Chapter 164: School Starts

Chapter 164: Chapter 164: School Starts

Lu Tingting watched her from three or four meters away, clearly unconvinced.

Jiang Moli chuckled and offered the bamboo stick. "Here, a present for you."

Lu Tingting didn’t move.

She had been tricked too many times. Her trust in Jiang Moli had plummeted below zero.

Jiang Moli swung the bamboo stick, making it whistle through the air.

"Bring this pointer to class. If any students misbehave, a rap on the palm will serve them right."

Only after hearing this did Lu Tingting reach out and take the bamboo stick.

The stick was made from a moso bamboo branch—long, thin, and sturdy.

Watching Jiang Moli walk ahead, she couldn’t help but secretly think, ’If I used this to spank Jiang Moli’s butt, she would definitely jump up in pain.’

But she only dared to fantasize; she wouldn’t actually dare to do it.

At that moment, she didn’t realize that Jiang Moli already held absolute dominance and deterrence over her.

They arrived at the school.

Feng Meihua and a few other teachers had already arrived and were busy directing the registering students to form lines.

In this era, it wasn’t customary for parents to escort their children to school. The students all came on their own, though some family members were watching the spectacle from outside the playground.

At 9:00 AM, all the students had finally arrived, and the opening ceremony began.

The first item on the agenda was raising the national flag.

The school had no sound system, so Jiang Moli took the lead in singing the national anthem: "Arise! Ye who refuse to be slaves! With our flesh and blood, let us build our new Great Wall..."

The vibrant national flag slowly rose to the top of the flagpole amidst the singing.

After the flag-raising, Feng Meihua gave a speech with a smile on her face.

"Students, today is an extraordinary day..."

After finishing her opening remarks, Feng Meihua introduced each of the teachers one by one and was about to dismiss the assembly.

Jiang Moli raised her hand. "Principal Feng, I’d like to say a few words to the students."

Although surprised, Feng Meihua still let her come up to the stage.

Jiang Moli walked to the flag platform and, smiling, looked at the students standing in formation. "Hello, students. I’m Teacher Jiang, and I’ll be temporarily teaching you music. During the flag-raising just now, I noticed that quite a few students weren’t singing along with the national anthem. So, could all the students who know how to sing the national anthem please raise your hands?"

As her voice faded, about two-thirds of the students raised their hands high.

"Students who raised your hands, please stand over to the left. Those who didn’t, stand to the right."

Before long, the hundred or so students were divided into two groups, left and right.

"After we dismiss, the students on the right will stay behind."

After speaking, she looked toward Feng Meihua. "I’m finished."

"Dismissed. Students, please find your respective classrooms according to your grade and take a seat inside."

Following Feng Meihua’s words, the students who had raised their hands scattered and left, though a few lingered on the playground to watch the fun.

Feng Meihua, Lu Tingting, and Jiang Qing didn’t leave either. They clearly wanted to see what Jiang Moli was up to.

Jiang Moli took out a notebook she had prepared, walked to the front of the line, and questioned the first student in the front row.

"What’s your name?"

"Xu Zhijie."

The second one. "And you?"

"Qi Minmin."

After registering everyone’s name, Jiang Moli closed her notebook and walked to the front of the group with a grin.

"All of you here will stay after school every day to learn the national anthem. I’ll take attendance from this notebook, and anyone absent without a good reason will be punished by writing out the national anthem 20 times, ’kay?"

’Oh my god, detention on the first day of school?’

For children who were at the prime age for playing, this was a bolt from the blue!

『Disdain Value +17. Credited: 170,000 yuan.』

Jiang Moli felt content.

In contrast to the students’ resentment and dislike, Feng Meihua was very appreciative of Jiang Moli’s decision to keep them behind to teach the song.

She had originally been worried about Jiang Moli being the music teacher, since Jiang Moli was known to be eccentric and unscholarly.

Now it seemed Jiang Moli was actually very serious and dedicated to her work.

Jiang Qing had expected that, with Jiang Moli’s personality—more adept at ruining things than accomplishing them—she would surely cause trouble again today.

She hadn’t expected Jiang Moli to just make the students stay after school to learn the national anthem.

She turned and walked toward her classroom, somewhat disappointed.

She taught math for the first and third grades and was also the homeroom teacher for the first grade.

Hu Xingbang and Shen Yanzhi, meanwhile, headed for the third and fifth-grade classrooms.

They were the homeroom teachers for the third and fifth grades, respectively.

Feng Meihua, Lu Tingting, and Jiang Moli returned to the office.

Feng Meihua was the principal. Besides teaching, she was mainly responsible for the school’s management and operations.

It was the first day of school. Besides the opening ceremony, the rest of the morning was for explaining class rules and distributing textbooks. Formal classes wouldn’t start until the afternoon.

After sitting idly in the office for a while, Jiang Moli got up and left.

Seeing this, Lu Tingting also wanted to leave but was called over by Feng Meihua to help move textbooks.

With nothing better to do, Jiang Moli went for a stroll around the family residential area.

Perhaps because all the children were at school, the residential area was much quieter than usual.

She hadn’t gone far when she saw a resident picking tomatoes in their vegetable garden.

"Ma’am, keeping busy?"

The woman glanced at her. "Teacher Jiang, shouldn’t you be teaching at school? What are you doing here?"

"Come over here. I have a little secret to tell you."

The woman thought she was about to hear some gossip and came over to Jiang Moli, basket in hand.

"What is it?"

"Have you ever heard the saying that when a person does a good deed, they feel especially happy, and everything they do afterward will go smoothly? So, could you give me a couple of tomatoes to eat?"

’If you want tomatoes, just say so! Why go in such a big circle and waste all this time!’

The tomatoes were sweet and sour and delicious, but Jiang Moli wasn’t happy as she ate them.

Because she hadn’t earned any Disdain Value.

She tried her luck with other residents afterward, but still, no Disdain Value was credited to her account.

She figured the residents’ reserves of disdain had probably been milked dry.

’Might as well go back to the guest house and sleep.’

...

「On the recruit training ground.」

Seeing that it was about time, Liu Jinlong blew his whistle. "Training’s over! Take a break!"

The new recruits immediately scattered, heading for shady spots.

"Jiang Peng!"

Hearing Liu Jinlong call his name, Jiang Peng spun around and stood at attention. "Sir!"

"Your center of gravity was unstable on the jumping stakes just now. Do ten more sets as extra practice!"

"Yes, sir!"

Jiang Peng dashed over to the stakes. After taking a deep breath, he sprinted toward the starting line, pushed off, and leaped to the first stake.

Under a large, old elm tree not far away, the other recruits from Jiang Peng’s platoon sat on the ground. As they caught their breath, wiped their sweat, and drank water, they teased Jiang Peng for getting extra drills again.

Their platoon had twelve men in total, and Jiang Peng alone had been assigned extra drills more times than the rest of the platoon combined.

Because of this, Jiang Peng had become a "celebrity" throughout the entire recruit regiment.

He’d even earned the nickname "King of Extra Drills."

Liu Jinlong watched Jiang Peng train, feeling puzzled.

Previously, whenever he punished Jiang Peng, the man would throw a tantrum and act shamelessly.

But after coming back from leave, it was like he’d become a different person. He did whatever he was told and was incredibly obedient.

When Jiang Moli returned to the guest house, she could hear a commotion from a long way off.

She entered the guest house gate and discovered that a new batch of guests had arrived.

There were quite a few of them, filling the small courtyard. They were all young female soldiers, uniformly dressed in military attire.