The dawn depends on the sunshine, and the heart shines on enlightenment.

- Uyghur proverb

In August 1976, Niu Mulan and Han Qing, a young man from the Tianjin Hui branch, came to Tianjin, which had just experienced the Tangshan earthquake, and held a simple wedding.

After 10 years of catastrophe, China has entered a fiery era of respecting knowledge and talents, and is thriving. The deeds of scientists are advertised on the radio, in newspapers and magazines on a daily basis. The college entrance examination, which had been suspended for 11 years, was resumed. Many unjust, false and wrongly decided cases have also been rehabilitated. The people of the whole country are in high spirits and high spirits, and they are working hard to realize the four modernizations within this century.

Niu Mulin bid farewell to his 5-year primary school years and was admitted to the junior high school of Camp 3 with the first place in the camp. At that time, the school implemented the practice of dividing fast and slow classes according to the ranking of test scores. Niu Mulin naturally became a student in the fast class.

Due to her outstanding teaching performance, Su Manli was transferred from the 15th Company Primary School to the 3rd Battalion Middle School and served as the head teacher and mathematics teacher of the fast class. Her husband, Xu Zhengxin, also served as a physics teacher. The husband and wife treated the 40 students in the class as their own children, and they were strict and nurturing them, and they were veritable gardeners and engineers who nurtured the souls of nurturing students.

The first class in middle school is math class.

Su Manli patiently explained the concept of 0. She said in a subdued tone: "0 is neither a positive nor a negative number, nor does it mean nothing, but an intermediate number." ”

After class, Niu Mulin, who has always insisted on black-and-white, non-good or bad thinking, found Mr. Su and said eloquently: "Mr. Su, I don't agree with your explanation of the concept of 0. First, negative numbers are preceded by negative signs, and since there is no negative sign in front of 0, they are positive numbers; Second, 0 is originally zero eggs, which of course means nothing. ”

Su Manli smiled and told him about the interesting 0: "In terms of water temperature, it is neither the liquid state of water nor the solid state of ice, but it indicates the mixture of ice and water; In height, it is neither above nor below sea level, but at sea level......"

Niu Mulin listened to Su Manli's explanation, tilted his head and thought for a while and said, "Teacher Su, you are right. The concept of 0 has a philosophical meaning. ”

Su Manli smiled and asked, "Oh, you know a lot." What philosophy books have you read? ”

Su Manli used the time of the class meeting to read Xu Chi's reportage "Goldbach Conjecture" to the students, telling the story of famous mathematicians Hua Luogeng, Yang Le, Zhang Guanghou, and young college students Ning Bo and Xie Yanbo. Her eloquent narration evoked the students' pride in building their motherland and dedicating themselves to science.

Due to the solid foundation and strong receptivity of the students in the fast class, the speed of teaching is so fast that the homework questions in the textbook can no longer meet their needs.

Su Manli picked up her pen and wrote a letter to her relatives in Shanghai, asking them to send all the math reference books that they had hidden in the attic of their home to Xinjiang, so as to increase the amount of practice questions for the students and increase the difficulty of homework.

Every time the school conducts a unified examination, the average score of the first (1) class of the school is the highest in the school. Among them, Niu Mulin's score was the highest in the class.

Niu Mulin's desire for knowledge is very strong, and he is full of curiosity about the outside world. He especially likes to read the newspaper "Reference News" sponsored by Xinhua News Agency.

The "Reference News" is full of news from countries around the world that you can't see in ordinary newspapers. At that time, only party members were eligible to subscribe to the Reference News. In order to read the "Reference News", Niu Mulin went to Zhou Qiang's house, where his father was a company commander, every weekend, and hungrily got amazing news from the "Reference News".

Sometimes, Zhou Qiang's father asked strangely: "You are a little child, what are you watching "Reference News"?" ”

Niu Mulin smiled shyly and didn't say anything.

Once, Niu Mulin bought a copy of the World Atlas. As long as the countries and cities mentioned in the newspaper news, he would look for them in the atlas. Gradually, he fell in love with the encyclopedia of geography. Every night before going to bed, he always had to look through the World Atlas for a while before falling asleep satisfied.

He began to pay attention to Ma Xuanhua, a geography teacher in the second grade of junior high school.

At first glance, Ma Xuanhua is an ethnic minority: first, because he has the same surname as many ethnic minorities; second, because his face was elongated and slender, like that of the Arabs and Persians; The third is that he has a thick beard on his cheeks; Fourth, he wears a blue hat all the year round, and never shows the top of his head like the Hui.

One day, Niu Mulin heard that the geography class for the second-grade midterm exam was over. He wanted to test his knowledge of geography, so he went directly to Mr. Ma, who was not familiar with him, and asked him for a geography exam paper.

Ma Xuanhua listened indifferently to Niu Mulin's appeal, and disappetically took out a blank test paper and threw it in front of him.

Niu Mulin took the test paper with a sigh of relief and ran back to the classroom. When he came home from school, he completed the exam paper independently according to the prescribed length of time, just like taking a regular exam.

The next day, he handed over the completed test paper to Mr. Ma with great ambition and asked him to review it when he had time.

Ma Xuanhua glanced at the test paper, and asked with a cold expression: "When answering the question, have you read the geography textbook?" ”

Niu Mulin shook his head proudly.

Within two days, a second-year junior high school student mysteriously told Niu Mulin: "Teacher Ma held your test paper in class and reprimanded 36 students in our class who scored below 90 points. ”

Niu Mulin asked, "Why?" ”

The classmate replied, "Because you scored 86 points in geography." You are a first-year junior high school student with higher grades than most students in your second year of junior high school. Of course, Mr. Ma was very angry! ”

Niu Mulin couldn't help but regret when he heard the news: Hey, it's all my fault for my chaotic performance and blind ability! caused so many students to be scolded by Teacher Ma. If I had known this, I wouldn't have asked for the test papers, or I would have done the test papers and not handed them to Mr. Ma.

Niu Mulin's Chinese teacher, Huang Muzhi, is an elegant and handsome Shanghai educated youth full of passion and talent. He has a slender figure of more than one meter and eight meters, thick black eyebrows, big eyes radiating a proud and sharp light, a short beard on his lips, a magnetic voice, and a noble Shanghainese atmosphere all over his body.

When Huang Muzhi lectured, his head held high, his eyes looked ahead, especially when he recited lyrical prose, his voice was sometimes high-pitched and passionate, sometimes soft-voiced and eloquent, and he was intoxicated by the world of art alone, as if the 40 students under the podium did not exist at all.

Huang Muzhi has a strong personality. Niu Mulin can often be seen arguing passionately with other teachers. He is always righteous and strict, eloquent, sonorous and powerful, and never gives up if he does not refute others.

Once in a composition class, Niu Mulin used his imagination to write a short novel describing the struggle between American workers and capitalists.

This article caused controversy among the teachers of the Chinese department. Some teachers think that Niu Mulin can't write such a theme, and must have abbreviated a foreign novel.

Huang Muzhi insisted that Niu Mulin independently conceived and wrote. In the end, he said categorically: "I believe in Niu Mulin as much as I believe in myself!" ”

Later, Niu Mulin listened to others tell about this incident, and his heart was moved for several days. He muttered silently: "Most beloved Teacher Huang, I really don't know how to thank you for believing in me so firmly!"

One day, Niu Mulin and Huang Muzhi met head-on on the campus path.

He was thinking about how to express his gratitude to Mr. Huang, but unexpectedly found that Mr. Huang passed by him as if no one was around, leaving him alone standing in a daze.

Niu Mulin's English teacher is Zhao Jingying, a Shanghai educated youth who wears a pair of short-sighted glasses and has a strong intellectual atmosphere.

Zhao Jingying's wife and children all live in the mainland. He was alone in Xinjiang without any worries, immersed in the colorful world of foreign languages all day long. Because he was born into a capitalist family, he was treated unfairly. Therefore, he hated some ugly things in society, and when he refuted them, he was full of passion and righteous indignation, which often made his classmates laugh.

One day, Zhao Jingying asked her classmates in English in class: "What will you be in the future?" ”

Some students answered that they wanted to be soldiers, some students said they wanted to be farmers, and some answered that they wanted to be teachers.

Niu Mulin thought that the word worker was easier to pronounce, so he replied, "I want to be a worker in the future." ”

Zhao Jingying suddenly became emotional and knocked the blackboard with her fist a few times, and criticized loudly: "Your requirements are too low!" You should be a scientist and an artist! You replied to me that I was going to be a scientist in the future. ”

Niu Mulin looked at the unusually unusually Teacher Zhao in surprise, and had to re-answer the question according to his request. He didn't know at the time that Mr. Zhao's generation was a generation that had been delayed in their youth. He hoped that the ideals he had not been able to achieve were fulfilled in his own students.

With the adjustment of the state's policy on intellectual youth, some people can be mobilized because of the separation of husband and wife.

Soon, Zhao Jingying was transferred to the mainland to reunite with his wife and children. Su Manli and Xu Zhengxin will also be transferred to the mainland. However, none of them were able to return to their hometown of Shanghai, but went to other provinces.

Before leaving, Su Manli specially called Niu Mulin to her office and said to him with concern: "Science is based on experiments. Our teaching equipment here is backward, and many scientific experiments cannot be done. I suggest you study liberal arts in the future. ”

Niu Mulin silently remembered Mr. Su's advice.

On the day of seeing off Su Manli and his wife, the whole class lined up in two lines outside the school gate, reluctantly and a little confused to see them off.

Su Manli looked at her students affectionately, couldn't control her excitement, and shouted loudly while shedding tears: "Students, you must study hard!" ”

Everyone was touched by Mr. Su's words. Suddenly, a cry resounded over the campus.

In 1979, Niu Mulin, who was not yet 15 years old, became the first Communist Youth League member among the students of the 3rd Battalion Middle School because of his excellent character and learning.

The water flows to the lower places, and the people go to the higher places.

Soon, outstanding teachers such as Ma Xuanhua, Huang Muzhi, and Xu Jinmin were transferred to the 181st Regiment Senior High School.

The rest of the teachers either found a way to return to Shanghai directly, or they couldn't be transferred by marrying outsiders and starting a family. They are waiting for an opportunity, convinced that they will eventually return to their beautiful metropolis of Shanghai.

My favorite teachers have all been transferred. Niu Mulin felt sullen in his heart, and had a rejection of the new teacher, paranoid that their teaching level was not high, and he ignored the students, and there was no relationship between teachers and students at all.

When he was in elementary school, Niu Mulin liked to read books such as "The Story of Lei Feng" and "A Grass on Kunlun Mountain" that described heroes and model workers. Now, Niu Mulin has begun to selectively read world classics. China's "Dream of Red Mansions", "Journey to the West", "Water Margin", "Song of Youth" and foreign "Old Man Gao", "Captain Grant's Children", "Grimm's Fairy Tales", "Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales", etc., opened a window to another world for him, making him obsessed and yearning for it.

On the eve of the junior high school graduation entrance examination, the class teacher explained the relevant policies of the high school entrance examination to the students. When the head teacher said that "Hui students can take care of 10 points", the whole class looked at Niu Mulin, the only minority student in the class.

Niu Mulin was so shy that his face was red, and he lowered his head very embarrassedly. He swore in his heart: I don't want anything to take care of. I'm not mentally retarded! I'm going to get the No. 1 exam, so I can see what I'm really capable of!

In 1981, Niu Mulin was admitted to the 181st Regiment Senior High School with the first place in the whole regiment. According to the administrative hierarchy, the regiments of the Corps are equivalent to local counties. In other words, the 181st Regiment Middle School is equivalent to a county middle school.

The school is located in the Bali Bagaken District, where the headquarters of the 181st Regiment is located, more than 20 kilometers away from Niu Mulin's home. He and other classmates who were not at the regiment headquarters had to live on campus, and they were only able to ride their bicycles home after classes on Saturday afternoon.

Xu Jinmin is the homeroom teacher and math teacher of the top class in the first grade of high school, and he is a very strict person. He is upright, with a distinct personality, always standing straight, leaning up his thin cheeks, pursing his lips tightly, putting his hands behind his back, and the expression on his face is very serious.

The first class at Niu Mulin High School was an English class.

With the melodious bell ringing, stepping into the classroom is a tall, short-haired, blue-clad female teacher.

She strode onto the podium, quickly untied the scarf around her neck, swept around the students sitting quietly under the podium with her big eyes, held her black-rimmed glasses with her hand, and said loudly: "My name is Li Mei, Muzi Li, Mei of Emei Mountain." Let's start our English lessons! ”

Before the words fell, Li Mei had already picked up the chalk, turned around and began to write English words on the blackboard.

Before the students came to their senses, she suddenly stopped writing again, turned around and added, "My voice is louder, don't be afraid!" If there is any problem, just come to me. ”

Listening to Mr. Li's words, the students were relieved and breathed a long sigh of relief.

Li Mei is an upright person with a cheerful personality. Except for her slightly Shanghainese accented Mandarin and faintly Shanghainese atmosphere, it is difficult for people to associate her with the soft-spoken Shanghainese.

Chinese teacher Shen Jianqiang is also an intellectual youth in Shanghai. He has a burly figure, dark brown skin, a pair of black-and-red glasses, a particularly loud voice, and a passionate and charismatic tenor when he sings.

Shen Jianqiang's teaching style is very different from that of other Chinese teachers.

Every time he studied a new text, he just gave a brief introduction to the content of the text, and then began to read it aloud with the students. Every day.

He also often asks a student to stand up and read the text aloud by name. If the student does not read fluently, he will demonstrate it himself, leading the student to read it sentence by sentence.

At first, Niu Mulin suspected that Teacher Shen was fooling everyone and didn't teach seriously. Gradually, he discovered the magical effect of reading aloud: whether he was writing an essay or explaining words, beautiful sentences came to his mind, and the writing was like a divine help.

Another distinctive feature of Shen Jianqiang is that he does his best to give full play to the function of dictionaries and dictionaries.

Initially, Shen Jianqiang required students to bring the Xinhua Dictionary to class every day. Whenever he encountered difficult words, he never gave the students answers, but let them look up the dictionary by themselves.

Later, he asked his students to have a thick Modern Chinese Dictionary.

At that time, there was only one small Xinhua bookstore in the 181st regiment. There are only a few popular political books in the bookstore, no extracurricular tutorials, and no Modern Chinese Dictionary.

Niu Mulin thought of his uncle Gong Lianchao's youngest daughter in Sichuan and his cousin who went to college. He wrote her a letter and asked her to help him send him a copy of the Modern Chinese Dictionary. The dictionary later followed him out of Xinjiang and to Lanzhou, where he continued to use it until he graduated from university.

One day, the Chinese teacher of Class 3 suddenly came to the classroom of the top class and wanted to give Niu Mulin and them a Chinese class, saying that Mr. Shen had gone back to Shanghai for treatment.

What disease did Mr. Shen have? Why did you go in such a hurry? No one knows.