Devil’s Warmth

Pei Chuan no longer drove her away, so Bei Yao was extremely happy.

She was carrying a white cloth school bag on her back, which Zhao Zhilan had bought for her yesterday at the market for five yuan. There was a small panda doll hanging from it.

For two lifetimes, Bei Yao had loved this school bag the most, it was almost half of her size, yet she had carried it for a long, long time.

At least in her third grade memories, it was still with her.

Bei Yao lovingly placed it inside her desk, and Teacher Yu began to distribute books.

Teaching preschool was especially difficult because it was a bridge between kindergarten and elementary school, and kindergarten was a messy stage where children mainly play together.

Yu Qian asked, “Which child will help the teacher distribute books?”

A lot of little hands scrambled up, little fatty Chen Hu was even more active to the point of jumping up. Yu Qian smiled and ordered Chen Hu, Li Da, and four other children to distribute books together.

The preschool books were small textbooks with colorful pictures. The brand-new books were heavy in their hands, and children could only get five or six books at a time. Yu Qian was just trying to exercise their enthusiasm, so it was okay to distribute them slowly.

The children who got the new preschool books for the first time couldn’t wait to open the books.

After a while, Chen Hu’s eyes turned. A math book underneath was rolled up at the corners and was covered with a lot of dust. He picked up the book and walked over to the first table in front of the window before throwing it onto Pei Chuan’s desk.

The textbook was slightly dusty, and the rolled-up edges were especially noticeable.

Pei Chuan’s face was expressionless as he brought the dirtiest textbook over to write his name. He held the pencil in the right posture and wrote “Pei Chuan, Preschool Class I” on the first page. When Pei Chuan turned his head, he saw the little girl staring at him.

Her flower buns were half splayed, and she looked a bit goofy and funny, but she didn’t know it. With dangled down ribbons, she sat so close to Pei Chuan that he could easily smell some incredible milky scent. The little one’s eyes were also really clear and bright.

When she saw him looking at her, she gave a bright and lovely smile.

Chen Hu made another trip to deliver the textbooks. He rolled his eyes before giving a brand new and clean textbook to Bei Yao.

Bei Yao said, “Thank you, Chen Hu.”

Chen Hu grunted and went to send the next one out.

Although Chen Hu hated Pei Chuan, he didn’t take offense at Bei Yao. But if Bei Yao still wanted to play with the little dumb, then he wasn’t certain!

Bei Yao flipped through the new book, curiously looking over the contents and nice pictures first, then she neatly wrote her name on it.

Pei Chuan didn’t squint and didn’t care whether the little girl could write her name or not, or what exactly she wrote.

From the beginning of the book distribution, the class became a mess, and the children started chattering. Yu Qian wasn’t in a hurry, she had years of teaching experience and knew how to manage this group of children. She first gave the children time to get to know each other from the front to back tables, and the classroom suddenly became lively.

Bei Yao’s clothes were poked with a pencil head. When she turned back to look, a very thin little girl opened her mouth and said, “My name is Ni Hui. What’s your name?”

“My name is Bei Yao.”

Ni Hui snuck a glance at Pei Chuan at the front table, but in the end she didn’t dare to speak.

Ni Hui’s tablemate, a little boy with somewhat long hair and a few freckles on his face, also came over to speak, “My name is Gu Xinghua, and I’m five years old.”

No one called out to Pei Chuan, and Pei Chuan didn’t mind, he dropped his eyes and quietly flipped through a book.

Bei Yao finished talking to her new friends, then turned to look back at him. For some unknown reason, Pei Chuan’s heart was no longer calm inside, and even had some annoying emotions that wanted to rip her hair buns apart and forbid her to look at him again.

Pei Chuan calmed his breathing and turned the book with a blank expression.

The preschool class was different from kindergarten, and the school day ended at 11 o’clock at noon. A group of children, who had just come from kindergarten, was eagerly waiting to see their parents.

Yu Qian smiled, “Mom and Dad won’t come to meet you at the door of the classroom. The teacher will take you to the school gate to line up. Starting from the first group of children, stand neatly in line and then go to meet your parents and grandparents.”

All the other children walked like this except Pei Chuan. Because of his physical peculiarities, Pei Haobin rode his motorcycle inside the school.

When Pei Haobin picked up his son and passed by the vehicle pathway in front of the school, he saw Bei Yao standing in front of the crowd on the left.

Because of her young age and height, she looked like a little dumpling.

A round little face, with messy hair buns.

Pei Haobin couldn’t help but smile, “Yaoyao has also come to preschool and is in the same class as you. Xiao Chuan, let’s drive her home on the way.” Bei Yao’s house didn’t have a vehicle, and it’s a long way. Thinking that such a little one had to walk by herself, Pei Haobin was also a bit distressed.

Pei Chuan still had the nameless fire from the classroom remaining in his heart.

He calmly said, “Dad, let’s go. In case her mother comes to pick her up and doesn’t see her, then she will be anxious.”

Pei Haobin thought that his son was right. So he rode the motorcycle and drove forward.

Expressions on Pei Chuan’s small face were faint as he looked behind the incline.

The doll-like girl at the front of the crowd had big clear eyes. She watched in amazement as the father and son on the motorcycle whizzed by. As she recognized Uncle Pei’s vehicle, Bei Yao’s big eyes turned into crescents, and she waved her hand vigorously and joyfully, gesturing - goodbye Pei Chuan!

Pei Chuan withdrew his eyes and pursed his lips.

*

Zhao Xiu’s whole body had been bad since she found out that Bei Yaoyao went to preschool.

In front of the sewing machine in the garment factory, the machine creaked regularly. Zhao Xiu and Zhao Zhilan chatted, “Your Yaoyao is only four years old, what if she can’t keep up with the progress when you send her to preschool at such a young age?”

Zhao Zhilan’s heart was bubbling with excitement. However, she had been with Zhao Xiu for so many years, so there must be a set of things on the surface. She kept moving her sewing machine non-stop, while saying, “Yaoyao has some talent for studying. She can do arithmetic on her own, and the main point is that she herself asked to go to preschool.”

The sewing machine next to her made a sudden pause, and Zhao Xiu almost got her hand pricked by a needle.

Zhao Xiu gritted her teeth; her heart wasn’t feeling good. Fang Minjun was half a month older than Bei Yao. And now, her daughter was still playing games in kindergarten, while Bei Yao was studying in preschool. Then in the future, wouldn’t her daughter always be a grade behind Zhao Zhilan’s daughter?

That’s not gonna work!

As soon as Zhao Xiu returned home, she went to discuss with her husband, “Why don’t we send Minmin to preschool? Anyway, the elementary school is near, let’s talk to the teacher and request it.”

Zhao Xiu’s husband, Fang Xin, immediately disagreed, “Minmin is only four years old.”

“What’s wrong with four years old? That stupid girl Bei Yao is already going to preschool!”

“Don’t call other people’s kids stupid.”

Zhao Xiu didn’t pay any heed, “Isn’t she stupid? I heard the kindergarten teacher saying that Bei Yao learns things slower than most people. Our Minmin is so smart, sending her to this semester class will definitely work.” She thought about it, and the more she thought about it, the more eager she became. Walking around the house, she almost screwed Fang Xin up, “Do you find it troublesome? Let me tell you, we must get this done. Our Min Min will go to preschool this year!”

Fang Xin, unable to withstand Zhao Xiu’s unreasonable and stubborn attitude, could only go out to do this. He was a teacher, and it was much easier for him to do this than the Bei family.

Zhao Xiu pulled over Fang Minjun and said, “Minmin, mommy is telling you that you will be going to preschool soon. You should study hard and listen to the teacher. Okay? And be sure to work hard on your exams, and you must get better results than Bei Yao.”

Fang Minjun, who was called the “Little Jade Girl”, heard this with a serious face and nodded solemnly.

Zhao Xiu was relieved.

That night, Zhao Xiu had a dream that the result of the final exam was issued. Her family Minmin came back home with a 100-marks scored paper, while the stupid girl downstairs, Bei Yao, got just 50 marks. Then she saw that looking at the results, Zhao Zhilan’s nose was about to be crooked with distress.

Zhao Xiu couldn’t help but laugh out of dreams.

Because preschool was so much further away than kindergarten, Bei Yao now began to wake up at 6:30 in the morning.

She sleepily rubbed her eyes every morning and was full of energy when she went out.

Zhao Zhilan and Bei Licai both had to go to work, but someone had to drop Bei Yao to the preschool. Zhao Zhilan’s factory was not so strict, and her working time was also a bit late, so in the end, this responsibility fell on Zhao Zhilan.

Fang Minjun was sent there by her father, Fang Xin, because Fang Xin was originally a teacher at the Chaoyang Primary School.

Bei Yao was wearing a little green jacket. It wasn’t raining today, so her little hair buns weren’t messy.

As Fang Xin walked all the way over to the school, there were children greeting Teacher Fang. Thus, Fang Minjun, who was walking beside Fang Xin, also became the object of attention as well.

“Wow! Is that Teacher Fang’s daughter?”

“It’s said that she looks like Chang Xue. I saw her today, she really looks a bit like her!”

“Hahahaha yeah this is Xiao Chang Xue or ‘Little Jade Girl’!”

Amidst the chattering of envy, Fang Minjun straightened her back and walked towards the school.

In the end, being young, Fang Minjun couldn’t hide her pride when she was loved. In this year, being children of teachers was undoubtedly a glamorous, respectable and easy to please status. Bei Yao didn’t look envious, she already knew that Fang Minjun was good-looking!

Bei Yao covered the only big red apple inside her school bag and began to calculate how she should divide it up with Pei Chuan.

According to Zhao Xiu’s request, Fang Minjun was also assigned to the pre-school class.

Teacher Yu Qian was a bit worried.

There used to be 58 students in her class. But now Fang Minjun, the child of a colleague, was here. Where should she place her?

In fact, when Teacher Zheng heard about this, he subconsciously thought of having Pei Chuan singled out.

He also saw that Pei Chuan was withdrawn and was unwilling to deal with any of the children in the class. He also saw that Pei Chuan was often immersed in his own world, and even ignored his little table mate Bei Yao. Teacher Zhang thought to let Bei Yao and Fang Minjun be the tablemates. And Pei Chuan being singled out did not seem to have any impact on Pei Chuan’s life.

Teacher Zheng shared his thoughts with Teacher Yu Qian.

Teacher Yu Qian frowned, “That’s not very good. I heard that disabled children are already sensitive. What would Pei Chuan think if we made Bei Yao and Fang Minjun tablemates?”

Teacher Zheng pushed up his glasses and said, “I’ve been observing it for the past few days. Pei Chuan doesn’t like to smile while Bei Yao loves to smile. This doll girl is cute and popular in the class, however, Pei Chuan ignores her. I saw many times when Bei Yao was a little towards his side of the table, Pei Chuan would push her arm as if he wouldn’t allow anyone to invade his domain.”

According to the Teacher Zheng, Pei Chuan had a Chu-Han boundary in his heart and did not allow Bei Yao to cross it. The silly yet adorable doll girl’s arms just pushed a little bit towards his side, and she was indifferently pushed by Pei Chuan every time.

In Teacher Zheng’s opinion, a boy like Pei Chuan was too selfish and indifferent. He would not accept Xiao Bei Yao, or anyone to be his tablemate for that matter.

Therefore, it would be better to let him sit alone.

[T/N: The Chu-Han War took place from 206 BC to 202 BC between Xiang Yu (grandson of a general) and Liu Bang (son of a peasant), both of whom tried to claim power after the collapse of the Qin Dynasty. The Chu-Han boundary was proposed at the partition of the country.]