They All Say I've Met a Ghost

30

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Hearing me say there was no need to answer, Duan Youlian at once threw her pen onto the floor, tore up her test paper, and threw it into the air.

The other students followed suit. Some threw pens, some tore up their papers.

Teacher Liu, however, used the test paper to wipe the ink off his brush, carefully put the brush away, then adjusted his Zhongshan suit, elegant and refined, just as if he hadn't been the one boiling, feeding, and flaying just now.

With a heavy heart I said, "This is my mistake. I shouldn't have tested you right away."

Though Duan Youlian had returned to school late, she seemed to hold the position of a leader in the class. When she had quarreled with Mu Huaitong during the last class, Mu Huaitong had seemed to be in the position of the class monitor. Now that she had gone abroad, Duan Youlian had become the monitor.

As soon as I spoke, Duan Youlian led the class in clapping. The sound of applause echoed in the classroom.

Amidst their applause, I continued to speak: "I should have first had you memorize principles of legal common sense, and then tested you. I really didn't expect your sense of the law would be so weak."

The applause came to an abrupt end, and Duan Youlian asked stupidly, "You want us to memorize?"

“Actually it’s not absolutely necessary for you to memorize them. At the very least you have to hear them and understand. In fact, I'm not trying to make you into lawyers, but there are some basic common sense principles you must understand. The law isn't a set of regulations to limit your behavior, it's a means of protecting yourself." With bitter resentment I said, "Today, I will deliver the third lecture. This will be about the second minimum requirement for establishing a correct world view — the law."

I took a breath and went on: "Of course, that isn't to say that if the law doesn't punish an action it means we can do it. It's only the moral bottom line, not a moral standard. As a human being, to establish a correct world view, the first important requirement is knowledge and experience, and the second is law and morals. Only in this way will you establish a more comprehensive outlook."

Fortunately, I had prepared in advance. When I’d printed the test, I had also put together some common sense legal principles and printed thirty copies. After the lecture, I handed out these common sense principles to everyone and told them that this was their homework for this class. In the next class they would be tested on it.

I didn't want them to memorize it or copy it however many times. I wanted them to read it and understand how to act in similar circumstances.

Xiao Ning asked me to go to his hotel after class like before, but today I firmly refused.

"I have something to say to Teacher Liu," I said to Xiao Ning. "I have to go back to my dormitory today."

“Wh-what do you want?" Teacher Liu looked at me in horror.

"I want to have a serious talk with you."

"I'll go, too," Ning Tiance said. "Can I go to your dormitory to rest? I'd also like to come along with you on the school bus. I'm interested in that bus driver you keep talking about."

"Of course you can come," I said with warm welcome towards Xiao Ning. "But what about your car?"

"I'll come get it tomorrow," Ning Tiance said.

The three of us got on the school bus. When he saw us, the bus driver frowned. "Why is there another outsider on the bus? Last time that Xia Jin... Ah, forget it, anyway the unlucky one wasn't Xia Jin."