When Director Long came to the bedroom in the afternoon to bring Wei Ying to his office, the latter was pretty nervous. He thought that he may have gotten in trouble already, and it was only his second day there.
In all honesty, Wei Ying had a reason to believe so. He did sneak two cookies inside his pocket at lunchtime. Qian had followed through on what he promised him earlier that morning. He didn't think that anyone saw him, but now he wasn't so certain.
He was relieved when Director Long only told him that he wished to discuss his schooling. Wei Ying sighed to himself. The last thing he wanted was to be punished.
Director Long peered at him over his reading glasses after they were both seated. "How far along in school were you before you came here?" he inquired brusquely after asking how he was.
"I'm in my first year of school. Before that, I was in you'eryuan," Wei Ying responded with a bright smile.
He rose an eyebrow. The boy hadn't been this open or talkative when he arrived the day before. However, he may have just been shy, too despondent, or afraid at the time. Or perhaps all three. Children often were after they first came there.
Jotting down what he was told with a low hum, he continued, "Are you able to read and write well? How is your math?"
Wei Ying shrugged. "I guess I can pretty good, Daoyan. And my math isn't too bad either. My marks were high at my old school. At least that's what my teacher and Mama and A-Die told me."
"And Nature and Social Studies? Have you begun either yet?"
"Yes, xiansheng. Both of them."
Director Long nodded as he wrote this down also. Then he gave him a few sheets of paper.
"Complete this test for me," he instructed. "I will know where to place you in class after."
"Yes, Daoyan," Wei Ying said.
The test consisted of questions from every subject he had in school. Most of them were pretty simple, but he had to wrack his brain on some of them.
He finished after a short amount of time, and Director Long immediately proceeded to grade it.
Wei Ying hadn't been lying when he said that could read and write well. He was considerably good with math, Nature, and Social Studies too. Director Long was rather impressed. The score on the test ended up being quite high.
"You did an excellent job. Almost full marks. I will inform your new teacher of this. His name is Cao Laoshi," he remarked.
Grinning a second time, Wei Ying nodded. "All right, Daoyan. Thank you."
Director Long inclined his head once. "You are welcome." He stood up and walked over to a cabinet where a bundle of clothes were. "Here are a few sets of the outfit you will be wearing for school. Keep them neat. Make sure to put them in your trunk. I will take you back to your room now."
"Yes, Daoyan. Thank you again."
"You are welcome again."
Wei Ying had to laugh at this statement. For all Director Long was curt, he now appeared to have a sense of humor. That was good. He would be boring if he were stern all of the time.
Qian and his friends looked apprehensive when he returned to the bedroom. However, they waited until the director was gone before rushing over to him.
"Hey, what happened? Are you okay? You're not in trouble for anything already, are you? Does he know about the cookies?" the former queried in a whisper.
"No, no. He doesn't have any idea I have them. And everything's all right. Daoyan just wanted me to do a test so that he can know where to put me in class tomorrow," Wei Ying assured him.
Relief filled Qian's expression. "Oh, okay. Good! How did you do? Where are you going to be sitting?"
"Daoyan said I almost had full marks, so I'll be near the front."
"Cool! You'll probably be near me, Fen, or Huizhong then. We're close to the front too. That's where a lot of the smart kids sit."
Wei Ying hoped so. Things would be better if he were sitting close to his new friends.
"That's good! Who else sits up front?" he inquired next.
"Some of the kids in this room and the other one. The younger Lan boy you were talking to earlier does too."
"Ah." Wei Ying wasn't surprised. He figured that Lan Zhan had to be smart enough if he had been reading a science book that morning. But he was still thrilled to know that he might be near him. "Okay. Cool."
"Yeah. But where you sit is Cao Laoshi's choice. He makes kids who get bad grades sit in front too so they can get better grades."
He nodded. "I get it. And what's school like here?"
Qian shrugged. "Pretty much like my old school was, and maybe even yours. Only our classroom is way bigger because there are a lot of kids here in our grade."
He nodded.
"Remember to sneak away something to eat at breakfast and lunch if you can, though. We have snacks when Cao Laoshi isn't looking. Just be careful not to get caught or get tattled on. He'll take your snack away if he sees or finds out you're eating, and you'll be in trouble," Huizhong remarked.
"But don't worry if you forget to sneak anything or can't. We'll show you how to signal us if you're hungry. We always make sure to bring extra snacks, just in case," Fen added.
Wei Ying smiled. "Okay. I'll try to remember to have extra, too, if I can."
"Good!"
"And is Cao Laoshi really that mean?"
"He's not mean. He just doesn't take any crap, that's all. But he's nice. Sometimes he gives us treats if we're all good. Or if one of us passes a test. But that's only if he chooses to give us one. Oh, wait! He gives us all a snack and a drink after school. Those are the only times he lets us eat in the room."
"Sometimes he lets us have a free half hour if all of us behave too," Huizhong added. "But that's if we're lucky."
"Ohhh. Okay. What happens after school?"
"All of us have to stay in the class do our homework and study until dinnertime. Then we're taken to our bedrooms," Fen explained. "I heard that the older kids go back to their classrooms sometimes to study more, though, or finish their homework. They get more than we do."
Wei Ying nodded, but made a face at the idea of having to do a lot of homework. He couldn't understand why a person needed to have so much just because they were older. Most of it was boring enough as it was.
xXXXXXXx
After breakfast the next morning, Wei Ying was led to a classroom with the rest of first-year students. They were escorted by disciplinarians, who made sure that none of them caused trouble.
It turned out that he wasn't the only one who was new there. Cao Laoshi called his name along with a few others as everybody entered the room. He then told them to stand by the desk so that they could introduce themselves to him and the class.
From Wei Ying's first impressions of him, he honestly didn't seem too bad. He looked kind enough. Nevertheless, remembering Qian and Huizhong's warnings, he would be careful not to upset him.
He said his name and bowed to Cao Laoshi and his classmates when it was his turn to. When the introductions were finished, he was placed in the second row.
"Your books, notebooks, ink, and brushes are already inside your desks. Please try not to lose them," Cao Laoshi admonished him and the other new students.
They nodded. "Yes, xiansheng."
Wei Ying looked around as Cao Laoshi began the class. From where he sat, he was diagonally across from Huizhong, who was in the third row. Qian and Fen were a couple seats down from the latter. The others were here and there throughout the room. He gave the closest ones a thumbs-up and patted his pockets discreetly with a smirk. They grinned back.
His smile broadened when he turned to his left. Lan Zhan was in the same row as him! He was facing the front, his attention directly on Cao Laoshi when not writing in his notebook. Unlike many kids their age that Wei Ying knew, he apparently took school quite seriously. Lan Zhan actually looked so solemn that he would have thought that he was a few years older if he hadn't already been acquainted with him.
Nothing atypical happened that morning. Wei Ying did the assignments they were given when Cao Laoshi wasn't lecturing, but occasionally doodled on the edges of a page in his own notebook when his mind wandered from boredom. Sometimes he would gaze out of the nearest window or around the room. There were moments when he had to try to keep himself from dozing off as well.
He also managed to sneak a few bites of his cookies when the teacher was looking away or putting something on the board. He was careful not to be obvious about it to everyone else, too. He didn't want to risk getting in trouble, especially not on his first day. He couldn't be sure of who would tattle on him and who wouldn't.
Wei Ying saw that his friends and most of his other classmates were doing some of the same things. However, a few were talking amongst themselves, goofing around, or throwing objects. And a number of them actually were asleep. At least until Cao Laoshi put a stop to it or roused them if he saw them, of course. This made nearly all of them laugh or smile in amusement.
"Please stay up. You cannot hope to pass this grade if you are in dreamland throughout most of it. Please don't let me catch you asleep again," he would tell the students he awakened. "Excuse me. Please behave and pay attention/do your work," he would add to others. And to one particular boy who threw an ink brush at another, "I would appreciate it if you would please not do that. So would your classmates. You could really hurt one of us throwing things."
They would nod and apologize.
It was during one of these incidents when Lan Zhan happened to look at him. Wei Ying beamed and waved after noticing this, but he didn't return either gesture. Instead, he just faced the board again. Wei Ying remembered what his brother Lan Huan told him the previous morning and didn't get offended. He understood that it had nothing to do with him personally. Maybe Lan Zhan would say hello back another time.
Gym was at ten o'clock, as usual. Wei Ying took special care not to bump into anyone this time. The next kid would probably get angry, and not brush it off like Lan Zhan had.
After that, they returned to the classroom for a while, then had lunch at noon.
"So, what'd you think of our class? You like it? What about Cao Loashi?" Qian asked Wei Ying as they were eating.
The latter shrugged. "Pretty much like you told me. It is a lot like my old one. And Cao Laoshi's cool. He's not as fun as my other first-year teacher, though. But he's still all right."
Qian and their friends nodded.
"He's definitely better than my old teacher. She wasn't as nice as him," the former remarked.
"Oh. That sucks. What was your old teacher like Fen? And your's Huizhong?" Wei Ying asked the other two.
Fen smiled. "I was born here. I didn't have any other teachers outside of this place."
"Me neither. I wasn't born here like Fen was, though. I was brought here when I was three," Huizhong added.
"Our you'eryuan teacher was good, though. And she taught us our numbers and how to read and write and everything."
Wei Ying smiled. "She sounds like the teacher I had in you'eryuan. She was a nice lady too."
They chuckled.
"Oh, and I'm glad you didn't forget about the snacks. It's feels like a zillion years before lunch sometimes. We get really hungry!" Fen exclaimed.
"Yeah, that's true. I kinda was too before gym," Wei Ying stated.
Huizhong turned to him. "Did you sneak any more?" he whispered.
"I was able to get a pack of peanuts and some gem biscuits."
"Oh, good! Do you have extra? Can you please hand me a few? I couldn't sneak anything. Just when I tried to, the server looked at me...thank you. Oh, and we forgot to tell you to watch out for some of the kids in our class. Especially the bigger ones. They like to pick on the new kids. None of them did yet, but they'll try to soon."
Wei Ying scowled, but nodded. "Okay. But don't worry about me. I'm not scared of them."
Qian grinned. "Just stick close to us, and you won't have to be. Hardly anybody in our class will mess with you if they know you're our friend. They used to bother us, but not anymore."
"Yeah," Fen agreed. "After we had to beat up some of them, just about everyone left us alone."
"Oh, okay. I get it."
Everything mostly went the same way in class during the afternoon. However, Wei Ying noticed that he was indeed being watched by certain students. It was as if they were sizing him up. He had actually seen them doing so earlier than morning too, but hadn't paid it much attention. He thought that it was only because he was new there.
One of said students was definitely the culprit of a paper ball that hit him on the arm. He spun around to find a tall boy nearby who was snickering into his hand. Those who saw what happened were giggling too. Cao Laoshi was writing something on the board, so he was unaware of this.
Wei Ying kept an eye on him as he leaned over to snatch up the paper. Cao Laoshi faced them just as he did, though, so he couldn't do anything right then. But as soon as he was looking away again, Wei Ying threw it back at the boy and nailed him on the head. The latter glared and clenched his fist, but he stuck his tongue out at him. He wasn't afraid of him.
Laughter echoed throughout the room.
"Excuse me. I do not know what is going on, but please be quiet and pay attention," their teacher announced.
"Sorry, Laoshi," a few of the students whispered.
Fen caught Wei Ying's eye and shot him a thumbs-up as Qian and Huizhong grinned. He smirked in return.
However, when he happened to turn to his left, he noticed that Lan Zhan was scowling at him in disapproval. It was obvious that, unlike most of their other classmates, he wasn't amused by what had transpired.
Wei Ying met his look with an even and challenging one of his own before shrugging. He didn't see the situation as his fault. The boy started it, not him.
Lan Zhan narrowed his eyes and looked away.
Things changed when school was over for the day. Cao Laoshi gave out a variety of snacks and juice or water from boxes that were dropped off by two of the orphanage's staff. He had taken the time to find out what each student liked or preferred. After that, he requested them to begin their homework.
Just about everyone moved to sit with their friends then. Some were in pairs, the rest in larger groups. A few here and there, Lan Zhan included, were by themselves. Cao Laoshi supervised them to make sure that no one caused trouble and assisted anyone who needed help. The sounds of quiet voices and rustling filled the room.
"Nice shot, buddy!" Qian praised Wei Ying after he joined him and their friends. He high-fived him. "Serves him right. He's always bothering someone."
"Yeah. Watch out, though. Lei's trouble. He'll try to get you when you're alone, then try to beat you up," Huizhong cautioned.
Wei Ying rolled his eyes as he popped a gem biscuit in his mouth. "Okay. But he doesn't scare me. I'm not worried about him." He knew how to fight and hold his own if he needed to.
Fen beamed and nodded. "Good! You shouldn't be, really. He's a coward. He'd rather gang up on little kids than anyone his own size."
"Hmph."
They started on their homework after that, continuing to talk and sharing their snacks. Wei Ying was led over to a corner of the room when they were all finished an hour later. It had books, drawing utensils, loose-leaf and multicolored paper, games, blocks, and legos, among other things. It reminded him of their bedroom.
"We're allowed to get anything from here once we're done everything. Just don't get loud if you play a game. Cao Laoshi doesn't like that. He says it can distract anyone who's studying or isn't done their homework. And we have to put everything back unless he says we can borrow it. Well, not the paper, but everything else," Huizhong pointed out.
"Okay," Wei Ying said.
He was in the mood to color, so he got some crayons and a few sheets of paper. He had just turned to go back to where was sitting when he came face-to-face with Lan Zhan.
Wei Ying smiled. "Oh, hi!" he greeted cheerfully.
"Mm. Excuse me, please. I'm trying to get another book," the latter mumbled.
He moved out of the way after noticing that the bookshelf was behind him. "Oh. Sorry about that. Wanna hang out with me and my friends today? We won't bother you since you're gonna be reading. You don't even have to talk to us if you don't want to."
Lan Zhan shook his head. "No, thank you."
This response wasn't unexpected.
"Well, okay. We're over there if you change your mind, though," he said, gesturing to where their desks were.
"I'm fine," Lan Zhan grunted as he walked over to the bookshelf. "And you shouldn't eat when Cao Laoshi is teaching. Or sneak food in your pockets. Or throw things at people. You'll be punished if you're caught."
Wei Ying blinked, amazed that he even taken the trouble to warn him. Plus, this was the most he had spoken so far.
"Yeah, I know that, but don't worry about it. I'm really careful," he assured him, waving his hand. "Besides, I probably would have been hungry if I didn't bring a snack. Don't you ever get hungry when we're in here?"
"Only right before lunch. And dinner."
"What about before gym?"
"No. I don't."
Shrugging, Wei Ying said, "You're lucky, then. I'm not like you, though. I get hungry faster. I'm a growing boy!"
Lan Zhan didn't comment on that. He just picked out the book he wanted and returned to his desk.
"Wow," Qian exclaimed in a low voice once they were sitting down again too. Fen and Huizhong also looked taken aback. "I never saw that kid talk that much to anybody before. I can't believe you asked him hang out with us either. He doesn't like to talk to anybody. Or be around anybody except his brother."
"I know. He told me so himself, and so did his brother Lan Huan," Wei Ying remarked. "I asked him if he wanted to play or color with me yesterday too, but he said no."
He gave a shrug of his own. "Ehn. He would have told you that. I would've been surprised if he didn't."
"Me too," Fen agreed. "I don't think the Lan kid is bad, though. He quieter than most of the other boys, and a little weird, maybe. But not bad."
Huizhong nodded. "Yeah. He could just be shy, though. He and his brother are still pretty new here too. Maybe he had friends before they came, and he isn't used to being around different kids."
Wei Ying shook his head. "No. Lan Huan said that he never had any friends. But he thinks he should make some. I don't know if he will, though. Lan Zhan said he likes to be by himself."
"Oh. Well, try not to bother him, then. You never know. He might make friends someday, if we all leave him alone. And he probably just didn't meet anybody he likes yet."
"Yeah."
Before everybody left for dinner two hours later, Cao Laoshi gathered the homework after making sure they had all completed it first. He also welcomed Wei Ying and the other new students again and hoped they enjoyed their lessons.
"We have Art on Wednesdays mornings with Hong Laoshi. You have Music with Ruan Laoshi on Fridays, but that will be in another room. Please try not to forget that," he announced with a kind smile.
They nodded.
"Excellent. The disciplinarians are here, now. Please behave, everyone, and have a good evening."
All of the students bowed.
"Thank you, Laoshi," they chorused.
Wei Ying had to grin himself as they filed out of the room. School here was good. He couldn't wait to tell Mama and A-Die about it when he prayed to them at bedtime. If they were alive, they would have asked him a lot of questions. They had been excited to hear everything when he talked to them about his old school when he started there.
He wasn't sure if A-Die would be happy that he threw a paper ball at that Lei kid, however. But Mama would have found it funny and laughed when A-Die wasn't nearby. After all, he would have told them that the boy threw it at him first.
Just thinking about this was bittersweet, though. While it made Wei Ying smile, it made him feel quite sad too, and he missed his parents even more. He wished that they were there so that he could share all of this with them in person. But, of course, he wouldn't be in the orphanage if that were so. Nor would he be in a new school - or have new three teachers - in addition to new friends.
As much as he would have given anything to have his parents back, he was still glad to have met Qian, Fen, and Huizhong. He even liked that he was acquainted with Lan Zhan and Lan Huan too. Director Long wasn't too bad either when he wasn't being so strict. Now that he knew them, he couldn't imagine not knowing them.
Wei Ying sighed. This was really confusing for him. However, he would eventually understand that this was normal. He wouldn't exactly like it, but he would understand.
Author's note: Hello! Here's another chapter for you! I hope you enjoy it. Sorry for the long update. Oh, and I will be starting a new job soon, so I may not have the chance to write as often. But please bear with me, okay? I will update my stories when I am able to.