Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Afraid to Take a Vacation
Teacher Huang temporarily interrupted his lecture and went out for a while. When he returned, he told everyone that there was nothing serious, except that a sycamore tree had just been struck by lightning.
When class ended, everyone crowded out to watch the commotion. They saw that on one side of a sycamore tree next to the playground, one side was black, and a branch about the thickness of an adult's fist was broken off and fell onto the playground. Of course, no one dared to pick it up for a while.
Some students, probably having just read a fantasy novel, joked, 'The tree must have become a demon, that's why the lightning struck it!'
Another student added seriously, "It's not that the tree has become a demon, it's that there's something in the tree that wants to become a demon!'
Things like lightning striking trees always happened in the countryside. Whenever something like that happened, the old folks in the village would say, "It must be that there's some kind of demon in the tree.'
So when they heard what the two students said, everyone laughed knowingly.
The heavy rain continued all day, and it didn't seem to let up at night. The temperature dropped the next day, and it was especially comfortable to sleep at night.
The situation on Thursday was the same. Lin Hui said that several upstream reservoirs were releasing floodwaters, so the river was rising rapidly and no one could cross to the other side.
But there is a silver lining: I heard that someone caught several catties of big fish with a pole and a basket yesterday. Now, by the river, many people are wandering around with a hat, a raincoat and a stick.
On Thursday evening, after seeing the forecast on TV that heavy rain would continue for the next two days, the school leaders became a little restless. Everything else was fine, but the student dormitories, in particular, were on a hillside, with the villagers' fields behind them. Those were all made of soil, and if the rain got heavier and more intense, washing away a ridge of the fields, the ten-year-old adobe walls of the student dormitories would definitely not be able to withstand it.
So during evening study hours, the school urgently held a meeting, at which it was decided that during the day, the school leaders would patrol in shifts, and at night, male teachers would be on duty in pairs, with a total of six groups, each group for two hours, from 7 pm to 7 am, focusing on the dormitory row on the hillside.
The teachers' anxiety was completely missed by the students. It had been raining since June, and everyone was used to it. I heard that many people had caught fish in the river, and they were all big fish, which made many students eager to go.
On Saturday, the rain continued and the sky remained dark.
From the courtyard, the school leaders could clearly see the river in front of the school, which had now changed a lot.
The river had overflowed its original banks, flooding a large area of fields on both sides of the river. The fields on the school side were completely flooded, and the road had become the riverbank. Now the river was more than 300 metres wide in places, and even though the river had become so wide, there were still big waves. Cars and people on the road walked as close to the inside as possible, because the side near the river was often splashed with water from the waves. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
The elderly people in the neighbourhood said that they had not seen such a situation in decades.
At the moment, crossing the river is no easy task, let alone swimming across, and even getting a small boat to row to the other side is no easy task.
So during the second lesson in the morning, the teachers had an urgent meeting. In such circumstances, no matter how careless they were, they dared not ask the students to go home, especially those who had to cross the river to go home.
At the principal's house, the leaders and the homeroom teachers discussed for more than half an hour, and finally decided that, simply, there would be no holiday this weekend. After all, there would be final exams next week, and all the students would stay in school to review.
The dormitory teachers took the cafeteria chef to the finance office to get money, and immediately went to the town to buy food, as well as oil and salt. They also went to the village to buy several large jars of pickles. The teachers could only eat from the big communal pot, and the small cafeteria was now used exclusively for stir-frying.
Next, starting from the third lesson, the school leaders, accompanied by the homeroom teachers, notified each class one after the other. When they arrived at the first class, they heard that there would be no weekend holiday, and the students immediately burst into a chorus of complaints.
This was to be expected, as it had been the same in the previous classes. The headmaster smiled and said, 'You are not young anymore, and you know the school's difficulties in doing this. This is all for your safety. In this kind of weather, if you were allowed to go home, it would be irresponsible to you and to all the parents! If one of you has a problem, we won't be able to explain to your parents, and no one can bear such responsibility. Also, while you are at school, you can get as much food as you want as long as you have enough meal tickets. In addition, the school provides free vegetables. Today at lunch, it's stir-fried eggplant with chili peppers, and tonight, you'll all have pork ribs and winter melon soup.'
Hearing about the food, everyone finally became a little enthusiastic. The principal added fuel to the fire, 'In the evening, the school also has an arrangement. All the TVs in the teachers' homes will be moved to the classrooms, and everyone will watch TV together in the evenings.'
'Oh!' The students were happy. The principal pressed his hands downward and changed his expression, "Finally, I would like to emphasise that anyone who leaves school without permission will be expelled!'
After the principal finished speaking, the head of the teaching department came out again to emphasise, "Class leaders must take responsibility and assist the teacher in managing the students in the class. At the same time, the teacher on duty and the student council will conduct random checks on each class to count the number of students in each class. During the random checks, anyone who is absent without a reason will be dealt with severely.'
After the school leaders left, the homeroom teacher took the pointer and emphasised once again. With the high pressure coming from all levels, the dissatisfaction in the hearts of the students could only be suppressed.
Besides, even if it was a holiday, for example, Feng Wen and the others, faced with the two rivers on the road, were equally helpless. No one could swim across as they had done last time.
Taking a detour, there is a bridge a dozen miles up the road, but it is just a simple arch bridge, and in this kind of weather, it is most likely submerged. Since it is difficult to go back even if they are on holiday, it is better to stay at school, where there is food and fun.
Those who really have a problem are the students who live next to the road, whose way home is still unobstructed. However, all requests for leave from the teachers are rejected. If they want to go home, they can, but their parents have to come to the school to sign for them.
Nowadays, there are telephones in some offices and individual shops, but it is not easy to contact parents. Even if they are contacted, they are still not allowed to rush to school in such weather to pick someone up and then send them to school again tomorrow afternoon.
The only ones who are happy are probably the third-year students. This week, they were not going home anyway, and now not only are their younger schoolmates staying with them, but the cafeteria is also providing free fresh food, which is really a pleasant surprise.
At lunchtime, everyone queued up for food under their umbrellas, and the smell drifting from in front of them made many people who had been unhappy suddenly a little excited.
In fact, they were just kids, and they didn't have a heart or a mind. They couldn't hold things in, and whether they were happy or not was only a matter of time.
The chef in the cafeteria was also cooking authentic big-pot dishes for the first time, and he didn't have much experience. The only thing worth praising about the food he cooked was that it was cooked!