Chapter 40

Su Ye came to inspect the third-year class 2, and the students in class 2 had been eagerly waiting for her arrival for quite a while. When they saw her, each one of them rushed over.

“Teacher Su, the math mnemonic you made is really useful! What was it again… odd changes, even stays the same, the signs depend on the quadrant 1, it’s so clever!”

“And there’s also the one with the Gaussian method of taking the long and short, and the formula for splitting terms and summing them. How did you come up with this, Teacher Su?”

The students in their third year, each holding their review materials, chanted them like they had found treasure.

The mnemonic was indeed brilliant, but there were still some complicated ones that were hard to digest for now. So, this group of students strongly urged, “Teacher Su, if you have time, please give us a math lesson!”

Who cares about qualifications? That doesn’t matter at all!

Math is also a major challenge for the college entrance exam, and many students in the class, who had already given up on math, found themselves interested again after reading this handout. They realized how easy it was to apply the formulas and couldn’t wait to run to Su Ye’s office every day.

Teacher Su is so smart, no wonder so many students like her!

However, she was a teacher in the middle school department, and her students weren’t pushovers. They crowded around her every day, and these older students felt embarrassed to compete with the younger ones for her attention.

Su Ye ended up “taking over” a self-study period and went through the key points of math revision.

After a day’s classes, Su Ye noticed a few empty seats in the classroom.

Yang Chenxing had skipped class for the entire day. Su Ye walked over to his desk and looked at the thin layer of dust that had settled on it, shaking her head involuntarily.

However, when she checked her account in the background, her eyebrows lifted with joy.

She had gained five jin (about 2.5 kg) of pork belly, and there was eight jin (about 4 kg) more rice. In total, she had accumulated twenty jin of pork belly and thirty jin of rice. Although these trips to the high school department were tiring, they had definitely been worth it!

—

Weekend.

Su Ye took a meat coupon to the cafeteria and exchanged it for a pound of pork. When Niu Cuihua saw Su Ye, she enviously said, “I always see Teacher Su coming to the cafeteria to get pork to eat.”

Su Ye smiled and didn’t respond. After two months of being frugal, even with careful spending, the forty pounds of pork she had stored in the cafeteria was almost gone. And that was the amount for two people, after all.

Su Ye began to think about catching another pig, but with only twenty pounds of pork left in her possession, she realized she needed to save up more before she could catch one.

In the afternoon, He Meimei received news from Lu Siyuan and excitedly came to find Su Ye.

“Su Ye, some of the students in our class saw Lu Siyuan and Yang Chenxing at the city dance hall.”

“What were they doing there?” Su Ye asked.

Although the people were poor materialistically, they were very fond of dancing. In the 50s and 60s, group square dancing was popular, and on holidays, people would organize to dance in the square or perform the traditional folk dance in the countryside. However, earlier in the year, due to economic difficulties, the government issued a ban on all dances. Despite Su Ye’s complaints, she still packed her things and went to the dance hall with He Meimei.

When Su Ye arrived at the dance hall, she saw a group of 16 to 18-year-old kids, holding cigarettes awkwardly, not very skillful at smoking, coughing and tearing up as they puffed out smoke. Other people were dancing, and their moves were decent enough. After one dance ended, the girl watching blushed and looked very pleased.

She quickly scanned the room and found Yang Chenxing. He was drumming for his friends, providing the music.

The boy with the loudest cheers on the dance floor seemed to be the “big brother” everyone talked about. His hair was messy and flowing, his bangs long enough to cover his eyes, revealing a hint of gloom. He was wearing new clothes, looking like someone from a wealthy family.

Su Ye couldn’t help but twitch her lips. This was too… hard to watch.

It seemed that, no matter the era, the culture of decadent, non-mainstream youth was always in fashion. If her own child were to look like this, Su Ye would probably be unable to resist taking off her shoes and slapping him a few times.

He Meimei walked over and started talking earnestly to the “big brother.”

Su Ye went over and extinguished Yang Chenxing’s cigarette, asking flatly, “This is pretty fun, huh?”

The long “ah” at the end of her sentence made Yang Chenxing cough violently, his chubby face turning red from holding it in. “No, Teacher Su, what are you doing here?”

“The smoke is strong here. Let’s step outside to get some fresh air,” Su Ye said. Yang Chenxing eagerly invited her to step outside.

Su Ye said, “What’s going on here? Do you still want to get your diploma?”

Yang Chenxing scratched his head. “I want to, but… if I can’t get it, then forget it. Teacher Su, you should go back early!”

He didn’t really care about the diploma anyway. His family had long arranged for him to work in a factory.

When Yang Chenxing noticed Su Ye hadn’t said anything for a long time, he sighed and resigned himself. “Teacher, you don’t have to worry about this. It’s not what you think. I—”

He Meimei had apparently had an argument with Lu Siyuan. The door slammed open, and she stormed out, her cheeks flushed with anger, her eyes welling up with tears. She rushed out the door, not even sparing Su Ye a glance.

Su Ye withdrew her surprised gaze and turned to look at Lu Siyuan in the dance hall. After He Meimei left, he happily resumed dancing.

He wasn’t interested in studying, liked to fight, had a girlfriend, and was a bit of a bourgeois type. In just a few moments, he had left Su Ye with a poor impression.

She casually asked Yang Chenxing, “Do you all come here to dance every weekend? Do you drum for them?”

Yang Chenxing nodded. “There’s not much else to do these days, so we just dance. How’s it look? Not too bad, right? Does it look stylish?”

Su Ye commented, “So, you all skip classes every day to dance and end up with this level of skill? Watching it, I almost thought you were having a seizure…”

Her comment instantly created a lot of resentment. Yang Chenxing was immediately speechless.

The other young men, who were nearby, surrounded her with unfriendly glares. “What did you say? Dare to say that again?”

They were dancing the most fashionable moves of the time, the music came from underground sources, and there was no other copy in the whole city. They had spent a month perfecting their moves, but to Su Ye, it seemed like they were having seizures? This couldn’t be left unresolved.

“Apologize, or I don’t care what kind of teacher you are, you’re not leaving this door today.”

Su Ye firmly rejected the unreasonable request. “How can you make me say such insincere words?”

Yang Chenxing couldn’t help but tug at Su Ye’s sleeve, trying to stop her from saying more.

Su Ye said, “Still don’t believe me? How about this: If I dance better than you all, will you make him apologize to me for what he said?”

She pointed her thumb at Lu Siyuan, and Yang Chenxing covered his eyes, unable to stop himself from feeling a sense of dread.

Lu Siyuan looked up, snapped his fingers, and said, “Fine, play the music for her.”

Yang Chenxing had never heard of Su Ye being able to dance. In his impression, Teacher Su was always very proper and serious—how could she be someone with such a hobby? He found it hard to look at her.

Su Ye handed the drumsticks to Yang Chenxing and instructed, “Keep a 4/4 rhythm, like ‘hit, hit,’ do you understand this kind of rhythm?”

She tightened her hair, brushed off the nonexistent dust on her clothes, and glided into the center of the dance floor.

Her feet alternated as she slid on the spot. One foot lifted, the toes touching the ground, while the other slid backward, maintaining the upper body still in place in time with the rhythm. The movements were fluid and strongly rhythmic, as if the space itself were moving. If someone from the future had seen it, they’d surely recognize it as Michael Jackson’s iconic moonwalk.

After Su Ye completed a section, the girls couldn’t help but gasp in surprise. The rough-looking guys’ watching gazes slowly started to change.

It wasn’t until Yang Chenxing began playing a rhythmic beat that Su Ye started dancing hip-hop.

Her bones and joints moved like mechanical parts, stretching out inch by inch. Her nimble limbs supported high-difficulty moves, resembling a robot from a movie. The dance had a metallic quality. Then, she took off her hat and started dancing the country swing. Her eyes teased the girls around her, her expression playful, and her movements sharp, clean, and cool.

Although Su Ye’s outfit was plain, her clothes only half new, for that brief moment, her dance seemed to merge seamlessly with the music. Everyone couldn’t help but hold their breath. Her dance felt natural, even more stunning than the one in the movies. In comparison, the boys’ dancing looked clumsy.

Yang Chenxing forgot all about keeping the beat. He clapped his hands, excited, and gave her a thumbs-up.

“Teacher Su is amazing!”

When the music stopped, Su Ye took out a handkerchief to wipe her hands. She walked up to Lu Siyuan and calmly said, “You remember to apologize to Teacher He Meimei on Monday.”

Everyone laughed heartily, patting Lu Siyuan on the back. The others who had been ridiculed looked angry but dared not argue further, merely sulking in silence.

Su Ye looked at the group of young boys and said seriously, “I don’t think dancing is all that interesting. It’s just a small way to lighten your mood. A smart person would never waste all their time on it. The best years should be spent doing the most meaningful things.”

After saying that, Su Ye shook her head and tapped her mouth. “Tch, why am I saying all this to you? Can your little heads even understand and digest it?”

The young boys couldn’t help but clench their fists, their faces turning dark. How could Yang Chenxing’s teacher be so annoying?

Su Ye walked out of the dance hall, and Yang Chenxing followed her like a little tail, constantly asking, “Teacher Su, can you teach me? I’ll make sure to attend class every day.”

Su Ye walked slowly, smiling without speaking. She soon got on a bus. Once on, she looked at her clothes.

Looking cool was great, but it was tough on the clothes. These old cotton-patch clothes couldn’t handle all the jumping and twisting. Su Ye brushed off her clothes, feeling a bit embarrassed by her shabby outfit.