Chapter Ch49 - The Mr. Jiang they loved and admired was indeed right in front of them.
Translator: Reiyu; Editor: serefina, Pyrrhae
After pronouncing these five names, the old principal hurried toward the podium. He was walking so quickly that he looked unsteady on his feet.
When he arrived at the podium, the current principal was still giving his speech, which mostly consisted of cliché phrases. Lin Feiran was basically not listening and instead was watching the old principal intently.
The old principal bent over with effort so his gaze was level with the five elderly alumni sitting behind the podium. Each time he was able to clearly make out a face, he would straighten up and give a long sigh. By the time he finished his rounds, the principal had concluded his speech, and an alumni representative was slated to speak next.
The old granny named Li Jingshu picked up the speech the school had prepared for her, looked at it, then took off her reading glasses and put down the script. With an amiable and spry tone, rare in a person her age, she began, “Good day, teachers and students. I’m an alumnus of your school. Seventy years ago, I studied in this school. I was sixteen at the time, about the same age as many of you children…”
The old principal kept nodding the remaining half of his head, appearing very emotional. He stretched out one hand and caressed Li Jingshu’s grey-haired head as though comforting a young child.
The old principal actually looked to be in his sixties. Compared to this granny Li Jingshu, he might even be considered young, giving the scene a touch of dark humor. But Lin Feiran could not laugh at all; he could only keep his gaze fixed on the scene on stage, his eyes bright.
“Today, I came here to share something from the past with all of you children,” Li Jingshu recounted leisurely. “The founder of this school was an old man named Jiang Duruo. During the period when our homeland was being invaded, Mr. Jiang insisted that this school not be shut down…”
The old principal kept nodding his head, turning helplessly to face the teachers and students in the audience that numbered more than a thousand. The stage lights were reflected off his half-face, which seemed to glisten with tears.
Following that, Li Jingshu recounted some events from when she was young and studying at this school. She talked about how difficult the conditions were and how severe the environment was back then. She talked about how Mr. Jiang received a basket of eggs from someone in the village, and carefully divided each egg into four pieces so he could share them with the students and improve their health…
“I have never in my life tasted a more delicious egg than on that day!” Li Jingshu laughed as she spoke. The four alumni next to her also started nodding and laughing with her, as if they shared the same feeling. Even the old principal, who had never smiled, now split open his half-mouth and laughed out loud.
The old folks were laughing happily, but these young, fortunate high school students could not quite understand what there was to laugh about.
—How many years ago did this happen? Even listening to it made one’s ears grow calluses, hey.
There was silence in the auditorium, but Lin Feiran’s class was sitting quite close to the stage. Lin Feiran was stunned for a moment, then suddenly became the first to start laughing!
Lin Feiran: “Hahaha!”
He laughed very sincerely and very supportively!
Gu Kaifeng raised a brow and looked at his wife next to him, who was smiling like a flower. In order for Lin Feiran to not feel awkward laughing alone, Gu Kaifeng immediately started laughing along too.
Gu Kaifeng: “Hahahahaha!”
He even gave two more “ha”s than Lin Feiran!
Wang Zhuo: “Hahahahaha damn!”
He was laughing at the husband!
The laughter was contagious. After the three started laughing, other people near the stage also started giggling and laughing, and finally the atmosphere was no longer awkward.
After this, Li Jingshu recounted how the foreign invaders had suddenly attacked the school and almost captured her. When she got to the part where Mr. Jiang had sacrificed himself to protect her, her voice held tears, and the old principal stood frozen on the spot.
“Jiang Duruo sacrificed himself?” the old principal murmured to himself. He looked down at his own hands, then pressed one to the surface of the podium.
His insubstantial arm sank straight through the podium.
As if this was the first day he realized he did not have a solid body, the old principal was so shocked his entire body shook. Immediately after, he swiftly raised that hand and grabbed at the missing half of his head.
“My head…” The old principal murmured to himself. “Where’s the other half?”
His hand felt disbelievingly around his neck for quite a while, then he finally came to a realization. He stood frozen on the spot, looked down at his own body, and then looked up and at the people around him.
The people who were different from him: living, breathing people.
“We did not let down Mr. Jiang’s hopes for us…” Li Jingshu talked about where the students of that class went later in their lives. She mentioned every person who had contributed something to the country, including herself. “I worked in a national research institute until I retired…”
The old principal seemed to have recovered from the shock of learning of his own death. He gave a big thumbs-up and kept nodding. For every student Li Jingshu mentioned, the old principal cheered heartily.
“Many talents graduated from this school. I believe that in future, even more people with even more talents will graduate from here and contribute to our country and society.” As Li Jingshu spoke, she was trembling on her feet, and continued, “I know that Mr. Jiang can’t see it anymore, but here today, I want to bow to him.”
With effort, she bent at the waist to the air in front of her. The other four elderly folk also helped each other to stand and bowed to the air in front of them.
They imagined that the Mr. Jiang they loved and admired was right in front of them.
The Mr. Jiang they loved and admired was indeed right in front of them.
He waved his hand somewhat uneasily, saying “That’s enough, that’s enough,” wanting these old students to quickly stand up. With his back to the audience, he let out harsh sobs as he faced his students. If Lin Feiran had not heard it with his own ears, he would have hardly believed that an old scholar who was so dignified and disciplined could cry so sorrowfully and without restraint.
However, as the old principal’s sobs rose into the air, many faint pinpricks of light now appeared in the space where his missing half head would have been. They were like the tails of fireflies, faint and pale. Those points of light grew more and more dense as they circled and danced, and gently fell upon the old principal’s wound, which had been exposed for seventy years. The points of light continued to gather and when they finally reached critical mass, the light suddenly faded…
The old man’s head had become whole again. He stood straight and tall, his face scholarly and refined. His appearance was no longer terrifying.
He turned and looked at the audience, tears running down his face.
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