Zhu Siqi sat down at his seat and placed his books into the desk drawer. Seeing that his classmates had their Chinese textbooks open, he quickly took out his own Chinese book as well, glanced at his deskmate's page, and flipped to the same one.
His deskmate was also a boy. Sitting down, it was hard to tell his height, but shoulder to shoulder they were about the same. Standing up, he probably wouldn't be any shorter than Zhu Siqi. Ignoring the curious looks from classmates who kept turning around to stare at him, the boy simply watched the teacher with interest.
The Chinese teacher was a young woman wearing glasses, likely married, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Her looks were average—round face, not very tall, with her hair tied into a large ponytail at the back. She was teaching classical Chinese, specifically Confucius' saying:"The Master said: Isn't it just right to learn and practice it over time? Isn't it nice to have friends coming from far away?"
Zhu Siqi was already thoroughly familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, so he could easily follow her explanation, which largely matched his own understanding. After listening for a while, he shifted his attention to his new textbook and began reading from the beginning.
Most of the early lessons were modern essays by contemporary writers—authors he had never read before. He found them engaging and read the first, second, then third lesson with great interest. The Chinese curriculum for first year wasn't very difficult; modern texts were easy to understand. The key was remembering vivid descriptions, sentence patterns, and especially well-written passages. For Zhu Siqi, however, after reading each essay once, he could practically recite it from memory.
Before long, he had reached the lesson currently being taught. Flipping further ahead, he found mostly classical Chinese texts. For other students, these were difficult to understand and memorize, but for him they were already second nature from his years on the mountain. After skimming them briefly, he stopped reading further.
When the bell rang, the classroom instantly became lively. Some students rushed out to use the restroom, others ran outside to play. Many glanced at Zhu Siqi with curiosity, whispering among themselves, though no one dared approach him directly. He ignored all this and noticed that his deskmate hadn't gone out, so he took the initiative to talk.
"Hi, my name is Zhu Siqi. I'm a new student."
"I'm Zhu Aiguo," his deskmate replied. Rural children weren't used to chatting with strangers, so his response was brief.
"What's the name of the teacher who just taught us?" Zhu Siqi asked, having learned to start conversations while running his stall.
"Dai Xiaoling."
"What's the next class?"
"Math, taught by the homeroom teacher."
"Does the homeroom teacher hit students?" Zhu Siqi asked seriously. He had read that old-style teachers liked to smack students' palms with rulers.
"Teacher Tan never hits anyone," Zhu Aiguo said. "Sometimes he scolds pretty harshly. If you don't pay attention, he'll make you copy homework."
After chatting for a while, Zhu Aiguo gradually became more talkative. Being young, he quickly forgot that this was a classmate he had only met minutes ago.
"Besides Chinese and math, what other classes do we have?"
"English, geography, and history. Oh, this afternoon we have PE—probably ball games."
Just as Zhu Siqi was about to continue, the bell rang. Teacher Tan stood at the classroom door, waiting until everyone returned to their seats before entering.
"Stand up," a student at the front called.
Everyone stood up. Zhu Siqi didn't quite understand but reacted quickly and stood as well.
"Good morning, teacher!" the class shouted in unison. Zhu Siqi was the only one who didn't say anything—he didn't know the routine.
"Good morning, students. Please sit," Teacher Tan replied.
"Today we have a new classmate," Teacher Tan announced. "His name is Zhu Siqi. Zhu Siqi, stand up and introduce yourself."
Zhu Siqi stood and said clearly, "My name is Zhu Siqi. I'm a new student. I hope everyone will take good care of me."
The class found this amusing. Most students were shy and barely audible when speaking in front of everyone, unlike Zhu Siqi, who spoke confidently and even sounded a bit like an adult. In truth, he was used to dealing with grown-ups at the market, so this manner felt natural to him.
Teacher Tan, however, was pleased. He nodded and said, "All right, sit down."
Then he addressed the class: "Zhu Siqi hasn't attended school before. If he encounters difficulties, everyone should help him. Students who do well should assist him when he doesn't understand something."
"Now let's begin. Today's lesson is on sets…"
Zhu Siqi found the lecture difficult to follow at first. He had never encountered modern mathematics before. Ancient texts like Arithmetic or Number Theory were very different from contemporary math. So he began reading the textbook from the beginning on his own.
The early sections—classifications of numbers, positive and negative numbers, natural numbers, integers—were easy to understand, with plenty of examples. He picked it up quickly. The content progressed gradually from simple to complex, and as he continued, his comprehension improved. Before he realized it, he had reached the section Teacher Tan was currently explaining—and now he could understand it clearly.
This was the fourth class of the morning. After it ended, it was lunchtime. Since Zhu Siqi hadn't brought rice, he went to a small eatery in the market. The school's midday break lasted an hour and a half. After eating, he wandered around the market, bought daily necessities, noticed that classmates used fountain pens or ballpoint pens, and bought one of each along with ink and notebooks before returning to school.
In the afternoon, the first class was geography, the second PE, and the last history. He had already memorized the class schedule posted by the blackboard. At the time, students attended school six days a week, with only Sunday off. Mornings were for major subjects; afternoons were lighter—geography, history, PE, music, or self-study.
He had planned to keep studying math at noon, but time passed quickly and geography class began. The geography teacher was elderly, with mostly white hair. Zhu Aiguo told him the teacher's name was Deng Jiping. The textbook covered Chinese geography—provinces, regional characteristics, mineral resources. Zhu Siqi listened with fascination. He had always loved books like Records of Mountains and Rivers and ancient travel journals, and had long dreamed of seeing the country's landscapes himself.
Geography was easy to follow. He listened while flipping through earlier pages, and before long he had finished the entire book, committing it to memory. Even after the bell rang and the teacher left, he remained absorbed in recalling the content, resolving to visit those places someday.
Next came PE. Rural PE classes were simple: the teacher lined everyone up, the sports monitor fetched volleyballs, basketballs, badminton rackets, and ping-pong paddles, handed them out—and that was it.
Zhu Siqi didn't join in. He didn't know how to play and had no companions. His focus was entirely on books. He returned to the classroom, where a few others stayed behind as well, and continued reading math.
Perhaps due to talent, or perhaps because he had studied methodically, he read faster and understood more as he progressed. Before PE class ended, he had finished the entire math textbook. Curious to test himself, he completed the comprehensive exercises in the practice workbook—every answer correct.
He was pleased, but then worried. Would others think him a monster if they knew he'd mastered a semester's worth of material in just two periods? He decided to keep it to himself for now.
After PE, students reluctantly returned sports equipment and rushed back to class for the seventh period—history.
History covered modern Chinese history, which Zhu Siqi had never studied. Unlike Records of the Grand Historian or Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Governance, this was new to him. He read eagerly. Middle school history was mostly memorization—dates, people, events. That posed no challenge. He finished the book within one class.
After history, it was time for dismissal. The students waited until Teacher Tan arrived, gave a few routine reminders, and announced the end of the day.
Zhu Siqi packed his books into the new schoolbag he'd bought at noon and followed his classmates out. Once he left the market and reached a secluded area, he confirmed no one was around, then hurried up the mountain—eager to share everything he had learned with his master.