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"Hello? Is anyone there?" Du Yan, assigned to the teacher training program, answered the phone listlessly. Before she arrived, the Village School only had five grades, and the sixth grade had to go to the town.
So she wasn't responsible for a specific class but taught music and physical education instead. There was an old wooden piano in the storage room and a bag of soccer balls, and she occasionally helped other teachers cover their classes.
She didn't want to leave just yet; she hoped to stay for at least a year.
"Hello, I'm Jiang Yizhou. I'm looking for Teacher Jiang Maoyou. Is he available?" Jiang Yizhou noticed that the voice on the other end was unfamiliar. Du Yan had gone home for the Spring Festival during the New Year, so he didn't recognize her.
Upon hearing the introduction from Jiang Yizhou, Du Yan perked up immediately. He had donated over a thousand yuan, and she had used more than a hundred of it to buy some musical instruments and sports supplies. Teachers like her earned just over a hundred yuan a month; veteran teachers earned a bit more, but it was still limited. Unlike teachers in towns, those at the Village School didn't receive good treatment.
Naturally, her attitude towards generous donors improved significantly. "You're looking for Teacher Jiang Maoyou? He's currently in class. Please hold on for a moment; I'll go get him."
With that, Du Yan hung up and went upstairs to find Jiang Maoyou's classroom. The school building had been constructed over ten years ago during a time of various large-scale projects. It was somewhat worn down now but still sufficient for the needs of over a hundred students across five classes.
"Teacher Jiang..." Du Yan softly called out at the door.
Hearing the girl's voice outside, Jiang Maoyou cleared his throat and told his fifth-grade students, "Everyone quiet down! You can do your homework or recite your texts; just don't make a fuss!"
Then he stepped outside. "Du, what’s going on?"
Du Yan pointed toward the office downstairs. "A person named Jiang Yizhou called for you! Teacher Jiang, is he the one who donated money to the school?"
Facing Du Yan's curiosity, Jiang Maoyou had nothing to hide. Ever since Jiang Yizhou left home, his father had started planning to build a villa, which looked much better than those silly four-part apartments everyone else lived in. It was clear that their family had become wealthy.
"That's him! I never expected that this kid would grow up with enough sense to donate money to the school after struggling in school himself!" Jiang Maoyou felt quite moved; this was the first time someone had donated money.
The two of them arrived at the office, and when Jiang Yizhou called back again, Jiang Maoyou immediately answered the phone, "Hello, Yi Zhou, what's going on?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Jiang Yizhou smiled, "Teacher, are my parents home? Can you go find them?"
After agreeing to call back in twenty minutes, Jiang Yizhou hung up the phone and found a can of Lego he had bought earlier from the cabinet in the living room. This was a childhood memory from his past life. In this era, he had specifically bought a can of strawberry flavor. He also found some milk in the kitchen to mix it with; it wasn't particularly delicious, but it was filled with memories.
Jiang Maoyou hung up the phone and said to Du Yan beside him, "Teacher Du, can you help me keep an eye on the students in class? I'll be back soon!"
"Oh, sure!" Du Yan readily agreed.
Jiang Maoyou quickly left the office and rode a bike towards Jiang Yizhou's home.
"Brother, Yi Zhou called back and wants you both to answer the phone!"
With mobile phone prices still high, communication was quite troublesome, especially in rural areas. Even if there was a mobile phone, there might not be any signal.
At that moment, Jiang Maoqiang was also working with the construction team at the site of their mud-brick house.
Due to various requirements and the fact that no one had built such a house before, they were facing some challenges. However, since the construction fee was sufficient, it was estimated that they could finish building before summer vacation. The decoration would take another half month, and after airing it out for half a month, it should be ready!
"What? Yi Zhou called?" Jiang Maoqiang confirmed with surprise. "What did he say?"
Jiang Maoyou reminded him of the time and urged, "It's your son; he wants you to go answer the phone!"
"Qiangzi, you go ahead!"
"Right, right, I'll finish this work right away!"
Jiang Maoqiang quickly took off his work clothes, put on a jacket, and sat on the back seat of Jiang Maoyou's big bicycle. "Let's go to my dad's house! The kid's mom is still there!"
The couple was temporarily living in their parents' mud-brick house.
Hearing her son call, Gao Qingzhen felt happy but also a bit worried. Wasn't he supposed to be abroad and might not have time to come back?
Jiang Maoyou gave the bicycle to the couple, letting them go ahead while he walked over.
When they reached the front of Village School, Gao Qingzhen tapped her husband impatiently. "Hurry up! You look like you haven't eaten!"
Jiang Maoqiang secretly complained to himself, wasn't it because he had been doing physical labor all morning without eating? He had been waiting for her to bring lunch, but who would have thought this would happen in between.
The two of them walked side by side to the office. Jiang Maoqiang knocked on the door somewhat awkwardly. "Is anyone there?"
The door wasn't closed tightly; it opened with a gentle push. They walked in and found two chairs around the phone. Perhaps due to their urgency, it would still be a while before Jiang Yizhou called back.
"Should we call back?" Jiang Maoqiang suggested.
"You know how to make a call? At most, you can just hold a receiver, and long-distance calls are very expensive!" Gao Qingzhen teased her husband as usual. Jiang Maoqiang just tapped his forehead and smiled awkwardly.
"Ring ring..."
Jiang Maoqiang immediately answered the phone and asked cautiously, "Is it my son?"
"Dad, it's me!" Jiang Yizhou suddenly felt that saying "hello" was indeed necessary, as it allowed one to identify who was on the other end by voice. It would be awkward if someone else answered and his father directly asked, "Is it my son?"
"Why did you suddenly come back? Didn't you have a good time abroad?"
Jiang Yizhou licked the liquid from the corner of his mouth; strawberry milk was the best. "I had to come back for work. I'm doing well, Dad, so don't worry unnecessarily! By the way, how's the house coming along?"
Jiang Maoqiang felt a pang in his heart. He realized that according to his son's plan, all the money his son had sent would be spent. However, under his son's insistence that "if it's not built this way, he won't come home for the New Year," he reluctantly went ahead and spent it.
"It's going smoothly. We should be able to move in around August, but it's just too expensive!"
Jiang Yizhou naturally didn't care about that money. "Dad~ It's just that amount, right? If you're short on cash, I can send another twenty thousand back!"
The changes in his son were all good except for one thing: he earned a lot but spent even more. The money came in and went out quickly, which made him feel distressed.
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