Chapter 120

Xiaoqi had class in the morning, her last Japanese lesson.

She couldn't go pick up her dad, so her dad had to go sell bamboo baskets himself while she went to class first.

It was the last lesson. Zhou Meiling didn't really follow a curriculum after teaching hiragana. She taught whatever came to mind, quite freely.

It was different from Xiaoqi's methodical teaching according to the textbook. Zhou Meiling was quite whimsical, just glancing at the textbook when she remembered.

If you judged teachers as good or bad, Zhou Meiling's style would probably be agonizing for most students. She taught whatever she wanted to say, but the homework was still from the textbook. You'd feel confused doing it, thinking "Where is this? What is this? The teacher didn't talk about this at all!!"

But for especially smart or talented students, her style was very good. They could connect the dots doing homework, realizing the teacher mentioned this, the teacher also brought up that, so the question must mean this.

Xiaoqi wasn't an especially smart or gifted student. Guan Jingzhi was younger but better than her in this regard. But Xiaoqi was very diligent, and she had tried immersive reading which was really effective. It was like being a Japanese-speaking child, or vaguely always having that feeling. When she studied later, she felt she could grasp things easily and make great progress.

But diligence was still the most important. She should have had this motivation when learning English earlier, then she wouldn't be in this situation now.

Grasping every moment to study and practice resulted in great gains.

In the last lesson, Zhou Meiling taught quite freely as usual with two students she quite liked in front of her.

She liked Guan Jingzhi at first, naturally because of the girl's family background, but Guan Jingzhi herself was also quite outstanding. As for Su Xiaoqi, Zhou Meiling was lost for words.

The first time she met this student, she thought she had an impressive background. But it turned out she was just a rural student. She thought Xiaoqi was just an ordinary rural student, but it turned out she was even Guan Jingzhi's English tutor. She thought Xiaoqi was just a better student, but somehow she inexplicably won a swimming championship...

Every time Zhou Meiling thought she understood, she was proven wrong immediately. She thought Xiaoqi was poor, but she casually took out over 300,000 yuan to buy a house. Her husband's circumstances were good, giving her a high allowance, but Xiaoqi herself didn't have hundreds of thousands in cash on hand.

The girl bought a house as calmly as buying a tube of lipstick.

After repeatedly reevaluating, Zhou Meiling ended up liking this student.

She felt different, somehow like they were friends.

In the last lesson, there was no summary or anything. But Zhou Meiling gave both students small gifts.

Crystal hair clips.

Xiaoqi looked at the sparkling thing, was this really for her?

Shouldn't the teacher's gift have gone to Guan Jingzhi? But as Zhou Meiling forcibly clipped it into her hair, Xiaoqi felt her neck go stiff. When the teacher handed her a mirror, she saw two girls inside, one with medium-length hair and a clip at her bangs that should have looked silly. But surprisingly, it looked quite nice.

The long-haired girl beside her had a clip at the side, also very pretty.

For the first time, Xiaoqi realized that she and the beauty Guan Jingzhi looked good together in the mirror. She almost couldn't believe it.

In fact, Su Xiaoqi was naturally delicate and good-looking herself, but she was just insecure and driven to improve. There was an indescribable air about her, a bit countrified, while Guan Jingzhi was graceful and her 80% beauty gave off a 90% feel.

At this moment, the Xiaoqi in the mirror looked much better, like a beauty filter was applied. She was still herself, yet not herself.

After giving the gifts, Zhou Meiling shooed the students away.

Xiaoqi had agreed to meet her dad downstairs, and saw him sitting on the steps outside the bookstore next door.

Guan Jingzhi left in her family's car.

Xiaoqi hurried toward her dad.

Seeing his daughter come over, Su Youfu also stood up.

The cultural center was right next to the bookstore.

Zhou Meiling, airing out the room after class, happened to see this scene through the window.

She held an exquisite blue cup with half a cup of freshly ground coffee. She didn't like sugar and preferred slowly savoring the acidity of pure coffee.

She also saw Guan Jingzhi leave in her family's car.

The other student she liked walked up to an old farmer.

She seemed to remember Xiaoqi saying her dad would come yesterday.

The man looked just like an old peasant, his clothes and manner standing out from others on the street.

Few people on the street wore sweatshirts with long sleeves over them despite the late summer heat in Lushan City.

And he wore liberation shoes.

She saw Xiaoqi affectionately take the man's arm as she walked up, not caring at all what others thought.

The old farmer stood up and walked down the stairs. Zhou Meiling felt something was off, and when he reached flat ground, she realized he was limping.

His foot dragged with every step. She was shocked and covered her mouth.

She didn't expect the father of the student she considered even better than Guan Jingzhi to be disabled.

The man held Xiaoqi's hand in one hand and a carrying pole in the other, with a sack as well.

"Dad, how were sales of the bamboo baskets today? Did you sell a lot?" Xiaoqi asked. Su Youfu couldn't help a smile spreading across his face.

"Good. I saw the shop sold out of everything I delivered last time. Boss Huang even called me urging me several times, but craftwork takes attention to detail. If it's not well made, I don't want to deliver it either, so I put it off until today when conveniently, your class finished and I could come get you to go home together."

"Are you tired? Do you need to rest a bit more?"

Xiaoqi felt her dad was a bit excited, like his body was shaking.

"Not tired. Driver Dayu said he was coming to town this morning and gave me a ride. He dropped me straight at Shuidong, so I went right to the shop after getting out of the car, not tired at all. It's because Boss Huang raised the price again."

Su Youfu spoke then stroked his face, perplexed. "I don't know where Boss Huang found it, but a video you took of me weaving bamboo. He said it was filmed by a student and wanted me to also film when I work in the future. I don't know how to do that so I'll have your mom learn when we get back. She's smart and should pick it up quickly. And Boss Huang raised the price. The small ones used to be 150 yuan, big ones 200 yuan. Now the small ones are raised to 250 yuan, big ones 300 yuan. He even asked if I could make them if he sends me pictures, and said the price could be even higher."

Su Youfu had a thick stack of cash in his pocket. He always did business in cash, and had an exceptionally large amount this time.

"Oh right, I saved one for you that you said you wanted to give your teacher."

Su Youfu took a bamboo basket out of the sack, woven like a shopping bag. Somehow the edges were connected without any frayed bits, using old bamboo with spots, looking antique. The handles were made from bent bamboo roots section by section.

It was quite large, just the right size for Xiaoqi to carry A4 paper.

She was pleasantly surprised. It could definitely work as a commuter bag in normal times. Despite being made of bamboo, it wasn't too heavy. Her dad had even sewn a white cloth pouch inside.

"Your mom sewed it and said it's for city folks, in case it's not secure, with a drawstring closure inside."

Xiaoqi wanted one for herself just looking at this bamboo bag.

She noticed there were even carved characters on the bamboo root handles.

The characters carved were "You Fu."

Examining the bag, she felt it was perfect from every angle.

"Dad, wait for me. I'm going to take this to my teacher then come right back."

Carrying her dad's bamboo bag, Xiaoqi trotted back to the cultural center.

Zhou Meiling had felt inexplicably awful after seeing that scene earlier, maybe from the bitter coffee, so she closed the window and went into her office. But then she saw Xiaoqi run back clutching an extremely quaint and beautiful bag.

"Teacher Zhou, my dad made this to give you. I have to go, bye!" Xiaoqi put down the bag and trotted off again.

Zhou Meiling: ......

Looking at the bag on her desk, she examined it from top to bottom... It matched her traditional clothes so well, gorgeous.

Mixed feelings welled up in her heart again... Especially when she saw the engraving on the handle of the handbag.

She was an old regular at a tea house that served tea. A few days ago, she went to a relatively upscale new tea house. The boss there boasted about his small bamboo packs made by grand masters. It was a tiny little bamboo basket that could only hold two teacups. He said the small basket cost over two thousand yuan.

She thought it was quite elegant and had wanted to buy it at the time. She looked at it carefully and saw a small engraved character on it, but considering it was not very practical, she gave up on it in the end. Still, she took quite a few pictures of it and even posted on her social media.

Now...the exact same engraved character was right in front of her...