The one who untied the bell and the one who tied it (4)
On the way back, a lot of people fell asleep in the car. After eating and drinking, they rode bikes up the mountain and rowed boats on the lake. The pressure after the exam was basically released, and the reluctance to leave was dissipated in the drowsiness.
The driver slammed on the brakes, and Zhao Shihua's head slammed against the glass with a thud. She rubbed her forehead and looked out the window at the street behind the school. It was already getting dark, but the streetlights hadn't yet come on. On weekends, the streets grew increasingly bustling as night fell.
Pei Nachuan reminded everyone like a train announcer, "Be careful not to leave anything behind, be safe on your way home," etc. When Zhao Shihua passed by him, she repeated the words of the classmate in front of her, "Thank you for your hard work, class monitor. See you on Monday!" Although she wanted to say something else, her speed in organizing her words could not keep up with the pace of the classmate behind her who was eager to go home, and she was finally pushed off the train.
Most of the class went straight home, so they headed to the front gate to catch the subway. Some of the students who lived there needed to return to the dorm to retrieve their luggage, including Zhuo Siqi. Although it was nearly lunchtime, Zhao Shihua wasn't feeling hungry, having already eaten a lot that afternoon. After saying goodbye to Zhuo Siqi, she and her two other roommates split up, planning to grab a pancake or something.
She wasn't familiar with the neighborhood around the back door. On weekends, when she went out to stock up on groceries, she'd go to the supermarket across from the main entrance. The subway entrance and several bus stops were also located near the front door. She remembered that Shao Yifu, who frequented the back door, would occasionally buy pancakes for breakfast, so there must be a pancake and baozi shop there; though it's possible that Shao Yifu bought them near his home and brought them back.
Zhao Shihua glanced back and forth, muttering to himself that he hoped Shao Yifu and Li Xuping had not gone far, and then he found that they were just about ten meters ahead.
"Hey, Shao Yifu..." She hurried after him and stopped to catch her breath. "I want to ask, is there a pancake shop at the back door?"
"Pancakes? You mean multi-grain pancakes? Yes, they are. They are just around the corner. Do you want some?"
Zhao Shihua swallowed the words, "Nonsense, why else would I ask you?" and raised his hand, pointing to both sides: "Is that the left or the right?"
"It's the opposite." Li Xuping corrected.
"What's the rebellion?"
"You're pointing left and right the wrong way."
Zhao Shihua was speechless for a moment. She had never thought that she would have a moment of confusion. Perhaps she had dozed off in the car. Li Xuping glanced at her from across Shao Yifu, as if he was really worried that she would get lost because she couldn't tell left from right.
"We are heading that way too. How about we take you there?" Li Xuping's tone was as polite as if he was helping a blind person cross the street.
“…Okay, okay, thank you.”
"You're making me hungry too," Shao Yifu said, patting his belly. "Let's go!"
If it were the day before, Zhao Shihua would have most likely avoided walking with Shao Yifu. However, after what happened during the autumn outing, she felt that the "waffle" she had been avoiding had ended like a badly finished drama, with the students who had watched the fun carrying their little stools home, and before leaving, they still complained unwillingly, "What the hell, it turned out to be such a finale?"
The heavy burden on her heart suddenly became nothing serious. But when she thought about it, it hadn't been a big deal in the first place. She'd only been so scared in the beginning because she had some kind of ulterior motive. That morning, when Shao Yifu and Zhou Xin took turns holding press conferences on her behalf to reveal their elementary school classmates, Zhao Shihua had wanted to tear them in half, skewer them, and grill them. Now, she was politely asking for directions, even going out to buy pancakes together. Their relationship was as close as friends who walked home together every day after school.
Although she still couldn't understand Zhu Miaoyan and Zhou Xin's logic, she just wanted to quickly send away the God of Plague and welcome the God of Wealth. She was so excited that she spoke fluently, "Do you think the pancakes at the back door are delicious? Are there any other good places nearby? Can you recommend some?"
"You're so hungry? Didn't you continue to have barbecue this afternoon?" Shao Yifu said, touching his stomach. "I didn't eat much because I was afraid of vomiting again when I got home. Do you also get carsick?"
It's impossible to say that my appetite has increased proportionally just because I'm in a good mood. Zhao Shihua shook his head and said, "No, I just want to understand, because I basically never go out the back door."
"There's a rice noodle shop, Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles, and Shaxian snacks at the back door. A roasted goose isn't far away either." Li Xuping had only listed four before his thumb and pinky finger were already curled up to form a "six." It was unclear which two he'd automatically filtered out. "What else?"
"Don't ask me, I'm starving... I would have eaten more even if I had to puke!"
"The grilled beef skewers at the end were absolutely amazing, with that perfect balance of fat and lean!" Li Xuping smacked his lips deliberately. "Right, Zhao Shihua?"
"Hello!!!"
As soon as she finished speaking, they started laughing and playing around again. Zhao Shihua moved to the side to avoid being caught in the crossfire. As she approached the school gate, she suddenly remembered something and asked the two people who were still entangled with each other, "Is there also a curfew at the back door for evening self-study?"
"I don't know. I haven't attended evening self-study. You ask him." Shao Yifu said and knocked Li Xuping's cheek with his fist again.
"There shouldn't be any curfew, and there's no evening self-study on Saturdays," Li Xuping said confidently, "but I've never had self-study on weekends, actually."
"...Then I'd better go and ask."
The security booth at the back door was a small room of five or six square meters, with only a table and an iron cabinet inside. There were also a few cardboard boxes piled in the corner, probably for packages. Behind the glass window, an old man was buried in his dinner. Zhao Shihua looked around and didn't see any sign announcing closing times, so he gently knocked on the window and asked, "Hello, may I ask, what time does the back door close at night?"
"Eight o'clock." The security guard quickly raised his head and answered, glancing at the people coming in and out, then lowered his head again. But after a few seconds, he hesitated and raised his head again.
Zhao Shihua stared at the man's face, suddenly remembering Zhu Miaoyan's casual remark on the boat. "It's a small world," Zhu Miaoyan had said then. Even when she'd accidentally met Shao Yifu at the beginning of the semester, she hadn't experienced anything like it before, only feeling incredibly unlucky. Until that moment, the world suddenly shrank to a palm-sized space, separated by a pane of glass. Zhao Shihua couldn't help but cover her mouth to stifle a scream: "Master?!"
"Are you... Xiaohua?"
"Master! It's me!" Zhao Shihua nodded vigorously before he could finish. "I'm Xiaohua!"
Zhao Shihua dreamed of walking the dog with the boy she had a crush on, but halfway through the walk he said he wanted to go home to the bathroom; she dreamed of becoming a neighbor of her favorite celebrity, and eating hot pot with a group of celebrities in ancient costumes; she also dreamed of flying over the town on a broomstick like a witch... But even in all her dreams, she had never dreamed of such a magical encounter, so much so that she couldn't believe her eyes.
She hadn't seen her martial arts teacher in five or six years. Her elementary school martial arts classes had stopped after her fourth year, not because of injuries, academic pressure, or lack of time, but simply because the martial arts training school went bankrupt.
Zhao's father had inquired about prices at other institutions, only to discover that tuition fees elsewhere were more than double the price. No wonder the institution closed down due to lack of profitability. However, even Zhao Shihua's parents' love for him couldn't justify the annual price tag of over 10,000 yuan, so his martial arts training was cut short. Had Zhao Shihua's attention not shifted to badminton training at that time, the matter might not have ended so abruptly.
When she said goodbye to her master during her last martial arts class, she couldn't help but cry. She remembered her master saying he planned to move to a big city for development. While Guangzhou was certainly a big city, the fact that someone who claimed to have studied at Songshan Shaolin and had even played a stunt double in an obscure film was now holed up in a small room as a security guard was completely different from the king who once commanded the monkeys of Flower-Fruit Mountain. Zhao Shihua couldn't connect the scene before her with the concept of development.
"Why are you here?" The master and the disciple asked this question at the same time.
"I'm studying here!" said the inexperienced apprentice.
"Well, it's a long story..." said the experienced master. He closed the lunch box and said, "Xiaohua, you go first."
Zhao Shihua briefly recounted the past, but how could a few words possibly capture the story of five or six years? It had been ages since she'd spoken so much, like a child, ignorant of the immensity of the world. These days, it seemed, she only relaxed her reserve slightly in front of acquaintances, no longer carefully choosing her words.
After all, a teacher is a father for life. When the teacher heard her describe how she had worked so hard to get into Yangcheng Middle School, his face was filled with the satisfaction of an old father. Later, he smiled so hard that his teeth were almost visible, and the wrinkles on his face were much deeper than they were ten years ago.
"Are they your classmates?" The master finally caught a chance and pointed behind her.
Zhao Shihua turned around and found that Shao Yifu and Li Xiuping had been looking at her curiously, as if they were playing out the touching reunion of Sun Wukong and Tang Monk. She suddenly remembered why she ran to the security room door.
"By the way, Master, I still have to go buy some food. I'll come back to see you later!"
"Okay, go quickly and come back soon," the master waved his hand, "don't forget to close at eight o'clock."
Zhao Shihua quickly ran back to the two boys and apologized, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long." But then, perhaps out of sheer excitement or an instinctive attempt to hide her guilt, she added, "But why are you still waiting for me?"
"Pancake shop, we agreed to take you there." Hearing Li Xuping's answer, Zhao Shihua suddenly felt ashamed of his poor speaking skills.
"Hey, Zhao Shihua," Shao Yifu said, feeling awkward for some reason. After taking a few steps, he finally managed to say something, "You said he was your master?"
"...Did you all hear it?" Zhao Shihua became inexplicably nervous.
"I can hear you clearly. We're standing right here." Li Xuping gestured with his hand to indicate the three or four meters between them. "But I don't understand a word you said. Are you speaking Hakka?"
Zhao Shihua couldn't help but feel his face getting hot. When he spoke his hometown dialect, he seemed like a different person. Not only was his voice loud and imposing, but he also had a bit of the rusticity of a village kid. He hoped he wasn't so excited that he started dancing.
"But you can understand it all, right?" Li Xuping said, patting Shao Yifu's shoulder. "Come on, translate it for me."
"Don't do that." Shao Yifu unconsciously slowed down his pace, shook off Li Xuping's hand on his shoulders, and turned to face Zhao Shihua. "You call the security guard 'Master'? Is it because he taught you something?"
Zhao Shihua suddenly became alert, her whole body shuddering with fear. It had been so long since she'd even forgotten that, as a child, to appear distinguished, she'd lied about her father being a martial arts instructor, just like in a TV series. But the words were already out, and there was no way to undo them. She could only hope Shao Yifu didn't remember, whispering, "He used to be my martial arts coach."
"Wait, you've learned martial arts? You're the one who knows martial arts?"
"Yes, yes," Zhao Shihua became even more panicked. "...What's wrong?"
"Then who is the Zhao Shihua I remember?"
As if in a metaphor, the surrounding streetlights suddenly lit up simultaneously. Shao Yifu stopped in front of her, his cap's shadow covering most of his face, plunging him into the thicker night.
When she was in elementary school, Xia Zhao's mission was not only to protect Princess Wang Zitong, but also to help the weak and uphold justice; saving the earth was of course also part of her mission, but until she grew up, she never encountered a big monster that wanted to destroy the earth.
As for the so-called "oppose the strong and support the weak," it actually means "oppose men and support women." Back then, boys and girls had a lot of fun fighting each other. One girl, Xiong Mulan, was often teased by bored boys because her petite figure didn't fit the Chinese character for "bear" or the homophonic "Mulan."
Of course Zhao Shihua had to help when she saw injustice. She didn't stop with just one punch. She also turned around to comfort Xiong Mulan, praising her cuteness and cool name: "Mulan is so nice. I also want to be called Mulan, just like Hua Mulan! Oh, by the way, why don't I call you Xiaohua from now on!"
Xiaohua and Xiaohua... Zhao Shihua finally realized that Shao Yifu had confused himself with Xiong Mulan.
She stood there, her head spinning, though not to the point of dizziness. She had previously mistakenly believed that Shao Yifu could be easily bribed by a few pieces of fried chicken. She had indeed been naive. The real prelude had just begun.
"—are you the Tarzan?"
"……What did you say?"
It was like being suddenly hit by a heavy artillery shell on a calm sailing track and heading in an unknown direction. The situation was completely beyond Zhao Shihua's expectations, so much so that she had no idea how she ended up walking into the pancake shop.
She sat in a corner of the pancake shop, stunned, like a criminal being held captive by two police officers, one on each side, forcing her to confess. She'd planned to return to her master after buying the pancakes, but somehow Shao Yifu had dragged her to stay. Although the sign at the entrance read "Shandong Multi-Grain Pancakes" in large red characters, the shop also sold steamed buns, dumplings, wontons, and other items. The owner probably wanted to dominate the northern Chinese food market.
"Oh! No wonder you said sorry to me the other day." Shao Yifu put down his chopsticks. Perhaps he didn't control the force well or it was intentional, but there was a loud "bang" that frightened Zhao Shihua. "But I don't remember you hitting me when we were little?"
If Li Xuping, who was sitting next to him, was drinking water, he would probably spit it out in one gulp. This sentence contained much more information than the "We are elementary school classmates" he heard in the morning.
"It's best if I haven't fought before..." Zhao Shihua felt guilty. He held the pancake with both hands but couldn't eat it. The crispy food inside had already become soft. What a pity.
"You don't know, she was a terrible fighter when she was little! All the boys in our class were afraid of her, right?"
"It's okay, just..." Zhao Shihua wasn't exactly being modest, because practicing martial arts and fighting were two completely different things. What she had learned was more about performing moves than actual combat techniques. Her impressive stance could indeed scare off a group of elementary school students, but it wouldn't necessarily knock down someone bigger than her. "Just try to fool the kids."
"I was just a child at that time." Shao Yifu was quite shameless. After saying that, he picked up another dumpling, dipped it in vinegar, and swallowed it in big mouthfuls.
"I'm sorry..." Zhao Shihua felt like she had just apologized, yet now she was repeating it again. It felt like it was going on and on. It wasn't that she wasn't sincere, she just wanted to know when it would end, so her tone was tinged with resentment. However, she didn't have the guts to say, "Let's just let bygones be bygones." She could only wait for the blow to fall, hoping for a quick, lasting pain rather than a long one.
"Hey, she's apologizing to you." Seeing that Shao Yifu had been silent for a long time, Li Xuping, who usually never interfered in other people's affairs, took the initiative to play the role of mediator.
"Ah? It's okay. We were all ignorant when we were little."
Shao Yifu said he didn't care, but Zhao Shihua had a vague feeling that he was angry. She didn't know where this feeling came from. After all, he didn't show any anger, or maybe it was because his face was always stern when he wasn't smiling.
Li Xuping seemed unable to bear the strange low pressure between the three of them. He was the first to break the silence and asked her, "I don't think you mentioned martial arts before. Did you talk about it at the beginning of the school year?"
"I stopped practicing in fourth grade," Zhao Shihua said, still with his head down. "I'd forgotten everything anyway, so I didn't talk about it."
"You can forget this? I thought it was like swimming or riding a bike, you'd remember it forever once you learned it."
I wonder if Shao Yifu's words were a reminder of his defensive move in the playground stands, when he elbowed him. Zhao Shihua didn't respond, just focused on eating. After a while, Shao Yifu suddenly laughed once or twice.
"I remember one Children's Day, you performed martial arts on stage, and one of your moves seemed to involve a somersault?" Shao Yifu turned to Li Xuping, chopsticks poised high as if he were about to tell a story and play drums. "Her shoes must have been too big, and she didn't tie them properly, so when she somersaulted, they flew out and landed right in the principal's face. Hahaha!"
"Really? Haha, ka ka ka!" Li Xuping laughed so hard that he almost choked.
Zhao Shihua smiled miserably, and the scenes that he didn't want to recall were still unfolding one by one.
In fact, Shao Yifu remembered it wrongly. He did not throw the shoe at the principal's face at that time. How could such a coincidence happen in the world? Perhaps because the first row of the audience usually sat principals, directors and the like, Shao Yifu added that scene on his own initiative.
She remembered that during her last somersault, her shoes somehow flew off, arcing and landing in front of the stage. She was stunned, her mind blanked by the laughter from the audience. The rest of the moves were completed entirely by muscle memory, and she didn't know how many mistakes she made.
After bowing and leaving the stage, she still hadn't recovered from her shock. She pretended nothing had happened, walking back with one foot in her white sock. When her homeroom teacher asked her where her shoes were, she brazenly claimed she had more at home and that she didn't want them since they were lost, a gesture comparable to Mahatma Gandhi's generosity when he threw away his shoes. It wasn't until a teacher returned her shoes that she reluctantly put them back on.
Zhao Shihua, aged seven or eight, was incredibly thin-skinned. Because of that performance incident, she'd developed a strong aversion to performing solo on stage, even a fear of it. She'd once happily shown off her skills in front of friends and family during holidays, but now she'd become timid. One time, during Chinese New Year, she'd even gone into hiding. Her parents caught her and scolded her, saying, "You have no manners! What's wrong with performing for your uncles and aunts?"
Nearly ten years had passed, and she had grown considerably taller, but her skin hadn't gotten any thicker. Even now, when she recalled that embarrassing incident, she could only blush and smile awkwardly, unable to defend herself or laugh at herself.
She glanced at Shao Yifu, who glanced back at her and then forced a fake smile. Zhao Shihua felt uneasy, wondering what he was up to.
"Also, Liu Datou nicknamed you Tarzan. He was watching a cartoon called Tarzan and said you resembled Tarzan, and Wang Zitong resembled the princess."
"But there's no prince in it, right? And the heroine isn't a princess either." Li Xuping retorted. This person always seemed to miss the point.
"I don't know, I don't remember anything..." Zhao Shihua clutched the pancake bag tightly, feeling the sweet bean sauce seeping through the paper, leaving her fingers sticky. She had no idea that the boys in elementary school had teased her like that. "Tarzan," "Arhat," and "King Kong" were all there, so could the next one be the Avengers' "Hulk"?
All she knew was that starting tomorrow, everything would be different. Or rather, starting tomorrow, everything would go back to the way it was before.
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