Chapter 12 After the robbery

It was the first time Zhou Meng went to the school's general affairs office to get class supplies. The general affairs officer glanced at her and said indifferently, "Call your class teacher here." Zhou Meng replied: "I am the head teacher." She is the head teacher, the head teacher of the first (second) class of Jiangcheng No. 4 Middle School. In September 1994, Zhou Meng graduated from University and was assigned to work as a Chinese teacher in Jiangcheng No. 4 Middle School, a provincial key middle school. No kidding, she now teaches two classes of Chinese. There are 16 classes a week including regular classes and tutorials. On the day with the most classes, she has to attend four classes.Zhou Meng looks forward to the composition class the most, because there is no need to speak, but she has to correct the composition after the students finish writing.As a new teacher, she is stupid. When she reads students' compositions, she always reads them word by word. Typos, punctuation marks are used indiscriminately, sentences are incomprehensible, and words do not express the meaning. She is dizzy when she corrects them.Don't forget, she is still the head teacher.Not to mention other daily chores, as a class teacher, I have to go to the class at seven o'clock every morning to supervise the students' morning reading.Zhou Meng rides a bicycle to work, and it takes her at least 20 minutes to ride from her home to No. 4 Middle School in the city center, which means that even if she doesn't have breakfast, she has to get up at least at 6:30.

At half past six, after graduating from high school, Zhou Meng has never woken up so early. Only once or twice, it was because of Li Ran that her cerebral cortex was so excited that she couldn't sleep all night, and she could wake up after five o'clock in the morning.Not long after school started, on a Monday afternoon, Zhou Meng was teaching grammar to students: nouns. Turning around, she noticed that there was a man outside the window, watching her. It wasn't Li Ran, she knew, but she couldn't help but think of him.Before he went to Tibet, he came back from a business trip to find her at the Normal University. She was in class, and he stood outside the door of the classroom with his hands in his trouser pockets, looking at her.Fortunately, get out of class is over in a short while.He was looking at her, and her classmates were all looking at him.While the students were doing exercises, Zhou Meng came out of the classroom, and the man outside the window was Xiao Zong.

In the first sentence, Xiao Zong also said the same: "I just came back." Xiao Zong just came back from Japan. Still young, fast recovery, strong plasticity. —— Just now, Xiao Zong thought so when he saw Zhou Meng standing on the podium giving lectures to the students from the window.Zhou Meng was wearing a light apricot-colored dress, with short black hair reaching his ears, and smiling. He talked and gestured during the lecture, and was very devoted.There was a student talking small things below, and she immediately stared in a dignified manner, but even when she stared at someone, her expression was bright and moving.Xiao Zong murmured in his heart, if he was that little boy, he wouldn't be able to bear her staring and staring at him like this, and he might develop a crush on him secretly.

But when she came out of the classroom and greeted him, her eyes suddenly turned red. However, maybe he was wrong, and when she raised her head again, her eyes were very clear again. "It's quite like that, Mr. Zhou." Teacher Zhou was still a little shy, she smiled and said nothing. "I brought you a little Japanese doll, open it and have a look, it looks exactly like you." "Thank you." Zhou Meng held the beautifully wrapped gift box in his hand, but did not open it. "By the way, do you have a place to eat at noon?" "I bring my own food." In fact, Zhou Meng often skipped lunch.

"It's so troublesome to bring food, let's go to the cafeteria of our unit to eat, it's good and cheap. It's not far away, just two buildings away." "I should go in." The students in the classroom have already started commotion, and a few troublemakers are sticking to the window look this way. "Then it's settled. I'll pick you up at noon tomorrow." The conscience of heaven and earth, up to this moment, Xiaozong still regards Zhou Meng as Li Ran's girlfriend, no, the widow, even more wrong.In short, he didn't have any ambiguous thoughts about her.

I just think she's so pitiful. In the afternoon, after the class meeting, Zhou Meng returned to the office of the language group.Several teachers in the high school department have not left yet, which is rare. The teachers in the high school department are very busy. They are also taking Chinese classes in various college entrance examination remedial classes outside the school.What Zhou Meng heard them talking about was the school's housing allocation, which had nothing to do with Zhou Meng.The reason why the Provincial Key No. 4 High School gave up several outstanding graduates and chose Zhou Meng was because Zhou Meng didn't want a house.None of those outstanding students dared to ask for a set, they just wanted one, but the leaders of the No. 4 Middle School had a long-term vision. If they want one now, don’t they have to give one in the future?

Tomorrow we have composition class again, and Zhou Meng still has half of the class's composition unfinished. She doesn't want to take it home and correct it. She sold it to the school all day. When she gets home, she just wants to lie on the bed. Zhou Meng made a cup of hot tea first, and before she sat down to revise her composition, Mr. Zhang, who liked to joke around with her junior, spoke: "Xiao Zhou, if you want to get married now, you can also ask the school for a room." Zhou Meng smiled and said: "Our house is enough." "Does Xiao Zhou have a boyfriend?" Teacher Tian, ​​the leader of the language group, asked. To be honest, as a middle-aged woman with high energy, this question has been rolling around on her tongue for more than a week.

When Teacher Tian asked, the other teachers turned their attention to Zhou Meng in unison, all a little curious: the new teacher Xiao Zhou, a pretty girl with a good job, who rides a bike every day and walks alone, It seems that there is no social relationship at all. "My boyfriend is out of town." Holding a teacup, Zhou Meng said softly. As a young girl, when talking about her boyfriend, her expression was too serious, no one would try to ask further.It was already eight o'clock when Zhou Meng rode home.Either earlier or later, she is most afraid of being squeezed in the traffic at dusk and rushing home.What are you rushing for?There was no one waiting for her at home.

When the lights are on, the city looks a little better. The wind in September is still soft, and it seems that a light blow can blow people's hearts away.When he got home, Zhou Meng's first step was to turn on the TV, no matter what it was playing, let's talk when there is some sound.She poured a large cup of iced tea that she made herself from the refrigerator, drank it in one gulp, then picked up a piece of flannel on the table, and walked to the chest of drawers in the living room.On the chest of drawers is her mother's big photo frame, not the kind of portrait, the colorful one, it was taken when her mother was in Germany in 1988, her hair was permed, she was wearing a champagne-colored long trench coat, she looked very young, she was very energetic.Her mother didn't seem to have passed away, but was on a business trip, but the trip was too long.

Zhou Meng wiped the glass photo frame carefully, and when she put the photo frame back to its original place, two thin lines of tears appeared on her face.Beside the picture frame stood a vase of twelve pure white carnations. Flowers are still flourishing, and people never turn back. Auntie came at noon in the afternoon, and she came every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Zhou Meng washed his face and went to the kitchen to look around. Auntie cooked shredded chicken and shredded bamboo shoots for her today, shredded mushrooms and vegetables, crucian carp soup, and a small bowl of shredded mustard pork in potherb mustard for her noodles tomorrow.The rice in the rice cooker has been cleaned, plug it in, and it will be cooked in fifteen minutes.From Monday to Friday, Zhou Meng only eats one meal a day, and when she thinks about it at noon, she will make herself a glass of milk.Because she only ate one meal, and her physical exertion was very heavy during the day, she ate a lot for dinner every day, which was equivalent to a young man's appetite.

Zhou Meng was eating while watching TV, watching the rerun of "Oriental Time and Space".While eating, she didn't know what she thought of, and tears came out of her eyes. She quickly wiped away the tears with her hands, her eyes focused on the TV screen, and she slowly chewed the rice grains.Before she finished her meal, the phone rang, and Zhou Meng knew that it was probably Dai Yan again.Dai Yan and Ge Jun didn't participate in the national distribution, they both went to Beijing to explore the world after graduation, Dai Yan wanted to enter a foreign company, and Ge Jun was rushing to become a singer. Dai Yan is now working as an operator in a large joint venture. As long as she is on night shift, she must call Zhou Meng to complain. "How is it? Did Ge Jun find a job?" Zhou Meng asked. "No, I've already pointed out the way for him. Let a rich old woman make him famous." "how about you?" "I'll be with a rich old man." This is not the first time Zhou Meng has heard Dai Yan say that, ever since he went to Beijing, Dai Yan has always said that. "Dai Yan, don't keep saying that, Ge Jun should take it to heart." "You think he doesn't want to if I don't tell you? Now that their family has no money, it's not that Ge Jun doesn't want to be close to him, it's just that he hasn't been close to him yet." It's the kind of little boy who eats soft food. "Ge Jun isn't going to eat soft rice." "What soft food is hard food? As long as it is food." Dai Yan sighed, "You, you are too simple, no wonder Li Ran..." Dai Yan knew that she had made a slip of the tongue and kept silent. Anything is fine, the name Li Ran is not allowed. She never told them. Dai Yan and the girls in the dormitory only knew that Zhou Meng's mother had passed away suddenly, but they didn't know about Li Ran.She still refuses to say. She said she refused to say it, but her face betrayed her thoughts. The skin that was so smooth and delicate before was covered with pimples.Dai Yan guessed it, and the other girls also guessed it to some extent, but they didn't dare to ask, and they didn't even dare to show sympathy.For the details, Dai Yan still asked Secretary Xiaozong.Zhou Meng was speechless. She listened to Dai Yan apologizing hastily over and over again in the microphone, she wasn't angry with Dai Yan, she just couldn't speak. "fine." She finally said two words and hung up the phone. It's okay, the fact is, she still can't believe that Li Ran doesn't want her anymore.She believed that he had someone else, but she didn't believe that he really didn't want her anymore.He only needs to turn his head and take a look, and his heart will soften. Therefore, Li Ran didn't dare to look back. After Zhou Meng took a shower, dried her hair, and lay down on the bed, she glanced at the alarm clock, it was already ten past ten.It's not an exaggeration, she was already so tired that her back hurt.Being a teacher is not only an engineer of the human soul, but also a kind of physical labor.Zhou Meng has not had time to develop the good living habits of working people, but at least she no longer suffers from insomnia. At this moment, Zhou Meng leaned back on the pillow, rearranged the seating chart in the class, and appointed group leaders and representatives of each subject.Like all classes, Zhou Meng’s junior one (second) class is also composed of these types of students: smart but hardworking students, not smart but hardworking students, neither smart nor hardworking students, smart but not hardworking students .Like all teachers, Zhou Meng often praises students who are smart and hardworking.Also like all teachers, she will have a few preferred students who are bright and not hardworking. Zhou Meng was still holding a pen in his hand, and she was already asleep. She didn't turn off the light, and now she just plugged in the door without turning off the light when she was sleeping.The strange thing is that she never dreamed of him even in her dreams. She dreamed that he was going to be several years later, and she was already in the United States. It seems that many people are eating in a restaurant, which is very lively.After dinner, he left with a girl, and she was alone.As he walked, he caught up again, took her hand and said to her, "Fool, it's you I love." She woke up crying.Because of the sound of crying, Pan Duo, who was sleeping on the side, was awakened. He was so frightened that he held her in his arms and asked repeatedly if he had a nightmare. But before she could answer, Pan Duo turned around and fell asleep again. The night is as cool as water. At noon the next day, Xiao Zong entered the gate of No. 4 Middle School before eleven o'clock, and went directly to the office of the language group.Don't forget, Xiaozong joined the party in high school. Where did he join the party?Fourth. Zhou Meng returned to the office after the fourth class, and was surprised to see Xiao Zong talking and laughing happily with Mr. Zhang. Seeing her winking, Xiao Zong said, "Teacher Zhang is my old head teacher." For small and medium cities, Jiangcheng is too small. Xiaozong didn't take Zhou Meng to their foreign trade cafeteria to eat a good and cheap meal, he invited her to eat outside. "Tomorrow, let's eat at our unit tomorrow." Xiao Zong said.In fact, tomorrow and in the future, I have never eaten at their unit.Zhou Meng has nothing to do, it doesn't matter where to eat, she just wants to ask Xiao Zong a word. She didn't know, but Xiao Zong also wanted to ask her a question. Xiaozong had eaten with Zhou Meng a few times, so he knew her tastes. He ordered Yishiqing: stir-fried fungus (no garlic), stir-fried bean sprouts, stir-fried fish fillets, stir-fried shrimp, soup There is a name called "crucian carp crossing the Yellow River", which is actually crucian carp soup with eggs. It needs more water and steaming to be tender. Xiao Zong told the lady: "Put less oil in the dishes." He remembered that Zhou Meng said once that the food in the restaurant was not good and there was too much oil. Smelling the aroma of vegetables, Zhou Meng was really hungry. Dai Yan made dinner last night, so he didn't eat well. Seeing her eating so deliciously, Xiao Zong remembered how Li Ran used to exaggerate how little Mengmeng ate, so little that there was a danger of anorexia.However, it is common for girls to have a particularly good appetite when they are in love. She especially loves edamame in fried shrimp, and picks edamame with chopsticks.Naturally, Xiao Zong picked up the spoon and separated the shrimp and edamame little by little.Unknowingly, Zhou Meng stopped his chopsticks and glanced at Xiao Zong. When Xiao Zong raised his head, he happened to meet her gaze. "Are the students naughty?" "Quite cute." After dinner, Zhou Meng and Xiao Zong parted ways at the gate of No. 4 Middle School. Back in the office, sitting on the seat and opening the lesson preparation notes, Zhou Meng remembered that she forgot to ask.What she wanted to ask Xiaozong was: did Li Ran call you? On the way, Xiaozong called Li Yue on his mobile phone, and immediately asked, "Hey, how long will it take for you girls to recover from a broken relationship?" Li Yue replied calmly: "I have information. According to statistics, it ranges from six months to three years. There are also individual cases where the patient will not heal for life. What's the matter? What's wrong with Mengmeng?" "She told their school teacher that her boyfriend is out of town." "You mean, she still thinks about Li Ran?" "Who else? It's been more than half a year, and Du Xiaobin's children have been born. Why can't Zhou Meng figure it out? Li Ran is not the same Li Ran as before. He is not only someone else's husband, but also someone else's father." Li Yuexin said, what's so strange about not being able to figure it out?It's strange to figure it out. Xiao Zong continued: "I want to ask her, but I don't know how." "Don't ask, she won't be able to step down." "I think so too, Li Yue, look," Xiaozong thought quickly, "Should I introduce a boyfriend to her? Divert my attention." "Xiao Zong, I think it's better to let nature take its course." This may be what Xiaozong subconsciously wanted Li Yue to say, as if Li Yue said so, he would not take responsibility, and he would have no selfishness. "Li Ran never contacted you again?" Zhou Meng forgot to ask, and Li Yue asked. "No, didn't I tell you, his parents don't even have his phone number, and they don't know he's married until now." "He's cruel enough." "Who said it wasn't?" The only one who didn't say that Li Ran was cruel was Liu Yi. After hearing the news on the phone, Liu Yi sighed sadly after a long time: "Blame me." Xiao Zong really regretted telling her, so can she be blamed? The call was from Liu Yi. She wanted to inform Xiaozong that she was married, and to inform Xiaozong was to inform Li Ran.However, she was no longer interested in mentioning her marriage. Liu Yi's husband, surnamed Liao, is two years younger than her and five centimeters shorter. That afternoon, when Xiaozong got off work, he walked straight and turned into the gate of No. 4 Middle School. As the sun sets, the shadow of the teaching building stretches long on the ground. In the small flower bed in front of the building, chrysanthemums bloom early.For No. 4 Middle School, Xiao Zong has feelings for him. From junior high school to high school, he spent six good years here with his wife Wu Wei.Of course Wu Wei was not his wife at that time, but a beautiful and serious girl. Thinking about my wife is good at everything, but she is a little too serious. It's hard to say that Xiaozong came to find Zhou Meng on purpose. It was past six o'clock, and there was no one in the campus.Seeing the lights from the office of the language group from a distance, he walked over, and through the half-closed door, he saw Zhou Meng sitting at his desk alone.Unexplained, his nose was sore. It wasn't until November, after the mid-term exams, that Zhou Meng felt that her teacher seemed like that. She listened to Teacher Zhang's opinion: a good teacher is not trying to exhaust himself to death, but trying to exhaust the students to death.To put it nicely, we must be good at mobilizing the enthusiasm of students. Now Zhou Meng reads the students' composition very quickly, and she can't do it too fast. She not only reads the composition, but also reads the diary, the weekly diary, and the student's excerpts.Excerpts are to ask students to make more than 200 words of excerpts and transcriptions from extracurricular reading every week, a sentence, a poem or even a paragraph of lyrics will do.In order to make the students find it fresh and interesting, Zhou Meng intentionally carved a rosette. She stamped one or two roses on normal excerpts, and five at most on wonderful excerpts.He also promised that the awards will be judged one year later, and the top three with the most roses will get rich prizes. The traditional art of governing in China is to be good at naming, and Zhou Meng is also quite good at this. She named the excerpt "Rose Action", which excited the students for a while. Following "Operation Rose", it was "Code MS". What is "codename MS"?It is "MYSECRET", my own little secret.Zhou Meng made an agreement with the students that if they marked "MS" at the beginning of a diary, she promised not to read it. Did Zhou Meng really stop watching?She still saw some secrets. The ones that impressed her the most were those who scolded her. Some students scolded her for being ugly, some scolded her for being unworthy of being a teacher because her writing on the blackboard was ugly, and some even said outright that they hated her.Zhou Meng was not angry.She was ashamed, but not angry.To the students who scold her, Zhou Meng will pay special attention to his attitude, words and deeds in the future, hoping to reach a reconciliation. But slowly, she still felt like a failure. She is not a person who likes to deal with people, and if one thing is not done well, she will instinctively choose to give up.At this time, even when she resigned from the teaching position half a year later, Zhou Meng didn't realize that she gave up again and again, and what she gave up was actually life itself.The autumn of this year passed before Zhou Meng had time to be particularly sad. She still gets off work later, and it gets dark early when it’s cold. When you go home after eight o’clock, the food stalls on the roadside make you feel warm and down-to-earth, even if you don’t eat it. Xiao Zong often goes home with her. His house in Xinfen, Waimao is also in the southwest of the city.It's not an appointment, it's a tacit understanding. He usually comes to her after six o'clock.When I came here, I enthusiastically helped her do this and that, and I like to change the composition the most. When I write a comment, I am a boss, and the score is too high.Shrewd students can tell at a glance that it is not Mr. Zhou's handwriting, and Xiaozong's handwriting is much more beautiful.Her Chinese class representative, in front of her, pointed to the comments on the composition, and told other students in an old-fashioned way: This was changed by Teacher Zhou's boyfriend.Teacher Zhou hurriedly corrected it: it was my teaching assistant who corrected it. The teaching assistant is very careful. For a few days every month, Zhou Meng will be very tired, and the teaching assistant will tell him to take a taxi back.If she couldn't take a taxi due to chest tightness, he would take her back by bicycle.I went to pick her up early the next morning because her bicycle was left at school.They didn't meet every day, Xiaozong would go on business trips at home and abroad from time to time, and if he had a few days off during a long weekend, he would visit his wife.How to say it?He can be said to be her teacher, Li Ran's good friend, and another woman's husband.Once, when she and Xiaozong were riding past the gate of the Normal University, they saw Li Yue and Zhang Xun walking on the sidewalk in front of them. She and Xiaozong slowed down the car in unison, almost to a stop. Zhang Xun is also married, with another woman. It seems like all of them are going to get married, and mostly with one another. The most ironic thing is that even if you really married that one, you still feel that he (she) is not the one you imagined, but another one.