Chapter 195: A Little Disappointed
[Nan Zhi and the others are fitting in so well! They were accepted so quickly!]
[Just came over from the other stream. Nan Zhi and Qi Pei’er are in stark contrast to Fu Chao and Xie Yu, hahaha!]
[I went and watched. Those two are having a pretty rough time, especially Fu Chao. He doesn’t know how to do anything and is getting totally wrecked…]
[Hmm, does this mean Nan Zhi is going to switch to being a teacher and won’t be cooking anymore?]
[Even if she opened a restaurant in a small village deep in these mountains, no one would be able to afford it!]
[Exactly! Even if she cut the prices at Nan Family’s Small Restaurant in half, she wouldn’t be able to sell anything here!]
[I get all that, but I can’t help feeling it’s a bit of a shame.]
[+1 to wanting to see Nan Zhi cook! That’s what drew me in at the beginning. Now it’s getting a little boring.]
…
It was clear that after she revealed she was from Yan University, the three teachers had complete and utter trust in Nan Zhi.
They even felt Nan Zhi didn’t need a trial lesson and could start her new post immediately.
However, this also meant—
Nan Zhi and Nan Yi would have to be temporarily separated.
Nan Zhi was going to teach the upper grades, while Nan Yi and Qi Zhang were too young and could only join the class for the youngest students.
Nan Zhi and Qi Pei’er walked the two children, Nan Yi and Qi Zhang, to the classroom door.
The teacher in charge of this class was a woman named Xiao Lin. She was in her early twenties, with a friendly, round face, and was the youngest of the three teachers.
Teacher Xiao Lin had a lively personality and patted her chest as she repeatedly assured Nan Zhi and Qi Pei’er:
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of the two kids!”
Qi Pei’er and Qi Zhang had always had a relationship more like friends on equal footing.
Qi Pei’er waved her hand dismissively.
“It’s fine, I have faith in my Xiao Zhang! Right, Zhangzhang!”
Qi Zhang puffed out his chest and nodded vigorously.
“Of course!”
With that, he gave Qi Pei’er a crisp high-five and ran cheerfully inside.
Halfway there, he realized he’d forgotten his little buddy and turned back.
“Yiyi, hurry up!”
Nan Zhi, however, wasn’t nearly as relaxed.
It was usually a struggle just to get Nan Yi to go to kindergarten; wouldn’t a strange new school be even harder?
Nan Zhi had already steeled herself for the worst, even preparing a long speech in her head…
“Mom, I’m going in now.”
Nan Yi waved his small hand obediently at Nan Zhi.
Nan Zhi: ?
She subconsciously followed him, taking two steps forward until she was right at the classroom door.
Nan Yi had no choice but to stop and say in a doting yet resigned tone:
“I’m okay, really.”
“Really?”
Nan Zhi was skeptical.
‘She had a feeling that, in ways she couldn’t see, Nan Yi was changing without her even knowing it.’
‘What could it be? Did something special happen in the last couple of days?’
For a rare moment, Nan Zhi looked lost.
Nan Yi opened his mouth, wanting to explain.
But he looked around, too embarrassed to say it in front of everyone else.
“…Anyway, I’ll be good and go to school. Don’t worry, Mom.”
He clutched the strap of his backpack and quietly walked over to Qi Zhang’s side.
Teacher Xiao Lin quickly said to Nan Zhi and the others:
“Well, I’m heading in too!”
As soon as she entered, she got busy arranging seats for Nan Yi and Qi Zhang.
The two were small and wouldn’t be able to see from the back, so she ended up putting them in the front row.
Perhaps because they had already seen them on the playground, the students in the classroom were very enthusiastic about Nan Yi and Qi Zhang’s arrival.
They proactively helped the two little ones move a desk and chairs from the back and even asked them:
“Can you get into the chair by yourselves?”
Children in the mountains tended to start school late, so the kids in this classroom were around seven to eight years old.
Naturally, the classroom’s desks and chairs were sized for their height.
But for Nan Yi and Qi Zhang, who were still at kindergarten age, they were a bit too high.
Qi Zhang looked down at his short little legs, then up at the tall chair.
In the end, with the help of an older boy next to him, he struggled to climb up and sit down properly.
Nan Yi, who was just a little shorter than Qi Zhang, kept his back ramrod straight.
He politely refused the help of others, grabbed the corner of the desk, pushed off the stool with one arm, and hopped right up into the seat.
His easy, agile movement drew a collective gasp of amazement from the other students.
Nan Yi quietly lifted his chin, his every action seeming to say:
‘What’s the big deal?’
But Nan Zhi, watching from outside the classroom, could see his faint pride and happiness.
“The atmosphere seems pretty good, right?”
Qi Pei’er sidled up to Nan Zhi, a grin on her face.
Nan Zhi raised an eyebrow and glanced back at her.
Qi Pei’er’s expression suddenly turned serious.
“Actually, Yiyi is very sensible and independent. No matter what you ask him to do, he can handle it well.”
Nan Zhi froze for a moment.
She lowered her head slightly, lost in thought.
After a moment, she looked up again, her expression calm and nonchalant as if nothing had happened, and said to Qi Pei’er:
“Let’s go to our classes.”
“Okay, okay.”
Nan Zhi quickly took up her post as the English teacher.
In less than twenty minutes, she had grasped the essentials of teaching and was gradually getting into the swing of things, like a fish back in water.
According to Nan Zhi’s own explanation, she had earned a fair bit of spending money as a private tutor when she first started college.
So, she already had some experience.
Qi Pei’er, however, was a different story.
She had graduated from a top music conservatory in the country, was skilled with multiple instruments, and was a professional singer.
But her teaching experience was zero.
During a break, Qi Pei’er poured out her troubles to Nan Zhi.
“What do I do? I have no idea what to teach! Oh my god, what if I lead the kids astray!”
Qi Pei’er panicked, grabbing her hair with both hands.
Nan Zhi calmly pulled her hands away.
“Just follow the textbook and teach them how to sing.”
In Nan Zhi’s view, it wasn’t that Qi Pei’er didn’t know what to do; she just lacked experience and was panicking.
After Nan Zhi calmed her down, Qi Pei’er managed to pull herself out of her mental blank and finally found a spark of inspiration.
Since the school had limited resources and no musical instruments, Qi Pei’er followed Nan Zhi’s suggestion. She filled glass cups with different amounts of water, arranged them by pitch, and used chopsticks to tap out different notes.
Qi Pei’er quickly tuned the “instrument” to the correct pitches and began her music lesson with the water glass xylophone.
As expected, this method was a huge hit with the vast majority of students.
They all rushed over happily, crowding around Qi Pei’er.
Pairs of bright, curious eyes, full of a thirst for knowledge, stared up at her.
Qi Pei’er couldn’t help but be moved, and her nervousness slowly melted away.
Getting into the spirit of it, she even improvised a light, folksy little tune on the water glass xylophone.
The students’ eyes grew even wider.
“Teacher Qi, what song is that? It sounds so good! We’ve never heard it before!”
Qi Pei’er announced proudly:
“Of course you haven’t heard it before, because I just made it up!”
The students shrieked with delight, bluntly praising her as “the most amazing person in the whole world!”
Growing even happier, Qi Pei’er threw her arms in the air and cheered:
“I absolutely love it here!”
Nan Zhi stood at the door with her arms crossed, also smiling with delight.