New Life and Masks (5)
Zhu Miaoyan was just talking about how the security guard at the back door of the school was very strict and that they had to enter and exit early and not try to get in on time, otherwise they would be stopped and points would be deducted. At that time, they walked to the drinking fountain and happened to meet Shao Yifu and Li Xuping and Zhou Xin, who often hung out with him. They probably rushed over to get some water after being punished by standing.
"Tsk tsk tsk, Xiaozhu is spreading false information again," Zhou Xin joked. Shao Yifu, standing by, smiled, screwed the lid on his water cup, and stepped back to make room.
"Who said it's fake? I found out all by myself, okay? Also, I warn you three, don't bring my junior high school nickname into high school." Although it was a "warning", there was a hint of a smile on Zhu Miaoyan's lips.
It's no wonder Zhu Miaoyan didn't allow herself to be called by her real name before; it turns out she was bothered by people calling her "Little Pig." However, in Zhao Shihua's opinion, Zhu Miaoyan's baby fat is more cute than fat.
"Zhao Shishu, you have to be careful. We have all been cheated by her before." Shao Yifu tilted his head and said to Zhao Shihua behind Zhu Miaoyan.
Last time it was "Zihua," and this time he's the uncle? This hero doesn't recall ever accepting a disciple like you. Zhao Shihua was about to say something to him, but Zhou Xin interrupted: "Yes, eleven out of ten things she says are like crying wolf, and she often tricks us into going to the office to see the teacher." It seems he has suffered greatly from this.
Zhu Miaoyan pretended to be angry and was about to hit the two men, but when she came to her senses, she corrected Shao Yifu, "What uncle? My name is Zhao Shihua."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I said the wrong thing again." Shao Yifu said, his eyes fell back on Zhao Shihua, "Then I'll compensate you. You can also call me Guan Yiqi."
"What a mess! You changed your name too?" Zhu Miaoyan certainly didn't know what happened at the mobilization meeting.
"No, thank you, I remember your name." Zhao Shihua was not as quick-witted as Zhu Miaoyan, and finally got a word in.
"I'm sorry, I'll definitely remember this next time!" Shao Yifu bowed his head slightly towards her, as if to apologize. "Zhao Shuhua, right?"
That's right, but that's her sister! Before Zhao Shihua could react, Shao Yifu slipped away as fast as he could.
"Shihua, don't pay attention to him. The three of them have always been like this." Zhu Miaoyan pouted and cursed.
However, the only people arguing with her were Shao Yifu and Zhou Xin. Li Xuping remained silent, yet he was still dragged into the water by his bad friend. Although it was a blame, Zhao Shihua heard it as a hint of defending his family. Remembering that during evening self-study, Zhu Miaoyan would occasionally pat Shao Yifu on the shoulder and talk to him, as if they had known each other for a long time, she tentatively asked her, "Are you junior high school classmates?"
"Yes, I used to be in the same class with Zhou Xin, and Shao Yifu and Li Xiuping were in the class next door."
"What I mean is," Zhao Shihua turned off the faucet and followed the inference in his mind. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "Is Shao Yifu also from Guangzhou?"
"Yeah, why are you asking?"
"I... am looking for a fellow villager?" Zhao Shihua felt a little guilty and quickly chuckled to cover it up.
"Why don't you just ask him directly?" Zhu Miaoyan's eyes rolled up, like a cloud of memory emerging from the head of a character in a cartoon. "But his situation is quite special. I heard he studied in Canada for a few years before returning."
"Canada?!"
"You don't know?"
The doubts in Zhao Shihua's heart were magnified a hundredfold, as if the distance from Meizhou to Guangzhou was suddenly stretched to the distance from China to Canada. That was the other side of the Pacific Ocean beyond her horizon, so far away that it was unimaginable.
Guan Yifu had indeed transferred schools, but Zhao Shihua had always believed he had moved to a different school in the same city. After all, according to his teacher, he simply needed a change of scenery. She had also heard the story of Meng Mu's three moves, but that didn't necessarily mean she had immigrated overseas.
At the beginning of the third grade, the new head teacher announced at a class meeting that Guan Yifu had transferred to another school. Zhao Shihua turned around and realized that his seat had been empty all day.
The boy next to him joked in a low voice that Guan Yifu had gone to another school to open a pineapple cake shop, which made the students around him laugh. Zhao Shihua also laughed out loud, but was suddenly frightened into silence by the loud bang of the head teacher slamming the table.
"You little kids are still laughing. Do you know why he transferred schools?"
The response was, of course, silence. After all, the new teacher looked like someone who was not to be trifled with. Her gloomy expression hinted at the coming storm, so everyone kept their mouths shut.
"From what I understand, it's all because of you! Do you laugh at him all day long, calling him all kinds of ugly nicknames? Do you often tease him? I heard you even put a carton of milk on his chair? If it were you, and you were laughed at or bullied by others, how would you feel? Would you feel good? 'Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you,' do you understand the principle of 'Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you,'"
The continuous questioning made everyone in the class feel depressed. No one dared to look up and look at the teacher with a clear conscience.
Zhao Shihua also lowered his head and thought about his own actions, but the more he thought about it, the more dissatisfied he became. He couldn't help but clench his fists under the table.
Ever since the "art class dirty water" incident, in Zhao Shihua's eyes, Guan Yifu had gone from a pitiful person to a hateful one. She had once truly sympathized with his situation, but now she believed that everything was his own fault. After all, when someone bullies you, if you don't fight back, what else can you do but be a coward?
And when someone finally apologized sincerely, he was wrongly accused of doing it on purpose. Isn't this just like "a dog bites Lü Dongbin—not knowing the kindness of a good person"? Later, she learned a more appropriate expression: "Ugly people are often mischievous," which was exactly what Guan Yifu himself was talking about.
So after the art class, when those boys made fun of Guan Yifu's figure, Zhao Shihua laughed too, and her laugh was even more exaggerated, as if she wanted to laugh back all her grievances. She called him nicknames like "fatty" and "fatty" louder than anyone else, not to mention waving her fists and shouting terrifying threats like "I can knock you out with one slap" and "I can kick you away with one kick".
I remember one time, after school, Zhao Shihua left to find Guan Yifu still waiting at the school gate, eagerly waiting for his family to pick him up. It was already late, and Guan Yifu must have been waiting for a long time, growing restless. She didn't know what was going on, but suddenly, as if possessed, she said to him, "You're so fat, you must eat a lot! Your mother can't afford to support you, so she doesn't want you anymore!" This frightened Guan Yifu to tears. Fearing the situation would get out of hand again, Zhao Shihua quickly ran home.
Another time, when Guan Yifu happened to be walking down the hallway, Zhao Shihua deliberately pulled Wang Zitong, who was traveling with her, aside and pretended to make way for him, loudly explaining that the hallway was too narrow and that if they didn't move out of the way, the fat guy wouldn't be able to get through. Knowing that nine out of ten boys in the class secretly had a crush on the good-looking monitor, she deliberately embarrassed the shy Guan Yifu.
At the time, Zhao Shihua didn't care at all for her homeroom teacher's advice to "put herself in someone else's shoes." She was clinging to her own city, reigning supreme in her own kingdom, awe-inspiring. How could she have the leisure to explore the worlds of others? Besides, why should a dragon in the sky understand a worm on earth?
Years later, when she found herself in the same predicament, she vaguely remembered her elementary school teacher's earnest advice and realized how narrow-minded she had been. But that was all in the past. There's no such thing as regret pills, and no Doraemon popping out of a drawer and handing you a time machine.
Therefore, clarifying whether the two "one husbands" were the same person was of paramount importance to her. This wasn't just a matter of reuniting with an elementary school classmate after so many years, but rather a matter of understanding how much injustice and hatred she had endured. The more Zhao Shihua thought about it, the heavier her heart became. In just a few days, this incident almost overshadowed all her novelty and anticipation, rapidly rising to the level of a major life-threatening proposition, such as making amends for the past.
Therefore, even though the information collected so far clearly led her guess in the direction of being invalid, Zhao Shihua still did not dare to jump to conclusions and insisted on getting to the bottom of the matter before she could feel at ease.
And the opportunity soon came.
During evening study session the day before military training ended, the homeroom teacher came in and announced a seating change. Zhao Shihua was overjoyed, thinking she'd finally gotten away from the unwelcome front-row seat, and quickly reached into a drawer to pack her things. The two boys sitting closest to the back door were so eager they stood up and practically ran down the hallway to line up.
Unexpectedly, Teacher Rong frowned and told the two to sit back down. She didn't intend to go to great lengths, so she projected the seating chart onto the blackboard. Zhao Shihua saw that it had only made minor adjustments based on height. For example, Shao Yifu, who was half a head taller than her, was moved from the front row to the back, and Zhu Miaoyan, who was half a head shorter than her, was moved to the front row. Almost two-thirds of the people remained where they were, including herself...
Zhao Shihua silently watched her deskmate pack her bag, unable to offer much help. It wasn't much, and she packed it in no time. No, Zhu Miaoyan was no longer her deskmate, but her "former deskmate." While she had many friends, Zhao Shihua was just one of them. However, having been both her deskmate and her roommate was still special, a bit like "the closer you are to the water, the sooner you get the moon." But now, that small honorific title was being stripped away. She felt a surge of reluctance, but was too embarrassed to voice it out loud. Her only reassurance was that she and Zhu Miaoyan were still in the same group.
Zhao Shihua nodded and greeted her new deskmate, Zhuo Siqi. Although she was also a roommate, she looked so unfamiliar at first glance, as if they had only known each other for a day. It was no wonder, because she had said less to Zhuo Siqi in the past few days than she had to Zhu Miaoyan in half a day.
After the dozen or so students had changed seats, the homeroom teacher cleared his throat to quiet the classroom, then handed out another stack of forms for everyone to fill out. Actually, all this information had already been filled out on the first day of school, but from the school's perspective, perhaps a human photocopier was more efficient than a mechanical one, so they quickly printed out thousands of sheets of paper.
Most of the students, upon receiving the form, began complaining about the sheer number of items to fill out, especially the "self-assessment" section on the last page. But Zhao Shihua, after just a glance, beamed. She immediately pulled herself out of her slump, forgot about the seat issue, and returned to the larger issue that had been weighing on her mind for days: because the first page, in addition to the usual personal information, also required information about her past education. Educational history! This was heaven's help! Like a detective finding the key piece of evidence to crack a case, she eagerly gathered everyone around, clutching the form tightly in her hand, pointing to the elementary school section, and loudly declaring her deductions.
Zhao Shihua imagined how he would feign good intentions and help Shao Yifu hand in the form behind him. On the way, he pretended that a few pages were accidentally blown away by the fan. After picking them up to make sure there was one missing, he carefully checked the number and took another look at it - perfect! The end of the play!
Sadly, the phrase "things going against one's wishes" always appeared several percentage points more often in her life than "getting what one wanted." Just as she was happily lost in her own fantasy, slowing down her writing, Shao Yifu, who usually seemed lazy, chose to change his ways today. Zhao Shihua had only finished three-quarters of the paper when he stood up and walked towards the podium. A sudden white figure passed before her, startling her and making a soft gasp.
"What's wrong?" Shao Yifu turned around to look at Zhao Shihua, then glanced down at the ground. "Did I drop something?"
"No, no, no... Have you finished writing your self-assessment?" The box took up half a page of paper, so it would take at least ten minutes to complete.
"It's done. Anyway, there's no specific number of words required. Do you want me to hand it in for you?" It seemed that Shao Yifu had become not only more efficient and efficient, but also more helpful. Did a team win the game today? Or did the cafeteria lady give him an extra chicken drumstick?
"No, no... I haven't finished yet." Zhao Shihua gripped the pen indignantly, wishing he could quickly fill in the rest of the part in cursive writing to catch up, but in the end he still obediently finished writing an assessment report that met the standards.
But as the saying goes, "Mountains and rivers are so steep that you think there's no way out, but when you turn around, you'll find another village." All those ancient poems I'd learned were finally worth memorizing. During break, the homeroom teacher asked the students to collect the remaining forms and hand them directly to the Youth League Committee teacher. Zhu Miaoyan happened to be nearby, and since she'd already revealed the floor where the Youth League Committee office was located before the teacher could explain, the task naturally fell to her.
Zhao Shihua, impulsively, didn't even realize how much he was actually doing—it only added up to about two hundred sheets of paper. He immediately jumped to the podium and told Zhu Miaoyan he'd help. It was clearly something any elementary school student could accomplish, but she was treating it like a rocket.
"It's okay, I can come by myself. Thank you." Zhu Miaoyan said with her signature smile.
But how could Zhao Shihua let go so easily? She'd been terrified throughout military training, and the sight of Shao Yifu was like a knee-jerk reaction, forcing her to recall the past and confess her mistakes. Classes officially started next week, and she didn't want to be distracted by other worries.
Besides, maybe I've been overthinking it all along? Are Shao Yifu and Guan Yifu really two completely different people? If that's the case, I can truly wave my sleeves and live a carefree life without leaving a single cloud behind.
So, without waiting for Zhu Miaoyan's consent, she moved a stack of papers over and said, "How about I help you count them?"
The curse of "things going against one's will" still gnawed at her: Shao Yifu had submitted his form early, so his copy was still in Zhu Miaoyan's hands. Zhao Shihua was so furious she wanted to just snatch it away and be done with it, completely ignoring the counting. She counted twice but got different numbers. She had just said she wanted to help, but in the end, she was just causing trouble.
"Let me count it again." Zhao Shihua smiled awkwardly.
"...Let me count them." Zhu Miaoyan felt a little helpless, but was too embarrassed to chase her away, so she said to her like a child, "Here, how about you count my stack?"
"Okay! Thanks..." Zhao Shihua quickly shut up after realizing what she was thanking him for. She quickly lowered her head and carefully opened the form in front of her.
Cheng Yangyang, no. Shen Qingcheng, no. Huang Xizhi, no.
The incandescent light fell on the pages, and Zhao Shihua became more and more nervous as she flipped through the pages, as if she were opening a book of life and death, unsure of what would be written on the last page. Her pounding heartbeat reached her fingertips, and her hands even trembled slightly. Found it—
Name: Shao Yifu.
Educational experience (please fill in chronological order): Meixian Sanhao Primary School.
Zhao Shihua heard a loud bang in his ears, as if a door that had been closed for a long time was pushed open.
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