Trouble: A Hand on the Shoulder

"You're a teacher—why can't you just do your job and mind your own business?!" It was Jiang Daguo, his blue Zhongshan suit washed pale, his hair streaked with gray, his stubble rough, his cheekbones high and sharp. His eyes blazed with fury, and his chest heaved as he spat, "Don't think you're so great just because you're some teacher!" Saliva flew with each word. His clothes were soaked through by the rain.

"Who the hell are you?! In this day and age, you dare hit someone?! Security! Where's security?!" Yang Man's high heels clicked unsteadily as she squared off against Jiang Daguo, her voice loud but her courage wavering. She pulled Liang Xiaoqing back, step by step.

"BANG BANG BANG!" Jiang Daguo nearly pounded the table apart, his eyes fixed on Liang Xiaoqing. "Where's Jiang Xu?! Bring Jiang Xu out now! She's off studying, but who's doing the chores at home?!"

He slammed the table again, snarling, "If I don't see Jiang Xu today, I'm not leaving!" Then, with venom, he glared at Liang Xiaoqing. "You're the one who took her down the mountain!"

Yang Man's neck prickled with fear, but her mouth stayed sharp: "Come on, come on! If you've got the guts, hit me!"

Liang Xiaoqing felt dizzy, the left side of her face already swelling, her lip stinging.

Yang Man's face flushed red. "This is lawless! You dare hit a teacher at school!"

Jiang Daguo's voice rose, and the whole office became a clamor.

Liang Xiaoqing tugged at Yang Man's hand. "Sister Yang, stop. He's Jiang Xu's father."

Yang Man froze. She hadn't paid much attention to Jiang Xu before; it was only after Liang Xiaoqing took the girl in that Yang Man started to notice her.

"Then... this..." Faced with Jiang Daguo's relentless stance, Yang Man didn't know what to say. She looked at Liang Xiaoqing's face in alarm. "It's already swollen!" Her voice pitched higher. "I'll go get Jiang Xu!"

"No!..." Liang Xiaoqing grabbed Yang Man's arm.

Yang Man gave her a look of helpless frustration.

"Jiang Daguo! What are you doing?!" Two people rushed in from the door. The woman in front was soaked head to toe, her grayish face bearing faint purple bruises. Her face crumpled as she let out a string of sighs. "What are you doing?! We agreed to talk this through calmly!"

Wang Cai spotted the red mark on Liang Xiaoqing's face and gasped, then sobbed as she pounded Jiang Daguo's back. "How could you hit someone! Teacher Liang is a teacher at Qing Middle! Can't we just talk?! Ai!"

"Get away! You good-for-nothing woman, always making trouble! If you hadn't agreed, how would Jiang Xu have been taken away by her?! I work the fields every damn day, and I can't even feed you right, you wretch!"

"..." Wang Cai was shoved to the ground by Jiang Daguo. She choked back tears, her face reddening, as if she didn't want to make a scene. She scrambled up and pulled at Jiang Daguo. "We'll come back for Jiang Xu tomorrow! We'll come tomorrow! Let's go home tonight! Home!"

"Home my ass!" Jiang Daguo shoved her again.

"Ai!"

Thankfully, the security guard had followed them in. He steadied Wang Cai and barked at Jiang Daguo, "You need to leave now! The students are still in evening study!" He wasn't intimidated by Jiang Daguo's bluster. "Go, go! Soon there'll be a crowd, and you two won't be proud, and you'll shame the kid too!"

The guard pushed at Jiang Daguo, but he refused to budge.

The guard wiped the rain from his face, thinking, I've really stepped in it today! Shouldn't have let these two in.

Usually, the guard didn't stop parents from coming in. Most were just dropping things off for their kids.

"What's all this racket?! Keep order in the school!" A middle-aged man in a black jacket walked in, wearing glasses, a keyring at his waist, his shirt neatly tucked into his trousers, his leather shoes polished to a shine.

"Who are you two?" He glanced at Jiang Daguo and Wang Cai.

Yang Man called out, "Director Li," and suddenly felt braver with backup. She glared at Jiang Daguo. "You hear that! Will you judge this!"

Jiang Daguo wilted at the mention of a director. The noise had been too much, and the teacher on duty next door had called the grade director.

Li Jingquan frowned, looking impatient. "If you have something to say, say it."

Jiang Daguo shouted, "What's wrong with me coming to find my daughter?!"

Wang Cai kept urging him to leave, but Jiang Daguo only got louder. "Your school's teachers sure stick their noses where they don't belong! My daughter has parents and a home—why should she stay at some teacher's house?! What, are you trying to extort money from me for room and board?!" He directed this at Liang Xiaoqing.

"What kind of nonsense is that?! Who wants your lousy money!" Yang Man roared. "You wouldn't let Jiang Xu go to school, so Xiaoqing took her in. What's wrong with that?! Xiaoqing even pays for her food! Jiang Xu is only thirteen, she hasn't finished compulsory education—what right do you have to keep her from studying?!"

"Why should a girl study so much?! We're poor, we can't afford it, so she stops. That's how everyone does it!" Jiang Daguo said, as if it were perfectly reasonable.

"And it doesn't cost you a single penny!"

"There are so many expenses for school, and we've got a boy to educate too! Where am I supposed to find money for her?!" Jiang Daguo's neck stiffened. "I'm her father. If I say she studies, she studies. If I say she doesn't, she doesn't!"

"...You!" Yang Man's face turned red, and she couldn't find the words.

"Enough." Li Jingquan frowned and took charge. He asked, "Which class is Jiang Xu in?"

Yang Man said, "My class."

"And she's staying at your place now?"

Liang Xiaoqing stirred. "At my place, Director."

Li Jingquan knew about Liang Xiaoqing, the teacher transferred from elsewhere, and about her efforts to bring dropouts back to school. He caught sight of her red, swollen face and let out a sigh.

He turned to Jiang Daguo. "You're Jiang Xu's father?"

"Hmph!"

Li Jingquan pulled out a chair and offered it to Jiang Daguo. "Sit down. If you have a problem, let's talk it out calmly."

Jiang Daguo didn't dare cross Li Jingquan, so he sat. "I'm not an unreasonable man. Jiang Xu is my daughter..."

And so, Li Jingquan spoke with him for a while. Jiang Daguo's anger eventually cooled.

Li Jingquan said, "Don't worry. We'll have someone take Jiang Xu home personally."

Wang Cai stood by Jiang Daguo. "Right, Daguo, let's go home. It won't matter if Jiang Xu comes back a little later."

"..."

Jiang Daguo and his wife were successfully persuaded to leave. Li Jingquan told the guard not to let them in again if they showed up.

The guard nodded.

Liang Xiaoqing wasn't satisfied with this outcome, however. She wanted to say something, but Yang Man tugged at her hand.

Before he left, Li Jingquan said to Liang Xiaoqing, "It's good that you young people have ideas. But don't overdo it. Going too far is as bad as not going far enough. A teacher's main job is to do her own work well."

"..."

Li Jingquan left.

Only then did Yang Man relax fully. "Whew! That scared me to death!"

She patted her chest, then looked at Liang Xiaoqing's face. "Your face is swollen! Oh my!"

Liang Xiaoqing waved a hand. "It's nothing. Thank goodness the director came."

Yang Man still looked pained, still shaken. "Xiaoqing, did you see the woman next to him? What grudge does he hold to beat her like that... Jiang Xu living in that kind of environment—what a tragedy!"

"That's Jiang Xu's mother." Liang Xiaoqing touched her face and winced. "She's the one who agreed to let me take Jiang Xu down to my place."

"Xiaoqing, don't be stupid again," Yang Man said, her face serious. "Even the director doesn't support what you're doing. Look at your face—it's ruined. You'll never get married at this rate!"

"..."

"Let me look." Yang Man gently turned her face. "Come by my place later and get some ointment. It'll bring the swelling down."

"Okay."

Yang Man added, "I think you should take Jiang Xu back tomorrow. You don't have many classes, right?"

"..." Liang Xiaoqing mumbled noncommittally.

The bell for evening study rang, and students trickled out of the classrooms. Jiang Daguo's incident was just a minor blip—it didn't reach the classroom. Jiang Xu was in the middle of a tough math problem, her thoughts flowing smoothly as she wrote out the steps. Even the bell didn't break her concentration.

Jiang Erya had left early that evening, and since that incident, their relationship had inexplicably grown closer.

Jiang Xu finished the problem and realized how late it was. She looked outside at the rain and thought, Liang Xiaoqing is probably waiting for me at the school gate.

She rubbed her eyes, packed her books, zipped her bag, and slung it over her shoulder as she headed for the door.

She had actually mentioned to Liang Xiaoqing that she didn't need to wait for her at night—the teacher's dorm wasn't far from the school, and she could walk back on her own. Liang Xiaoqing didn't have evening duty every night, only on set days, so when she did wait, she had to walk over from home especially.

The weather was getting colder, and the night air bit into the bones like frost. With tonight's rain, standing there even a short while would be freezing.

Jiang Xu had mentioned this to Liang Xiaoqing several times, and each time Liang said she'd stop, but every night when Jiang Xu reached the school gate, there she was, waiting.

Thinking about it, Jiang Xu quickened her pace, and because she was already late, she broke into a run.

The cold wind and rain lashed her face, making it red and raw. Her hair was tied with a scrunchie Liang had bought her, and a hair clip Liang had given her was pinned at her ear.

It made her look more spirited.

Jiang Xu ran faster, the ground slick beneath her. The rain on her face grew heavier as she rushed out of the gate, and there she was—Liang Xiaoqing, standing under a tree, holding an umbrella and a flashlight.

The flashlight was off. Jiang Xu ran over.

"Over here."

Liang Xiaoqing called out, and Jiang Xu ducked under the umbrella.

The umbrella wasn't very big. Liang Xiaoqing put an arm around her shoulder. "Let's go."

As they walked, she asked, "Why are you so late today?"

Jiang Xu took the flashlight from her, turned it on, and lit the path ahead. "I was doing math." With her other hand, she took Liang Xiaoqing's ice-cold hand.

Liang Xiaoqing let out a relieved breath. "Oh."

Jiang Xu told her again not to wait for her.

Liang Xiaoqing smiled. "I'm on duty tonight, so it's on the way." She squeezed Jiang Xu's hand in return. She seemed genuinely cold.

The umbrella swayed in the wind, rain pelting down, threatening to worsen. Perhaps because of the storm, they walked in silence. Finally, they reached the dormitory stairs, already climbing.

Jiang Xu turned off the flashlight at the door. When they got to the door, Liang Xiaoqing's hand slipped from her shoulder, letting Jiang Xu go in first.

Then she knocked on the door of Yang Man's room next door.