Weight of Fame

My name is Wang Kang, a free normal college student who just walked out of campus. When I was in college, I worked part-time as a tutor, saved up my savings, bought a house in the county, purchased a Volkswagen worth more than 200,000 yuan, and married my beloved girl early. With an educational ideal in mind, I returned to my hometown to teach in the best high school in the county and took over the top class of the school. When I was young, I mingled with students, and the children all affectionately called me "Brother Kang." From the first year of high school to the third year of high school, the grades of my classes have been rising steadily. Coming from an ordinary and poor family, this decent job, outstanding achievements, and a life that others envied greatly satisfied my vanity and earned me high recognition in my hometown. I thought life would move forward steadily along this glorious road. But when they returned to their hometown during the winter break of their senior year of high school for the New Year, a sudden conflict shattered all peace. My brother and I were helping to divert traffic on the roadside and got into an argument with passers-by from the next village. The agitated villagers stopped the opponent's vehicle and started a fight. An innocent passerby was beaten to fractures. It was only later that we found out that the injured person was not the party we originally argued with, and the other party demanded 800,000 yuan in compensation. The incident happened because of me, so my brother and I gritted our teeth and shouldered the huge compensation. Before the storm subsided, more absurd realities followed: the child of the injured person was actually attending my cram school. Facing me, the child remained normal and asked me for exercises calmly. In my opinion, this is a person who is completely ignorant of the world and has no regard for the embarrassing situation. I am even more suspicious of the other parent's suspicion of extortion. Full of depression, I repeatedly recounted the incident in another class I taught, hoping to let the students judge what was right and wrong. Ideals and reality, dignity and embarrassment, human feelings and interests collide fiercely in this small county town. A once high-spirited young teacher was dragged into the quagmire by a local dispute. How should I face the messy life in this place? Purpose: Based on the life events of young teacher Wang Kang, we analyze the tearing and conflict between local customs, worldly vanity and educational ideals in small towns, and explore the human struggle of people under the shell of glamor and respectability when facing local conflicts and interest entanglements.