New Life and Masks (1)
There were only two more people left before her turn, but she suddenly imagined herself becoming transparent and being passed over.
Zhao Shihua glanced up at the wall clock. School would be over in five minutes. Or was it ten? She wasn't sure if classes at her new school were forty or forty-five minutes long. She wasn't sure whether she should hope to get out early, avoid today's mishap and wait until the next class meeting, or just bite the bullet and go up to the stage.
All she knew was that she would have to introduce herself on the first day of school, and she certainly wasn't unprepared. She imagined herself standing at the podium, the late August sun illuminating the classroom with a vibrant, clear glow, shrouding her in light, giving her a sense of grace and grace. As she spoke aloud her name and hobbies, several classmates nodded, signaling friendship—a beautiful new life had begun. She took a deep breath, and even the air was infused with the fragrance of fresh grass, refreshing her heart.
Suddenly, a burst of scattered applause pulled her back to the gloomy and sweltering reality. After listening to the introductions of over forty people, everyone was feeling somewhat weary.
Because of the phonetic spelling of his surname, Zhao Shihua's student ID number was relegated to the back of the class, and he was assigned a seat in the last row, near the window, following a similar arrangement. This was the seat reserved for protagonists in Japanese anime, where, by turning their heads at a 45-degree angle, they could "watch the flowers bloom and fall, the clouds roll and unroll." However, in reality, there was a plastic trash can, almost half a person's height, in the corner behind him. Even from imagining it, I could smell a foul odor, a reminder not to indulge in too many sweet dreams.
The applause gradually died down, but Zhao Shihua felt his heartbeat getting louder and louder, as if a drum was beating right next to his ear - there was only one person left, and it was his turn.
A moment later, the boy in the front row finally stood up, dragging his feet onto the stage. He was tall and thin, wearing a loose white T-shirt. He stood with a slight hunchback, and his slightly unkempt, semi-long hair covered his forehead, making him look listless, as if he hadn't woken up from a nap. Zhao Shihua couldn't help but wonder if he continued to be so lazy during military training, he would surely be punished by the instructors to stand until he got a heatstroke.
"Hello everyone, my name is Shao Yifu."
"Are you here to donate money?" Some boy interrupted and asked inexplicably.
"...What?" He frowned and seemed to wake up a little.
"I mean, you're the big boss who donated money to build a teaching building for the school? The Yifu Building!"
It seems that compared to common names like your own, some people's names are naturally topical, and other people will take the initiative to come forward to play the supporting role. The originally dull atmosphere is suddenly lifted by this joke.
"No, no," Shao Yifu raised his hand and gestured seriously in the air, "It's one husband in a monogamous relationship."
"What?" Zhao Shihua burst out laughing along with her classmates. Any normal person would say, "One man guards the pass, ten thousand men cannot break through." Was this guy truly still half asleep, or was he just trying to amuse everyone? But since no one who got into a top high school would be a small-time soldier, she could only interpret his joke as an act of madness. A single beep in her head indicated the barcode had been read: he was categorized as someone who "loved to show off and attract attention."
Zhao Shihua suddenly remembered that he had a classmate named Yifu in elementary school. The little boy introduced himself confidently at that time: "My name is Guan Yifu. Guan is the Guan in 'One man stands guard over the pass and ten thousand men are unable to open it', and Yifu is also the Yifu in 'One man stands guard over the pass and ten thousand men are unable to open it'." Although he almost confused himself when he said this, at least others would not interpret their parents' wishes as a boring joke.
The young head teacher glared at everyone, and the laughter suddenly died away. Shao Yifu then continued, "As for my interests, they're quite a mix. I like playing games, playing guitar, listening to music, building Lego, making models, and so on. Of course, I also like all kinds of sports. I'm good at swimming, football, basketball, table tennis, and badminton. And... I hope to have the opportunity to play ball with everyone in the future!"
Zhao Shihua suddenly felt the spotlights blaze onto Shao Yifu, and exclamations of admiration echoed from all around. Compared to her own lackluster talents, his talents were so numerous she couldn't even count them on ten fingers. She practically wanted to tick every box on her resume's hobbies section before she'd be satisfied. Do children growing up in big cities always have such a rich extracurricular life? But she quickly reassured herself that being a bit of a jack of all trades didn't mean she was an expert in anything, and that wasn't that great either.
After Shao Yifu finished speaking, he scratched the back of his head involuntarily, as if he was embarrassed by the invitation he had just made. Then, as if he imagined the scene of playing together in the future, he suddenly grinned, instantly switching from drowsiness in the previous second to vigorous energy in the next second, which made Zhao Shihua wonder if he had also learned the face-changing of Sichuan Opera.
She mechanically clapped along with the students around her, her gaze following Shao Yifu back to the seat in front of her. The long-awaited bell never rang, but the inevitable outcome had finally arrived. Zhao Shihua gritted her teeth, clenched her sweat-soaked fists, strode onto the stage, and breathed out, "Hello everyone, my name is Zhao Shihua, the Shihua of 'A person of learning and poetry possesses a refined spirit.'"
Ding-ling-ling——
Was it fate that this was going to be a bad start? During the ten seconds that the bell rang, Zhao Shihua was like someone who had been hit by a needle and couldn't move. Only when it was quiet outside did she look at her head teacher awkwardly, asking with her eyes if she wanted to continue. After getting Teacher Rong's consent, she took a deep breath, but because she was too flustered, she suddenly didn't know how to place her hands naturally. Folding them in front of her made her look like a receptionist, while folding them behind her back made her look like a security guard. But she didn't have time to think too much. In the end, her hands instinctively stuck to her sides, but because her limbs were as stiff as a piece of steel plate, it seemed like she was rehearsing the standing at attention military posture that would be training the next day.
Zhao Shihua knew how rare this ticket to a new world was, because among the nearly 1,000 students in her first year of high school, there wasn't a single one she knew. Her nervousness and worry weren't due to shyness; on the contrary, she couldn't have asked for more.
After all, not everyone can shed the past and reclaim their past, nor is resetting one's life as effortless as pressing a "reset" button. Although she had never engaged in any crime, she inexplicably felt the resolve of a prisoner released from prison to reform. She was well aware of the effort she had put into this, and therefore wanted to ensure that her first impression remained true to her original vision.
However, the ringing of the phone had scared away most of the lines she had memorized. Her heart was in a mess. She finally forced herself to muster up the courage and recited the only sentence in her mind aloud, but she found that her voice was trembling: "Just like my name, I like reading books and watching movies."
It is an extremely popular hobby, so common that no one is willing to take the initiative to ask "What is your favorite book?" or "What movies do you like to watch?" Compared with the previous boy, the difference is like diamonds and cinders.
She could understand it, to some extent. After all, hobbies like "reading" and "watching movies" were often forced upon people without any particular talents. Plus, with more than a dozen people already mentioning their love of reading and watching movies, it was like listing the most popular books and movies, so Zhao Shihua didn't need to elaborate.
If she had learned even a little piano, dancing, or painting as a child, she wouldn't be as monotonous and boring as she is now. And the signboard she used to boast about herself, from the day she received the admission notice from Yangcheng Middle School, she was determined to completely tear it off.
Instead, she put on a protective facade called "ordinary high school girl." So even though no one asked, Zhao Shihua still spoke out her prepared answers—Harry Potter and Ghibli animations—in the hope of earning a few glances of recognition as a fellow student.
Zhao Shihua had been nervous for a moment, afraid to look directly at the students in the audience. Seeing no response, she couldn't help but glance over, only to find that most of the students were whispering among themselves. Few actually glanced at her, and many were even eagerly packing their bags. She waited awkwardly for a second or two, only to hear the whispers rise a few decibels before being swallowed by the hum of the fan overhead. Even the cicadas outside the window seemed to have decided she wasn't worth listening to, and disrespectfully joined in the chorus at the top of their lungs.
Zhao Shihua couldn't help but feel a little frustrated. She hadn't expected even Rowling and Miyazaki to be of any help. She forced a smile, bowed hastily, and, with a quick "thank you," walked off the podium. On her way back to her seat, she was met with polite applause, whether for her or perhaps to celebrate the end of the lengthy class meeting.
Before the class dismissed, the head teacher hurried to the stage to remind everyone again of the time and place for the evening freshman meeting. However, because his voice was too gentle and polite, it was eventually drowned out by the excited and curious discussions and the messy sounds of tidying up tables and chairs.
The students around her stood up and left, but Zhao Shihua remained frozen in her seat, her heart pounding for a long time. It wasn't until Zhu Miaoyan tugged at her sleeve that she snapped back to reality. She turned to see Zhu Miaoyan cheerfully asking, her sweet voice reminiscent of strawberry shortcake, "Would you like to try some food in the school cafeteria?"
Zhao Shihua's first tasks at the start of school, besides paying tuition, are finding friends. Paying tuition means she can walk into the school gates with confidence, while finding friends means having a companion to eat with in the cafeteria, rather than being a lonely foodie. As for studying, she plans to wait until military training is over and her textbooks are distributed before considering it.
Therefore, when she received Zhu Miaoyan's invitation, her mood instantly became high, and she immediately threw away her previous panic. She responded with "Yes, yes" repeatedly, and the little flame of friendship in her heart also began to burn.
"Great, then I'll go get the other two."
The four people in their dorm were basically the last ones in alphabetical order of their surnames. They had already briefly met each other during registration and check-in that morning. Though they were simply randomly assigned classmates and roommates, Zhao Shihua had taken it as a case of fate, a meeting brought together by great destiny. She didn't know where this conviction came from, perhaps like a duckling identifying the first creature it sees as its mother. Before they had even had time to exchange a few words, she was certain they would become good friends, or at least good dining companions.
Zhao Shihua stuffed the student handbook and other materials that had just been distributed into her schoolbag. When she looked up, she found that only Zhang He was following Zhu Miaoyan. Another roommate named Zhuo Siqi said that he had something urgent to do and would not eat together today.
She couldn't imagine what else to do besides dinner at this hour, and she felt a sense of loss, similar to being short one player in a card game. However, they had just started school, and everyone was still in high spirits. After walking down five flights of stairs, the three of them were already arm in arm, as close as old friends, completely forgetting Zhuo Siqi.
"Shihua, which junior high school did you go to?" Zhu Miaoyan asked her after they had finished their meal and sat down. "I don't think you mentioned that in the class meeting just now, did you?"
Zhao Shihua stared at the mountain of food on her plate, her chopsticks raised for a long time, unsure where to start. She hadn't expected the cafeteria's food to be so sumptuous, and was completely lost when it came time to order. Urged on by the waitress serving the food, she ended up ordering barbecued pork, steamed egg with shrimp, stewed tofu, and stir-fried pork and broccoli. Hearing the question from the other side, she was actually a little hesitant, not wanting to bring up the past. After a moment's hesitation, she looked up and replied, as if embarrassed, "I'm not from Guangzhou. My family is in Meizhou, so you probably haven't heard of my school."
"So you're a provincial special recruit? I heard that provincial special recruits are always ranked among the best in the local area. Wow—your grades must be very good!"
"No, no, no, it's okay!" Zhao Shihua felt a little guilty about being flattered. "I was actually lucky and performed exceptionally well. In junior high, there were a few classmates who always scored higher than me, but I don't know why they all failed the exam."
Her words were half habitual modesty and half truth. Every year during the high school entrance exam, several key high schools in Guangzhou would relax their household registration restrictions, recruiting hundreds of outstanding students from other cities within the province. The top three and third place finishers were generally snatched up by the Affiliated High School and Experimental High School, while the rest fell into the hands of Yangcheng Middle School, and Zhao Shihua was one of them.
Her junior high school wasn't the best in the area, and while her exam scores were generally in the top five, she rarely took first place. As for why she had leapt to first place in her grade and the top 30 in the city on the high school entrance exam, she couldn't come up with any explanation other than "exceptional performance" or, more modestly, "the smoke rising from her ancestors' graves."
"Even if you're performing exceptionally well, you still need a foundation. After all, zero times one hundred million is still zero."
Zhu Miaoyan was such a good example-giver! It was obvious she was the kind of sweet-talking kid that adults loved, and Zhao Shihua couldn't help but applaud inwardly. Looking closely, she also had big eyes and a fair face adored with dimples. It would be hard for anyone of her generation, not just her elders, to dislike her.
"What about you, Zhu Miaoyan? Are you from Guangzhou?" Zhao Shihua said as he picked up a piece of barbecued pork. It was tasty and not dry, and tasted no less than the one in the restaurant.
"Yeah, yes. My junior high school is only two stops away from Yangzhong. It's quite close. There are a few classmates in my class from my old school, but we're not that familiar with each other." Zhu Miaoyan was still chewing her food. After a while, as if remembering something, she added, "By the way, don't call me by my full name. It's too formal. Just call me Miaoyan or Miaomiao!"
"Did you have any other classmates from junior high school who got into Yangzhong with you?" Zhang He, who was sitting across from her, continued the previous topic. Seeing her shake her head, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Then you left home and came here to study without knowing anyone. Aren't you scared?"
"Not at all! One person is too many—" Zhao Shihua blurted out, then realized his tone was a bit exaggerated and didn't fit a normal person's reaction. He quickly took it back and explained, "My sister is also in Guangzhou. She goes to university here. She also drove me here this morning, so I'm not completely alone."
"My dear sister?" the two people opposite her asked her in unison. The policy of allowing couples to have two children was only a few years ago, and most of their generation were only children.
"She's already in college?"
"What year are you in? What's your major?"
"Yes, she is my biological sister. She is in her first year of graduate school this year."
"First year of graduate school?! She sounds much older than you." Zhu Miaoyan's eyes widened as she tapped the air with her chopsticks, as if calculating the age gap between them. "But it's nice to have a sister. I'm the only child in my family."
"Me too. When I was little, I really wanted a brother and even begged my parents for a long time. But no matter how much I begged, I could only have a younger brother or sister."
"Sisters must have a great bond," Zhu Miaoyan said, clasping her hands together, like the usual pose a girl's manga protagonist would make when fantasizing. "I really envy you!"
Zhao Shihua didn't know what to say next. After all, the seven-year age difference between the two sisters posed a long story. She didn't want to discuss these family matters with her roommates, whom she had only just met for half a day. She also didn't want them to focus too much on her non-local status, so she changed the subject: "Do you all live nearby? Will you still be living in the dorms after military training?"
"My home is only a dozen minutes' drive away, but since it is a mandatory requirement to stay overnight during military training, there is nothing I can do about it. Fortunately, the training only lasts for more than a week." Zhu Miaoyan shrugged.
"It takes me about half an hour to get home. It's not far nor close. My parents want me to go home, but I think it's a waste of an hour to go back and forth every day. If I use the time spent on the road to study, I will probably finish half of my homework, okay? So I should apply to live on campus." Zhang He replied.
Although the class hadn't started yet, Zhao Shihua already felt the competitive pressure of a key high school from this sentence, so he quickly shoveled two more mouthfuls of rice, thinking that if he ate faster, maybe he could squeeze out some time to read a book or something.
Glancing down at the mostly-remaining meal, her resolve flickered like a match. She'd postpone her "early bird catches the worm" study plan until next time; today, it was more important to eat and chat. After all, it had been ages since she felt so perfectly integrated with her peers. Chatting with them was such a joy, she was even willing to trade some of her grades for it.
"Great! Then we can live in the same dorm again, right?" Even after only sharing half a meal together, Zhao Shihua was already looking forward to being Zhang He's roommate for three full years. He was also incredibly reluctant to part with Zhu Miaoyan, who would only be sharing the same room for a week. He wondered if Zhuo Siqi would stay. He truly wished he could have a "sister" sleeping in the lower bunk, just like the folk song goes.
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