Chapter 44 

Liar. Su Xiaoxiao must be lying! How can a high school graduate waste her life being a stepmother? Isn’t being a teacher in the city much better? Isn’t marrying a young, educated youth, with no ex-wife and children much better? 

And how difficult is it to join the propaganda team? How can they possibly accept her?

“Director Liu, don’t believe her. She must be a liar, and what do you mean by misleading the children? No one has said anything bad about my teachings for so many years, it’s you who taught the children badly….”

“Teacher Cheng, are you deaf at such a young age? Or did you forget to bring your brain when you went out today? Am I a liar? Can’t the school look at my profile and see whether what I said is true or not? You are not misleading the student? Oh, were you not aware? Oh, right. If you were aware, you wouldn’t have raised your son this way. 

How about this? Let’s do a set of high school test questions to find out. Sorry, I forgot that Teacher Cheng only obtained a Junior High School degree, so you won’t understand High School textbooks. Why don’t I lower it down to the Junior High School set? If I have more wrong answers than you, I’ll apologize to you right away, and I’ll even announce it to the public. What do you think? Oh, and if you lose, you must retire, go back to your house, and you will no longer be enjoying the flowers of our motherland.”

Su Xiaoxiao herself is not a person with sharp edges, let alone an aggressive person who is unreasonable and unforgiving, but this Cheng Lifang has really challenged her three views and her bottom-line time and time again. How can she not be mad?

Director Liu feels like he’s having a headache and is in deep water and scorching fire. Many intellectuals would rather go to the countryside to avoid the limelight. More junior and senior high school students who can survive in the military region prefer to join the army. The quality of teachers is naturally somewhat uneven. A few high school graduates went to teach junior and senior high school, and those who graduated from junior high school went to teach junior or primary school. Having Education as a job is considered good and face-saving.

Director Liu is not unaware of Cheng Lifang’s personality, but now everyone is at risk. Everyone is trying their best to behave well and not make any major mistakes. Cheng Lifang has indeed made no major mistakes in recent years, and it’s enough for Director Liu for Cheng Lifang to be able to teach children to read and write. She has not had such a big impact on herself, however, he thought they still have other teachers in moral education who can set an example, so he’s been having the attitude of turning a blind eye to the situation.

But now, with Su Xiaoxiao’s reminder, this personality is indeed a major issue. It is useless to be a teacher if you can’t lead by example. It’s just that if you punish a teacher suddenly, he still can’t be the master.

Cheng Lifang is not stupid. Her academic performance was not very good. Most of the reason why she was able to become a primary school teacher was that she happened to catch up with the fierce movement at that time, and many intellectuals went to the countryside. Her parents were ordinary workers, and the composition of the family was good without any involvement. In addition, her husband was a battalion commander, which gave her a lot of extra points. After the resumption of classes, the school lacked teachers, so she naturally taught, based on her urban household registration composition, she is good, and that her husband is still a battalion commander. Of course, she cannot compare with senior intellectuals such as Jiang Xue and Yang Mei. However, compared to most women who come from rural areas to join the army, she always thinks she is superior to them. Isn’t she doing well these years?

Children in the military region may not be able to attend junior high or high school, but primary school is basically compulsory for everyone. Whoever sees her, who wouldn’t call her Teacher Cheng?

But this Su Xiaoxiao didn’t buy into her, and went against her everywhere, but she didn’t dare to bet. Su Xiaoxiao’s dress is not very good, but her behavior and communication skills don’t look like she came from the countryside. Graduating from high school in the city made sense. She called Su Xiaoxiao a liar, but in her heart, she also believed that Su Xiaoxiao might be telling the truth.

Director Liu helped Cheng Lifang out and said, “Well, Zhang Zhu’s parents…

Director Liu doesn’t seem to know her name yet.

“I am sorry for the late introduction. My name is Su Xiaoxiao, and I am Han Cheng’s wife.” Su Xiaoxiao added understandingly, even the most basic personal information was ignored in a moment of urgency just now.

Director Liu nodded and said, “Comrade Su, after all, this is not a trivial matter. Talents like you, are definitely welcome, but I can’t decide by myself. I have to consult with the leadership team. Also, if you say that you want to work on the propaganda team after the New Year but won’t receive the salary from the school, the propaganda team may not agree with you, right?”

Su Xiaoxiao thought for a moment and said, ” My initial idea is to teach the Chinese class on her behalf, shorten some class hours without reducing the learning content of the children, and try to take five to eight classes a week. When I go back, I will study Xiaozhu’s textbook, and I will come up with a reasonable lesson plan for the school.”

Cheng Lifang sneered, “Are you kidding me? Director Liu, don’t listen to her nonsense. I taught my student well, and she wants to compress my three or four classes into one class every day. Su Xiaoxiao, I didn’t expect you to be so crazy in order to drive me away. Even if you have a high school degree, it doesn’t mean you can teach. Between us, who is misleading the student?”

Su Xiaoxiao lightly retorted, “Didn’t I mention taking an open class? We will have a class, and we will let the children, parents, and teachers vote together. You don’t know whether I know how to teach or not, so, how can you say I am crazy? To be honest, I do have other reasons; sorry, but I don’t want my children to attend your class. 

Director Liu, let me get to the bottom of it. After the new year, I only have enough time to teach my son’s class. If she still has other classes assigned to her and the school doesn’t handle this matter properly, I will directly report the situation to the superior department and ask Han Cheng to report it to the organization. In short, we can’t delay the children.

There are still two children waiting for me to go back, so I won’t say much today. Before this matter is decided, my family, Zhuzi, won’t come to class for the time being. Don’t worry, I won’t let the children fall behind in their learning progress. If you’re worried, our family, Fantuan, is also preparing to come to the first grade, so we can have him take exams with the first-grade children at that time. Anyway, you will  find out soon, so we’ll leave first.”

Su Xiaoxiao said everything she had to say. She patted Zhuzi’s head, took his hand, and said, “Zhuzi, say goodbye to the teachers. Let’s go back to the classroom and take your backpack home.”

Zhuzi smiled and nodded, politely said goodbye, looked admiringly at Su Xiaoxiao, and walked out holding his Aunt Su’s hand tightly.

Cheng Lifang was about to burst into tears and say, “Director Liu, are you letting her do whatever she wants? Does she own this school? This woman has a corrupt lifestyle, and now she is completely lawless!”

Director Liu thought about Su Xiaoxiao’s simple and down-to-earth appearance and then looked at Cheng Lifang, who was dressed brilliantly. If Su Xiaoxiao’s style was considered corrupt, there would be no one here who was not corrupt.

“Alright, you go back first. I will discuss this matter with the leaders before making a decision. Su Xiaoxiao is not the only one who came to the school to report you, and we have talked to you more than once, but you …” Director Liu sighed.

Director Liu wanted to talk with Cheng Lifang, however, despite repeated education, she refused to listen. Anyway, she was the one who persistently refused to change her attitude. In the past, the parents who made a complaint against Teacher Cheng were not very tough, so they could still turn a blind eye to her. But this time, she really kicked the iron plate.

Su Xiaoxiao took the child home to teach herself and even went to file a petition. In fact, there was no need to have a petition. If they didn’t deal with it, and if Head Han Cheng reported the situation to the organization, it was impossible for Cheng Lifang to stay in the school.

Cheng Lifang was startled and said, “What do you mean by that, Director Liu? Does the school really intend to dismiss me?”

To be honest, before that, Cheng Lifang was not very worried and thought that the school would always protect her. But now, what went wrong?

In the end, Director Liu still showed her a clear path based on her years of affection: “Su Xiaoxiao is a high school graduate, and you beat her in the exam. If you want students and parents to recognize you in public classes, then be more modest and have a sincere attitude. Perhaps there is still a chance. After all, Su Xiaoxiao has no experience, and you have several years of teaching experience.”

Cheng Lifang’s heart went cold. After all, there is still a probability of letting Su Xiaoxiao replace her.

“Mom, are you finished? I’m hungry, and I’m going home to eat!” Dashu was already impatient and became even more unable to sit still when Zhuzi left.

Cheng Lifang looked at her displeased son and thought about Zhuzi, feeling even more choked.

---

On the way, Xiao Zhuzi was unusually silent. When they were almost at Aunt Zhang’s house, Xiao Zhuzi raised his head and said to Su Xiaoxiao: “Aunt Su, I’m sorry, I’ve caused you trouble.”

What a sensible child.

Su Xiaoxiao reached out and rubbed his head: “In our family, we don’t need to be so polite. We must help each other. Aunt Su thought that Xiao Zhuzi was particularly brave and awesome today. In the future, when encountering such an unfair matter, you should do it this way and let the teacher or parents solve it. So, you did the right thing.”

Xiao Zhuzi still wanted to say thank you, but before it could come out of his mouth, he took it back. As a member of the family, he is always welcome…. So he has a family.

Xiao Fantuan and Xiao Doubao were waiting at the door early and saw them approaching, Xiao Fantuan couldn’t hold Xiao Doubao: “Xiao Doubao, slow down, don’t fall! Mom, what took you so long? If you don’t pick us up, Xiao Doubao will be crying!'”

Su Xiaoxiao squatted on the ground with bent eyes and opened her hands to greet her little angel. Xiao Doubao ran over with a “thump” and her big black and white eyes bent into small crescents. Opened two small hands and rushed towards her: “Ma Ma, miss~~~”

Su Xiaoxiao held the little guy in her arms and kissed him on the face. “Xiao Doubao missed his mother, didn’t he?”

Xiao Doubao hugged Su Xiaoxiao’s neck and kissed her back, “I miss~”

Xiao Fantuan couldn’t believe that he couldn’t run past Xiao Doubao, Xiao Doubao hugged Su Xiaoxiao, and he hugged Xiao Zhuzi: “Xiao Zhuzi, are you okay? I was worried to death!”

Xiao Zhuzi smiled, shook his head, and said, “I’m fine.”

Su Xiaoxiao asked Fantuan if she had thanked Grandma Zhang, and Fantuan said he had.

Su Xiaoxiao stood up with the baby in her arms and reached out to touch the heads of her two cubs. “Boys, let’s go home, let’s have salt-baked chicken tonight.”

“Whoa…” Little Fantuan bounced around while shouting: “There’s chicken leg to eat again!”

The three little angels, together with one big angel, faced the setting sun and embarked on the road home.

……

T/N: Sorry for the late update!