"Lecia, wake up. Are you going to be late on your first day as a teacher?"
The heroic red-haired girl on the bed opened her hazy eyes. Her hair and eyebrows were all red, and she looked like she was covered with flames in the morning sunshine.
"I understand, sister Natalia, don't rush me."
The red-haired girl was directly picked up and dragged into the bathroom by the blonde woman who came in front of her.
The room is not big, and the wardrobe, desk, dressing table, and bed take up a lot of space. Most of the furniture is made of wood, with some simple and natural beauty.
Lecia leaned against the mirror and brushed her teeth. Natalia helped her comb her slightly curly red hair that was messed up by sleeping, then pulled down her nightgown and helped her change her clothes.
"Natalia, I can do it myself."
"If I don't help you, you will be late, and it will be us who will be embarrassed."
Natalia pulled the washed Lecia downstairs.
The brown curly-haired woman sitting at the dining table saw the people coming down, distributed the tableware, and greeted the two of them to have breakfast. She looked about 28 years old, with brown eyes and good facial features. She was as young as Lecia and Natalia. Different, with a mature charm.
"Dermot, you are so kind. I don't want you to leave." Lecia ate the bread, cheese and omelette on the plate.
"Then I will always be here with you."
"Nonsense, Dermot, you are still young. You can find a suitable person to remarry. There is no need to waste time here."
"Are you in charge?"
Lecia retorted to Natalia that Dermot was the wife of their brother, who later became seriously ill and died. She was studying in school at that time, and she didn't get to see her even once when she came back. Dermot has also remained here.
"How dare you talk back to me." Natalia directly grabbed Lesia's ears.
"Natalia, I was wrong. It won't look good if you twist your ears again."
After the noisy breakfast, Lecia put on a light orange button-down jacket over a floral dress.
Putting on a flat straw hat and carrying a satchel full of books, he walked towards the school in Yansir Village.
Yansir Village was like a paradise. Lecia, who walked out of the courtyard gate, said hello to the old neighbor lady who was a little old and had been pruning her flowers all day long.
The old man pruning the hydrangeas and velvet chrysanthemums there didn't seem to hear her. Her body was stooped, and the skin on her face was like the bark of an old uncle's tree. She was holding the scissors.
Lecia didn't care either. She had been away from here for a long time. If her brother hadn't been seriously ill and died, she wouldn't have come back.
The family's property and land needed to find a male heir, which meant that one of her and her sister Natalia had to sacrifice himself to get married. She and Natalia had a tacit understanding not to mention this.
The carriage pulled by the villagers raised a burst of dust on the road, and Lecia hurriedly avoided it. The road covered with weeds left two deep exposed marks pressed by the wheels.
What struck her as strange was, what was this man doing pulling a bunch of thorns? It seems that they are all planted in flower pots. Have the purchasers outside changed their tastes?
"I'm going to succeed, a boat that can fly above the clouds."
The courtyard next to it was filled with wood and carpenter's tools. It looked like some young men were dancing there. In front of them was the keel frame of a ship, with the three tall sails and masts on it.
"Edmond, are you daydreaming again?"
"Lecia, after success, you will also be the first batch of passengers to board. Please give me more encouragement."
Arriving at the dilapidated masonry spire building in front, this is the schoolhouse of Yansir Village. The small old castle separated by a wall next to it is the village chief Little's home.
Inside her own small office, apart from desks and chairs, there was a small bookshelf stacked with books. There was a stack of white paper on the table, which she prepared for her students.
When I came back, I found that there was nothing to do. My sister Natalia just asked the village chief Little to discuss teaching the children in the village how to read.
It happened that she agreed without having anything to do. The strange thing was that she didn't see the children when she arrived. When she walked out, she saw a few sloppy children walking to the simple classroom on the side.
His hair was a little fluffy and messy, his coarse clothes were stained with mud and dirt, and his feet were still stained with mud from playing.
Lecia first went to the village chief Little and asked him to introduce her to this group of people and establish his authority.
After walking through the small door in the wall and opening the door of the office next door, she saw the village chief Little making out with a woman. She didn't know why she wasn't surprised at all.
Little looks like he is in his forties, with few deep wrinkles on his face, a capable man, and black hair with a few strands of obvious white. He is half a head taller than her who is 1.7 meters tall.
He was pressed against a mature woman in her early thirties, her dark blond hair squeezed between the two of them.
The woman has pure blue eyes like the sky, plump lips, beautiful and plump, and a swollen belly, as if she has been pregnant for four or five months, exuding a maternal brilliance.
"Village Chief Little, are you okay? I need you to be a witness to the opening of school."
"It's almost ready, Lecia. Do you want to experience what it feels like to be a mother? This is my wife Yulia. She has now experienced the greatness of a mother."
The woman also responded in a soft and whispering tone: "I didn't expect Lecia to be so big already. You have grown very well. Becoming a mother will make you plumper and more motherly than me."
Only then did Lecia remember that the panting woman in front of her was called Yulia and she was Little's wife. It seemed that her memory had been hidden after being out for too long.
However, I have no interest in becoming a mother, and I am still young, so I need my sisters and others to take care of me.
"I'm sorry, Little, I'm still being taken care of by my sister and I don't want to be a mother."
"It's not too late for you to figure it out. Just go to the classroom and wait. I'll be back in a minute."
Returning to the simple classroom, the table below is an old-fashioned theological desk and chair, with paint peeling off or many wooden boards repaired.
Only Lesia's one is still in good condition, but it's a bit old.
The blackboard behind him also cracked several pieces of skin, revealing traces of lime inside. The black and green paint on it cracked, and the texture was like the marks on a turtle's shell.
Two more children with wooden boards walked in outside the door. They had brown-black hair and were six or seven years old. Their clothes had traces of paint on them. They saw Lecia's eyes on them and smiled back.
"Do you want to paint too? You should be the teacher who comes to teach us."
The boy and girl came directly to Lecia who was sitting and showed her the front of the wooden board in their hands.
Above are frames stacked on top of each other, each frame a different color.
The girl's picture is made of dots of different colors, and the background is painted with purple paint, which looks undoubtedly like children's graffiti.
After reading it, Lecia touched their heads and tried to look as amiable as possible.
Although I don’t understand it, I still have to praise it.
"It's a good idea, but I need to be more precise in the future. What are your names?"
"My name is Lorela/Ayyub."
"Teacher Lecia, you can also come to our house to paint together in the future. You are very suitable to be the model for the sacrificial saint."
"You think highly of me, but thank you for your compliment."
Lecia asked the brother and sister to take their seats, and they continued to tinker with the drawing board in their hands after they sat down.
Yansir Village worships the starry sky and all things, and everyone in the village worships differently.
Lecia herself is a nonbeliever, Dermot worships knowledge, and Natalia praises the stars.
At this time, a symbol that unites everyone will naturally be born to unify these disorganized beliefs.
So the sacrificial saint came into being. She prayed to the stars and all things on behalf of the villagers, and became the hub of maintenance.
If the Ayoub brothers hadn't reminded Lesia, she would have almost forgotten that she had to find someone to paint this year's portrait, and she didn't know who would be chosen as the keynote model.
While thinking, three somewhat gloomy children walked in one after another outside the door. They had cold temperaments and looked expressionless. They silently found a seat in the back to sit.
Lecia doesn't care about this either. There will be plenty of time later. At least she won't leave until her family's problems are solved.
An older girl brought the little girl to the door. What surprised Lecia was that the older girl's belly was slightly bulging.
She looks like she is only thirteen or fourteen years old, with a well-developed body, about 1.6 meters tall. Her light blond hair was braided behind her head, and she wore a thin brown jacket over her white dress.
There is a bit of girlish innocence in the black pupils, there are a few freckles on the face, and one hand is holding her belly, exuding some maternal brilliance.
The girl holding her other hand is about seven or eight years old. Her dark blond hair is braided into two braids. She looks somewhat similar to them.
"Hello. Can you introduce yourself?"
"Hello, Teacher Lecia. My name is Awosika, and she is my sister Jessica. This is my child Glendon."
She touched her belly and her voice was a little childish, which didn't match her temperament.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Lecia. Please take a seat."
In a place like Yansir Village, a remote place with many backward customs, Lecia felt that she could accept such a thing.
But considering that she is still so young, can this be tolerated?
She touched her belly and felt scared just thinking about it. She definitely couldn't do it.
A beautiful song came, and a little boy playing the bone flute walked in. He was also about seven or eight years old, with clean appearance and clean clothes. He came directly to Lecia to say hello.
"Sister Lecia, my name is Schiller, and I'm here to play a song in praise of the sacrificial saint."
After he finished speaking, he played a beautiful melody. Lecia felt that she had a moment of peace and was in a happy mood. This was the first time that a child was so bold.
"Thank you, Schiller, go and sit down."
Lecia hugged him and touched his head,
Two somewhat prim and proper children also walked in, bowed to Lecia and sat in front.
The girl with dark green hair who followed behind held a thorny rose and gave it to Lecia. Her clear eyes seemed to arouse the other person's desire.
Soon the time was up, and Lecia counted up, and there were 13 children in total including the ones in front.
The boy sitting in the back is as big as an adult.
She thinks this is fine. The fewer people there are, the easier it is to manage them. Besides, it’s just teaching them daily vocabulary, so there’s not much pressure. It’s easy to say everything without having to learn systematically.
Village Chief Little also walked in. The children below saw him come in and stood up, all their eyes on his face.
"Children, Teacher Lecia will teach you how to read in the next six months. You must not offend her. Listen to her just like you listen to me."
After getting the child's promise, Little left here and returned the home court to Lecia.
"Then let's introduce each other first. My name is Lecia. Starting with you first."
She learned that the two somewhat old-fashioned children were named Mixon and Muir, the green-haired girl who came to provoke her was named Betty, and the adult child behind was named Germaine.
Fortunately, I tried it for half a year first. These children who are too unique may really not be able to be taught.
Perhaps due to the novelty, Lecia did well in the morning. She taught them their names and let them read and write by themselves. Now she goes home to rest at noon, and she still has two hours of teaching time in the afternoon.
The tall Germain caught up and said, "Teacher Lecia, do you like hunting?"
He performed a punch in front of Lecia, which was very explosive and powerful.
'He doesn't want to do anything to himself, does he? Lecia took two steps back and saw the fence stick stuck on one side. This should hold up for a while.
"I like to stay at home, hunting is so tiring."
"That's a shame. We can fight together next time. I really like fighting those animals and becoming their master."
After finishing speaking, Germain punched and kicked the air along the way, and left with a groan.
Lecia breathed a sigh of relief. She was just a weak girl, and whatever she did would be dangerous.
"Teacher Lecia, do you want to come and take a look at my secret garden? There are many beautiful things."
Green-haired Betty walked in front of Lecia. She looked about twelve years old. She was wearing a green ribbon dress and her long hair was naturally spread on her back. The tender face has begun to show its beauty, and those clear eyes and thin lips seem to attract people's attention.
"Betty, are you always like this? You should pay attention to your behavior, otherwise you will cause trouble to others."
Lecia asked Betty to behave more modestly and walk with her. She folded her arms unceremoniously, with an expression on her face like a girl in love.
She couldn't help but frown when she saw it. Although she had a little heroic spirit, it wasn't like this. I'm not interested in your secrets.
"Teacher Lecia, everyone here can do whatever they want. Is there anything wrong?"
Betty raised her head and blinked at Lecia, who was only as tall as her neck.
"But you also need to get the consent of others. What if others don't want to."
"That's Teacher Lecia, don't you want to? I'm so sad."
"It's time for you to go home to eat and take a rest. You have classes in the afternoon. Can you write your name?"
"I know how to write, what's the reward? Teacher Lecia."
Looking at Betty who was constantly seducing people, Lecia wanted to give her a big mouth shave.
If a man has fallen, how can these people teach their children? Betty on the side also continued to speak.
"There is a vicious man coming over my side. No one dares to come close. He is just like the strange old man to the east. They are two strange old men. I am afraid and dare not go back by myself."
Lecia thought for a moment that Betty was indeed dangerous like this, so she sent her to the front of her house and went back after seeing her enter the door. Didn't see the person she was talking about.
On the way back, we also passed by the home of the painting brothers and sisters. Their father Murray, an artist with some gray hair, was painting a strange "Yanciel's Starry Sky" in the yard.
When she saw Lecia passing by and asked her to be the model for this year's sacrificial saint, Lecia was naturally polite and perfunctory.
