Chapter 76.1

Teacher Mo’s real name is Mo Xianglian. She has only been staying at the military base for about two years. Her son was always taken care of by her mother-in-law in the countryside before. She works in the factory and sometimes only visits her son once a month.

After Mo Xianglian left the office, she cried for a while near the flower bed. The more she thought about it, the more heartbroken she became. She had put so much effort into raising her son, so why is he being disobedient?

She wiped her tears and called her son out of the classroom.

Zhou Dawei looked at her as if he were looking at an enemy.

Mo Xianglian’s heart grew colder as she looked at her son’s expression: “What do you want to do to start studying seriously? Do you know how much you have embarrassed me? Out of all forty students, Teacher Su’s child got a perfect score, and you only scored fifty-two, third from the bottom in the whole class. You’ve made me lose face!”

Zhou Dawei kept his head down, kicking small stones on the ground and ignoring his mother.

Mo Xianglian nudged his shoulder. “I’m talking to you!”

The six-year-old child was caught off guard and was pushed to the ground by his mother. Zhou Dawei sat there, looking up at her coldly. “If I had a mother like Teacher Su, I would surely score 100 points too!” Zhou Dawei casually grabbed a handful of sand and threw it at his mother. “If you think I’m embarrassing, then send me back to my grandma. I don’t want you; I want my grandma!”

As the bell for the end of morning reading rang, Zhou Dawei finished his outburst and ran back into the classroom.

Mo Xianglian covered her face and slumped to the edge of the flower bed in despair. She, his biological mother, was even more of a failure compared to Su Xiaoxiao, a stepmother.

Su Xiaoxiao happened to pass by, holding exam papers and unintentionally overheard their conversation, but she didn’t intend to interfere.

It’s difficult for a just magistrate to judge family matters. Nowadays, no family has it easy. As a teacher, one can lead students to the door of knowledge, but it’s up to the individual to cultivate themselves. If a student is unwilling to learn, no matter how hard a teacher tries to teach, it may be in vain.

Xiao Doubao still carried his little stool outside to wait for his mom. Today, as soon as the bell rang for the first time, his mom arrived. Xiao Doubao was so happy that he didn’t even need the stool anymore. He rushed over and hugged his mom’s leg.

Su Xiaoxiao had test papers in her hands and couldn’t easily carry Xiao Doubao. She gently patted his head. “Go play with your brothers; Mom needs to hand out the test paper.”

Xiao Doubao stood on tiptoes to look at the test paper in his mother’s hand and said, “Mommy, Doubao’s test papers~”

Su Xiaoxiao: “Xiao Doubao’s ‘exam paper’ is the small blackboard. Mommy was very generous and gave it a perfect score, one hundred points.”

Xiao Doubao’s eyes narrowed as he smiled. He nodded his head and said: “‘Youtiao and eggs~”

He was indeed a clever child. Su Xiaoxiao confirmed, “Yes, it’s a score equivalent to one ‘youtiao’ (fried dough stick) and two ‘eggs’.”

Xiao Doubao tilted his little head and asked, “Dodo (eldest brother)?”

Su Xiaoxiao: “Your brothers are also excellent. They also scored a score equivalent to one ‘youtiao’ and two ‘eggs’.”

Xiao Doubao then walked back to find his brothers with satisfaction.

During the break, Su Xiaoxiao planned to distribute the test papers. Seeing Su Xiaoxiao arrive early, Fantuan and Zhuzi stopped playing and came over to help their mom distribute the papers.

Everyone usually plays with Fantuan and Zhuzi, and if they stopped playing, it was not fun anymore. Those who didn’t need to use the restroom obediently sat in their seats, waiting for the test papers.

Xiao Houzi was very envious when he saw Fantuan and Zhuzi’s perfect score, saying, “Boss, how are you and Zhuzi so smart? I didn’t score a perfect hundred.”

Upon hearing this, Su Xiaoxiao smiled and said, “Xiao Houzi is also good. You scored 95 points on the exam. You only missed one question. If you memorize the ancient poems a bit better next time, you can get a perfect score.”

Feeling confident that he could achieve a perfect score like Zhuzi next time, Xiao Houzi held his head high and said, “Yes, yes, I will definitely memorize better next time!”

When the students got their test papers, some were happy and others were worried. When Su Xiaoxiao handed over Zhou Dawei’s test paper, she asked him, “Does Dawei feel that the teacher is not teaching well?”

Zhou Dawei was taken aback by Su Xiaoxiao’s gentle voice and shook his head. “No, the teacher’s teaching is very good.”

Su Xiaoxiao sighed as she sat down. “Teacher saw that the clever Dawei was unwilling to answer the test paper and thought you had any dissatisfaction with Teacher Su. Look at this question and this one; the teacher knows you can do them. During class, the teacher even praised your sentence construction, right?”

Zhou Dawei lowered his head in shame and said, “Teacher, I’m sorry. It’s not because you taught poorly; it’s just that I don’t want to learn.”

He wanted to go home, back to the place where his grandparents lived.

Su Xiaoxiao patted his head and said, “Zhou Dawei, you don’t have to say sorry to me. We don’t study for anyone; we study for ourselves. You will understand this when you grow up. You’ll realize that because you studied hard when you were young, you can achieve many things you want. On the other hand, if you don’t study well, you won’t be able to do anything, and you’ll only let yourself down.”

Zhou Dawei thought carefully and asked. “Teacher, can I also be with my grandparents?”

Su Xiaoxiao nodded: “Of course, you can treat your studies as a task. If you complete it well, you can talk to your parents about going home during the winter or summer vacations as a reward. And as you grow older and learn more, you can always buy a train ticket to visit them. But if you don’t study well, you might not even be able to read the words on the ticket, not knowing where to get off, or how much money the ticket seller should give you. Wouldn’t that be troublesome?”

Zhou Dawei: “But I want to go back now. I don’t want to stay here.”

Su Xiaoxiao: “Teacher also misses her father and mother very much, but for now, I can only stay here. Being apart is a temporary situation, and we must focus on what’s in front of us. Eventually, we’ll have the chance to be together.”

Zhou Dawei looked at Su Xiaoxiao with wide eyes and asked, “You don’t want to stay here either, teacher?”

Su Xiaoxiao replied. “When you grow up a bit older, you will learn the phrase ‘go with the flow, which means that no matter the circumstances, we should adapt to the environment and do our best. You see, such a long concept can be summed up in just one word. This is the charm of mastering the Chinese language.”

The class bell rang, and the conversation between Zhou Dawei and Su Xiaoxiao came to an end. Su Xiaoxiao didn’t say anything more. He was a smart child, even if he couldn’t understand it in one conversation, he will be able to understand with time.

Zhou Dawei thought that Teacher Su would definitely criticize students who failed the exam after class, but she didn’t.

Teacher Su explained that it was just an assessment to gauge how much the students had grasped from her recent teachings. Those who did not do well on the test should not be discouraged. It might be because she spoke too fast and everyone couldn’t keep up with the progress. She said she will speak more slowly and explain the lesson twice or more in the future so they can understand. For those who still didn’t understand, they could approach the teacher or ask their classmates who did understand, so everyone could catch up together.

Every sentence from Su Xiaoxiao made Zhou Dawei feel ashamed. Several times, he wanted to stand up and apologize, but he didn’t have the courage.

In the next few days, he listened very attentively and took his homework very seriously when he returned home.

Though Mo Xianglian didn’t know why her son suddenly had a change of heart, she was pleased to see him taking his studies seriously. Although he still didn’t talk much to her, his attitude had clearly softened.

Even when she returned to her office, she became more tolerant.

Everyone tacitly avoided bringing up the incident from before. Mo Xianglian faintly felt that her son’s transformation might be related to Su Xiaoxiao, but she didn’t ask.

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