This school building was at least twenty years old. It had only two stories, and its broken windowpanes were covered with plastic sheeting. In the winter, the biting wind would leave your hands and feet ice-cold. During the rainy season, if the downpour was heavy enough, the roof would even leak.
There was virtually no decoration—just four white walls, wobbly and dilapidated chairs, and chalkboards in many classrooms that were pitted and uneven.
But even so, it was the only school for the children from the dozen or so nearby villages. Graduating from here meant they could go to middle school in Shuinan Town, giving them a chance at a broader future.
Xu Su had made everyone proud back then by testing directly into a middle school in Kang County. She was the first student from this impoverished village's elementary school to do so since its founding—an absolutely outstanding graduate.
