In front of the blackboard, the three teenagers were bending over to tie their shoelaces. They are all fifth graders in elementary school, and they all put their left or right foot on the edge of the podium... At that moment, the classroom was quiet, only these three teenagers. In the northernmost provincial capital city in the north, the sun is still warm in the morning of September.To welcome the National Day, the classroom windows have been wiped brightly.If there is no window frame, at a glance, it seems that it does not exist. A few days ago, teacher Qu, the class teacher, said at the class meeting: "Before the National Day, the school will conduct a sanitation evaluation as usual. Last year, our class was not ranked first because we did not wipe the windows carefully and deducted two points. I hope that this year we will Class is number one."

Teacher Qu always speaks very softly, and she also said those words very calmly.It seems that although it is her hope to get the first place, if she still does not get the first place, then she will not feel so depressed.It also seemed that it was purely what the school leaders asked every head teacher to say to the students, otherwise she might not have said it. In the past two months, Teacher Qu's face has become more and more haggard day by day.Every student can see that Teacher Qu must be seriously ill, and she insists on teaching the students every day.Even the most mischievous boy in the class has been disciplined for the past two months.

It was an era when Chinese people were most able to compare their hearts with each other.Because that year was 1961.Since 1960, more than 99 percent of people, whether in rural or urban areas, have been starving to varying degrees.In some provinces, hundreds of thousands of people are starving to death. Hunger actually makes Chinese feel a little sympathetic to each other.Because only in this way will I feel that my life is relatively easy.No matter in elementary school, middle school or university, the teachers are no longer very strict with the students; in the eyes of the students, the teachers have also changed.The teacher who used to scold the students with a stern face was obviously so hungry that he was not as energetic as before.And the teacher who makes the students feel kind is naturally more kind to the students—such as Teacher Qu.When she stood in front of the blackboard and looked at her classmates, her eyes were often full of love.Although she was only facing the fifth grade students in primary school, they could all understand the love and affection in her eyes.

That generation of Chinese elementary school students, no matter at home or in school, longed too much to be loved and loved. If you want to get something, you will be very sensitive to it. Even animals. My stomach is empty all day long, but my heart can't be the same! Teacher Qu is a teacher after all, and she can't give anything to the stomachs of the students; what she can give is only what the students need in their hearts.Although, that kind of giving is not equal to food at all, but it can play a role in anesthesia for the stomach. With Teacher Qu's few words, the girls in the class regarded it as their sacred mission.They spent a Sunday afternoon earnestly completing that task.Some girls even sacrificed their small handkerchiefs to wipe the glass more transparent.

It was an era when only a few elementary school girls had handkerchiefs.Most of them go to school with nothing more than a roll of newspaper cut to the size of a handkerchief in their pocket. Just because the girls wiped the glass so brightly, the three boys who were tying their shoes wiped the blackboard extremely clean. It must be difficult for today's children to understand that they are hungry and hungry, but they still have the responsibility of being on duty. This is certainly difficult for today's children-but that is exactly the characteristic of elementary school students back then.

It's okay to not study well, but the thinking must never be worse than what the "collective" requires-this awareness has long been imprinted in their minds.The attitude of hygiene duty has nothing to do with learning is good or bad, but it will definitely be commented on how thoughts are connected by others.At such a young age, they all knew this in their hearts. Sunlight shines through the windows, illuminating the classroom warmly.One of them wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.He was already sweating. Their shoelaces are untied—wait!Huh?It turned out that they were not tying shoelaces, but chalking the broken rubber shoes on their feet.Yes.That's why they're all trying to paint their galoshes white.

Back then, a pair of white rubber shoes cost more than one yuan more than a pair of black or blue rubber shoes, and they were called the "team shoes" of the Chinese Young Pioneers.Because they are special shoes, few are produced, so they are expensive.And they are not wearing team shoes on their feet.Their parents have never been willing to spend more than one yuan to buy a pair of "team shoes" for them.In the past, when they participated in the activities of the Young Pioneers, they had to say good things a few days in advance and thin their lips to borrow "team shoes" from elementary school students.The general family is poor; they are the children of poorer families.

However, the National Day in 1961 was approaching, and the city instructed that in order to strengthen people's spiritual strength to survive the hungry years, the celebration parade this year must be larger than previous years.Primary school students are the flowers of the motherland and an indispensable lineup in the National Day parades over the years.This year, the number of people participating in the National Day parade in every elementary school is unprecedented; and the three boys in this classroom of this elementary school have nowhere to borrow "team shoes"... Their stomachs digest little and little food every day.The state limits their daily rations to seven taels through the urban grain purchase certificate.Today, when non-staple food is extremely abundant, it may not be rare, but for them back then, non-staple food only meant their own pickled pickles.When the body is growing, there is no non-staple food intake in the stomach, and there is almost no oily moisture in the stomach, so the digestion of rations becomes particularly intense.They can only stuff elm money, willow buds, and various wild vegetables into their mouths every day...and that can only be a limited seasonal supplement.

In fact, they are all worried - after the "October", winter will come in a blink of an eye, what else can they eat to replenish their stomachs? But whether to wear a pair of "team shoes" on the feet is a worry that cannot be avoided. On the National Day last year, they were disqualified from participating in the celebration parade because they did not have "team shoes".They are already fifth graders this year.Their self-esteem does not allow themselves to repeat the mistakes of last year. What they are doing at this moment is a valuable experience learned from students in other classes.The shoes after their respective "processing" look like white, which can almost "disguise the real ones"...

But there was a child whose shoe was worn out long ago, and his big toe was sticking out of the shoe. If he painted his big toe with chalk, he couldn’t paint it white—his name was Wang Xiaosong. "Stupid," another child saw and immediately gave him advice, "wet the chalk." He said while continuing to "process" his shoes—his name was Tsui Hark. "But, how can there be water?" Wang Xiaosong was so anxious that he was about to cry. The third child was named Wu Zhenqing, who looked older among the three teenagers. At this time, Wu Zhenqing had finished painting his pair of shoes, and immediately helped Wang Xiaosong "make up" his toenails. He said in the tone of a big brother: "This Isn’t it easy? Let’s get some artificial water!”

After he finished speaking, he spit on the chalk and painted it for Wang Xiaosong. Although the movements were quick, they were a little flustered after all, and they used up most of the box of chalk. At this time, on the playground outside, the team drums were louder and louder, and the slogans kept coming and going: "Happy, Happy National Day!" "Long live Chairman Mao, long live long live long live..." A girl suddenly pushed open the door of the classroom and said urgently: "What are you three doing here? Hurry up and leave! It's time for our class to practice soon." - Her name is Zhang Meng, she is the team leader, "a bar". After Zhang Meng finished speaking, she turned and left. The three good friends looked down at their own shoes, looked at each other's shoes, and then looked up at each other, obviously not so confident. Wu Zhenqing waved his hand and said, "Let's go!" In front of the stairs, Wu Zhenqing was worried, and grabbed two good friends again, still put on the appearance of a big brother, straightened their necklines for them, tightened the red scarves, and tied the exposed corner of the white shirt for Wang Xiaosong. Tuck it into the waistband of your trousers. Tsui Hark, on the other hand, wiped some saliva with his fingers, and smoothed Wu Zhenqing's curled-up cockscomb-like hair... Wu Zhenqing said encouragingly: "We are qualified enough!" So, the three little friends took advantage of a group of queues to pass by the building, and jumped out cleverly. They used the cover of other squads' queues to detour back to their own squad's queue. Three bouquets of paper flowers.Through several hands, it was passed from Zhang Meng's hands to theirs... The procession of their squad passed the drill platform—they lined up, waving bouquets, and shouting in unison with the others: "Happy, celebrate the National Day! Study hard and make progress every day!..." Through the drill bench, they winked at each other, celebrating their success...
The class bell rang, and the students sat upright in their seats. Zhang Meng found a piece of chalk on the edge of the podium and on the ground; she couldn't tolerate the irresponsible behavior of the student on duty, so she hurried to clean it up. As soon as she returned to her seat, the head teacher walked into the classroom.She is a female teacher around forty years old—Teacher Qu who is loved by her classmates. Zhang Meng shouted the password: "Stand up, salute, sit down!" The students stood up neatly according to the password, saluted neatly, and sat down neatly. The teacher said: "Students, we will study today's Chinese class. Please open the textbook..." As Teacher Qu said, he reached into the chalk box to pick up chalk—and took out a third of the chalk.She seemed a little strange, she even picked up the chalk box... There are only a few pieces of chalk left in the chalk box, and some of them have been ground into triangles or semicircles. She scanned the class seriously... The classmates sitting upright looked at her inexplicably... Teacher Qu asked: "Which student took the chalk from the chalk box?" No hands were raised.No one answered.Wu Zhenqing, Wang Xiaosong, and Tsui Hark also pretended to have nothing to do with them.Sitting more upright than other students, looking at the teacher more calmly than other students. The teacher asked again: "Do you know that each teacher only distributes one box of chalk every month?" The students answered in unison: "Yes!" The teacher asked again: "Do you know that if you run out in advance and there is no place to buy it, the teacher has to borrow it from other teachers?" The students replied: "Yes!" The teacher was angry: "It seems that you know everything! So, where did the teacher's half box of chalk go? Huh?" Zhang Meng stood up abruptly and said loudly: "Teacher, it's none of the other students' business, it's Wu Zhenqing, Wang Xiaosong, and Xu Hark..." The three good friends had to stand up one by one after being exposed in public... After Zhang Meng sat down, the teacher said restrainedly: "You return the chalk to the teacher." The eyes of the students cast their eyes on the three good friends from all directions. Wang Xiaosong and Xu Hark bowed their heads in silence. After all, Wu Zhenqing is the big brother, he summoned up his courage and said, "It's gone...we...we use chalk as shoe powder..." Wang Xiaosong wanted to explain the reason nonchalantly: "If you don't have white rubber shoes, you can't participate in the National Day activities, but we all want to participate..." A girl sitting with Wang Xiaosong stood up and said: "Teacher, their family is very difficult; last year they could not participate in the National Day activities because they did not have white rubber shoes. Please forgive them this time..." Her name is Hao Mei. The teacher asked Wu Zhenqing: "Really?" Wu Zhenqing said: "Teacher, we are all children of the poor..." Zhang Meng turned her head and said loudly: "Nonsense! There are no poor people in the new socialist China!" Tsui Hark suddenly raised his head, stared at Zhang Meng and retorted: "Yes! Yes!" Zhang Meng got angry and shouted: "You are reactionary!" Wang Xiaosong said: "What's wrong with the reaction? I'll beat you!" and raised his fist threateningly. Zhang Meng did not show weakness: "How dare you!" Wu Zhenqing: "You say the poor are reactionary, and you are the reactionary!" Hao Mei picked up Wang Xiaosong's pencil case (it was made of toothpaste box) with a sense of justice, and poured out a few pieces of pencils inside for Zhang Meng to see: "Look, you can't even afford a pencil case, so I can’t bear to throw away short pencil ends, are they poor or rich?” Zhang Meng asked the teacher for help with teary eyes and aggrieved: "Teacher!" The teacher said: "Okay, okay, don't argue anymore. The teacher will not pursue the matter of chalk anymore!" She signaled the three students who were standing to sit down, and began to write the topic on the blackboard. When the teacher turned his back, Wang Xiaosong turned his head and showed Zhang Meng a fist. The chalk fell to the ground, and the teacher knelt down to pick it up.She didn't stand up right away—she put one hand on the ground and the other on the wall, squatting for a while before picking up chalk, and then standing up... Because there are lecture desks blocking it, no students found this out... The teacher supported the desk with one hand, stood on the podium, and led everyone to read the text... "Once upon a time, there was a child from a poor family named Ma Liang..." Students read along... There was a male classmate who blocked himself with the textbooks standing on the table and secretly carved something hard with a knife. His name was Han Debao. He wrapped the engraved things into small packages with paper, and threw them to the male students in other seats when the teacher was not paying attention. "One day, Ma Liang met an old man with a white beard. The old man said: 'My child, I'm starving to death, give me something to eat!' Ma Liang gave his only piece of pancake without hesitation, I gave it to the old man with the white beard, even though he himself was very hungry..." The teacher's voice is very weak... But the students didn't find it unusual, and read along in unison... Wang Xiaosong got a small paper bag, opened it, and found a little bit of bean cake crumbs.He divided half of it and it fell on the desk of Hao Mei, the same table. Hao Mei was indifferent. Wang Xiaosong licked all the bean cake crumbs left in the paper bag, chewing with relish... When he looked at Hao Mei's tabletop again, the bean cake crumbs no longer existed, leaving a wet mark on the tabletop where he had licked it with his tongue.As if a snail had just crawled through... He looked at Hao Mei, who was staring at the textbook without turning her eyes, but kept her mouth tightly shut. Wu Zhenqing also got a small paper bag.After he opened it, he saw that there were still words written on the paper—"This is not an ordinary bean cake, but a bean cake for military horses. My father's comrade-in-arms who is the company commander of the cavalry regiment sent someone to bring it." "Grandpa with a white beard, he gave Ma Liang a pen before he left..." The teacher's leading voice became weaker... The voices of the students are also weak - almost only the voices of the female students are reading.Almost every male student had bean cakes in their mouths, and they were chewing with relish. The teacher asked: "What's wrong with the male students? Why...don't...read?" The male students were silent. The teacher said: "Male students, all...stand up..." The weak voice of the teacher finally made the students feel that something was wrong. The female students looked at the male students reproachfully. The teacher led the male students to read again, but the male students still kept their mouths tightly shut, and they all had bean cakes in their mouths. How could they open their mouths? The teacher raised his arm, as if he wanted to say something.But he didn't say a word, he just opened his mouth... She bent her knees and dropped to her knees on the lectern - but she still held the edge of the desk with one hand.She tried to stand up, but failed... The students were stunned for a moment... The teacher raised his head and glanced at the students, and even the hand holding the edge of the desk dropped weakly——she fell on the podium... There was a moment of silence in the classroom—it seemed to hear the discouraged sound of a train arriving at a station in the distance. "Teacher." The first one to call out was Zhang Meng. She called out very softly, completely subconsciously.A few rows of students behind stood up and looked up to the podium. Wu Zhenqing left his seat and walked up to the teacher on tiptoe, as if he thought the teacher was just asleep and was afraid of waking her up... The classmates looked at him to help the teacher - but he couldn't help... He looked up at his classmates asking for help... At this moment, all the students cheered and all left their seats, rushed to the podium, surrounded Wu Zhenqing and the teacher... "teacher!" "teacher!" "Teacher, what's the matter with you?" They called, Zhang Meng and several female classmates cried... The classroom door opened, and several teachers from other classes appeared... The teary-eyed and panic-stricken students watched their teacher leave the classroom being carried on the back of a male teacher and guarded by two female teachers... Zhang Meng stopped crying, pointed at Wang Xiaosong and said bitterly, "You are the one who made the teacher angry!" Wang Xiaosong also seemed to think that it was his fault, and he leaned against the wall guiltily and anxiously, like a thief caught in public... Wu Zhenqing protected Wang Xiaosong: "It's none of his business..."——A hero who does things like a hero... Zhang Meng said: "Of course there is your responsibility!" "And Tsui Hark!" Xu Hark was about to slip away, but was pushed by a female classmate to Wu Zhenqing and Wang Xiaosong... "Hit them!" The one who said this was Han Debao who gave them bean cakes. So a few male classmates punched them... Zhang Meng pointed at Han Debao again: "You are not a good person either! You not only eat for yourself in class, but also give it to others! So you can't read the text! Beat them, these stinky boys!" It seems that Zhang Meng still has a certain appeal among the female students. Her words almost mobilized all the female students.They started hitting all the male classmates with their small fists, kicking them, or spitting on them... The male students hugged their heads one by one and shrank together... Only a female student, Hao Mei, did not participate in the punishment of the male students. She stood aside and watched silently... The desk was touched, and the chalk box fell to the ground... The chalk box was trampled flat, and a few pieces of chalk were trampled around... Hao Mei immediately squatted down to pick up the chalk, and her hands were stepped on... The girls got angry enough, and suddenly everyone thought of the teacher again, what happened to the teacher?So they all flocked to the door of the teacher's room... The voices of the teachers came from the teaching room: "I think I'm hungry..." "In the past half a month, when it was time to eat at noon, she used excuses to hide out. One day, I found her eating at the stairs with a lunch box. There was nothing in the lunch box except wild vegetables..." "Her father-in-law and mother-in-law are too hungry to survive in the countryside, so they come to live in her house in the city. Her husband is also a teacher, and our teacher's ration is only twenty-eight and a half catties, alas..." "She didn't say anything, but did we let her eat only wild vegetables at noon every day..." "She's so self-respecting, even if we give her some food every day at noon, she won't accept it!" "The face is so ugly, the lips are blue, could it be poisoned by wild vegetables?" "Hey, hey, I've been in a coma, can you please send an ambulance quickly? What? No car? There is a car and no gasoline? Hey, hey..." The door of the teacher's room suddenly opened, and a male teacher came out, the teacher who recited the music, he looked quite young, about twenty-seven or eighteen years old. Wu Zhenqing stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Teacher, please tell our teacher that we were wrong..." The male teacher was a little confused: "What's wrong with you?" Wang Xiaosong said: "I was wrong too..." Tsui Hark said, "And I..." Male students gossip: "We were all wrong..." "We're eating in class..." "We will never..." Han Debao handed a piece of bean cake to the male teacher and said, "Teacher, if our teacher wakes up later, please give this to our teacher. Say that Han Debao gave it to her..." The bean cakes were so dark that it was hard to tell how high-grade the bean cakes fed to the army horses were. The male teacher didn't pick it up right away and asked, "What's that?" "cake……" The male teacher hesitated, as if he didn't know whether to answer or not. Han Debao said solemnly: "This is not an ordinary bean cake, this is a bean cake for military horses." The male teacher finally took it. He asked again: "Is it really... bean cakes for military horses?" He also asked so solemnly. Han Debao swears: "It's really bean cakes for military horses, I swear in the name of the red scarf!" The male and female students said one after another: "Teacher, we guarantee that he is not lying..." "Teacher, you can transfer it to our teacher for him!" Han Debao said proudly: "I will bring a big piece to our teacher tomorrow!" The male teacher was touched: "Okay, okay, students, Han Debao, I will pass it on to your homeroom teacher for you, and for all of you. I think she will feel comforted by having students who care about her so much." Yes. Today, you all leave school early. When you leave, you should walk softly and quietly, so as not to affect other classes..." Wu Zhenqing, Wang Xiaosong, and Tsui Hark were walking home, followed by Zhang Meng and Hao Mei not far behind them.They walked and talked, still discussing what happened in class today. Zhang Meng said: "Anyway, you shouldn't speak for the three underachievers at all." Hao Mei said: "But my family used to live with them, and it was really difficult for the three of them." "Then you shouldn't speak for them." Zhang Meng said, "My father told me that a person should improve his thinking from an early age, get close to classmates who are more advanced than himself, and help those who are backward." "Then why don't you help them?" Hao Mei asked puzzled. Zhang Meng said: "They have never accepted my help with humility! If you can't help students who are backward in thinking, you should at least alienate them-this is what my father told me." As Hao Mei walked, she lowered her head and thought about her words. Zhang Meng said: "My father is the secretary of the district committee. It's not a secret, you already knew it." That means——a district committee secretary's father, can it be wrong? Zhang Meng's last words obviously had an effect on Hao Mei. She hurriedly said: "Zhang Meng, I am willing to accept your help with an open mind!" Zhang Meng pretended to be reserved as an adult, looked at her and nodded, expressing his belief in her words. Hao Mei thought of something and said, "Wang Xiaosong secretly slipped me a note after school, do you want to read it?" Zhang Meng stopped: "I see!" Hao Mei took out a small ball of paper from her pocket, and slowly peeled it off very mysteriously. "Haven't you seen it yourself?" Hao Mei said, "May I not have seen it? But I didn't know what to do with it, so it crumbled into a ball." The ball of paper was unfolded, and there was a line written one by one, but there were fat and thin characters——"Hao Mei, thank you for 'zhangyi bluntly'" for us. I wrote the word "Zhang" and thought it was wrong, so I painted a few layers of circles and used "zhang" to represent... Zhang Meng said: "It's already the fifth grade, and I can't even write the battle of righteousness, what a shame!" Hao Mei asked, "What do you think I should do?" "If I were you, I wouldn't have answered at that time." Zhang Meng's tone was sour.Her expression reveals that she is clearly not without jealousy... Hao Mei said, "Then, should I tear it up now?" "No, it should be handed over to the teacher." Hao Mei looked at her in confusion, as if asking—why? Zhang Meng said, "Didn't you just express your willingness to accept my help?" That means—you heard me right. Zhang Meng said again: "If you don't want to hand it over to the teacher, I'll do it for you!" "No, if you want to pay, I will pay by myself." They walked forward again—just after entering an alley, Wu Zhenqing and other three male students suddenly appeared and surrounded them. Zhang Meng was taken aback and said, "What do you want to do?" Wu Zhenqing said: "What are you doing? I want to teach you a lesson. You only like to report to the teacher! It seems that everyone else is a bad student, but you are a good student! What are you good about? What do you think is better than us?" Hao Mei stepped in and said, "She studies better than you!" "Go, go, it's none of your business!" Tsui Hark pushed Hao Mei away at once. Wang Xiaosong hurried forward to protect Hao Mei, and said to Tsui Hark, "Don't be angry with everyone, Hao Mei is one of my own!" Tsui Hark pushed Zhang Meng one after another: "You even mobilized the whole class to beat us. Do you know that beating is against the law? So what if your father is the secretary of the district committee? Didn't your father teach you that beating is breaking the law?" Hao Mei didn't care whether she was her own or not, and said, "Then you can just push him away now?" She wanted to step forward to protect Zhang Meng, but Wu Zhenqing, who was pretending to be a serious adult, stretched out an arm to stop her. Wang Xiaosong said: "All right, all right, just warn her..." "Okay? It's not that cheap!" Zhang Meng was really scared at this moment, and said timidly, "It's Han Debao, not me..." Hao Mei suddenly grabbed Wu Zhenqing's and Tsui Hark's schoolbags with both hands, and shouted, "Zhang Meng, run!" Zhang Meng ran away... When Wu Zhenqing struggled, the strap of his schoolbag broke—he got angry and pushed Hao Mei to sit on the ground. Wang Xiaosong quickly helped her up, and said dissatisfiedly to Wu Zhenqing, "What are you doing!" Hao Mei pushed Wang Xiaosong away: "You are bad! You bullied your female classmates, and I will never talk to you again!" It was clear that she was especially angry with Wang Xiaosong, glaring at him, took out a small ball of paper from her pocket, and threw it on Wang Xiaosong's back. on his face: "Bah, I'll give it back to you!" She turned around and left. Wang Xiaosong stared blankly at her back... Tsui Hark picked up the small paper ball and was about to unfold it, but Wang Xiaosong snatched it away. Wang Xiaosong said: "Hmph, are you happy now?" He ignored the two good friends, turned around and walked in another direction angrily. Wu Zhenqing was carrying the schoolbag with a broken strap, and looked at Wang Xiaosong's back blankly for a while.Tsui Hark also looked at Hao Mei's back with shame... They look at each other... Wu Zhenqing took out two glass balls from his pocket and said generously, "Give it to you!" Tsui Hark is not uncommon: "I haven't played this game for a long time!" The expressions on their faces tell us that they all feel rather uninspired...