Chapter 025

The first period in the afternoon wasn’t Chu Xia’s class.

So naturally, she was in no rush, strolling into the school just as the tail end of the warning bell faded.

After stepping through the gate, her gaze shifted to the office door—where she saw Lin Xiaohan just stepping back inside, hammer in hand.

A few students ran past her like the wind, shouting, “Hello, Teacher Tang!”

Chu Xia smiled toward the direction they ran and replied, “Hello!”

Then she added a reminder: “Slow down!”

The students dashed toward the classrooms, while Chu Xia took her time heading to the office.

Once inside, she didn’t greet Lin Xiaohan, simply went to her desk and sat down.

She knew full well that Lin Xiaohan was currently most annoyed with her—he probably wished never to see her again. So she made sure to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, even less noticeable than air.

But just as she set her bag down and was about to take out a book, she suddenly heard Lin Xiaohan speak from nearby:

“Teacher Tang, you’re quite early today.”

The tone was outwardly polite but unmistakably sarcastic.

Chu Xia paused, turning her head to glance at Lin Xiaohan, who was flipping through a Chinese textbook.

She blinked, thinking—Did I offend him again?

She didn’t think so. Ever since he’d told her to stay away that morning, she’d been careful to keep her distance. She hadn’t lingered in his presence even for a second.

Still puzzled.

Chu Xia forced a polite smile and replied, “Not really, just five minutes early.”

The bells for morning reading and afternoon classes always rang five minutes ahead of the actual start time.

That buffer allowed students who misjudged their commute to still make it on time when they heard the warning bell.

Lin Xiaohan smiled faintly as he continued flipping through his book, saying nothing more.

Chu Xia had no idea what he was smiling about—but then again, she’d always thought he was strange. If he ever started acting like a normal person, he wouldn’t be Lin Xiaohan anymore.

Thinking of it that way, everything seemed to make sense again.

Since it was “normal,” Chu Xia stopped overthinking it.

She picked up the books on her desk and got on with her tasks.

When it was time for class to officially begin, she got up and rang the class bell.

Lin Xiaohan walked past her with his textbook and lesson plan in hand, heading into the adjacent classroom.

As the bell finished ringing, a bright young voice rang out from the classroom: “Stand up!”

Chu Xia put down the hammer and gave her wrists a light shake. As Lin Xiaohan exchanged greetings with the students, she turned and walked into the office, sitting back down to continue with her work.

Being a teacher was definitely much easier than working the fields.

The job mostly took place in either the office or the classroom. The buildings might be old, but they kept out the wind and sun just fine. Most of the work involved just talking and occasionally writing.

Besides, she even got one day off each week to rest.

The last class on Saturday afternoons was Chu Xia’s.

When the dismissal bell rang, she extended the class by two more minutes, then told the kids, “We only have six days of classes each week. Tomorrow is Sunday, so there’s no school. You all have the day off—no need to come to school. Just come back Monday morning, okay? Remember that!”

The moment they heard there was no school tomorrow, many of the kids let out cheers and pounded on their desks.

Chu Xia let them cheer for a moment before tapping the teacher’s desk and calming them down. “Just because it’s a break doesn’t mean you get to play the whole time. You’ve got homework to do. I’ll be checking it all when you’re back Monday.”

Seeing how excited the children were made Chu Xia feel happy, too.

Since coming to the countryside, she hadn’t had a single day of rest. At first, she was out in the fields doing farm work with everyone every day. Then came student recruitment and teaching—she’d been busy nonstop.

Having a whole day off tomorrow meant she finally had time to herself, and naturally, she was delighted.

Chu Xia smiled as she watched the kids leave the classroom, then smiled again as she said goodbye to them in the courtyard. She stood watching them walk home in lines, with their schoolbags made from repurposed woven sacks.

Once they were all gone, her body and mind finally relaxed completely.

Still smiling, she turned—and unexpectedly met Lin Xiaohan’s gaze.

Startled, she immediately pursed her lips and wiped the smile off her face before quickly turning to head back into the office.

Lin Xiaohan: “……”

He stood there a moment longer, then turned and walked back into the office as well.

Chu Xia, as always, tried not to disturb Lin Xiaohan.

Back in the office, she quickly packed her schoolbag, slung it over her shoulder, and left in a hurry.

But instead of heading straight back to the educated youth dorms, she made a detour to Liang Youtian’s house.

She found his wife, Chen Jinfeng, and asked, a little embarrassed, “Auntie, could I borrow a little money from you?”

She wanted to go to the market tomorrow to buy vegetable seeds and some baby chicks, but was worried the money she had wouldn’t be enough.

After her last shopping trip to the county town, she only had about 80 cents left. She knew that would buy a pound of pork, but wasn’t sure if it would cover everything else she needed.

So she thought it best to borrow a little—just in case.

Chen Jinfeng was momentarily surprised, but then smiled and said, “Of course!”

If it had been one of the other educated youth asking for money, she might’ve hesitated. But when it came to Chu Xia or Lin Xiaohan, she had no reservations at all.

Seeing that Chen Jinfeng was willing to lend her the money, Chu Xia relaxed.

She explained what she needed to buy, borrowed one yuan, thanked her repeatedly, and promised to pay it back as soon as she received her salary.

Chen Jinfeng smiled and said, “You’re such an honest child. I trust you completely.”

Chu Xia thanked her again and again, deeply grateful.

Even after leaving Chen Jinfeng’s house, Chu Xia didn’t return to the educated youth point right away.

She planned to wait until Han Ting, Lin Xiaohan, and the others were done with eating before going back. That way she could avoid running into them—and avoid any unnecessary emotional turmoil or drama.

She wandered leisurely along the road back to the educated youth dorms, looking around and taking in the scenery.

Eventually, she stopped beside a small irrigation ditch, most of it covered in large, green lotus leaves.

Drawn in by the faint fragrance of the lotus, she sat down on a stone by the ditch.

Then she pulled a book out of her bag, intending to study a little in this quiet, serene setting.

But she had barely read for ten minutes when she absentmindedly looked up—and spotted something between the pile of stones by the ditch: two frogs… fighting?

Frogs… fighting?

To a city girl like her, that was practically a once-in-a-lifetime sight!

Chu Xia thought she might be seeing things and rubbed her eyes.

When she looked again and confirmed it wasn’t a hallucination, she widened her eyes and held her breath, watching intently as the two frogs wrestled.

Whatever grudge they had, it must’ve been serious—they were clutching each other and hurling themselves into the water.

Moments later, they both scrambled back out of the muddy water and locked in combat again. One was clawing at the other’s head, the other was scratching at its face, and they were even slapping each other!

They crashed back into the stones again.

Then—unbelievably—they started yanking at each other’s tongues.

Chu Xia watched, completely engrossed and amazed.

If she wasn’t afraid of startling them, she might’ve stuck her head right up close to get a better look.

As she sat there, so thrilled and amused that she was nearly cheering them on, she didn’t notice someone standing not far behind her.

Lin Xiaohan had been walking back from the school to the educated youth point when he spotted Chu Xia sitting all alone by the water and stopped in his tracks.

He stood at the edge of the road, looking at her hunched over with her arms around her knees, and couldn’t help but remember the night before school started—when she sat in the office and told him how lonely and sad she felt being all by herself.

Looking at her now, small and quiet, crouched by the water with her head bowed, she somehow looked like a little abandoned puppy.

Lin Xiaohan stood there in silence, watching her for a long time—before suddenly snapping out of it.

He clearly found her unbearably annoying and couldn’t wait for her to stay far away from him. So why was he suddenly feeling sorry for her?

He wasn’t the kind of person to sympathize with the weak or the foolish.

What was there to pity about her?

Everything she was going through now was because she liked Han Ting.

Since she chose to throw herself into love without hesitation, she naturally had to bear the consequences of it.

With that thought in mind—

Lin Xiaohan’s expression quickly cooled and hardened.

He resumed walking, passing by Chu Xia from a distance as if he hadn’t seen her at all.

Meanwhile, Chu Xia was still sitting by the stream, leaning in closer, eyes wide in amazement.

Because those two frogs—had locked their jaws on each other’s tongues and refused to let go!