Chapter 4

Someone whistled, "Hey, Xiao Qiu, do you still want to hit him?"

The men who pursue you are all quite young, with their arms around each other and a carefree attitude. They are the type of people you dislike and hate the most.

There were a few boys who looked much more mature, probably in high school. They seemed to have a good relationship with Qiu Li. Seeing that things were dragging on, they lit cigarettes and stood or stood on the edge of the field watching the commotion.

You were precocious from a young age, skipped a grade, and didn't make many friends. You were also quite introverted in elementary school and seemed easy to bully. With your parents not around, the bad kids in your class asked you to do chores for others, but you refused, which offended two influential kids. You were bullied for more than a month until you couldn't take it anymore and fought back, got into a fight with them, and reported the matter to the principal, which finally ended everything.

Those two kids weren't going to back down, and they tried to stop you several times with their older brothers and sisters, but you managed to escape each time.

This incident has left a deep shadow on you.

In your essay, "The Thing I Regret Most," you reflected on your own weakness and also expressed no sympathy for this type of person.

Qiu Li tried to put her arm around your shoulder, but you slapped her away.

The atmosphere was very awkward. Qiu Li's friend didn't expect you to be so disrespectful, acting like you were avoiding a plague. He was a little annoyed and shoved you a few times, stepping on your Chinese textbook.

Qiu Li turned around and asked, "What are you doing?"

The man, with a stern face, said, "Get him!"

Qiu Li: "Why did you hit him? He's my classmate."

You were clutching your schoolbag, the lump of mud in your hand almost crushed. Qiu Li said a few words to the person next to her, and the high school student on the motorcycle jumped off the ridge and said, "Is he really your friend? Should we invite him to play?"

Qiu Li said nonchalantly, "Why bring him along? Let's go."

The group arrived quickly and left just as fast. Qiu Li jumped onto a high school student's motorcycle, and the several vehicles drove out of the wild broad bean field.

Once you can no longer hear any sound, you let go, and the mud slips away from your palm. You don't know why Qiu Li is looking for you, but you don't find it cool at all.

You turn around and look at the motorcycles speeding across the playground, making up your mind that you will never be friends with anyone on them. You dislike chaos and disorder, which happen to be the norm for delinquent teenagers outside of school.

You're just an ordinary student, and even after something like this happens, you still have to do your homework. You find the lost books and pens in the broad bean field, then carry your schoolbag back to your aunt's house.

On the way, you encountered two older brothers and several neighboring children. They all looked serious and ran as fast as they could. When they saw you, they couldn't stop in time and almost knocked you over.

The older brother, panting heavily, propped himself up on his thighs and gasped for breath: "Nanfei... I heard from your second brother... that someone hit you?"

You stand amidst a jumble of people, clutching your schoolbag: "No, I don't."

Your second brother straightened up and snatched the schoolbag from your arms: "You still say you didn't... You... They chased you on a motorcycle and you still say you didn't... Where did they hit you? Did they steal your things? What happened to your schoolbag? Why is it so heavy and filthy!"

Just as you were about to stop him, your second brother suddenly opened his schoolbag and dumped out half a brick. He was completely bewildered: "Why are you carrying half a brick in your schoolbag?"

You looked left and right, then bent down and rubbed the mud off your shoes: "For class."

The older brother thought you didn't look like you'd been hit, so he said it was fine and pulled you to go home. The second brother was indignant and seized on your weakness: "You actually got into a fight with someone! I'm going to tell Mom!"

"I don't."

They chattered all the way, and your second brother, who was carrying your schoolbag, was also a little restless: "Nanfei, how do you know Qiu Li and the others?"

You haven't forgotten your second brother's naive dream of mingling in the underworld: "I don't know him, he came to me on his own initiative."

The second brother pursed his lips. When he got home, his aunt still hadn't returned.

You take out your notebook and pencil case. You've already finished the homework assigned by the teacher. The older brother is scratching his head over his homework, and the second brother is also uninterested. Doing homework is not nearly as fun as interacting with people outside of school.

You open your pencil case, and inside are scattered ten-yuan notes.

Looking at two round-faced elementary school students whose eyes suddenly lit up when they saw money, are you sure they're from the same family? Their reactions are very similar.

My aunt grinds tofu to sell every day, and my uncle goes to work at the quarry at seven in the morning. He gets off work late, so neither of them has time to discipline the children. Although they tell the older brothers to study hard every day, they completely ignore it and play however they want.

You were initially indifferent and didn't want to integrate into your aunt's family.

But as you can see, they are not bad people. Your older brother and second brother have never treated you like someone else's child; you are their younger brother.

Since they are your younger brothers, it's only natural that meddling in their affairs isn't considered meddling. You announce your plan in your still-unchanged voice: "Starting today, every time you finish your homework and have it checked by me, I will give you 50 cents."

A popsicle costs one cent, and an ice cream costs five cents.

For them, who have very few snacks, it is a huge temptation.

Do you want a yo-yo?

"want!"

"Want a water squirting gun?"

"want!"

"Want some ice cream?"

"want!"

"Is doing homework enjoyable?"

"hapiness!"

"Doing homework can change your destiny."

"Doing homework can change your destiny!"

You close your pencil case in front of two silly elementary school students, hands behind your back, with a serious expression: "Very good."

...

The next day, you went to school as usual. When the morning exercise ended, you heard people excitedly discussing the car chase from the previous day.

"Nanfei, who transferred from the agricultural primary school in the first year of junior high, my brother said he had arranged a fight with a dozen people over the wild broad bean field."

The person next to him said, "Keep your voice down! If Nanfei hears you, he'll get someone to beat you up. I heard he's hanging out with Qiu Li."

"Qiu Li, he's very successful."

You still don't understand what's so enviable about people in society sharing a boxed lunch with several others. You walk ahead with a tense face, preparing to hurry up and go to the toilet, when you hear someone behind you say, "See that one at the very front? That's the leader of Class One."

You: "..." This is really annoying.

Fortunately, the rumors didn't bother you for long; they only brought some negative effects, trapping you in the aura of a bad kid.

But at the same time.

Your deskmate's threat to have someone beat you up also fell silent, allowing you to spend the rest of the semester in peace. During the holidays, you even took over your deskmate's math homework for the winter break.

My two older brothers will be entering junior high school next year, but their grades aren't good enough to get into the junior high school at our school. Could you give them extra lessons during the holidays and make sure they complete their winter break homework?

That winter was very cold, and it snowed heavily, a rare occurrence in the south. You and your older brother were so excited that you didn't sleep all night, watching the large snowflakes fall from the sky.

During the day, the two of you would hold cups, scoop up snow in the vegetable garden, put sugar in the snow, and eat it like ice cream. As a result, you both got diarrhea and ate corn porridge for several days.

The snow had been falling for several days in a row, and you hoped every day that the snow wouldn't melt. Your two older brothers, two mischievous little devils, took you up the mountain to catch pheasants.

You think it's unlikely: "We don't have pheasants here."

In order to get the right to go out, your second brother kept urging you: "Yes, yes, we'll take the dog and catch them, we'll definitely be able to catch them."

You flatly refused: "No, I can't catch them, I don't want to go."

Your second brother begged and pleaded with you all day, saying he wanted to bring the dog along, before you finally reluctantly agreed.

Auntie was grinding tofu, and my older brother was helping to burn firewood. When he heard that you wanted to go out and play, he immediately agreed. My second brother was overjoyed and immediately called his friends. They put on their cotton-padded coats and pulled you outside.

“We’ll go first. When we get to the mountain, Lin Youdong will meet us with his dog.”

You walked slowly through the snow, while your second brother and the other kids chased after you, having a snowball fight. It took them a while to climb halfway up the mountain. After waiting for more than ten minutes, Lin Youdong and a few others climbed up the path. The two groups met up victoriously and shouted excitedly.

You only care about one question.

Where's the dog?

"Here it is! Here it is!"

Lin Youdong opened his pocket, revealing his magnificent white goose. The goose squawked loudly and flapped its wings as it charged towards you.

You screamed in fright and turned to run down the mountain, but you were dressed too thickly in winter, making you look round and chubby like a ball. After falling, you couldn't stop and tumbled along the path into the vegetable garden. Your face and neck were covered in snow. The big white goose was still crowing loudly nearby. Your second brother yelled, "Lin Youdong, are you crazy?! I told you to walk the dog, why did you bring a goose?"

Lin Youdong argued guiltily, "My dad took the dog away, and my goose is very fierce. With it around, no one dares to enter my yard!"

His second brother scolded him a few times: "So you brought a goose to catch pheasants?! Lin Youdong, I give up! How are we supposed to play later with that?"

Lin Youdong scratched his head. Someone jumped down to pull him up. The snow was too thick, and it took him several tries to pull him up. The snow melted down his neck, making him shiver from the cold.

Your teeth chattered, and your eyebrows furrowed like caterpillars: "Snow, there's snow in my neck!"

"Don't move."

The person who pulled you away took off their scarf, revealing a handsome, expressionless face. The warm scarf wiped away the snow water.

You kept a straight face. After wiping his face, the person took the scarf in his hand, climbed over the vegetable patch, and left you standing there alone. You hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked up the path beside him. You couldn't possibly climb over the ridge; it's not like there wasn't a path.

Lin Youdong and his second brother were still arguing over the big white goose. Lin Youdong also felt that he had messed things up and said, "Qiu Li, what do you think we should do now? Should I send the goose back first?"

Qiu Li said, "Take it with you. It's hard enough to run back and forth. We'll build a fire halfway up the mountain and have the girls roast potatoes there while they wait for us, and keep an eye on the geese."

Lin Youdong waved his hand excitedly: "Alright, let's hurry up and go!"

You followed behind with your hands in your pockets, but Qiu Li ignored you. Now you finally understood why your second brother was so eager to go out and have fun today.