The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

Not long after breakfast, it was time for class.

With Xu Nian's help, Qi Yu slowly walked into the classroom and stood on the platform made of mud.

A short while later, the children carrying their schoolbags filed into the classroom.

"Good morning, Teacher Qi!"

Good morning, Teacher Qi!

The children greeted Qi Yu warmly, and Qi Yu smiled, supporting himself on the podium with one hand and waving back with the other.

The children quickly took their seats and quieted down. Then they all turned around and curiously looked at Xu Nian, who was sitting in the last row of the classroom.

Although Xu Nian looks somewhat mature, with a touch of vicissitude in his brows, his appearance is quite different from that of the people in the mountains.

The children looked at the man who had suddenly appeared yesterday with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

"Uncle, where are you from?"

A little boy with dust on his face and frayed cuffs hesitated for a while before timidly speaking.

Xu Nian scratched her head, unsure how to explain.

Did they say he came to learn, attend classes, and become their classmate?

But he was a few years older than the children's parents, and he couldn't bring himself to say it to a group of teenagers.

Qi Yu, who was on the podium, saw this and spoke up in time to help him out: "Classmates, this Uncle Xu is the teacher's colleague. He's here to supervise the teacher's class."

The children's faces immediately showed confusion, their little brows furrowed, some muttering to themselves, and soon a child raised their hand and asked, "Teacher Qi, why are you being supervised?"

Qi Yu smiled slightly: "Children, teachers also need to be evaluated, just like students need to take exams. If you do well on the exam, you can get a little red flower; if the teacher passes the evaluation, they can also get a certificate. This Uncle Xu is here to proctor the exam for the teachers."

Some children were still puzzled. A little girl timidly raised her hand: "But Teacher Qi knows everything, so why is there a test?"

Well...

Qi Yu smiled gently.

"The teacher's evaluation is based on whether I can teach you well. So, students, you should listen attentively in class, help the teacher get good grades, and win certificates, okay?"

"good!"

The children shouted in unison, straightening their little backs and sitting up straight, their eyes full of recognition.

Xu Nian breathed a sigh of relief and gave Qi Yu a grateful look.

Soon, the classroom was filled with the sound of children reading aloud, much louder than usual. They were reading at the top of their lungs, word by word, their voices full of seriousness.

Qi Yu turned around and began writing on the blackboard.

Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted the reading in the classroom.

The children immediately fell silent and all turned to look in the direction of the sound.

At the classroom door stood an elderly man with white hair, his back deeply hunched, his face etched with wrinkles, and he held the hand of a timid little boy.

The little boy hid behind the old man, only his eyes showing, looking at everything in the classroom with a mixture of curiosity and fear.

Qi Yu waved his hand, signaling the children to continue reading.

He put down the chalk and went outside: "Grandpa, is there anything I can help you with?"

The old man spoke in a thick dialect, quickly and urgently, gesturing incessantly with his two withered fingers, his face full of anxiety, muttering something under his breath.

"It's alright, sir, please speak slowly."

Qi Yu brought a chair out of the classroom and helped the old man sit down slowly.

The old man slowed down his speech, and Qi Yu finally managed to understand what he was saying.

He said his son went up the mountain to chop firewood last year, fell down the mountain and died; this was his grandson.

The grandfather and grandson depended on each other for survival. Their family was dirt poor and they couldn't afford the tuition. So he dug up half a bag of potatoes, hoping to use it to pay for the tuition so that his grandson could study with Teacher Qi and have a future.

As he spoke, he laboriously dragged a tattered burlap sack from behind him, which was half-filled with muddy potatoes.

Qi Yu looked at the old man's full head of white hair, his hunched back, and his calloused hands, and then at the plump potatoes in the sack. Tears welled up in his eyes.

The old man, who should have been enjoying his retirement, was forced to shoulder the responsibility of supporting his family after losing his son.

This half-bag of potatoes is probably the last bit of food he has left that he can afford to offer.

Seeing that Qi Yu hesitated and did not respond, the old man pushed the sack in front of Qi Yu, his eyes full of pleading, yet also with a hint of inferiority.

He said he knew that the potatoes were far from enough to cover the tuition, and asked if he could pay the rest later with other vegetables when the harvest was better.

Qi Yu wiped his eyes, picked out a potato from the sack, and held it in his palm.

"Grandpa, that's enough. You've brought too much. The tuition here is just one potato. Take the rest home and keep it for yourself. You and your child still have a life to live."

He once couldn't afford to go to school, so he could only watch other children his age attend classes in bright classrooms, while he could only sweat in a stuffy logistics warehouse and deliver food on busy streets, trying to piece together a ticket to stand on the same starting line as others.

Therefore, since he started teaching in rural areas, he has never charged a single penny of tuition, giving these children who cannot afford to go to school the opportunity to leave the mountains.

The reason for symbolically accepting a potato was simply to save face for the elderly person and to prevent my good intentions from being seen as charity.

Upon hearing this, the old man stood up excitedly, murmuring words of gratitude as he made a gesture to bow to Qi Yu.

Qi Yu quickly stopped him: "Grandpa, please don't do this, it's too much for us. The kids here all use a potato as their tuition, you really don't need to be so polite."

As he spoke, he patted the little boy next to him on the shoulder: "Come on, let's go to class with the teacher."

Qi Yu took the little boy's hand and walked into the classroom.

The children's eyes immediately turned to him, and they stopped reading. They all looked at the unfamiliar little boy with curiosity and whispered among themselves.

The little boy was so frightened that he quickly lowered his head and hid behind Qi Yu. His little hands tightly gripped the hem of Qi Yu's clothes, his shoulders trembled slightly, and his eyes were full of fear.

"Classmates, today we have a new student in our class."

Qi Yu smiled and patted the little boy's head. He squatted down and held the little boy's cold little hand.

"Little friend, would you like to say hello to your classmates? From now on, they will be your friends."

Qi Yu's warm palms dispelled the coldness in the little boy's hands and gave him a bit of courage. He hesitated for a while before slowly raising his head, looking timidly at the children below the stage, his voice stammering.

Hello everyone.

"What's your name?"

The little girl sitting in the front row asked in a low voice, her eyes full of curiosity.

"I...I..."

The little boy lowered his head again, his fingers gripping the hem of his clothes tightly.

"My name is Erdan."

As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of laughter erupted in the classroom.

Someone whispered, "Erdan, what a corny name."

The little boy's face instantly turned bright red, and his head drooped even lower.

Qi Yu patted the podium, signaling everyone to be quiet.

He touched the little boy's cheek, gently wiping away the mud from his face with his fingertips, and asked tenderly, "Erdan, that's your nickname, isn't it?"

The little boy nodded blankly.

"How about the teacher helps you come up with a nice name?"

Qi Yu smiled.

The little boy looked up at Qi Yu and nodded vigorously.

"What's your father's last name?"

"My old man..."

The little boy tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then whispered.

His surname is Li.

Qi Yu stroked his chin, his gaze falling on the little boy's bright eyes, eyes that held the purity and resilience of a child from the mountains.

"From now on, how about you be called Li Mingxuan? Ming means bright and clear; Xuan means dignified and imposing. I hope that you will live a bright and upright life and become a successful person."

"Li Mingxuan..."

The little boy silently repeated it twice, then smiled and nodded vigorously: "Okay."

Qi Yu stood up, looked at the children below the stage, and said in a louder voice, "Classmates, let's welcome Li Mingxuan to our big family with applause!"

The classroom immediately erupted in enthusiastic applause as the children clapped their hands, their voices clear and crisp.

Li Mingxuan raised his head, looked at the friendly smiling faces below the stage, and then at Teacher Qi's gentle eyes. The timidity in his eyes gradually disappeared.