Early in the morning, Mr. Wang climbed out of bed.
He had eaten heartily the night before, even enjoying at and sugar, which he hadn’t tasted in a long ti, making him full of energy today. He looked back at the half-room filled with various foods, then touched the two big fist-sized silver pieces hidden under his pillow.
There was food aplenty and plenty of money!
Suddenly, Mr. Wang felt as if he had reached the pinnacle of life.
Taking soone’s money ant carrying out their tasks; since the Third Lady had treated him well, he would teach her daughter properly. He opened the small bundle he had carried from the city, where the teaching materials—like “Four Books,” “Five Classics,” and “Hundred Surnas”—were all present.
Mr. Wang confird the teaching materials were complete, patted his face to perk himself up, and walked out of his small room.
Outside was a large courtyard, one of the wells in the Hakka roundhouse. As soon as Mr. Wang entered the courtyard, he saw Thirty-Two and Gao Yiye with about eight or nine children standing before him, with the Third Lady’s daughter naturally among them; behind them were several youths.
These were all the people in the village willing to learn reading and writing.
Mr. Wang was startled and said, “Huh?”
The Third Lady smiled and said, “Mr. Wang, please put in a bit more effort and teach all these people together.”
Mr. Wang was a bit stunned: These children were from peasant families, weren’t they? The Third Lady was actually paying out of her own pocket to let others’ children learn reading and writing; was she such a selfless person?
But however she felt, the tuition he had received was more than enough to teach a hundred tis more children, so he cupped his hands and said with a smile, “I will certainly do my best.”
“Then let’s start teaching…”
Mr. Wang had just uttered a word when Gao Yiye suddenly said, “Ah, sorry, Mr. Wang, please wait a mont; the Deity has spoken. The great one says the children need to do so morning exercises to stretch their bodies before the reading and writing lesson; that is scientific.”
A huge question mark slowly appeared above Mr. Wang’s head: What does “scientific” an?
Gao Yiye said to all the children, “Everyone turn around and look in the direction of the watchtower.”
The watchtower was the highest three-story building in the Hakka roundhouse, and also Gao Yiye’s residence. She lived on the third floor, which was the place closest to the Deity; standing on the balcony, one could overlook the entire compound.
The children all obediently turned around; even those youths turned together and looked solemnly at the watchtower.
Then they saw a rectangular, strange tal object slowly descending from the clouds and hovering right above the watchtower. It was ten zhang wide (about 30 ters) and over four zhang tall (about 14 ters), quite frightening.
Mr. Wang was greatly startled and said, “What is this thing?”
This thing was actually Li Daoxuan’s phone; he had placed the phone horizontally and stuck it into a box, so it hovered above the watchtower. Then, pressing his finger on the screen, it recognized his fingerprint and unlocked, and the phone’s screen lit up suddenly.
Mr. Wang exclaid in surprise, “Ah? This thing is glowing.”
Gao Yiye said, “That is the Deity’s divine mirror, used to teach the children techniques for strengthening their bodies. Everyone, watch carefully.”
What appeared on the phone screen was a group of children dressed in odd clothes, lined up in a square formation, looking serious.
Then music started playing: “Begin now doing the Seventh Set of Radio Calisthenics, first group, stretching exercises… 1, 2, 3, 4… 2, 2, 3, 4…”
Gao Yiye said loudly, “By the Deity’s order, all students, follow along.”
The children quickly started following the video, but it was their first ti learning this, so their movents were nowhere near standard, twisting and turning haphazardly, ssing around in various ways; so were even doing the wrong directions, and one motion knocked the person next to them over.
The scene was chaotic.
In fact, not only the children were in disorder: throughout the entire Hakka roundhouse, people everywhere were following along, so chaos reigned everywhere.
After a while, the video finished playing; the “Deity’s divine mirror” began to rise, flew into the clouds, and disappeared.
Everyone’s movents ca to a halt.
Gao Yiye spoke loudly: “Today was the first ti, so it was okay if things weren’t done right. The Deity didn’t bla everyone. From now on, every day before class, everyone must do one set of the Seventh Set of Radio Calisthenics.”
Every person said together: “We will respectfully follow the Decree of the Deity.”
Mr. Wang: “Huh? What? What what what? What happened? What exactly is going on?”
Thirty-Two patted Mr. Wang on the shoulder and said with a chuckle: “Our Gaojia Village has always been under the protection of a deity called Dao Xuan Deity. We can witness the Deity appear holy anyti, anywhere. You just saw it and will see it often in the future.”
Mr. Wang: “The Master did not speak of ghosts and gods!”
Thirty-Two: “The food and silver you got weren’t actually mine; they were rewards given to you by the Deity.”
Mr. Wang: “Ah, the Deity truly is a kind and good deity.”
Thirty-Two: “…”
It was awkward; the scene was just very awkward.
After a good while, Thirty-Two ca out of his stiff state and said: “Alright, now it’s up to Mr. Wang. I have a lot to do. After being at the county town for two days, plenty of ss piled up in Gaojia Village—it’s chaotic everywhere. And there are many people being lazy about working or stealing cotton. I need to go scold those worthless troublemakers.”
When he spoke the words “stealing cotton,” Gao Yiye beside him instantly blushed, backed away two steps guiltily, and thought to herself: Oh no, I’m about to be yelled at. Third Lady clearly hadn’t been in Gaojia Village for two days; how did he know I stole cotton?
Then Thirty-Two said: “Miss Yiye, before, the cotton was stored in a broken house and people always ca to steal it. I want to move the cotton into the watchtower and keep it on the second floor. The third floor above is where you live, and below that, the first floor is the ancestral hall. We’ll place the statue of the Deity on the first floor, so no one will dare to steal again. I don’t believe anyone would risk sneaking past the Deity’s statue to take things. What do you think?”
A surge of utter confusion hit Gao Yiye: Oh no, you’re asking ? If the cotton stays right under my ho, won’t that let steal to my heart’s content? Ahhh! Are you doing this on purpose? You must be testing intentionally!
Thirty-Two had no clue about Gao Yiye’s busy mind: “Miss Yiye? What’s wrong? Say sothing!”
Gao Yiye gathered her courage and thought to herself, “Fine, so I’ll be the fool; might as well go all out,” and then said: “Okay! Let’s put the cotton on the second floor.”
After getting the Saint Lady’s agreent, Thirty-Two waved to gather the villagers: “Co over here, move the cotton! Shift all of it to the second floor of the watchtower. From now on, items granted by the Deity will be stored on the second floor. The first floor will display the Deity’s statue, and on the third floor lives the Saint Lady. I want to see who of you still dares to steal cotton from the second floor.”
The villagers responded: “Where would we dare steal? We wouldn’t dare.”
Thirty-Two laughed and scolded: “Still saying you wouldn’t dare? After I was gone for two days, there’s a huge hole stolen from the big cotton ball. Do you all think I’m blind?”
The villagers replied: “We truly wouldn’t dare! With deities watching over us, we wouldn’t dare act wildly.”
Thirty-Two demanded: “Then where did the cotton go?”
The villagers answered: “We don’t know either.”
Thirty-Two huffed: “Humph! The one who stole the cotton—the Deity will punish them.”
Gao Yiye listened to their talk, sweating bullets.
Amidst the uproar, a sentry on the wall of the compound suddenly yelled out: “Hey, soone in the mountains is running over here, stumbling along like he’s hurt!”
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