6 Walls and science (1/2)

There was only one teacher who gave classes at the school. His name was Zhang Jinglin.

Most people felt that the teacher was wise and thought that he knew everything. However, Ren Xiaosu always had doubts since people specialized in different professions, which meant people were usually only good at certain things. So how could it be possible for Mr. Zhang to be omniscient?

Ren Xiaosu had always been different from most other people as he liked to ponder questions that he came across. Later on, he found out from listening to Mr. Zhang's lessons that this was known as dialectical logic.

Yan Liuyuan was sometimes bewildered because Ren Xiaosu would often oppose Mr. Zhang Jinglin's views, yet he still kept coming back to attend classes whenever he had free time.

During the afternoon class, Ren Xiaosu specially brought Yan Liuyuan out to celebrate. It wasn't for any reason other than to celebrate the fact that he could start listening to the lessons from the yard in the future.

Usually when he squatted on the walls, he was too distant from the classroom to clearly hear what was being taught. Zhang Jinglin used to like to keep the windows shut during class as he was afraid that any outside commotion would affect the students and distract them.

But after he realized that Ren Xiaosu was eavesdropping from outside the class, he left a window open for him.

And now, he might as well just let Ren Xiaosu into the yard.

Living in this chaotic world, many of the students' parents sent their children to school not because they wanted them to gain knowledge, but so that they could easily get married in the future. This was especially true for the girls who attended school as they would often marry into good families.

In this generation, it was impressive to be literate and to handle three-digit calculations.

Everyone was busy trying to survive, so who would care if you were cultured or not when food was short?

Hence, most of the parents were sending their children to school not because they had any long-term plans for them. Even in this hamlet, there were poor and rich people. Wherever there were people, comparisons were unavoidable.

Yan Liuyuan saw Ren Xiaosu go into the grocery store to buy a filtered cigarette. Old Wang even proudly mentioned that his cigarettes did not have any additional substances and were very safe to smoke.

A cigarette costs 20 yuan per stick, extremely expensive.

Yan Liuyuan asked with suspicion, ”Bro, why are you buying a cigarette?”

”Your teacher allowed me to listen to his lessons from the yard. Even if I don't have to pay tuition, I should still show my gratitude.” Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, ”I know that Mr. Zhang likes to smoke.”

Whenever someone treated Ren Xiaosu kindly, he would return the gesture.

While everyone was out in the school's backyard eating lunch, the two of them took the opportunity to approach Zhang Jinglin. He was eating some stir-fried cabbage when Ren Xiaosu handed the cigarette to him with a grin.

Zhang Jinglin did not reject it. However, he made Yan Liuyuan stand a distance away from him. ”It's not good for you to inhale cigarette smoke while you're still growing.”

Ren Xiaosu thanked him. ”Thank you for letting me into the yard to attend your lessons, sir.”

”Phew.” Zhang Jinglin lit the cigarette with a match he used for preparing meals at home. Then he blew out a breathful of smoke, looking pleased. ”Students who enjoy attending lessons like you are rare. You can attend the lessons if you like. In the future, you can stand at the door, but you're not allowed to enter the classroom.”

”That's great.” Ren Xiaosu said, ”Teacher, I have a question.”

”Speak.” Perhaps due to the fact that Zhang Jinglin rarely had the chance to have a smoke, he didn't mind any questions that Ren Xiaosu had for him.

”Teacher, you said before that humans had a lot of technology before The Cataclysm happened. Since we humans were not wiped out, why didn't those technologies reappear?”

Zhang Jinglin glanced at Ren Xiaosu. ”For a period of time after The Cataclysm, humans did not keep track of how long they had been drifting along in anarchy. It was good enough to survive each day, so nobody bothered with gaining knowledge and becoming a learned person.”

”But we should still have some information left, right? If we learn them, couldn't we return to civilization quicker?” Ren Xiaosu wondered. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.

”It's become lost through the generations,” Zhang Jinglin said in regret. ”Let me ask you. If I gave you a set of instructions to construct an airplane, would you be able to make one?”

”It's not like I've learned how to do it before. Although having the instructions can save a lot of time, I'll still have to start from scratch,” Ren Xiaosu said.

”That's right. Everyone is starting from scratch.” Zhang Jinglin looked at the remaining half of his cigarette, feeling a little pained. It looked like he was deciding on whether to keep smoking.

He had intended to save the remaining half of the cigarette to smoke at a later time. But if he put out the cigarette in front of Ren Xiaosu and Yan Liuyuan, wouldn't it be a loss of face for him?

Ren Xiaosu was still doubtful. ”How could no one have overcome the hardships and gotten into research and building up knowledge again in all those years?”