Chapter 299: Joy and Sorrow When Parting ④
“I’m here, and I wish you all success in getting into your dream schools, finding your dream partners, and landing your dream jobs. As a teacher, of course, I hope you all achieve great success. But you also need to understand the saying that every profession has its master. As long as you don’t commit murder or arson, or engage in criminal acts, no matter what profession you pursue, you will always be my students. You must strive towards your dreams and goals. Even if you don’t achieve them, don’t be discouraged. Life is only a few decades, not even a hundred years. I just hope everyone can live it happily and healthily. That’s enough.” Teacher Yang said with a smile, “I won’t say any more sentimental words. I don’t want to spoil your mood. Let’s all sit down and eat! Eat!”
He would never have said these words if they weren’t about to part ways.
Youthful arrogance, these four words seem to carry a negative connotation, but youth inherently has the right to be arrogant, to have its own dreams. They are self-assured, possessing a fearless drive. Although this kind of dream, this self-assurance, this drive will mostly be crushed by reality in the future, this is the sharpness of youth, just like him back then, with a drive to save the world, wanting to change the destiny of the students in the Slow Class, and volunteering to be their homeroom teacher for so many years. Now… he can pick up his dream again as he approaches forty. Thinking about it, it feels incredible, yet… it feels truly happy and moving.
Although he had also felt sad due to excessive pride, suffered from excessive self-assurance, and felt lost because his dreams were crushed by reality… he now feels that none of it matters anymore. Everyone’s life is a play; a life without various experiences cannot be called a life. A life that hasn’t experienced the sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy is as plain as water and has nothing worth remembering. Therefore, everyone must go through certain things to truly grow. After experiencing these setbacks, without being lost or hesitant, they will slowly use these setbacks as stepping stones and gradually grow.
Dreams are essential, and setbacks are also essential. But his greatest hope is still that his students, who are working hard towards their dreams, can be happy and grow up healthy.
“I won’t say anything else. I don’t demand that you all be like Lei Feng, but I do demand that you don’t break the law or live on the fringes. Don’t think that the mafia is cool or that drug use is exciting. I’m telling you, that’s foolish! Just as I said earlier, as long as you don’t commit murder or arson, or engage in criminal acts, you will always be students I am proud of.” At this point, Teacher Yang’s tone suddenly became stern, as if he had returned to the classroom, still lecturing these students, admonishing them, “Did you all hear me?”
The classmates in the private room were stunned and nodded one after another.
“Louder, did you hear me?”
“We heard!”
“Louder!”
“We heard!” The roar of nearly fifty young boys and girls reached outside the private room, startling the waiters. With this roar, they seemed to have returned to the classroom. Ever since they started studying diligently, if any student in the class made a small movement, Teacher Yang would deliberately raise his voice to increase the classmates’ attention. Or, when the teacher asked them to answer a question, they would answer loudly.
Now, they shouted like this again, but besides their emotions surging, there was more sadness. Three years… they were all going to separate… Three years was not long, nor short… They had experienced all sorts of ups and downs, and people they used to resent now seemed likable. Finally, a girl couldn’t help but cover her face and cry. As if infected by this sadness, more people began to sob. Even the boys who could barely control themselves had red eyes.
Zhang Haiyang opened his mouth, wanting to say something. Usually, at class gatherings, Li Kai was responsible for all the event arrangements, while he was responsible for being funny and livening up the atmosphere. But now, he found himself unable to utter a single word. He wanted to cry, to cry without restraint like a girl, but he always remembered that he was a boy, and boys couldn’t cry like that.
