Chapter 3: Dull, Not Dull

Listen to this song during the second half of the story!

Xiao Bo, Zhang Jun and Luo Qi Qi finally meet together for the first time, what will happen?

1. Things Originally Thought To Be Dull Aren't Dull.

There were many proverbs when I was little. I only realized after growing up, that they were only beautiful lies. For instance, "the more plowing and weeding, the better the crops." *
This proverb only considers the farmer's hard work as a variable, yet forgets to consider the change in weather, the rise and fall in prices, and other related variables.
In reality, the harvest is a function with lots of variables, not a function with a single variable.
I prefer to use precise mathematics to define it: plowing and weeding is a necessary condition, but it isn't sufficient. To derive the harvest, there must be plowing and weeding, but deriving harvest from plowing and weeding isn't for certain.
*[No gain without pain]

Of Primary No.4 Year 6 Class (1)'s more than thirty students, half got in to various key middle schools, and the other half entered ordinary middle schools. My results which just reached the minimum acceptance line got me into a key middle school- our city's High School No.1's middle school department. Zhang Jun and Guan He were also accepted by them. These didn't surprise me, what surprised me was that Xiao Bo actually got into High School No. 1's high school department with his results that were high above the minimum acceptance line.

High School No. 1 was very casual in admissions and the entrance exam wasn't any harder than other key middle schools, it was even slightly easier. However, high school was completely different, the enrollment rate was one of the top three highest in the province every year. In the eyes of many parents, being able to get into the high school department represented having one foot already successfully in university, so parents racked their brains trying to get their child into High School No.1, resulting in extremely fierce competition. Every year, students of the key middle schools and outstanding students from the ordinary middle schools had to act in a natural selection performance, a ruthless game of the survival of the fittest.

In order to give Xiao Bo a celebration, Brother Li held a big party at his newly opened karaoke lounge. He reserved two rooms and provided food and drinks, all for free.

At that time, 'karaoke' which had spread to China from Japan had just started to become popular in our city. Our parents' generation hadn't even understood what karaoke was but young people had already regarded it as a very fashionable, very reputable amusement. Brother Li's karaoke lounge wasn't the city's first, but it was the best renovated. That day, people of all sorts gathered. Wu Zei invited a bunch of bros and girls and felt his reputation was very bright. Additionally, the enchantress he had been chasing all this time had also come, so he kept holding on to the microphone, forgetting long ago who the main character for the evening was.

The room was small but there were many people who squeezed in. The smell of alcohol and cigarettes mixed together and finding it hard to breathe, I secretly snuck out and ran to the balcony for some fresh air. Xiao Bo also wobbled out from the other room, carrying a cup of alcohol and a cigarette. He took quite a lot of shots tonight, and although he forced himself to vomit twice, he still swayed as he walked. I laughed and called him "duck" (at the time, duck didn't have the other meaning yet.)*
*[Duck is a slang word for male prostitute]

I leaned on the railing breathing in the air. He stood for a while but his body turned soft so he slid down the railing and sat on the floor, smoking while chatting idly to me. I asked him how he got into No. 1, he laughed, "how you got in is how I got in."

I thought about how hard I toiled during that time and gloomily sighed, "aren't there any shortcuts in the world? Why must it always be "the more plowing and weeding, the better the crops"?
*[No pain without gain]

He was drinking alcohol and hearing what I said, he sprayed out the mouthful of alcohol and said coughing, "It's already very lucky to be able to apply "no pain without gain" to things in this world!"

The two of us both became silent, our minds wandering off over our own matters.

—

Brother Li brought a few people into the lounge and just as they were about to enter a room, one of the people saw me and greeting the person beside him, he hurriedly walked over. Because he didn't see Xiao Bo sitting on the floor and his steps were impatient, he tripped over Xiao Bo's leg and fell on the floor. Xiao Bo was drunk and didn't apologize, instead he started laughing loudly. I wasn't able to resist laughing either and as I laughed, I bent down, wanting to help the person up.

I wanted to look pretty that day so I didn't wear glasses and in that dim light, it was until I had bent down to help the other person up before I saw clearly that it was Zhang Jun. My laughter was immediately stuck in my throat and my hand hang stiffly in midair. He didn't take my hand and stood up himself then turned around and left without a word. Xiao Bo happily asked, "Qi Qi, who is that boy?"

My brain was still frozen and I didn't answer for a long time. Xiao Bo pulled my hand, "who is he?"

"My classmate."

Xiao Bo stood up wobbling, and drunkenly said, "don't get close to him, that person isn't good."

I started laughing, the sadness that filled my heart completely vanished. People's eyes really grew on their heads, they only see the bad in others. I irritably said, you're not a good person, I'm not a good person either, good people should be at home, not here drinking and smoking."

Xiao Bo was about to speak but a person made their way out of one of the rooms and as if having an epilepsy, he ran around the corridor half naked shouting "Xiao Bo", noticing that he was standing here, he immediately ran over. Xiao Bo muttered swear words and walked over.

I walked out from the karaoke lounge and passing the book rent store, I walked in and rented two sets of Qiong Yao's books, deciding to read into the night.

Coming out of the book rent store, I unexpectedly saw Zhang Jun standing on the street.

I ignored him and walked off. He blocked in front of me, "don't play with Wu Zei and Xiao Bo, they aren't good people."

What happened tonight? How come everyone's turned into bad people?

I held my chin up, "It's none of your business! I'll play with whoever I want."

Zhang Jun was unexpectedly learning to control his temper, and didn't flick his head and leave like in the past. Instead, he patiently persuaded me, "I'm doing this for your own good, you're a girl, it's better if you don't mingle foolishly outside. If you don't have any friends, you can go and find Guan He, she's a really good person."

I was angry and hurt. I glared at him and asked, "what kind of person do you think I am? I need you to do this for my good? You're trying to lecture me when you're like this?"

He turned and left at my sharp words.

I also walked quickly, but I became more and more unhappy. I violently threw down the book in my hand and kicked it.

—

Qiong Yao's novel didn't help to improve my mood. Instead, it made it worse. The next day, I wasn't able to concentrate on reading any books and I didn't have any friends either so I could only go and find Xiao Bo to play with. I got Xiao Bo's address from Wu Zei and went to look for his house.

When Xiao Bo opened the door, he was shirtless and his upper body was covered in sweat. Seeing that it was me, he was a bit dazed. I saw that he wasn't wearing anything and also felt very awkward. I stood outside the door, not knowing what to say. He immediately turned around and went back inside to put on a shirt and then came back.

In the moment when he turned around, I saw that he didn't have tattoos on his body like Brother Li and Wu Zei did. I didn't know why but my heart felt relaxed, like that feeling when we were playing cards and I knew he was on my team.

We talked at the door. I asked him if he could go and walk with me, he said that he had to do work. I thought that it was housework and said that I could wait for him. He opened the door and let me in. Up to this day, that scene is still vivid in my mind.

The living room was empty. It could be said that the house had nothing but four walls, making the living room seem large and open. There was however, two mountains of blue gloves in the middle of the living room. In the middle of the two mountains, there was a stool, making it seem like Xiao Bo was just sitting there.

People from the 80s should all have seen those kinds of blue flannel gloves, it was specially for doing heavy work. We have many at home, it was issued by my dad's company for labor safety equipment. Seemingly, in those years, many companies issued these kinds of labor safety equipment. My dad would wear them when he went to change liquefied petroleum gas.

From Xiao Bo's introduction, there were two large sequences of process to these gloves. First, the machine will cut a sheet of flannel into different parts of the glove. Then, the various parts had to be pressed together manually by the sewing machine. Xiao Bo's mother was currently on the balcony with a mask on, immersed in pressing the gloves together.

The gloves that were pressed together were inside out. Xiao Bo's job was to flip these gloves back then fold the right and left gloves together.

Because there were many fine threads in the flannel, they would be blown away by the wind. so no matter how hot the temperature was, the fan couldn't be opened, causing the room to be extremely hot and stuffy.

My eyes must have contained astonishment but Xiao Bo's expression was calm. He wasn't uncomfortable or ashamed, he casually found a stool and gave it to me then went back to sit between the two small mountains to continue flipping gloves. I brought the stool over to his side and copying what he was doing, I flipped gloves together with him.

We chatted as we flipped the gloves. I asked him how much money was earned from these gloves, Xiao Bo told me that his mother could earn 18 cents from pressing together a pair of gloves. A few years earlier, it was only 12 cents per pair of gloves.

I asked all the questions I had regarding the gloves and didn't know what else to say so I stopped talking. He also didn't speak and the two of us flipped gloves silently, until we finished the mountain of gloves. My body was covered in sweat and my dress stuck to my back, Xiao Bo's forehead was also filled with sweat.

I looked at the mountain of completed gloves in the middle of the living room and feeling a sense of accomplishment, I beamed at him. He also laughed, "I'll treat you to a popsicle." I nodded.

Outside, with the wind blowing on my back, I felt incomparably comfortable, it was the first time I thought the wind was so cute. We held one each, the cheapest popsicle, and sat by the riverside, eating it while enjoying the setting sun.

After doing half a day of work, and being covered in sweat, my mood mysteriously turned better. I couldn't resist laughing at everything Xiao Bo said. Seeing me laugh, Xiao Bo also laughed. The two of us kicked the water with our feet, seeing who could make the biggest splash and we both tried hard, wanting to get the other person wet first. When we were exhausted, we laid on the rock smiling, both in a daze.

The rocks had been basking in the sun all day, and were hot. Yet our clothes were wet and between the hot and coldness, it felt very pleasant. Xiao Bo put both his hands under his head and started to whisten. It was so out of tune that I had to listen for a while before I was able to realize what he was whistling seemed to be 'Love Song of Kangding', but with the sound of the water and in the warm breeze, I couldn't help but curve my lips upwards. Xiao Bo also smiled, his smile was brought through the sound of his whistling. I hummed to his whistling:
"High up on the mountain slide, floats a cloud so white, bathed in silver moonlight, there lies the Kangding town, the moon shines bright over Kangding town...."

Later, Wu Zei told me that Xiao Bo's father was an electrician, when Xiao Bo was three, an accident occurred during a wire maintenance and he died, electrocuted by the power line. Xiao Bo's mother was a housewife and had no job. Since then onward, she had to rely on doing odd jobs to raise Xiao Bo. During this time, she had sold popsicles, held a pancake stall, sieved sand on a construction sand and pressing together gloves, which was also her longest job. Wu Zei also said that her mind wasn't normal, either she didn't speak for days, not uttering a word to her son, or she would speak uncontrollably, and grab strangers to cry to about Xiao Bo's father. Wu Zei spoke with a lingering fear, clearly he had also been grabbed before.

When I think back to the scene that day, indeed Xiao Bo's mom had not said a word. When Xiao Bo left, he had told his mom but she didn't even raise her head.

For a long period of time after flipping gloves, when I went to purchase anything, I would first subconsciously change the price of the good into pairs of gloves. For instance, a bowl of cold noodles was 50 cents, which would be pressing three pairs of gloves; a bowl of beef noodles was two dollars, which would be pressing eleven pairs of gloves. Every time after converting, I became more prudent with how much I was spending and I would consider carefully if I should spend the money. My spending habits became more modest and I started being able to understand Xiao Bo valuing money more.

—

My summer break was very idle whereas Xiao Bo's summer break was very busy. He was learning to manage the Karaoke lounge business from Brother Li. Brother Li had many people by his side, no matter the age or qualifications, even over time, there were people far more suited than Xiao Bo, especially since Xiao Bo was still at school but curiously, Brother Li always treated Xiao Bo differently. Brother Li talked impatiently to others, sometimes he would even loudly yell the person was pigheaded, but he would always patiently answer Xiao Bo's questions. Xiao Bo was very smart though, and no matter where Brother Li spoke, as long as he has said the words before, Xiao Bo will remember it forever.

Wu Zei had already graduated from technical school and officially started doing business with Brother Li. Brother Li let him and Xiao Bo manage the karaoke lounge together. Although Wu Zei was older than Xiao Bo and usually acted like an older brother, when something really happened, it was always Xiao Bo who made the decisions.

Along with them, my main activity venue shifted to the karaoke lounge. The conditions improved a lot, at least when many people didn't know who Tsui Hark* was yet, I already watched quite a few of his films in addition to numerous Hong Kong and Taiwanese gangster films.
*[Tsui Hark (徐克) is a film director, producer and screenwriter. A few of his movies include Once Upon a Time in China (武状元黄飞鸿), A Better Tomorrow/ True Colors of a Hero (英雄本色) and his most recent Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (龙门飞甲) ]

The charisma Chow Yun Fat's Mark* had was greadly admired by hooligans like Wu Zei. They often wore all black, had a pair of sunglasses on and a toothpick in their mouth, acting cool and deep, lest when they walked on the streets, people didn't know they had mental issues.
*[Mark is the character Chow Yun Fat played in A Better Tomorrow/ True Colors of a Hero (英雄本色). Search up some images of the character and laugh as you imagine Wu Zei strolling down the street like that]

Brother Li dressed in normal clothes that couldn't be any more normal, lest people saw him as the head of the psychos. Looking at his men, Brother Li often couldn't help but laugh, his favorite phrase was, "don't think that after watching two gangster films, you can mix into the mafia."

The enchantress officially became Wu Zei's girlfriend. She was three years older than Wu Zei and he was extremely pleased about it. It seemed like at that time, if a guy was able to find a girlfriend older than himself, he'd have lots of face in front of others. I didn't know why at the time but now I roughly understand, adolescent boys were probably impatient to prove they've already grown up. Having a girlfriend that's older than themselves will make them feel that they've surpassed people of their age.

Once, I was whispering to Xiao Bo behind Wu Zei's back about the enchantress. Wu Zei heard this nickname and not only was he not angry, he was pretty pleased, feeling that his babe really was enchanting. He stopped using her real name and actually started calling her "enchantress".

I didn't meet Enchantress frequently but gradually, we chatted a bit. I found out from her that Brother Li had gone to prison before. They all thought that once he came out, he would try and recover his lost territory but nobody expected that in these few years, he actually started doing proper business, moreover his businesses were very successful. I was very curious to how Xiao Bo got together with them, in my opinion, people who were able to get into No. 1 High School's high school department shouldn't be in the same league as Brother Li and Wu Zei. Enchantress also didn't know, only saying that Xiao Bo was very good at fighting and his attacks were ruthless. Back in the day, people who came out to mess around all knew that Xiao Bo was good at fighting.

Nowadays, Xiao Bo was really a good man so I listened dazedly. Enchantress looked at me and laughed, "I heard from Wu Zei that you're also very vicious at fighting, last time if it wasn't for Brother Li, you'd have a human life on your hands."

Actually, it wasn't viciousness, but honor doesn't permit turning back and leaves no way out, half forced by the situation and half due to my personality, but in the eyes of the outsiders, the situation gradually changed as it was spread. I suddenly understood Xiao Bo's viciousness, he lost his dad in Year 3 and his mom had a mental illness, so he also didn't have any way out at all.

In many people's memories, the summer break of Year 6 was splendid because it was the ending of an old chapter and a start of a new one, and in between, there were no summer homework, no study stress, there was only anticipation of the future as well as play, play, play!

My memories however, were very plain, I only remember the only time I met with Zhang Jun as well as the mountain of blue gloves in Xiao Bo's house and his out of tune whistling.

Many years later, when I went singing with a group of friends, my friend selected 'Love Song of Kanding' for me. I laughed and sang, while singing, the mountain of blue gloves appeared in front of my eyes along with the out of tune whistling. My sound was suddenly choked with emotion. At that time, I realized the things originally thought to be dull aren't dull.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is another version of Love Song of Kangding, sung by Song Zuying and Placido Domingo and accompanied by Lang Lang on the piano. I found this version more bittersweet, and perhaps due to the slower tempo and Song Zuying's soulful voice, I felt that this was a more fitting version

as Luo Qi Qi remembers back to her summer in the last part of the story ^.

Lyrics:
"High upon the mountain side
Floats a cloud so white
There lies peaceful Kangding town
Bathed in silver moonlight
Moonlight shines bright
Over Kangding town,
Lovely maid with a smile so sweet
Li the wood cutter's daughter
Zheng the blacksmith's eldest son
Came through moonlight to court her
Moonlight shines bright
Over Kangding town.
He fell in love with her smile so sweet
And her pleasing ways,
She could cook and she could sew
Care for him all of his days,
Moonlight shines bright
Over Kangding town.
Lovely maidens of the world
I cannot but love you
Gentlemen of the world
They cannot but woo you. "
()

Wow, all this time I thought Qi Qi had it hard, but it turns out Xiao Bo had it harder. How scary must it have been for Xiao Bo watch his mother turn mentally ill as a small child. How did he even cope with it? What a strong boy.

I guess none of our three main leads (?) have a good family life- Qi Qi's parents are present but they only have eyes for her little sister, Zhang Jun's parents are never there and Xiao Bo has no father and his mother is mentally ill.

This is extremely long so you might have to read it in sections. Luo Qi Qi starts middle school and this part is dedicated to her new (and old) friendships.

Since different countries have different schooling systems, the year levels/grades might vary. In China, there are three years to middle school so I'll be using Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 to make it simpler. (There's not much mention of primary school year levels here but I will clearly state whether it's Year 1 of middle school or Year 1 of primary school so you don't get confused.)

2. My Friendships

Female friendships are very complicated, starting from when they are still little girls.
Male friendships are generally like playing soccer, the rules and baselines are clear, co-operation is based on strength. and battle cries are mixed with sweat.
Female friendships are generally like cooking, There is no set way, no rules, sour, sweet, bitter, spicy are all acceptable, the flavor can be so complicated that apart from the chef, no oone else knows what exactly she put in it.
Guan He, Zhang Jun and I were assigned to different classes. I was in Class (1) and I could only thank heavens that there were no primary classmates in my class.

The middle school department building had a total of three floors, the first floor was Year 1 second floor was Year 2 and the third floor was Year 3.

The shape of the building had a similar structure to the English letter 'Z', but the middle of the 'Z' is vertical. Classes (1) to (3) are in a corridor, which is the top line of the 'Z', followed by the teachers' offices after a turn of the corner. Then, after another turn, there are five classrooms joined to each other, the classes (4) to (8). Each corner has its own exit corridor. Guan He was in Class (5) and Zhang Jun in Class (8). They were both in the same corridor, I was in the other corridor so our chances of meeting should be very slim.

The corridor exit closest to Class (1) leads to an imitation of a classical garden with a pavilion and a small pond. There were two exits on Guan He and Zhang Jun's corridor, the front one also lead to the classical garden and the back on lead to a small sports field which had eight cement table tennis tables. Surrounding it was an aspen forest. Beyond the aspen forest were the volleyball courts, science and technology building, laboratory, dormitories, dining hall, and so on.

—

I was looking forward to the start of a new life, hoping that this new start would give me a completely different experience to primary.

Our homeroom teacher was our English teacher, a man with small eyes, surname Cui. He had just graduated from a college for professional training and was assigned to our school. The school principals entrusted him with the responsibility of being a homeroom teacher so he was very serious and none of our small tricks in class escaped past his eyes.

Before we had even finished learning all the phonetic symbols, the class had already made a nickname for him, they said that his tiny eyes were like light beams so they called him by the fine sounding name, 'Treasure Bowl'.

This Treasure Bowl had a big influence on my life, he made an unerasable contribution to the shaping of my quick and fierce personality, but I'll talk about the story regarding him later.

The first teacher who I had mixed feelings for, was my Chinese teacher, Ceng Hong. She looked very manly, had short hair and liked to smoke, she was the only female teacher I knew who smoked.

Every September when the new students started school, there would always be a general student assembly. The Principal will speak to announce the start of a new school year, then there will be a representative who will speak on behalf of graduating Year 3 classes and express their determination and efforts towards the high school entrance exams. There will also be a student from Year 1 to speak on behalf of the new students. Lastly, the top student* from last semester will go up to receive their award. No matter who the student was, as long as they went up the stage, it was a great honor and meant that they were good students.
*['three good student': top academics, attitude and physical education.]

That year, the school leader gave the honor of choosing the new student representative speaker to Teacher Ceng. She didn't think much of it and during a self revision time in Chinese class, she picked girls who were pleasing to the eye to read the text out loud and then, without even raising her head, chose me.

At the time, I seriously suspected the teacher had her head hit on the door. After the lesson, I went to find her. She was smoking, relaxed.

I said, "Teacher Ceng, I can't be the new student representative speaker."

She asked, "why can't you?"

I said, "because my grades aren't good."

She blew out a puff of smoke and asked the male teacher who was smoking with her, "does the school have a rule that only the top student in the year can be the new student representative speaker?"

The male teacher smiled, "nope."

Teacher Ceng shrugged her shoulders, "heard that? They don't have this rule."

I had an urge to roll my eyes and patiently said, "I've never spoken in front of people before."

She replied, "everyone has a first time, isn't this good, letting you start your first time." After speaking, she impatiently shooed me away, "you're the one! Quickly go and use your energy in writing the draft, don't bother us preparing our lessons ."

I really rolled my eyes, preparing lessons? More like smoking!

Meeting a teacher who had smashed her head on the door, I had no choice but to go back write my draft. After finishing the draft, Teacher Ceng glanced at it, casually corrected a few errors and said that it was fine. Seeing my bitter face, she finally opened her mouth again, "don't be nervous, it's no big deal. You can just stand on the stage and laugh foolishly at the audience. When you're tired from laughing, you're also finished."

My mouth twitched, laugh, I'll laugh!

At the time, in our middle school department, there were eight classes per year level and over 40 students per class. In the big auditorium, facing over a thousand people, plus having a spotlight over my head, I felt my legs shaking.

At the start, I still remembered Teacher Ceng's words, I just had to smile at them. Afterwards, my head dropped lower and lower until it was almost inside my clothes, my mind was a mess and I didn't know what I was talking about.

During the speech, I was very, very, extremely, extremely, embarrassing because I heard that everyone could hear my trembling voice, every time I trembled, I would skip a few words. My voice started off loud then became soft, in the middle, they could only see my lips move but couldn't hear what I was saying.

However, I only found out about this much later. The me at the time had no idea, although my body was shaking on the stage, but when I got off, I was pretty pleased inside, since this was the first time I've spoken in front of so many people before. Teacher Ceng also smiled and said that I was pretty good. With her assurance, my self confidence swelled. I pondered over whether Zhang Jun and Guan He had seen me speak. I didn't know what the feeling was but it was always me watching them, today, it was finally them watching me. The more I pondered, the happier I was, my vanity erupted. If the me at the time has known that I was that embarrassing, I would definitely headbutt Ceng Hong, two dead corpses are better than such an embarrassment.

After the new student speech, my classmates all thought that Teacher Ceng liked me. Teacher Ceng had a special position in the middle school department because her personality was quick and fierce and she was also some school leader's relative. Even the head of Chinese let her have her way so under her attention, I could count as a popular figure in the class.

I became acquainted with three girls, one was the prettiest girl in our class, Li Shen, her grades were also pretty good. One who was not only pretty but also had the best grades out of the girls in our class and could also sing and dance, Lin Lan, and a girl have good grades but her family was very rich, called Ni Qing.

I had experienced a lonely primary life and really longed for friends. Actually, my personality wasn't in step with theirs but I hid my true thoughts and because a group with them. I joined them in rating other girls discussed which guy was the most cool, and lead the class opinions. It can be said that the boys in the class all helped us and none of the girls dared to offend us.

There are school shows which are currently very popular on teenage channels in America right now, which are about the story of the so called popular girl. I often watch them with great interest. My friend laughed at why I watch such shallow shows but she didn't know that from these beautiful and arrogant girls who schemed to be in the limelight and competed against each other in clothes and guys who chased them, I saw the arrogant and shallow youth I once had.

Treasure Bowl chose a slightly fat girl to be the class monitor. Her grades weren't as good as Lin Lan's but she was very responsible and had been the class monitor before in primary. However, Lin Lan couldn't accept it so she always found all kinds of excuses to suppress her.

For instance, when the class monitor wore purple pants and a pink top, Lin Lan would laugh and say to us, "red and purple makes dog poo!"

For instance, when the class monitor wore a horizontally striped shirt, Lin Lan would sarcastically say, "zebras can wear horizontal stripes because they're skinny, when did elephants dare to wear horizontal stripes? Or do you think that your large size isn't visible enough?"

The three of them were professionals in the area of clothing. I actually didn't know anything but I laughed along with them.

The class monitor was forbearing in the beginning but later, she finally became enraged by Lin Lan that she took advantage of her authority as a class monitor to attempt to strike back. However, it was her again us four plus with the guys in the class who liked Lin Lan and Li Shen so she ended up humiliating herself. All the girls in the class alienated her, thinking that she was fat, stupid and ugly so they were ashamed to play with her.

She gradually became quiet and stopped paying attention to the four of us, even if we were talking during self revision or passing notes during class, she'd pretend she didn't see. Li Shen and Ni Qing turned even more arrogant whereas I saw something familiar in the silent and sorrowful eyes of the class monitor.

I don't know what happened but the entire city of 6 year old girls to 60 year old grannies all started wearing fitness pants*, the girls in the school were no exception, everyone all wore leggings. The class monitor's mom also bought her a pair.
[*健美裤- Tight, stretchy fitness pants, almost like leggings.]

Everyone were all wearing them so originally there was nothing to it. However, Li Shen mocked the class monitor, "having legs that are the same width as elephants yet is actually copying others in wearing fitness pants, why don't you properly go look at yourself in the mirror."

Under everyone's laughter, I seemed to see something shining under the class monitor's quickly lowered eyes. In an instant, I suddenly felt that it wasn't the class monitor who was ugly, it was us. Li Shen wanted to continue mocking, I said, "she's already given in, don't keep unrelentingly chasing her. Leaving her some leeway is also leaving a way of retreat for yourself."

Li Shen was discontent with me, Lin Lan however, looked deeply at me, and said to Li Shen, "in the future, if she doesn't provoke us, then we should stop giving her a hard time."

Our battle with the class monitor ended victoriously for us and the girls in the class became more in awe and wanted to be friendlier with us.

Although we were children, perhaps our minds and battle methods weren't as cruel as in the adult world, but the cruel results weren't any inferior. I believe that our class monitor was originally a confident and happy child, perhaps when she was younger, her parents and teachers would praise her for being dedicated and earnest but due to our heartless attacks and the classmates teasing, she gradually became self inferior. Perhaps everyday when she looks at the mirror when changing, she would feel dread, not knowing what the classmates will say about her today. She will feel self inferior and humiliated about her body. Because of her self inferiority, she started having no confidence towards anything she did and started becoming over cautions. This kind of emotional hurt is brutal enough to change a person's life orbit, to the extent that it can destroy a person and in smaller cases, it can leave a period of youth that you can't bear to look back on.

When I understood to have a sense of shame, the class monitor had already disappeared into the long river of time. I could never again say I'm sorry to her, it could only become a remorse in my memory that will never disappear.

—-

In pretty much every circle of girls, there would always be a key figure. In our circle, although this wasn't said, but everyone was well aware that the pretty, smart, eager with good grades Lin Lan was the key figure. Li Shen and Ni Qing both listened to her to the point where Li Shen wanted to curry favor with her seemingly fearing that Lin Lan wouldn't play with her.

Ni Qing wasn't pretty and her grades weren't good but she had money. She would often treat us to ice cream and cold drinks etc. Perhaps Li Shen thought that she was rather stupid inside but on the outside, she treated her very well. However, I had very little to give to Li Shen so I became Li Shen's 'imaginary enemy'. She kept wanting to push me out of this little circle but because Lin Lan always treated me well, so she was helpless and could only be even better to Lin Lan, hoping that Lin Lan would alienate me.

In the beginning, we had a female homeroom teacher so our internal struggles could only subtly exist and everyone pretended everything was fine.

Without the female homeroom teacher,our internal conflicts quickly escalated. Li Shen somehow partnered up with Ni Qing and the despise the two of them had towards me became greater and greater. In their words contained obvious taunts but because I wasn't an eloquent speaker, I could only pretend to not understand their taunts. Lin Lan saw everything but she was high up, overlooking us three, pretending not to be aware of anything. Only when Li Shen and Ni Qing went too overboard would she help me for the sake of maintaining the balance.

In the eyes of outsiders, the four of us were super close friends, passing notes during class, playing together during break, even when going to the bathroom, we would wait for each other. We listened to popular song together, bicker with the most handsome boys in the class together, when one person was bullied, four would fight back together. Many girls envied our little circle, longing to play with us. However, only we knew in our hearts what appeared to be a splendid friendship hid.

I worked hard and carefully to maintain my 'friendships'. With them, I was very exhausted but without them, I will be very lonely.

I looked forward to the completely different lifestyle of middle school all along and I did indeed achieve it. Nowadays, I could count as one of the most popular, most powerful girls. The Chinese teacher liked me, the female classmates all tried to be good to me but I didn't feel that I was very happy.

—-

The top student in our class was a boy called Chen Song Qing. We were only classmates for two years even up to now, I still remember him, only because the words he had said to me.

Once, there was a boy with a birthmark on his face who gave Li Shen a love letter. She read it while giggling then gave it to Lin Lan. Li Lan looked at it while reading it out in a loud voice. The whole class rocked back and forth with laughter. The boy's face turned from red to white, then from write back to red. His head dropped so low it was almost touching the table.

Looking at him, I laughed with everyone else on the outside but inside, I felt frustrated, is this the result of liking someone better than you!?

Chen Song Qing suddenly asked me, "do you think that this is really fun?"

I froze, he sat behind me but we pretty much never talked before, I only know that his grades were very good.

He asked me again, "do you think that the teasing you and Lin Lan, Li Shen and the others do to others and show your superiority is very interesting? Does a person need to step on other peoples dignity in order to establish their own brilliance? Don't you think you're very childish and shallow?"

I couldn't answer, he continued, "use your cleverness and energy on things that matter." After he finished, he lowered his head to read as if nothing had just happened.

Lin Lan was still reading out the love letter, the whole class was still laughing, but he was only concentrated on looking at his textbook, silently memorizing English words.

Right up to when the bell ran for self study, his words kept playing over and over in my head. During self study, I suddenly turned back and asked him, "what are things that matter?"

He said, "if you don't know the answer, then go to the school's library to search."

We have a library in the school? It looks like I sure am ignorant and ill informed.

—

The next day during break, for the first time, I didn't play with Lin Lan and the others, instead, I went to the library. According to the introduction, our school's library is the best middle school library in the province. It had first class computers hardware, it was spacious and bright, the tables and chairs were comfortable, but there were only a few odd students. Chen Qing Song was in a corner reading. I didn't go disturb him, I walked around the library looking up at the rows of tall book stands full of books, it was my first time experiencing what was called a sea of books. I didn't read or issue any books, I only walked around the library once then left.

—

Perhaps I was already tired of feeling left out because of Li Shen, perhaps I understood that this wasn't what I wanted, perhaps it was because of the words that Chen Song Qing said but I started to distance myself from Lin Lan and the others. During break, I would often go to the library to read however after a while, I still couldn't completely give them up, I wasn't strong or independent enough. My vanity made me reluctant to part with the liveliness and limelight when being together with them so during break, I would sometimes still play with them.

Li Shen really liked to tell us which boy was chasing her and would show us the love letter the boy wrote. Lin Lan had scorn in her eyes but her tone was very warm, enticing Li Shen to say more.

I don't know what kind of mindset middle school girls had, perhaps they looked up to authority and power by nature. They weren't really interested in boys of the same year level and preferred guys of higher year levels. Li Shen liked to talk more about which boy from a higher year asked others to send her a message, wanting to treat her to shaved ice and ask her out to sing karaoke.

That day, the four of us were eating ice cream while sitting in the pavilion chatting about guys when a boy in a white shirt and white pants rode in on a bicycle. Li Shen immediately turned quiet.

That boy parked his bicycle and laughed and greeted a classmate before walking into the large building. He was very tall, his jet black hair was slightly wavy, he had deep eyes, a straight nose, wore a pair of golden glasses and his smile was bright and sunny.

If I had to use a few words to describe him, I would immediately thing of the 'prince charming' in shoujo manga. I know that this is quite funny but it really was my first impression.

The three of them all stared at him, I couldn't resist but ask, "who is he?"

Li Shen viciously glared at me, discontent that I didn't know him but also immediately wanted to explain, "Chen Yuan Zhe, my primary classmate, our relationship is very good." Her expression was different from her usual looking down on same year level boys and her tone was close to worship.

Ni Qing smiled, "he's currently Year 1 class (6)'s class monitor, I heard that out of the girls in class (6), at least half of them like him."

Li Shen didn't talk, seemingly very unhappy about it.

Lin Lan laughed, she rolled her eyes at me and teased Li Shen, "could it be that you like him?"

Li Shen unhappily replied, "I haven't! I just have a good relationship with his little sister."

Ni Qing thoughtfull asked, "I heard that class (2)'s Chen Yuan Si is his little sister, why is he in the same year level as his little sister? Are they twins?"

Li Shen shook her head, "no, Chen Yuan Zhe is older than Chen Yuan Si by two years."

"Huh? Two years older? He's repeated years?"

Li Shen seemed to be scared that people would look down at Chen Yuan Zhe and immediately said, "no! He was in the same year level as his little sister since Year 1, his grades are very good. Apparently he was ill when he was little and did lots of surgery and went to school after he was better so he started a little later than us."

No wonder this guy looked different to the other boys, it turns out that he was so much older than us. I didn't hear what they said later, because I saw Zhang Jun.

Zhang Jun was walking and talking with a Year 3 flower girl. They walked over to the side of the pond and the girl sat down. Zhang Jun stood in front of her and the two of them laughed gracefully. Zhang Jun showed a maturity that was different to his age and standing next to the Year 3 girl, he didn't seem the slightest bit younger. The girl would half annoyed, half playfully hit him from time to time, or use her elbow to prod him, Zhang Jun would laugh and there was an ambiguity in their actions.

Ni Qing called out in a low voice, "Zhang Jun!" The three of them stopped talking and actually stared fixedly at him with me. I only understood then that it turns out Zhang Jun is famous in our year.

The growth of boys seems to be just in a flash, not long ago, he still had prickly, hedgehog hair and a lanky tall figure but in the blink of the eye, he had a slender figure and an outstanding bearing.

Actually, he was still the him in my eyes but in eyes of Lin Lan and the two, Zhang Jun was now no longer the him in primary.

Ni Qing sighed, "it's a shame I heard he doesn't like little girls and only plays with girls outside of school."

Lin Lan asked, "Luo Qi Qi, you graduated from Primary School No. 4 right? Isn't Zhang Jun also from No.4?"

I immediately replied, "we're not close, we haven't talked before."

Li Shen and Ni Qing both had an expression that seemed to say, "Luo Qi Qi is like this, how is it possible for her to talk to Zhang Jun?" Seeing them like this, I couldn't help but say, "he's repeated years in primary, he mixes around outside and likes to smoke and fight.

I never thought they would become more enthusiastic, "Ah? What else do you know? Does he have a girlfriend? What kind of girl does he like?"

I was shocked by this surprising reaction and gaped at them.

Middle school and primary school seem to be completely different eras. In primary, everyone liked boys who were teacher's pets and had outstanding grades so pretty much all the girls in the class liked Chen Jin. However in middle school, girls were no longer interested in boys who had good grades like Chen Song and called him a nerd. They started to pursue the phrase, 'boys aren't bad, girls won't love', Zhang Jun clearly fit this criteria perfectly.

Zhang Jun looked towards the pavilion at us and we immediately closed our mouths guiltily. Hes eyes stopped on us on a second before he turned back around smiling. Ni Qing excitedly said, "Li Shen, Lin Lan, he was definitely looking at you guys."

I thought back to Guan He and remembered her beauty and kindness, being neither humble nor haughty and suddenly felt that I was truly hideous so I wanted to quickly leave.

When I was nearly at the entrance of the building, I passed by a very pretty girl. My heart thumped wildly but I didn't know why it was thumping and could only continue walking. As I walked, I finally couldn't resist stopping and turning around. Unexpectedly, that girl also hesitantly stopped walking and turned around to look at me. We stared at each other and our eyes were both filled with confusion.

Suddenly, she loudly shouted, "Qi Qi!" and charged towards me.

"Xiao Fei!" I also charged towards her.

Then, under the middle school department building, under numerous people's stares, we tightly hugged. We shrieked as if there was no one else present, hugging and cuddling, laughing and jumping. As we laughed and laughed, we started painfully crying, as if the tears of farewell many years ago still didn't finish flowing.

After we both calmed down, we realized that everyone was staring at us. Xiao Fei stuck her tongue out at me. I was very embarrassed but couldn't resist the urge to laugh.

We held hands and ran out from everyone's line of vision, into the little forest.

She asked me, "which class are you in?"

"Class (1), you?"

She had a face of disbelief, "I'm in class (20), just next to yours."

How unbelievable!

It's been a few months since school started,the two classes were separated by a wall, the teachers were all the same, I was even the representative of the new students and spoke in front of all the students but we only found each other today. She told me that during the opening ceremony, she was below listening to me speak but she didn't look to see what I looked like and didn't listen closely either so she didn't hear my name.

Although we parted for four years, there were no barriers between us. We were so close it was as if we only parted yesterday. She was the same as when she was little, talking endlessly, impatiently wanting to fill me in on my four years of absence from her life. I was also the same, quietly listening, sharing her joys and sorrows.

Very quickly, the one hour break ended and the bell rang. We walked back holding hands and she urged me again and again to wait for her after school. I happily nodded.

After going back to class, Lin Lan asked me, "is your relationship with Ge Xiao Fei very good?"

I smiled and said clearly, "she is my best friend, you know her?"

Lin Lan laughed, "her admission score was the highest in class (2). When school started, the homeroom teacher of class (2) asked her to be the class monitor, she actually refused, saying that she's been a class monitor since Year 1 in primary so she's too tired to continue."

I couldn't resist laughing, this was just like Xiao Fei.

—

Meeting Xiao Fei again, I completely distanced myself from Lin Lan and the others.

Everyday after class, I would be together with Xiao Fei, even in the 10 minutes between classes, we still came together to chat for a while. Soon, not only the class (1) and class (2) students, even the teachers knew that Xiao Fei had a super close friend called Luo Qi Qi.

We stuck together all day, whispering to each other. After we finished talking about the past, we started talking about present things. It was the period of first loves so our topics naturally couldn't stay away from boys. Xiao Fei showed me the love letters she received, it sure was a splendid sight!

I read, she listened, there were a few nauseating parts where she pretended to vomit. Some sentences were clearly copied and she would ridicule it mercilessly. If other girls were like this, I may perhaps have thoughts about it but no matter what she did, in my eyes it was all cute and charming.

We read the love letters while laughing together. Xiao Fei asked me, "are there any boys who like you?"

I shook my head.

She asked, "are you sad?"

I shook my head.

She asked, "is there anyone you like?"

I thought about it then shook my head, I had long decided to not like Zhang Jun anymore.

I saw her expression and guessed her intentions, "you have someone you like?"

She beamed but didn't say anything.

"Who is it?"

"A boy from Year 3. He used to be my neighbor. Do you still remember the story I told you a few days ago?"

"Yup, you offended a girl from your class and she called her big brother over to hit you however your neighbor scared them away, he is student Ge Xiao Fei's protector!"

Xiao Fei laughed, "it's him, he's called Wang Zheng."

Xiao Fei's big eyes glittered, anticipating my reaction. I didn't have much reaction so she was disappointed and hit my head, "why are you still like this, not caring about anything. Wang Zheng ah! Our school orchestra's drummer. God! All the girls in the middle school department know him okay? Do you know how cool he is when he's playing the drums! It's too awesome!"

In those days, 'cool' had just become popular. When we said cool, we often felt that we were also very cool.

"Is he cool?"

Xiao Fei pretended to be in a lot of pain and collapsed on me, "very cool! Extremely cool! I started secretly loving him since Year 4 in primary. He doesn't pay any attention to me. In the past, we were neighbors so I still had an excuse to contact him but now that we've moved to this city, we're no longer neighbors so I don't have any excuses."

I objected, "you're so pretty and cute, he will definitely like you." In my heart, Xiao Fei was near perfection, I can't see why any guy would reject her.

Xiao Fei immediately giggled, "yes, yes, I also think so. Perhaps he's long had feelings for me but seeing that I'm still the nation's flower bud, he doesn't dare ravage me. Now, I am already grown up, he is welcome to." Ge Xiao Fei shouted to the sky, "welcome to ravage me!" My stomach hurt from laughing. She clenched her fists energetically, "no, I must work hard! I have too much competition, it's like taking meat from a pack of wolves."

I laughed, she knew more than anyone else but her actions were completely opposite to her thoughts.

—

The results from midterm exams came out, out of the forty or so people in our class, I was ranked in the twenties. My mom and dad were very pleased with my results and I had nothing to be dissatisfied about. Chen Song was the first in our class, Lin Lan was second and Xiao Fei was first in her class. I inquired around about Guan He's results and unsurprisingly, she was the first in her class. I couldn't resist asking about Zhang Jun's results, he was also ranked in the twenties.

After the 'passionate love' Xiao Fei and I experienced after reuniting, things gradually turned back to normal. We stopped wanting to stick to each other for all twenty four hours. She liked to go get friendly with the Year 3 girls and boys, seizing opportunities to ask about Wang Zheng's news. I liked to dawdle in the library, I would pretty much spend the hour break each day in the library.

My life became simple and happy. When Xiao Fei had time, I would stay together with her, if she didn't have time, I would go to the library. After Chen Jin's advice, my reading speed became very fast. I finished the thick 'The Count of Monte Cristo' in just a few hours so my demand of books was very large and the books I read were more and more complex, I would even read Plato to Xi Murong's works, no matter if I could understand it or not.

I still didn't like to go home. After school, I would rather hang around outside than go home. My mom and dad saw that my grades were passable so they weren't worried.

Xiao Fei was also the same as before and didn't like to go home. However, she now had lots of friends so she wasn't together with me often.

Xiao Bo pretty much spent all his spare time at the karaoke bar. Since I didn't like to go home, naturally I often stayed there.

Through me, Xiao Fei became acquainted with Xiao Bo and Wu Zei. I wasn't very interested in singing but Xiao Fei really liked to. In those days, going to the karaoke bar was a lot of money to students but I could take Xiao Fei singing for free.

Every time Xiao Fei went, Xiao Bo would always provide free drinks and snacks. Xiao Fei beamed with joy while eating and secretly said to me, "how about you become Xiao Bo's girlfriend, then I wouldn't have to feel bad eating."

I chased after her, "you're selling me off for a few dried apricots, it's my bad luck meeting you as a friend."

Xiao Fei dodged all around the room, not forgetting to also stuff raisins into her mouth. I caught up to her and hit her unkindly. She was in pain so she started to randomly shout, "Wang Zheng, Wang Zheng, Wang Zheng..."

I raised both hands and got into a fierce stance, coldly giggling, "Wang Zheng isn't here and besides, he's not your boyfriend so even if he was here, he wouldn't help you."

She bit her lip smiling, I pinched her and she explained laughing, "I'm shouting Wang Zheng not to ask Wang Zheng to help me beat you up but because I'm in pain. Shouting Wang Zheng makes my heart happy so it doesn't hurt anymore. "

I was a bit skeptical, "really?"

She laughed and came to pinch me, "if you don't believe it, let me pinch you and you can shout it out to try."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" I grabbed her hands to prevent her from pinching me and the two of us rolled onto the sofa laughing.

3. Nightmare Reappears

A young heart is soft and immature. Thus, hurt and warmth will both be deeply remembered.
In the end, everything deeply remembered will blend with time to become our personalities.

Near final exams, an accident occurred.

One day during break time, it was my turn to be on duty. After sweeping, along with a few students, we chatted while mopping the floor. Everyone were impertinently saying each teacher's nickname and commenting on the habits the teachers had during class. I just dragged out the words, "Treasure Bowl, small spotlight eyes", when Treasure Bowl came in. He didn't have any reaction, he checked to see if the classroom was tidied before leaving. A few students were scared terribly, after he left, they pat their chests saying, "luckily he didn't hear."

Sometimes, I have this sensitive sense towards people's emotions. I already felt that Treasure Bowl wasn't happy, he definitely had heard me call his nickname. However, I didn't feel scared, my thoughts were simple, isn't it just a nickname! He's also a man so he can't be so stingy, Wu Zei calls me Four Eyed Panda all day but I've never been angry about it.

However, my thoughts were wrong. Not only was Treasure Bowl angry, he also cared a lot about it. He remained calm during the scene but the next day, he picked one of my wrongs and shouted at me in front of the whole class but he and I both knew that the reason for shouting at me definitely wasn't because I was daydreaming in class. My face showed mockery which angered him even further and he ordered me to change seats. He pointed at the corner at the very back and said to me, "you're only suited to sitting there, move your desk over. Whenever you know where you were wrong is when I'll arrange another seating plan for you."

That corner of the classroom was where the brooms, mops, watering can, bucket and rubbish bin were kept. Many guys were too lazy to get up and go to the rubbish bin so they'd often play a throwing game, some of the rubbish would get thrown outside of the rubbish bin so it can be considered as the class' rubbish court.

I silently carried my desk over to the 'rubbish court' and after sitting in the rubbish court, I realized that there was still a large distance between me and the people in the last row.

Treasure Bowl's face was livid so the students all kept quiet out of fear, Li Shen's eyes contained pleasure at my misfortune. The panic from back in primary filled my heart, I was actually once again in the circumstances of being cast away by my classmates.

I silently sat there and after class, Treasure Bowl invited everyone to go play volleyball, furthermore he had already divided up the teams which had all but my name. The class walked out chattering and laughing, leaving me the only person in the classroom. I looked at the empty classroom and suddenly, my false strength collapsed. The tears came rushing down uncontrollably, I didn't know what I was crying for, if it was regret for offending Treasure Bowl or dread for the future nightmare.

I haven't cried for a long time but this time, bent over the table, the more I cried the sadder I felt, feeling that I am once again standing in an isolated and helpless corner as if I was replaying the nightmare again.

Unknowingly, I had forgotten to oppress the sound of my cries.

Suddenly, a nice voice asked me, "what's wrong? Who bullied you?"

I raised my head, a tall teenager was standing in front of me, looking at me with concern, it was actually Chen Yuan Zhe!

He was wearing black pants and a white high collar sweater. Black wavy hair, golden rimmed glasses, warm and intimate eyes, looking from my position, the sunlight from the classroom window shone on him and his body was coated in the silver light. He looked completely like a prince charming however, I wasn't a beautiful princess.

I dazedly stared at him for a moment, lowered my head and continued crying.

He pulled a chair over and sat in front of my desk, warm and patiently saying, "no matter what happened, just say it out. Perhaps there is a solution."

I still wiped my eyes crying. He didn't say anymore and just patiently sat there, quietly accompanying me.

Finally, perhaps his warmth and patience made feel that he could understand anything or perhaps that afternoon sunlight shone on him making him seem especially warm, whereas my world exactly lacked warmth. I started to pour out my troubles while crying, many times I felt so sad that I couldn't continue but he seemed to be infinitely patient and concentrated on listening to me the whole time.

After confiding in him, I felt a lot better. Although I was still crying, the dread had already disappeared.

He kept comforting me, patiently, only when I stopped crying completely did he stand up, "class is starting soon, I'll go first. Don't worry, after a few days, the teacher's anger will disappear and he'll definitely move you back to the front."

When he walked to the door, I realized I haven't thanked him yet, I called him, "hey!"

He stopped and looked back at me, I said, "thank you."

He lightly adjusted his glasses with his hand and smiled to me, "no problem, I didn't help at all."

After he left, the students came back one after the other and the classroom livened up with noise, but out of fear of the homeroom teacher, everyone ignored me. I wasn't bothered by this because I was in a trance, was what just happened real? Did the unattainable prince charming, Chen Yuan Zhe, really appear? It seemed too much like a dream, as if I created a fantasy to comfort myself with.

Because it was too unrealistic, I didn't even mention it to Xiao Fei, only telling her that I was sent to sit in the back of the class. I said it with a smile on my face. Xiao Fei had outstanding grades since young and has never truly experienced the pain from a teacher's torment so when she saw that I didn't care, she didn't care much about it and joked along with me, there is so much freedom in sitting alone at the back, you can do whatever you want.

—

Treasure Bowl would also criticize me often, attempting to make me bow down with his teacher authority. However, I had a respect me and I'll respect you back personality and definitely wouldn't bow down just because he forced me to. Instead, I became more stubborn, the more I was repressed, the braver I became, completely defying him. I didn't concentrate at all in his English class, instead I read Qiong Yao's novels while chewing bubblegum.

Treasure Bowl had just started working and he was already assigned to teach in one of the province's key schools and even bore the responsibility of being a homeroom teacher so he was definitely eager to spread his aspirations. Pretend that all the students were foals and he was the horse trainer, then I would be the first wild horse he encounters in his horse training career. To him, whether or not I was able to be trained didn't just represent if he would be able to maintain his dignity in front of the whole class but deep inside himself, it also meant a sense of accomplishment towards his career.

At the start, the method he chose was still very easy and simple, it was nothing more than reprimanding me, punishing me to do the cleaning and punishing me to stand but after he discovered that after I stood at the back of the room, I seemed to look more comfortable that sitting, he started to understand that the methods used to punish normal girls had no effect onme.

Once at noon, I ran to school to play after having lunch and ran across him by chance.I was very unlucky that day, I had smashed a window in the class, he flew into rage and ordered I bring my parents. I was very nervous and after going home, I stammered to my mom that the homeroom teacher wanted to see her.

Mom went to see Treasure Bowl who told her about all my misdeeds and hoped that the parents would cooperated with the teacher in educating me. After mom came home, she told everything the teacher had said to dad.

Probably because in comparison to stealing and fighting in primary, not listening in class and breaking public property was considered too trivial so my dad didn't mind too much, perhaps he even thought inside that Treasure Bowl was making a fuss over a trifle. Although my mom was rather worried, she couldn't do anything. She understood inside about my coldness and detachment towards them so she didn't dare to speak harshly, afraid that it will force me to change my coldness into rebelliousness. She could only mildly persuade me to respect my teacher.

Treasure Bowl didn't know about the situation in our family though, he saw that my mom seemed educated and well rounded so he assumed that he had found a way to control me. He didn't even get to rejoice for two days before discovering that I was still sticking to my old ways and that I've started becoming even worse. Other than being attentive in the Chinese teacher Ceng Hong's classes, all the other teachers felt that I wasn't listening in class and they said that putting a student at the very back isn't a good method.

Due to each subject teacher's suggestions, Treasure Bowl changed my seat, from one extreme to another, he actually put me right in the center of the first row. He had a very self satisfied expression, seeming to say "let's see what you can do now that you're under my eye."

As a result, not even a week later, each subject teacher went to find him to complain. The maths teacher said that I was doing physics homework in his class, the physics teacher said that I was doing geography homework in her class, the geography teacher said that I was doing maths homework in his class, making Treasure Bowl's head hurt. He found me to go have a chat and asked me why I was doing this. I said honestly, "because I want to play after class and have no time doing homework so I have to finish all my homework before school ends." Treasure Bowl was so angry that his little eyes turned into flames. To not let me do homework in class, he punished me to stand outside the classroom.

Being punished to stand inside and outside the classroom are all punishments but in actual fact, the meaning is vastly different. Being in the classroom is similar to things happening in the family, no matter if they are good or bad, they are all inside the house. However outside the classroom was similar to revealing scandals for others to see. In the start, I was indeed very uncomfortable, I was so ashamed I didn't even dare to raise my head. When other students walked past and looked at me, I wanted to craw in a hole. But shame is shame, if you want me to give in, no chance!

So when Treasure Bowl punished me to stand outside, I was like a defrosted eggplant, all shriveled up. It was like a sign that weighed a ton was hanging on my neck, my head was so low that it was nearly inside my shirt. However, as soon as he put me back into the classroom, I did physics homework in maths class, geography homework in physics class,maths homework in geography class and read novels in English class. He was furious and could only continue to fight me.

Under our busy battle of strategy, it was time for the final exams. My overall grades weren't disturbed and I even went up a few ranks. My mom and dad's only bit of worry completely vanished. Their thoughts were simple, they felt that as long as I didn't skip class, handed in my homework and my grades were passable, then it meant that my heart was still on my studies. Then everything else, no matter if it's breaking the window or being naughty in class, even arguing with the teacher is all fine. Especially my dad, he felt that being naughty and getting into trouble made me seem more like a child. He always had a lingering fear of my silence and negative energy in primary school. Of course, they didn't dare to let Treasure Bowl know they thought this way.

Not only did Xiao Fei not feel embarrassed by me being ordered to stand outside, on the contrary she really admired me. She thought that I was very cool in daring to go against the teacher. Although first year middle school students didn't worship the teachers like primary school students, there weren't many that dared to go against the teacher, especially not girls.

Towards her feelings, I could only laugh bitterly, why do I want to be cool? I'm being forced!

—

In the winter holidays, my life was extremely satisfying, I didn't need to go to class, do homework or fight with Treasure Bowl and I could read the books I liked all day. On the third day of the lunar calendar, I went to pay Teacher Gao a New Year's visit. Teacher Gao inquired about my studies I gave her an honest account. She laughed and asked me, "how much effort did you put in exactly?"

I thought deeply about it and told her, "enough I guess, I don't have much interest in studying."

Teacher Gao laughed, "how come you and Zhang Jun still have a child's mind? All day you only think about playing."

I asked unperturbed, "Zhang Jun also came?"

Teacher Gao said, "yeah! He came yesterday to pay me a New Year's call. I asked him if he's been studying seriously, he laughed and didn't say anything. However pif you want to play then just play, as long as you don't fall too far behind then it's fine, since you're still young, there's still a long time til gaokao!"

Teacher Gao sincerely liked me and Zhang Jun. Other teachers couldn't stand our stubborn ways but in her eyes, it was just kids who haven't grown up yet being naughty. However, she didn't know that actually, Zhang Jun and I were more complicated and matured much earlier than the other kids.

Teacher Gao peeled a mandarin and put in my hand, smiling, "in the future, you can come visit me with Zhang Jun and we can all chat together."

I smiled and ate the mandarin without saying anything.

Winter break was quiet and calm. Other than the few days of New Year where I helped mom and dad prepare the banquet, I pretty much spent everyday in Xiao Bo's karaoke bar on the sofa reading books I borrowed from the school library, one after the other. Wu Zei often laughed at me, "do you think that glass on your nose bridge isn't thick enough?"

I couldn't be bothered to pay him any attention. Since Xiao Bo was still young, there were many events that he couldn't show his face at so Wu Zei was in the front handling these. Many people who didn't know all thought that Wu Zei was the boss of the karaoke bar. Everywhere he went, there were people giving him cigarettes and giving him a toast, it was quite a show, he also had the Enchantress in his arms, it was completely a double harvest.

The karaoke bar's business were all at night. Xiao Bo was very attentive and attended to things personally. He often worked around the clock and wasn't able to sleep at two or three am. In the daytime, he would often lie on the sofa and sleep. I was on the other sofa reading. Sometimes when he woke up, he would call me to get him water, he'd drink some then flip sides to continue sleeping and I would continue reading.

When he wasn't sleeping, he would also read, but the books he read were completely different to mine. I liked to read novels whereas the books he read were biographies of war heroes and successful people or books on business management and economics, he would even take notes.

As it was winter break, it was inconvenient to borrow books from the school library so he took me to the city library. When the librarian saw him, they kindly called out, "come to return books?A few days ago the library just received a batch of books on marketing, the catalog is over here."

Only then did I know that he was a frequent visitor of the library. I also registered for a library car and started to borrow books from the city library.

We often both stayed together for the whole day, as if if I was there then he'd also be there and if he was there then I would also be there. Actually, although we were together, but we read our own books, did our own things and didn't interrupt each other.

Rumors started spreading that I was Xiao Bo's girlfriend. When they came to ask us, we would deny it but we wouldn't go all over the place finding people and explaining to them that we weren't. Also, I saw Xiao Bo was quite happy that I became his shield.

Xiao Bo was elegant and refined, he was polite and well mannered to girls and never swore. He could be considered as an unconventional figure in the circle and many girls liked him. The girls in this circle were fierce and stopped at nothing to get what they wanted. When they chased guys, they really used whatever method they could, from public confessions to attempting suicide. Xiao Bo was very vexed but having me to shield him made it slightly better.

Zhang Jun often came to the karaoke bar to sing. I gradually found out that the person he followed had the nickname 'Little Six', however no one dared to call him 'Little Six' to his face, even Brother Li respectfully called him 'Brother Six' even though Little Six looked much younger than him. Based on Wu Zei's words, Little Six was a very ruthless person and could be considered the number one boss of the city's triad. He had been held in custody many times but he was very lucky, every time he entered the public security bureau, he was able to peacefully come out again.

I couldn't understand how Zhang Jun got mixed up with someone like Little Six at all but he probably couldn't understand how I ended up mixing with Brother Li and Xiao Bo at all either.

We both came and go from the same karaoke bar and occasionally when we bumped into each other, we pretended like we didn't know each other and brushed past, not even saying hello, completely ignoring each other. But I knew that actually, my eyes were fixed on him all the time.

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End of Chapter 3!!

I know that I keep referring to their 'circle' and I've been describing it as a mafia but I found a better word for it! It's a triad– a secret society originating in China, typically involved in organized crime such as money laundering, counterfeiting, dealing with drugs and prostitution etc.etc.

Also, if you didn't get it, Little Six came out of custody not because he was lucky (Qi Qi is so innocent~) but because he probably paid them off or had influential power over them. I think it might be quite important to note how much power Little Six has because he does appear in the next chapter.

I actually think Qi Qi is quite brave because like she said, not many people would dare to go against their teacher and most would just suffer in silence. However, although Qi Qi isn't the type to step down from injustice, perhaps she's going about it in a wrong way in defying the teacher. But then again, I don't see what other way she could have used since I highly doubt her parents would go complain to the school. What are your thoughts on this?