Chapter 16

Finally, after the two of them finished their New Year’s Eve dinner and left, Su Ye’s ears were finally at peace.

They started by teaching women that they must be virtuous and manage the household—how arrogant must one be to say such things?

In the future, if a boys who are not virtuous, he won’t be able to find a wife. Back when Su Ye was in school, a boy once tried to win her over by selflessly delivering meals to her for an entire year, but she didn’t even glance at him. Let alone cooking a few meals or doing housework.

Su Ye glanced at Gu Xiangqian, who was cleaning up, and carefully withdrew her gaze. Of course, even if this man was virtuous, it wouldn’t matter.

Su Ye pulled out her lesson plan book and began working.

She hadn’t expected the practical lessons to be so popular. After finishing the class, the students strongly requested more lessons. After the home visit, Su Ye became even more determined in her plan. Since she had nothing to do during the holidays, she decided to turn her weekly practical lessons into daily ones.

Su Ye, feeling bothered, turned off the live stream’s barrage comments and small reward notifications. Now, she opened the live stream room to check.

After a full day of practical lessons, she was surprised to see a pound of pork belly had dropped in the background. The cured meat at home had just been finished, and Su Ye had been worrying about the next round of food supplies. Seeing the extra meat was a pleasant surprise. This practical class was such a great deal!

Su Ye felt a deep love for labor rise in her heart, labor was truly the main theme of this era.

After cleaning up the dishes, Gu Xiangqian planned to read for a while. He glanced at Su Ye, who was working. He didn’t know when, but his desk had already become Su Ye’s exclusive space, domineering and unreasonable.

When Su Ye worked, she was deeply immersed in her own world, focused. Under the light, her side profile was calm and peaceful.

She didn’t notice that Gu Xiangqian was watching her, piecing together clock parts and mechanical components bit by bit.

The desk was covered with hundreds of small and large parts, all neatly arranged. Even though school was already on vacation, there were still students’ notebooks on the desk. Every one of them had been carefully graded, with a whole paragraph of feedback written by Su Ye. It was clear that Su Ye really valued her work.

Because of this, Gu Xiangqian was willing to take on more household chores on his own.

After Su Ye finished her work and stretched, she was startled. She turned to see Gu Xiangqian standing behind her, holding a cup of water and watching her intently. The water in the cup was already finished, but he didn’t notice. He was still holding it, his gaze fixed on the lesson plan illustrations she had drawn, closely inspecting her work.

Su Ye quickly covered her notebook, clearing her throat in a questioning tone. “What’s this? You don’t like me using your desk?”

Gu Xiangqian shook his head and said, “Grandma Zhou Honghan downstairs also studied mechanical engineering. She used to teach at the university, and now that she’s older, she’s retired. You two could chat when you have time.”

He bent down and spoke softly near Su Ye’s ear. His voice was so close it almost seemed like his lips were touching her ear. The low sound sent a tickling sensation through her ear.

Su Ye snapped her lesson plan shut with a “snap” and carefully moved a few steps away, putting her precious materials into her toolbox.

While she cleaned up, Su Ye couldn’t help but complain in her mind about how he kept getting so close. This man was just too… too forward!

In the evening, Gu Xiangqian removed his bandage and applied medication, and Su Ye couldn’t help but steal a glance.

The physical strength of soldiers was really remarkable. In just a few days, the deep wounds on his body had started to scab over. At this rate, they’d probably heal in a few more days. Su Ye felt dry in the mouth and suddenly a bit flustered. His physique was just… too damn attractive.

Su Ye wasn’t worried about maintaining her composure. What really concerned her was the fear that one day her wild instincts would take over, and she’d end up losing control. This strict, serious, and seemingly perfect young man was bound to cling to her and expect her to take responsibility, wasn’t he?

Su Ye’s ideal future was to conquer the stars, cause some trouble, and not drag anyone down with her.

That night, she carefully slept on the far side of the bed, almost curling herself into a corner, trying to avoid him.

—

The next day, Su Ye met with Yang Xue to share her thoughts and asked her to help inform the students who were interested in attending the practical lessons.

“Teacher plans to come to school every day. If the students are free, they can come and listen.”

Yang Xue felt a surge of warmth in her heart. She waved goodbye to Su Ye and watched her hurry away in the cold wind. Her eyes were full of hope.

Where could you find such a responsible teacher these days? Without complaining about the exhaustion, she went from door to door, knocking on her students’ homes, her heart growing warmer with every step in the cold wind. Yang Xue not only reached out to her own class but also to students from the neighboring class. In the end, she managed to gather a whole classroom full of students.

In the afternoon, when Su Ye walked into the classroom and saw it filled with students, she was shocked.

In order to lay a foundation for the things she wanted to achieve, Su Ye tailored her lessons to her students. She presented the material in great detail. The students gathered around her, listening attentively as she explained theoretical knowledge and then proceeded to practical hands-on activities.

During the hands-on portion, Su Ye even had a few of the smarter kids disassemble watches themselves, giving them a chance to experience it firsthand.

The students had never encountered this combination of theory and practical learning, and throughout the lesson, they were fully engaged. Their curiosity was piqued, and they eagerly followed along.

“Teacher Su is amazing!”

“If Teacher Su had been teaching us math, physics, and chemistry earlier, would our grades have been so poor?”

In this era, academic qualifications were closely tied to future jobs and benefits, and even the laziest students wanted to attend a vocational school, not to mention those who were already hardworking and diligent in their studies.

The middle school students quickly warmed up to Su Ye. In their eyes, Teacher Su was knowledgeable, humorous, and approachable. She didn’t carry the typical teacher’s air, and no matter what question they asked, she was able to solve it. A teacher like this was truly a rare treasure.

By the end of the winter break, the students who attended her classes had learned the basic mechanical principles inside watches and had even gained initial experience fixing simple faults. Yang Xue, in particular, had learned how to adjust the watch hands and replace the movement’s mechanism.

Su Ye had diligently worked through the entire winter break without pay, and now it was time to assess the results of her hard work.

After school, she encouraged Yang Xue and a few of the quicker students to take on some watch repair work for their neighbors.

Yang Xue stuck out her tongue and nervously said, “What if we break it? I can’t afford to pay for someone else’s watch if we mess it up.”

Su Ye patted her on the shoulder, speaking calmly, “Don’t worry. You’ve got to try boldly. If you break it, bring it to me, and I’ll fix it for you. I’ll cover for you. What’s there to be afraid of?”

The group of students shook their heads vigorously.

Su Ye knocked on each of their heads, scolding them in a half-amused, half-frustrated tone, “To explore science, you have to be willing to try and not fear failure. There’s no such thing as immediate success. What you get is constant failure, and learning from that failure to extract experience and lessons. If you’re afraid of this little difficulty, how will you ever learn and grow in the future?”

As soon as Su Ye finished speaking, everyone was stunned. They lowered their heads in deep thought, their inner struggles visible.

Her words had raised the conversation to a scientific level, and it stirred their hearts, making them feel fired up inside. When they looked up again, their eyes were filled with eager anticipation.

“Teacher is right!”

“My thinking was too backward. Teacher’s thinking is so advanced.”

Su Ye didn’t expect that the casual words she had spoken would have such a heartwarming effect. She patted the students on their shoulders, thinking she might have to act a bit more pompous in the future.

The short winter break passed in the blink of an eye.

When school resumed, Su Ye officially began teaching.

As soon as she entered the office, a group of students blocked her, asking questions. On her desk were piles of sweet potatoes, millet buns, and peanuts. Su Ye was momentarily confused when she saw them.

At this time, when the harvest was sparse, food was really precious. A single millet bun could save someone’s life.

Although teachers received a monthly food subsidy of 30 jin (about 15 kg), they couldn’t help but feel envious of the students giving Su Ye food. This was especially true for Fang Zhou and Liu Qiu, who joined the school at the same time as Su Ye.

They were baffled and had no idea what had happened during the winter break.

“Teacher Su, what good deeds have you done?” the math teacher asked enviously.

“As teachers, we can’t accept anything from our students, not even a thread or needle…” Liu Qiu said sourly.

Why was it that, although all of them were science teachers, Su Ye, with just a primary school education, was able to earn so much admiration from her students? She had only worked a little harder grading papers and answering students’ questions.

Only Zhou Yi knew what Su Ye had done during the winter break because Su Ye had borrowed the key to the school’s classroom from him. He glanced at the food piled on her desk but remained calm, quietly averting his gaze.

Su Ye hadn’t expected this small amount of food to be a big deal. After finding out the students’ intentions, she returned all the food to them. Her generous gesture silenced the teachers’ envious and resentful gazes.

However, a moment of face-slapping was soon to come.

The school’s accounting team finished tallying the accounts and issued the teachers’ salaries. The teachers’ wages were based on their qualifications: Zhou Yi, with a university degree, received 40 yuan, while those with vocational college diplomas received 35 yuan. Fang Zhou and Liu Qiu, being new, received 32 yuan as internship wages, while Su Ye only received 20 yuan.

Liu Qiu said, “The treatment at No. 1 Middle School is really good, even the intern teachers get 32 yuan in their first month. Over at No. 5 Middle School, they only pay 28 yuan!”

She knew Su Ye had only received 20 yuan, which instantly made her feel better about her own situation.

Su Ye didn’t care much about the amount of her salary until she heard Liu Qiu’s words. Was it possible that Liu Qiu made 12 yuan more than her? Over the course of a year, that was nearly the equivalent of losing out on a watch.

Su Ye had worked tirelessly over the winter break, grading papers and giving extra lessons whenever she had time. She had been as tired as a dog every day, yet in the end, she was paid less than someone with a diploma.

The teacher responsible for the school’s logistics, Teacher He, was the one handing out the salaries. After finishing the distribution, he looked at Su Ye with a smile.

“Little Su, your salary was paid according to the standard, but the vice principal mentioned your education level in today’s meeting. Your qualifications are still a bit too glaring. Fortunately, our school has a high school program. Have you considered upgrading your qualifications?”

“We think it would be too much of a delay for you to finish your middle school qualifications. You could join Zhou Yi’s senior class. When you have time, you can attend his lessons. Once you pass the term exams, we’ll issue your diploma.”

Su Ye fell silent after hearing this. Was she supposed to go teach a group of half-grown high school students? Was she supposed to throw all her pride out the window?

Not to mention that she had already studied the high school curriculum once and mastered it well, Su Ye was a middle school teacher. How could she go to class with a group of half-grown kids without becoming the laughingstock of the entire school?

“Little Su, are you going?” Teacher He asked. He also guessed that Su Ye, being concerned about her pride, probably wouldn’t agree to attend the class.

But if Su Ye didn’t attend the lessons or take the exams, the school wouldn’t dare issue her a diploma.

What was pride, anyway? Su Ye thought for a moment, then decisively tossed it aside. She quickly nodded. “Yes! Of course, I’m going!”

Her voice was crisp and determined, eagerly saying, “Thank you for the opportunity! Which class does Teacher Zhou Yi teach? Please show me the schedule.”

Zhou Yi handed Su Ye the class schedule for the senior class, and Su Ye seriously pasted it onto her desk.

He Meimei, also a teacher in the high school department, was different from Su Ye in that she had a university degree. When she heard that Su Ye was being transferred to a senior class, she was genuinely happy for her.

After school, He Meimei pulled Su Ye’s hand and patted her chest, promising, “Su Ye, if there’s anything you don’t understand, I can give you extra lessons privately. I’ll make sure you get your high school diploma!”

She hadn’t seen the exam papers Su Ye submitted when she was hired, so she didn’t know that Su Ye had passed with full marks. In He Meimei’s eyes, high school knowledge was quite difficult, and getting a diploma wasn’t easy.

Su Ye was touched by her offer and nodded seriously. “Thank you in advance!”