knew.

For a moment, the entire courtyard was so silent that even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard.

Liu Xingxue looked at Lin Haiyang mockingly. “Fu Hang has good conditions. If you flatter him enough, you’ll get to live in a new house with him. Feeling proud of yourself? You can flatter him, but can you flatter your way back to the city?”

Lin Haiyang exploded, “Who’s flattering him?”

Who else could it be?

Liu Xingxue sneered, then turned to Fang Jing and Su Limei. “If Fu Hang was really that capable, he wouldn’t have ended up coming to the countryside. Do you think if you fawn over him, he’ll help you return to the city? You might as well try to please the village cadres—maybe you’ll get a spot in the Worker-Peasant-Soldier University.”

Su Limei seemed to be emotionally flayed by his gaze, her eyes turning red. “You’re unhappy, so you take it out on us?”

Fang Jing, on the other hand, bit her lip tightly, seemingly looking embarrassed as she lowered her head, but her eyes flickered with an unusual light.

Liu Xingxue mainly targeted Fu Hang: “I’ve put up with you for a long time, what are you pretending for? We’re all educated youths sent down to the countryside, where are you superior to us? So what if I threw your notebook? Acting all high and mighty every day, do you deserve it?”

The words “do you deserve it” kept echoing in his ears. Fu Hang clenched his fists.

Liu Xingxue lifted his chin, arrogant, “What? You still want to hit me? Even if you hit me, the notebook won’t come back!”

Deng Haixin wasn’t as bold as him. After being taught a lesson last time, he hadn’t dared to breathe loudly in front of Fu Hang for a long time. Seeing Fu Hang’s face frighteningly cold, afraid of getting dragged in by Liu Xingxue, he quickly pulled Liu Xingxue, “Stop talking.”

Liu Xingxue flung him off, venting his frustration, “I’ll say it, what can you do? If you’ve got guts, beat me to death!”

A group of children looked at the quarrel between the educated youths, somewhat dumbfounded. They had been crying red-eyed just now but had all forgotten about crying, each staring intently at the commotion.

Niu Xiaoqiang was watching with great interest when a hand touched his arm.

Niu Xiaoqiang waved his hand, “Hey~ don’t bother me.”

The hand paused, then reached out to touch him again.

Niu Xiaoqiang turned back angrily, questioning, “Shu Gen’er! You better have something serious to say!”

Shu Gen’er raised the notebook, blankly asking, “Return it?”

They had gotten so caught up in the spectacle that they forgot they came to return the notebook.

Niu Xiaoqiang scratched his head, took the notebook, lifted it up, and shouted, “Fu Zhiqing, is this notebook you lost?”

Fu Hang slowly turned his head. The moment he saw the familiar notebook in his hand, his emotions fluctuated, “You guys… found it?”

Niu Xiaoqiang grabbed Shu Gen’er’s hand and lifted it up, nodding, “Shu Gen’er found it.”

Fu Hang stood there in a daze, not knowing how to react.

He had already decided to give up, so why did it come back?

It felt like a sudden turn of events…

Fu Hang’s emotions bubbled up uncontrollably.

Niu Xiaoqiang stretched out his arm and handed it to him, “Fu Zhiqing, here you go.”

Fu Hang slowly raised his hand, took it, and gripped the notebook tightly, his knuckles even turning a little white.

Only then did Niu Xiaoqiang look at Liu Xingxue and solemnly say, “What you said is wrong.”

Liu Xingxue curled his lips contemptuously and turned to leave.

“What you said is wrong, I don’t believe you.” Niu Xiaoqiang shouted, “Our Teacher Zhao said, you can’t doubt the infinite possibilities of the future in the present. Everyone is moving forward blindly, only through effort is there hope; without effort, there’s nothing!”

“So what if we farm? Our Zhao Village is going to buy a tractor in the future! We won’t be like this forever.”

The other children echoed him, their eyes filled with hope.

The educated youths were deeply shaken, yet also inexplicably ashamed.

They weren’t even as good as a bunch of kids…

Niu Xiaoqiang turned to Fu Hang and said firmly, “Fu Zhiqing, what he said is wrong. You can even understand this kind of secret manual, you definitely deserve it, completely deserve it.”

Fu Hang hadn’t even had time to feel moved when Niu Xiaoqiang immediately followed up with a question, “Tell us, can a commune really be blown up?”

Fu Hang: “……”

Do they not understand the atmosphere?

Why are they so fixated on whether the commune can be blown up?

What exactly did their “Teacher Zhao” tell them?

Fu Hang hadn’t had much of an impression of Zhao Ke before, only forming an idealized image in his mind, almost entirely positive, perfectly fitting the type of person he admired and aspired to be.

For the first time, Fu Hang felt doubt—someone who teaches children about “blowing up” a commune… doesn’t seem very proper.

However, facing a group of eyes filled with curiosity, Fu Hang twitched the corner of his mouth and finally spoke: “You guys really want to know?”

The children spoke in unison: “Yes!”

Fu Hang’s thumb rubbed the notebook’s hard cover. After a long while, he finally said, “I’ll tell you. Your Teacher Zhao… isn’t entirely right either.”