Shi Qing lifted the corners of her lips. “Unless Sister Zhai Hua was not an offspring of the Zhai family, or if the Zhai family disowns Sister Zhai Hua completely? Even if Sister Zhai Hua is willing to, Wei De will not agree.” Wei De had been targeting Sister Zhai Hua’s relationships and connections. With Wei De’s influence, Sister Zhai Hua would most likely not make such an extreme decision.
“Ah, it’s hard to say. I’m afraid we won’t be able to know for certain in these few years.”
Wei De was still unaware that he had been expelled from the army. If he were to find out, he would definitely bear a grudge and create another scene.
If Wei De kicked up a fuss with Sister Zhai Hua, Sister Zhai Hua would definitely do the same to the Zhai family. It would basically be a vicious cycle.
“Let’s not talk about this anymore. The National Day holiday is coming to an end. We will need to return to school the day after.” There were only seven days of holiday for National Day. It was almost the end of the tuition period for the current batch of Qiao Nan’s students. Qiao Nan perked up and did not forget about her studies.
“When school reopens, you can’t continue to teach the students anymore.” Shi Qing raised her brows. “Qiao Nan, you really don’t want to be a teacher in the future?”
Based on her observation, Qiao Nan was much more popular than typical school teachers.
Regardless of what kind of student, they would become very obedient in front of Qiao Nan.
If every teacher could have it as easy as Qiao Nan, whereby the students were obedient and good in both their studies and character, it was, in fact, quite good being a teacher.
Qiao Nan wanted to laugh at Shi Qing. “Being a teacher is not as easy as you imagine. Think about it. Don’t talk about other teachers. Can you recall that amongst all your teachers since you’re a child, who had it easy and who made you feel that it’s quite easy to be a teacher?”
It was difficult to manage students. In addition, students of future generations would be even more difficult to manage. It was too tough being a teacher.
Shi Qing knitted her brows and thought about it seriously. In the end, she realized that being a teacher was really not as good as she had imagined. “However, it’s different. You’re different. Look, I’ve been observing you teach your three batches of students. Those teachers of mine did not teach the students the way you did.”
It was a joyful style of teaching.
When the other teachers were giving lessons, the students always wore painful expressions on their faces.
On the contrary, Qiao Nan’s students would always leave with a smile.
There was another point that was also the most obvious.
It was almost inevitable for students to be late for classes.
However, amongst the three batches of students taught by Qiao Nan, none of the students were late. Most arrived early for the lesson.
Just from this point alone, it was not difficult to tell that, in fact, all the students of Qiao Nan were very supportive of Qiao Nan.
“Are you trying to persuade me into becoming a teacher?” Qiao Nan shook her head. “I go by unorthodox and unconventional ways. Furthermore, I’m really not interested in being a teacher. Children of this age are very sensitive and stubborn. When did I put on airs of a teacher in front of them? If not for this, they might not even give me face. However, if I really become a teacher, it won’t be appropriate to use this unorthodox way of mine.”
The teaching style should be catered to the students.
It was too hard to be a teacher. Moreover, she had too little knowledge and it certainly would not do.
There were different psychological developments in each age group. To be a good teacher, one needed to have a good grasp of the various psychological stages of different age groups.
It was also because of this that Qiao Nan adopted an entirely different teaching method for the people in the army and the junior high school students. Even when she was at school, Qiao Nan had never put on airs of a teacher before the students in her cohort.
“I think you know a lot too.” At the very least, it would not be a major problem for Qiao Nan to teach students from junior high school, senior high school, and adults.
Qiao Nan took out two ice pops from the refrigerator and passed one of them to Shi Qing. “How so? Speaking of which, you’re so interested in whether I’ll become a teacher. Why don’t you give my master a call to talk about this?”
“…” Shi Qing, who had just taken a big bite of the ice pop, froze. “Please, please don’t tell Elder Lin what I said earlier. I don’t wish to memorize the English dictionary.”
Shi Qing usually seemed like a fearless little bully but she would occasionally meet formidable characters and Lin Yuankang was one of them.
Lin Yuankang loved to look for intelligent children to test them on their innate ability to learn English.
Who in the political circle did not hope that their children could become Lin Yuankang’s disciple? China had already bridged itself with the world and English was a compulsory subject.
It would be best to learn from Lin Yuankang than other people.
Many years ago, Old Master Shi had intended to send Shi Qing to Lin Yuankang.
Shi Qing was an intelligent child but she did not have a passion for language since she was born. Her learning attitude toward English was akin to that of a coping mechanism to fulfill her studies.
Hence, Shi Qing could not tolerate Lin Yuankang’s training style at all.
Qiao Nan memorized the dictionary on her own initiative. When Shi Qing was a child, Lin Yuankang looked at those clever and mischievous eyes of hers, and then the scheming look in Elder Shi’s eyes. Without a word, he threw a small dictionary to Shi Qing. “When Shi Qing is able to memorize all the words in this dictionary, I can take her under my wing.”
Lin Yuankang simply scared Shi Qing away with a dictionary. That was also the first time that Old Master Shi expressed dissatisfaction with Shi Qing
It was also because of that incident that whenever Shi Qing saw Lin Yuankang, she was like a mouse seeing a cat. She would shrink her neck and disappear at the fastest speed from Lin Yuankang’s sight, in case Lin Yuankang caught hold of her.
Of course, Shi Qing knew that Lin Yuankang was nurturing Qiao Nan as his successor and that Qiao Nan was Lin Yuankang’s last disciple.
Shi Qing expressed that she did not have the guts to poach someone from Lin Yuankang. “Do you know how stressed I feel to be your friend because you’re Elder Lin’s disciple? When I was a child, my grandpa brought me to acknowledge him as a master. Elder Lin didn’t like me and chased me away with a dictionary. Now, because of my relationship with you, Elder Lin is so friendly to me. He even asked me if I wish to learn English again. Ah, I’m already so traumatized. I would rather be a rock than an unpolished jade in his eyes.”
She truly did not have any interest in this subject. Elder Lin should not waste his good intentions on her.
There were many people who wished to seek advice from Elder Lin. There was simply no need for Elder Lin to waste his effort on her.
“Aren’t you hoping that I will become a teacher? He’s my master after all. I have to seek his opinion, don’t I? You have a gift of gab. Maybe my master will agree after you talk to him.” Qiao Nan was extremely amused. Even a top student like Shi Qing would have a teacher that she was fearful of. It was rare.
“Enough. It’ll be strange if Elder Lin agrees to it.”
“Not really. You can convince him to let me become an English teacher. I won’t waste the skills that he imparted to me then, right?”
Qiao Nan was truly busy. Besides teaching two groups of students, she also had to find time to learn English from Elder Lin during the summer break.
