Chapter 19 Jiangchuan
In 1992, the spring breeze was blowing in China.

The designer's second southern tour has given a shot of adrenaline to the long-dormant Oriental dragon. China, which had been badly injured, has been fully revived. After being formatted and reinstalled, the national weapons have begun to operate efficiently. People's lives have undergone earth-shaking changes. Everything is so vigorous and ambitious, as if the air is filled with the taste of milk and honey. So much so that the world-renowned financial magazine Forbes predicted in a dramatic tone: "In this world, any accident can happen, and there are few things as certain as China's rise to become an economic powerhouse one day."

In Jiangchuan, a small southern city, traces of reform and opening up can be seen everywhere. Individual businesses are increasing rapidly, and the private economy is booming. The streets are filled with Phoenix Forever 90-inch bicycles. Big wavy hairstyles were the standard for city women in those days. A song came from the bookstore on the corner. It was the song "Love" by the s youth idol group Little Tigers: "String your heart and my heart together, string a lucky clover, string a concentric circle, let all the calls for the future be a companion during youth, don't let youth become more lonely as you grow older, plant my lucky clover in your dream field..."

Everything is old and traceless, but the vitality of spring grass is evident everywhere.

On the bus, Ji Ling looked outside through the glass window, and the shady camphor trees retreated one by one.

Today is the first day of school.

Like other students, Ji Ling also reported to Jiangchuan No. 1 Middle School early in the morning. She was very familiar with this road, which had accompanied her to and from school for three years in junior high school. But she did not feel bored. She always liked to sit alone in the window seat of the bus, watching the fireworks outside, which made her feel at ease.

She looked away and looked at the passengers in the car. Most of them were students of the same age as her. In front of her were two girls with schoolbags, huddled together and reading "The Love Eterne" with great interest. This was an era when Qiong Yao and Jin Yong were rampant, and only the children's favorite "Doraemon" could compete with them.

The bus was noisy and lively. The students were talking to each other and smiling excitedly. They must be looking forward to the colorful high school. But Ji Ling knew that there would be a week of military training after entering high school. This was a tough job for many junior high school graduates who had not experienced any setbacks. Yesterday, my mother suggested not to participate in the military training, and my father said to call the principal of No. 1 Middle School.

Ji Ling didn't agree.

She doesn't feel that she is any different from other students.

traffic light.

The bus stopped.

When Ji Ling looked out the window again, a person on the sidewalk caught her eye. He was a thin boy, wearing a white shirt and black pants, simple and elegant. His hair was neatly shaved on both sides, and the fluffy hair on top was very layered.

Unfortunately, the distance was a bit far, and she couldn't see his specific features clearly, but the boy's outline made her feel familiar, especially the faint smile on the inconspicuous face, which was quite warm, as if she had seen it somewhere.

Ji Ling wanted to see more clearly and blinked, but the figure had disappeared from his sight.

Maybe I saw it wrong.

Come to think of it, Zhang Yunqi has never cared much about his appearance. When did he make himself so flashy? Moreover, how could he possibly appear here?
Now, he should be on his way to Xiangnan Technical Secondary School in the provincial capital.

******
"Teacher Jiang, has your class finished reporting?"

Jiang Lihua, the head teacher of Class 168, Grade , Jiangchuan No. Middle School, had just walked into the office when several teachers who were chatting and talking nonsense greeted him indifferently. However, Jiang Lihua was in a bad mood. He just said "hmm" and returned to his seat without saying anything.

Several class teachers felt that Jiang Lihua was not very tactful and was annoying.

So they left him alone and continued to discuss with great interest the quality of this class of freshmen. In their words, these class teachers were invisibly bragging about the top students in their hands. These words were quite harsh to Jiang Lihua's ears, but in front of these people, his qualifications were very insignificant, so he was often excluded from the core circle of the grade group. This was also a very normal thing.

In many ways, young teachers like Jiang Lihua, who want to compete with senior teachers for performance, are treated like competitors. This leads to a serious uneven distribution of high-quality students in the school. Science and technology classes and key classes are monopolized by them, and most young teachers can only teach ordinary classes.

Class 168, which Jiang Lihua taught, was a typical ordinary class. There were not many students with outstanding grades, but the number of students admitted to the expansion who paid the high school construction fees was overwhelming. He was really upset when he saw the ugly transcripts on the table. He also felt the dullness in the office, as if those teachers with high qualifications and titles who usually didn't take him seriously were all laughing sarcastically in their hearts.

"Doudou!" Two sounds, someone is knocking on the door.

Several teachers stopped chatting and called out to come in.

A boy pushed the door open. He was thin and wearing a clean white shirt. He was probably a freshman. He asked, "Excuse me, is Mr. Jiang Lihua, the head teacher of Class 168, here?"

Jiang Lihua looked up, and his voice was particularly low as he was in a bad mood: "You are reporting here, right? Come here, what's your name?"

"Zhang Yunqi." Jiang Lihua opened the registration form and checked it, frowning and said, "You must have made a mistake. Your name is not on the registration form."

Zhang Yunqi explained, "I decided to study at No. 1 Middle School a few days ago. My class had already been assigned, and the Dean of Academic Affairs, Luo Dahai, wrote me a note asking me to come see you when school starts."

Luo Dahai wrote a note to send someone to Jiang Lihua's class? This aroused great speculation. The other teachers in the office looked at Jiang Lihua with a knowing smile on their faces.

Jiang Lihua's brows were already furrowed.

He was already in a bad mood today, and when he heard that it was Luo Dahai who wanted to send people to his class, he really wanted to curse. Before Luo Dahai became the director of the teaching department, he and his neighbor had a disagreement over the issue of the older generation of school raising funds to build houses. It even got to the point where the two wives of the two families cursed at each other. This matter was no longer a secret in the school and everyone knew about it. Later, when Luo Dahai was promoted to the director of the teaching department, Jiang Lihua's life became difficult.

Jiang Lihua could not remember when Luo Dahai had ever given him a sweet treat. So when he saw Zhang Yunqi holding his note, he was furious. Of course, he could not get angry, so he nodded and said, "Show me the report card."

Zhang Yunqi handed over the transcript.

The transcript contained the scores for each subject and the total score. Jiang Lihua ignored the scores for each subject and casually glanced at the final total score for the high school entrance examination, which was 625.

Hmm... 625 points?
This guy scored 625 points?
Jiang Lihua thought he was dazzled.

He knew that students who reported to school by handing in a note had most likely gotten in through the back door, and that the back door was through his arch-enemy Luo Dahai. His high school entrance exam results would definitely not be good. He never expected that this guy's results would be so good.

He put on his glasses and looked through the transcripts one by one: Chinese 113, Math 115, English 109, Politics 100, Physics 95, Chemistry 93. The total was 625.

The total score of the senior high school entrance examination was 660, and this guy scored 625!

Jiang Lihua suddenly felt a little thirsty. He picked up the enamel cup to drink some water, but found that there was no water in the cup. At this time, he heard someone shouting, "Teacher."

Jiang Lihua looked up and saw Zhang Yunqi handing him a glass of water. He felt a little embarrassed and quickly said thank you. He took the glass and drank the water before asking, "Are you from Fengyang County?"

Zhang Yunqi nodded and said yes.

Jiang Lihua said, "That's accommodation. There's nothing to do right now. Go make your bed first, then go to the cafeteria to have lunch. You must be tired after just coming to school. Take a good nap at noon, and remember to come to the class meeting at 2 pm. The cafeteria is just a few hundred meters from the main entrance of the dormitory."

Jiang Lihua added, "By the way, during the military training, all students also need accommodation. There are not enough dormitories now, so the boys are sleeping on the floor in Building 4. Do you know how to get there? I'll ask a classmate to take you there later. Oh... I'll take you there."

Seeing Jiang Lihua suddenly become extremely enthusiastic, Zhang Yunqi was a little uncomfortable and said, "Thank you, teacher. I know how to go."

Jiang Lihua thought about it, sat down again and said, "Okay, go back and have a meal and rest first."

Zhang Yunqi said okay and turned to leave.

Several other teachers witnessed this scene and looked at each other in bewilderment. This Jiang Lihua was really abnormal. When did they remember him being so enthusiastic towards students? And this was a student who got in through the backdoor. Was it really necessary to be like this?
One teacher glanced at the report card on Jiang Lihua's desk and said in surprise: "Teacher Jiang, your student is amazing. He actually scored 625."

As he said this, he picked up the report card and showed it to the other class teachers. For a moment, there was a lot of discussion in the office: "Tsk tsk, this high school entrance examination result is among the top five in our school."

"It should be. If such students can have a good teacher to train them well, they will definitely get into the top ten universities. Tsinghua University and Peking University are achievable goals."

"I remember now. This student's name is Zhang Yunqi. He should be the top scorer in the Fengyang County High School Entrance Examination, Zhang Yunqi. He is from the same place as Teacher Zhang in our junior high school."

"Teacher Jiang, you have found a treasure this time. Haha, Director Luo is really good to you."

Jiang Lihua always felt a bit sour when listening to the words of several senior teachers, but he was in a good mood and said with a smile: "No, no, the high school entrance examination results are a thing of the past after all. What will happen in the future depends on his own efforts."

******
(End of this chapter)