I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 63. Women's Day

Because March 8th is a Saturday, the Experimental Primary School's celebration of International Women's Day was moved to March 7th.

On Friday, all the female teachers in the school had a day off, and the male teachers made up for the missed classes.

Xu Qingfan's class only had male teachers for physical education, computer class, and science and experiment class. So, on Friday, all the students were immersed in fun activities such as playing football, playing computer games, and catching insects to make specimens.

The female teachers got a rest, and the students had fun. This is a win-win situation!
During break time, the entire class came out and completely blocked the office.

Class monitor Xiao Ruanwen handed the prepared flowers and greeting card to Guan Bianyue, smiling and saying, "Teacher Guan, this is a small token of our appreciation from all the students in Class 16. We wish you a happy International Women's Day!"

Guan Bianyue accepted the gift with delight, gently patted Xiao Ruanwen's forehead with the flowers, and said reproachfully, "Teacher is not a woman, teacher is not married yet!"

Xu Qingfan handed the flowers and greeting card he was holding to another female teacher and then laughed and retorted, "Little Guan, you call yourself a teacher? You're so ignorant! According to the law in our country, a woman who is 14 years of age or older is called a woman!"

"Hahaha, really? I always thought that only women who had given birth were considered women, but it turns out Xiao Guan is one too!"

"Haha, Xiao Guan, you should accept the gift from the student. Didn't you hear Xiao Fan say that after fourteen you're considered a woman?"

"That's normal, since in ancient times, a girl's coming-of-age ceremony meant she was 14 years old."

"."

The female teachers in the office were all chattering away, leaving Guan Bianyue no chance to give Xu Qingfan a good scolding. [How dare you call this beautiful young lady, Guan, a mere woman! Xu Qingfan, you brat, just you wait!!]
Xu Qingfan didn't give Guan Bianyue a chance to take revenge, and after stirring up trouble, he ran away happily.

The female teachers at the Experimental Primary School had a happy day. In addition to receiving gifts from their students, the school also specially ordered a batch of silver sheep pendants weighing more than ten grams each to give to every female teacher celebrating the holiday.

Back in 03, the price of gold had just reached 70 yuan per gram, and silver was even less valuable. A silver medal weighing a dozen grams might cost less than 30 yuan including processing fees. But the fact that it was given as a gift of real gold and silver made it seem very high-end. Experimental Primary School knew how to do a lot with little money.

After more than a hundred silver medals and flowers were handed out, every female teacher's face was beaming with smiles.

The dormitory supervisors and cleaning ladies stood at a distance, watching the commotion unfold. The commotion belonged to them, not to them.

Seeing the disappointed expressions on the aunties' faces, Xu Qingfan knew it was time for Class 16 of Grade 1 to step in.

"The chocolates are for the aunties, so you're not allowed to eat them, understand?" Xiao Ruanwen opened the chocolate boxes and distributed them, giving each student in the class two chocolates.

"Squad leader, don't look down on me!"

"Exactly! We're not that greedy!"

"Exactly! It's not like we've never had chocolate before, it's not like it's Kinder!"

"Ferris is so much better, Kinder is too sweet!"

"Meiji is the best!"

"You idiot, get out of here!"

"Get your pretty stuff out of here too!"

"."

Xu Qingfan watched his classmates bickering with amusement. Because of the bombing of the embassy a few years ago, a wave of support for domestic products and boycott of foreign goods swept through society in the early 2000s.

"It's okay to give them to the same person twice, but don't forget to give them to the wrong person!" Xiao Ruanwen added at the end after each student had received two bouquets of carnations and two chocolates.

"Okay, class monitor!"

"Class monitor, please dismiss everyone!"

Worried that something might have been overlooked, Xiao Ruanwen subconsciously glanced at Xu Qingfan. After receiving a nod of approval from him, the little girl waved her hand and said, "Let's go!"

The students scattered excitedly. "Auntie!!"

"Aunt!!"

Happy International Women's Day, Auntie!!!

The dormitory supervisors and cleaning ladies, who were quietly leaving after watching the commotion, suddenly heard a cacophony of voices calling out "Aunties!"

On campus, they were the only ones who would be called "auntie." A group of people who had been silently leaving turned around in confusion, and then saw a large group of little boys and girls running excitedly toward them.

"Auntie! Happy Women's Day! This is for you!!"

"Auntie! Thank you for cleaning the school so thoroughly!"

"Auntie! You're a superhero at Experimental Primary School!"

"."

The children randomly selected a lucky auntie and said the festive words they had prepared in advance.

The women were initially taken aback when they turned around, but then all that remained was surprise.

The feeling of not being forgotten by the world, the feeling of having one's work recognized, is beyond words for the aunties to express.

But the fleeting glint in the aunties' eyes seemed to sum it all up.

The entire school was moved by the actions of Class 16, Grade 1.

In the afternoon, more and more aunties received gifts from the students. Both the recipients and the givers were deeply moved, which seemed to be what International Women's Day should be like.

Saturday.

"Ta-da! Mom, Happy International Women's Day!" Xu Qingfan handed Yao Jinping an empty tub of potato chips.

Customers who were selecting items in the store heard the commotion at the checkout counter and curiously went over to watch.

"Let's cause some trouble." Yao Jinping said with a beaming smile, reaching out to take the can of potato chips from Xu Qingfan's hand.

"Wow! How wonderful! Boss lady, aren't you going to open it and see what's inside?"

"I'm so envious! I'm lucky if my brat doesn't cause me any trouble!"

"You're one to talk! I was tutoring him yesterday, and that 20-meter-long pencil almost gave me high blood pressure!"

"."

Amidst the cheers and jeers of the crowd, Yao Jinping opened the lid, revealing a brightly colored rose lying quietly inside.

She took out the flowers, and the onlookers cheered with "Wow!"

Yao Jinping shook it, and after hearing the sound, she knew there was something else inside. She reached out and poured out a delicate little lipstick, which landed in her hand.

"Wishing Mom happiness every day and that she stays young forever!" Xu Qingfan stepped forward, kissed Yao Jinping on the cheek, and turned to leave.

As Yao Jinping watched her son's departing figure, her eyes welled up with tears.

Xu Qingfan walked under the eaves, looked up at the sky, which was very blue and the clouds were very white. "It's so nice."

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(End of this chapter)