A Girl Who Wants to Be a Beneficial Person to Society

Chapter 203

The elective course time was the same as the regular classes, two periods with a 10-minute break in between.

During the break, Xiao Qi went to the bathroom and saw the next classroom having a lively opera appreciation class, with a group of students chatting with the smiling teacher.

When she returned to her Japanese class, it was even quieter. Perhaps the students had gone out for a walk or to the bathroom. At first glance, there was only a shriveled old man sitting in front of the lectern, giving an extremely lonely feeling.

Yes, there is something called loneliness.

Xiao Qi had seen this feeling in the village's elderly receiving government aid. When Xiao Qi was in elementary school, the school organized students to visit these elderly to bring them warmth. Xiao Qi went with a group of students to one elderly man's home. It was empty and dark. The old man who came out was hunched over and never smiled the whole time, looking very mean.

It was said his wife had passed away early, and he had two daughters. One married far away and basically never came back. The other one's whereabouts were unknown, so only the old man was left. The village had applied for government aid for him, giving 150 yuan per month.

Xiao Qi went out of curiosity, thinking she could skip class and have fun with the other students and teachers.

When they arrived and she saw the old man, when they were leaving, she saw the old man sitting at the door, expressionless, looking into the distance.

That scene left a deep impression on young Xiao Qi. That winter, she heard that the old man had died, alone in his home, and was only discovered after several days.

When she had nightmares as a child, she would often dream of a dark old house with an expressionless old man sitting in front, despite the warm sunshine, the old man had no warmth at all, just sitting there blankly.

That feeling was truly lonely.

This was also one of the reasons why people often mocked her father, Su Youfu. In the village, not having a son meant you would have no one to take care of you in old age, like cutting off descendants.

Xiao Qi hadn't had that dream or thought about that elderly man on government aid for a long time. But at this moment, she strangely saw that feeling in this foreign teacher.

She inexplicably felt very distressed.

What would a person experience from childhood to adolescence to adulthood to middle age and then old age?

The bell rang signaling class was over. Xiao Qi didn't think more and opened her textbook to continue listening to the lesson.

Yamamoto also stood up on time to start class. By now there were even fewer people in the classroom, making it emptier, because it was so quiet that the teacher's voice echoed. Because it was quiet, occasionally laughter could be heard from the next classroom, and the resonant singing of opera...

Yamamoto did not take attendance. He only looked at test scores.

He continued teaching.

He had never thought he would become a teacher. In Japan, working in a company was a very good profession.

He used to be just a company employee. The company made generators and had nothing to do with teaching.

He made it through university relying on the sponsorship of an uncle through marriage, so he cherished hard-won educational opportunities.

But now the classroom was empty, and of the few students present, very few were earnestly studying. Most had some recreational reading on their desks, and few were properly listening to the lesson.

Yamamoto didn't know whether it was the world that had changed, or he had fallen behind.

He continued teaching.

The content he taught was probably fairly dry.

Unconsciously, he would bring out some of his past experiences. The Japanese he taught was probably largely incomprehensible to the students.

Sometimes he felt he was talking to himself, like a madman.

Xiao Qi didn't know Yamamoto had so many inner thoughts. She just listened attentively to the lesson. Hearing the teacher talk about his past was quite interesting. She suddenly felt this teacher was a bit like the older version of her marketing teacher Professor Shi.

Perhaps young Yamamoto was also a passionate and excited person.

For the whole class period, Xiao Qi recorded everything she heard, in writing and notebook, filling them up. She discovered Japanese had one advantage—writing was simple compared to Chinese, so taking notes was fast too. It even felt like Japanese could be used as a shorthand if mastered well.

Of course there was some content she didn't quite understand from the teacher, but that was okay. She could review and reinforce it when she went back.

She had finally found an organization with authentic Japanese learning without having to spend extra money, and it was taught by native Japanese teachers too. Xiao Qi felt it was perfect.

Even when the second period started and several more students slipped out midway, Xiao Qi still listened attentively to the lesson.

She didn't notice almost all the other students had left.

Because there were also some students just sitting in to try the class, and upon finding the Japanese elective was indeed as dreadful as rumored—this old man was too stern, never smiling from start to finish, teaching incomprehensible nonsense like heavenly scripture. According to rumors, the exams were deadly difficult, clearly deliberate to make people fail. It was a total pit.

So they silently left, since attendance wasn't taken anyway and the teacher definitely wouldn't recognize them.

Xiao Qi engrossed in the lesson didn't look back at the classroom. If she had, she would've seen a bizarre scene.

Incredibly, she was the only one left in the classroom listening to the lesson!

And Yamamoto maintained the same expression and vocal tone from start to finish. Xiao Qi was utterly oblivious.

The classrooms in N University were large lecture halls with doors at front and back, with students sitting at the back and easily leaving from the back.

Classroom 6 was at the end of a row of classrooms, so few people actually walked by.

When Xiao Qi studied, she was extremely focused and attentive. She discovered being earnestly focused for an hour was far more effective than mindlessly grinding away unfocused for a whole day.

Studying in high school had been especially arduous for her. She felt it was because she wasn't focused and attentive enough, making her learning inefficient and fruitless no matter how hard she worked, leaving her constantly exhausted yet having learned nothing.

For studying, learning efficiency really was crucial.

Yamamoto could naturally see from the lectern as the students left one by one.

If an N University elective class enrolled less than double-digit students, it might be cancelled the next semester.

His colleagues advised him to relax a little. There was no need to be so strict. This was just an ordinary university, no need to demand so much. Lighten up and let the students pass the exams happily—everyone would be better off.

But Yamamoto persisted in his own beliefs.

He continued teaching.

His hands grew colder and colder.

He was actually waiting, waiting for that last remaining student to leave too.

Then the bell rang signaling the end of class.

He froze for a moment, standing at the lectern somewhat lost.

Just then he saw that last student stand up and say to him, “Goodbye Yamamoto. Your lesson was excellent, very educational for me.”

She said it in Japanese.

It was pretty good, though slightly clumsy, but admirable nonetheless.

After speaking, Xiao Qi packed up preparing to leave. Glancing back, she was shocked to find no one there—had the others left that swiftly?

She smiled at Yamamoto again before departing.

And the classroom was finally left with just Yamamoto.

He sat in the empty classroom, loneliness enshrouding him once more.

Yet just before, it seemed he had temporarily emerged from it for a spell.

Xiao Qi walked along thinking she hadn’t completed her jogging task for the day and had better hurry back to the dorm to jog.

She also still had mooncakes in the dorm. She had actually tired of the sweet pastries...she would never have imagined that possible before.

She dashed along at a brisk clip brimming with energy.

Suddenly that familiar mechanical voice sounded by her ear: “Host worked hard learning with a positive attitude, bringing a glimmer of hope and positivity to a withered and desperate soul. Rewarding host language sensitivity buff for 30 days.”

Xiao Qi’s footsteps gradually stopped.

She didn’t know whether to feel happy or sad.

She had possessed language sensitivity buff before for ten days. She felt like having supernatural aid when learning languages at the time, speaking exceptionally smoothly.

From experiencing buffs a few times, she also grasped some patterns—she had to maximize usage and practice of the buff during the effective period. Even after it disappeared, some residue and sensation would linger.

Language sensitivity buff really was extremely helpful, precisely what she needed now.

What would an anguished and desperate soul be like?

Xiao Qi seemed to have superimposed the blurry silhouettes of Teacher Yamamoto and the Five-Guarantee householder old man from Gumu Village, gradually becoming somewhat clearer.

They were probably still somewhat different.

There was no longer any vitality in the eyes of the Five-Guarantee householder old man, but there appeared to be some kind of persistence on Teacher Yamamoto...