Innocent and Adorable Fang Chang'an

The two couples and their children stood there awkwardly, unfamiliar and stiff. Cong Rong thought for a moment and asked the other mother, "Which class is your child in?"

"Class Four."

"We're Class Four too?"

"Really? That's great, both kids are in the same class."

"What are your names?"

"Wang Hao," Wang Hao's mother replied, then asked back, "And yours?"

"Fang Chang'an. And yours?"

"Jiuyi, how about you?"

"The same. Which month?"

"May."

"Then yours is older, ours is July."

"Well, you two should get along, talk things over, no fighting."

"Yes, yes, study well."

The mothers chatted idly. Suddenly, Fang Luojun remembered something and said to his wife, "You stay here, I'll go buy a lunch box."

A lunch box, in this context, was just a food container. Fang Chang'an said, "Mom, you should go with Dad, I can stay here."

Cong Rong hesitated, uneasy about her husband's spending, when Wang Hao's mother chimed in, "Go ahead, both of you, we've already bought ours. We'll keep an eye on things here, don't worry."

Cong Rong hesitated again, looking at Fang Chang'an. Fang Chang'an had already turned to Wang Hao's mother and said, "Thank you, Auntie, thank you, Uncle. I'll go too then."

"Alright!"

Fang Chang'an remembered Wang Hao fairly well, not because of him directly—he hadn't been a good student and dropped out in eighth grade—but because Wang Hao's sister, Wang Zhen, had been in the same class as him in ninth grade, even sitting in front of him.

Once, after losing a bet, he had to recognize Wang Zhen as a sworn sister, and later even visited her home, gaining a good impression of her parents, a down-to-earth family.

But after the entrance exams, Wang Zhen didn't perform well and failed to get into the county's top high school. They gradually drifted apart, and by university, contact faded entirely.

Cong Rong worried that things sold inside the school would be expensive and of poor quality. So the family left the campus and walked to where the cement road ended, stopping at a supermarket. Both Fang Luoguo and his wife had advised them: it's best to buy what you need here, the quality is better than at school.

In the end, Cong Rong chose a stainless steel lunch box for her son, with a lid, compartments, and including a fork and spoon. She also bought a pair of chopsticks, a thermos bottle, a basin, towels, toothbrush and toothpaste, and a cup for brushing teeth, spending a total of twenty-three yuan and seventy cents.

At checkout, Cong Rong suddenly thought of something, went back to the shelves, and quickly returned with a small alarm clock, barely larger than her palm, plus two AAA batteries, spending an extra three yuan.

With their purchases, they returned to the dormitory. As soon as they entered, they saw a beautiful woman in her early twenties standing in the middle of the room, talking to several parents.

She wore a white dress with floral prints, long hair draped over her shoulders, and seemed to have applied light makeup. Elegant and poised, she stood amidst the cramped, shabby boys’ dormitory, looking somewhat out of place.

Fang Chang'an's eyes lit up, and he thought silently, "So Teacher Cheng is this beautiful?"

His memories of middle school had faded, but he recalled the homeroom teacher being pretty—just not this stunning, though she was married.

His thoughts, oddly mature for his age, flashed by as Cheng Mengfei, the homeroom teacher, noticed the family entering.

She had just received information about Wang Hao's roommate from Wang Hao's mother. Seeing Fang Luojun place their things on the bed near the door, she walked over, smiled politely, and said, "You must be Chang'an's parents? I heard Teacher Fang mention you… Oh, I'm the homeroom teacher for Class Four, my name is Cheng Mengfei. You can call me by name or as Teacher Cheng."

There were too many students in this dormitory, many from the regular classes. Cheng Mengfei had tried to fight for better arrangements, but having just graduated, this was her first year teaching, and the school assigned students by class. She couldn't argue.

Still, she worried her own students might be bullied by others—not that regular class students were necessarily bad, but they were statistically more likely to be troublemakers.

In her first year as a teacher, she was conscientious, personally coming to the boys’ dorm and staying a while to "intimidate" any potential troublemakers, making it clear that the homeroom teacher of Class Four would appear in the dorms and that her students shouldn't be bullied.

Mentioning that Fang Chang'an had family teaching at the school was also intentional—not just to report back to Fang Luoguo, but to subtly warn other students that this child had connections and should not be provoked.

Such things were common in those days; everyone was used to these social ties. Cheng Mengfei saw no issue in saying so, nor would anyone else feel disdain for leveraging relationships. Instead, they envied and wished their own children wouldn't pick a fight.

Ideas like reporting such connections simply didn't exist; the notion of officials shielding each other was deeply ingrained—of course, middle school teachers weren't officials, but to students and their families at this time, this was the reality everywhere.

Wang Hao's parents and the other parents glanced at Fang Chang'an's family with complex expressions, but said nothing. Some students overheard and discreetly sized up the newcomers.

Fang Luojun and Cong Rong hadn’t expected their son’s homeroom teacher to be so young, and hurriedly smiled and greeted her, slightly intimidated by her appearance and bearing, though still polite.

Fang Chang'an understood his parents' feelings and didn't want them to feel awkward. He grabbed his mother's hand, raised his little face to the beautiful young teacher, and blinked his clear, innocent eyes, saying crisply, "Teacher Cheng is so pretty, just like my mom."

Cong Rong had indeed been beautiful when young; now, though she didn't look her age, years of farm work and hardship made her less refined than Cheng Mengfei. But for a child, it's only natural to think their mother is the most beautiful, and among the parents, Cong Rong was indeed striking.

Cheng Mengfei was surprised and delighted to hear Fang Chang'an praise her. She glanced again at Cong Rong, then at Fang Chang'an, noticing that although his clothes weren't particularly bright, he looked clean and spirited, his fair and delicate features making him seem particularly innocent and adorable as he hid behind his mother to praise the teacher. She couldn't help but bend down and smile at him, "Your mom is more beautiful than the teacher."

Cong Rong wasn't used to such situations and struggled to recall if she'd seen anything similar in TV dramas.

Fang Chang'an, a bit shy, shrank behind his mother, then peeked out, looked up at her, then at the teacher, seeming to compare, and finally confirmed, raising his head again to say to Cheng Mengfei, "Both are equally beautiful!"

Fang Luoguo and his wife both taught at the school, and Fang Luoguo was known for his excellent teaching. Several of his articles had been published in city education journals, and last year, a city delegation came to observe his physics class, praising his teaching. There were rumors a city school wanted to recruit him.

Whether those rumors were true or not, good relations with colleagues were important. Fang Luoguo taught physics, which was only offered from eighth grade onward. Though he had little authority at school, his teaching was top-notch, making him the definitive physics teacher for the advanced classes, so it was wise to maintain good relations.

Because Fang Luoguo had deliberately greeted her, Cheng Mengfei already viewed Fang Chang'an's family somewhat differently. Seeing the boy so adorable and likable, she was even more delighted, covering her mouth as she smiled, and complimented Cong Rong, "Your son is so clever! How should I address you, sister?"

In this era and place, junior high teachers had little contact with parents. Usually, if a teacher sought out a parent, there was only one reason: the child had gotten into trouble.

So even homeroom teachers rarely needed to know parents’ names, just a brief greeting sufficed. Cheng Mengfei hadn't planned to ask for Fang Luojun and Cong Rong's names, nor saw much reason to interact with them.

But now, prompted by Fang Chang'an, she asked anyway, partly out of idle curiosity.

Cong Rong was still a bit nervous, but hearing her son praised by the teacher, couldn't help but smile, replying, "Cong Rong—‘Cong’ as in ‘from’ without the horizontal stroke, and ‘Rong’ as in ‘appearance’."

Cheng Mengfei was surprised, "Your surname is Cong? That's the first time I've heard it."

Cong Rong smiled, "It's rare. Aside from my own family, I've never met another with the same surname."

Cheng Mengfei nodded in understanding, then took out her notebook and pen, wrote down a number, tore off the paper, and handed it to Cong Rong with both hands, smiling, "This is my mobile number. If you ever need to contact Chang'an, just call me."

Cong Rong hadn’t expected this; she hesitated slightly, and Fang Chang'an quickly tugged at his mother's back, worried she might say that contacting the grandfather was enough.

Fortunately, Cong Rong, though not sharing his thoughts, understood this bit of etiquette. After the brief surprise and Fang Chang'an’s tug, she took the paper with both hands and replied, "Alright, thank you for taking care of him."

"No trouble at all, it's my job to look after students," Cheng Mengfei smiled, then noticed other parents nearby. She wrote out four or five more numbers, handing them to each of her own students' parents and saying they could call her if needed.

Of course, she wouldn’t go out of her way to give her number to parents not present.

After a few more polite exchanges, Cheng Mengfei reminded her students, "Go to the classroom at two in the afternoon on the third floor to get your books, okay? Don't forget to tell the others in our class."

With that, she said goodbye to the parents and left.

"That teacher seems really nice..." As soon as Cheng Mengfei left, Fang Chang'an heard other parents muttering quietly. Wang Hao's parents agreed, "She is quite good."

Fang Luojun nodded, "Very nice!"

Fang Chang'an pursed his lips, too shy to say that Cheng Mengfei was indeed kind and responsible as a homeroom teacher, but her teaching skills were quite ordinary. The only reason she was hired directly as a homeroom teacher and got a job at No. 2 Middle School straight out of college was because she was the town mayor's daughter-in-law.

He had a good impression of this homeroom teacher: firstly, she treated students warmly, unlike other teachers at the time who often resorted to beatings and scolding; secondly, though her teaching wasn't great, she had many "new" ways of managing the class—mixed-gender seating, extracurricular activities, playing music during breaks or study periods—all popular with students; thirdly... she was good-looking!

But Cheng Mengfei only taught Fang Chang'an for a year; after he moved up to eighth grade, she no longer taught him. She disappeared from the school for a whole year. Some said she had a car accident, others that she took time off to have a baby. The truth was unclear, and Fang Chang'an never asked.

She only returned to teaching when Fang Chang'an was in ninth grade, by then the classes had been reorganized, and with little seniority and a year’s absence, she couldn't teach ninth grade, so she took on a new batch of first-year students.