New Life and Masks (2)
The three girls chatted ramblingly, from legendary dress styles to a popular talent show during the summer vacation. Zhao Shihua didn't pay much attention, but she enthusiastically joined in the discussion. As a result, because she was so engrossed in the conversation, and she couldn't bear to throw away the large portions of food she ordered, she returned to the dormitory with less than an hour left before the evening meeting.
After all, it was her own delay from eating that delayed her. Zhao Shihua felt deeply sorry and asked the other two to shower first while she continued to tidy up the mess of clothes on the bed. Her sister, Zhao Shuhua, had accompanied her to school that morning; her parents had stayed in Meizhou to take care of the fast food restaurant business. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but arriving at school and seeing everyone else surrounded by their parents made her feel a little aggrieved.
Although she was the youngest, she didn't enjoy the pampered life her family enjoyed. The adults were busy at the restaurant from morning till night, leaving little time for her. Her older sister was much older than her; Zhao Shuhua had already left home for university in Guangzhou before she even graduated from elementary school. So, even though it was her first time living in a boarding house, she was already adept at household chores, like washing clothes and tidying up.
I can't wear my autumn and winter clothes right now, so I'm piling them up in the closet. Smaller items like underwear and socks are rolled up and stored in a storage box so they don't get lost. The camouflage uniforms I was given will need to be changed into soon, and they still smell like the machine. I don't have time to wash them, but I'll just have to bear it. And then there's the training belt...
A belt? Zhao Shihua stared at the long strip of bright yellow imitation satin in her hand, wondering why she had brought it with her. It should have been hidden deep in a closet at home, something she wouldn't even be able to find even if she searched for it. Suddenly, somehow, it appeared among the carefully selected luggage. Could her mother have stuffed it in here? But why would she have done that? Even if she didn't care about her daughter, it was impossible for her to know her beyond elementary school.
The more Zhao Shihua thought about it, the more bizarre it seemed. She went to the hallway and called to ask. She knew her mother was probably busy greeting the dinner guests, but she couldn't help but want to say something, at least to get her to praise her for her ability. As expected, the phone beeped for a long time but no one answered. She tried to text her sister to report the afternoon's events, but her mother called back.
"Hello, what's going on?" The voice on the other end sounded anxious, and the background noise was extremely noisy.
Mom was always busy, shouldering half the work at the fast food restaurant, with Dad and Grandma sharing the rest. Zhao Shihua knew Mom was incredibly busy when she heard her voice, and immediately retreated a bit, leaving behind nothing to say. She only whispered, "Nothing..."
"What did you say?" The other person seemed to have walked to a quieter place. "Did the registration go smoothly? Did your sister also return to school?"
"Well, she helped me move the boxes at noon and then went back. I don't have anything to do, just wanted to tell you that everything is ready. And that..." Zhao Shihua heard her mother suddenly yell "I'm coming right up!" at someone on the other end of the line. The sound hurt her eardrums, and she immediately felt dissatisfied, drowning out the doubts in her heart. "That's all, go ahead and get busy."
"As long as there's nothing wrong, it's fine. Get along well with your classmates, help each other, and study hard on your own. I won't say anything."
"Well, even without you telling me—"
"Don't be frugal with your money, okay? Eat what you need to eat and buy what you need to buy. If you don't have enough, tell me. We're not short of money at home, do you hear me?" The voice on the other end was getting faster and faster. Zhao Shihua became more and more impatient. She didn't like her mother always bringing up money in the end no matter what she said.
"I heard you. Oh well, go back to work! I'm going to take a shower!"
Zhu Miaoyan was still in the bathroom, and Zhang He was waiting. Only after Zhao Shihua had made the sheets twice or three times, making them almost as smooth as white paper, did she come over and tell her to shower. Perhaps she was being overly diligent, as she spent several more minutes untangling her towel and underwear from the neatly packed laundry. Zhao Shihua felt embarrassed to keep her roommates, who were almost done, waiting, so she told them to go and gather first.
But as soon as they left, Zhao Shihua regretted her decision. She had forgotten to ask where to plug the hot water card to get hot water. She peeked out, but the dorm was already empty. Too lazy to get dressed again and go to the next door for help, she simply gritted her teeth and took a cold shower. Halfway through, she suddenly figured out how to use it, and used hot water to scald herself as a comfort. Fortunately, it was August, and the heat was at its peak, so she didn't catch a cold.
But to make matters worse, before leaving, Zhao Shihua discovered that she had lost her pair of socks. By the time she finally dug out her matching pair from the tangled pile of clothes, the bell for evening self-study had already rung in the teaching area.
She was so flustered she didn't even have time to comb her hair as she sprinted to the meeting place. Luckily, the auditorium was at the end of the main campus road, making it easy to find her way even as a newcomer. However, upon arriving, the scene before her sank her heart: while a large crowd still gathered in the open space, several classes had already formed their lines and begun to enter.
Around seven in the evening, the western sky shifted from red and orange to blue and purple, and darkness had already fallen. Although the streetlights along the school road were on, they were obscured by the dense banyan trees, revealing only a faint yellow hue.
Zhao Shihua squinted her eyes and searched carefully, but she couldn't recognize a single familiar face. After all, no matter how good her memory was, she couldn't memorize everyone in the class in half a day. She had already worked up a sweat from running, and now her anxiety was surging: What if the teacher caught her late on the first day?
The bright new life she had hoped for had barely begun when a crack appeared. She was like Super Mario in the video game, who finally got a chance to play, but before he could even take a bite of the mushroom, he was hit and killed by the chestnut that blocked his way.
What should I do? What should I do? The more she looked, the less clear her face became. The camouflage uniform had come in handy at an inopportune moment, confusing her to the point of dazzle.
"Hey! Zhao Shihua!" In the buzzing crowd, someone seemed to be calling her name, like a straw that was handed to her in time when she was about to drown.
Zhao Shihua turned around suddenly, but didn't know who was calling her.
"Zhao Shihua! Over here!" A few meters away, a bespectacled boy raised his hand. It was Pei Nachuan, she remembered him. During the afternoon class meeting, the head teacher had announced that he would temporarily serve as monitor during military training. Even more surprising was that the monitor had remembered her name, even though she'd almost been drowned out by the bell.
Zhao Shihua subconsciously smoothed down her hair, which was so messy that she could almost go on stage to play the role of the Lion King. She quickly walked up to him and explained, "I'm sorry, I was late because... I couldn't find the place." She couldn't say that she was late because she couldn't find her socks, but the excuse of being lost wasn't necessarily any better.
"It's okay, we're just here." He turned around and raised his chin towards the entrance of the auditorium. Zhao Shihua followed his gaze and saw the homeroom teacher arranging the students to line up in pairs before entering. "You're the only one missing from our class right now. Let's go."
Zhao Shihua suddenly felt deeply guilty. She was in Class 2, and according to the order, she should have been in long ago, but because of her, she had been delayed until now. When she saw her homeroom teacher later, she might be asked to submit an 800-word self-criticism before the school officially started. Thinking back to the first time she saw her homeroom teacher that morning, she felt that although she looked gentle and kind, when she was silent, she had the aura of a strict teacher who was intimidating without anger.
She followed Pei Nachuan nervously, worried that if he got lost again, it would be troublesome. Just as they stepped onto the steps leading to the gate, Pei Nachuan suddenly paused as if remembering something, turned around and said to her, "Just follow the end of the group and go in."
"Huh? I'd better explain it to Teacher Rong."
"It's okay, it's not a big deal. She doesn't know who is missing, and one of them has asked for leave and will be here late. Anyway, I'll just go and tell her that everyone is here." He smiled and walked towards the head teacher's position without waiting for her response.
"Ah... thank you, thank you!" It took Zhao Shihua a second to realize that her new life had been returned to her intact. Afraid that the other party hadn't heard her, she raised her voice and said it again. Before the head teacher's radar could detect her, she took a big step and hid behind the class line.
It's wonderful to have someone like him as class monitor, Zhao Shihua thought with tears of gratitude. When she first met him that afternoon, she'd thought he looked a little aloof, not at all someone willing to "serve their classmates," but she'd never expected him to be so considerate of others. Although he wasn't particularly tall, his figure so frail it looked like it could easily be blown away by a typhoon—the type who would never be chosen for a tug-of-war team—in her mind, Pei Nachuan was as glorious and majestic as the martial arts masters on TV, robed in flowing white, towering proudly atop mountains.
Zhao Shihua had originally wanted to sit near Zhu Miaoyan and the others, but because she was late, they didn't save her a seat, so she had to sit in the last row. She fanned herself with her hands and looked around, her panic gradually calming down.
To her, a building called "auditorium" was a scene from a novel or movie. Her previous school didn't have a dedicated auditorium. When she was in elementary school, for school-wide assemblies, everyone had to prepare their own chairs, carry them all the way from the upstairs classroom to the outdoor playground, and then move them back again after the principal finished reading. But kids back then didn't find it a hassle; any activity unrelated to schoolwork was simply fun. Plus, the playground was open-air, so when they got bored, they could look up at the sky. Sometimes, a plane would fly by, leaving a long contrail, often drawing the attention of almost the entire school. They'd chase it from the moment they heard the plane's roar until it disappeared from sight, leaving even the principal helpless.
The situation improved slightly by junior high school, but they only managed to vacate the gymnasium and move benches from the warehouse as a temporary solution. Furthermore, due to poor indoor air circulation, summer meetings often felt like a collective sauna to Zhao Shihua.
And now, he was actually inside a veritable auditorium, sitting in seats as comfortable as a movie theater. The bright overhead lights illuminated everyone with incredible clarity. Since the mobilization meeting hadn't even begun yet, everyone was chatting excitedly, their eyes sparkling with anticipation. Zhao Shihua felt an inexplicable surge of strength, his entire body pumped up, and he even listened to every word of the clichéd opening speech with rapt attention.
However, the chicken blood therapy didn't last long. Halfway through the meeting, someone suddenly came and sat down in the seat next to him. The slight vibration of the seat caused Zhao Shihua to glance to the left curiously, and the other person caught his eye.
"Is this Class 2?" he asked, his voice low. The boy had a short buzz cut, his features particularly clear under the bright light. But because he was furrowing his brow, he looked serious, almost angry. At first glance, he looked like a troubled delinquent, making you want to step back. But there was a pimple in the middle of his forehead, like a warning light, as eye-catching as the crescent moon on Justice Bao's forehead, which made him laugh.
Zhao Shihua nodded timidly, then took another closer look at him. Though she felt a sense of familiarity, she couldn't place the boy. Her memory was quite good; her high scores on the high school entrance exam weren't due to intelligence or diligence, but rather to a good memory and good luck. She compared the face before her with the images from the class meeting, but her memory system failed to match them.
"Great! I just walked around for a long time and couldn't find it." After receiving a positive answer, the boy's brows suddenly relaxed, and he breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. He leaned back in his chair and squinted his eyes at the stage. "Is that old man sitting in the middle the principal? What is he talking about? How long has he been talking?"
"Yes, it was the principal. He was just talking about the school's history, famous alumni, and…" Zhao Shihua's train of thought was cut off by the barrage of questions. In the blink of an eye, she had forgotten most of what the principal had painstakingly explained for half an hour. However, even more frustrating than forgetting the school's history was not being able to recall someone's name even though they looked vaguely familiar. She hesitated for a moment, then, pretending to be asking casually, leaned over slightly and asked, "Are you from Class 2 too? I didn't see you this afternoon…"
"Yeah," he turned his head and looked at her, frowning again, "Wait, I was sitting right in front of you, did you forget?"
"Huh?" The man who firmly adhered to the monogamous system? As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Shihua heard a ding in his mind, and the scene of memory and reality suddenly overlapped. Only that afternoon, his hair was still half-grown, because the bangs covered his striking eyebrows and eyes, making him look lazy. Now, with a buzz cut, revealing a smooth forehead and bright eyes, he looked like a fresh soldier.
Sichuan Opera face-changing wasn't enough to describe his transformation. Zhao Shihua felt like he was literally performing the transformation herself, secretly laughing. She pointed at her hair and asked knowingly, "Did you cut your hair?"
"Did you notice?" He said, seeming a little shy, touching the top of his head. "Actually, it was my homeroom teacher who asked me to cut my hair. She said it was too long and didn't comply with school rules. I know I can't have long hair, but the school also has a rule that hair can't go past the ears or eyebrows? But never mind. I have military training anyway, so cutting it will keep me cool."
"Yes." Zhao Shihua quickly pushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear, thinking that if she didn't have time to tie her hair tomorrow, she would definitely be ordered by Teacher Rong to get a haircut.
After exchanging pleasantries, Zhao Shihua turned back to the lecture. But the silence lasted less than two minutes when the guy sitting next to him, seemingly starting to find the conference utterly boring, came over and asked, "By the way, what's your name?"
"Zhao Shihua, is a person of profound learning—" She had repeated this countless times, having long since grown accustomed to people not being able to remember their names at first. Therefore, she was truly impressed by the squad leader Pei Nachuan, who had just clearly remembered her name.
"Oh! Your name is Zhao—Zhao Zihua, right? I remember you saying, 'A person with a wealth of knowledge and poetry possesses a refined spirit!'" The boy's smug look, having guessed correctly, made Zhao Shihua both angry and amused. While she probably should have considered other ways to introduce herself, the other person's self-introduction wasn't necessarily much better than her own.
She'd always been a slow talker, often taking three seconds to respond to a witty remark, often missing the opportunity for a clever rebuttal. Normally, she'd have just laughed it off, but there were only two of them, and no one else was ready to interrupt. So Zhao Shihua pondered silently for a moment, then feigned a lighthearted retort, "So, is your name Guan Yiqi? 'One wife for one husband and one wife,' right?"
She stared at the impassioned principal on the stage, her ears alert for the expected laughter to her left. After several seconds of waiting, there was only silence, and she even worried that she had gone too far with her joke. She hesitantly tilted her head, only to find the man staring at her with wide eyes, not in anger but in surprise. "How did you know my last name was Guan?"
"Eh? What did you say?" Zhao Shihua's voice suddenly rose several degrees, causing the homeroom teacher sitting in the front row to stand up and turn around to glare in her direction. She was so frightened that she quickly covered her mouth, shrunk her neck, and hid behind the students in the front row. After a moment, she asked him in a breathless voice, "You used to be called Guan Yifu?!"
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