Chapter 209 The Wind Chimes of Youth Ring in the Summer (Two in One)
After Wen Susu distributed the student handbooks, group photos, and envelopes, the athletes' march, the assembly command, sounded outside.
"Okay, everyone, let's move the chairs downstairs for the graduation ceremony. After the ceremony, we'll come back upstairs for the class meeting~!"
For a while, the class was bustling with the sound of moving chairs. There was a happy mood at the end of the semester like in previous years, but also a little melancholy and loss as graduation was approaching.
"Fang Wei~"
"Ok?"
"Come with me to the office to move some things first."
"it is good."
Fang Wei put down the chair in his hand. Xu Cailing and Liu Zhiyi, who were about to carry the chair downstairs, saw what he was doing and helped him move the chair down first.
"We'll take the chair down for you!"
"Okay, I'll go over there in a moment."
Following Wen Susu, Fang Wei came to the office.
There wasn't actually anything to move, just the two boxes of snacks and drinks she had bought yesterday.
This has become a tradition for Class 2 at the end of each semester. After the end-of-term ceremony, Class 2 will hold a class meeting of its own, where everyone eats snacks together and presents awards together.
Even though this is the last graduation ceremony, it is no exception.
"Sister, you bought so much this year?"
"Haha, some of them are what I left in the dormitory. I definitely can't take them back, so I brought them here so we can eat them together."
Wen Susu opened another small box, which contained forty-two exquisite notebooks in total.
There was another small box containing forty-two exquisite pens.
"I won't give you any special rewards for the top ten this time. There will be rewards for the whole class!"
"These notebooks and pens?"
"correct."
Fang Wei picked up the notebook and opened it. On the cover page was a message she had written herself:
[Every seed has the power to break through the soil, every dream can bloom, come on in the future! ——Wen Susu·Gift/2003/7/4]
Fang Wei flipped through a few more books and found that they were all treated equally. The dedication on each notebook was the same.
"How about it, isn't this sentence of mine really great?"
"Wow, not bad!"
Fang Wei smiled and said, "Sister, where is the graduation gift for me?"
"It's all in there!"
"Ah? After all, I'm the class monitor who has worked hard for three years. What's the relationship between us? Sister, why don't you give me a special gift?"
"Then what do you want?"
Fang Wei was not greedy, he took out one of the notebooks and said with a smile: "Sister, please write me an extra sentence."
"What do you want to write?"
"…Think about it yourself!"
"I can't think of it for a while!"
Wen Susu had a headache. She sat on the chair, tilted her head and thought for a while. Then she opened the pen cap and wrote an extra sentence to her monitor, which was quite biased:
[Believe in the star in your heart, it shines brighter than any other star you have ever seen, because you are unique! ]
What a great phrase 'unique'!
Fang Wei held the notebook in his hands, finally feeling satisfied.
"Hehe, you are not allowed to use the notebook I gave you as a draft book!"
"How could that be? I'll keep it well and use it as a family heirloom."
"Skin!"
The brother and sister smiled and carried their things to the classroom together.
"Sister, when are you going back to Shanghai?"
"Let's go at noon today. I'll leave after I finish my work."
"Won't you stay two more days?"
"No, you're all on vacation, the school is empty, and I'm not used to living here..."
Wen Susu originally planned to stay for a few more days before going back, but the longer she stayed here, the more reluctant she became to leave. She might as well keep herself busy so that the sense of loss and melancholy in her heart would not catch up with her.
Fang Wei was also silent as he listened. He knew that after Wen Susu left this time, there would be basically no chance for her to return to the island.
It's not that the two of them won't have a chance to meet in the future, but after she left, it seemed like something was missing on campus...
"Then I'll take you there at noon."
"it is good."
Wen Susu did not refuse and agreed with a smile.
"By the way, when are you planning to go on your graduation trip? Last time you said you wanted to come to Shanghai, right?"
"Yes, maybe later, after I get the acceptance letter."
"Sure! When you come to Shanghai, remember to call me!"
"of course."
"So you guys plan to work in Shanghai during the summer vacation?"
"Well, it should be."
For the other party, it doesn't matter whether they work during the summer vacation or not. Making money is secondary. The main thing is that the two girls want to go and see and experience it. In the final analysis, it is just a legitimate reason for the three of them to be together so that they can be away from home for a long time.
Fang Wei understood the girls' little thoughts very well. Seeing how enthusiastic they were, he decided to accompany them as a way to enrich their holiday life.
"Have you found a summer job?"
"Not yet. I plan to check it out when I go to Shanghai. Sister Caiwei is also there, so I can ask her to help look for it."
"Why don't you come and help me set up the studio when the time comes!"
Wen Susu thought for a moment and said, "I have already agreed with my mom that we are going to open a studio in Shanghai and teach people how to paint. There are many things to prepare for the opening of the studio."
Fang Wei blinked his eyes and said, "Working for me?"
"Hehe, what do you think? I won't treat you unfairly."
"It's only natural for me to help you! How dare I ask for wages!"
"You better be!"
Wen Susu was both angry and amused. She knew very well what Fang was like. It took a lot of bribes to make him a squad leader!
"I'm fine. I'll talk to Cailing and Zhiyi later. They should be fine too."
"Okay, let's just do it this way when the time comes."
"Thank you, sis~~"
"Thank you for coming to help~~"
Fang Wei smiled. He naturally understood Wen Susu's care for them. They were all grown-up boys and girls. What help could he provide? It was purely to arrange a place for them.
……
When Fang Wei returned to the team, the ceremony was about to begin.
Seeing the tall man coming towards her, Xu Cailing raised her hand and gestured to him from a distance.
Fang Wei walked over and placed his chair next to the two girls.
"What did you and Teacher Wen move?"
"Summer homework, and snacks and stuff."
Xu Cailing's eyes widened: "Summer homework?! I don't believe it! We have already graduated, how can there be summer homework? You must be lying!"
Fang Wei spread his hands: "Would I lie to you? Look, Zhiyi believes me."
Liu Zhiyi tilted his head: "I just didn't say anything, I didn't believe you."
Fang Wei: “…”
Can you cooperate with each other tacitly?
Unfortunately, the school does not have a large auditorium, so everyone had to move their chairs and sit outside for the graduation ceremony.
Fortunately, it is still early and the sun at eight or nine o'clock is not too hot.
The girls were quite experienced. After sitting for a while, they all opened their umbrellas to block the sun. The boys did not open umbrellas, otherwise they would be laughed at for being too effeminate...
Umbrella after umbrella was opened in the crowd, like flowers blooming on the grass in spring. Xu Cailing and Liu Zhiyi held the same umbrella together, like two little frogs hiding under a lotus leaf to avoid the rain.
Wen Susu stood under the shade of a tree next to the rostrum, wearing a long dress, occasionally raising the camera in her hand to record the scene in front of her.
When the wind blows, her long, soft hair flutters gently.
Fang Wei was fine. He wouldn't feel too hot when he was calm. He sat quietly and listened to Principal Lin's speech on the rostrum so seriously for the first time.
“…This year our school achieved excellent results in the high school entrance examination.”
"The admission rate for general high schools has reached 40% for the first time. Including our students with special talents, 66 students have been admitted to high schools. This is the largest number of students admitted since the establishment of Baitan Middle School..."
"...And, in the second class of the third grade, including the students with special talents, 789 students were admitted to the high school, reaching an admission rate of more than half! Among them, Fang Wei, Liu Zhiyi, and Wang Yushan from Class 783 scored 716, , and points in this high school entrance examination!"
“Here, please give a warm round of applause to the three students and their homeroom teacher, Ms. Wen Susu, to express our congratulations and encouragement! We also hope that other students and teachers can learn a lot from Class 2! We will strive to achieve greater success next year!”
[Pa pa pa——!]
Warm applause broke out in the audience, and the loudest applause came from the people in Class 2. The applause was for Fang Wei, Liu Zhiyi and Wang Yushan, but more importantly, for everyone's dearest teacher, Teacher Wen!
Wen Susu was so happy, she smiled shyly and proudly. Even though she was the one being commended, she was only concerned with taking pictures of the boys and girls in her class with her camera.
She came here as a new teacher three years ago. Even she herself had never imagined that the students in her class would achieve such good results in the high school entrance examination three years later.
An admission rate of more than half is incredible in a middle school on a remote island. There are a total of 66 students from the four classes in the school who were admitted to regular high schools, and Class 2 alone has 25 of them. The other three classes have an average of only 13 or 14 students, which is nearly twice as much.
Such teaching achievements are truly something to be proud of.
"Now, please invite the students whose names are called to come up to the stage to receive their awards."
"Class 2, Grade 9, Fang Wei; Class 2, Grade 9, Liu Zhiyi; Class 2, Grade 9, Wang Yushan; Class 1, Grade 9, Li Juan; Class 2, Grade 9, Guo Yuanshun; Class 2, Grade 9, Qiu Caiyun..."
Just like before, the top ten students in the grade went on stage to receive their awards. Principal Lin read out a series of "junior high school, class 2". Among the top ten students in the grade, there were six students from class 2 alone! If there weren't four students from other classes among them, it would be no different from the award ceremony within the class!
Fang Wei, Liu Zhiyi, Wang Yushan and others stood in a row, and their names will be listed on the honor roll of Baitan Middle School for the last time.
……
At ten o'clock in the morning, when the atmosphere and temperature were at their hottest, the graduation ceremony ended.
Everyone carried their chairs back to their classes.
Without Wen Susu's instruction, the students in Class 2 had already started moving tables busily.
All the scattered desks were moved to the center of the classroom, turning into an extra-large square table. Everyone either stood or sat in a circle around the extra-large square table.
"I declare! The graduation party for Class 2 will begin~!" Wen Susu clapped her hands.
“Oh wow~!”
[Crash——]
Fang Wei picked up two large boxes of snacks and poured them on the large square table. There were candies, biscuits, peanuts, melon seeds, spicy strips, and all kinds of small braised dishes.
The girls helped distribute snacks, while the boys opened bottle after bottle of Coke and poured drinks for everyone in plastic cups.
Wen Susu did not stand on the podium, but stood beside the square table with everyone else.
When it comes to distributing snacks and drinks, she is naturally indispensable.
"Everyone raise your glasses first, let's drink~!"
"Cheers~!"
“Happy graduation~!”
A circle of people raised their glasses to celebrate graduation.
"Everyone, listen to me while you eat!"
"First, let's reward the top ten students in our class!"
"Thump thump thump~"
Wen Susu performed magic and produced ten red envelopes with names written on them, which had been prepared long ago.
Fang Wei was stunned. He had just been told that there would be no special rewards for the top ten, but he didn't expect that there would be red envelopes.
"First place goes to our class monitor, Fang Wei~!"
"Thank you, sister... Teacher Wen~!"
Fang Wei took the red envelope with a smile.
Next came Liu Zhiyi, Wang Yushan and others.
The applause in the venue never stopped, and when Wen Susu picked up two large boxes of graduation gifts, the applause became even louder!
"This is the graduation gift I prepared for everyone! One for each student! I gave everyone a notebook and a pen. I hope you like them! When you go to a new school, you must work hard!"
"Wow! Teacher Wen! Everyone has one!"
"Yeah, everyone has one!"
"Teacher Wen, you are so nice!"
"Thank you, Teacher Wen!"
"Fang Wei just lied to me and said it was summer homework!"
"By the way, Mr. Wen, we shouldn't have any summer homework this summer!"
"Hahaha, if you want, I can also arrange it for you!"
"We were just kidding...!"
While they were having fun, everyone couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. There was no homework this summer, but it also meant that Teacher Wen would also be leaving their lives...
If doing summer homework can make Teacher Wen stay with us forever and accompany us to high school and college, everyone would be willing to do summer homework for the rest of their lives.
"Teacher Wen...are you going to teach the first grade again next semester?"
"No." "Then is Teacher Wen still teaching the third grade?"
“No.”
Wen Susu smiled and pretended to be relaxed: "Teacher, after I help you graduate, you will be free! I will not be in school next semester, I will go back to Shanghai!"
"Will Teacher Wen not be on the island anymore?"
"correct."
Except for Fang Wei and the other three, no other classmates knew that Wen Susu was going to resign from school and return to Shanghai. In order to avoid affecting everyone's high school entrance examination, Wen Susu had never told anyone about this before.
I had thought that even after graduation, if everyone missed Teacher Wen, they could still come back to school to see her. After all, her existence was the most precious memory and meaning for the boys and girls in Class 2 during their three years of junior high school.
But who would have thought that as everyone left, Teacher Wen would also leave?
The noisy classroom suddenly became quiet...
There were faint sobbing sounds in the crowd, and some people had red eyes.
Wen Susu was stunned.
"Hahaha, what's the matter? Why are you all silent? You are allowed to leave, but the teacher is not allowed to leave?"
She was just pretending to be relaxed, but this time she failed to liven up the atmosphere in the class.
One girl choked up and asked, "Then, then will we never see Teacher Wen again?"
"How could that be! The teacher is in Shanghai. If you want to see the teacher in the future, you can come to Shanghai to visit the teacher anytime!"
But such words cannot alleviate the reluctance and loss that the young boys and girls feel when facing separation.
Shanghai...
How far away is that place...
Their teacher came here from such a far place three years ago with full enthusiasm.
Three years later, I will return from here to such a faraway place with everyone's thoughts and reluctance...
Trapped on a small island, they had never set foot on such a distant place.
The world is so big and the population is so vast. After this separation, will there be a chance to meet again in the future?
"Teacher Wen! We can't bear to part with you!"
"Yes, Mr. Wen! We can't bear to part with you!"
"..."
From the reluctant words and confused eyes of the boys and girls, Wen Susu could feel their pure feelings.
She wanted to say something, but her throat felt like it was stuck with a stone.
She wiped her eyes and hurried out of the classroom as if she was escaping in panic.
"…You guys eat first, the teacher will go to the office for a while."
“Teacher Wen…!”
There was clearly no wind in the classroom, but everyone felt the wind was so strong that it blew sand into their eyes.
After graduation, the people who gathered here will eventually disperse.
"Squad leader, please think of a solution..."
"..."
Everyone then placed their hopes on Fang Wei again.
Fang Wei sighed. He was much more mature than everyone else and he knew that the world was really big. If they didn’t meet on purpose, they would never see each other again after graduation.
The experience of studying and living together in the same school and the same classroom day and night makes people inevitably have the illusion that everyone is from the same class. But when it comes time to part, we find that the distance between each other is more than just a world.
The classroom door opened gently and Wen Susu came back.
Her expression was still relaxed, but her eyes were red, and it was obvious that she had just cried.
"…Why are you standing there like an idiot? Have you finished eating?"
"sister."
Fang Wei said, "We just discussed it and decided to pick a time every year for the whole class to get together. We can go hiking together, or have a picnic, go fishing, or have a barbecue like before. What do you think?"
After Fang Wei finished speaking, all 42 students in the class looked at Wen Susu with expectation.
Wen Susu kept nodding, muttering, "Okay, okay, okay! The teacher has this idea! No matter where you are in the future, as long as we have time, we can get together every year! The teacher also wants to see how everyone has changed!"
"Teacher Wen! So we have a deal?"
"It's a deal! No one is allowed to be absent from now on!"
"I will definitely not be absent!"
"This is the teacher's phone number. Please remember it. If you encounter any difficulties or miss me in the future, you can call or text me..."
"Uh-huh!"
Everyone picked up their pens and wrote down the teacher's phone number.
In fact, everyone understands that from a rational point of view, Teacher Wen’s departure is inevitable, and the boys and girls sincerely hope that Teacher Wen can return to the place he is familiar with and live a comfortable life.
It's just that emotionally, it's still hard to let go...
Now that I have graduated from the third year of junior high school, whether I go to high school or college in the future, I may meet many, many teachers.
But everyone knows that there will never be a better teacher than Teacher Wen.
The word "teacher" is not just a title for her position, but also a sincere recognition of her.
She is elegant, calm, confident, generous and beautiful, like the distant place that everyone longs for and dreams of but cannot reach.
How lucky I am to be her student in this life?
"Teacher Wen, when will you return to Shanghai?"
"The boat leaves at noon. The teacher will go back to the dormitory to pack up and leave soon."
"Teacher Wen..."
"Okay."
Wen Susu took a deep breath and said with a smile: "We have already agreed that we will meet every year in the future! At that time, the teacher will tell you about the new things that happened to me this year, and where I have been this year. You should also remember to tell the teacher about your progress, your studies, your life, and the big and small stories of your past year!"
"No matter which school or place you go to in the future, the teacher hopes that you will still be as enthusiastic about the future and have the courage to move forward as you were in Class 2, and then come to see me with proud steps! Do you have the confidence?"
"Have!"
Everyone responded in unison.
The sound was so loud that it temporarily drowned out the noisy cicadas in midsummer.
"Okay, everyone, continue eating. Go home early after eating. When you get the admission letter in a few days, remember to text the teacher!"
"Teacher, let's take you to the boat together!"
"It's okay. The boat leaves at 12:30. It will be too late for you to go home and miss lunch..."
"We'll take you there!"
"..."
Since everyone insisted, Wen Susu had no choice but to agree with all her heart.
……
After the party, Wen Susu went back to the dormitory to pack her luggage.
Two male students went out to buy dumplings for Teacher Wen to eat on the way, while two female students went to the dormitory with her to help pack her luggage.
The remaining students cleaned the classroom.
There is no need for anyone to assign any tasks, everyone is extremely self-conscious.
The pulpit was spotlessly clean;
Wipe the blackboard three times with a rag washed with water until it is shiny;
The floor was swept clean without leaving a scrap of paper, the four sets of tables were neatly arranged, and the chairs were neatly put away;
Curled brooms and cracked dustpans were neatly arranged in the corners;
The blackboard poster at the back of the classroom was wiped off and replaced with today's theme: [Happy Graduation!]
Dupepe stood on a chair, holding a piece of colored chalk, and wrote today's weather in the upper left corner: he drew a delicate little sun and a little white cloud - [cloudy to sunny, temperature 28℃~34℃]
"Squad leader, what about the others?"
"Well, let's draw a group photo. Pepe, you can just draw a simple sketch. Just the left side, just draw a simple cartoon group photo."
"Okay, what about the one on the right?"
"Leave it blank. Let everyone come over and sign it later. The top spot is for Teacher Wen to sign."
"it is good."
Fang Wei also helped. He was good at writing on the blackboard, so he copied the words that Wen Susu had written on the cover of her notebook: "Every seed has the power to break through the soil, every dream can bloom, and good luck in the future!" to the appropriate place.
Du Peipei has learned from teacher Wen herself and is now a good painter. In addition, she has made so many blackboard newspapers in the past three years, which makes her even more adept at it.
Soon, she drew simple sketches of forty-two classmates and Teacher Wen on the left side of the blackboard.
You can't recognize who is who just by looking at this abstract pattern, but the 42 students in Class 2 can recognize who is who among them -
Because this group photo of simple sketches was drawn according to the class seating chart. The girl with long hair on the podium is naturally Teacher Wen, and the rest of the students, those with long hair are girls and those with short hair are boys, are drawn on the corresponding seats.
"Wow! This is me! Hahaha, so cute!"
Xu Cailing pointed at one of the little dolls and easily found herself.
Liu Zhiyi also found herself. The little doll with long hair sitting in the corner against the wall in the fourth row of the first group was her.
Fang Wei also found himself. The short-haired doll sandwiched between two long-haired dolls was him.
"Monitor, is it okay for me to draw like this?"
"That's amazing! Pepe! Not only are you good at drawing, but you are also very creative! Pepe, you will definitely become a top artist in the future!"
"Haha, no, if it weren't for Teacher Wen, I would never have thought of becoming an art student..."
"That's awesome, Pepe!"
Fang Wei couldn't help but praise it, saying that this simple sketch of a group photo was simply a stroke of genius.
Soon, Du Pepe had finished drawing all the classmates, and in the remaining time, she even added some personalized touches to these stick-drawn dolls.
For example, she matched a beautiful skirt for Teacher Wen, hung a medal around Cailing's neck, and placed a book on Zhiyi's desk...
Some tall, some short, some fat, some thin, each doll looks the same, yet different, like the code of youth. Only the students in Class 2 can easily recognize who they are.
It's not just because Pepe is good at art, but more because of her feelings for this class, which allows her to draw everyone in them so vividly and lifelike.
It’s a pity that time is limited, otherwise Du Peipei could have made these simple drawings more detailed. But this is already very good, and it is the youth code unique to Class 2.
"Everyone come over and sign it!"
As soon as Fang Wei called out, everyone in the class who had finished cleaning came over to sign.
On the left is a group photo of stick figures, and on the right are everyone’s signatures. The signatures do not require strict positioning or neatness, just sign them as you like.
Fang Wei signed his name in a corner, Xu Cailing signed her name to the left of his name, and Liu Zhiyi signed his name to the right of his name.
As expected, A Sheng formed a small group and signed his name next to Wang Yushan.
"You've got the evidence, right? The traitor wins!!"
"...I didn't! I'm the first one to sign, okay? The three of you can go sign somewhere else!"
Fang Wei: “…”
Um... Asheng, I'm sorry, I didn't see your signature.
Not long after, the classmates who bought dumplings came back, and Ye Xiaoli and Wang Qiaoyun also came back with Wen Susu carrying large and small bags.
When Wen Susu saw the blackboard newspaper, she was a little shocked.
"You guys made a new blackboard so quickly!!"
"This is called second shift speed!"
"We have all signed, you guys should sign now!"
"Teacher Wen, please sign on the top!"
"Good good..."
Wen Susu took the chalk they handed her and signed her name at the top of the signature area on the right.
She took two steps back, looked at the group photo of stick figures on the left, and then at the signatures in various handwritings on the right. She couldn't help but raise her camera and take a picture of this unique blackboard newspaper.
“You guys are so creative!”
"Pepe, you draw so well! I can tell who is who at a glance!"
Du Peipei smiled shyly. This was not because she was a good painter. Even if she had drawn it more abstractly, with only forty-two dots, everyone would have been able to recognize who these dots were at a glance.
It was almost time, so we all sent Teacher Wen to the pier to catch the boat.
Wen Susu didn't have to carry her luggage at all. Instead, she had too little luggage to share.
Fang was the last one to leave and was responsible for closing the classroom door.
The midday sun refracted into the classroom from the corridor, illuminating the empty classroom.
It was as if everyone was just attending a physical education class. When the bell rang, someone would rush in with a basketball, and the classroom would be filled with laughter again...
He closed the classroom door gently, and the light became narrower and narrower, turning into a crack and finally disappearing at his feet.
The three years of junior high school are really short, and you graduate before you know it. But when you are in that period, it feels as if many years have passed. Especially when you walk with some people, the road seems so short that you are reluctant to take a step forward.
[click…]
The classroom door is closed.
It was like I had been locked up in there for the entire three years of junior high school.
Fang Wei turned around and walked down the stairs, jogging to catch up with the people who were walking slowly in front.
"Wait for me!"
"I've been waiting for you!"
(End of this chapter)
