Happiness is really simple.

She never demanded any special treatment from the state or the school. She accepted what was provided by the system, but refused any special treatment or favoritism. Most of her colleagues and friends liked her, although some still made veiled remarks like "poor but arrogant," but she ignored them, not caring what others thought, only focusing on her work and her students.

This school year, the homeroom teacher of the fifth grade class is determined to ensure that no student drops out for any reason whatsoever. All students in the class must complete the elementary school program and be ready to enter sixth grade next year. The initial difficulty was the high number of absentees. The reasons for absence were often nonsensical, such as: "I stayed home to cut grass for the cows"; "It's been raining for the past few days, so I don't have dry clothes to wear to school…" Basically, any excuse was enough for students to be absent. Ms. Giang had to go to each student's home, investigate their circumstances, and persuade the family to create conditions for them to attend school. After a month, the class seemed more diligent, with students attending relatively regularly. Whenever a student was absent, she had to go to their home to find out the reason and take appropriate action.

One morning, Man Truong, a student in the class, was absent from school for no apparent reason, so at the end of the day, the teacher rushed to his house to check on him. When she arrived, Man Truong was lying under a blanket with a fever; he was home alone, his father, a forest ranger, was out working and wouldn't be back until evening. In desperation, she had to go buy medicine, some instant noodles, and 200 grams of pork to make porridge. As she spooned the porridge into his mouth, tears streamed down Man Truong's face. Seeing this, the teacher anxiously asked:

Why are you crying? Where does it hurt?

- No, sir – Man Truong replied.

Through conversation, I learned that she was crying out of emotion, out of deep affection for her teacher. She felt the teacher's love was like that of a kind mother, a mother she had never met. In the early afternoon, the teacher returned to school to work, and at the end of the day, she visited Man Truong's house. Man Truong's fever had subsided, and her father, Thanh, said:

- My son and I are very grateful to you. Truong lost his mother when he was just born, and raising him alone has been very difficult. I have to go to work every day, and he has to take care of himself. If it weren't for you today, I don't know what would have happened to him.

"It's nothing, sir. He's still very young and needs a lot of attention and care from adults. I hope you'll spend more time with him," Ms. Giang replied, and excused herself after reminding Truong to take his afternoon medicine.

On Vietnamese Teachers' Day, after the school's ceremony, the students didn't forget to bring gifts for their teacher. The gifts included bags of fruit picked at home, bouquets of wildflowers, bars of soap, and toothbrushes. These simple gifts were given to her awkwardly, but they moved her deeply. And especially, she received a gift from the post office , from an unknown sender, containing a bundle of fabric for a traditional Vietnamese dress and a card that read, "...I wanted to give you this gift but was afraid you wouldn't accept it, so I had to send it through the post office to thank you for coming to this distant land..."

Another student was absent from school; today it was Man Thi Ny. The other students in the class said Ny was staying home to help her parents. All morning, Ms. Giang was anxious, hoping the class would end quickly so she could go to Ny's house to see how things were. Ny's family was quite well-off financially ; her older sister, only 17, had already gotten married. Ny's mother told Ms. Giang:

- When Ny got married, the family had over thirty goats with no one to herd them, so Ny had to quit school to stay home and herd them.

Hearing this, Ms. Giang had to use every word she could to persuade Ny's parents to let her continue her studies, but to no avail. She had to ask Mr. Thanh, Man Truong's father, to go and talk to Ny's parents that afternoon, and only then was Ny allowed to go to school the next day.

In the class, there was Y Dan, who came from a very poor family. She often went to school without breakfast, and sometimes by the end of the day, her face was pale with hunger. Ms. Giang had to give her milk to help her feel normal again. Not only Y Dan, but many other students also didn't get breakfast before school, so when Ms. Giang received her salary, she would set aside some money to buy a carton of milk to keep in the classroom, in case any student was starving.

In early December, Y Dan missed two consecutive days of school. After school, she went to the student's home and saw how dire the situation was. The student had no rice to eat and had to stay home from school to pick bamboo shoots to exchange for rice. Feeling sorry for the student, she returned to school, borrowed money from a colleague, bought 10 kg of rice, and brought it to the family so that the student could have a chance to attend class.

Knowing that Ms. Giang often donates money to help poor students, Mr. Thanh, who is also the head of the parent association of the class, volunteered to support her, donating a carton of milk and 10 kg of rice each month.

With over twenty students in the class, there were so many things to worry about. At the end of the first semester, she was overjoyed that all her efforts had paid off; all the students in the class had completed the first semester's curriculum. Sometimes she would reflect on herself, constantly preoccupied with work, and at 26 years old, she still hadn't found love. Was she destined to spend her whole life in this remote, isolated place?

Spring has arrived again, but the atmosphere of preparing for Tet (Lunar New Year) in this rural area is rather gloomy. This region is mainly inhabited by ethnic minorities, and many families don't care about Tet. She had to buy colored paper to decorate the classroom, put a branch of wild plum blossoms in the corner, and teach the children songs about spring. She also received a gift from the post office from an anonymous stranger, along with a New Year's greeting card expressing both respect and admiration. Receiving the gift brought both joy and worry. She shared her concerns with Man Truong's father, Mr. Thanh, who said:

- Someone wants to thank you for caring for their children, but doesn't want to bother you, so they sent the gift through the mail. They don't want you to know who they are, so you shouldn't worry about it.

Hearing Thanh's words, she smiled, no longer concerned about who the givers were. She thought that the givers had good intentions, and she would find out sooner or later. Essentially, she had to live in a way that was worthy of the people in this place.

The joy was short-lived. Ninh Hai dropped out of school, and Ms. Giang had to go to his house again to persuade him to return. The house was closed for several days, and upon inquiry, she learned that the whole family had moved to a farm more than three kilometers away for easier access to their land. Ms. Giang then asked Mr. Thanh to guide her to Hai's family farm. Walking over two hills and wading through a stream, it took over an hour to reach them. Meeting Hai's parents, Ms. Giang and Mr. Thanh tried to persuade them, but ultimately failed. Hai's father's concern was food and clothing, not education, and certainly not Hai's future. As they parted, Ms. Giang secretly hid her tears. And so, the class lost a student.

On the way home, a snake crawling on a treetop accidentally fell and draped itself across her shoulder. Before the snake could slither away, Thanh, who was walking behind her, quickly grabbed its head and pulled it out, its tail wrapping around her neck. Giang was terrified; she screamed, jumped, and then burst into tears. Thanh, at a loss for words, said:

- This is a banded krait, it's not venomous, don't be scared.

After calming down, she chuckled to herself, thinking, "If Thanh hadn't been here today, I would have probably fainted."

It was May, and the old flame tree was ablaze with bright red blossoms, illuminating a corner of the schoolyard. The afternoon rain, heavier than usual, continued persistently until nearly evening. Ms. Giang hurried home before the rain had completely stopped. The road home was flooded in sections; her motorbike suddenly veered to the left, the water rushing across the road, sweeping it along. The stream, now shallow, was unusually ferocious. Ms. Giang let go of the handlebars, allowing her motorbike to tumble over, while she was swept away by the relentless current. The water pushed her down and then surged back up. Her hands frantically searched for something to hold onto, when suddenly a strong hand grasped hers, pulling her to a higher mound of earth. It turned out that, noticing the unusual flooding earlier that afternoon, as soon as the rain stopped, Mr. Thanh had rushed to the section of road with the shallow stream to help Ms. Giang cross. He knew she would inevitably pass this way. He arrived just as Ms. Giang was about to drop her motorbike. He quickly ran to her, intercepting her as the water flowed, and pulled her through the danger.

The farewell party was filled with mixed emotions. She was happy that all the students in her class had completed primary school, and in September they would be entering 6th grade. A fleeting sadness crossed her mind as she thought of Ninh Hai, wondering what her future held, whether she would turn 17 and get married like some girls in this area. This year, she had her performance rating cut because of a student dropping out of school. This didn't sadden her, but rather the fact that her student's departure had rendered all the hard work and dedication of the entire teaching staff of the school useless. She felt like a sinner.

At the end of the party, she invited the branch president for a private meeting to express her gratitude. When only the two of them were left in the schoolyard, Mr. Thanh took the initiative to tell Ms. Giang about his life. His family lived in the town, and after returning from military service, he applied to work as a forest ranger. During a forest inspection, his comrade slipped and fell into a ravine. In his dying moments, his comrade entrusted his three-year-old orphaned son to him to raise. Besides his work, he dedicated his time to caring for his adopted son, and seven years had passed. When Man Truong fell ill, he came home from work to find the house tidy and suddenly realized that the house needed a woman's touch. That afternoon, when he met her, he was deeply moved; her image was imprinted in his heart. For the first time in his life, he knew what it was like to be in love, to feel a flutter in his heart. Every time he met her, he had to suppress his emotions, trying to appear normal, but his heart was racing. The story went on, rambling, without beginning or end, sometimes ending in silence…

Actually, she had heard the story about Thanh adopting a child, and she could sense his feelings for her. She had already guessed who the anonymous gifts were from. The moonlight of the full moon shone through the trees, dappling the two of them. She let Thanh hold her hand, her mind blank but her heart overflowing with happiness.

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/hanh-phuc-that-gian-don-126479.html