Chapter 12

• The next day, Yang Yu arrived very early at school because the leader of the county committee would be coming here to inspect the school.
• However, the clock had already struck 11 in the morning when the pot-bellied, fat county committee head finally arrived. Yang Yu could not fault him. After all, he had to climb several mountains to get here. Despite that, this fatty of a committee head walked one lap around the school, shaking his head at this and that.
• Finally, he gave an ultimatum to the entire school.
• “If you all are still dead last in the county for this year’s high school entrance exams, hmph, then this school will be dissolved and merged with the one in the next town over.” That committee head wore a pair of thick spectacles. With each sentence, he pushed up his glasses.
• The moment the principal heard this, she nearly burst into tears. “Mr. Zhang, t-t-this isn’t exactly good. The town is so far away, these children will have to climb so many mountains just to get there.”
• “Hmph! Then improve this school’s quality!” That Mr. Zhang left with a wave of his hand, not even bothering to eat lunch. He arrived just like that, and he too left just like that.
• The principal had no choice but to gather everyone in his office.
• “You’ve heard Mr. Zhang’s words earlier.” The principal took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat, as he had been terrified to no end by Mr. Zhang’s words. “Yu, Shui, you two are the ones teaching the year three students. This time, no matter what, they cannot be in the last place anymore. If you two have any requests, please bring them up. I will do anything to see them fulfilled.”
• “At ease, Principal. Li Ruoshui and I will definitely find a way to get the students to improve,” Yang Yu reassured the principal. If the school were to actually be dissolved, Yang Yu would have to leave this village. How would he manage to hook up with these youthful fair maidens then?
• Yang Yu entered his own class, and looked at this bunch of cute yet hated children. They still had no understanding of the line ‘knowledge is power’. They were all like how Yang Yu was in the past.
• If he were to tell them this, they would not understand because they still had not experienced it. Without experience, it would be difficult to understand this principle. This was humanity’s weakness. Yang Yu was more familiar with this than anyone. He had studied hard back then, only because he did not want to become a peeping tom and a pervert who would be derided and ridiculed by the entire school.
• “I know you guys don’t really want to come to class. I know you guys want to play, want to date, and even want to earn money. I used to be like that too.” Yang Yu gazed at this group of students. He had no experience when it came to teaching, the only thing that he had over others was a little more life experience. “Alright, how about this? If you guys can improve in your studies, then I’ll get someone to air an outdoor movie for you. I’ll bring you guys picnicking, and even fulfill whatever you ask of me.”
• When those students heard that they could have fun, they all instantly got fired up.
• “If Mr. Yang becomes my boyfriend, then I’ll study seriously, haha!” The girl who said this was Zi Shu. She was the girl who had asked Yang Yu whether he had a girlfriend during her self-introduction.
• Zi Shu was a bewitching girl. She had developed early, perhaps a little too early. She was completely ripe already, matured. It was time to pick her. She was the kind who would fall if she was not picked now. Of course, this kind of maturity showed in certain aspects. In cruder terms, she was already thinking of those kinds of things at such a young age.
• “If you all don’t end up last in the county’s midterm or end of term exams, then I’ll run around the field buck naked.” Yang Yu thought of finding something exciting to motivate them.
• The moment those words left his mouth, even Ji Ming — who normally had a straight face — burst out into laughter. She even added, “You’ll still need an audience for that!”
• Everyone laughed raucously, but Yang Yu was embarrassed by her words.
• “Hey, are you saying that I’m ugly?”
• “Haha, Mr. Yang. Actually, it’s not that we don’t study hard, it’s just that we really don’t know how to solve a lot of the questions.” The class scholar — the one student who was good at studying — spoke up. This scholarly person always came in first in the whole class, and yet this class scholar was saying that she did not know how to do most of the questions. Was this not just putting him into a tighter bind?
• However, a good class scholar could easily light the fire of motivation for the other students.
• “Then that’s my own problem. I’ll teach you the ability to study, the ability to problem-solve, and the ability to study by yourself. I won’t be simply teaching you knowledge from books!” Yang Yu was very familiar with this. When he was a student, the reason for his sudden leap in grades was not because of his work ethic, but because he had effective study methods.
• “Mr. Yang, I still need to do the weeding, feed the rabbits and the pigs, and cook dinner. Where do I find the time to study?”
• “Mr. Yang, I need to climb two mountains to get homes. I’m already lucky to be home before it gets dark, so how do I have the time to do my homework?”
• “Mr. Yang, my dad wants me to graduate and learn farming from him. After all, even if I graduate I won’t be going to high school, so why do I need to sit for these exams?”
• The students were chattering, their questions plentiful. Yang Yu understood why. This was a farming village, and farming villages had a lot of problems to be faced daily. These were problems that a student from the city would not be able to comprehend.
• “If you can’t get into a good high school due to your entrance exams, and can’t go to a good university, you’ll always be confined to herding cows, chopping wood, raising pigs, climbing mountains, and of course, working in the fields with your fathers!” When Yang Yu neared the end of his speech, he deliberately emphasized that part.
• “Everyone, look at this classroom. Look at your desks and chairs, and look at your houses. Do you know what they have in the city? Do you know what the city folks use?”
• Everyone instantly shook their heads. They had never left these mountains, and had never been to the city before. They had never given a thought as to what life was in the world outside.
• “Next month, why don’t I bring you all to take a look in the city? Think of it as a field trip for spring.” Yang Yu wanted to let the kids know what the outside world was like, and what a future was. Only those who had experienced these would be able to know, then they would be able to put their all into studying hard.
• At the sound of those words, the students were so elated that they were nearly leaping out of their seats. They had never been to the city, and had no idea what it was like there.
• Now that they had some motivation, the students began to listen carefully in class. Yang Yu would always use praise and compliments to encourage the students with worse grades. He would never criticize them or put them down. Because, in his opinions, everyone had their own place in the world after all.
• However, the reason why the students loved to pay attention in class more was because of Yang Yu’s teaching style. He had done away with the traditional dull methods of teaching the syllabus solely by the book. Instead, he used the things around them as examples.
• For instance, he had the students play a game in order to understand the relationship between distance, velocity and time: two of the students would walk towards each other, how long would they take before they meet? If one walked first, and then the other began walking after the former, what would happen? This was a seemingly fresh way of teaching, and the students were delighted. With the more interactive lessons, the students now loved studying more.
• However, the students liked Yang Yu’s temper the most. Yang Yu would never chastise or scold them, he would only ever encourage them. Whenever a student could not answer his question, he would say that it was alright, and that she already was doing great. This made the students like him even more.
• “If only Mr. Yang would be my boyfriend, that would be great.” Zi Shu thought that watching Mr. Yang teach was already an enjoyable thing. Mr. Yang’s handsomeness and masculine maturity was something that these girls — who liked romance and were not well-versed in adult things — loved.
• Many of the girls in class already thought of Yang Yu as their own Prince Charming, to the point that they fantasized about him before they slept. Every one of Yang Yu’s expressions had Zi Shu deeply enthralled, and Yang Yu could somehow sense at least some of her attention.
• On the other hand, Yunxi, who had lost her first kiss last night and to her cousin at that, seemed to be doing fine outwardly. However, her mind had wandered a few times during class. When she thought about how her cousin’s mouth was sealed against hers for such a long time last night, a feeling of bliss swept through her heart.
• The day’s classes flew by just like that.
• “Ruoshui, are you free to discuss how we may improve the students’ performance?” When Li Ruoshui was about to go home after class was out, Yang Yu called and stopped her. Tomorrow was the weekend already, and he still had to go to the neighboring village to help his elder cousin settle her matter of marriage. He would probably only have the time for this when he returned on Sunday.
• “Of course, I also want to think about what a highly qualified graduate like you has to say.” Li Ruoshui was a very mature woman. Although they both taught the same class, they did not interact much with each other.
• “Sunday night then, since I have something to do during the day.” Yang Yu arranged to meet Li Ruoshui at night the day after tomorrow. The reason why he asked to meet her at night was because it would be dark, and it would add to the atmosphere. Maybe, just maybe, he might even get to do some things to her. Of course, this was just Yang Yu’s wishful thinking.
• Once Li Ruoshui had left, Yang Yu returned to the office again. Tomorrow, he would set off for the neighboring village. While he was not sure that it would work, he was still on his cousin’s side when it came to the matter regarding her marriage, fighting together against her father’s unreasonableness.
• “Mr. Yang, why haven’t you gone back yet? Why don’t you come over to my place then?” The mischievous Hu Xinyi popped out. She was also from another village. Since she had no relatives here, her only choice was to stay at the school.
• “I better not. You might end up devouring me.” Yang Yu had completely no interest in girls who would throw themselves at him of their own volition. While most men would consider it a waste, Yang Yu was not one of them, because that would degrade him.
• Classy, tasteful, self-respecting ladies were important. This kind of easy hussy would not be able to pique Yang Yu’s interest at all. Only women like Yuanxi and Yunxi fit his tastes. Of course, Yang Yu had his eyes on some of the teachers at the school too. For instance, the ice queen Leng Xiaoxue. As of now, this Leng Xiaoxue had never so much as glanced at Yang Yu. This made Yang Yu feel invisible. I’m a handsome young man, and you’re ignoring me like this?
• Apart from her, the most beautiful amongst the teachers was probably the one who taught alongside him, Li Ruoshui. Yang Yu could not restrain himself from Li Ruoshui’s aura of feminineness, which was why he planned to go after her first. Of course, if Yang Lin — whom he had already seen every inch of when she bathed in that pool — decided to deliver herself to his doorstep, Yang Yu would definitely accept this, because these two heavenly women were just too gorgeous.
• Yang Yu mentally went over his plan for tomorrow, and even wrote it down out of worry that he might misremember it. After a while, the sky had already darkened without his knowledge. Yang Yu then prepared to get up and go back.
• He had just exited the office when he realized that his own student Zi Shu had only just came out of the classroom. Zi Shu lived in the next village, she had to travel past this mountain. It was almost dark already, so why had she not gone home yet?
• “Zi Shu, why are you still here? Hurry up and go back,” Yang Yu asked in concern.
• “It’s because I lost track of the time while I was doing my homework. To top it off, I’m the one in charge of cleaning the classroom today.” Zi Shu pouted, the picture of innocence.
• Completing homework was a thing to be celebrated, so naturally Yang Yu was happy about this. However, with the sky as dark as it was, Yang Yu was uneasy about letting a female student climb the mountain alone to go home. There were wild animals on this mountain. If something were to happen, he would have to take responsibility.
• “It’s already this late. Wait for me, I’ll go to the office to get a flashlight and send you home past the mountain.” With that, Yang Yu rushed back frantically into the office.
• “Yay! My plan worked!” Zi Shu was beyond overjoyed. It was true that she had been doing her homework, but the part about losing track of the time was false. She had deliberately let Yang Yu discover her. Mr. Yang cared so much about his students, so how could he have the heart to let her climb the mountain alone?