24. Sizhuo
The auto repair shop where Zeng Xiasheng worked as a helper was a two-story, old building in the city center. Like the surrounding shops, the first floor was used for business, and the second floor was used as a residence. The owner, Wang Guodong, was a cousin of Zeng Xiasheng's father, according to seniority, but his surname wasn't Zeng. Zeng Xiasheng initially found this strange, but then he overheard fragments of gossip between his grandmother and the neighbor's wife. They said Wang Guodong's father's family was so poor in his youth that he remained single at thirty. He met a lame woman through an introduction, but because he couldn't afford the bride price, he was forced to agree to let the child take the mother's surname.
He lived in a small, street-facing cubicle on the first floor. Trucks passed outside his window from time to time, sending clouds of dust and smoke billowing. Zeng Xiasheng usually showed little interest in gossip, but his grandmother's attitude puzzled him. The heavy rumbling continued intermittently, and he leaned against the wall in the stifling heat, listening carefully. It was clear that his grandmother was always cursing while she worked, saying that her life was miserable because she had no money, that she owed the Zeng family, and that she had raised her son but never enjoyed any happiness. However, when discussing Wang Guodong's father's support from his wife's family, she was inexplicably filled with contempt, saying that it was natural for a woman to rely on her husband's family, and that since their father was a gigolo, their son would never amount to anything.
Tang Sizhuo was smarter than him and had read more books, but he didn't understand either. Zeng Xiasheng explained it to her all the time, but she still couldn't figure out the relationship. She could only vaguely say that women depended on men for food, which was indeed what her mother always said.
Zeng Xiasheng, however, didn't think Wang Guodong was a failure. Leveraging the skills he'd learned in the army, his auto repair shop was a thriving business in the inner city. Open from dawn to dusk, the four or five people inside kept busy. On Zeng Xiasheng's first day, when his grandfather dropped him off, Wang Guodong was too busy to attend to him. He was left sitting on a scrap tire in the corner for two hours, nearly dozing off in the heat and drowsiness, when he heard him called out. The first thing he said was, "It's hard here. It's dirty and smelly. If you can't do it, go home."
How could it not be done? Zeng Xiasheng thought, there is no need for wind and sun here, and there are several electric fans blowing in the hot summer. It's just a little gasoline smell, which is better than rotting garbage in the summer.
After working there for about half a year, he finally grasped the cause. Wang Guodong had married young and had a son, Wang Hui, two years older than Zeng Xiasheng. He wasn't studying hard, and he hated the hard work and fatigue. He looked down on the store's business, smoking and fighting, skipping classes to surf the internet, and whenever he returned home, he'd be beating and scolding people upstairs, with pots and pans clattering.
Being beaten itself is not worth noting. Zeng Xiasheng was often beaten as well. But according to apprentices who have worked here for many years, Wang Hui was very well-behaved when he was a child. He was often the top student in the class in elementary and junior high school. His awards covered an entire wall on the second floor. It was only after he was admitted to high school and lived on campus that he was led astray and learned to play cards and games.
Others described Wang Hui's past as being as stellar as Tang Sizhuo's, and Zeng Xiasheng found it hard to believe such a disciplined, hardworking student could have the opportunity to become a bad person. However, he soon learned that Wang Hui attended the same high school as Tang Sizhuo's, and his unfounded fears returned. If this wasn't an isolated incident, then given Wang Hui's tendency to kick even the barking of a passing dog, there was no guarantee Tang Sizhuo wouldn't be bullied during his high school years.
Wang Guodong couldn't do anything about his son, but he kept the shop in good order. Adhering to the military's logic of enduring hardship before learning a trade, he treated all apprentices equally, regardless of age or relationship, even for manual labor like cleaning the gutters. Zeng Xiasheng was forced to do it.
The ditch was a stench of years of accumulated grease, dirt, and rust. Digging it out with a shovel was practically like digging a sewer. Yet Zeng Xiasheng never complained, not even resorting to the cunning tactics of adult apprentices. He simply did the assigned work and never pushed himself into areas where the sludge was loose and easy to shovel.
Wang Guodong watched, his disappointment in Wang Hui growing. He couldn't understand how his good son could have become like this, even less resilient than the orphan who lost his father at a young age. As a child, he himself was mocked daily by the villagers, who called him the son of the Wang family, not the Zeng family. This caused his father to harbor resentment whenever he saw him, treating him less like a cousin and offering no guidance on any of the major life events. Unwilling to repeat his mistakes and become a father who ignored his son, Wang Guodong brought back the same military rules and clearly defined rewards and punishments for Wang Hui, hoping to help him climb the ladder. However, he didn't know when the rift between father and son began.
Zeng Xiasheng would sometimes be invited to dinner by his father, and after a few glasses of baijiu, he would sigh heavily, saying he should never have agreed to let Wang Hui live on campus. Out of his sight, he'd become a scoundrel, a fearless, unyielding person. Wang Guodong, enraged after his first conversation with the teacher, went home, ripping off his belt and preparing to discipline his son as he had before. But he discovered Wang Hui was taller and stronger than him, and the look he gave him was no longer intimidating, but rather full of defiance.
Zeng Xiasheng, not knowing how to comfort him, could only sit by and listen in silence. Wang Guodong, always with tears in his eyes and a dazed look, would come upstairs and bring Wang Hui some clothes that he couldn't wear anymore, saying he had wanted to keep them as a souvenir, but now that his son had become useless, it was heartbreaking to see him.
Wang Hui had never been treated poorly materially. Most of his hand-me-down clothes were brand-name, much better quality. He could wear any clothes Zeng Xiasheng found, especially those gifted by relatives. But Wang Hui couldn't stand it. Seeing Zeng Xiasheng wearing familiar clothes would make him furious, and he would find ways to find fault. The shop was crowded, so a fight couldn't start. Whenever Wang Hui came home from school, he would kick oil drums here and throw spare parts there, never satisfied until his clothes were stained beyond repair.
For Wang Guodong's sake, Zeng Xiasheng was angry but did not care. He was just afraid that Wang Hui would not be able to hit him accurately and dirty the conch shell that Tang Sizhuo gave him. So he often took it off before working and carefully put it into the innermost compartment of his schoolbag. When he was about to leave at night, he would wash his hands and face, put it back on, and hide it in his clothes.
After spending so much time together, even if he tried to avoid being seen, no one missed this little gesture. Everyone in the auto repair shop, including Wang Guodong, tacitly suspected that this guy was in a relationship. After all, Zeng Xiasheng invariably took half an hour off every weekday evening to complete the entire routine of showering, changing clothes, leaving, and returning. Even if he still had to work and get dirty afterwards, he always looked eager and never thought it was a bother.
Wang Guodong had initially considered persuading him to focus on his studies, but the thought of Wang Hui's upbringing robbed him of his confidence. After all, learning a trade would still provide him with a living. Zeng Xiasheng's grandparents probably only wanted him to finish compulsory education and, at most, attend a vocational high school. He could get married at 17 or 18 and then get a marriage certificate when he was older. It wasn't too early to start dating now. Getting married early or late, that's how life works.
However, no matter how they speculated, Zeng Xiasheng always kept silent about it. He never admitted to going out to see people, and even less admitted that the conch was given to him by someone else. When asked urgently, he would at most say that he was lucky enough to find it when he was picking up trash as a child.
Compared to his restraint, Wang Hui's outbursts were even more troubling. Not only did he imitate twentysomethings, talking dirty about women, he even refused to finish high school, eager to move south to work with the girls he met at internet cafes. Wang Guodong practically broke down, urging him to go to college first, even if it meant finding a better woman. But Wang Hui refused to listen, sarcastically remarking that women who made it to college couldn't be clean, appearing pure on the surface, but secretly engaging in countless filthy activities.
The father and son's argument was too much to avoid, and Zeng Xiasheng didn't want to pay attention, yet Wang Hui's disgusting descriptions pierced his ears. His hand paused as he tightened the screws, and his mind couldn't help but think of Tang Sizhuo, remembering her as a child, crying and wondering if she would become a bad woman. The memory of her desperate sobs and falling tears was still fresh, piercing his heart with pain. Zeng Xiasheng raised his head and stared at Wang Hui's mouth, which was constantly opening and closing as he cursed. For the first time, he felt a strong urge to rush over and break his bones, pry open his teeth, and make him never utter such vicious words again.
As I was furious, the clock on the wall dinged, and it was six o'clock in the afternoon.
Zeng Xiasheng snapped back to reality, his breathing quickening and a chill running down his spine. He had nearly lost control and caused a catastrophe.
It's six o'clock, time to go to the school gate to wait for Tang Sizhuo.
After running for more than ten minutes from the auto repair shop, Zeng Xiasheng passed through the crowded crowd and his mood gradually brightened. However, he stood at the door and waited again and again, until the hustle and bustle of the whole street completely died down, but he still did not see Tang Sizhuo.
She had thought it was just a minor incident, but Tang Sizhuo had ignored him ever since. After that early summer rainstorm, she even stopped coming to school.
He wanted to call her, to ask her what was going on, but when he actually picked up the phone, his heart pounded. He wondered if she had finally found a respectable friend in her own circle, and was finally ashamed of his presence, unwilling to continue their relationship. Their friendship had been born out of mistakes, the product of childhood ignorance and loneliness. It wasn't surprising that they parted ways. Mud should stay in the ground, not cling to plants for its own selfish desires when it sees them thriving.
He struggled over and over again, but ultimately failed to make the call.
After his eighth-grade finals, Zeng Xiasheng resumed his morning-to-night work schedule at the auto repair shop. Wang Hui stopped going to school altogether, threatening to elope with a girl, though he lacked the funds for the time being. Perhaps deliberately trying to annoy Wang Guodong, he skipped internet cafes and instead gathered a group of friends, a group of boys who had skipped summer tutoring, to drink and play cards on the first floor, disturbing the neighbors.
After dinner, the other apprentices went home. Zeng Xiasheng helped put away his tools and was about to leave when another car pulled up, claiming its exhaust pipe was clogged. Wang Guodong wasn't there, so Zeng Xiasheng wanted to refuse, but Wang Hui took it upon himself to invite him in. He leaned against the wall, drunkenly, and looked at him, "Aren't you a capable person? Why don't you fix it?"
The owner left the car and went to eat. Zeng Xiasheng had no choice but to dig out his tools and squat on the ground to remove the exhaust pipe. The exhaust pipe of the Santana was over ten years old and had not been replaced in who knows how long. It was completely rusted. He inserted a wrench and, imitating the technique Wang Guodong had taught him, tapped it along the circle to break off the rust.
Wang Hui cursed him in a sarcastic tone, but when he saw that he ignored him, he felt it was boring and sat back at the low table in the corner, drinking and bragging with his friends.
He deliberately brought up Zeng Xiasheng's frequent outings and how he now seemed to have been dumped by a woman. Everyone at the table burst into laughter, saying Zeng Xiasheng, who was just picking up Wang Hui's discarded trash, had no right to discuss women. After a few bottles, the conversation turned to commenting on the girls at school: one had big breasts, the other was ugly. Empty beer bottles fell to the ground, the glass shattering as someone let out a flirtatious laugh. Someone remarked on a girl in junior high who was incredibly beautiful and nearly became a child star, only a little too young. Who knew who would snatch her up in a few years? Wang Hui, as if he'd heard something incredibly stupid, burst into laughter.
"Stupid, you're still waiting, but someone would have strangled you long ago! A nice girl loves a bad guy, I don't know which hooligans she's talking to, tugging and tugging at the school gate, but you don't know that you skip classes every day."
Zeng Xiasheng froze, unable to believe his ears. Tang Sizhuo had mentioned to him that she had been invited to film a TV series, but who knew, who knew, she might not be the only one chosen?
His hands and feet were cold and he almost lost consciousness. He suddenly remembered the shouting at the school gate - was he the one who was arguing with the thugs at the school gate?
His breath stagnated in his chest, his vision went dark, and Zeng Xiasheng used all his strength to control his body's trembling. Amidst the indistinct and dirty words, he heard them say that the girl later took sick leave and had not come to school. He was afraid that there was some unspeakable reason.
He held onto the rear of the car, slowly stood up, gripping the wrench tightly, his eyes bloodshot.
Wang Hui was unaware of this and after taking a few sips of beer he burst into laughter, saying that his name wasn't Sizhuo, but more like Sichun.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
