February 10, 1903 was a rare good weather, the clouds were light and the wind was light, and the warm winter sun shone warmly on the campus of Chinese and Western women. The two lawns were filled with girls of all ages, all dressed in ordinary fashion, with jackets and skirts, embroidered shoes on their feet, and a thick and long braid tied on their heads, which was no different from ordinary Chinese girls of this era.

As for the dark green silk cotton cheongsam school uniform known as "smoked green beans" that will be talked about in later generations, it is actually a huge movement to reclaim the right to education and de-religionization in China since 1924, and the government requires church schools to file a case with the government, and one of the conditions for filing a case is a unified school uniform. It can be said that this cheongsam actually has nothing to do with the so-called mood.

The girls bask in the sun and smell their bodies.

Although the female mature advertises itself as an American-style aristocratic school, the diet is very Chinese, a table for eight people, a large plate of boiled vegetables for a copper dollar, a tofu sprouts for a copper dollar, and a piece of "Oriental fish" for two copper dollars. Oriental fish, also known as salmon at this time, is a kind of red dried seafood that was shipped from Japan, so it is called Oriental fish. The fish later became known as salmon, and it is a must-have ingredient in almost every sushi restaurant. However, in this era, unless they happen to live near the production area, other people are not lucky enough to eat sashimi, so they can only eat it as dried fish, because of its cheap and salty taste, it is quite popular with Shanghai families who are in urgent need of protein.

In order to cope with the school meals, almost every girl brings some food from home. However, during the two-week boarding life, it is difficult to find ingredients that can last so long without spoiling even in winter, so homemade bean paste that can be stored for a long time is almost the only option.

The taste varies from country to family, and it has become a tradition to give a spoonful to each person at the table on the first day.

Yesterday was the opening ceremony, and a sumptuous dinner was held, but today is the official first meal. Every girl has eaten a belly full of various colors of soybean sauce, like a strip of Oriental fish soaked in the sauce jar and steamed and dried for nine days, without dispersing the taste, I am afraid that I will not be able to eat it.

As the class bell rang, the female students on the lawn grabbed their books and handouts and hurried towards the teaching building at the west end of the lawn. Among them, there is a group of girls who walk outside the leisurely pace, which is in stark contrast to the surrounding crowd. They are all made up of senior students, although they are not from the same grade, but at least they are all old fritters who have been in school for more than six years.

As a school composed of girls who like to form gangs, Chinese and Western girls are naturally not exempt from vulgarity, and there are always a few enthusiastic people who like to "pull friends". The so-called "pulling friends" is to try to pull several classmates from different shifts together, which is similar to the meaning of pulling people into the circle of friends in later generations. In this year, it is nothing more than a walk together - the jargon is called "running away", and then giving small gifts to each other at Christmas and birthday.

The girls were talking about a chemistry class that had just been in session. Chemistry is a tenth-grade course, and the original setting of Chinese and Western female maturity is an eight-year school, and there is no such thing as chemistry at all. Chemistry was not added until last year, when the school changed to a 10-year system.

"Last year, Senior Sister Qiu almost didn't graduate because of chemistry class."

"Haha, what if that's funny, there is not a single graduate, isn't it shaved head? Mieslian is going to jump to his feet. ”

Misilian is Lian Jisheng. Foreign missionaries to China at this time generally gave themselves a Chinese name, and Lian Jisheng was Richardson's Chinese name, not a transliteration of her surname. In addition, most of the teachers at this time in the school were old girls who had dedicated their lives to God, so the students generally referred to the teacher as "Miss so-and-so".

"So, fortunately, there was only one graduate of Senior Sister Qiu last year, otherwise wouldn't someone be unable to complete their studies? It's a shame. ”

"Oh, there are seven of us this year, and it's going to be a hard time right now. I really hope that the new teacher's score can be looser, and don't attack us when he doesn't understand. Hey, I'm such a temper, the teacher is fierce, and I can't learn this course well. ”

"It was last year's chemistry teacher who had a problem, and looking at how she looked, she lived like an old witch in the Middle Ages, and it was strange that she could teach well."

"What does it have to do with good teaching and appearance?"

"Look at her hands like black chickens, stretching out and thinking that she was going to arrest you to refine medicine, she was scared to death, how can you learn? The nose is hooked again, and if you wear a top hat, you may be able to fly on a broomstick. ”

"Zhu Jinfeng, just count your mouth is the most yin, people just look a little thinner, how can you say so. Senior Sister Qiu said that she still had a good temper, and answered her patiently when she asked her, but she was a little stricter. ”

"I heard that this year's new arrival is a Mister? Haha, the sisters are still blessed, I don't know who we will replace when we go to class next year. ”

When I got to the steps of the school building, the topic finally changed to the new teacher.

"And," the girl named Zhu Jinfeng, who spoke the most, scoffed, "Even if it's a man, it's not an old man." Compared to the old man, it is still the old woman who is a little easier to deal with. At least when you are scolded, you can still be coquettish, coquettish with the old man, oops, goosebumps rise when I think of this. ”

This girl looked the oldest of the students, and the reason why she looked the largest was because she had the largest breasts, and even with the loose style of dressing in this era, even if she was covered with a thick winter jacket, it still could not hide the curve of her chest, and the other girls could not even see the slightest undulation compared to her.

"Frivolous!" There was a scolding from behind him.

Everyone looked back and saw that it was Mr. Xu, who taught Mandarin. It's just that although the old gentleman scolded, his eyes didn't look at Zhu Jinfeng, as if he was afraid of the pair of tight bulges on her chest, but stepped up his steps and walked forward.

At this time, another female student took a few steps ahead of him, pushed open the rather heavy door in front of him, and whispered, "Please go, Mr. Xu." ”

Mr. Xu also didn't look at the female student, but nodded gratefully in her direction: "Thank you, Daisy." After saying that, he shook his head, sighed abruptly, and then leaned over and flashed through the crack in the door and went upstairs.

Almost at the same time, the girls in the corridor, seeing that he had always put on an indecent appearance to avoid running away like a snake and scorpion, finally broke out into a burst of uncontrollable laughter,

"Using both Chinese and Western to rejuvenate the country with learning" is another ideal goal of Lin Lezhi when running a school. The reason why he attaches so much importance to Chinese culture is related to his life experience. At the beginning of his trip to China, Lin Lezhi coincided with the outbreak of the American Civil War, which interrupted his communication with his hometown and church for several years, and his financial support was terminated. Through the introduction of missionary friends in Shanghai, he became acquainted with some Chinese gentry, one of whom was Ying Baoshi, the alternate prefect of the National Defense Bureau, who was recommended by Ying Baoshi to the newly established Shanghai Tongwen Museum, that is, the Cantonese Dialect Museum, to teach Western studies. This was the beginning of his career in education, and the formation of his educational ideals in the future was actually influenced by this teaching experience in the new school of the Qing government, from which the word "Chinese and Western" also originated.

It's a pity that it backfired, and the students who entered the foreign school naturally wanted to learn Western studies, and at the same time, it was too late for the really capable Chinese to take the imperial examination and become officials, so how could they run to the schools run by foreigners to teach the national language. Only a shabby old man like Mr. Xu could put down the values of the scholar class, bend his waist for five buckets of rice, and come here to teach. And the girls naturally treat such a character as if he were fake, reading English novels in class and doing woolen work in the belly of the desk. But this Mr. Xu, for the salary of twelve dollars - equivalent to twenty-four oceans, stayed in shame and humiliation, and became the object of ridicule of one class after another of ignorant girls.

"You don't like this, Mr. Xu is so knowledgeable, and he is so old, don't make fun of him like this." It was another girl who spoke, her face was round and square, full and fair, and a pair of beautiful eyes with a look forward to life were black and white. She seemed to have absolute authority among the girls in this class, and her words made the other girls completely quiet. Everyone silently walked into the building, parted at the staircase, and the group of people in the lower grades continued to walk upstairs. The remaining seven people, all in the tenth grade, made their way to the chemistry classroom on the ground floor.