Teacher Liu Qun was my political teacher in high school. At that time, he was in his thirties, about 1.7 meters tall, with a sturdy body and dark skin. His hair was always loosely scattered, with a few disobedient strands falling down at inappropriate times, covering his forehead or even his eyes, forcing him to flick them away with his hand. He always wore a pair of slippers on his feet, and there was often a cigarette between his fingers. If it weren't for a pair of deep-rimmed glasses, it would be hard for people to associate him with an intellectual.
Teacher Liu loved to chat with people. Whether you were a teacher, a student, or a parent, he could chat with you for half a day. Generally, political teachers had good eloquence and liked to make grand speeches. He never made grand speeches; instead, he chatted casually with you.
Teacher Liu Qun served as the homeroom teacher for a class one year below us, and the students in the class all liked him. His story with student Peng Fengyun is particularly memorable.
Peng Fengyun's family lived outside Southern Gate on Pingan Road, which is actually the Guizhou - Hunan Highway. Back then, it was a gravel road, and dust would fly up whenever a car passed by. Peng Fengyun had two younger sisters, and his father was an honorably discharged soldier who had participated in the Korean War and injured his legs, leaving him confined to a wheelchair as a severely disabled person. The government provided a monthly pension of 41 yuan. His mother worked in a sewing factory, earning about 20 yuan a month. In those days, a family of five with a monthly income of 60 yuan was considered well-off.
However, the residents outside Southern Gate were mainly workers, farm laborers, vegetable farmers, or craftsmen. Their incomes were generally low, and their educational levels were low too. Coupled with the poor material conditions at the time, urban residents were only allocated one catty of planned meat, 200 grams of cooking oil, and twelve kilograms of rice per month. For older children, this was simply not enough to eat. Peng Fengyun was taller than the average child, but he was thin and skinny, with slender arms and legs. Children in the Southern Gate area played much more wildly than those in the city. Fights and disturbances often occurred.
Peng Fengyun also mingled among them, nicknamed "Flower Head." The meaning of this nickname was known only to people in their circle, and others didn't understand it. But this nickname also indicated that he had considerable influence among the children in the Southern Gate area.
In 1972, he entered Zhijiang Middle School, one grade below me. At that time, Deng Xiaoping resumed his post, demanding schools to improve teaching quality. Teachers began to teach cultural knowledge seriously, exams were reinstated, and scores became the most important measure of students. Most students began to study hard and stopped idling around. But Peng Fengyun, who was used to not studying, had a poor foundation and didn't perform well academically. He wasn't the type of student teachers often praised, and he didn't do as well in school as he did in Southern Gate, believing that the teachers didn't like him.
In 1974, he entered high school, and his homeroom teacher was Teacher Liu Qun. Like other classmates, he quickly noticed that this Teacher Liu was different from other teachers in his treatment of students. He felt Teacher Liu's affinity and respect for himself and began to have a good impression of Teacher Liu, willingly listening to Teacher Liu's words.
In May, the school was going to hold a track and field meet, and Teacher Liu Qun asked students to sign up. Many classmates signed up, but as usual, Peng Fengyun did not. He felt weak physically and didn't think he had any athletic ability. He used to feel that teachers didn't care much about him, so he had always been passively avoiding class activities; if he could avoid participating, he would.
Teacher Liu found Peng Fengyun and said to him, "Peng Fengyun, why don't you sign up for the sports meet?" He felt embarrassed to refuse Teacher Liu's request, so he agreed to participate. Feeling very weak with thin arms, he thought he wouldn't be able to do well in throwing events but thought he could manage running, so he signed up for three running events: the 400 meters, 800 meters, and 1500 meters. All of this was done to save face for Teacher Liu; he thought that as long as he ran, he would have fulfilled his duty.
As a result, Peng Fengyun, who had never participated in track and field competitions before, won all championships in the 400 meters, 800 meters, and 1500 meters in the first-year boys' division, surpassing all the long-distance runners in the school's track team. This shocked the teachers and students who were watching the competition.
Teacher Liu was both shocked and pleased, never expecting Peng Fengyun to have such ability. The school's physical education teachers were also at a loss; how did this unassuming Peng Fengyun, who had never been trained, manage to surpass the daily trained athletes by such a large margin? Most surprised of all was Peng Fengyun himself: How come I didn't know I was this good?
He naturally became a member of the school's track team and immediately represented Zhijiang Middle School in the June Zhijiang County High School Athletics Meet. Before everyone could come to terms with it, he won the 400 and 800 meters championships at the county high school athletics meet. Since a person could only register for two events, otherwise, he would have won more first places.
Peng Fengyun became famous throughout the county in an instant.
He subsequently participated in the school, county, and regional athletics meets several times, winning all the 400 and 800 meters championships.
In 1978, Peng Fengyun represented Huaihua District for the first time in the Hunan Provincial Games. While participating in the games, he also took the college entrance examination, applying to sports colleges. His first choice was Wuhan Institute of Physical Education, and his second choice was the Sports Department of Hunan Normal University.
Just as the college entrance examination results were being announced, the Hunan Provincial Games were in full swing. Sitting in the stands of the track and field stadium was a special spectator: Ms. Wen from the Beijing Institute of Physical Education, in charge of recruitment in the Hunan region.
In 1978, the Beijing Institute of Physical Education decided to open a new sports department, mainly admitting young people with good athletic performance and a certain cultural foundation, to train professional coaches for the future sports teams who also had cultural knowledge. This was a new major that had never existed before.
She arrived relatively late and was in a hurry, but she happened to catch the Hunan Provincial Games. She went directly to watch the competitions, scouting for talent on the field. She saw Peng Fengyun taking the lead and winning the 400 and 800 meters championships at the track and field stadium. Learning that he had taken the college entrance examination and applied to sports colleges, she immediately wrote out an admission notice and found the Provincial Admissions Office to get Peng Fengyun's file.
Thus, shortly after winning the provincial games championship, Peng Fengyun received an admission notice from the Beijing Institute of Physical Education, which he hadn't even applied to. It was said that Hunan Normal University's Sports Department also decided to admit him, but they were a bit slower, and the Beijing Institute of Physical Education had already taken the lead.
Peng Fengyun became the first candidate from Zhijiang County to be admitted to the Beijing Institute of Physical Education, bringing glory to Zhijiang. Besides thanking his parents, he was most grateful to Teacher Liu Qun, and Teacher Liu was also proud of him. Whenever Peng Fengyun talked about Teacher Liu, he would say, "Without Teacher Liu Qun, I wouldn't be where I am today."
After graduating from the Beijing Institute of Physical Education, Peng Fengyun worked successively in the Hunan Sports Commission for a few years, then transferred to the Education Bureau of Luohu District, Shenzhen. He is now the head of the Sports Market Section of the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture and Sports, with a happy family.
Teacher Liu's Midas touch changed Peng Fengyun's fate.
Peng is just one of students who changed his fate because Teacher Liu, most students in his class more or less have had their destinies changed by Teacher Liu. Students love Teacher Liu, they treat him as their own father, brother, and best friend.
In 2016, after graduated 40 years from Zhijiang High School, Peng Fengyun's high school class held a class reunion and specifically invited Teacher Liu Qun and his wife, who had retired for many years, and moved to Xiangtan, a city near Changsha, 400 kilometers away, to attend the reunion in Zhijiang. Considered their age, a few students specifically drove from Zhijiang to Xiangtan to pick them up before reunion, arranged them staying in Zhijiang for couple days, then sent them back after reunion. No retired teacher from Zhijiang High School has ever had such treatment.
Written in 2017
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