Chapter 5

Zhou Shuo returned to Li Zhi's side and smiled, saying, "Sorry, I made you stand there for so long."

Li Zhi gave Zhou Shuo a meaningful look, smiled, and said, "It's fine, aren't you going to see that girl?"

Zhou Shuo shook his head, a hint of sorrow in his eyes, and forced a smile, saying, "Let's wait until school tomorrow, the teacher needs a Sunday too."

Li Zhi smiled charmingly, "Then let's take a walk in the park."

"Okay," Zhou Shuo nodded.

After a walk around the park, Zhou Shuo treated Li Zhi to lunch and sent her home in the afternoon.

On the way home, they passed by a post office. Zhou Shuo scratched his head, hesitated for a moment, and then stepped inside.

Zhou Shuo sat in front of the service window and called out, "Sir, I need to send a letter to Beijing."

The clerk sat steadily in his seat, threw out a regular envelope, and asked, "What are you mailing?"

Zhou Shuo replied, "A floppy disk."

The clerk asked curiously, "A floppy disk? What's a floppy disk? Let me see it."

The post office certainly couldn't mail anything, and checking for dangerous or prohibited items was part of the clerk's duties. In 1994, computer knowledge was not widespread, so being cautious about unfamiliar items was understandable.

Zhou Shuo handed the clerk a 3.5-inch, 1.44M floppy disk and explained, "This is a tool used by computers to transfer data, like a cassette tape for a tape recorder."

"Oh, high-tech!" the clerk said lazily.

Seeing that the clerk wasn't interested, Zhou Shuo didn't say more. He wrote the address "No. 5 Danling Street, Haidian District, Beijing" on the envelope, neatly placed the floppy disk in the mailbag, and paid the postage.

The next day, Monday, as Zhou Shuo walked into the teacher's office, he saw the head of the teaching department, Gao Wendong, standing by the window, calling him over.

Gao Wendong looked at him kindly and said, "Zhou, you've been with us at No. 2 High School for quite some time, haven't you?"

Zhou Shuo, unsure of his intentions, cautiously replied, "Almost two semesters."

Gao Wendong hummed, paused, and then continued, "You see, computer courses are a new thing, and you don't have a teaching certificate. The school needs to be responsible for the teaching quality, do you understand?"

Gao Wendong's words made Zhou Shuo realize what was coming. He chuckled and said, "I understand, Director, you want to see my open class, right?"

Gao Wendong looked at Zhou Shuo in surprise, not expecting his intentions to be so easily seen through. However, as the head of the teaching department, his request was reasonable, and he wasn't worried that Zhou Shuo could do anything about it. He nodded and said, "That's right. Arrange it. The fourth period today, there will be a leader from the Education Bureau and the school leadership coming to listen to your open class."

Zhou Shuo's smile faded, and he looked at Gao Wendong, neither happy nor sad, and replied, "Okay, I'll arrange it."

Gao Wendong felt uneasy under Zhou Shuo's gaze, swallowed, and said, "You're busy, I'll leave first."

With that, Gao Wendong returned to his office, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Because he needed to prepare for the open class, Zhou Shuo first went to Class 1-5, a class he was quite satisfied with. The students were enthusiastic about learning computer knowledge and had a high ability to absorb it.

Zhou Shuo peeked through the back door of the classroom, frowned, and didn't see the computer class representative, He Youyou. He couldn't help but worry, had his attitude on Sunday scared her?

But...

A question gradually formed in Zhou Shuo's mind. In his previous life, his memory of He Youyou was very vague.

In his memory, their relationship wasn't particularly close, just a normal teacher-student relationship.

However, in the days since his rebirth, Zhou Shuo felt differently. He Youyou had a talent for computer learning. Among the same group of students, he had kept in touch with them later, but He Youyou had somehow faded from his memory. If He Youyou had really done so much to help him, why were there no memories of that time?

Indeed, in his memory, he didn't remember ever going on a blind date, or He Youyou telling him who was trying to replace him, or the incident at the North Lake Park entrance—if it had really happened, Zhou Shuo had no reason to forget it!

What had changed his world of memories?

Zhou Shuo stood at the back door of the classroom, lost in thought, but came to no conclusion.

The bell rang, and Zhou Shuo greeted the homeroom teacher of Class 5, standing in a corner of the corridor and asked, "Teacher Liu, why didn't I see He Youyou today?"

The middle-aged Teacher Liu "oh"ed and sighed, "That child, her mother called in sick leave for her, saying she was ill."

"Ill?" Zhou Shuo asked, concerned, "What kind of illness?"

Zhou Shuo's heart tightened, hoping she hadn't been hurt because of him. At this moment, he almost wished that He Youyou was just pouting because of his attitude, but that seemed unlikely, as her parents wouldn't have called in sick leave if it were just that.

Teacher Liu looked at Zhou Shuo curiously and asked, "Teacher Zhou, you're very concerned about her?"

Zhou Shuo scratched his head awkwardly and smiled, "She's the computer class representative for Class 5. I have an open class today in the fourth period, and I wanted to discuss it with the class representative."

Teacher Liu smiled and nodded, "I see... Her mother didn't specify what illness. If you need anything, you can talk to our class president, Bai Xiao. He won't let you down."

Zhou Shuo looked at Teacher Liu with a strange expression and asked casually, "The class president of Class 5 is... Bai Xiao?"

Teacher Liu nodded, "Yes, Bai Xiao is a very good student, don't worry."

"Ah, thank you, Teacher Liu," Zhou Shuo replied absentmindedly, found an excuse, and said goodbye to Teacher Liu.

Zhou Shuo slowly walked to the computer lab. Whenever he needed to think carefully, being surrounded by quiet computers always gave him a sense of security. This security brought him sharp thinking and a broad perspective, and most importantly, it allowed him to view his situation with a detached mindset.

Pushing open the door to the computer lab, he put on shoe covers and didn't go to the teacher's station but found a corner to sit down.

The details of that open class that changed his life gradually came to mind.

The leader of the open class was the head of the Education Bureau's office, Mr. Wang. Technically, Mr. Wang's position didn't require him to attend an open class by a non-formal teacher. Of course, Zhou Shuo now understood the real reason. And at Mr. Wang's level, no one would dare to challenge this. The office head had considerable power in handling various affairs within the bureau, and if he wanted to deal with someone, there would always be someone willing to do him a favor.

Besides Mr. Wang and an Education Bureau staff member, the school representative was the head of the teaching department, Gao Wendong. The class president of Class 5, Bai Xiao, was chosen to assist. It was normal to find someone to assist in an open class, but the problem was with Bai Xiao. As the class president, Bai Xiao's academic ability was certainly sufficient, but during that class, he couldn't answer any of the pre-arranged questions!

The result was predictable—Zhou Shuo's open class evaluation was terrible!

As it happened, it was just before the morning break when the fourth period started. Zhou Shuo called Bai Xiao, who was about to leave, and said, "Bai Xiao, the teacher has an open class in the fourth period, and I hope you can assist."

Bai Xiao was tall and thin, with overly pale skin and narrow, cold eyes. He wore a titanium alloy, frameless resin glasses, which Zhou Shuo knew were not available in Rucheng until after the year 2000 and were quite expensive.

Bai Xiao adjusted his glasses, nodded seriously, and said, "Sure, Teacher Zhou, just tell me what you need."

...

In no time, it was the fourth period of the morning. As students tend to be less focused due to hunger and the approaching lunch break, many were slumped on their desks.

"Stand up! Good morning, teacher!"

"Good morning, students. Let's start the class."

After Zhou Shuo spoke, the back door of the classroom opened, and three people quietly took their seats in the empty chairs at the back.

Zhou Shuo nodded slightly to the three people, opened his textbook, and began writing the day's lesson on the blackboard: DOS disk operation commands.

Standing at the podium, Zhou Shuo spoke confidently, "There are roughly nine disk operation commands in the DOS system. First, we'll discuss the disk formatting command..."

Zhou Shuo started with the principles of disks and the form of data storage, explaining the nine disk operation commands and their functions in simple terms. Time passed as he spoke fluently. The three people in the back occasionally whispered to each other and took notes.

Seeing that the remaining class time was short, Gao Wendong, worried that Zhou Shuo wouldn't fall for it, coughed and, seizing a pause in Zhou Shuo's lecture, suggested, "Teacher Zhou, why don't you ask the students some questions to see how well they've understood the lesson?"