Chapter 109: The Value of the Cloth Tiger

The classroom returned to quiet stillness.

Lin Xuan did not chase after him to finish him off.

Glancing at Xiao Sizi on the podium, Lin Xuan retreated to an empty seat at the back of the classroom.

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, returning the stage to Xiao Sizi.

Xiao Sizi's gaze settled on Xiao Ya in the fifth row.

Xiao Ya had buried her head low, her shoulders still trembling slightly.

Xiao Sizi stepped down from the podium and walked step by step back to her own seat.

She stopped beside Xiao Ya.

Xiao Sizi bent down and reached into the desk drawer where Xiao Ya kept her things.

"Don't…" Xiao Ya instinctively reached out to block her, her voice thick with a nasal tone.

Xiao Sizi gently brushed aside Xiao Ya's arm.

She grasped the cloth tiger tucked deep inside the drawer.

She pulled it out.

The fabric was worn, stitched together from scraps of different-colored cloth.

The cotton stuffing inside looked dry and shriveled.

Xiao Sizi carried the cloth tiger back to the podium.

She faced the forty-odd students in the class, along with the parents and homeroom teacher seated in the back.

She raised the old cloth tiger high above her head.

All eyes fell upon this unassuming, coarse fabric toy.

"The person who just ran away said this is garbage."

Xiao Sizi brought the cloth tiger closer and pressed the tip of her left index finger against the stitching on its back.

The stitching along its back was tight, each stitch closely spaced.

A single thread ran from start to finish, the beginning meeting the end perfectly.

Xiao Sizi scanned the class and said: "This is called the flat stitch."

Then her finger slid to the edge of the tiger's ear.

"The stitching along the ear's edge is made of two strands of cotton thread interwoven together."

"Even if you pull hard, it won't come loose; even after washing, it won't unravel."

"These slightly crooked but exceptionally sturdy stitches are called the overcast stitch."

The students seated below sat stunned.

The accompanying parents also strained to listen closely.

"The flat stitch and the overcast stitch were the most common embroidery techniques used by ordinary people in Tang Dynasty… in ancient times."

Xiao Sizi quickly corrected her earlier wording and continued.

Images surfaced in her mind: the outskirts of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, peasant women sitting at the doors of thatched huts, mending clothes by moonlight.

Ordinary families had no gold or jade to speak of.

"The women in the household gathered useless scraps of cloth and, beneath the oil lamp, stitched this cloth tiger stitch by stitch."

"The tiger is the leader among beasts, capable of devouring ghosts and warding off evil."

"The elders used the flat stitch to pray for their child's safety throughout the year, and the overcast stitch to firmly lock in the child's vital essence and soul."

"Each stitch sewn into this tiger was a talisman prayed for by elders, woven with the blood-bound kinship and the sincere love of those who cared for the child."

Xiao Sizi lowered her arm, her gaze fixed straight ahead.

Her mind recalled Lin Xuan's earnest teachings when she first arrived in the modern world.

Now, she had gained much insight.

"That red stone, cut by machines and stamped with a fake seal,

is merely an attempt to buy false vanity with money."

"But for thousands of years, the roots of Huaxia culture have never resided in the lifeless trinkets played with by the rich."

"They lie in the everyday hustle of common families, stitched thread by thread."

Xiao Sizi looked down at Xiao Ya. Set as homepage, get updates for "The Fragile Xiao Sizi Knocks, I Became the God of Ten Thousand Dynasties" first every day.

"This is the true priceless treasure."

The entire room fell into deathly silence.

Teacher Li, standing beside her, was filled with awe.

She had taught for many years and had never heard such culturally penetrating wisdom from a first-grader.

In the back, Lin Xuan straightened his body, a smile tugging at his lips.

Then he raised both hands and clapped loudly.

The crisp sound of applause shattered the silence.

Immediately, the attending parents reacted.

Applause surged like a tide.

Boys and girls joined in, clapping until their palms turned red.

They may not have understood every word, but they felt the truth—stripped of its monetary veneer—directly touching their hearts.

Xiao Ya lifted her head, tears slowly tracing down her cheeks.

Looking at her new desk-mate on the podium, holding up the cloth tiger she had made, Xiao Ya sniffed hard and then broke into a smile.

She no longer felt ashamed of this cloth tiger—it was the treasure her grandmother had stitched with bloodshot eyes.

Amid thunderous applause, Xiao Sizi walked back to her seat.

She placed the cloth tiger squarely back in the upper-right corner of Xiao Ya's desk.

Xiao Ya nodded heavily and reached out to stroke the soft ears of the cloth tiger.

This class meeting on traditional culture ended amid the prolonged applause.

On ordinary days, during recess,

several mischievous boys would shout and yell in the classroom, even shoving girls who sat quietly.

But today was different; several boys ran into the aisle, just about to roughhouse.

Catching sight of Xiao Sizi flipping through her book in the fifth row, they immediately fell silent and tiptoed quietly out of the classroom.

A few girls gathered around Xiao Sizi's desk.

"Lin Mingda, you spoke so well just now—I understood everything," said a girl with two pigtails in a hushed voice.

Xiao Sizi lifted her head and looked at the girls around her, all roughly her age.

She gave a slight nod and closed the book in her hands.

"If anyone ever takes your things or insults you, come find me."

The imperial education of the Great Tang emphasized strict hierarchy.

She had always been the obedient girl who obeyed the rules, confined within the deep palace.

But here, in this modern elementary classroom, without ranks or power plays,

she found her own place.

Not through her father the Emperor's edict, not through the swords of the Imperial Guards.

Purely through her accumulated knowledge, her precise and clear logic, and the sense of duty ingrained in her bones—to protect the weak.

She established absolute authority within this small group.

Lin Xuan stood at the back door of the classroom.

Watching Xiao Sizi, surrounded by girls, calmly handling everything.

He did not enter to disturb her; he slipped away quietly.

The Princess of the Great Tang had finally, in this world unlike her past, grown armor unique to herself—unbreakable by anyone.

Several weeks passed, and the Year One Class Three classroom was once again packed with people, the atmosphere lively.

Today was the first official parent-teacher meeting after the midterm exams.

Lin Xuan folded his long legs and squeezed in behind Xiao Sizi's small single desk.

Broad-shouldered, sitting with perfect posture,

he stood out sharply among the middle-aged, overweight parents.

On the desk's surface lay two exam papers, flat and even.

New chapter explodes with plot! Keep reading.