Chapter 293 Wildebeest's Mountains and Seas
Shortly after the celebration at the village cultural center, during the season when the jujube trees were turning yellow, Yunxi Village welcomed another major event that shocked the entire town and even the entire county - the groundbreaking ceremony for the new industrial park of the Longjingyuan Cannery.
The people of Yunxi Village, who were no longer satisfied with just having food and clothing and wanted to make a big fuss about the world, once again welcomed the arrival of this day with the sound of gongs and drums, singing and dancing.
This groundbreaking ceremony was not just a spontaneous event in the village, but of a very high standard. Headed by Mayor Yang Jiarong, nearly a hundred leaders of all sizes from the Jiangchuan Municipal People's Government, Fengyang County People's Government, and Longwan Town People's Government all came to this remote mountain retreat.
The media lineup was also unprecedentedly large, with many reporters from local areas and provincial party media coming. The threshing ground was filled with luxurious cars that the farmers had never seen before.
Mayor Yang Jiarong, Liansheng General Manager Li Jilin, Longwan Town Mayor and Yunxi Village Cooperative Chairman Zhang Haijun took the stage to deliver speeches as representatives of the government, enterprises and the public.
Zhang Yunqi did not appear on stage.
He shoveled two piles of soil and accepted an interview with Lin Shiyu.
The day after the groundbreaking ceremony, Zhang Yunqi returned to Jiangchuan.
As expected by Zhang Yunqi, Ji Zhong was soon transferred to the provincial capital of Lijin, where he served as deputy mayor and director of the Public Security Bureau.
Ji Ling went to live in Lizhen City with her father for a while and returned to Jiangchuan when school was about to start.
She still has to study at the No. 1 Middle School in the city.
This girl is hard to persuade, she is always stubborn.
Fortunately, there were no problems in life. I ate the same food as Zhang Yunqi and his friends, eating at Zhangji Fish Powder Shop at the No. 1 Middle School on my way to and from school.
Ji Ling didn't want to go to boarding school, so he lived in Chu Jian's house.
This is the initial proposal.
Her new home is already small, and since both girls are in their third year of high school, it's just right for her to have a companion.
After hearing about this, Jiang Feng also agreed.
Of course, when Ji Zhong was still in Jiangchuan, he gave Zhang Yunqi a bank card, probably meaning that he would transfer a sum of living expenses every month and ask him to help deal with it.
This may seem unnecessary, but a family like Ji Ling's is unlikely to owe anyone anything in this regard.
On the day Ji Ling moved to Chu Jian's house, Zhang Yunqi drove to help move the luggage. The place was very close, right in his residential area, so the three of them could go to school together.
Ji Ling was well-dressed, but not a delicate girl. She didn't have much stuff, just a guitar, a drawing board, and a box of clothes. Chu Jian's home was a new house with two bedrooms and a living room. The two girls lived in one bedroom, but it was not convenient to sleep in the same bed. For this reason, Zhang Yunqi also customized a wooden bunk bed. As for who was on top and who was on the bottom, he didn't know.
After a few days of rest, the third year of high school started.
On the first day of school, after paying tuition and receiving textbooks, everyone sat back in their seats from last semester and started chatting.
For students in the 90s, the long summer vacation was an itchy and empty period. When school started, everyone they saw was like their own son, and they felt very close to him.
Sitting next to Zhang Yunqi was Wang Xiaokai. After not seeing him for a few days, this guy got a Aaron Kwok-style hairstyle. His erotic aura could be smelled even by bitches ten miles away. As senior high school seniors, most students could feel the pressure coming at them. They were like wildebeests being chased by lions. Whether they liked it or not, they had to run wildly on a river called the college entrance examination. If they could wade across it, they would be safe. If they couldn't wade across it, they would just lie down and be trampled on.
But Wang Xiaokai had no intention of trying to cross a single-plank bridge with a huge army. All his energy was now focused on picking up girls. He would go to the girls whenever he had something to do, and would find something to do to go to the girls whenever he had nothing to do.
At first, some people thought that he had feelings for Li Yufei, the beauty in the class. Until one day, when the students in Class 156 found that Wang Xiaokai and Li Yufei’s best friend Yu Qingqing were eating side by side in the cafeteria, everyone suddenly realized the truth.
Yang Wei still had no progress in this area, but he showed an unusual enthusiasm for sports. At the end of last semester, when the United States hosted the World Cup, he watched a few games with Zhang Yunqi and became fascinated, but after all, he was a beginner and his footwork was not good, so he could only play as a defender. He was energetic and had plenty of physical strength. He often knocked down the opponent's forward alive, and soon became a famous iron defender in the school. This was really unworthy of his nickname "impotence".
When no one was playing football, he would often kick the ball against the wall, and the corridor would echo with the sound of an earthquake. Zhang Yunqi suspected that some kind of energy had awakened in his body.
The dumbest one is Tian Zhuangzhuang.
In the past, this fat boy spent all his time eating and playing games, and his grades were terrible. But when he was in his third year of high school, he suddenly became erect, turned over a new leaf, and insisted on studying hard.
The first class is on the morning of September 9nd, which is self-study.
Amid the sound of reading, the early morning sunlight shone through the leaves of the old poplar tree outside the window onto the mountain of mock test papers. The branches swayed, and spots of light flashed. Cicadas chirped on the ivy, but they did not seem noisy.
The eighth month of the lunar calendar is known as the late summer.
Zhang Yunqi, who was sitting in the last row of the classroom, had not read a book for a long time. However, he could calm down and recite the English text. Occasionally, he looked up and looked at this familiar yet unfamiliar environment. These boring and often missed senior high school days seemed like a lifetime ago.
At this time, the head teacher Wang Mingzhen came.
The classroom immediately became quiet.
Standing on the podium, Wang Mingzhen said: "First of all, I wish all the students a happy holiday. A new semester brings a new atmosphere. Today is your first class in the third year of high school. I don't know what you think in your mind. Are you mentally prepared for the next year?"
Facing the students' gazes, Wang Mingzhen's expression became unusually serious. He usually talked about everything under the sun in class and was relatively lax in his management of students, which was why he was criticized by school leaders. However, he had solid professional skills, was humorous in his lectures, never showed off his knowledge, and had his own set of principles in dealing with people. He was an absolute clear thinker in the city's No. 1 Middle School and was respected by students.
Seeing that no students responded, Wang Mingzhen continued, "A year ago, I told you in the first class that it was the grade leader who begged me to take over this class. Because I am so old and will soon retire, I have no ambitions and only like to play cards, drink tea and walk the birds. I really don't want to take on this tough job of being a class teacher. But I can assure you that since I have taken over this class, I will definitely stand guard in this last shift.
"A year has passed, and I still say the same thing. I will do my best to help you. However, although the third year of high school is important, you don't need to be too stressed. Life is very long, and you have just started. The quality of your grades is not enough to define your future."
After a pause, Wang Mingzhen continued, "In fact, I can tell you here that when I was young and just started to teach, it was different from now. My thoughts and practices at that time were that when I saw talented children, I would do my best to help them get higher scores and enter the best universities. In this way, I would have a clear conscience. However, later I found that I was wrong. I delayed a lot of good children. How could I ignore those children with less qualifications just because of students with good learning talents?
"There are many ordinary people among the masses. As an ordinary teacher holding a piece of chalk and standing on the podium, what I want to do, what I hope I can do, is to help every student here to develop correct values, learn to use the right to choose, and feel the freedom of happiness, instead of being imprisoned by the scores in front of them and not seeing the vastness of the world!"
The classroom was quiet, and Zhang Yunqi was just like the other students.
In the early morning sunshine, Wang Mingzhen, who was standing on the podium, said calmly, "So, in the last year of senior year, I will not judge you based on your grades. The results of the monthly exams and mock tests will not be posted. Seats, student numbers, exam numbers, and class cadre rotations will all be treated equally. The idea of letting students choose their seats based on their grades will never happen in this class."
"Of course, I hope you are well, but what's more important is that you are happy and willing to learn, rather than being forced to learn. I also sincerely hope that each of you can spread your wings and fly high, but even if you can't fly high, it doesn't matter. As I said, don't be too stressed, grades are definitely not the only criterion for measuring a person. You scored 100 points now, and you can score 101 points in the college entrance examination. I am happy for you too. The premise is that you have learned something here, gained something, and know what you want to do in the future when you leave here. This is the freedom of choice, which is more important than the score on the college entrance examination paper."
After the words fell, someone said thank you, Teacher Wang. Then, applause rang out in the quiet classroom. The applause was so loud that Zhang Yunqi saw a frightened bird on a tree outside the window flying quickly into the sky.
The sky was cloudless and pure blue at that time.
******
(End of this chapter)