Pei Chuan no longer chased her away, and Bei Yao was extremely happy.

She carried a white cloth school bag on her back—Zhao Zhilan had bought it for her at the market yesterday for five yuan. A very small panda doll dangled from it.

In both lifetimes, this was Bei Yao’s favorite school bag. It was almost half her size, yet she carried it for a very, very long time.

At least in her memories of third grade, it still accompanied her.

Bei Yao carefully placed it inside her desk. Teacher Yu began distributing books.

Teaching pre-school was particularly difficult because pre-school was the transitional stage between kindergarten and elementary school. Kindergarten had loose discipline—children mainly just played together. By pre-school, they had to learn to follow rules. Teachers had to sometimes encourage and sometimes be strict, using both kindness and authority to manage children whose hearts were set on playing.

Yu Qian asked: “Which little friend can help the teacher distribute books?”

Many small hands eagerly shot up. The chubby Chen Hu was so enthusiastic he nearly jumped up. Yu Qian smiled and selected Chen Hu, Li Da, and four other children to distribute books together.

The pre-school books were all small textbooks with colorful illustrations. The brand-new books felt substantial in hand. Little children could only carry five or six at a time. Yu Qian originally wanted to exercise their enthusiasm anyway, so it didn’t matter if distribution was slow.

Children receiving pre-school books for the first time all eagerly opened them.

Chen Hu’s eyes rolled. A math book at the bottom had curled corners and was covered in mud and dust. He picked up this book, walked over to the first desk by the window, and tossed it onto Pei Chuan’s desk.

The textbook raised a bit of dust, its curled edges especially obvious.

Pei Chuan remained expressionless, taking the dirtiest textbook to write his name. His pencil-holding posture was very proper as he wrote “Pre-school Class One, Pei Chuan” on the first page. When Pei Chuan turned his head, the little girl was staring at him.

Her flower buns had come half undone, giving her a somewhat silly and comical appearance, though she herself didn’t know it. The ribbons hung down. She sat so close, still carrying an inconceivable milky fragrance—such a tiny thing with clean, clear eyes.

Seeing him look at her, she showed a bright, pleasing smile.

Chen Hu made another trip delivering textbooks. He rolled his eyes dramatically and gave Bei Yao a brand-new, clean textbook. Bei Yao said: “Thank you, Chen Hu.”

Chen Hu snorted and moved on to distribute to the next person.

Though Chen Hu hated Pei Chuan, he didn’t take it out on Bei Yao. But if Bei Yao insisted on playing with the little mute, that might be a different story!

Bei Yao opened her new book, also first curiously flipping through the content and pretty pictures, then neatly writing her name.

Pei Chuan looked straight ahead, not caring whether this little girl could write her name or what exactly she wrote.

From the moment book distribution started, the class became chaotic—children began chattering. Yu Qian wasn’t anxious. With years of teaching experience, she knew how to manage this group of children. She first gave the children time to get to know their front and back deskmates. The classroom suddenly became lively.

Bei Yao’s clothes were poked with a pencil tip. She turned around to see a very thin little girl grinning: “I’m Ni Hui. What’s your name?”

“I’m Bei Yao.”

Ni Hui secretly glanced at Pei Chuan in the front desk but ultimately didn’t dare speak to him.

Ni Hui’s deskmate also leaned over to talk—a little boy with somewhat long hair and several freckles on his face: “I’m Gu Xinghua. I’m five years old this year.”

No one called out to Pei Chuan, and Pei Chuan didn’t mind. He lowered his eyes, quietly flipping through his book.

After Bei Yao finished meeting her new friends and turned back to look at him, for some reason Pei Chuan’s heart no longer felt the previous calm. He even felt an irritated urge to scatter her little flower buns and forbid her from looking anymore.

Pei Chuan steadied his breathing and turned pages expressionlessly.

Pre-school was different from kindergarten—they didn’t dismiss until eleven o’clock at noon. A group of children who had just come from kindergarten eagerly looked forward to seeing their parents’ figures.

Yu Qian smiled: “Your moms and dads won’t come to the classroom door to pick you up. The teacher has to take you to the school gate to line up properly. Starting with the first group of little friends, stand nice and straight—we’re going to see your moms, dads, grandpas, and grandmas!”

All the other children left this way. Only Pei Chuan was an exception—because of his physical condition, Pei Haobin rode his motorcycle inside the school.

Pei Haobin picked up his son. When passing through the vehicle lane at the school gate, his sharp eyes spotted little Bei Yao obediently standing in line at the front of the crowd on the left.

Because of her young age, she was a short little dumpling.

Round little face, flower bun head all messy.

Pei Haobin couldn’t help but smile: “Yaoyao also came to pre-school and is even in your class. Xiao Chuan, let’s give her a ride home on our way.” The Bei family didn’t have a vehicle, and for such a long distance, this little one would have to walk herself. Even Pei Haobin felt somewhat sorry for her.

In Pei Chuan’s heart, there still remained the nameless fire from the classroom.

He said calmly: “Dad, let’s go. What if her mom already came to pick her up and gets anxious not seeing her.”

Pei Haobin thought about it—his son was right. So he rode the motorcycle forward.

Pei Chuan’s small face was bland as he glanced diagonally backward.

At the very front of the crowd, the little girl’s large eyes were clear, watching in wonder as their father and son’s motorcycle roared past. She recognized Uncle Pei’s vehicle. Bei Yao curved her big eyes and waved her hand vigorously with joy—goodbye, Pei Chuan!

Pei Chuan withdrew his gaze and pressed his lips together.

~

Ever since learning that Bei Yao had gone to pre-school, Zhao Xiu felt completely out of sorts.

In front of the sewing machine at the garment factory, the machine creaked rhythmically. Zhao Xiu chatted with Zhao Zhilan: “Your Yaoyao is only four years old. Sending such a young child to pre-school—what if she can’t keep up with the pace?”

Zhao Zhilan’s heart bubbled with beauty, but after dealing with Zhao Xiu for so many years, she had mastered the art of being two-faced. Her hands continued working the sewing machine while her mouth said: “Yaoyao has some talent for studying. She can do arithmetic problems now. She requested to go to pre-school herself.”

The sewing machine next to her paused. Zhao Xiu nearly pricked her hand with the needle.

Zhao Xiu gritted her teeth, feeling uncomfortable. Fang Mingjun was half a month older than Bei Yao and was currently playing games in kindergarten, yet Bei Yao had already gone to pre-school. Didn’t that mean her daughter would always be one grade below Zhao Zhilan’s daughter?

This wouldn’t do!

As soon as she got home, Zhao Xiu discussed with her husband: “Why don’t we send Minmin to pre-school? The elementary school is close anyway. We can talk to the teachers and ask them.”

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

“What’s wrong with four years old! Even that stupid girl Bei Yao went to pre-school!”

“Don’t call other people’s children stupid girls.”

Zhao Xiu dismissed it: “But isn’t she silly? The kindergarten teacher said Bei Yao learns things slower than normal people. Our Minmin is so smart—sending her to pre-school will definitely work.” She thought about it more and more urgently, pacing back and forth in the room. She even pinched Fang Xin: “Are you just afraid of the trouble? Let me tell you, you must get this done. Our Minmin is going to pre-school this year!”

Fang Xin was helpless. Unable to withstand Zhao Xiu’s unreasonableness and pestering, he could only go out to handle this matter. He was a teacher himself, so handling this was actually easier than it had been for the Bei family.

Zhao Xiu pulled Fang Mingjun over: “Minmin, Mom is telling you—very soon you’ll be going to pre-school. Study knowledge well there and listen to the teacher, understand? You must work hard on exams and definitely score better than Bei Yao.”

Fang Mingjun’s small face, called “Little Jade Maiden,” became serious as she nodded solemnly.

Zhao Xiu felt reassured.

That night, Zhao Xiu had a dream. Final exam papers were being handed out. Her Minmin brought back a paper with a hundred points. The stupid girl Bei Yao downstairs scored fifty points, and Zhao Zhilan’s nose was practically crooked from anger.

Even in her dream, Zhao Xiu couldn’t help laughing out loud.

~

Because pre-school was much farther than kindergarten, Bei Yao now had to get up at six-thirty in the morning.

Every morning she rubbed her sleepy eyes, but by the time she went out the door, she was full of energy.

Both Zhao Zhilan and Bei Licai’s workplaces weren’t on the way to kindergarten, but Zhao Zhilan’s factory had less strict requirements and her work started later. So sending Bei Yao to school fell to Zhao Zhilan.

Fang Mingjun was sent by her father, Fang Xin, since Fang Xin was originally a teacher at Chaoyang Elementary School.

Bei Yao wore a small green jacket. It wasn’t raining today, so her little flower buns weren’t messy.

All along the way, children greeted Teacher Fang. Walking beside Fang Xin, Fang Mingjun also became the object of everyone’s attention.

“Wow, is that Teacher Fang’s daughter?”

“I heard she looks like Chang Xue. Seeing her today, she really does look a bit like her!”

“Hahaha, this is ‘Little Chang Xue,’ the ‘Little Jade Maiden.'”

Amid the chirping admiring voices, Fang Mingjun straightened her spine and walked toward the school.

Still young, Fang Mingjun couldn’t hide her pride at being loved. In this era, being a teacher’s child was undoubtedly a prestigious, respectable, and easily favored identity. Bei Yao looked on without envy—Fang Mingjun was pretty to begin with!

Bei Yao held tightly to the only big red apple in her school bag, calculating how to share it with Pei Chuan.

According to Zhao Xiu’s request, Fang Mingjun was also assigned to Pre-school Class One.

Teacher Yu Qian felt a bit troubled.

The class originally had exactly 58 students—just right. Now with the arrival of her colleague’s child, Fang Mingjun, where should she be seated?

Actually, when Teacher Zheng heard about this matter, his first thought was to single out Pei Chuan.

Over these past few days, he had observed that Pei Chuan had an isolated personality and was unwilling to interact with any of the little friends in class. He was always immersed in his own world. Moreover, Pei Chuan ignored his little deskmate Bei Yao. Having Bei Yao and Fang Mingjun become deskmates while Pei Chuan sat alone seemed to have no impact on Pei Chuan’s life.

Teacher Zheng shared his thoughts with Teacher Yu Qian.

Teacher Yu Qian frowned: “That’s not very good, is it? I’ve heard that disabled children’s hearts are already sensitive. If we have Bei Yao and Fang Mingjun become deskmates, what will Pei Chuan think?”

Teacher Zheng pushed up his glasses: “I’ve been observing carefully these past few days. Pei Chuan doesn’t like to smile. Bei Yao loves to smile—this little girl is very cute and has good relationships. But Pei Chuan completely ignores her. I’ve seen many times when Bei Yao moved slightly closer, Pei Chuan pushed her arm, as if unable to tolerate anyone invading his territory.”

Pei Chuan had a boundary line in his heart, forbidding Bei Yao from crossing it. The silly, adorable little girl was just lacking awareness and was repeatedly pushed coldly by Pei Chuan beyond the boundary.

In Teacher Zheng’s view, a boy like Pei Chuan was too selfish and cold. He wouldn’t accept little Bei Yao or any deskmate.

Might as well let him sit alone.