The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

In the classroom, Cheng Zhi was chatting animatedly with Xue Jiang when he saw Zhou Yanruo walk in. He immediately rushed to her side and asked, "Zhou Yanruo, where is Teacher Wang? I just saw you with him."

"What do you mean 'together'? We just bumped into each other on the road." Zhou Yanruo was a little flustered, and her voice lacked confidence.

Xue Jiang stood up from her seat and pulled Zhou Yanruo aside, saying, "Yanruo, Cheng Zhi and I were just talking about Teacher Wang."

From the first day of school, Zhou Yanruo and Xue Jiang sat together, and the two quickly became good friends. Xue Jiang was a year older than Zhou Yanruo. As a child, she had participated in film production as an extra and later worked as an announcer at the Children's Palace, thus accumulating some stage and performance experience. This 'experience' was very useful in the training class, and she was also a warm-hearted person who liked to help other students, especially Zhou Yanruo.

As for Cheng Zhi, he's the kind of actor who's 'exceptionally gifted,' absolutely blessed with natural talent, as if effort is superfluous. The moment he stands there, the drama unfolds, as if his entire body is a performance. At just 17 years old, he's already grown to 180cm tall, and his European-style eyes are captivating, looking at everyone with tender affection, making one's heart flutter.

In class, whether choreographing dances or rehearsing skits, the three of them were always grouped together because of their excellent teamwork and their creativity.

Among all the students in the class, the three of them had the best relationship.

"What are you two talking about about Teacher Wang?" Zhou Yanruo asked Xue Jiang, glancing at the classroom door.

"Teacher Wang is so handsome! Don't you think it's a waste that he's a teacher? We should persuade him to become our classmate."

"..." Zhou Yanruo was speechless, not knowing how to respond for a moment.

“Just now, you and Teacher Wang were walking on the tree-lined path in front of the school. From behind, you looked like the male and female leads of an art film,” Cheng Zhi chimed in, adding jokingly.

"Cheng Zhi, don't talk nonsense," Zhou Yanruo snapped at him.

“I’m not making this up.” Cheng Zhi straddled the chair, looked up at Zhou Yanruo and said, “That’s what I think. Why don’t I bring a video camera tomorrow and film it to see?”

“Great idea, I’ll be the screenwriter,” Xue Jiang immediately agreed.

“I’ll be the director and cinematographer,” Cheng Zhi said, shaking his head. “You’ll be in charge of everything else on the Xue Jiang filming set.”

"Hehe, no problem. I'll take care of everything: script supervisor, lighting board, props, and costumes."

"Look at you two, so capable, even making an art film." Zhou Yanruo couldn't help but sneer.

"Seriously, I want to add extra classes in the evenings, a posture and dance class," Zhou Yanruo said. "The monthly test is coming up soon, and I want to cram for it."

Xue Jiang: "I was just about to tell you about this. That's what I was thinking too, but Cheng Zhi interrupted me."

Zhou Yanruo: "Then let's go together."

Cheng Zhi: "Count me in too."

Zhou Yanruo: "Why are you getting involved? Do you need to practice more to improve your grades?"

Cheng Zhi: "The three of us are partners."

Xue Jiang: "Okay, I'll take you along. You'll be in charge of chilling the soda."

"No problem, plenty."

"Three students, are you finished talking? Can we start class now?"

The three were chatting enthusiastically, and none of them noticed when the classroom had become quiet.

Hearing someone speak, the three quickly turned around and saw that Teacher Wang was already standing at the front of the classroom.

……

Wang Jie only scheduled one class this morning. Because of the upcoming monthly test, the overall curriculum has been adjusted, reducing the time spent on English classes and adding a performance class in the morning.

The on-site teacher from the training course organizer spoke formally with Wang Jie: "Teacher Wang, the morning English class will be changed from two classes to one class for the next two weeks. However, the labor agreement we signed with you will remain unchanged, and the class fee will not be reduced."

Wang Jie felt embarrassed and said, "Teacher Zhang, this is not right. My teaching hours have been reduced for the past two weeks, but you are still charging me for two classes a day. It's not appropriate."

Teacher Zhang knew that Wang Jie was introduced by the son of a city leader. At first, she thought that since it was a matter of connections, there was nothing she could do but arrange it. She didn't have any expectations for Wang Jie or his teaching ability, since the training class didn't have high requirements for English teaching anyway.

Unexpectedly, after getting to know Wang Jie for a while, I found him to be a very nice young man. Not only is he good-looking, but he is also very humble and polite. Most importantly, his teaching skills and dedication are also commendable.

After a moment's thought, Teacher Zhang said, "How about this, your class will be moved to the afternoon and combined with the art appreciation class. Here's the thing: most of the films used in art appreciation are foreign language films, and our appreciation teachers' English proficiency is limited, so their explanations of the films are often not accurate enough. If you join in, this problem will be solved, and your class time will not be reduced. What do you think?"

Wang Jie nodded politely and said, "Of course I agree, thank you very much for Professor Zhang's arrangement. However, I know that the films shown in the art appreciation class will also include domestic films, so I..."

Teacher Zhang knew that Wang Jie was an honest person, so she said, "That's alright. When it's time for domestic films, you can help find some information and assist the appreciation class teacher in teaching. Your English level is so high, there's no reason why your knowledge of traditional Chinese culture shouldn't be up to par, right?"

"Hehe, I did pretty well too. Thanks, Teacher Zhang," Wang Jie said.

"The course schedule is one class in the morning and one in the afternoon, which takes up your entire day. The person who introduced you to this course specifically emphasized that all your classes should be scheduled in the morning. Now that the course content has been adjusted, if we were to adjust the art appreciation class time as well, it would likely require other teachers to make adjustments as well. This is probably..."

“Teacher Zhang, thank you so much for your arrangement. I have no problem with the time; I can manage it. It was a friend who helped me in the first place. I sometimes do tutoring in the afternoons, but the times are all set in advance and it's inconvenient to change them. My friend was just being considerate. Now that the tutoring sessions are mostly finished, this matter can be resolved.”

"Alright, it's settled then." Teacher Zhang patted Wang Jie on the shoulder and said admiringly, "Young people these days are really good, starting to be self-reliant so early."

"Thank you, Teacher Zhang."

Wang Jie thought this arrangement was quite good.

In the morning, Zhou Yanruo mentioned that she would have extra practice classes in the evenings for the next two weeks. If he also had classes in the afternoon, he could stay at school with Zhou Yanruo and then go back to Yangxi Road together in the evening. He was just wondering what excuse he could use to stay at school in the afternoon and wait for Zhou Yanruo to get out of school, as it would seem strange. This solved the problem.

After leaving the school, he rushed to the city library. He had promised the professor to help him find some information, and he had been doing so for a week. Today he finally had time and needed to finish it and hand it in to the professor as soon as possible.

If all goes well, I can go home at noon.

On the way, his pager, which was clipped to his waist, rang. It was a message from Jian Zheng: "Don't forget the TCM appointment you made for Grandpa at 1 p.m. If you can't come back, tell me and I'll go with Grandpa."

Wang Jie rode his bicycle from the suburbs to the city center, but didn't see any public telephones along the way. Just as he was thinking of replying to Jian Zheng's message after arriving at the city library, his pager went off again. It was another message from Jian Zheng: "My mom found someone, so I'll go with Grandpa instead."