Chapter 274: Chapter 274: “Why Not Eat Meat Porridge,” Wang Ruolan

Gold bars are always hard currency, no matter the time.

With them, the school’s financial pressure could be eased, and the children’s dormitory issues resolved.

Principal Chen felt deeply grateful to Wang Zhiyuan, but after asking around and finding no news of him, he let the matter drop.

The school began to relocate and build new dormitories, and soon the children would have new rooms to live in.

Mid-June.

The children finished their final exams for junior high and graduated.

Gu Qinghuan was assigned to the county for two days as an exam proctor, staying at the county guesthouse and grading papers in batches.

Each test paper represented a child’s hope, and she felt the same nervousness as when she was a student herself.

When the results came out, even someone as cool and composed as Gu Qinghuan couldn’t help but tear up.

The two classes she taught in Chinese broke all previous records—their performance was outstanding, and their commune’s Chinese scores ranked first in the entire county.

At the school meeting, Principal Chen singled her out for praise.

Lin Muyang also finished his last teaching assignment at the commune elementary school with a perfect ending—his math class did very well, with Wang Qingchuan scoring the highest in the county, a perfect score.

Out of more than 120 students in the two classes, over 70 were admitted to the county high school.

In the past, the best year had only seen 50 students admitted, and in the worst years, barely a dozen.

So this year’s results were unprecedented, breaking all records, and the county also commended their school at a meeting.

But such results were impossible to replicate. This year was a rare convergence of timing, location, and people: both main subjects had excellent teachers.

Principal Chen decided to give all the teachers of these two classes an extra half-jin of meat coupons.

By all rights, Lin Muyang should have been happy with these results, but he didn’t look pleased.

Gu Qinghuan didn’t understand.

“Mr. Lin, why do you look dissatisfied? These results are already excellent.”

Lin Muyang shook his head. “It’s not that I’m dissatisfied. On the contrary, I’m very proud of these kids.

I just feel sorry for those who didn’t make it. For most of them, their future will be a life of toil in the fields. But that’s just how things are.

This world is survival of the fittest.

And even for those who did get in, who knows how many will actually be able to attend high school?” At this, Lin Muyang let out a long sigh.

Gu Qinghuan’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Even those who got in might not go?”

Lin Muyang knew Gu Qinghuan came from a good background and didn’t understand the situation of poor families, which was normal.

“Don’t be fooled by the fact that over seventy passed. If half of them actually go to county high school, that’s already good.

For most families, getting a child through junior high is already the limit.

High school costs even more, and for families like these, the kids are already the main labor force—they can earn work points.”

Now Gu Qinghuan understood.

“Don’t the parents think it’s a pity? The kids worked so hard to get in. If they finish high school, they can get better jobs! Can’t they just hang on a little longer?” She couldn’t understand their thinking.

“Ms. Gu, that’s a bit like ‘Why not eat meat porridge?’

Do you know, a semester of high school tuition is ten yuan, plus notebooks, pens, and other fees, and room and board costs money too.

All told, it costs a family dozens of yuan per semester for a child to attend high school—over a hundred a year, for two years straight. How many rural families can afford that?”

Another teacher nearby chimed in, disagreeing.

Gu Qinghuan’s face flushed with embarrassment.

Born under the red flag and raised in the spring breeze, she had never realized that in this era, getting into high school and actually attending was a luxury.

After all, in the future, parents would do everything they could and spend huge sums just to get their kids into good high schools and universities.

Now she finally understood why, when the results came out, some were happy and some were sad—and even those who should have been happy showed no joy.

They already knew their fate.

Seeing her awkwardness, Lin Muyang quickly added, “Ms. Gu, you’re a zhiqing from Beijing. It’s normal not to know how things are here.”

Gu Qinghuan didn’t even know how she made it back to the dormitory. She just felt shrouded in a gray mood.

She could accept adults suffering, but seeing the children suffer was especially hard for her.

If they hadn’t worked hard, or didn’t have talent, it would be one thing.

But most of them had worked so hard, hoping to change their fate through study.

Yet even that was out of reach.

It was just too tragic.

She didn’t cook, just buried her head and slept. When the kids came home from school, they thought she was sick. They felt her forehead—no fever—so they relaxed.

The two little ones heated up some steamed buns for themselves, finished their homework, and reviewed their lessons.

Their own finals were coming up soon.

Gu Qinghuan slept straight through to midnight.

The night was silent, and her stomach was rumbling with hunger.

Seeing the buns the kids had left on the table, she got up to fetch the kettle from the kitchen, planning to eat the cold buns with some hot water.

As she reached the door, she suddenly heard a cat’s meow, startling her.

No one in this courtyard kept a cat—why would there be a cat’s cry? That wasn’t right!

Something was up!

Gu Qinghuan quietly lifted a corner of the window paper and peeked outside.

A short figure flashed past her window.

By the moonlight, Gu Qinghuan clearly saw that the figure was… Wang Ruolan from her class.

The girl who had scored second in the whole school this time—a quiet, hardworking student who always kept her head down and studied hard.

Now, with the results out, why wasn’t she home? Why was she sneaking into the staff dormitory in the middle of the night?

With suspicion in her heart, Gu Qinghuan quietly opened the door a crack and watched as Wang Ruolan entered one of the staff rooms.

That was… Fang Youde’s room?

Fang Youde was the older bachelor with his nose in the air, left over after being too picky.

He taught history and didn’t usually have much to do with Gu Qinghuan.

But according to Lin Xiaomeng, he was a slick talker who always kept himself looking greasy and shiny.

Now, in the middle of the night, a single male teacher and a young female student—Gu Qinghuan couldn’t help but imagine the worst, her mind filling with inappropriate scenarios.

She’d never heard of them being related, and even if they were, there was no reason to call a child over at this hour.

The more she thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. To confirm her suspicions, Gu Qinghuan crept to Fang Youde’s door.

The door was already closed, so she pressed her ear to it to listen.

The two inside seemed to be arguing over the price, voices low, so Gu Qinghuan only caught the gist.

“Didn’t you say you’d pay for my high school?” the girl said in surprise.

“Yeah, I’ll give you ten yuan. Isn’t that enough?” the man replied lazily.

“Ten yuan is only enough for one semester’s tuition. I still have to eat. You have to give me at least thirty,” the girl’s voice trembled with tears.

“Don’t push your luck! Ten yuan is a lot. Just by lying here, you can earn what your parents make in a month.”

“You liar! You’re breaking your promise!” the girl cried, on the verge of collapse.

Fang Youde lost patience and grabbed the girl, throwing her onto the bed and pressing himself on top of her.

After that, all Gu Qinghuan heard was a string of chaotic noises and the girl’s muffled sobs.

Something was very wrong! That beast Fang Youde—how dare he!

In that instant, a thousand thoughts flashed through her mind. If she shouted now and called everyone over,

Fang Youde might be punished, but Wang Ruolan’s life would be ruined.

She was so young—she couldn’t bear the stigma of “having an affair with a teacher.”

From what Gu Qinghuan had overheard, there was some kind of transaction involved, and Wang Ruolan clearly wasn’t willing.

Time was running out, and she didn’t know exactly what was happening inside. After weighing her options, she gritted her teeth and knocked on Fang Youde’s door.

Inside, everything stopped. After a moment’s tense silence, a nervous voice asked, “Who is it?”

Gu Qinghuan tried to keep her voice light. “Mr. Fang, you’re still up? I wanted to borrow something, could you open the door?”

“It’s Ms. Gu? I’m already in bed. Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

Fang Youde had no idea why Gu Qinghuan, who had nothing to do with him, would suddenly come looking for him.

Lying hopelessly on the kang, her clothes pulled open, Wang Ruolan’s eyes suddenly filled with hope when she heard Gu Qinghuan’s voice, tears welling up.

She regretted it so much. She wished Gu Qinghuan would save her!

Fang Youde clamped a hand over her mouth and whispered in her ear, “If you dare call for help, you’ll regret it!”

Wang Ruolan fell silent. She knew that if she screamed, she’d be ruined and might even be dragged out for public criticism.

Seeing that he was stubbornly refusing to open the door, Gu Qinghuan grew angry.

“Mr. Fang, do you want me to call someone else over?”"