All over the sky, reed flowers

Author: Wang Yuewen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-11-01
Features: The Su family has long been scholarly, with a clean and upright household tradition. Legend has it that their ancestors even achieved the rank of a top scholar. By the time of Su Jige, though he didn’t match the grandeur of his predecessors, the Su family was still respected in the county of Baihe. More than thirty years ago, Su Jige was the top teacher in the county. He was a university graduate before the liberation, with a solid academic foundation, capable in all subjects except physical education. He wasn’t skilled in teaching PE not because of any other reason, but simply because he was short and slender, with a scholarly demeanor. At that time, the principle of appointing the best regardless of background was still in practice, and he naturally became the principal of the first high school. Scholars often said, "Jige, Jige, wanting to wear out one’s brain." The principal’s specialty was teaching geometry, which is how he earned the nickname Su Jige. Over time, many forgot his real name. In fact, he had a very elegant name—Yu Fu. Some said that in modern times, people no longer distinguish between given names and courtesy names, and Yu Fu was merely his given name. However, his courtesy name was destroyed during the campaign to eliminate the "Four Olds," and he himself no longer mentioned it, nor did others know about it. So, in this sense, Jige could only be considered his alias. The characters "Jige" indeed had a certain charm, and the principal was quite happy for others to call him by this name. However, only a few people really used the name "Su Jige" casually; most people respectfully called him "Principal Su." But during the Cultural Revolution, he suffered some hardships because of the name "Jige." The students listed ten crimes against him, one of which was that he named himself Su Jige. Teenage students only knew that an ancient figure once said, "Raise a glass to song, for life is short," and thus found the character "Jige" unhealthy. They didn’t realize it was merely a nickname given to him. There is a story about Su Jige that is widely circulated. The impressive teaching building, Yucai Building, at the first high school was designed by Su Jige. It was said that he made precise calculations for all the bricks needed for the entire building and then added three extra bricks to the total. After the teaching building was completed, there were exactly two and a half bricks left. After searching for a long time, they finally found the remaining half brick on the principal’s bookshelf. It turned out that the principal had kept it as a souvenir. The story is somewhat far-fetched, but people are happy to pass it on as if it were true. Rural teachers often tell this story to their students when teaching geometry for the first time, emphasizing how important learning geometry is! Su Jige’s reputation soared again in the early 1980s. The first high school was ranked among the top schools in the region every year for college admissions and was designated as a key high school by the provincial government. His own eldest daughter, Jingqiu, was admitted to Fudan University, his second son, Mingqiu, enrolled at Tsinghua University, and his youngest son, Baiqiu, was also a top student in his senior class. Thanks to the three children he had taught, no one dared to overlook his status in the education field. That year, Baiqiu graduated from junior high school and scored the highest in the county to enter a vocational school. Others were envious, but Baiqiu himself refused to go. The principal yielded to his son, saying, "If you don’t want to go, then don’t." Your sister is at Fudan, your brother is at Tsinghua—why not aim for Peking University? This was just a casual remark at home, but when it spread outside, it drew many comparisons from others. "Look at that family, their children are doing so well—their parents speak with such authority. Listen to Principal Su’s tone, as if he were the director of the Ministry of Education, arranging for his children to attend any university they wanted." Ordinary families in the county often talked about the Su siblings. They would say that their daughter Jingqiu was beautiful...