Chapter 2518: Principal Tian Liang

Tian Liang's words put Kuang Lu somewhat at ease. So that was his game. Still, these Kun thieves were remarkably undiscriminating, appointing such a man as school principal. He cupped his hands in a polite salute. "You flatter me, truly. However, I've only just returned home. Allow me to settle in before making any plans. I shall certainly pay you a visit in due time." With that, he made his way toward Zeng Guiyu's small boat.

Watching Kuang Lu's retreating figure, Tian Liang called after him, "Please come take the Civil Service Examination!"

"We shall meet again," Kuang Lu's voice drifted back as he walked on.

"Young Master, are you really going to teach at the Kun thieves' school?" Kuang Yan asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Kuang Lu reached back and rapped the boy on the head with his fan. "You and I have just returned and know nothing of affairs here. Petty officials like him are the most treacherous and vicious, and they wield real power. Cross him, and there'll be no end of trouble. Best not to get entangled—agreeing casually costs nothing."

Kuang Yan rubbed his head, muttering, "I understand, Young Master. The Master said, 'The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what is profitable.' Today I learned the Sage spoke true—even when sending their children to study, these mud-legs must talk of 'profit.'"

"Are you and I any different?" Kuang Lu replied indifferently.

As Kuang Lu departed, the villagers dispersed as well. Tian Liang turned to Hou Qing with an embarrassed expression. "Sister Qing, I feel like such a fool. I can't do anything properly, my promotions always lag behind my peers, and I can never find the right words..."

Hou Qing reassured him gently. "Blockhead, those with glib tongues aren't always reliable when it comes to getting things done. The Chiefs assigned you as principal of the Nanhai Demonstration School precisely because they trust you—they know you're loyal and dependable."

"But what if I fail?"

"Don't worry. I'm here, and Wen Yong will help you too."

Before the Northern Expedition, Tian Liang had risen to company commander. His unit, the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the Line, served under the East Road Army and, following Fu Sansi's lead, had captured the Chaoshan region.

The East Road Army had crushed the Ming forces under the Guangdong Vice Commander-in-Chief with little effort, sweeping through eastern Guangdong like wind through dry grass. Yet soon after, like units on every other front, they found themselves mired in a grinding security war.

The clan powers in Chaoshan were formidable, and the people fierce. The great local families had never bowed readily to government authority, let alone to outsiders like them. Though the prefectures and counties fell easily enough, the directors appointed to each county soon discovered their orders couldn't reach beyond the city gates. Clerks dared not venture into the countryside without a National Army escort, and even then they were frequently ambushed by local braves, suffering heavy casualties.

To establish the Senate's authority, the East Road Army fought almost daily, storming strongholds and fortified villages. Tian Liang himself had clashed with enemy forces in close combat several times and counted himself lucky to have escaped serious injury. His luck ran out during a battle when he fell into the water and choked on sewage, contracting aspiration pneumonia. He was sent to the field hospital for treatment. That was where he met Hou Qing.

As head nurse of the East Road Army Field Hospital, Hou Qing organized care for the wounded. Chronic understaffing meant she often had to check the wards herself in the middle of the night. One evening, while changing Tian Liang's IV bottle, he seized her hand and wouldn't let go, calling out "Sanniang, Sanniang" in his delirium. Hou Qing's first thought was that this soldier was deliberately taking liberties with her—until she realized it was fever-induced rambling, and she forgave him.

As the antibiotics took effect, Tian Liang gradually emerged from his fevered haze and realized the person who had been caring for him day and night was not his Sanniang, but this slight, small-framed "Sister Qing." Disappointment mingled with gratitude. Over time, they grew familiar with each other. Tian Liang would tell her stories of his past—how he and Sanniang had come to Lingao, how they had grown up after arriving, describing the harrowing details of the Chengmai Battle in vivid color, along with his feelings for Sanniang.

Hou Qing asked if he understood Guo Fu's feelings. He said he didn't.

Tian Liang asked if she understood Sanniang's feelings. She said she didn't either—she was just an aging spinster who knew nothing of such matters.

Tian Liang gaped at her. By Ming Dynasty standards, a woman unmarried at twenty was already an old maid. Hou Qing was twenty-seven and still had no husband's family.

She told him she had once been betrothed, but a natural disaster struck before the wedding. Her parents died one after the other, and she was forced to flee with her younger brother Hou Wenyong, wandering until the Senate took them in at Guangzhou. She was assigned to the sanitation school. By then she was already twenty, but under Dean Shi there was too much to learn and too many patients to save—there was simply no time for personal matters. And so she had been "left over."

Tian Liang comforted her, saying not to worry—a fine woman like her would surely find a good home. Hou Qing laughed when she heard this, but she knew the truth well enough. A good home was beyond her reach now. Her face and figure held no advantage over the female secretaries at the College of Arts and Sciences, so naturally she wouldn't catch the Chiefs' eyes. Naturalized citizen cadres of similar age and standing had long since established families and careers. Having grown up under the Red Flag of the Senate, she could never accept becoming someone's concubine. Men of lesser means she looked down upon; men younger than herself looked down on her. Her brother Hou Wenyong, now grown, had taken to worrying on her behalf, leveraging connections with the Chiefs to introduce several prospective matches. All had come to nothing. In short, her situation was the old familiar bind: the heights were out of reach, the depths beneath her dignity.

Then came the day of Tian Liang's discharge. Hippo Senator arrived leading a team to inspect the army's sanitary conditions throughout the Chaoshan region. There in the field hospital ward, Tian Liang finally saw the Sister Fu he had been dreaming of day and night. She had come along to guide the sanitary work. He was so overcome he couldn't speak.

Guo Fu sensed the time had come to settle certain matters. She asked Tian Liang for a private word. He had imagined that after so many years apart, they would have endless things to say—but in truth, the conversation faltered after ten minutes or so. As they talked on, both came to realize the other had long since walked a different path.

"Is the Chief good to you?" That was the last thing Tian Liang remembered asking.

"He is," Guo Fu replied with a faint smile. Her face, now shed of its girlish softness, was dignified and beautiful.

After she left, Tian Liang sat in a daze in the ward for a long time. When Hou Qing made her rounds, she found him still there. He told her about his meeting with Guo Fu—how life had suddenly lost its purpose, how he no longer knew what meaning his existence held.

Hou Qing was never one for consolation. She struggled for words, then suddenly remembered a philosophical saying she had once heard Chief Lin Motian utter, and offered it to Tian Liang. "There are two great tragedies between old friends," she said. "One is never seeing the person you long to see. The other is seeing them."

Tian Liang wept—crying openly before a woman for the first time in his life.

Later, as the fighting subsided, the Senate launched an ambitious construction campaign across Guangdong and Guangxi. The desperate shortage of local cadres led them to transfer soldiers and officers ill-suited for continued military service into civilian posts to support the effort. Tian Liang was among them. Hou Qing's younger brother, Hou Wenyong, had first served as district mayor of Nanhai District before being promoted to Secretary-General of Guangzhou Special City, though he remained in charge of Nanhai District. Through this connection, Hou Qing arranged for Tian Liang to be placed in the important position at the Nanhai National Demonstration School.

Of course, Tian Liang might never know the full story behind his appointment.

When he received the notice, he was utterly bewildered. Given his education and qualifications, any number of positions might have been possible for his retirement placement—but he had never imagined being assigned to the education department.

The twin titles of Principal of Nanhai National Demonstration School and Education Inspector of Nanhai County—whatever their prestige—sent Tian Liang, who knew his own limitations well, hurrying to the personnel department to ask if there had been some "mistake."

The personnel department insisted there had been none. Tian Liang had no choice but to take up the post.

This Nanhai National School was one of three "anchor points" for the Senate's educational institutions in Guangdong. The first was naturally the Guangzhou National Demonstration School, a comprehensive full-time institution modeled after Fangcaodi. It encompassed three levels—junior primary, senior primary, and middle school—following a ten-year curriculum. Based on academic performance, students were culled at both the senior primary and middle school stages, while outstanding students from elsewhere were admitted. Those who ultimately graduated represented the elite among naturalized citizens.

Because resources were limited, only one such "high-level school" existed across all of Guangdong and Guangxi. What would follow—with somewhat broader reach—were the "National Schools" established throughout the region.

Though called National Schools, these were essentially primary schools. According to Hu Qingbai's plan, during the Second Five-Year Plan, Guangdong was to establish a "National Demonstration Senior Primary School" in every county and a "National Demonstration Junior Primary School" in every town.

The Nanhai National Demonstration School where Tian Liang served as principal was precisely such a "County Senior Primary School."

Despite bearing the name "Nanhai County National Demonstration School," a Guangzhou Demonstration School already existed within the city proper. To embody the ideology of serving the townships, the Nanhai school was located west of Guangzhou City, adjacent to Dali Town in the newly established Foshan County.

When Tian Liang arrived at Dali, his staff consisted of five naturalized citizen normal school graduates and five "old-timer soldiers" and "half-disabled soldiers" discharged to serve as both handymen and guards. Exactly a squad's worth of people formed the entire team for the Nanhai County National Demonstration School.

Though it was a key educational project, Hu Qingbai had no extra funds for constructing school buildings. Never mind this county demonstration school—even the Guangzhou Demonstration School was currently making do by occupying the Guangzhou Prefecture Confucian Temple. So the site Tian Liang received was confiscated "enemy property": the ancestral shrine of a powerful local clan. They hung up a sign, and the school opened for business.

Once open, they had to recruit students. The Senate could not yet mandate compulsory education; families still had to pay tuition themselves. Hu Qingbai had actually set tuition quite low—strictly speaking, even at full enrollment, the fees collected wouldn't cover the wages of these eleven staff members. And ten percent of the spots were reserved for publicly funded students.

That said, more than two months after Tian Liang took office—having exhausted himself running around promoting the school—with the spring semester's opening imminent, over thirty of the two hundred spots for the first academic year remained unfilled.

(End of Chapter)