116. Qian City

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Chen Ruowen hung up the phone, her mind still reeling from the report Assistant Pan had just given her. She was utterly stunned by Guo Jingyuan’s intelligence—or rather, the lack thereof.

Any normal person, upon stepping into that wretched Jinmu Trading Company, would surely have realized the danger and escaped the wolf’s den within half a day at most, right?

But that fool had obediently stayed for two full days of new employee brainwashing sessions. It was only on the third day, when the team leader started urging her to add friends and taught her the scripted lines, that she finally snapped out of it. Stammering, she went through the resignation procedures and, before leaving, even apologized at length to the team leader and the big liar who had recruited her.

“So adorably naïve…” Chen Ruowen mused.

Over the past couple of days, she had personally asked Guo Jingyuan twice how life was in Beicheng, but Guo Jingyuan’s answers were always the same: everything was great. Food was good, living conditions comfortable, finding work went smoothly, and the landlord and neighbors were kind.

If Chen Ruowen hadn’t placed a few spies around her, she might have actually believed those lies.

Tired of thinking about that troublesome little fool, Chen Ruowen made a video call to Bai Jinyan.

A few days ago, Bai Jinyan had mentioned he was going out for a trip. Chen Ruowen hadn’t asked much then, but now she wanted to see if he had come back.

After three unanswered calls, she impatiently tossed her phone aside. It wasn’t until eight or nine o’clock that Bai Jinyan finally called back. The screen was dim, and the signal was terrible.

“Where are you? Why’s the lighting so bad?”

On the other side, Bai Jinyan’s lips moved, then the video froze, and no sound came through.

He hastily ended the video call and, five minutes later, called again using voice only.

“The signal’s bad. I can’t do video, so I’m just calling you with voice,” Bai Jinyan explained.

Chen Ruowen said nothing but coquettishly asked, “Are you still out? When will you be back?”

Bai Jinyan was silent for a moment.

“By the end of August, I guess.”

“End of August?!” Chen Ruowen immediately raised her voice. “Are you kidding me? You’re gone for two months? You’re not even coming back for my coming-of-age ceremony? Did you… go out to work too?” She frowned, thinking about Guo Jingyuan, who had run away from home as well.

“...Sort of,” Bai Jinyan surprisingly admitted, then sighed softly. “Ruowen, I’m in Qian City.”

Qian City?

Chen Ruowen racked her brain for any information about this obscure little county and her expression changed.

“You mean the Qian City where Jiang Yi worked as a traveling doctor?”

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Had Bai Jinyan followed in his idol Jiang Yi’s footsteps, going to that city to practice as a traveling doctor and help the poor?

“It wasn’t until I got to Qian City that I truly understood what poverty looks like.

Ruowen, can you imagine? At Rainbow Village, the kids who can attend summer classes come barefoot over several mountains from neighboring villages. Children as young as six or seven gather firewood and chop wood on their own, standing on stools to cook beside stoves taller than themselves. The village doesn’t even have electricity fully installed. At night, kids do their homework by candlelight, and if we want to charge our phones, we have to go to the only power supply room at the village entrance…”

Chen Ruowen didn’t listen closely to everything Bai Jinyan said afterward. It was only when she heard keywords like “classes” and “children” that she relaxed slightly.

“So you’re not a traveling doctor after all?”

“I’m not qualified to be a doctor,” Bai Jinyan answered. “I’m here to teach.”

“Why the sudden decision? Why didn’t you tell me before you left?”

“It’s not sudden,” Bai Jinyan softly corrected her, though he quickly moved on, probably feeling the topic pointless. “Dr. Wei comes to Qian City every year for three months of clinic work. I had nothing else to do after my exams, so I came along.”

“Dr. Wei… the one who treated your injury last time? Jiang Yi’s disciple?”

“Yeah.”

“Carrying on his mentor’s legacy?”

“...I guess so.”

“Then why, if you’re practicing medicine, did you end up teaching instead?”

“This place is desperate for knowledge,” Bai Jinyan explained simply.

He initially came with Wei Kun to help out but, seeing the children reading and writing, he offered some guidance.

That very afternoon, the village chief of Rainbow Village came with a basket of eggs, begging them to stay.

The chief said this place was so poor that within a ten-mile radius, there wasn’t a single proper school. Children in a village shared just one textbook, and they dreamed of learning but no one taught them how.

Each year, groups of university students came to teach and then left, but no one stayed in this impoverished village.

The children wanted to learn, and Bai Jinyan wanted them to have a chance to leave the mountains, enter the city, and see the world outside. Whether they left for good or returned to improve life for the next generation, as long as they had a chance, a chance to change and choose their own path, it was enough.

The teaching team for the second half of the year hadn’t yet arrived. He was afraid—afraid no one would come, afraid of seeing the children’s hopeful yet disappointed eyes.

So the chief begged Bai Jinyan. Even if he was alone, even if Rainbow Village couldn’t afford tuition, as long as he could give the children a chance to learn, he had to try.

The basket of eggs the chief brought still sat by Bai Jinyan’s bedside. He hadn’t eaten a single one but quietly added them to the children’s meals every day.

Chen Ruowen finally responded after a long pause.

“How many subjects are you teaching by yourself?”

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“Chinese, math, English, science, PE, music, art—I teach a bit of everything.”

“You really are a jack of all trades,” Chen Ruowen said, unsure whether it was praise or sarcasm.

Bai Jinyan said nothing.

Chen Ruowen snorted, “I have to say, I’m way better than you at English, music, and art.”

Bai Jinyan: “??”

“You don’t get it? I’m inviting myself over to help you save the world! If you invite me, I’ll come.”

Though she understood her words, Bai Jinyan didn’t agree.

“The conditions here are too harsh. You wouldn’t be able to handle it. I posted online looking for teaching volunteers. Someone will come soon.”

“There’s one right in front of you, but you won’t ask me. You’re looking for some noble stranger online?”

“The conditions here are too harsh,” Bai Jinyan repeated. “I don’t want you to suffer.”

“That won’t do. I want to share both hardship and happiness with you—through good times and bad, through poverty and wealth, we must be together.”

“...Why does that last sentence sound so familiar?”

“Ha, none of your business. Send me the address—I’m coming.”

“Ruowen...”

“No more talking, I’m hanging up!”

Without waiting for Bai Jinyan to reply, Chen Ruowen cut the call and hurried to Chen Liwan’s study.

“I’m going to teach in Qian City.”

Chen Liwan: “...Huh?”

“I need fifty sets of desks and chairs, fifty sets of elementary school textbooks, two hundred pencils, rulers, erasers—basically everything needed for teaching. Prepare for fifty students first, and we’ll fly them over with our family helicopter.”

Chen Liwan took off his glasses, rubbed his forehead, and the word “headache” was plainly written across his face.

“What’s this all about now?”