Chapter Fourteen: Preaching

He pinned all his hopes on Director Bai, praying that after he explained the situation, Bai would not inform his parents. As for Bai herself, she was surely easier to deal with than the police. So, Hong Tao sat on the back rack of the police officer’s bicycle, letting him pedal straight toward the school.

“Hong Tao! What are you… Hello, officer, has he committed some sort of offense?” Hong Tao met Director Bai again in the school’s reception room. The police officer, still decent, did not take Hong Tao directly into the campus but asked the elderly doorman to notify Director Bai.

“Ah, hello, Director Bai. I’m from Andingmen Police Station, my surname is Fang. Here is my badge. The situation is as follows…” The officer introduced himself and produced his credentials for Bai to verify, before beginning his explanation.

“I see… I understand. I do know this child—he lives just behind the school. I’ve met his father too, who’s also a teacher. Leave him to me; his uncle and aunt are both students here. I’ll have them take him home after class. Would this arrangement be acceptable?” Director Bai listened to the account, finally letting out a long sigh. She genuinely hoped Hong Tao would not have any character flaws.

“All right, as long as he’s not lost—that’s our job, after all. Sorry for the trouble. I’ll be off now. Goodbye, Director Bai. Goodbye, little one!” Hearing Bai’s words, the police officer was quite pleased, turning to leave the reception room, still waving at Hong Tao, as if he had accomplished a great deed.

“Goodbye…” Hong Tao waved back feebly. The officer had done nothing wrong, but for Hong Tao, it was hardly a pleasant affair.

“Hong Tao, the teacher must scold you. You’re too young to be running off into the street! What if you got hit by a car?” As soon as the officer departed, Bai switched to her teacherly face, intent on frightening Hong Tao so he would deeply understand his mistake and not repeat it.

“I just wanted to buy an eraser at Beixin Bridge Store. My dad forgot to leave me one! You don’t need to cross the street from my house to Beixin Bridge Store.” Hong Tao lied without missing a beat—his father’s stationery was all on the bookshelf in the front room.

“That’s still no excuse to go alone. I have erasers, I’ll give you one. Come, let’s go back to my office!” Bai didn’t bother to investigate whether Hong Tao’s excuse was true or not. She took his small hand and led him toward the teaching building.

The eraser was obtained, but Hong Tao temporarily lost his freedom. Bai held him in her office, forbidding him to leave, saying they would go home together when school let out. Bai’s office was not a dedicated administrative room but a shared research room with the high school teachers. Most of the people there were strangers to Hong Tao, since he had only attended up to fifth grade at this school before transferring. But one male teacher was quite familiar. His family lived in the middle of his grandmother’s alley, surname Li. His mother was elderly and respected as Teacher Li, herself a retired teacher from the school.

“Hong Tao, you’re always up to mischief. Wasn’t it you who put that ghost necklace on my little Ying’s neck the other day? You still won’t admit it. It’s bad for children to lie. And your grandfather—well, it’s not all your fault. With your grandfather around, you won’t turn out well, just like your uncle…” Deputy Director Li, ever snobbish, was in his fifties and had no tact. When he brought his granddaughter to complain at grandma’s house, he provoked Hong Tao’s grandfather so much that the old man nearly kicked him out.

“It’s best for adults not to interfere in children's affairs—the more they meddle, the messier things get. Besides, my grandfather is your elder; as a junior, you’re free to voice your opinions to his face, but to speak ill of him behind his back in front of me—that’s hardly the conduct of a man, is it not? Seems a bit like bullying a child, too.” Hong Tao held no fondness for Deputy Director Li. The man’s character was poor, blurring private and professional matters. When his uncle made a mistake, Li went to his aunt’s class to publicly criticize her, making her cry. Hong Tao decided not to indulge him; the harsher the words, the better.

“Pfft…” A male teacher sitting across from Hong Tao was sipping tea and correcting student work. Upon hearing Hong Tao’s retort, he happened to have a mouthful of hot tea, which he promptly sprayed—fortunately, he managed to turn his head in time, or Hong Tao would have been drenched.

“Haha… cough, cough… haha… Director Bai, where did you find this child? He’s nearly as eloquent as Kong Rong… Hey, Teacher Li, don’t take it to heart—why argue with a child? Whether you win or lose, you lose. We’re teachers…” The male teacher, still choking on laughter, asked Bai, then hurried to pacify the now red-faced Deputy Director Li.

“Hmph…” Li glanced around the research room, assessing the atmosphere. Most teachers were either smirking or laughing outright with the male teacher—none seemed to support him. With a snort, he grabbed his stack of homework and left.

“Teacher Sun, remember unity—don’t be so reckless in front of a child!” Director Bai was displeased, though she couldn’t scold Hong Tao, so she reprimanded the tea-spitting teacher.

“Yes… yes, but Director Bai, is this your sister’s child?” Teacher Sun realized he’d gone a bit far and quickly changed the topic.

“No, he’s the nephew of Hu Yumei from Grade 1, Class 3. He’s just four years old. This morning, he came to school, carrying a little chair and sitting at the back door of the first-grade classroom as an auditor. He says he wants to attend two classes daily, learn all the characters in two months, at least be able to use a dictionary, then go home to self-study the first-grade curriculum. He claims kindergarten is just eating, sleeping, and playing—a waste of life. He plans to study at home and become a scientist when he grows up. Isn’t that right, Hong Tao?” Bai wanted to laugh herself, but her position forbade it. At the time, some teachers lacked formal education—like Deputy Director Li, who had been transferred from a factory during a special period. The teachers with proper training looked down on such people, so relations were often strained.

“Something like that…” Hong Tao felt he’d been a bit too agitated earlier—thanks to the police. Without him, Hong Tao would still be wandering the department store.

“Well, ‘something like that’—what a boast! You want to self-study? You think you can master it after just two months of classes?” A female teacher was annoyed. According to Hong Tao’s theory, what need was there for teachers?

“I’m an exception—it depends on the individual. I never said teachers aren’t important. No need to take offense…” Hong Tao smiled at her. He would eventually leave this elementary school, so he didn’t plan to offend all the teachers; that would only create trouble.

“So the teacher wants to hear—what makes you so special? What’s different about you compared to other children? Tell us.” The female teacher, hearing Hong Tao pick up on her subtext, tossed her pen aside, stopped grading, and moved her chair next to his, ready to see what kind of child he really was.

“He is likely quite special. This morning, I had the first-grade teachers test him. If he’s telling the truth, he caught up with a month’s progress in less than two classes. But you weren’t honest with the teachers, were you, Hong Tao?” Director Bai couldn’t quite figure Hong Tao out, but trusted her judgment. This child was clever, spoke like an adult, and shouldn’t be treated as a mere child.

“….” Hong Tao could only respond with silence—the more he said, the more holes appeared.

“Just now, a police officer brought him back, saying he wandered out onto the street alone. He claimed he was going to Beixin Bridge Store to buy an eraser. Hong Tao, your father’s a university teacher, your uncle and aunt both attend the school. How could your family lack an eraser? Do you take the teachers for fools? Tonight, when I visit your home, I must discuss your lying with your father. If you can’t explain yourself, I suggest your father send you to kindergarten—it would be more appropriate.” Seeing Hong Tao retreat into silence, Bai turned to another tactic: intimidation.

“In truth, I don’t want to go to kindergarten mainly because it’s boring. If you think self-study at home isn’t good, I don’t mind. Spending two years in kindergarten before elementary school is fine, too. But I think learning is chiefly about interest. This morning, that bespectacled teacher put it well: as long as a child is interested in learning, even the slowest student will be eager to teach. But if you satisfy your curiosity by repeatedly suppressing my interest, doesn’t that do me harm? You resolve your curiosity, but I lose my passion for learning. Don’t you think that could affect my whole life?” Hong Tao saw that silence was useless. He could not counter these teachers with a four-year-old’s logic, so he laid everything bare, pinning his hopes on the teachers’ integrity and sense of responsibility.

“….” Director Bai hadn’t expected Hong Tao to say such things. Her face turned crimson, then purple, then a rainbow of colors. His words struck directly at her heart—a blunt accusation against the professional ethics of a teacher. Even if the district education director were present, he would never speak to a teacher like this. Yet coming from a child, it was all the more impactful.

“Ring…” At that moment, the school bell sounded from the teaching building.