Chapter 57: Thank You Gift

The head of the science department at No. 21 Middle School initially didn’t want to give the papers, but the person requesting them was too influential.

Although Yandu had primary, middle, and high schools before, a complete education system was only established after the country’s founding.

All existing schools were reorganized, and many new primary and secondary schools were built. Many children from poor families only started attending school after 1950, with eight- or nine-year-olds and teenagers in the same classroom. Some even left school to get married.

No. 21 Middle School was one of these newly established schools. While it didn’t have the deep heritage of older schools, it ranked in the top ten in the city because of a group of excellent veteran teachers.

Even after these teachers retired, their students continued to excel at No. 21 Middle School. The person requesting the papers was one of the first distinguished teachers and the head’s teacher after the school’s establishment.

Could he refuse? He quickly organized the papers and handed them over.

After giving the papers, he couldn’t help but ask, “Why did you suddenly want these?”

“Can’t I take a look?” The old man looked at him slowly. “I couldn’t get them before and thought our school’s papers had become a national secret.”

Now, the set of papers was on Lin Qiao’s desk, covering all subjects except chemistry. Lin Qiao immediately distributed the science papers.

The Class Three homeroom teacher took the math papers and laughed, “I didn’t benefit from Old Gao, but I did from you.”

“What’s the difference?” Group Leader Gao didn’t mind and started looking at the chemistry paper Lin Qiao handed him.

“Not bad. Their progress isn’t much faster than ours.” Group Leader Gao quickly scanned the paper and tapped it, “We’ll test this first.”

Lin Qiao knew he was determined, “Alright, you pick a time, and we’ll test all four classes together.”

As she was about to distribute the other schools’ papers, the Class Three homeroom teacher waved his hand, “One at a time. You’ve organized these well, don’t mess them up.”

“I’ll leave them on the desk. Anyone who needs them can take them,” Lin Qiao said, putting the science papers back into the manila envelope.

As she was about to take the humanities papers to the humanities office, Vice Principal Qi picked up a note she had left on the desk, “Who wrote this?”

Although he taught science, he was a calligraphy enthusiast. Seeing his and Qi Huaiwen’s handwriting, it wasn’t surprising he asked.

Lin Qiao had almost forgotten about it, but his question reminded her, “My husband wrote it.”

That was why she was surprised earlier. She had asked Xu Li for the papers, so Ji Duo’s handwriting shouldn’t have been there.

“Captain Ji’s handwriting is impressive,” Group Leader Gao, who didn’t know much about calligraphy, couldn’t help but comment. Vice Principal Qi, who did, added, “Indeed, the strokes are strong, the layout is grand, and the momentum between the lines is powerful. It’s rare to see such good handwriting from someone in a command position.”

After all, in a command position, one deals with soldiers, not pens, unlike those in administrative roles who often need to write materials. But considering who Ji Duo’s mother is, it makes sense. Xu Li is not only a veteran teacher but also comes from a scholarly family.

When Lin Qiao delivered the papers to the humanities office, the teachers there were delighted and thanked her repeatedly, “You always have a way. We were just thinking about this.”

Being in the same school and grade, news traveled quickly between the two offices. They also thought Lin Qiao’s idea was excellent.

They had just started thinking about how to get the papers, and Lin Qiao had already obtained them, including papers from all the top-ranking schools.

Even Teacher Bi sighed, “Comparisons are odious. She has her own abilities, and her in-laws are also capable.”

When Lin Qiao returned from the humanities office, Group Leader Gao couldn’t wait to leave early, carrying the papers from No. 21 Middle School to the printing factory. The old-fashioned high bicycle looked tiny under his tall frame, making him hunch over to ride it.

Lin Qiao saw him from a distance through the window and prepared to pack up her things for the end of the day. She noticed Ji Duo’s note on her desk and slipped it into the book she was taking home.

Before she could ask about it, she ran into Ji Duo getting out of the car at the gate when she got home. The tall man stood at the gate, keys in hand, ready to open it. Seeing her, he paused, “I’m going to the hospital. Do you want to come?”

“To see Elder Gu?” Lin Qiao thought for a moment, lifting the books in her arms, “Wait for me. I’ll take these inside first.”

She had been busy since her last visit to the hospital. Although Elder Gu hadn’t seen her, he had sent a gift through Ji Duo.

It was quite valuable—a pair of gold bracelets carved with dragons and phoenixes. They were clearly old and heavy. Lin Qiao felt it was only right to thank the elderly man and was concerned about his health after the incident.

Ji Duo took the books from her and quickly brought them inside.

With his height and long legs, Ji Duo moved faster than Lin Qiao. After putting the books away and locking the door, Lin Qiao asked about Elder Gu’s nephew and niece-in-law.

“They’ve already been sent back to their hometown,” Ji Duo said. They had asked all the necessary questions and couldn’t keep them around indefinitely. However, Ji Duo added, “I’ve arranged for someone to keep an eye on them.”

Lin Qiao didn’t ask further. They got into the car, had dinner at the cafeteria, and then headed straight to the military hospital where Elder Gu was staying.

The elderly man looked much better. When they entered, he was leaning against the headboard, eating an apple that Sister Du had peeled for him.

Seeing them, he quickly asked Sister Du to peel another apple, but Lin Qiao sat by his bedside and said, “No need to trouble yourself. We ate before coming.” She inquired about Elder Gu’s health.

Having weathered many storms, Elder Gu knew people were still causing trouble. Instead of being defeated, he was determined, “If I let them anger me to death, wouldn’t that be exactly what they want? I have to live well, find Shaozhen, and uncover the truth about Shaoping’s death before I can rest in peace.”

When Lin Qiao thanked him, he waved it off, “Seeing you and Xiao Duo get married, I’ve witnessed my grandson’s wedding.”

He even shared some amusing stories about Ji Duo’s childhood, “Don’t be fooled by his serious demeanor now. He was quite the troublemaker as a child, a little tyrant in this compound.”

Ji Duo? A little tyrant?

Lin Qiao found it hard to believe and looked at Ji Duo, who seemed completely natural and even asked Elder Gu, “Do you need some water?”

“Don’t change the subject,” Elder Gu said, seeing through him. He smiled at Lin Qiao, “Shaozhen’s mother died in childbirth, and I raised her. There were many rumors behind our backs. Xiao Duo and Su Zheng were the first to stand up for her whenever she was bullied.”

Elder Gu leaned back, reminiscing, “Once, someone came to our door, and their families scolded Xiao Duo, Su Zheng, and Shaoping. Su Zheng even got a beating. So, Xiao Duo changed tactics and took the boys to dig a pit in front of their door at night.”

“Dig a pit?” Lin Qiao didn’t understand.

“Yes, they dug a pit at night, filled it with water, and covered it with snow. It was winter, and the surface froze overnight.”

The surface froze, but the inside didn’t. Stepping on it would result in a cold, wet surprise…

Sure enough, Elder Gu said, “The boy from the Tang family stepped out and came back crying, unable to figure out who did it. If I hadn’t known he borrowed a shovel that night, I wouldn’t have guessed.”

This story challenged Lin Qiao’s perception of the old cadre. After leaving the hospital, she couldn’t help but glance at Ji Duo several times.

Ji Duo let her look, not meeting her gaze or asking questions, making her wonder if he noticed.

Back home, seeing the book on the desk reminded her of something. She took out the note, “Did you help with this?”

Ji Duo responded, “I saw a few schools were missing, so I asked around. Is this enough?”

“It’s enough,” Lin Qiao said, surprised he had helped. She had asked Xu Li for the papers.

This was the second time he had helped without her asking, just from hearing a few words.

Lin Qiao had never experienced this before. Her parents in her previous life were too busy to notice such details. She attended boarding school from kindergarten, spending more time with teachers than her parents. When she needed something, they either argued or pushed it off, rarely resolving it quickly.

This made her feel complicated, as she looked at Ji Duo without speaking.

Ji Duo draped his coat over his arm and looked down at her, also silent. He helped Lin Qiao because he wanted to, not expecting anything in return. But having done it, he wouldn’t hide it.

Lin Qiao was independent and didn’t like relying on others. Ultimately, this was because she had no one to trust or rely on—including him. He probably wasn’t on her list of trusted people. Instead of saying empty words and constantly asking her to trust him, it was better to take action.

Ji Duo was so straightforward, his gaze almost direct, reminding Lin Qiao of the subtle atmosphere when they talked about Zheng Huifang’s husband that night.

But that complexity eventually faded from her eyes. She looked at him and blinked, “Should I say thank you?”

Whether he did it to protect her or because she stood up outside Elder Gu’s ward that day, she still needed to acknowledge his help.

Ji Duo listened, and only one thought crossed his mind—does this girl only know how to say thank you?

He unbuttoned the first button of his shirt and leaned back against the desk, “I don’t remember ever saying such formal words to you.”

That brought out some emotion. Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then stood on tiptoe and kissed his chin. It was very light, like a dragonfly touching water, but Ji Duo’s eyes deepened instantly. He pulled her up and kissed her back.

Compared to Lin Qiao, his approach was much more assertive. Soon, Lin Qiao’s soft gasps filled the room, “Your coat fell.”

“I’ll pick it up later.”

“The light! The light is still on!”

The response was the room plunging into darkness.

Until the residual light in her vision disappeared, and she was pressed onto the bed, Lin Qiao suddenly felt something was wrong, “Wait a minute!”

She pushed against his firm chest, “I think my period just started.”

The last time she cried wolf, she was teasing him, so Ji Duo continued kissing.

“I’m serious.” This time, Lin Qiao pushed him away, grabbed a coat, and ran to the bathroom.

When she returned, the sanitary pad was indeed gone. Ji Duo watched her for a long time, then resignedly pulled her thinly clad body into his arms, “Let’s sleep.”

His body was much warmer than outside. Lin Qiao snuggled in, took off the coat she had put on, threw it onto the chair by the bed, then turned off the light. Since she quickly got sleepy when he held her, she was used to sleeping in his arms and instinctively tucked her feet under his legs.

Ji Duo hadn’t calmed down, and her small foot made him tighten his hold, patting her bottom through the blanket, “Don’t mess around.”

“How am I messing around?” Lin Qiao was clearly unconvinced, shifting to a warmer spot.

This made Ji Duo’s breath catch. He considered pushing her away when a cool little hand touched him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be out of commission?” he heard his own voice deeper in the darkness.

“If you’re good to go, then so am I.” Lin Qiao’s mischievous hand moved down, and she kissed his chin again, “A thank you gift.”

Whether Ji Duo was satisfied with the gift was unknown, but Lin Qiao’s hand clearly wasn’t. The next day, while writing on the blackboard, she decided to remove this benefit from the list.

Some things are only enjoyable when both parties are satisfied. She wondered how the man had managed to be so patient and service-oriented before.

The printing factory worked quickly, and within two days, the papers that Group Leader Gao had sent were ready. It was a thick stack of six complete sets.

Students who saw him carrying the stack were clearly puzzled. Hadn’t they just finished midterms?

When Lin Qiao and Group Leader Gao brought the papers into the classroom and announced that they would be doing a set of papers in the next two periods, just like an exam, the students fell silent.

Group Leader Gao emphasized, “Your teacher Lin went to great lengths to get these papers from No. 21 Middle School. You should appreciate them.”

The students remained silent.

One student couldn’t hold back, “Teacher, are you telling us to thank Teacher Lin or to blame her for this?”

Group Leader Gao laughed in exasperation and pointed at the student, “Let’s see how well you score this time.”

He continued earnestly, “If it were just for convenience, we wouldn’t bother giving you these papers. After the exam, we have to grade them and then review them. Not to mention, Teacher Lin used a lot of connections to get these. Ultimately, it’s all to help you improve and get good grades.”

Back in the office, he mentioned the incident to Lin Qiao, “These kids really dare to say anything.”

“Do you believe that if you made them do all those papers, they’d thank my ancestors?” Lin Qiao wasn’t surprised at all.

This made Group Leader Gao laugh, “True. Which student likes constant exams and homework?”

“Kids love to play, and so do adults,” Lin Qiao said as if she wasn’t just a few years older than the students.

She added, “For the remaining papers, let’s not give them the ones with too many repetitive questions. We can organize and create a few new ones.”

These papers were not only for the students but also very useful for the teachers. Comparing papers from different schools helped identify the most frequently tested key points—especially those tested by multiple schools, which were absolute priorities for review.

Group Leader Gao didn’t plan to distribute all the papers, “We don’t have the time to test them all. Let’s start with No. 21 Middle School. I even found out their average score this time.”

To see the current gap between the two schools, they monitored the exam strictly, collecting all chemistry-related textbooks and assignments beforehand.

After two days of grading, they finally calculated the average score for the entire grade.

“69.2, not much lower than our own midterms.”

Their grade average score had reached an unprecedented 70, but without comparing it to other schools, Group Leader Gao thought the questions might have been too easy, inflating the scores.

Lin Qiao asked about No. 21 Middle School’s average score for this midterm.

“73.6,” Group Leader Gao said. “A difference of 4.4 points. I remember the last joint exam had a gap of 8 or 9 points.”

Fortunately, he still had the last joint exam results. After searching through his office, he found them at the bottom of a cabinet: “It was a difference of 8.9 points. So, we’ve closed the gap by almost half.”

He gestured with his hand and quickly found the corresponding position on the report card, “It should be around the 40th place. The scores are very close after that.”

The top-ranking schools have a significant drop in teaching quality, but in the middle, a difference of 0.1 points can result in several ranks. After that, the scores drop sharply again.

Group Leader Gao felt reassured, “As long as we can maintain this score and get into the top 40, we’ll surprise a lot of people in the end-of-term exams.”

He smacked his lips, “I really didn’t expect it. We’re less than 5 points behind No. 21 Middle School. Did they underperform in this midterm?”

This was purely a case of being overly cautious. After being in second place for so many years, suddenly making such progress felt unreal to anyone.

Lin Qiao smiled without saying anything and was about to make herself a cup of brown sugar water when Li Xiaoqiu knocked and entered, glancing around the office, “Is Teacher Lan here?”

“He just went to the restroom,” Lin Qiao replied, recognizing her student. “Do you need something from Teacher Lan?”

“Teacher Lan asked to see me,” Li Xiaoqiu said, her head lowered and her voice barely audible. “I went off-topic in my essay again.”

Li Xiaoqiu’s Chinese has always been a problem. In this midterm, she almost fell out of the top ten in her grade because she failed Chinese. However, her math, chemistry, and physics scores were excellent. She scored 93 in math, 96 in chemistry, and a perfect score in physics, three points higher than Qi Huaiwen.

Teacher Lan, who taught Chinese to both classes, often sighed, “If Li Xiaoqiu’s Chinese were half as good as her math and science, she would have been in the top three in the grade long ago.”

Unexpectedly, she went off-topic in her midterm essay and did it again on the No. 21 Middle School paper a few days ago. No wonder Teacher Lan wanted to see her in the office.

Lin Qiao didn’t know what to say and gently asked, “Would you like some water while you wait for Teacher Lan?”

Li Xiaoqiu hesitated but shook her head, “Thank you, Teacher Lin. I’ll wait here.” She stood quietly and reviewed her Chinese paper.

This girl wasn’t lazy. She was more diligent in morning reading than anyone else and always got perfect scores in dictation. But when it came to reading comprehension and essays, she struggled. Unlike her quick grasp of science, her Chinese seemed completely blocked. She relied solely on rote memorization.

Soon, Teacher Lan returned and sighed when he saw Li Xiaoqiu standing there obediently, “Come over and tell me how you understood this essay topic.”

Li Xiaoqiu walked over timidly and stammered through her explanation. Even Lin Qiao could tell she was way off the mark.

At his wit’s end, Teacher Lan had to break it down for her and said, “Ji Yinghong and Chi Bo wrote excellent essays this time. You can borrow theirs to read. Learning Chinese requires a lot of reading and practice. If you’re too shy to ask, I’ll borrow them for you.”

He genuinely cared for Li Xiaoqiu, who blushed deeply, “No need. I can borrow them myself.”

After she left, Teacher Lan sighed to Lin Qiao, “She has the potential for top universities like Tsinghua or Peking, but her Chinese is holding her back. I don’t know what to do with her.”

Most teachers feel frustrated when they have a student who excels in everything except their subject.

Lin Qiao also felt it was a pity. Li Xiaoqiu had a brilliant mind for science, especially physics, where she rarely scored below 96. Such a promising student should be sent to a top university for further studies, especially when the country urgently needs scientific talent. But her Chinese was a significant drawback.

“We still have over half a year. Let’s think of some solutions,” Lin Qiao pondered, pondering how they improved their Chinese in her previous life.

Honestly, there wasn’t much to reference. Later generations started supplementing essays and extensive reading from elementary school. Unlike now, where the only accessible materials were comic books, and even the Four Great Classical Novels, familiar to kindergarteners later, were only available in Xinhua Bookstore in recent years and were hard to buy. These days, most primary and secondary schools don’t have libraries. Otherwise, handwritten books wouldn’t have been so popular.

Lin Qiao considered setting up a reading corner in the classroom, bringing a few books from home, and having students bring one from theirs to exchange. However, that was a slow, cumulative process with limited impact on a student like Li Xiaoqiu, who was severely unbalanced in her studies.

Lin Qiao was still pondering this after work when she saw a familiar Jeep near the school gate. It was unusual since they didn’t usually travel the same route. Ji Duo had only picked her up a few times when she needed liquid soap.

Junzi, not far behind Lin Qiao, saw Ji Duo’s car and immediately made faces, “Teacher Lin, Captain Ji is here to pick you up.”

In the military, only officers of a certain rank had cars, so many people noticed. Hearing this, all eyes turned to Lin Qiao.

Ji Duo got out of the car just then, paused at the comment, and walked briskly to Lin Qiao.

Lin Qiao didn’t think much of it, quickly walking up to him and asking softly, “Why are you here suddenly? Is something wrong?”

Ji Duo’s expression was as usual, but his voice was deeper than usual, “Su Zheng just called. There’s news about Shaozhen again.”