151 Beginning Updates

Zhang Pa sighed and said, "If you put it that way, fine, I admit I have a sense of responsibility."

Deputy Bureau Chief Qi said, "Your principal has pulled strings with many people over your matter, coming to me several times. Knowing I am easy to talk to, don't you think he is taking advantage of a good-natured person?"

Principal Qin said, "For the sake of those kids, taking advantage of you is just taking advantage of you. So what? You have an objection?"

"An objection? I must have one." Deputy Bureau Chief Qi smiled and said, "Though you can only take advantage of me this once, there won't be another chance."

Upon hearing this, Principal Qin's expression turned somewhat desolate. After a moment, he said, "I'm retiring soon anyway, so let whatever happens happen."

"Once you retire, Number 119 High School will be completely ruined." Deputy Bureau Chief Qi asked, "Have you found a successor yet?"

Principal Qin laughed. "Are you out of your mind? Is it my place to decide? Who gets to be the principal is a matter for the bureau leadership to consider."

Deputy Bureau Chief Qi smiled. "That's true." He turned to Zhang Pa and said, "Here is the deal: Principal Qin praised you to high heaven and, by the way, cursed your students into the ground, saying they are a bunch of bastards and bad kids who only you can handle. To keep forty-six students from going astray, he insists you must go back and resume teaching, even if it means working as a temporary employee, and stay temporary indefinitely."

"To be honest, I thought it was a bit exaggerated and didn't believe it at first," Deputy Bureau Chief Qi said. "However, I know one thing: a good teacher genuinely helps students grow. If you are truly as good as Principal Qin claims, I have decided to risk this old face of mine and put in a good word for you."

Zhang Pa felt a bit embarrassed. "Is that really necessary? It's such a huge favor, I won't be able to repay it."

"Repay what? I'm retiring soon," Deputy Bureau Chief Qi said. "Doing a righteous deed before I step down means I won't have served as a leader in vain."

Zhang Pa said, "I'm afraid I might fail your expectations."

"As long as you put your heart into it, there is no such thing as failing expectations," Deputy Bureau Chief Qi replied.

Principal Qin chimed in, "As I just said, Deputy Bureau Chief Qi is the Education Bureau leader I admire the most. Other leaders work to please their superiors and are always scheming to climb higher; Deputy Bureau Chief Qi is not like that. That's why he has been stuck at the deputy bureau level for ten or twenty years, and he probably won't get even a half-step promotion until he retires."

A deputy bureau chief for ten or twenty years? Zhang Pa glanced at Deputy Bureau Chief Qi. He must not know how to play politics, or he would have been promoted to the primary position long ago.

Principal Qin said, "I truly admire Bureau Chief Qi. That's why I always come to him whenever something happens..."

Interrupting him, Deputy Bureau Chief Qi said, "Stop flattering me, it's completely unnecessary! Even if you were cursing me out, I would still handle this matter for you, all right?"

Principal Qin smiled. "Thank you for your hard work."

"It's no trouble," Deputy Bureau Chief Qi said. "When I go to work tomorrow... I'll mention it next week, I'll go talk to the bureau chief."

Zhang Pa thought for a moment and asked, "Just talking about it will be enough?" After all, Miao Zili's father was such an influential high-ranking official. Even if Deputy Bureau Chief Qi was retiring and no longer cared about his career path, what about the others? They probably wouldn't be very generous with their face.

Principal Qin said, "Rest assured, whatever Bureau Chief Qi promises, he will deliver."

Zhang Pa wanted to ask more, but Principal Qin cut him off and steered the conversation elsewhere, rambling about random things. In less than ten minutes, they settled the bill and headed home.

The two men first dropped off Deputy Bureau Chief Qi. Watching the taxi drive away, Principal Qin spoke a bit more, explaining why Deputy Bureau Chief Qi was willing to help.

Deputy Bureau Chief Qi had started out as a teacher, then climbed the ranks to become a department head and principal, steadily rising all the way to become a deputy director at the municipal education bureau. First, his professional competence was beyond reproach. Second, his moral character was impeccable. Third, he had the backing of higher leadership.

A person goes through life meeting various people and encountering various events. Handle them well, or simply bump into some good fortune, and your fate might just change.

Deputy Bureau Chief Qi came from a farming family with zero background or connections. After finally becoming a teacher, as luck would have it, there was a delinquent student in his class. He taught him earnestly, pouring immense effort into it, and later, through a fortuitous coincidence, helped with a tremendously significant matter. From then on, he entered the field of vision of the leadership.

The leader was that delinquent child's biological father. Originally disobedient, the child had actually become sensible after two years under Deputy Bureau Chief Qi's guidance. Coupled with a sudden major event that occurred around that time, the leader remembered Deputy Bureau Chief Qi and began promoting him, step by step, all the way to deputy bureau chief.

After that, the leader was transferred to Beijing as a high-ranking official. Ever since that time, Deputy Bureau Chief Qi had remained a deputy bureau chief.

This time, when trouble befell Zhang Pa, Principal Qin went to see him twice. Old Qi was initially reluctant to take it on; after all, he was about to retire, so why bother borrowing trouble?

Yet when Principal Qin brought up the forty-six children in Class 18, Deputy Bureau Chief Qi's heart softened. He didn't care about what Zhang Pa's future held, but he had to care about the future of those forty-six kids.

Number 119 High School was notorious across the entire city—it was simply too terrible. While other schools sent talent to universities, Number 119 High School sent talent to prisons. It had almost become the frontline staging ground for the city prison and detention center, spawning one hateful, exasperating incident after another, and spitting out one scoundrel or criminal after the next.

Everyone knew how difficult Number 119 High School was. People wanted to reform it, even rebuild it, but deep-rooted problems were precisely what defined the place.

Have you ever seen students threaten a principal? Have you ever seen students negotiate with a principal? Have you ever seen students flash wallets to bribe a principal? You could find all of that right here.

Deputy Bureau Chief Qi was well aware of the current state of Number 119 High School. Learning that Zhang Pa had gathered more than forty delinquent students into a single class, he resolved to pitch in and help.

Helping Zhang Pa meant helping those students. For the sake of more than forty futures, exerting some effort was the right thing to do.

Yet before that, he had to meet Zhang Pa to see if this person was truly reliable. He didn't want to risk his personal prestige and stake his old reputation only to turn himself into a grand joke... which would be humiliating enough.

The meeting left him very satisfied. Despite the guy's head full of injuries, Deputy Bureau Chief Qi gave him his approval. His method of helping was to go to the bureau chief and demand executive authority; simply put, he was going to risk his old face and go all out!

Using his imminent retirement as an excuse, his sole demand was to be put in charge of affairs at Number 119 High School. To spare certain people from being harassed by complaints, he stated explicitly to the bureau chief: you can pretend to be completely unaware; everything is my overstepping of authority, everything is my arbitrary decision, and it has nothing to do with you. Whatever happens in the future, you can pin the blame entirely on me.

From this approach, one could see just how wonderful Deputy Bureau Chief Qi truly was!

Such a person was far too rare, simply too rare. No wonder Principal Qin admired him. Just like Principal Qin, he was genuinely thinking of the children's future.

However, a method had been found, but whether he could actually persuade the bureau chief depended entirely on Deputy Bureau Chief Qi's performance next week.

Listening to Principal Qin explain all these details, Zhang Pa said, "I owe way too much. I can never repay this."

"No need to repay it. You're always crossing swords with me, and did I ever criticize you? People like us, having reached our age, think about things differently than you do. You just need to focus on being a serious teacher and handle those kids in Class 18 properly. You don't need to worry about anything else," Principal Qin said.

Zhang Pa let out a soft breath. "But you guys are helping me. Clearly, you're helping me, so why do I feel not even the slightest bit happy?"

Principal Qin said, "Cut the nonsense, let's go." He walked out to hail a taxi on the street and left.

Left all by himself, Zhang Pa stood dazed at the entrance of the restaurant for quite a while before finally hailing a taxi home.

Are there truly great people in this world? Most certainly! And there are many of them! For instance, a certain Taiwanese woman who abandoned everything to root herself in a mainland village plagued by disease, solely to help countless impoverished families and pitiful children. A certain Japanese man who raised funds in Japan to plant trees on barren lands in China, persevering for decades. An American who established an orphanage domestically, pouring over twenty years of effort into it. A German working as a teacher in a remote mainland mountain village, returning to Germany every year to raise funds so Chinese children could read and study.

A certain surname-Cong singer from the south donated the majority of his hard-earned lifelong income before eventually passing away from severe illness. An elderly man surnamed Bai in Tianjin spent his entire life pulling a pedicab through backbreaking labor, donating every single penny he earned to impoverished students...

There were so many, many such people, and their greatness made one feel utterly insignificant.

Right now, Deputy Bureau Chief Qi's actions made Zhang Pa feel small. Regardless of whether he could persuade the head of the education bureau, just for this pure intent alone, the man was a great soul.

He was single-handedly taking the blame for everything! And his sole aim was a group of children he had never met and did not even know.

Compared to him, his own performance as a homeroom teacher... well, the less said, the better.

Swayed by these emotions, he didn't go straight home after getting out of the car, choosing instead to sit on the staircase steps for a while.

Looking up, the sky held neither stars nor moon, likely due to the oppressive smog overhead. Suddenly, he felt an urge to smoke, longing for some harsh flavor to irritate his heart and lungs, which made him understand smokers just a little bit better.

Tomorrow was Saturday, and the third-year junior high students had a half-day of classes. Zhang Pa had a dance class in the afternoon...

Zhang Pa had always been busy, rarely sparing a thought for other people and affairs. Take Fatty and the others, for instance—after living as neighbors in Happiness Lane for so long, he usually couldn't even be bothered to chat with them.

Things were different now. He had encountered a somewhat great Principal Qin, and then Principal Qin had tracked down another somewhat great Deputy Bureau Chief Qi. Using the life experience of half a lifetime, they were pointing the way for the kids, employing the crushing weight of morality to force Zhang Pa into reflecting on his own actions.

Suppose—suppose Deputy Bureau Chief Qi managed to handle the head of the bureau and secured a tacit, turn-a-blind-eye permission for him to resume teaching, shouldn't he invest more energy into the kids, at least raising their academic performance?

Just as these thoughts ran through his mind, the apartment door slowly creaked open. Old Pi poked his head out cautiously, adopting the posture of someone guarding against a thief.

Zhang Pa asked, "What are you doing?"

Old Pi jumped in fright. The phone in his hand flashed instantly, and its flashlight beam shone directly into Zhang Pa's face.

Only after confirming his identity did Old Pi lightly pat his chest. "You scared the life out of me."

Zhang Pa asked again, "What are you doing?"

"Studying! I heard a commotion outside... Why didn't you come inside when you got back?" Old Pi asked.

Zhang Pa asked with curiosity, "You are studying?"

"Not just me, all of us are studying," Old Pi said. "This afternoon, under my leadership, we held a class meeting."

"A class meeting?" Zhang Pa asked. "What kind of class meeting?"

Old Pi said, "You haven't been to school for a long time. You claimed it was hemorrhoids, but you didn't have surgery, and you haven't changed your underwear in the past two days."

Furious, Zhang Pa retorted, "Everything I own was burned to a crisp, what do you expect me to change them with?" With that, he thrust out a foot. "See? I don't even dare wear socks."

Old Pi said, "Don't change the subject." He then continued, "Some classmates suspect you aren't sick at all, but that you were expelled by the school because our test scores were simply too terrible for the school to bear anymore." (To be continued.)