After Dreaming That the Top Student in My Grade Was My Wife - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Tree Planting Tradition

The days after school started felt particularly leisurely.

Jiang Hanqi had originally said she would pick up Tao Shuran downstairs at her house every morning at 6:30 AM; they would eat breakfast together at the school cafeteria and then head to the classroom.

However, ever since Tao Shuran, who had just woken up happened to look down from upstairs and saw Jiang Hanqi already holding a book, sitting by the streetlamp of the flower bed downstairs, Tao Shuran unilaterally changed their departure time to 6:00 AM.

Although the cafeteria wouldn’t open until after 7:00 AM, the outer hall was always open and had a hot water dispenser, making it convenient for students to come and prepare their own instant noodles or such.

Initially, Tao Shuran thought about whether the two of them should take turns bringing breakfast.

But on the first day of school, when she opened the bento box Jiang Hanqi placed before her and saw the exquisite breakfast that made her mouth water just from its appearance, she silently vetoed the suggestion in her heart: Sorry, Mom and Dad, after I practice for a few more years, I’ll go back to eating what you make.

Thanks to Jiang Hanqi’s tutoring during the winter break, the difficulty of the coursework for the second semester of her freshman year plummeted. Tao Shuran achieved very good results in several summary exams. When her mother saw the papers, she stopped caring about her leaving early and returning late. Furthermore, since she was extremely satisfied with the New Year gifts Jiang Hanqi had sent, she would occasionally remind Tao Shuran to invite Jiang Hanqi over for a meal.

Tao Shuran responded perfunctorily, though the thought had crossed her mind.

Although they went to school together, ate lunch together, spent time in the library after school, and then went home together, Tao Shuran had never taken the initiative to look for Jiang Hanqi in class. Every lunch break or after school, they didn’t need extra greetings; they simply walked out of the classroom at the same time naturally and went downstairs together as if they were just going the same way.

Qi Wenwen said she was trying to hide the obvious; whenever class was nearly over, she liked to wink and nudge at Tao Shuran.

“Sigh, this is how idols must feel when they’re dating and afraid of being discovered by fans, right?” Qi Wenwen sighed over the phone like this, and the next second, Tao Shuran cut the call.

Tao Shuran didn’t know what she was thinking herself.

Jiang Hanqi would occasionally come to her seat to talk to her, but it was always about schoolwork, not the idle chatter of friends.

Sometimes Tao Shuran wanted to go and ask Jiang Hanqi questions, but then she’d think that school was about to let out and it would be better to ask when they were alone, so she’d give up on the idea.

It wasn’t a guilty conscience; it was just that Jiang Hanqi was her little secret. This feeling brought a hint of sweetness to her heart.

Thinking this, Tao Shuran touched the sewn bookmark in her school uniform’s inner pocket. Though it couldn’t be seen or felt, she knew it featured a little kitten made of lily-of-the-valley petals and the fine stitches they had both sewn with care. The corners of her mouth couldn’t help but curl up.

During the winter break, the school had begun renovation work on the small garden. They dug up the parking lot behind the lab building to connect it with the small garden, intending to build a larger one.

Due to the extremely slow construction progress and considerations regarding dust pollution, Jiang Hanqi’s lunch break spot was gone. They had to change their base and chose the café bar on the top floor of the school cafeteria.

The café bar sold terrible Western food, but fortunately, the milk tea and juice were decent. Tao Shuran was used to coming here after lunch to order a regular milk tea and leaning side-by-side with Jiang Hanqi on the sofa to chat softly or take a nap.

On a noon in early March, the weather was quite good; wandering around the campus in just a school uniform wasn’t particularly cold.

Right now, they were sitting in the café bar. Jiang Hanqi sat on the outermost side of the booth, leaning one hand on the sofa’s armrest, looking down at a foreign language book. It wasn’t to learn the language—to her, language was mostly just a tool for communication—she was simply reluctant to accept the secondary products of translators and maintained the habit of reading original editions.

Tao Shuran held the hot milk tea in both hands, taking small sips, her head leaning on the sofa about half a head’s distance from Jiang Hanqi. Her eyelids drooped; the heating in the café bar was set too high, and when sleepiness arrived, she truly couldn’t resist it.

Seeing Tao Shuran put down her milk tea and tuck her hands in, looking like she was about to take a nap, Jiang Hanqi inevitably began to lose focus again.

Although she and Tao Shuran had been getting along very harmoniously lately, they hadn’t engaged in any more intimate actions since that time in the small garden at the end of last semester. If she told Tao Shuran now that she could sleep on her shoulder, would it seem too intentional…

“What do you mean by that?” The woman on the phone in the booth behind them suddenly raised her voice, interrupting Jiang Hanqi’s train of thought. Tao Shuran was also startled awake from her nap, turning her head to take a look.

It was the teacher in charge of the School Youth League Committee. Tao Shuran was somewhat familiar with her; although she hadn’t joined any campus organizations, the Youth League Committee often liked to borrow manpower from the “double excellent” classes. There were few seniors and the sophomores were busy, so the freshman kids were always the best choice. Of course, there was no shortage of management; they were mostly called in to do manual labor.

In about ten days, it would be the Arbor Day activity. To highlight its quality education model, No. 5 Middle School had a tradition of transporting all freshmen to the suburbs to plant trees every year. The Youth League Committee had already coordinated with their class, and the homeroom teacher had selected several students for logistics.

Would someone like Jiang Hanqi, digging holes and planting trees, getting covered in mud… really not look out of place?

As Tao Shuran’s thoughts wandered, Jiang Hanqi seemed to receive a psychic signal, looking up to meet her eyes before lowering her head to continue reading her book.

The teacher behind them also realized her voice was a bit too loud. She adjusted her breathing and lowered her voice to continue: “Manager Li, No. 5 Middle School has collaborated with you for so many years; surely there is some sentiment there. Arbor Day is coming up, and our saplings are already sitting in your warehouse. For you to suddenly tell us now that they aren’t for loan is truly excessive.”

“Yes, I know you have difficulties—the real estate situation in the east of the city has been bleak since the New Year—but shouldn’t you have informed us when you were bidding? No. 5’s tree-planting tradition is reported every year; with you pulling this move this year, we simply have no time left to find another venue.”

Her speaking speed grew faster and faster. She held her phone in one hand while casually packing her things with the other, grabbing her bag and leaving the café bar, presumably heading back to her office to continue arguing.

Tao Shuran thoughtfully took a sip of the milk tea on the table. Jiang Hanqi noticed her expression and let out a light laugh: “What is it? Are you thinking of a solution?”

“No.” Tao Shuran hesitated. She looked around; while the café bar wasn’t crowded, the occupancy rate was quite high. So she simply shook her head and ultimately didn’t speak.

Jiang Hanqi saw her reservations and snapped her book shut. She stood up and looked down at Tao Shuran: “The first period this afternoon is self-study. Let’s go to the library and apply for a seminar room.”

With the “beep” of a successful campus card authentication, the two signed in and sat in a two-person soundproof glass room. Tao Shuran placed her half-finished milk tea on the table, sitting somewhat awkwardly to Jiang Hanqi’s right, unable to help but feel that Jiang Hanqi was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Seminar rooms were mostly borrowed by clubs or organizations for meetings or small activities; Tao Shuran had never been in one before.

Now they sat upright at the creamy-white table. Before coming in, Jiang Hanqi had picked up a stack of white paper and two pens from the first floor, making things look quite formal.

We just wanted a place to share some insignificant whispers…

“Jiang Hanqi, why are you suddenly considering this kind of school work?” Tao Shuran didn’t think Jiang Hanqi was the type to grab scrap paper for something unimportant.

Jiang Hanqi rubbed the pen cap, seemingly weighing her words: “Ranran, my thoughts might be a bit presumptuous, but I think since we are at No. 5, we should still try to strive for a recommendation spot as much as possible, right?”

The advancement model is something parents care about deeply when choosing schools for the high school entrance exam.

On the path of going abroad, major affiliated high schools often maintain good partnerships with their main campus and overseas schools, possessing the most experience in applications. Overseas cooperative educational projects and domestic foreign language recommendation quotas are mainly concentrated in the Foreign Language Affiliated High School of Shanghai.

Meanwhile, No. 5 Middle School, as an old-brand institution with a long history, receives many recommendation quotas every year. Even if a recommendation fails, they can hold introductory meetings with various famous universities’ admissions offices before June to allocate independent admission quotas. Thus, it has become a popular choice for Shanghai parents with intentions for domestic higher education.

Tao Shuran’s face suddenly turned a bit pale. She understood what Jiang Hanqi wanted to say.

Although Jiang Hanqi subtly used the word “we,” Tao Shuran knew that there was no way Jiang Hanqi would be anxious about such things; she was talking about her.

Tao’s father was a local who completed his undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and chose to stay and teach there after graduation. Tao’s mother did her undergraduate at Shanghai Normal University and specialized in educational theory research for her master’s, entering the District Education Bureau with a master’s degree from Shanghai University. Therefore, their requirements for Tao Shuran had always been very clear: either Shanghai University or Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Their thinking was simple: when their generation had a hard life and resources weren’t as abundant, they could still get into those two schools. Now that universities have expanded enrollment and they have poured so much effort into Tao Shuran, there was no reason she couldn’t get in.

Although the allocation of recommendation quotas happens in the senior year—still a long way off—Tao Shuran thought about her unsatisfactory grades from last semester, and her face turned even paler.

Jiang Hanqi wanted to tell her that relying solely on grades to compete for a recommendation spot was a bit risky. She should try to participate in campus practical activities; when the time came, they would serve as extra points—better than nothing.

Tao Shuran nodded. The beast of advancement pressure, it turned out, was just crouching in the corner waiting for an opportunity, ready to jump out at any time and press down until she could barely breathe.

“Mm, let’s talk about your views first.” Jiang Hanqi sighed inwardly. Seeing Tao Shuran looking at her blankly and shaking her head, she guided her patiently, “You can use the seven-step analysis or the pyramid principle to build a framework to approach the problem.”

For high school students, the most familiar analysis method was the 5W1H used in writing. Tao Shuran went through it in her mind briefly before speaking: “I actually don’t want to consider continuing the plan. Normally, submitting a plan for a brand-new activity must be accompanied by a Plan B. However, the Arbor Day tree-planting activity is a tradition of No. 5 for decades. In the error-free continuation across generations, the need for a contingency plan has ceased to exist.”

“This year’s situation stems from a breach of contract by the partner. The school has plenty of resources and a wide vision; there will certainly be no problem solving it. The way out is simple: find another partner to provide land. Perhaps the distance will be further, but since a whole Friday is allocated for this activity, there will surely be plenty of time.”

“But…” Tao Shuran looked up quickly at Jiang Hanqi, who was slightly bowing her head and listening intently, then paused before continuing, “Actually, what I wanted to say in the café bar just now was also this it might be unreasonable—but I feel that No. 5’s tradition has long since reached the time for innovation.”

Hearing this, Jiang Hanqi looked up, the corners of her mouth curling slightly, giving Tao Shuran a look of approval and encouraging her to continue.

“First is the land. In these decades, the industrial economy of Shanghai has risen, and suburban land prices have long been different from the past, especially after political and business cooperation; every piece of land is actually marked with a value. A school activity isn’t just about us creating a buzz and wasting financial, material, and human resources to fulfill a target. As a demonstration project that the District Education Bureau focuses on, every year there is information retained on-site, follow-up news reports, and even data tracking several years later.

This means that once a partnership is formed with the school, although the visibility of the land is improved to a certain extent, this advertisement is not free—it may even be particularly expensive—because time is money, and being unable to realize value for several years is a loss.”

“Second is the educational philosophy. With economic development, the concept of specialization has been repeatedly emphasized. The expectations of society and parents for students have become particularly singular under exam-oriented education. Among the five educations, the other four inevitably become mere foils.

In the past, when new thoughts were just rising, collisions and stumbles in a diversified world especially the asymmetry between economy and education happened to provide space for labor technique education. That was the timing when our school’s tree-planting activity emerged. But continuing to use it today without change is administrative laziness on the part of the decision-makers.”

“Finally, the quantity. With the expansion of enrollment, our school recruited 6 classes for the freshman year this year, with up to 35 students per class nearly two hundred people. Taking a bus to plant two hundred trees is not only difficult to manage but also doesn’t reflect well in terms of results. Because there is a lack of internalisation during the activity process, they can only choose to issue proposals before the activity and summaries after, making it difficult for students to feel where the meaning of Arbor Day lies. It easily makes the activity become a mere formality.”

Tao Shuran finished the first part in one breath, feeling her mouth go a bit dry. She lowered her head and took a large gulp of milk tea, then, looking at Jiang Hanqi’s smiling eyes, she organized the second part in her mind.

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