Chapter 32
In the Great Eastern Village, no one knew that Shao Qihai was still alive.
The next day, the principal gave Shao Dong and Shao Xi an answer regarding their request to skip a grade.
“If your results are outstanding and you perform well in all aspects, you can apply to skip a grade.
“However, your current problem isn’t the second-grade exam. If you skip grades and go to the third grade, you will directly enter the third grade and will have to study. The problem is that the first semester of the third grade has already passed, and the next semester already started long ago. Can you keep up?
“If you can’t keep up with the third-grade curriculum, then skipping a grade isn’t worth it.”
The principal was actually quite considerate when it came to his students. “Normally, we don’t recommend skipping grades because teachers don’t just teach what’s in the textbooks. They impart other stuff as well.”
Shao Dong and Shao Xi agreed with the first part of his speech, but when they heard the last sentence, their expressions became a bit intrigued.
After all… Zhang Fei only taught what was in his textbooks. They had never seen him teach anything else.
The principal’s words made them even more determined.
The final conclusion of this discussion was that a grade-skipping examination would be held first. If they passed, he could consider approving their request, but only if they could keep up with the third-grade curriculum.
In the end, Shao Dong boldly said, “Then include the content of the third grade’s first semester in the assessment, as well as the progress exam of our current semester. You can allow us to skip a grade if we pass everything.”
Seeing that they had made up their minds, and considering the fact that it was rare for the school to have such brilliant students, the principal agreed after careful consideration.
The grade-skipping test was scheduled to take place two weeks later. During this period, Shao Dong and Shao Xi were allowed to revise by themselves. They weren’t required to attend Zhang Fei’s class. If they encountered something they didn’t understand, they could ask the other teachers. The principal could also teach them himself.
It was impossible for ordinary students to finish more than one semester of the third grade within two weeks, but Shao Dong and Shao Xi happily accepted the challenge.
Mu Jingzhe had no objections.
She believed that it shouldn’t be a problem for them.
After the agreement was made that day, Shao Dong and Shao Xi took the third-grade textbook the principal gave them and immediately began to study.
Mu Jingzhe was a university student, and her school wasn’t too bad. She shouldn’t have a problem with third-grade textbooks. For the first time ever, she asked if they needed her help.
Shao Dong hesitated for a second before nodding. “Okay.”
The original Mu Jingzhe hadn’t been as knowledgeable as Mu Xue and hadn’t gone to high school. However, she had at least finished middle school. Hence, they decided to let her try teaching them.
Unexpectedly, Mu Jingzhe… knew everything and was excellent at teaching.
She was much better than Zhang Fei.
Shao Dong and Shao Xi were amazed at first, but later on, they started to listen attentively.
Shao Nan, Little Bei, and Xiao Wu gathered beside them and listened quietly.
To them, the curriculum was a bit over the top, but they liked listening to Mu Jingzhe. They felt that what she said was very interesting and relaxing. From time to time, she would even say things they didn’t know.
Mu Jingzhe, who had seen modern fancy tutoring and had also tutored the younger kids at the orphanage, found these tutoring sessions quite easy.
However, she was also amazed deep in her heart. Bigshots were indeed impressive.
They were learning at an incredibly rapid rate, so much so that she almost suspected that they had a photographic memory.
This learning ability made Mu Jingzhe, who was an ordinary person, very envious.
At night, because there was no light, they couldn’t continue studying, so they recited poems instead.
The learning atmosphere was great.
When it was time to sleep, Little Bei grabbed her chubby little feet and asked Mu Jingzhe while lying in bed, “Auntie, why don’t you become a teacher? You teach as well as a teacher.”
This was Little Bei being tactful. She actually felt that some teachers weren’t even as good as Mu Jingzhe.
Mu Jingzhe laughed. “If you like it, I’ll teach you more often in the future. But I can’t be a teacher.”
“Why not? You teach so well and you know so much.”
In Shao Bei’s mind, anyone who was impressive could be a teacher.
However, she didn’t have enough educational qualifications. Without the necessary educational qualifications, she couldn’t very well tell people that she had acquired a teacher’s license in her past life so they’d let her be a teacher.
The next day was a Saturday and it was still a day of lessons. Shao Dong and the rest realized that Mu Jingzhe could not only teach Chinese and Mathematics but could also teach them about nature and morals. She knew how to draw as well.
Because the nature and moral education tests didn’t factor into their results, the teachers basically didn’t care about these two subjects. The curriculum simply had the students study these two subjects on their own.
Those who liked to study would take a look at the book. Many people would just flip through it casually, or they might not even do that.
They hadn’t expected that Mu Jingzhe would not only impart knowledge on these subjects to them but would also teach them a lot of things. Besides learning to love their country, the children also had a small dream in their hearts. They wanted to visit the capital in their life.
They also saw some stories of warriors protecting their country and Shao Qihai, who used to be a soldier, was mentioned. They felt very proud.
In the past, they would look forward to resting after class, but not with Mu Jingzhe. They felt that time passed in the blink of an eye when she was teaching them.
When Mu Jingzhe said that she wanted to cook, they were reluctant to part with her. They couldn’t help but chase after Mu Jingzhe to help wash the potatoes and ask her questions.
The furthest people from the Great Eastern Village went was the county city. They didn’t even know any places further than that. There was only one black-and-white television in the entire village, so they knew very little about the outside world.
There were just a few teachers, and the furthest they had been was the city. How could they compare to Mu Jingzhe, who had come from the modern era?
She had been to many places in the country, and her knowledge was much greater than that of the villagers of the Great Eastern Village. She thus widened the horizons of those kids by sharing.
The children looked forward to seeing the world beyond this village. Seeing that they were interested, Mu Jingzhe told them more.
After dinner, she asked them to rest. Shao Xi awkwardly took out his precious comic book and asked Mu Jingzhe to help him mend the missing piece of paper.
“Okay, but I’m not a professional artist. Don’t blame me if I don’t paint well.”
“I won’t,” Shao Xi immediately said.
Mu Jingzhe drew some simple pictures based on Shao Xi’s instructions and gestures.
In the afternoon, she talked to them about nature. She shared quite a bit of knowledge about nature, as well as thermal expansion and contraction, Earth’s gravitational buoyancy, and so on. The scope covered was quite broad, and Shao Nan obviously liked it a lot.
1
He pricked up his ears to listen to whatever Mu Jingzhe was saying. After being caught, he would turn around as if nothing had happened. When Mu Jingzhe discovered this by chance, she secretly laughed in her heart.
This was a genius, a future scientific researcher. It was normal for him to be interested in these things.
Seeing that they were interested, Mu Jingzhe spoke more.
Two days passed quickly. Mu Jingzhe taught them while making hair ornaments and couldn’t help but complain that time passed too quickly.
The children were having a lot of fun learning from her. Before they realized it, they were already surrounding Mu Jingzhe like little chicks foraging for food around their hen mother.
1
When it was Monday, Shao Nan and Little Bei had to go to school. The two of them dilly-dallied and had to be urged twice before they headed to school.
If possible, they wanted to stay at home and study with Mu Jingzhe. It was more interesting than going to school.
Unfortunately, that was naturally impossible.
When they returned at noon, they were followed by a guest. Mu Xue was with them.