frightfiction Chapter 24 Taking Tests
Chapter 24 Taking Tests
"Hello, teacher!" Song Wanli greeted as he entered. "This is my daughter, she's here to register."
"Okay." The teacher was very approachable and called Tingnan over: "What's your name?"
"Song Tingnan".
Song Tingnan? The teacher looked up and sized up the child. He had a common "baby haircut," regular features, and a pair of large, clear, and bright eyes with double eyelids. She had heard that he had been running errands at a young age, so his skin was a bit dark, but he looked very healthy and energetic.
"how old are you?"
"8 is old."
The teacher wasn't surprised that she was only 8 years old when she enrolled; many more girls in rural areas had never even entered a school.
When I was little, I did housework, took care of my younger siblings, and worked in the fields. Then, when I reached marriageable age, I got married. Although the slogan now is "gender equality," some ideas are deeply ingrained in rural areas and cannot be changed overnight.
Therefore, whenever a girl came to register, the teacher would be more enthusiastic, afraid of scaring away the parents. She was a woman too, and she sympathized with girls, believing that girls were no less capable than boys.
This teacher is not a local; he was transferred from a big city and is also the most highly educated among all the teachers.
She was still very young, and even though she dressed simply, she was beautiful and had a great presence. The village students all liked her, and many young men were also attracted to her.
I heard that her elders are urging her to return to the city to get married, but she keeps putting it off because she knows that even if she can find work after marriage, they won't let her go back to this rural area. She thinks that she can delay teaching for as many years as possible, because the teaching resources here are too poor. She teaches art and music, and will also teach some English for five or six years. She really doesn't want her students to fall too far behind the children outside.
"What's your father's name? What's your mother's name?" the teacher asked softly.
When asked his father's name, Song Wanli became a little nervous, looking at Ting Nan, who had never called him "Dad" before.
“My father’s name is Song Wanli, and my mother’s name is Yi Dani,” Nan Xiangliang replied.
Song Wanli's eyes were a little wet. He turned away and wiped them. He should try to spend less money in the future.
The teacher asked a few more questions and had Tingnan write her name. Her handwriting was neat and strong, with a distinct stroke, indicating that she had practiced.
While the teacher was registering students, Song Wanli whispered to her, "Teacher, my child wants to go straight to second grade."
"Oh, she studied this before?" The teacher looked at Ting Nan. "Can you do it?"
“Yes, teacher. I started learning to read and do arithmetic with my grandma when I was very young.” This was originally her suggestion. Ting Nan said confidently, “Teacher, please test me.”
"Okay." The teacher smiled and asked Tingnan to sit in the chair opposite her. She then pulled out a first-grade math final exam paper from under the table. Tingnan took it, flipped it over and looked at it, but didn't touch it.
"What's wrong? You don't know how?" The teacher and Song Wanli both looked at Ting Nan.
Song Wanli was a little worried. Wouldn't that happen?
"Teacher, are there any more difficult ones? They all look very simple to me." Ting Nan didn't want to waste time doing addition and subtraction within 20.
"Oh?" The teacher became interested and wanted to make things difficult for Tingnan. Instead of talking big, she directly drew a third-grade math final exam paper.
This time, Tingnan sat down, took out a pencil from her schoolbag, and began to write. "Swish, swish, swish," she wrote smoothly and without pause.
Song Wanli watched from the side, not daring to breathe too loudly, for fear of affecting his daughter.
He didn't know how well Tingnan was learning from her mother, but at least she didn't make any mistakes.