Huayu: Returned Overseas Chinese

"Jingming, what's wrong?" Liu Yifei looked at Chen Jingming's sorrowful face and felt a pang of sadness in her heart. In her memory, Chen Jingming had always been calm and composed, always greeting everyone with a smile. Seeing him with tears streaming down his face now, Liu Yifei couldn't understand it.

"It's nothing." Chen Jingming snapped back to reality upon hearing Liu Yifei's voice, raised his hand to wipe away the tears on his face, but the more he wiped, the more tears flowed.

Seeing this, Liu Yifei opened her small bag, took out a pack of tissues, pulled out one, and handed it over.

Chen Jingming took the tissue, tilted his head back, and placed it on his face to slowly absorb the tear stains.

As soon as he removed the tissue, he was met with a face that exuded a cool, ethereal aura, yet also held a touch of childlike innocence. Chen Jingming was startled; he hadn't noticed when Liu Yifei had already placed one hand on the back seat, her body slightly bent, looking down at him.

Seeing him suddenly shrink back, Liu Yifei couldn't help but sit back in her seat and giggle. Chen Jingming gave a wry smile and lightly patted her to show his "dissatisfaction".

Laughter and cheerful conversation filled the carriage once again. An hour and a half later, the convoy slowly came to a stop. Wang An got out of the car behind, walked to a car with its hazard lights flashing, knocked on the window, whispered a few words, and the convoy resumed its journey.

This time the journey was shorter, taking only about fifty minutes to reach their destination. As Chen Jingming passed a building, he suddenly spoke up: "Old Xu, stop the car."

Upon hearing this, Xu Hu lightly tapped the brakes several times, bringing the car to a steady stop on the side of the road. Chen Jingming got out of the car, and looking at the building fifty meters away, his eyes suddenly reddened slightly.

Liu Yifei followed him out of the car. Seeing Chen Jingming staring blankly into the distance, she walked over to him and asked curiously, "Brother Jingming, what place is that?"

"The school." Chen Jingming's voice was somewhat low. He turned to look at Liu Yifei and asked, "Want to come inside with me and take a look?"

Liu Yifei immediately nodded in agreement. Seeing Chen Jingming get out of the car, Wang An and the others quickly reversed their car and followed him out.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar scene before him, Chen Jingming was filled with mixed emotions. Although he had returned here in his previous life, he couldn't build a house because he didn't have a plot of land. At that time, the school had been abandoned and was considered collective property of the village, so they cleaned up the original guardhouse and let him live there, where he stayed for nearly ten years.

Walking along the wall to the gate, he saw the school sign – "Hope Primary School". Chen Jingming had heard from the villagers that the school was built in the mid-1990s. The villagers contributed money and labor, and with donations from enterprises in the town, men, women, and children from four nearby villages all pitched in to build a place for the children to study.

Chen Jingming smiled as he watched the children running and playing in the mud on the school grounds. Although the children were all dirty, they seemed especially dear to him.

"Mr. Chen, what's wrong?" Wang An walked over with a young man and asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just heard the children laughing in the distance, and I was tired from the car ride, so I got off to walk around," Chen Jingming said casually. Liu Yifei, standing beside him, gave him a strange look, feeling that he seemed unusually familiar with the place.

There was no sound of children at the parking spot, and from the roadside, it looked like a factory, not a school at all, but Chen Jingming insisted it was a school.

Liu Yifei suppressed her doubts and planned to ask him privately when no one was around.

Wang An and the young man exchanged a glance, and then Wang An introduced, "Mr. Chen, this is Yang Ye, a colleague from the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Yangxian City."

Chen Jingming extended his hand to shake hands with the other person and said, "Comrade Yang, would you mind showing us inside?"

Although Yang Ye didn't know why Chen Jingming wanted to go in, his superiors had instructed him beforehand to try his best to accommodate Chen's requests, and if that wasn't possible, to explain the reason to avoid misunderstandings. So he readily agreed, "No problem, Mr. Chen, please wait a moment, I'll go and talk to the security guard."

Chen Jingming nodded, his gaze turning toward the guardhouse—the very little house where he had lived for nearly ten years.

Not long after, an elderly woman with a full head of white hair emerged from the campus. She gestured for the gatekeeper to open the gate, then stepped forward and addressed Chen Jingming and his group:

"Hello, what brings you to the school? I am Wang Mei, the principal of Hope Primary School."

"Hello Principal Wang, I'm back in China looking for my relatives. I just happened to be passing by and saw the school. I wanted to come in and see the children's learning environment," Chen Jingming said with a gentle smile.

Although he had never met Wang Mei, he had heard of this legendary female principal. This school was built thanks to her visiting businesses in the county one by one and raising funds from all over the place.

"This..." Wang Mei hesitated upon hearing Chen Jingming's identity. Even after many years of reform and opening up, the older generation remained very wary. Wang An and Yang Ye also noticed this. Yang Ye immediately stepped forward, took out his work ID, handed it over, and explained in a low voice.

After looking at the work permit and listening to his words, Wang Mei nodded and gestured for Chen Jingming to proceed.

The group entered the campus. Only one path was paved with uneven cobblestones, which had been collected from the river; the rest of the area was all yellow mud. It was alright on sunny days, but it became muddy and difficult to walk on rainy days.

Led by Wang Mei, the group toured the school's facilities. Although it was a Hope Primary School, it did have a canteen. Chen Jingming, noticing only four tables in the canteen, asked:

"Principal Wang, are these few tables enough for the students?"

Wang Mei looked at Chen Jingming in his well-tailored suit and didn't know how to respond. From their conversation, she already knew that Chen Jingming had returned from the United States, and even though the school's conditions were poor, she didn't want to appear timid in front of outsiders.

Upon hearing this, Yang Ye's eyes lit up, and she quietly tugged at Wang Mei, giving her a meaningful look. Chen Jingming saw all of this, but he didn't say anything, only looking at Wang Mei, waiting for her explanation.

Wang Mei received Yang Ye's look. Although she didn't want outsiders to see the school's predicament, she still spoke up when she thought of the children:

"Mr. Chen, the school is short of funds. We have sent the children who live nearby and can go home for lunch to go home. The ones who stay are those whose commute is too far, taking one or two hours round trip. Besides, the school lunch is free."

At this point, Wang Mei paused, glanced at Yang Ye, and seeing the encouraging look in his eyes, continued:

"The school's food supply mainly comes from the allocation of various village committees, and the vegetables are all brought by the children from home. As for meat, to be honest, they might not even get to eat it once a semester."

Looking at the dining tables, Chen Jingming immediately recognized that they were handmade by the village's old carpenter, and the material was paulownia wood. This type of wood is light and soft, and the pitted marks on the tabletops are very obvious.

"Let's go take a look at the teaching building," Chen Jingming said, seeing that everyone was waiting for his opinion.

Liu Yifei glanced up at him, and Chen Jingming waved his hand slightly, which she understood immediately. Wang Mei hadn't expected to receive any financial assistance, but Yang Ye, being young and somewhat impatient, was about to speak when Wang An, quick-witted and nimble, pulled her back and gently shook his head.

Reaching the first classroom, Chen Jingming peered through the window. He saw first and second-grade students sitting back-to-back, with only one teacher lecturing, while the other half of the students were writing something with their heads down. He looked at Wang Mei with a puzzled expression and asked softly, "Principal Wang, what's going on?"

Looking at the children in the classroom, Wang Mei's eyes flashed with heartache. She explained, "In the nearby villages, families with better financial means have sent their children to school in town, leaving few students. Fewer students mean fewer teachers, and consequently, less government subsidies. There are too few first and second graders, so they have to be taught in one classroom, with only one teacher. One person teaches both Chinese and math, and after finishing teaching the first grade, they move on to teach the second grade across the hall."