Afternoon.
The lingering chi of the clock on the mountain still echoes through the forest, but the warm breeze outside the window has already made the students in Shuaixing Hall sowhat drowsy.
This autumn sunlight is neither as scorching as sumr nor as feeble as winter, but is just right.
Seated in the last row, Zhao Rong props his chin and enjoys the warm breeze outside the window. He watches the lady teacher, always carrying the scent of orchids, her delicate figure bathed in golden sunshine as she gracefully embraces a stack of thick papers and seriously walks onto the podium.
She took over the afternoon’s two calligraphy classes, giving Zhao Rong a rare mont of relaxation. Yet, from entering the classroom until now, half a class has passed without the orchid-scented teacher glancing at the ’class-robbing’ assistant, focusing solely on her teaching.
After Zhu Yourong finished the assignnt arranged before the exam, the focus inevitably returned to this calligraphy assessnt, so she directly asked Yu Huaijin to help distribute the calligraphy test papers.
But soone started it, and Xiao Hongyu and other students laughed and clamored, requesting Teacher Zhu to post the only perfect score calligraphy from this assessnt for everyone to study and admire.
Amidst the kindly laughter below the stage, Zhu Yourong pursed her lips but still didn’t look at a certain soone. However, she didn’t refuse and turned around to post a certain paper.
The gentle rustling in the hall paused, except for a certain guy in the last row who was empty-handed and helpless. anwhile, other students, having received their papers, didn’t look at their own but craned their necks quietly appreciating the calligraphy.
"...East Fence Small House at Linlu, has long woods where the wind can travel, and an open courtyard where the moon can shine... I read among them, facing head-on, enjoying a green scene, opening the quiet window, all characters are vividly fresh."
Thirty-so words on the paper, the brush strokes are like floating clouds and startling dragons, as well as like soaring phoenixes.
So focused on the calligraphy of this perfect score paper, so fixed their eyes on one favorite character among half of it, and others appreciated and imrsed themselves into the concept of this ’quiet window,’ attracted by this fresh sentence.
However, there was still soone whose attention drifted far away, provoking a quiet conflict between a teacher and a student in the hall.
"Eh, Ziyu, is this the window of your study? The open courtyard being joyful is understandable, but what on earth is the long woods with wind? The only visible greenery in the courtyard with Brother Teng Ying is the cluster of chrysanthemums in the southeastern corner..." While everyone else in Shuaixing Hall was quietly appreciating the calligraphy, and the actual Zhao Rong was embarrassedly turning his head, Fan Yushu was baffled and asked, "And what’s with the quiet window opening with vivid characters... Uh, isn’t the view outside your study’s west window just a cucumber patch, which has long been picked clean..."
"..." Zhao Rong.
Could you not talk to , elbow away...
However, the hall was already quiet, and Fan Yushu was rather loud in his carelessness, so everyone heard the question, and like him, turned their curious and puzzled gazes.
Originally wanting to pretend not to hear it and ignore the teammate, but even Yu Huaijin in the first row turned around to look, not to ntion the graceful lady teacher slightly turned her side... Zhao Rong twitched his mouth, under the public’s eye, turned his head seriously to the ’curious baby’ Fan Yushu:
"Isn’t the green of cucumbers just green? The cucumber patch not only has lush green leaves but also grows tall and big. Looking across, isn’t it like the ’long woods,’ do you understand taphor?"
Fan Yushu was taken aback, scratched his head, and said apologetically, "Uh, sorry Ziyu, I didn’t know those cucumbers were so important to you, creating such a wonderful reading ambiance..."
Zhao Rong stiffened his face, eyes not looking at him, "Also, you should stop stealing cucumbers from our courtyard in the future."
"Really, sorry Ziyu, eh, accidentally destroyed your reading atmosphere." Fan Yushu sighed and struck his palms.
Soone gazed out the window, seemingly reminiscing the cucumbers by the window accompanying his reading for a while... only then did he sigh, wave his hand reluctantly and say: "Good to know, uh, next ti don’t pick them."
"Certainly, certainly..."
Just as Zhao Rong and Fan Yushu demonstrated brotherly friendship and reconciliation, surrounded by curious and amused students, Yu Huaijin silently looked at the calligraphy piece for a while and then turned to the teacher.
Zhu Yourong acted like she hadn’t heard the bickering between Zhao Rong and Fan Yushu, lightly said, "This ti revising the papers, saw many interesting windows... Huaijin’s window is bright, Xueyou’s is ornate, Hongyu’s is diversified, Delu’s window has elegance, Ziyu’s is... quiet, Yushu’s has tranquility amid noise, also has so fun..."
She casually nad so students for evaluation, then seriously said looking at the podium, "Each has its brilliance, but high scores aren’t necessarily the best, and low scores don’t necessarily an the window is uninteresting. Since it’s a calligraphy assessnt, as long as the topic ’window’ isn’t strayed from, naturally it’s scored by the quality of calligraphy... Thus, there’s no need for self-deprecation or envy towards others."
Yu Huaijin asked earnestly, "Then which window does Teacher like best?"
"I don’t like any of them." To the students’ surprise, the lady teacher shook her head without thinking, "I don’t particularly like windows, because no matter how exquisite a window is, it still keeps people inside, only showing the outside to them, while so wanted scenery isn’t inside."
Yu Huaijin and Zhao Rong, suddenly feeling a bit guilty, were both taken aback.
Zhu Yourong smiled softly, "So, I like to go out and write in open-air gardens."
Without waiting for students to think too deeply, the teacher on the podium continued her lecture, from Zhao Rong’s ’quiet window enjoying the green’ to the eleven ways of writing the character ’window,’ finally welcoming the chi from the mountain.
"Class dismissed."
Holding her books, Zhu Yourong turned and walked off the podium. When reaching the door she suddenly stopped, spoke without turning her head, and her words abruptly quieted the rising noise behind her, like pressing a pause button.
"Zhao Ziyu, co out for a mont."
Amid curious and surprised gazes, a certain student in the last row lifted his book bag and stood up.
As he walked out of the silent classroom, the figure of the woman had already disappeared at the corner of the long corridor by the lakeside, heading left, her steps not waiting for anyone.
The student carrying the book bag mumbled a bit, tossed the book bag over his shoulder, hooked it with his fingers, and quickly pursued.
The wind chis hung in the corridor by so students swayed noisily with the autumn wind.
Ripples of sunset shimr dappled across the lake like a golden-yellow glazed wall with wrinkles, impossible to piece together the clear reflection of the lakeside pedestrian, like a disrupted puzzle.
Zhao Rong lowered his head thinking about the water outside the corridor railing, counting steps, eyes not watching the road, occasionally reaching out a hand beyond the railing to catch a handful of warm sunshine.
Zhu Yourong embraced her books, her figure graceful, a few strands of hair tucked behind her ear, chin slightly raised, always looking forward, never turning back.
Along the way, so teachers and students stopped to glance at her, greeting the elegant and intelligent lady teacher, who just nodded slightly in response and continued moving forward.
Since it was right after class, the long corridor slowly filled with people, yet this teacher-student pair from Shuaixing Hall maintained a discreet distance, thus few realized they were together...
Until one of them spoke first.
...
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