The next day, Samuel Bennett didn’t even have the mind to prepare pills before heading down the mountain. He went to Santang Middle School, located at the southernmost end of Santang Market. Santang School wasn’t very big—in fact, it was rather simple, with only one teaching building, three stories in total, and three classrooms on each floor. At both ends of each floor were teachers’ offices. Additionally, behind the classrooms, space had been set aside to build two more teachers’ offices—one could only be entered from inside the classroom, and the other could be accessed directly from the corridor.

Entering the school happened to coincide with break time. After asking a student, he learned that Ethan Foster was working in the office in the middle of the third floor, near the corridor.

Ethan Foster was indeed there, along with another young teacher. When Ethan Foster saw Samuel Bennett coming to find him, he smiled and said, “Looks like your family agreed to let you attend school. Come in and have a seat. By the way, I still don’t know your name.”

“My name is Samuel Bennett—the ‘司’ from ‘commander,’ and the ‘其’ from ‘among.’”

“I discussed your situation with the principal this morning. I’ll take you to meet the principal.”

“Thank you, Teacher Foster.” With that, the two of them got up, and Ethan Foster led him to the office at the east end of the third floor. That office was the administrative office, where the principal, vice principal, general affairs director, Youth League secretary, academic director, and political education director all worked.

As soon as they entered, seeing the principal was there, Ethan Foster said to him, “Principal Brooks, the student I mentioned to you this morning is here. Please meet him—his name is Samuel Bennett.”

Principal Brooks wasn’t very old, looking to be in his forties or fifties, not tall but quite solidly built. His hair was thinning early, with not much left on his forehead, but he was a good person—a genuine university graduate from the early days after Liberation, but his career had been held back by the Cultural Revolution.

When Principal Brooks saw Samuel Bennett, he said, “Welcome, Samuel Bennett. I’ve heard about your situation from Teacher Foster. Now that the country requires nine years of compulsory education, even if your parents really don’t agree, our school will send someone to your home to understand the situation. Teacher Foster said you have a good foundation in literature but haven’t received education in other areas. I think you should start by joining the first year of junior high as a transfer student.”

“Okay, thank you, Principal Brooks.” Samuel Bennett had already treated patients at the market a few times and met quite a few people, so he didn’t feel constrained. Unlike some students, who would lower their heads and not dare to speak loudly when talking to teachers.

Principal Brooks was very satisfied with his demeanor and turned to the general affairs director, Teacher Bennett, saying, “Teacher Bennett, can you calculate how much tuition he needs to pay to join as a transfer student?”

Principal Brooks then turned back to Samuel Bennett and said, “Samuel Bennett, do you have money with you? If not, you can come back and pay tomorrow.” Principal Brooks knew that most parents nowadays didn’t feel comfortable letting their children carry money, so he asked kindly.

At this point, the general affairs director quickly finished the calculation. “Principal Brooks, the total for book fees, tuition, and steamed rice fee is 36 yuan.”

Samuel Bennett was about to speak when he heard this. He remembered that he still had the ninety-something yuan he earned yesterday, which he had forgotten to give to his master, so he happened to have it with him. He said to Principal Brooks, “Principal Brooks, I have money with me.”

Hearing that Samuel Bennett had money, the general affairs director said, “Then come over here to pay. The book fee is 20, tuition is 14, and the steamed rice fee is 2 yuan. By the way, do you need to have your rice steamed at noon?”

Seeing Samuel Bennett a bit puzzled, the general affairs director immediately explained: students usually bring a porcelain cup from home, just with washed rice. At noon, the cafeteria staff will steam the rice for you, and you just need to bring some extra dishes.

After hearing this, Samuel Bennett nodded, handed over the 36 yuan, and the general affairs director counted it and gave him a receipt.

At this moment, Samuel Bennett suddenly remembered he still needed to set up his stall on market days, so he quickly said to Principal Brooks, “Principal Brooks, on market days I still need to go set up my stall. Is that okay?”

When Principal Brooks heard this, he thought for a moment. He knew that most rural families were very poor, and a major reason they didn’t want their children to attend junior high was the difficulty affording tuition, as well as losing a laborer at home. He assumed Samuel Bennett was in this situation too, and thought that since he wasn’t officially registered as a student yet, they could be flexible for now, which might also ease his family’s concerns. With this in mind, he said to Samuel Bennett, “In that case, your student registration can’t be made official yet. Discuss it with your family—right now we can consider giving you this opportunity, but by the third year you must be a full-time student, otherwise you won’t be able to get your junior high diploma.”

“Okay, I’ll discuss it with my family.” Samuel Bennett thought to himself, I don’t even know if I’ll be able to study here for three years—let’s see when the time comes, maybe I’ll have left by then.

“In that case, you can’t be considered a transfer student, just an auditing student. Teacher Bennett, please make that change. Also, Teacher Foster, sorry to trouble you, but could you take Samuel Bennett to the homeroom teacher of Class 1, Grade 1, Teacher Grant, to collect his books and audit the class?”

Teacher Foster replied, “Okay,” and took Samuel Bennett to the office next to the first classroom on the east side of the first floor, where they found Teacher Grant. This Teacher Grant was a young teacher who had just graduated from the teachers’ college the year before. He was very warm toward Samuel Bennett, quickly gave him all the textbooks for the first year, and led him to the neighboring classroom. After greeting the teacher who was teaching, he found an empty seat at the back for Samuel Bennett and then left.