Mo Jingchun stood awkwardly at the front. No one paid him any attention, so he silently sighed, slung his backpack over his shoulders, picked up his canvas bag, and made his way toward the back, sensibly looking for an empty row.
Although there were several rows with only one person sitting in them, the empty desks all had either a book or a single pen placed on them.
Luckily, he had arrived fairly early. There was no one sitting behind the seventh row, and none of the desks there had any strange objects claiming them, either.
Mo Jingchun set down his heavy backpack and was just about to sit and rest when a male classmate in front of him called out.
"Hey, wait! Don't sit down!"
Mo Jingchun looked at his classmate in confusion. Why couldn't he sit there? Had someone claimed this seat, too? No way! There was nothing on the desk. If that counted as reserving a seat, that would be going too far.
Zhang Wende, who wore glasses and had the look of someone from a scholarly family, pointed at the desk where Mo Jingchun had put his backpack, then at the chair he hadn't yet sat down on. "The classroom must have been cleaned a while ago. There's a layer of dust on both the desks and chairs."
Mo Jingchun paused, then instinctively ran a finger across the desk.
Sure enough, a thick layer of dust coated his fingertip. He rubbed it with a few other fingers before the dust finally came off.
Mo Jingchun smiled at the classmate who had warned him. "Thanks, man." He remembered that the other student's surname was Zhang, but couldn't recall his full name.
"No need to thank me. It was nothing. I'm Zhang Wende."
"Mo Jingchun."
Zhang Wende said meaningfully, "I know who you are, Mo Jingchun."
Mo Jingchun, unaware of the reason, merely nodded. He thought Zhang Wende had just remembered his name when he introduced himself.
People with distinctive features always attracted more attention. There was probably no one more noticeable than Mo Jingchun, sitting there with a child in his arms.
So it was only natural for a classmate to remember his name, wasn't it? Besides, his name was easy to remember in the first place.
Mo Jingchun.
"Drunk, don't be startled by the weight of spring sleep; the fragrance of tea spilled while betting on books. Back then, we thought it was all ordinary."
After warning Mo Jingchun, Zhang Wende exchanged a few words with him, then turned back to read his textbook.
Mo Jingchun took a wet wipe from the pack in his canvas bag—the kind he usually used to wipe his little sister Candy's bottom—and began cleaning the dust off the desk and chair.
After two passes, the once-white wipe had turned gray. The spots where his fingers had pressed looked almost black.
Glancing at the two empty seats beside him, Mo Jingchun thought for a moment, then pulled another wipe from the pack.
Once he had cleaned everything, Mo Jingchun sat down, satisfied. He then searched through his pile of books for the textbook he would need shortly: C Language Programming and Basics.
There were still more than ten minutes before class. The students gradually arrived and found seats. Maybe he was looking a little handsome today, because two girls sat right beside him—in the two spots he had just cleaned.
Though Mo Jingchun felt delighted inside, his shy face showed none of it. He didn't even dare look at them more than a couple of times.
Most of the time, his gaze was fixed on the first row—or, more precisely, on his little sister Candy.
Just then, Mo Jingchun stared in astonishment as the class monitor, Yang Xiaoyu, took an apple out of her backpack. Water droplets still clung to it, so she had clearly washed it back in the dormitory.
Mo Jingchun nearly jumped up and rushed over to snatch Candy away. That apple was huge! Candy had only four little baby teeth—how was she supposed to bite into it? If one of her baby teeth fell out, who could Mo Jingchun complain to? He couldn't exactly blame the well-meaning class monitor, Yang Xiaoyu.
Just as Mo Jingchun was about to get up, Yang Xiaoyu seemed to conjure a spoon out of thin air with her other hand. No matter how he looked at it or thought about it, Mo Jingchun felt this had been a deliberate, carefully planned operation.
Held by another female student, Candy stared at the apple, her big eyes fixed on it. It was all she could see.
Ring, ring!
Ring, ring!
When the bell rang, the girls reluctantly returned to their seats. At the doorway, an elderly professor with a full head of silver hair and a remarkably robust appearance entered the classroom, carrying a teacup.
The old professor had nothing in his hands besides his Thermos Cup, filled with strong tea. A textbook? He didn't need one.
As soon as the professor stepped into the classroom, a woman's voice rang through the spacious room. Mo Jingchun knew exactly whose voice it was! It was all too familiar—the class monitor, Yang Xiaoyu!
"Stand up!"
Everyone froze for a moment—not just the students from their class and the other classes, but also Professor Chen Xihe, who had just entered the lecture hall.
But like Mo Jingchun, the students only froze briefly. That familiar feeling, engraved in their bones, returned.
At the command to stand, all the students got to their feet and called out in unison, respectfully, "Hello, Teacher!"
There was no shyness, no hesitation. It came so naturally, so perfectly in sync.
Mo Jingchun figured the voices of nearly two hundred people were loud enough to carry throughout the entire building, if not even farther.
Chen Xihe walked up to the lectern and set down his Thermos Cup, then bowed in return.
"Hello, everyone!"
Chen Xihe was in a wonderful mood. When he got back to the faculty office, he'd have enough to brag about to the other old-timers for a whole day.
Perhaps Mo Jingchun and the others had set an example, because one after another, clear and orderly greetings of "Hello, Teacher!" came from outside the room.
The students sat down one by one, and the chairs in the lecture hall creaked and clattered. Chen Xihe, however, found the sounds delightful.
Once everyone was seated and the lecture hall had fallen quiet again, Mo Jingchun still had a smile on his face.
"You're all wonderful young people, and you'll be the pillars of our country's future. Perhaps in just a few years, some of you will become pillars of the nation."
"Don't think it's impossible." Chen Xihe rapped the desk hard, producing a loud bang.
"Maybe that person will be you!"
"Let me introduce myself. My surname is Chen, and my full name is Chen Xihe. Teaching and educating the next generation is one of my passions. I don't have many other hobbies. I just love the pride that comes from helping talented people grow!"
"To put it in a way you've all heard so often it's practically given you calluses: today, you take pride in your school; tomorrow, your school will take pride in you. I hope every one of you here can become a pillar of talent who makes your teachers proud."
All the students listened closely to every word their teacher said. When he spoke about the school taking pride in them and making their teachers proud, they couldn't help thinking:
Can I really do that?
Before you continue