Chapter 42 My name is Tiezhu, courtesy name Xiangde

  Everything has been arranged and it's already past 2 pm, I've been away from home for a whole 12 hours. If I don't make it back before Baozi gets off work at 4:30, then this book will have to end here.

  When I was about to leave, my blue screen phone rang. I picked it up and the dazzling light made Lai Zi stare at me in amazement - he had never seen a phone like this before. I flipped open the cover and pressed it against my ear to answer, only to hear Principal Zhang ask: "I heard you've already recruited a batch of students in such a short time?" I glared at Lai Zi, who whispered: "I didn't tell him about the fight."

  Principal Zhang said after getting a definite answer: "Are you available now? I'd like to go take a look at your students." I knew this old man couldn't be offended, so I hurriedly said welcome.

  As soon as I hung up the phone, I started to worry. These 300 people, in terms of age, most are around 20 years old, which is still acceptable, but at a glance, they look like a military troop, and every single one of them has long hair. For Principal Zhang, who is a relatively conservative old intellectual, this is absolutely unacceptable. And I couldn't tell him that the school buildings aren't even finished yet, but we've already recruited 300 troublemakers.

  The silly boy hit me and hung up the phone, staring at my mobile phone for a long time. When he found out I was glaring at him, he smiled awkwardly and said: "Now rich people are all using blue screens?"

  "Nonsense, the radiation is minimal, you know? We even choose to eat vegetables with wormholes." I said to him, "I'll find something for you to do, go gather all the barbers from the surrounding villages."

  "Brother Qiang, times have changed. Now even in the countryside, they're opening up hair salons and they're all run by women. If we go, it's fine, but if we don't, it'll be hard to avoid misunderstandings. My second uncle's village does have an old man who can cut bowl-cut hairstyles, but even if he came, he wouldn't be able to catch up."

  I pushed him to one side and let Xu DeLong gather the soldiers, I went to the middle of the team and made a few people who were standing particularly straight stand at an angle, making the whole team look more relaxed. Then I gave them a lecture: "From now on, you are no longer soldiers, but students!" Xu DeLong interrupted, saying: "Xiao Zhuang Shi..." I waved my hand and said loudly: "From now on, everyone remembers not to call me Zhuang Shi, but to call...". I thought for a moment that calling myself Principal was too high, and calling myself Teacher was too low, so I said: "Call me Director Xiao. There will be an old man coming to see you soon, you call him Principal, got it?"

  If everything goes smoothly, they should have said: Got it. Then I put my hand on the edge of my ear and provocatively asked, what did you say? And then there was a deafening mountain cry: Got it!

  But these people didn't react at all, Xu Delong rushed to them and said: "Just make it clear."

  "Got it."

  Xu Delong turned around and asked me: "Xiao Zhuangshi, what did you mean by that?"

  I crouched on the ground in a bad mood, picked up a twig and played with it, saying weakly: "It's all right, I'll deal with it later. Can you think of a way to make my hair shorter?"

  Xu Delong was taken aback. In their time, there was no such thing as shaving heads. They believed in "the body and hair are given by one's parents, and one dare not damage them." Fortunately, this was a military unit, where obeying orders was their duty, and other factors were not considered. After Xu Delong gave the order, 300 people divided into 150 groups, using the daggers they brought to shave each other's heads. I watched as handful after handful of hair fell to the ground, and my heart ached. Although they weren't old veterans, the price of their Song Dynasty hairstyles should be about the same, right?

  The team gathered again, I took a look - it's really not as good as before the haircut, the craftsmanship is too rough, each one has messy hair pointing to the sky, some have a few strands floating in the wind, and some look like they've been bitten by a dog, too punk, too Korean, too non-mainstream.

  Just then, Director Zhang arrived. Old Zhang was from Lai Zi's second uncle's place. The village chief had sent a peasant riding China's only cross-type motorcycle that could still run to bring Old Zhang over, with a delicate bespectacled man following behind him.

  Old Zhang sat in the rickshaw, wearing a well-pressed Zhongshan suit, with an air of dignity, somewhat like a warlord from the Republic of China era. Old Zhang got out of the vehicle with one leg, and the bespectacled man followed him over.

  Principal Zhang first looked at the progress of the project, nodded his head in satisfaction, and walked up to me with a smile. Suddenly, he saw 300 big boys with expressionless faces standing neatly in front of him, their hair hanging down from their heads just right. At this moment, a gentle breeze blew by, and the hair on the 300 heads fluttered slightly.

  Old Zhang looked at me with a gloomy face and asked: "Is this the student you recruited?"

  I whispered in his ear: "They were all recruited from a remote rural village, uncultured but physically strong, and are good candidates for learning martial arts."

  As expected, Old Zhang felt a sense of closeness when he heard that they were from a farming family. He then pointed at Xu De Long, who was wiping his eyes with his sleeve, and asked: "Is this the parent or does the child just have an old face?"

  I said: "I heard that Bai eats for free and follows him in, I plan to lead the team competition with him in the future and take a look at his clothes and so on."

  Principal Zhang walked up to a little warrior and asked kindly: "What's your name?"

  That thick-browed and big-eyed little warrior loudly said: "My name is Wei Tiezhu, courtesy name Xiangde."

  Principal Zhang was surprised and said: "I didn't expect a country boy to know how to write."

  Wei Tiezhu said a shocking sentence: "This is what General Yue Yun gave us!"

  Principal Zhang chuckled and said, "This kid seems to be quite infatuated with 'The Legend of Yue Fei'." I wiped the sweat and laughed along with him. Principal Zhang then asked our village's moral officer, "Have you paid for his tuition?"

  I was really afraid that Wei Tiezhu would say something earth-shattering again, fortunately he said in confusion: "What money are you talking about?"

  Principal Zhang saw that he wasn't helping me cheat, and with a chuckle, his attitude towards me also became much better. He said: "Although it's free, you still need to grasp the quality, isn't it hard to find a good martial arts teacher?"

  I solemnly promise: "In a few days, I'll come, from long-distance running to swimming, from freestyle to eighty million head coaches (wanted to say eighteen kinds of martial arts). The kids want to be interested in inviting bees... uh, calling the wind and rain or divination, and can also teach them some traditional culture."

  Principal Zhang said: "Let me introduce a teacher to you first." As he spoke, he pulled the elegant bespectacled man who had been standing behind him all along to my side.

  I sized him up, and saw that the young man was probably around my age, with a neat middle part in his hair, a delicate white face, somewhat shy in front of people, looking like a graduate student from a third-rate university. But after Principal Zhang said that, I didn't dare to underestimate him - could it be that this young man had some extraordinary skills hidden up his sleeve? I noticed that there was a pen stuck in the breast pocket of his shirt - who still puts pens there these days? That's not good, maybe it's his secret weapon, and he'll whip it out and strike without warning.

  Principal Zhang swallowed his saliva before finishing what he had to say: "This is Teacher Yan, one of the six teachers from Yucai Primary School in the past. He can teach you cultural classes."

  "This..."

  Principal Zhang saw me hesitating, his face sank and said: "Don't you trust the person I introduced? Xiao Yan is absolutely a qualified teacher, and the monthly salary is only 1000." As he whispered in my ear, "Agree to it, this kid is quite pitiful. Originally, he was one year away from graduating from university when his family had an accident, so he dropped out of school. The young man is very good, wholeheartedly devoted to the children."

  Now that it's come to this, what else can I say? Teacher Yan saw that I had agreed and nodded at me in gratitude. Then he stood in front of the class, cleared his throat, and before he even spoke, his face turned red as he said awkwardly: "My name is Yan Jing Sheng, you all can call me Jing Sheng."

  I saw 300 people remain silent, I made a gesture to them, and the 300 people simultaneously understood, loudly shouting: "Yan Zhuang Shi Hao!" I was shocked, their hearts were in sync, not even one called out "Teacher".

  Yan Jing-sheng was so scared that he sat down on the ground with a thud. I pulled him for half a day before I finally managed to pull him up.

  Principal Zhang frowned and said: "Xiaoqiang, pay attention to the books these students usually read. It's better for them to read less about fighting and killing, and more about Tang poetry and Song lyrics."

  I apologized to Yan Jing Sheng and said: "Teacher Yan, are you okay? What did you used to teach?"

  Yan Jing Sheng wiped his glasses that had fallen to the ground and said, "I can teach math and language. I used to teach grades one through five, but don't worry, I can also teach junior high and high school."

  "Never mind, these people haven't studied much, you can treat them as first-grade students and start teaching from scratch."

  "Is this okay?" Teacher Yan asked doubtfully.

  I loudly asked 300: "Will it work?"

  Although they had no idea what I was saying, this time's question was easy to answer:

  "Go!"

  Teacher Yan was startled again and accidentally dropped his glasses on the ground once more.

  Principal Zhang said to me: "I heard that you have prepared tents for the students, this is a good idea. Since the earthquake damaged the school building, Xiao Yan has had nowhere to live. Let him live with your students and it won't delay their studies."

  What's going on? 300 iron-blooded Yue family soldiers with unknown intentions, a weak and feeble university student, waiting together in one place... why do I feel like this is an American blockbuster?

  But I don't care about that now, let them go and influence each other. I haven't had a good sleep for a long time, what I want to do most now is hurry back home, take a bath, make up for my sleep, and then see if I can create an opportunity to have some fun with Baozi. My bicycle is still in the factory yard, it will take at least several hours to walk there. I looked at the motorcycle that Principal Zhang and others came on, and asked the farmer if he could lend me a ride back, and I would return it tomorrow. The farmer was hesitant, so I handed him my phone and said: "Why don't you ask your village chief?" He took a look at my phone, chuckled, pulled out a Nokia N81 from his pocket, made a call, and then told me: "Our village chief says that after your school is opened, we'll take care of the vegetables for you, and the motorcycle will be yours."

  ……

  I rode a cross motorcycle, galloping on the vast land and country roads of Ya Cun, who saw it and said with envy: "The village chief's relatives..."

  As soon as I left the village of Ya Cun, people along the way pointed at me and shouted: "Look at that fool!"

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  Recommend a book also spoof "The Road We Cross"

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