Chapter 36: The Phoenix Rivalry

  Thirty kilometers northeast of Lüzhou City, at the junction of the city's distant suburbs and Wu Township, a Buick business car turned from the national highway onto a rural road. This winding rural highway was built as a cement road many years ago during the "Village Connection" project, but it could not withstand the harsh mountain weather and the wear and tear of motorized and animal-drawn vehicles, and in just a few years it had become bumpy and uneven. Even good cars couldn't pick up speed on this road.

  "These several troubles, don't know if they have stirred up trouble or not." Director Wang Hengbin sighed and sat in the passenger seat, feeling inexplicably uneasy about going to Zhuoma Township.

  "It can't be that serious, Huating didn't say anything on the phone." said Ren Qun, the head teacher in the back seat.

  "Do you think Wang Hua-ting can command them?" Director Wang asked back, a sentence that left Ren Qun speechless. Commanding is impossible, but being commanded is possible. Besides, she's just a girl. One of the other two class directors who came along asked Director Wang, "Director Wang, isn't it your student, Shan Yong?"

  "Besides him, who else can do it? With the second classmate being so exceptionally fierce, I'm really afraid he'll blow the roof off that house." Wang Hengbin said helplessly.

  "Your second class students are formidable, they actually managed to replace the head of our school's security department... I heard that this matter can't be handled at all. Principal Wang specially went to Fujian to visit Professor Zuo, who was very angry and might not have seen anyone if it weren't for the face of our department's Professor Song Chengyang."

  "I heard that Shan Yong has also hooked up with Professor Zuo's daughter. If this is true, then there's no way to deal with this matter anymore."

  "It's not that easy to deal with, is it? They didn't do anything wrong, but the security department people are really unreasonable, they dare to bully and extort whoever they catch."

  "What can we do? Even regular master's and doctoral graduates are not wanted by good schools now, but our school only wants those with connections and backdoors to get in. How can nothing go wrong?"

  These two colleagues, the head of the Renqun class and another, are both around 40 years old. They belong to that type of person who talks big but doesn't take action. After visiting several internship sites, they basically understood the situation of this semester's students' internships. They also had a meeting with the local education bureau and personnel department, but the situation at each internship site was not optimistic. The living conditions were too harsh, and people's minds were unstable. It's only been a week, and some have already started to slack off. The employment situation is even more pessimistic. The people in charge of local education are evasive and haven't given any clear answers. The only thing that can be confirmed is that there is overstaffing everywhere, especially among the large teaching staff. Not just in the county seat, but also at the township level, it's severely overstaffed. Under these circumstances, I'm afraid many students will suffer the misfortune of graduating and becoming unemployed again.

  But that's normal, indirectly related to the bad consequences of expansion. Since the realization of mass production of university graduates, oversupply in the market is a normal situation, unlike before, holding a dispatch certificate was equivalent to eating imperial rations. The two chatted about worrying about heaven, but Wang Director and Ren Qun teacher were worried about different things. When they were about to arrive at Zhuoma Township, Ren Qun teacher moved forward one position and asked Wang Hengbin: "Director Wang, is there any news about the school's handling of Shanyong?"

  There are still worries, whether it's a protest in the dormitory building, or breaking into the broadcasting room to release messages, or just making trouble. As for the department head and class teacher, what they least want to see is this kind of situation. After four years of hard work, even if it was just a mix of four years, it's not easy. The requirements for these people are not high, as long as they can safely take their graduation certificate and leave, that's enough. As for the employment problem, it's no longer a concern, it has become a social issue, and the school has always been irresponsible about this.

  "Not yet, I think it's not that easy to get results. The original cafeteria Xiaming Hall thing hasn't been dealt with yet, Gou Guoping is idle at home and doesn't dare come out, the city has put attracting investment in the first place because this matter involves the investment problem of Zuo Shi Chemical Industry, I heard that the municipal party committee and government have made a named criticism to our Luan Institute... At this critical moment, I think no one dares to make trouble again, he's not afraid of Single Yong this foolish kid making another mistake?" Director Wang Hengbin analyzed, with a tendency towards his own students.

  Ren Qun smiled and fell silent.

  The car drove on the mountain road for more than half an hour before reaching its destination, passing through the village. It was already five o'clock in the afternoon, and at this time, school had already finished classes. From the village, they pointed to the school on a high ground, with wisps of smoke rising from it. The two class teachers who came together looked at the broken walls and mud-brick walls of the rural area, and some walls still had slogans from decades ago, which was actually about learning from Dazhai in agriculture. They couldn't help but have some respect for the students who could stay here.

  The phone call got through, and when they arrived at the school gate, it was Wang Huating and Ding Yizhi who opened the door. The car stopped in the yard, and Director Wang Hengbin got out of the car just as he was about to ask others, but his words stopped on the tip of his tongue. They were all there, huddled together in a corner of the playground. The other teachers who came along looked at each other in surprise. These students were indeed a bit too rude, and they were still playing happily, unlike those at other internship sites who had gloomy faces.

  "What...what's going on here?" Ren Qun asked in surprise, adjusting his clothes. Those few troublemakers from his class were huddled together at the corner of the playground, smoke rising from where they sat, and even the sound of cars coming in hadn't been heard.

  "Roast sparrow." said the class monitor. The teachers who came to inspect the practice point were stunned.

  "It's okay, as long as they didn't steal the chicken from their fellow villager to roast, that's good enough." Director Wang Hengbin smiled wryly and called out. The four of them turned around, but couldn't put down what they were holding in their hands, so they beckoned for the teachers to come over.

  A group of people, with a mix of surprise, astonishment, and incomprehension, followed each other to this rustic barbecue place. Several teachers were stunned, and couldn't help but feel a few points of admiration. The brick oven was one meter wide and two or three meters long. On top, dozens of skewers were neatly arranged, each with four or five plump, clean, and oily sparrows. Even the popular barbecue stalls in the city didn't look this professional.

  Never mind how it was roasted, Ren Qun teacher asked Wang Huating in surprise: "How did so many sparrows come?"

  Yes, the difficulty of ingredients has increased, and just grilling on fire has already exceeded 100.

  Wang Hua-ting said in a low voice, "They used a slingshot and a bag of mud pellets to catch over 300 sparrows. They plucked the feathers and soaked them in water overnight, and they're going to cook them for today's 'opening tooth' festival."

  "Big Peng, go to my uncle's house and get two chickens, then go to the village small sales department and move two more bottles of wine. Class leader, branch secretary, you guys take care of the teachers, I'm busy." Dan Yong arranged, turned his head and smiled at Wang Director, Lei Da Peng responded with a sound, and directly pulled the driver who came with him and left. On this side, Ding Yizhi and Wang Huating were moving the classroom desks and chairs, first inviting the teachers to sit down. They had prepared for the teachers' arrival, Wang Huating and Liu Cuicui went into the kitchen to cut up chilled sweet melons, sugar-pickled cucumber strips, honey-soaked hawthorn dry fruit, and added a bowl of old walnuts that had been stored for years. In the blink of an eye, they set up a table, even not drinking teacher Ren Qun didn't forget, and put out a bottle of cola. Okay, Wang Hengbin Director was also amazed, saying: "You said your conditions are harsh, we went to several points, you guys eat well. This is rural teaching, it's simply camping."

  "It was all brought back by Lei Dapeng and Shan Yong from the village, you wait for Director Wang, they made a few furnaces of sparrows... what's it called Muxian?" Liu Cuicloud asked. Si Muxian smiled and turned his head: "Bath Fire Phoenix."

  Mr. Yi laughed loudly, this sparrow turning into a phoenix was a bit too much, but Ren Qun actually quite appreciated it, looking at Wang Huating who had been sunburned, smiled and praised: "It's not bad, after going through this baptism by fire, in the future we'll all become phoenixes... Shan Yong, you're doing pretty well now, why are you always causing trouble at school?"

  Shan Yong, who was roasting the sparrow, turned back and smiled, saying softly: "Teacher Ren, you say I'm causing trouble, I don't object, but as you know, it's not my fault, right? There's a saying that horses fear being ridden, people fear being forced... I really was forced out, if I didn't step on him, he would have bullied me instead."

  "If the school were to deal with you over this matter, what attitude would you take?" Ren Qun asked, very calmly.

  "I didn't know what attitude I would have before the results came out, but no matter what attitude, I don't think I was wrong. How about it, Teacher Ren, are the results out?" Dan Yong asked, and mentioning that worry again made him feel a bit apprehensive. If it really was an unacceptable result, he thought his attitude would be even worse than last time. He didn't dare say it out loud, not wanting to worry these two teachers who cared about him."

  "There may not be any results, but don't worry about the internship, we'll all try our best to make it work out for you. However, I hope you learn a lesson from this. No matter where you are, you need to adapt to your environment and can't let the environment adapt to you. For example, you're doing fine right now." said Ren Qun.

  "Thank you, Teacher Ren." Danyong felt a little grateful. If someone else had said this, it would definitely be official talk, but Teacher Ren was always kind-hearted and looked out for the students everywhere.

  As he spoke, the sparrows slowly changed color as they were roasted with a gentle fire. This was done using low heat and fine roasting, with no visible flames from the charcoal in the oven. The aroma was slowly brought out by the heat of the charcoal, and by the time the third layer of oil was brushed on, the fragrance had already begun to spread. The two teachers who came with him sniffed their noses and sincerely praised: "It's really fragrant! Xian Yong, whose craftsmanship did you learn from?"

  "Hehe, his family runs a restaurant." Liu Cuicloud added, busy handing out dishes and oil bowls to Simu Xian and Shan Yong.

  "It's much better than the flavor of a barbecue stall." Another person praised, at this time, the sweet and sour taste in his mouth was gone, and what he sucked in was full of the aroma of roasted meat.

  The less meat, the more fragrant, this is the theory of eating at home. For example, rice grain fish, crab meat, and scorpion, it means that the less meat you can put in your mouth, the more fragrant the flavor will be. When Lei Dapeng returned with a flourish, the first oven was already nearing its end. The smoking grill emitted a fragrance that filled the air, and when he picked up a skewer, it was golden yellow and sizzling with fine oil. The aroma was even more intense. Lei took a bite of one branch, crunching into half of it without spitting out any bones, chewing with relish. As he ate, he handed one branch to Teacher Ren and one to Director Wang, quietly telling Director Wang, "Director, you really have good fortune in eating this stuff, it's great for nourishing yin and yang."

  Director Wang was so angry that he kicked his leg and this guy ran away early. Teacher Ren Qun carefully took a bite, the entrance was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a fragrant flavor that went through the nose and throat, making it impossible to help but praise, and the bones were crispy. The fragrance was more delicious than fried chicken, although it was just a small piece of meat, it was more flavorful than crab meat, and everyone nodded in agreement while eating. At this time, Shan Yong was the happiest, explaining that it was marinated with fragrant vinegar, cooking wine, chili peppers, ginger slices, and several Chinese medicines for over ten hours, and then roasted over low heat to make the flavor penetrate the bones. If it were roasted over high heat, it wouldn't be so delicious, although it would still be fragrant, but there would be a muddy smell afterwards.

  Many people tried to chew it, and the fine bones were indeed soft and slightly brittle. One bite and they crumbled, but when chewed with meat, it was a different flavor altogether. The driver who came along exclaimed that he had been cheated, saying that what he ate at the barbecue stall in the city was not sparrow meat at all. This naturally led to another burst of laughter from the crowd.

  Everyone has started eating, and Lei Dapeng is eating the fastest and most vigorously. Even Ding Yizhi has joined in, carefully chewing a few mouthfuls, it seems that the deliciousness has overcome his inner resistance, and he is now eating with abandon. Only one person is left, Wang Huating, who still seems to be haunted by this matter, and has gone to hide in the kitchen. Lei Dapeng is only concerned with his own eating and has already forgotten about Tang Hua. Dan Yong is arranging for Si Mu Xian to roast a second batch, holding two skewers, taking advantage of everyone's joyful eating and drinking, he went straight into the kitchen.

  Sitting there, Wang Huating sat stiffly, with her hands supporting her cheeks and her eyes gazing vaguely into space, looking somewhat out of place.

  When Shan Yong rushed in, he was stunned for a moment. Wang Hua Ting, who was supporting her cheek and seemed to be thinking about something, looked very elegant and quiet. Her braided hair still had a bit of childishness, and although she had gotten darker from being out in the countryside these days, there was a hint of beauty in that darkness. Suddenly, she overlapped with a certain figure that Shan Yong couldn't shake from his mind. When he came in again and saw her complex gaze staring at him for a moment, it was hard to understand the look in her eyes.

  All along, the two people have been on opposing sides. One is a spoiled child in the eyes of teachers and leaders, while the other is a troublemaker. Every time they participate in group activities, their lives intersect, and they always sing different tunes. When Shanyong sat down, Wang Huating deliberately turned her face to one side. Shanyong handed over two roasted sparrows: "Branch Secretary, if you're a vegetarian, I won't persuade you, but you're not, right? You only know that sparrows are wild animals and don't know they're also a kind of Chinese medicine. They've always been food for humans."

  Wang Hua-ting glanced over, and Shan Yong smiled: "It can be used as a therapeutic food for people with anemia, neurasthenia, and diabetes. The natural world is full of wonders, each with its own use, this is the delicious gift from nature, it's hard to come by, I spent a whole week preparing for this. If you're really concerned about protecting animals, haven't you ever eaten chicken, duck, or fish? Aren't they living creatures too? Hehe... suit yourself, don't say I didn't take care of you."

  She got up, took a step forward, and when she turned back, their eyes met. Wang Huating's straightforward gaze seemed to have a few points of piercing intent, and Wang Huating also boldly looked at him without dodging. In this glance, he seemed to feel that heavy concern. Wang Huating murmured: "Thank you."

  "It doesn't matter, there are still two chickens... If you really don't eat this, I'll give you roasted chicken skewers later. But the chicken is also a living creature." Dan Yong smiled and went out.

  The roasted sparrow meat was tender and fragrant, with a hint of medicinal scent. Wang Huating didn't know if it was her mood or taste buds that had changed, but she was slightly tempted by the aroma. When Shanyong left, she picked it up and took a sniff, it was a very fragrant smell, with a hint of medicine in the meaty flavor. She had seen the process yesterday, scalding the sparrow in boiling water to remove feathers and internal organs, washing it clean with white wine, then marinating it in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, and herbs like dangshen, longan fruit, dates, wolfberry, astragalus, and angelica. The marinade had been simmered until the flavors were fully absorbed, just like Shanyong's meticulous care for everyone's taste buds.

  She gently pinched a small piece of the thin meat layer with her fingers, and then put it in her mouth. The light fragrance was followed by the aroma between her teeth, and the taste buds on her tongue seemed to burst open, stirring up a craving. She was only worried that the fragrance would disappear from between her teeth... She took another small bite, and another one... A subtle sense of satisfaction and a smile gradually crept onto Wang Huating's face. At this moment, she understood why these foodie classmates were so into it. Perhaps other things could be resisted, but this flavor, this aroma that stirred up the appetite, was irresistible.

  What's more, he brought it himself.

  After eating and drinking, they felt extremely comfortable. On the temporary table set up on the school playground, more than two cases of beer were consumed. When Wang Hua-ting came out, the second round of food had already been served. It seemed that there was not enough to eat. Shan Yong cut the peeled chicken into pieces and roasted them as well. At this point, everyone forgot about their teacher-student relationship and even Shan Chang-gen joined in on the fun, pulling Director Wang and the teachers to drink together. After a few rounds of drinking, they no longer cared about seniority. Lei Ge hugged Principal Shan and called him brother, arm-wrestled and drank as punishment, then turned around and pulled Director Wang and the two teachers, insisting that they drink an entire bottle each, otherwise it would not be enough to demonstrate their iron-like teacher-student relationship.

  Don't underestimate Lei Ge, he's a master of eating and drinking. When it comes to playing games like rock-paper-scissors or guessing numbers, he's always the winner. The others may win occasionally, but they can't beat his capacity for drink. The group made quite a ruckus, with even Si Mu Xian and Shan Yong joining in on the fun. Except for the driver, everyone else had a few drinks too many, and halfway through, they even added a few more beers to the mix. They drank until the moon was high in the sky before finally remembering they still had to head back to the city.

  Sent off a few teachers, sent back Dan Shu, and put Lei Dapeng, who was drunk and staggering around, back to bed. This guy hadn't even laid his head on the pillow before he started snoring loudly. The class monitor wasn't doing much better, getting drunk and dizzy, and ended up sleeping with Lei Dapeng. Shan Yong turned around and called out to Si Mu Xian to clean up, but then realized that Si Mu Xian and Liu Cuiyun were nowhere to be found. Originally, he had wanted to look for them, but then thought that this cultured brother might have taken advantage of the moon being above the willow trees, and gone out to appreciate the flowers and scenery with someone after dark, so he didn't disturb him. So, as usual, he was left to clean up the mess by himself.

  There was another person, Wang Huating, helping Dan Yong wipe the table. After a while, Dan Yong moved back to the classroom and turned around to help put things away in the kitchen. Although he had a strong impression of being fierce, compared to Wang Huating, Dan Yong seemed more like a meticulous little wife. Everything was cleaned up neatly and efficiently. When he stretched his waist, he finally noticed that Wang Huating had been standing at the kitchen door, staring at him for a long time...