Chapter 100: It’s not in My Nature to Laugh
Chapter 100
Another week passed, and the students of Class i, who were in class, went to the pottery classroom to visit the handcrafted works they made in their first lesson.
The teacher in charge had a strong sense of ritual. Each child's work was placed on a separate display shelf behind the blackboard in the classroom.
Not only that, but each exhibit had a cartoon pattern that the teacher had carefully drawn to echo it.
Beneath the five or six little pottery cups of various shapes, there was a chalk drawing of a tea table.
On several separate square tables, several fine-spouted vases of fairly good workmanship were placed, with several stalks of flowers drawn in colored chalk peeping out from above the mouth of the vase.
In the corner, there were also several silly-looking white kittens reaching out with their paws, rolling the flattened pottery with contented faces.
Ji Ruochu stood under the blackboard, looking at this rather novel blackboard drawing, and couldn't help but nod repeatedly.
As expected of Kyoto Kindergarten, even the bulletin boards were unique.
"Hahahaha!! You guys come quick and see, there's another one here! Whose is this?!"
Just as Ji Ruochu was admiring the creativity and imagination of the teachers, laughter came from the side of the other students in Class i.
In no time at all, all the kids looked in the direction of the sound.
Ji Ruochu slowly turned her head, and then...fell silent.
"A toilet?! Someone actually made a toilet?!"
Jiang Zhi pointed to the lone toilet-shaped ceramic work placed in the corner, his face full of shock.
Perhaps the artist didn't know what to draw to match it, after all...nothing was quite suitable.
So the toilet was just placed in the least noticeable bottom right corner, in order to reduce its presence.
As long as you don't look closely, you would largely think it was just a casually placed decoration.
Unfortunately, this plan ultimately failed. The sharp-eyed little ones noticed it very quickly, and the classroom instantly livened up.
"Hahaha, there's actually a toilet!"
The little beans laughed louder than the next, and the teacher in the distance was like "......"
"So funny~"
"Who made it?!"
The little beans gathered around, laughing until their stomachs hurt, and only then did they remember this question.
Because none of the works were signed, no one knew whose work the toilet-shaped one carefully placed in the corner by the thoughtful teacher was.
The children first turned to look at the teacher with the complicated expression, as if wanting to get the answer from her mouth.
She...silently avoided the inquiring eyes of the little ones.
On the other side.
"Hahaha, Ruochu sister, did you see it? There's a toilet there!"
Jiang Zhi ran to Ji Ruochu and said while laughing, almost tearing up.
Fang Zhiyuan, who was standing behind him, also laughed with eyes bent.
"Yeah, I saw it." Ji Ruochu's expression was very calm, but there was no smile at all.
Seeing this, Jiang Zhi, who had come to share this news with his sister first, tilted his head in confusion, "Sister Ruochu, why aren't you laughing? Isn't it funny?"
Ji Ruochu: ......Guess why I'm not laughing?
"I'm not given to laughter by nature."
Jiang Zhi: ??
With his little head full of big doubts.
Sister Ruochu doesn't like to laugh?
The little guy tried hard to recall their past interactions. It seemed like he really hadn't seen his sister laugh much.
So he nodded, turned around to find other classmates to continue "hahaha"-ing.
Only Fang Zhiyuan, who had been watching all along.
After looking at the eldest sister's serious expression, and a certain chubby one who wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, he also silently laughed no more.
In the end, the students of Class i still failed to find out from the teacher whose work the toilet was.
Although everyone was a little disappointed, soon they couldn't dwell on it anymore, because every child was told after happily going home:
Starting next week, you'll be eating and sleeping at school, and can only go home on weekends.
In fact, most of the children accepted this quite well. After all, most of them had been living with nannies at home before this.
Now it was just a change of location, and there were many new friends they had made at school, and lots of fun things to do.
However, while some families rejoiced, others grieved. Beanies, including the chubby one, threw tantrums when they heard the news.
Of course, it was useless. A week later, they were still taken to kindergarten with their bags.
Except——
"Uncle Qin, I'm going to be a boarding student! Remember to make my dad go to more rehearsals recently!"
On the other end of the phone, Brother Qin was like......Ji Mochen, you've got some nerve, letting a five year old worry for you.
Then ......
"Grandma, I'm going to be a boarding student! Have you been free recently to take Mom to concerts? I'm afraid she'll miss me too much."
On the other end of the phone, the Ling family elders were......feeling complicated.
And so, that day, after tearfully sending their daughter to the school gate, the couple were taken away by their respective guardians.
Seeing this, Ji Ruochu finally breathed a deep sigh of relief after getting the two adults in the family settled. She then smiled brightly, "Teacher, shall we go?"
The teacher, who had witnessed the whole thing, was thinking......What an odd family.
To be honest, Ji Ruochu was indifferent about boarding at first, thinking it was just kindergarten life with increased time spent in school.
Until she saw "times tables" in the new textbooks issued by the kindergarten.
At that moment, Ji Ruochu's little eyes were filled with great confusion.
Wait......which family's kindergarten starts teaching times tables right away? How presumptuous!
Although she already knew them, that didn't stop her from scolding this arrangement.
Please, they were Class i! A bunch of poor students——
"One times one is one, one times two is two..."
Watching a bunch of little beans who could recite it fluently after just a few minutes, Ji Ruochu, who touted herself as the top poor student in Class i......fell into contemplation.
"Do all the kids remember?"
"Remember——"
Ji Ruochu: ((o?o??‖))?
Did they remember it just like that?
Was she sleeping on the job today?
"Ruochu, was the teacher going too fast for you and you didn't follow?"
Perhaps Ji Ruochu's stunned expression was too conspicuous. The teacher who was teaching kindly asked.
Too fast?
Ji Ruochu silently raised her eyes to look at the teacher who had already started teaching how to arrange vertical calculations above, then looked at the other nine curious little beans.
At that moment, she saw in their eyes "You can't even keep up with this?".
How infuriating!
So the proud and stubborn Ji Ruochu......silently shook her head and said with difficulty: "No, I kept up."
Only then did the teacher breathe a sigh of relief and continued.
On the first day of becoming a boarding student, Ji Ruochu felt unfamiliar with the term "poor student".