The third lesson class

  Ma Lixin walked into the classroom and saw that a lot of the original whitewash on the wall had peeled off, revealing some of the red bricks' original color, with the areas where there was still whitewash being black and white in patches.

  The classroom had only a dozen or so desks, the surface of which was not planed smooth, and with the passage of time, the infiltration of sweat and dust also made it grayish black. There were also three-legged stools piled haphazardly under the tables. According to the registration form, he began to take roll call. There were four students in the first grade, and there were also four students in the second grade. All four students in the first grade had their parents with them.

  Children in the mountains are timid, but children who don't read books are very brave.

  Ma Lixin shouted for half a day, and the four first-grade students still hadn't sat down properly. He arranged the second-grade students to the north. "Song Youyong," he began roll-calling. However, even after shouting three times, no one responded, but the parents heard it and answered instead.

  Roll call is over, class begins. First graders can't do homework yet, so they start class. Second graders are assigned to do homework. Just as the lesson on writing the character "one" has begun, a boy named Liu Deyi runs out of the classroom. Parents are still in the corridor watching their children. When parents see their child running out, they try to send him back in, but the child refuses. The parent gets angry and slaps the child twice. The sound of the child's crying echoes through the campus.

  Not a minute later, another second-grader ran out. The second-graders had already been in school for a year, and Mali Xīn didn't know what was going on with him either, so he also ran out to see what he was doing. Before the kid even reached the toilet, he pulled down his pants with a "peng" sound and dropped a big pile of shit.

  Ma Lixin looked at the watch and saw that half of the class time had passed. Mr. Ma looked at the four students in the second grade, two were talking, and two did not have their homework books. He had written several questions on the blackboard for them to do earlier, he asked: "Why didn't you buy a homework book?"

  "I didn't bring any money." "My mom told me to just owe it for now." "I spent my money on food, I'll buy it tomorrow." Another one stared at Teacher Ma but didn't say anything. Forget it, that's how it is today, we'll talk about it again tomorrow. He thought.

  Back on stage, teaching first-grade students and reading "one" with the teacher. "I want my mom." A child cried and ran outside.

  The class was over like this. Mali Xīn didn't dare to ask other teachers, and because he was in charge of the whole class, every class was his, so he didn't have time to observe how other teachers taught their classes. He remembered that during his internship, he had been assigned to a fifth-grade class, and whenever the teacher said something, the students knew what to do. Now, why were these students not listening?

  In the second lesson, he first bought four exercise books and gave them to four students in grade two during class. The four students were very happy. During class, he shouted "Stand up." "Good teacher," the four students in grade two shouted. Not bad, he thought.

  The topic was still on the blackboard, he said "You four students do your homework." He saw that the four first-grade students were still crying and running around, which was very frustrating. But their parents were outside watching them, and he couldn't do anything about it. So he walked down from the podium and said to the student at the first table: "Don't cry, be good." The child didn't listen.

  He thought for a long time, this class can't be taught anymore, what to do? Slowly he walked to the school's small sales department and said to the principal's wife: "Buy me some sugar." He wanted to say that these first and second-grade students are really difficult to manage, but thinking about it, isn't this openly saying that the principal is bullying him? For outsiders who come, they must be given the most difficult tasks, besides, he just arrived and doesn't have the qualifications to ask for a good class. Thinking like this, it's still acceptable. His heart felt much better.

  The candies were distributed to the students, and indeed had a good effect. The crying student stopped sniffling, and the running student didn't go out anymore, looking at the teacher to see if there was still something delicious, he said: "Listen carefully, I still have some treats. I'll give them to you later."

  After a while, they still couldn't sit still and started to fidget around. Four second-grade students saw the teacher giving candies to first-grade students and whispered among themselves. "The teacher must have lots of treats."

  "Why did the teacher give it to the first graders but not us?"

  "After class is over, we'll ask the teacher too." The more he spoke, the louder his voice became. He had no choice but to stop teaching and said, "The four classmates on that side should not talk either."

  The words are not spoken, but they don't do their homework anymore. Their eyes wander east and west. He can only listen and put his hand in his pocket to find that there are still four pieces of sugar left. Just as he was about to distribute the sugar to the second-grade students, the first-grade students had almost finished eating theirs. "I want more, I want more." They don't even call out for the teacher, nor do they know if they should call out for the teacher. It's as if the teacher is supposed to give them something to eat.

  Four parents outside had no expression, all watching Mali's busy hands and feet.

  Ma Lixin seemed to have also seen the faint smile on their faces. Maybe it will get better later, today is just the first day after all. He comforted himself like this. Without doubting whether he was suitable for being a teacher or not.