Chapter 34

Seeing her stubborn look, Lu Weiguo didn’t expose her and his joy didn’t diminish in the slightest.

“You drew it really well.”

Shi Tingyu had calmed down and said, “Are you complimenting me or yourself? I was drawing you, after all.”

Lu Weiguo smiled and picked a piece of food with his chopsticks for her.

Shi Tingyu ate it without hesitation.

Lu Weiguo’s gaze lingered on his chopsticks for a moment.

His heart felt like it was bubbling with joy—he used his chopsticks to pick the food, and she didn’t refuse.

This was a significant progress.

In high spirits, Lu Weiguo even enthusiastically washed the dishes after dinner.

Shi Tingyu watched his elated demeanor from the living room, her gaze softening for a moment.

The next morning, when Lu Weiguo woke up, Shi Tingyu got up as well.

She couldn’t be late on her first day of work.

The school was on the west side of the family quarters, near the barracks.

After breakfast, Shi Tingyu left for school, timing her departure just right.

She wore a blue dress today and had her hair neatly tied, yet she still shone, attracting many gazes along the way.

Upon arriving at the school, Shi Tingyu first went to the principal’s office.

Principal Ren, a kind man in his fifties with glasses, greeted her with a smile, “You must be Captain Lu’s wife, right? Please, have a seat.”

Shi Tingyu wasn’t surprised he recognized her. She was quite well-known in the family quarters now, and she hadn’t heard of any other teachers coming to report today.

“Hello, Principal Ren. I’m Shi Tingyu.”

Principal Ren nodded, looking quite satisfied.

Since Director Wu from the Organization Department mentioned Shi Tingyu, Principal Ren had done some research.

Coincidentally, he found an old copy of the People’s Daily.

A few years ago, news about Shi Tingyu’s exhibition abroad had reached China.

In such a context, having a young Chinese artist hold an exhibition in United States and appear in United States newspapers was quite sensational.

So, the People’s Daily had a feature on Shi Tingyu.

Although the article wasn’t very long, it was indeed quite inspiring.

“Ms. Shi, I have great confidence in your abilities. From now on, the art classes for these children will be in your hands.”

Shi Tingyu responded, “Don’t worry, I will do my best to fulfill my responsibilities.”

Principal Ren nodded and personally took her on a tour of the school, showing her each class.

It was only then that Shi Tingyu realized she would be handling art classes for grades one through five.

There was another art teacher at the school, but he wasn’t a professional and was temporarily covering art classes.

When they were initially looking for someone, he was chosen as the best among the available math and language teachers.

Now that Shi Tingyu had arrived, the substitute teacher could return to his original position.

After the tour, Principal Ren took Shi Tingyu to the teachers’ office and pointed to a desk near the door, “Ms. Shi, you will be using this desk.”

The office had six desks in total, arranged in two rows of three.

Next to Shi Tingyu’s desk was Jiang Yu, the previous art substitute teacher.

Jiang Yu was twenty-four this year, a former educated youth who had managed to return to the city last year through connections.

Since it wasn’t class time yet, the office was empty except for Jiang Yu.

When he saw Shi Tingyu, he was visibly surprised by how beautiful the new teacher was.

Principal Ren introduced them and said to Jiang Yu, “Teacher Jiang, please help Ms. Shi get acquainted with the art class matters.”

Jiang Yu agreed and extended his hand to Shi Tingyu with a smile, “Hello, Ms. Shi. I’m Jiang Yu. If you have any questions about the art classes, feel free to ask me.”

Shi Tingyu shook his hand briefly, “Hello, I’m Shi Tingyu. I’ll be relying on you from now on, Teacher Jiang.”

Principal Ren was relieved to see that the two of them were getting along well.

“Xiao Jiang, when the other teachers arrive, please introduce Teacher Shi. I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll be heading back now.”

Jiang Yu readily agreed.

After Principal Ren left, Jiang Yu visibly relaxed. Having a leader nearby always made him feel tense.

He took out the textbook for the previous art class from the table and handed it to Shi Tingyu.

“Teacher Shi, this is the textbook. You’ll be using it from now on. The reverse side of the cover is the schedule. Take a look.”

Shi Tingyu opened it and found that she had quite a few classes scheduled.

Noticing Shi Tingyu’s surprise, Jiang Yu said, “The classes may seem numerous, but there’s nothing we can do. Our school has too few art teachers.”

Shi Tingyu understood.

Although the schedule felt a bit packed, art classes were not like core subjects such as Chinese and math, so each class didn’t have too many sessions per week.

As Shi Tingyu was reviewing the textbook, teachers gradually began arriving for work.

Once the office was full, Shi Tingyu felt like her face was about to freeze from smiling.

It was also at this time that Shi Tingyu learned that Liu Xiaohong, who taught fifth grade Chinese in their office, was a substitute, covering for Aunt Lu’s daughter-in-law.

Lu’s daughter-in-law was still in confinement after giving birth.

Shi Tingyu hadn’t expected to have such a connection with the Lu family and hoped that this daughter-in-law wouldn’t be as difficult to get along with as Aunt Lu.

Otherwise, dealing with such a person would be exhausting.

Overall, the teachers in the office seemed easy to get along with.

After all, as an art teacher, she had no conflicts of interest with them.

Today, Shi Tingyu’s first art class was with the second grade.

The children were unaware that they would have a new teacher today.

When Shi Tingyu entered the classroom, the students were stunned.

One brave student asked, “Sister, did you come to the wrong class? This is Teacher Jiang’s class!”

They were afraid that their art class would be replaced by another subject, even though they didn’t recognize this new teacher.

Shi Tingyu glanced at him and introduced herself.

“Hello, students. I am your new art teacher. My surname is Shi, as in ‘time’. You can call me Teacher Shi. I will be teaching your art classes from now on.”

The students whispered among themselves for a while, but soon their faces broke into smiles.

As long as it was still an art class, they were happy.

Given the times, Shi Tingyu decided to teach them how to draw the national flag today.

She demonstrated various forms of the national flag.

The students watched as she deftly sketched the flag’s outline with chalk, her movements smooth and precise.

They couldn’t quite describe the feeling, but it seemed like the chalk obeyed her commands, with each stroke landing perfectly, unlike Teacher Jiang’s classes, where he had to revise his drawings multiple times and still couldn’t match Teacher Shi’s skill.

This made it clear that the new teacher, Shi Tingyu, was very talented.

Once their curiosity waned, the students began to focus seriously.

As Shi Tingyu walked around the classroom, she observed their drawings.

She praised the students who drew well and offered guidance to those who struggled.

The children who were praised blushed with excitement.

Those who received advice earnestly made corrections.

As the class was about to end, Shi Tingyu selected a few students with good drawings to help with the class bulletin board.

In the lower grades, the bulletin boards were usually completed with the help of the art teacher, while the fifth graders did theirs independently.

She asked the selected students to add the national flag drawings they had just learned.

The chosen students were thrilled.

Seeing the disappointed faces of those not chosen, Shi Tingyu said, “Don’t be discouraged if you weren’t chosen this time. Next time we draw something else, and if you do well, you can help with the bulletin board too.”

When the bell rang, Shi Tingyu felt relieved, having successfully completed her teaching task.