My Big Aunt is a teacher.
Back then the rural classroom was simple at best. The paint on the cement blackboard had long faded with chipped patches here and there, revealing the rough surface underneath. Thus much of the contrast between white chalk and blackboard was lost although words were still legible enough. Big Aunt would stand in front of the class and point at each word emphatically while leading the young pupils in reading aloud: Long . . . Live . . . Chairman . . . Mao!
All the eyes of the young pupils would be on Big Aunt or the blackboard as they read aloud in chorus: Long . . . Live . . . Chairman . . . Mao!
Big Aunt was these kids’ homeroom teacher at this rural grade school. Even today those “kids” still have vivid memories of being a young pupil of hers. Now, at the age of 54, Big Aunt teaches the third grade. Times have changed and both the “how” and the “what” of her teaching have changed. Last summer, for example, Big Aunt didn’t let the kids go home to help with the harvest or the gleaning. Big Aunt said: On Children’s Day, June 1, I’ll take you all to the county town to see the changes there. What do you think?
Big Aunt continued: The visit will take a whole day. We leave in the morning and return in the afternoon. We’ll take the shuttle bus. For the morning we will visit the county museum and tour the Century Square. For the afternoon we will see the movie Little Radish. Then we will come back. How does that sound?
Hurrah! The kids clapped their hands thunderously.
Then, Big Aunt said: We will bring our own lunch. Ask your parents to bake you a bun and boil you a couple of eggs, plus a bottle of water, and you will be fine. You can bring a cucumber or tomato or something from your family’s vegetable garden if you want to. That will reduce your expenses. I have done the math: round trip bus fare, tickets for the museum and film, altogether about 12 yuan per person. So, please explain it clearly to your parents and then bring the money to me. All right?
Hurrah! The kids clapped their hands again.
By May 31, Big Aunt had collected money from all of the 47 young pupils except for three. These three said they didn’t want to go. Big Aunt understood: The families of the three were among the poorest. She hesitated and then said to the class: We are a team. I think these three classmates won’t go because they can’t afford it. Shouldn’t we all pitch in and lend them a hand? Okay, let me be the first to do so. Of course you don’t have to give as much. Ten cents, one yuan, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is in our heart we want to help. With that, Big Aunt put down ten yuan from her purse.
The fundraising on May 31 was a success. It raised enough money for the three kids to go on the trip, too.
So, on June 1, Big Aunt took her class to the county town, where the kids had such a good time. On July 1 school would be dismissed for the summer break. On September 1 Big Aunt’s young pupils would move on to the 4th grade. The grade reports had already been handed out.
Yet, on the afternoon of June 30, when all the other classes wouldn’t come to school any more, Big Aunt called all her young pupils in. She wanted to have a meeting. Standing in front of the entire class, Big Aunt said, solemnly: There is some reckoning we need to do before the summer break. That is: I haven’t had a chance to give you a report on the expenses of our trip to the county town.
The young pupils were stunned. None of them had expected the teacher to hold a special meeting about this. It had occurred to none that their teacher needed to give them a report on the field trip’s expenses.
Scanning the puzzled eyes in front of her, Big Aunt said: In one’s lifetime, one will run into or be in charge of accounts. Only once or many times, it is the same. Big sums of money or small sums, it is the same, too. They should all be as clear, accurate, and transparent as can be. Only when the accounts are clear and accurate can a person be clean. Only when the person is clean can he or she stand in the world holding the head high. Do you all agree?
Yes! The young pupils cried out in their quivering voices.
Big Aunt continued: I should have given you the report sooner but I have been held up by helping you review for finals, writing up the annual reports, grading the exams, and preparing the grade report and evaluation for each one of you. So I apologize. This report is long overdue, isn’t it?
No! The young pupils shook their heads, some had tears in their eyes.
That afternoon, Big Aunt posted on the blackboard a large sheet of paper on which was a detailed report of the money collected and expenditures for each and every young pupil. The Grand Total: Income: 564.00 yuan; Expenditures: 561.80 yuan; Balance: 2.20 yuan.
Big Aunt asked every pupil to come to the board and take a look at the report. Then she asked: What shall we do with the 2.20 yuan? The young pupils looked at each other. No one wanted it. No one would suggest that their teacher keep it because they knew that would be an insult to her. Yet what should they do with the money? Big Aunt said: I’ve thought about this long and hard and have taken the liberty to use the money to buy a bag of M&M’s, about three pieces a person. Now, I’ll invite four of you to come to the front and hand out the candies to the entire class.
My Big Aunt stood there watching the 47 young pupils of hers sitting there and counting the candies in their hands seriously.
(2005)