Chapter 26: Interrogation

Ji Duo was used to leading soldiers, so he noticed when Lin Qiao froze momentarily. But he didn’t think much of it. He just looked up and asked, “Why so late today? Is there something at school?”

Lin Qiao maintained her usual composure, “Yes, I had a chat with a student.”

Ji Duo didn’t ask further. He turned a page in his book and said, “Old Ding’s son is getting married this weekend.”

Old Ding was Ji Duo’s superior, and Ji Duo had to give a gift for his son’s wedding.

Since handing over the passbook, Ji Duo’s salary was mostly given to Lin Qiao, and any household expenses were taken from her. Lin Qiao asked directly, “Are we attending the wedding or just sending a gift?”

“Just the gift money. His son isn’t getting married in the military.”

Lin Qiao understood and asked about the amount before getting up to fetch the money from the cabinet. As soon as she opened the small box with the passbook and money, the room’s window banged loudly.

It had been hot recently, and the windows were usually open except at night. Seeing the window shake again, Lin Qiao looked outside. “It’s windy, probably going to rain. I’ll go bring in the clothes.”

She moved quickly, heading downstairs before Ji Duo could say anything. Ji Duo got up to close the window and tidied the things that had been blown around. In doing so, he noticed the thin pages of the school notebook had been flipped by the wind. As he was about to close it, he glimpsed large sections of explicit writing, and his hand froze.

What kind of stuff is this?!

Ji Duo had seen such things before while training new recruits. He slammed the notebook shut. He was about to scold someone, but then he remembered Lin Qiao was his wife, not one of his soldiers, and he couldn’t just reprimand her.

But she’s so young, and she’s reading this?

It wasn’t right. Lin Qiao was already nineteen by Chinese age reckoning and married to him. It was his own perception that she was still young and needed more time.

Ji Duo realized he had subconsciously taken on the role of an elder. Even though they had been married for over half a month, there had been no substantial progress in their relationship, and Lin Qiao, indeed, seemed quite young.

At a time like this, Lin Qiao was reading this…

Ji Duo frowned and opened the notebook, quickly scanning a page. He didn’t know who wrote it, but it was full of mistakes, the sentences were not coherent, and it contained nothing but explicit content. Ji Duo’s frown deepened as he turned another page.

When Lin Qiao returned, the desk looked the same as when she left, and Ji Duo was sitting upright as if he hadn’t moved.

“Help me fold these,” she said, handing him some dry clothes while she continued to look for money.

Ji Duo hesitated but got up and neatly folded the clothes on the bed.

When Lin Qiao returned with the money, she found him looking at her. She instinctively checked herself, “What’s wrong?” He had already looked away, “Nothing, the clothes are folded.”

As they spoke, the rain started pouring outside.

Lin Qiao’s attention shifted, “Good thing I ran fast. This rain looks heavy.”

He didn’t respond, just gave a faint “Hmm.”

After finishing her review and preparing for bed, Lin Qiao noticed him looking at her again.

This time, she felt something was off but couldn’t pinpoint what.

If he knew something, the notebook was still there, and he didn’t seem like someone who would invade her privacy.

Lin Qiao decided to ask directly, “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Ji Duo replied, looking away and tidying up his things. He decided not to mention it to Lin Qiao to avoid making her feel awkward.

She was probably just curious. Once she understood everything, she would lose interest.

The rain continued until the following day. When Lin Qiao went to school, the sky was still drizzling. She shook her umbrella at the entrance and placed it behind the office door. As soon as she sat down, she noticed that Class Four’s assignments had already been submitted. This was quite rare. Previously, it was a good day if they submitted by the end of the first period.

Moreover, the quality of the assignments seemed higher than before. Lin Qiao flipped through them and found several new names, including Qi Huaiwen. It was likely the troublemakers from the back row. She picked up Qi Huaiwen’s assignment first.

When she confiscated the handwritten books yesterday, Lin Qiao noticed that Qi Huaiwen had excellent, strong, and practiced handwriting. Given that he was Vice Principal Qi’s son, this wasn’t surprising.

What surprised Lin Qiao was that although most of Qi Huaiwen’s notebook was empty, he had completed this assignment perfectly.

Did he do it himself, or did he copy it?

Before jumping to conclusions, Lin Qiao knew any suspicion could harm the student, so she continued grading. This time, Junzi’s mistakes were different from others, indicating he did it himself. Although still incorrect, honestly doing and submitting homework was progress for a student like him. At least in terms of attitude, he was willing to take it seriously.

Lin Qiao graded most of the assignments in one go. When she looked up to rest her eyes, she noticed the rain had stopped. After a while, she continued grading the remaining assignments. Seeing the sun rising higher, indicating no more rain, she got up and went to the chemistry lab.

In the evening, when she went to supervise Class Four’s evening self-study, Lin Qiao brought her books and a tightly sealed chalk box.

The Class’s chalk was almost used up, and the students didn’t pay much attention. However, seeing their young teacher, several students secretly switched seats.

Lin Qiao wanted to tell them their sneaky moves were pointless because everything was visible from the podium. She not only knew who had switched seats but also noticed that several students were missing, likely planning to skip self-study.

Smiling, Lin Qiao tapped the podium, “I’ve been teaching you for a week, but I still don’t know everyone. How about I take attendance to get to know you all?”

“I’m not trying to take attendance, just to get to know everyone”—one of the most unreliable lies teachers tell.

As soon as Lin Qiao finished speaking, the students protested, “No way, teacher! You’re taking attendance during evening self-study?”

The seat next to Junzi, where Qi Huaiwen usually sat, was empty. Junzi loudly complained, “Yeah, some students are still in the bathroom!”

Lin Qiao wasn’t really planning to take attendance; she just wanted to liven up the atmosphere to prevent anyone from getting too focused and startled later. “Since not everyone is here, let’s skip the roll call. For those who aren’t here, we won’t wait for them. Let me show you something good first.”

Something good? The students were initially puzzled, but then their eyes lit up, and they all stared at the podium. Could it be another new experiment from Teacher Lin?

Not only Junzi but the rest of the Class was also eager to see when Lin Qiao would conduct a new experiment, especially those who had participated before, as it was genuinely interesting.

However, under the eager gazes of the students, Lin Qiao simply opened the chalk box and took out a—plain piece of chalk???

The students were first bewildered, then disappointed. Someone couldn’t help but ask, “Teacher, the good thing you mentioned isn’t going to take up our evening self-study, is it?”

Lin Qiao smiled without saying a word, turned the chalk with the larger end down, and smashed it directly onto the concrete floor beside the podium.

Before anyone could react, there was a “bang,” and the chalk exploded right in front of them.

“Whoa, it exploded!” Someone couldn’t help but exclaim, but no one paid attention to him. All the students’ eyes were fixed on the scattered pieces of chalk on the ground.

“Wasn’t it just an ordinary piece of chalk? How did it explode?”

“I don’t know. Teacher Lin just smashed it, and it exploded.”

“Wow, that’s amazing! How did she do it?”

Amidst the discussions, Lin Qiao took another piece of chalk from the box, “Who wants to try?”

“Me!” “Me!” “Teacher, me!”

A group of students almost went crazy trying to volunteer, especially the usual troublemakers.

Lin Qiao scanned the room and handed the chalk to a short girl in the front row, “You try.”

“Me?” The girl was a bit flustered. She wasn’t very outgoing, and although she always listened attentively in Lin Qiao’s classes, she never participated in experiments or raised her hand to answer questions.

Lin Qiao placed the chalk on her desk, “Try it. You can smash it on the floor or against the wall.”

The girl was still in a daze, but someone next to her couldn’t wait, “Can you do it? If not, let me try!”

Prompted by the others, she instinctively grabbed the chalk, “Is it supposed to be smashed with the larger end down?”

Lin Qiao hadn’t mentioned this earlier, but she smiled at the girl, “Yes, the larger end down. You observed very carefully.”

This praise seemed to encourage the girl. She took a deep breath and violently smashed the chalk onto the floor.

Another “bang,” and this time, not only did she see the chalk explode up close, but she also smelled the white smoke produced by the explosion. Her whole face turned red, her eyes sparkled, and her heart raced like never before.

Not only this girl but all the students craned their necks; some stood up, and those who couldn’t see ran to the front row. The aisle was crowded, and Junzi and a few others stood on their chairs. Everyone had one question in their minds—how was this done?

Lin Qiao glanced at her watch and tapped the podium again, “Alright, it’s time for evening self-study.”

That’s it? Everyone looked bewildered, and those closer even peeked at the chalk box.

Lin Qiao opened the box and showed everyone, “That’s it. I only made a few for you to see. If you’re curious…”

She paused, her eyes with a small mole at the corner lifting slightly, “Then study hard. If you can close the average score gap with the third place by two points in this month’s test, I’ll tell you how to make these chalk bombs and even let someone try it out in Class.”

“That’s it?” The students were inevitably disappointed. But thinking about Lin Qiao’s offer to teach them, they perked up again, though the condition…

Seeming to know what they were thinking, Lin Qiao dusted off her fingers, “Coming up with these experiments isn’t easy. Give me some credit, and don’t make me feel like I’ve wasted my effort. Besides, I’m not asking you to get third place, just to close the gap by two points.”

She smiled and added, “Actually, our Class has a lot of room for improvement. We could learn several small experiments.”

The students felt a bit embarrassed, especially Junzi, who contributed to dragging down the average score.

Lin Qiao wanted to maintain their enthusiasm, so she encouraged them, “Two points might seem like a lot, but it’s actually quite achievable. Pay attention in Class, do your homework well, fill in one more blank correctly, and get one more small question right on the big problems, and you’ll easily gain more than two points.”

That was true, as their Class indeed had a lot of room for improvement.

Seeing the students still crowded in the aisle, Lin Qiao clapped her hands. “Alright, everyone. Go back to your evening self-study. If a leader comes to check, they’ll say I didn’t do my job well.”

The evening self-study bell rang just then. Whether they liked it or not, with no more chalk bombs, the students had to return to their seats, still whispering among themselves.

Lin Qiao then noticed that Qi Huaiwen had come in at some point and was sitting in his seat next to Junzi, looking down at something. It seemed he really had just gone to the bathroom, as Junzi said, and hadn’t skipped evening self-study. He was quite trustworthy. But the impact of the two chalk pieces was far from over. After all, the two explosions happened before the evening self-study bell rang. Even if the other classes were noisy, those nearby, like Class Three and the adjacent liberal arts class, still heard something.

Class Four had seen something so unusual that they couldn’t help but talk about it. The next day, the students who hadn’t attended evening self-study regretted it, lamenting why they had skipped. The chemistry class representative from Class Three even came to find Lin Qiao.

The class representative came on behalf of the whole Class with one main request—Teacher Lin shouldn’t favor one Class over another; they also wanted to learn the small experiment.

This class representative was much more articulate than the one from Class Four, the type who knew how to get things done and was well-liked by teachers. Lin Qiao listened with a smile, “Alright, as long as you can also close the average score gap with the first place by two points, I’ll do the experiment with you too.”

Whichever Class achieved it would get the lesson. If both did, she could just teach a large combined class.

The Class Three representative left satisfied, shifting the pressure entirely to Class Four.

“Class Three must be crazy! Why are they competing with us? Now, two points have become four points. How are we supposed to do that?”

“Not just four points, right? What if Class Three improves by more than two points?”

One student made a comment and was immediately met with collective eye rolls, “You’re the only one good at math.”

“Instead of being discouraged, why don’t you ask the top students in the class to tutor you?” Qi Huaiwen suddenly suggested.

Everyone thought it was a good idea, but the top students usually didn’t hang out with them, so they weren’t sure if they would be willing. As they were thinking about it, the class representative approached them, “Does anyone have questions? You can ask me after Class.”

Not only the class representative, but many students also offered to help tutor, as they were all curious about how the chalk bombs were made.

Class Four’s enthusiasm for learning reached an unprecedented high, at least in chemistry. After Class, one-on-one tutoring sessions became common. The girl who had smashed the chalk, Li Xiaoqiu, was assigned to tutor Junzi. She was a bit shy but very meticulous, lending Junzi her notes.

In the evening, as soon as Junzi got home, he went straight to his room to copy the notes. He had a weak foundation and couldn’t understand many things without starting from the basics. But as Teacher Lin said, there was a lot of room for improvement, and learning a bit could easily gain two points.

Commander Liang’s wife called him, “I left some roasted sweet potatoes on the table for you.” She called twice, but there was no response.

This was quite unusual. Growing boys eat a lot, and Junzi was always hungry after evening self-study. The family often kept snacks for him, sometimes sweet potatoes, sometimes noodles, and in the fall, chestnuts.

Commander Liang’s wife was good at cooking, and she rarely repeated dishes in a week. Feeling puzzled, she decided to take the roasted sweet potatoes to his room. As soon as she entered, she saw her son furiously copying something, and he seemed a bit annoyed by her presence, “Just leave it there.”

She looked at it for a while but couldn’t understand, so she immediately called Commander Liang, “Come and see what Junzi is copying.”

Commander Liang also found his son’s behavior unusual and worried he might be involved in something bad. When he entered the room, he saw it was chemistry notes.

This was unprecedented. When had this boy ever studied before?

“Why are you copying notes?” he couldn’t help but ask.

Junzi didn’t even look up, “Teacher Lin said if we improve our average score by two points, she’ll teach us a new experiment. I need to catch up on my studies.” Afraid his father would ask more, he quickly waved him off, “Alright, don’t disturb my studying. You’re a grown man. Act your age!”

“You little rascal, teaching your old man a lesson!” Commander Liang gave him a pat but still left the room.

His wife, listening at the door, asked, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing much. Teacher Lin said she’ll teach them a new experiment if they do well. He’s cramming at the last minute.”

“Teacher Lin? Captain Ji’s wife next door? Can she really teach high school?” She had always been skeptical, as Lin Qiao seemed too young.

Commander Liang replied, “If she can’t, can you?”

His wife immediately fell silent.

Commander Liang glanced back at his son’s room, “I think Teacher Lin is doing well. When have you ever seen this rascal study?”

Classes Three and Four were now highly motivated to study chemistry, and within a few days, even Group Leader Gao knew about it.

“Teacher Lin, you’re putting a lot of pressure on me,” he complained in the office, “Class One and Class Three’s average scores are only two points apart.”

“There’s not much time, and they might not catch up. Besides, those two classes have been at the top for a long time. Can’t we have a turn?” Lin Qiao’s words were well-received, and Group Leader Gao smiled, “But how did you make those chalk bombs? Several people have asked me. I can only say Teacher Lin hasn’t taught it yet, and I have to help her keep it a secret.”

It’s actually quite simple. Just mix red phosphorus and potassium chlorate in a 2:7 ratio in anhydrous ethanol, stuff it into the thicker end of the chalk, and seal the hole with chalk dust. Let it dry thoroughly for a few hours, and it’s ready to use. The only tricky part is that it must be mixed in anhydrous ethanol. If it gets wet or exposed to air, it can easily explode. One also has to be careful while drying it. She even found an empty cabinet and put a note on it to prevent anyone from accidentally touching it.

However, she didn’t plan to reveal this now. She smiled, “Then please continue to keep it a secret for me, Teacher Gao.”

“I knew it,” Group Leader Gao nodded at her, not pressing further. “I don’t know where you get so many clever ideas.”

“Classes Three and Four have weak foundations, and I’m young, so I can’t control them well. I have to come up with these ideas to keep them engaged in their studies.”

Lin Qiao was being honest. In those days, children started school late, often at nine or ten years old. Some students in her Class were even her age. Without the advantage of age and being just a substitute teacher, she had to put in extra effort to manage them effectively.

Group Leader Gao understood and smoothly changed the topic, “I remember you mentioned wanting to buy some potassium hydroxide?”

Lin Qiao indeed wanted to buy potassium hydroxide.

She still had a lot of olive oil left from what Ji Ze had given her last time. Not wanting to make it all into handmade soap, she decided to make some liquid soap instead.

However, liquid soap is different from solid soap. The alkali used is not sodium hydroxide but potassium hydroxide. This wasn’t available in the market, so she asked Group Leader Gao if she could buy some when the school purchased chemical reagents.

When Group Leader Gao mentioned it, she understood: “Is the school going to purchase reagents?”

“Yes, I contacted the logistics department for you. How much do you need? They can bring it for you.”

Lin Qiao took a piece of paper and wrote down what she needed, then asked, “How much will it cost? I’ll pay now.”

Paying now would ensure there were no concerns when the purchase was made. Group Leader Gao didn’t stand on ceremony, “It should be back by the end of this month or early next month.”

Lin Qiao wasn’t in a hurry, as the end of the month was approaching and she had many things to handle.

First, there was the test she mentioned. Group Leader Gao had already prepared and sent the questions to the school printing factory. As the test date approached, more and more students came to Lin Qiao with questions. Once, during evening self-study, she ended up teaching a whole class because so many students had questions.

Amidst this busy schedule, there was also a family planning check.

Teacher Yang and another female high school teacher went around with a record book, asking each female colleague if their period had come this month.

Lin Qiao had heard from Sun Xiuzhi that family planning checks were strict in the city, but being asked so formally still felt a bit awkward.

And what should she say—had it come or not?

If she said it had, it actually hadn’t come this month; if she said it hadn’t, as a married woman, what would that imply?

Not wanting to cause trouble, Lin Qiao simply told them it had come.

Teacher Yang, clearly used to this kind of work, remained calm and even smiled at Lin Qiao’s discomfort, saying, “We ask every month, you’ll get used to it.”

Lin Qiao wasn’t easily embarrassed, but seeing male colleagues being asked as well, she suddenly thought of Ji Duo and wondered if he had been asked.

Indeed, Ji Duo had been asked. An older female colleague, who was also acquainted with Xu Li, came to his office. She asked directly if his wife’s period had come. Ji Duo was about to ask why but stopped mid-sentence.

The older colleague, used to dealing with newlyweds, wasn’t bothered, “We didn’t ask before because you weren’t married. Be straightforward, has it come or not?”

Ji Duo, not yet very close with Lin Qiao, didn’t want to discuss such matters with others and frowned, “It hasn’t come yet.”

“It hasn’t come?” The other person smiled and gave him a once-over, then turned and left without asking further.

However, just as he finished his work, he received a call from Xu Li.