Chapter 10: “The Little Rabbit Becomes a Tigress”

Happy days always pass too quickly.

Jiang Wanwan’s life of lounging at home with no school or work, and regular deliveries of snacks from Shen Tingjun, was short-lived. It was time to report to her new school.

The machinery factory’s elementary school was right next to the residential area, separated only by a sports field. It took Jiang Wanwan about ten minutes to walk there from her front door. That was the main route; if she took the shortcut through the back alleys, it would be even faster. But after getting cornered by Shen Tingjun the last time, Jiang Wanwan was too paranoid to try it again. She would rather walk a few extra minutes than face him in an alley again.

When she got to the school gates, Jiang Wanwan stopped. Where do I go to check in? she wondered.

In her past life, she had transmigrated right after taking her college entrance exams. She had no work experience and only knew about jobs from the internet and TV shows. Even though school was a familiar environment, all she knew were the student council and academic affairs office. As for the original owner, she knew the school well, since she had graduated from there, but her memory was completely blank on where a new teacher would report to. The school didn’t even have a security guard at the gate since it was so close to the residential area, so she couldn’t ask anyone.

Following the original owner’s memories, Jiang Wanwan wandered into the school until she found herself at the principal’s office.

The original owner had graduated at the peak of the political movement. Over the years, many of her teachers had been sent away, transferred, or had passed away from illnesses, so the only person she recognized was the old principal. The principal, named Cen, was a very kind old woman and a veteran of the war. After her husband and son died in battle, she started teaching at the school and had been there for over twenty years.

Principal Cen had taught the original owner Chinese. She seemed to realize the original owner’s introverted nature came from a lack of confidence, so she was always praising her and listening patiently to her problems. No matter what mistakes she made, Principal Cen would guide her gently. She even went to the Xu family’s home multiple times to talk to Jiang Lan about her attitude toward her daughter.

Though this didn’t dramatically change the original owner’s life, it made her feel grateful and reliant on Principal Cen. So Jiang Wanwan went straight to her.

Her dependence on the principal led her to Principal Cen’s office. It turned out the original owner’s memories weren’t distorted; Principal Cen was indeed a kind and friendly old lady. As soon as she saw Jiang Wanwan, she smiled and took her hand, launching into a long conversation.

However, she was a bit of a chatterbox. She talked about the past, asked about the present, and pondered the future. It took a great effort for Jiang Wanwan to finally interject and state her purpose. She just wanted to know where to complete her employment paperwork.

The kind old lady immediately put her work aside, personally leading Jiang Wanwan through the process. Once the paperwork was done and her file was submitted, she walked her to the office where she would be teaching.

The machinery factory’s elementary school wasn’t big. In addition to the children of the factory workers, it also took in children from nearby neighborhoods. There were five grades and a total of seventeen classes. There were only two teacher’s offices, but since there weren’t many teachers, the offices weren’t too crowded. Because there were so few teachers, each one had a heavy workload; some had to teach two different grades at once. Jiang Wanwan was assigned to teach math for four classes in the second grade, which was a light load in comparison, probably because she was so young.

Her math classes for the morning were already finished, so Jiang Wanwan, with nothing to do, found a rag and started wiping her desk. She scrubbed the desk until the dark film was gone and the original wood grain was visible. Finally, it was time to leave.

Jiang Wanwan grabbed her bag and ran out of the building. Since transmigrating, she had never felt such an urgent desire to get home. She couldn’t believe that she had only been at work for a few hours and already wanted to quit. She felt like she was starting to understand the online sentiment of workers who “just started work and were already looking forward to retirement.”

Lost in thought, she walked out of the school gate and saw Shen Tingjun leaning against a wall. Today, he was wearing a white shirt tucked into a pair of black trousers, and his crew cut made him look tall, straight, and particularly dashing. But just as she was getting lost in his good looks and thinking, “Maybe marrying him wouldn’t be so bad,” Shen Tingjun would do something that immediately made her disgusted.

Like now.

“You smoke?”

“What’s wrong with that? Name a man who doesn’t smoke.”

“What’s wrong with that? Name a man who doesn’t smoke,” Shen Tingjun said, extinguishing the half-smoked cigarette.

“Smoking turns your teeth yellow, makes your lungs black, and leaves you smelling like an ashtray! Most importantly, I can’t stand the smell. It makes me cough!” Jiang Wanwan said, pinching her nose as if she wanted to be three feet away from him.

“All right, all right, then I won’t smoke anymore. It’s not like I’m addicted anyway. Now come on, get on. I’m taking you out for dinner.” He said, pushing a bicycle toward her. He pointed at the logo on the bike. “See? I told you I have a ‘Phoenix.’ Next time I’ll ride my ‘Forever’ and take you for a spin.”

Although Jiang Wanwan knew a bicycle was a luxury in this era, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at his cocky attitude. She swung her leg over the back seat and sat down. Shen Tingjun looked back at her and seemed annoyed.

“You’re supposed to sit sideways, you know.”

Jiang Wanwan looked at him, confused. “Why sit sideways? I’m not even wearing a skirt today.”

“It looks better that way! As I ride you through the streets, you can put your arm around my waist and sit sideways. How stylish and romantic is that?”

“Are you crazy? Men and women can’t even walk side-by-side on the street without getting questioned by the people with red armbands! You want me to put my arms around you and show off to everyone?”Jiang Wanwan’s eyes widened in disbelief. She thought he, a local, was even more ridiculous than she was, a time traveler.

But Shen Tingjun didn’t think his idea was out of line at all. “I know the Revolutionary Committee guys! They always smile and say hello to me. There’s no way they’d question us!”

Jiang Wanwan just gave him another eye-roll. “Are we going or not? If we don’t go now, I’m going home.”She started to get off the bike.

Seeing her about to leave, Shen Tingjun quickly started pedaling. “Fine, fine. You really don’t get romance at all. You’re completely dense.” But he kept muttering under his breath as he rode.

Annoyed, Jiang Wanwan pinched his waist, which finally made him stop talking.

He was quiet on the outside, but his mind was busy.

No wonder the book said a girl turns from a precious pearl to a fish eye after she gets married. Little Jiang has only been dating me for a little while, and she’s already gone from being a scared rabbit to a tigress who pinches me. What a terrifying transformation.