She Only Cares About Cultivation

She doesn’t mind if she drops food. She cleans up everything that falls and tidies it up for the nuts, so it’s not too wasteful.

After eating, she’ll wash a few strawberries or cherry tomatoes, easy fruits for her to nibble on, watching her eat with a sigh.

"Changing three outfits in a day isn’t enough for you, look at yourself, you’re like a little beggar, so dirty."

If we talk about the best-dressed child in daycare, it certainly isn’t hers. Her focus is on comfort in what they wear inside, with an outer smock made from old clothes, so regardless of looks, it needs to be clean.

Now it’s May, and not too hot. Generally, she wears something thin inside and another over it, the outer garment is a smock. She doesn’t dress her in split crotch pants; it’s too dirty for little girls. When there are no classes, she takes the initiative to help her pee, and if there are classes, she’ll rush over after class, minimizing trouble for the teacher.

The teacher sees her tirelessly running and remembers this, so today there was no problem with urination all morning, pretty satisfactory performance.

Afternoon is playtime for teaching kids; they’ve finished main classes in the morning, singing a song, painting, or drawing in the afternoon passes them by.

There are only two classes, one is outdoor sports taught by the math teacher, and singing, dancing, and painting taught by her, all joined by three grades, which are way easier than morning classes.

During lunch, they played a bit on the kang before becoming sleepy. To avoid oversleeping, she takes the child into the space to nap so it’s time-controlled.

She wakes up at one, feeling bored, she takes the child out of space, picking up a book to read.

Around one-thirty, Zhang Li brings the children over. An Ran wakes at the call of the older brother, hangs up the curtain, the two watch the children crawl and play on the kang, and the outside children start arriving, filling the campus with noise.

The two exchanged feelings about morning lessons, reviewing each other’s lesson plans and pointing out each other’s shortcomings.

Mostly, it’s An Yi doing the talking while Zhang Li listens. After all, An Yi was a professor; wherever Zhang Li looked, everything seemed good, with no room for her input.

But she finds the more she communicates with An Yi, the more she gains, and she becomes increasingly eager to communicate with her.

For the first class, they don’t have to go, choosing to stay in their dormitory to play with the kids, permitted by the school, since their kids are young.

"After the second class, we’re off work, oh, this busy day turned out easier than I thought. Are you leaving directly after school?"

An Yi shook her head: "I’ll keep the idle children at school to practice today’s learned characters, watching over them, or they might forget by nightfall at home. Once they pass, they can leave, one by one."

"Ah? You’re quite strict, but the kids probably prefer staying, it’s not easy for them at home either; they have to help with chores."

An Yi understands this naturally, "It’s alright, I won’t delay their chores, just teaching them a little bit each day, half an hour for a round-through."

When it’s time for An Yi and Zhang Li to teach, they drop the children at daycare, then head to their respective classrooms. Meanwhile, male teachers can leave early according to school rules; since they’re the men of the house, they surely have chores to do, leaving the afternoon wrap-up to the female teachers suits well.

The previous class left the kids sweaty, so this class they rest while she sings, teaches them simple sketches, and tells them Grimm’s Fairy Tales. These kids are older but never heard such stories before, listening attentively with bizarre questions awaiting.

Initially thinking they could leave after school, at her command, kids stayed for homework, with first, second, and third grades combined, totaling twenty.

First grade learns simple characters like sky, ground, and people, second-grade ancient poems, third-grade texts, with requirements for recitation and dictation, completion grants departure, before her sits a sand tray, ready kids write to check, correct ones allow leaving.

Perhaps these kids haven’t met such a strict teacher; they’re tense initially but find it not so tough once in the groove.

Even so, it’s slower than she expected by ten or fifteen minutes. Normally they finish by three-thirty; extending by almost a class period for clean-up, finally leaving campus by four-thirty, which feels just right to her.