daily

A banner with red cloth and white lettering was pasted in front of the auditorium in the warehouse, which read: "Warmly welcome the new students of the Class of 1988."

Students entered the venue one after another, some yawning, others in twos and threes. Microphones were already set up on the stage, and the dean of students stood to the side, frowning and glancing at his watch, looking ready to give a lecture at any moment.

After all the new students entered the venue, a middle-aged man wearing a white shirt and old-fashioned gold-rimmed glasses walked onto the stage. He was Tang Qingwen, the principal of Cangshui County Middle School.

He cleared his throat and tapped the microphone:

"Classmates, please be quiet, I have a few words to say."

The previously noisy auditorium fell silent instantly. Tang Qingwen stood in the center, his sharp gaze sweeping across the audience below, and continued:

"You may feel that the college entrance examination is still far away as you sit in the Cangzhong Auditorium today. But I'm telling you, starting today, the bell will ring."

"In the recently concluded college entrance examination, 112 students from our school participated in the preliminary selection, 103 passed, and 82 of them reached the key university admission line."

“But starting from the last session, there was no preliminary selection, which means you have more competitors. It’s a national competition with one exam paper. If your score is high enough, you get in; if not, you’re out.”

“There are also some students who come from the city. You may feel that you have seen the world and read good books, and that it is a waste of your talents to come to our warehouse.”

"But let me tell you, this year Cangzhong High School's rate of students admitted to key universities ranks second in the province."

"Whether they come from the city or the village, they all have only one identity: students."

At this moment, the auditorium was completely silent. No one whispered or yawned anymore. One hundred new students sat on narrow wooden chairs listening to the principal's speech.

"Finally, I'd like to give everyone a heads-up."

“Cangzhong is not a place to keep idle people. You need to be mentally prepared that in the first semester of your first year of high school, there will be monthly exams, unit exams, diagnostic tests, ranking exams, midterm exams, and final exams. There will be no shortage of them.”

"Also, your place in the honors class isn't fixed. Doing well on the high school entrance exam doesn't mean you can stay in the honors class forever." Tang Qingwen finished speaking without holding back, then raised his hand and tapped the microphone: "That's all I have to say. Meeting adjourned."

After he finished speaking, the auditorium was silent for a few seconds before a few scattered claps broke out.

After the event ended, Li Qingmiao grabbed Wen Sheng's arm and pushed her way out, saying in a low voice, "My God, this principal is terrifying. He's putting pressure on us right at the start of the semester."

Wen Sheng was pulled along by her, and she herself felt that what she had just said was really not easy. She asked, "Classes start tomorrow, have the schedules been handed out yet?"

"I heard the line was full early this morning." Li Qingmiao frowned. "My parents said high school life would be colorful, but it turns out it's just a lot of exams."

"I thought things would be easy for Cangzhong because of how my brother was like that."

Wen Sheng tilted her head and asked, "Is your brother also studying at Cangzhong?" She remembered seeing Li Qingmiao's brother that morning and thought he was just there to help move his luggage, but she didn't expect him to be a student at the school.

"He's still here, just one year older than me."

As Li Qingmiao spoke, she raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sunlight. It was the hottest time of the afternoon outside the auditorium, and the ground was steaming. Students walked in twos and threes toward the dormitory building.

All afternoon, the dormitory building was bustling with people, the sound of slippers clicking incessantly. The washroom was crowded with people, some carrying toothbrush cups, some carrying washbasins, standing by the sink washing their faces and brushing their teeth, and others carrying buckets to fill with hot water, planning to go back to their dorms to wipe themselves down with hot water.

If you want to take a hot shower, you have to go to the public bathhouse behind the dormitory building. Each person gets two shower tickets per week. If you want to shower more often, you have to buy a ticket or get water from the water room.

Wen Sheng and the others tried several faucets in succession. Li Qingmiao simply squatted in front of the faucet, testing the water and taking notes: "The water flow is too weak at this end, and the water at that end is rusty."

Wen Sheng carried the enamel basin three times, her brow furrowed the entire time. She disliked the metallic smell in the water; it was pungent and made washing uncomfortable.

Having finally found one that had a fast flow and clean water, she ran over, patted Li Qingmiao's arm, and whispered, "Qingmiao, the one in the corner, it's rust-free and the water flows really well, use that one."

Upon hearing this, Li Qingmiao immediately grabbed a washbasin and rushed over, turning back as she went to exclaim, "You're so clever!"

After testing the taps in the water room, the two went back to their dormitory to get a change of clothes and then went around to the public bathhouse behind the dormitory building.

The first floor of the public bathhouse is the men's bathhouse, and the women's bathhouse is located up a staircase next to it. There was a small line of people at the entrance of the bathhouse, and you could hear the sound of running water mixed with laughter from inside through the wall.

"Isn't this place too primitive?" Li Qingmiao peeked inside, then quickly pulled back. "There are no partitions, you have to be quick to scrub yourself in the bath."

Wen Sheng looked down at the bath ticket in her hand and was a little worried: "It's okay in the summer, I can wipe my body with cold water, but I have to think of a way in the winter."

Li Qingmiao said, "This is much tougher than I imagined. When my mom brought me here, she said she would 'enjoy three years of high school life,' but this is not pleasant at all!" She complained as she tugged at the towel on her shoulder, "Why didn't my brother mention how tough the conditions are here?"

The two followed the group into the bathhouse.

The floor of the bathhouse was slippery, and several basins of unused hot water were placed in the corner.

"Don't step over there, it's slippery," Wen Sheng whispered a reminder, carrying the enamel basin and carefully tiptoeing around a puddle.

“My brother patted his chest and told me that I was in the lucky year because the school was newly renovated and even the faucets in the bathhouse were new.”

She muttered as she draped a towel around her neck, looking up to see a large crowd already lined up under the few showerheads. Her scalp tingled. "There wasn't even a cubicle. This was the first time in my life I'd ever known what communal bathing was like."

Wen Sheng tested the water temperature and found it a bit too hot, so she turned it back down. She skillfully wrung out the towel, then wet the soap and rubbed it on her body.

"Don't you feel uncomfortable?" Li Qingmiao asked her.

“Me? I come from the countryside. In the past, when we were there, we had to boil a big pot of water to take a bath in winter. We didn’t have a separate bathroom at home. We would squat by the stove and use a basin to wipe ourselves. If we got cold, we would stomp our feet and continue wiping ourselves,” Wen Sheng explained.

Li Qingmiao listened in disbelief, after all, she had grown up in the city and had never imagined that taking a bath could be so difficult.

"You're incredibly resilient..."

"But I'm quite clean and I shower every day. My mom says I'm being fussy."

Just as they finished speaking, the water pipe above their heads made a "gurgling" sound, and the water pressure suddenly dropped. The two girls quickly sped up their movements.

"Hurry up, hurry up! If the water stops soon, we'll just have to wipe off the soap!" Li Qingmiao urged as she frantically applied the shampoo bar.

She glanced at Wen Sheng sideways. Since it was a public bathhouse, there were no curtains, and she could see Wen Sheng's figure through the steam. She couldn't help but praise, "Wow, you have such a great figure! Your waist is so thin, and your frame is so small. You look a whole size thinner than me."

Wen Sheng was rubbing her arms with her head down when she heard this. She was taken aback and replied, "It's already good enough that we can eat our fill. The food isn't very nutritious."

"When I was little, I had to feed the pigs and chop firewood after school. I did a lot of work, so I didn't gain weight." She didn't complain or make fun of herself; she just explained why she was thin.

"Then you'd better eat more at school!" Li Qingmiao added naggingly, "If you don't like it, I'll steal some of my brother's meal tickets to give you extra food."

Wen Sheng chuckled: "Does your brother know you're eyeing his meal ticket?"

"He dares to say that about me?" Li Qingmiao raised her chin confidently. "Wen Sheng, I'll bring you meat from now on. My mom's braised pork is delicious."

Wen Sheng lowered her head to wash her hair, her voice soft: "Okay, just thinking about it makes me happy."

The two women were chatting and laughing as they washed when a girl nearby shouted, "The water's about to stop!" They immediately sped up, hastily drying off the foam, grabbing towels and enamel basins, and running out while still laughing.

At this moment, Li Changshui, who was being harshly criticized by his younger sister, was pulling Xu Jianing along as they turned into the back gate of a newly opened towel factory near the school.

"Go this way, don't go in through the main entrance, there are too many people."

The back door passage is a narrow path separated by the back wall of the staff dormitory building. The ground is uneven, but Li Changshui walks it familiarly without stopping or turning his head. He says, "Every year, freshmen have to squeeze into the school's bathhouse. If you wait any longer, there will only be a few drops of water left."

“I’ve gotten to know everyone in the factory. The foreman is a friend of my aunt’s husband, and he specially saves hot water for us.” Li Changshui said proudly, “A bath ticket at school costs six cents, but we only need to pay four cents.”

Xu Jianing asked, "Why didn't you call your sister over?"

Li Changshui paused, then slapped his forehead and cried out in pain, "Damn it, I forgot!"

He grabbed Xu Jianing's arm and said rapidly, "You're my good brother, right? I'll share a piece of meat with you if I have one, right!"

Xu Jianing sensed the moral blackmail in his words and bluntly exposed him: "Don't think I don't know you've been cheating."

Li Changshui pretended not to hear and continued to pull him into the shadows, pleading in a low voice, "Please don't tell my sister I'm here. If she finds out I found out here a long time ago and didn't tell her, I won't even be able to smell the aroma of braised pork when I get back."

He clutched his chest, his face bearing an expression that said, "You outsider wouldn't understand the tragedy in my family." He continued, "If she gets angry, she could write about me in her diary for three weeks straight, along with a formal letter of complaint sent under my mother's pillow."

"Ah Ning, what you don't know is that my parents favor girls over boys!"

Xu Jianing carried the washbasin and walked forward. "Let's go."

Li Changshui quickly followed up, "Do you think she's still in line at the bathhouse entrance? With so many people queuing today, do you think she'll get a turn?"

"You're asking me? Who should I ask?" Xu Jianing glanced at him. "Am I called Li Changshui?"

They walked around the small flower bed in the factory and entered the bathhouse. The steam was so intense it made them dizzy. Li Changshui rubbed his hands and exclaimed, "It's so comfortable here. The water is hot and the water pressure is great."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the door creaked open. Li Changshui immediately hid behind Xu Jianing, his voice changing: "Who is it? Is it my sister?"

"no."

Who is that?

"uncle."

Li Changshui peeked out and saw that it was indeed the factory gatekeeper passing by with a towel in his hand, who even nodded at them.

"Li Changshui, how come your sister is in the men's bathroom?" Xu Jianing glanced at him and complained.

Li Changshui was taken aback at first, but after realizing what he meant, his face fell, and he glared at him fiercely, "Mind your own business! I won't give you meat next time!"