Chapter 23 Little Brother: "But you probably don't remember me."...
The month-long "Venus Education" junior high school entrance exam preparation class has begun.
The tutoring center is indeed close to Third Alley and also very close to Iron Pagoda Elementary School. The key point is that this tutoring center offers a wide range of services, including not only elementary school entrance exam preparation but also middle school preparation, and it's always bustling with people.
Early in the morning, at seven o'clock, Jiang Yueming and Li Leshan met up. Jiang Yueming waited at the alley entrance; he arrived five minutes early so he could chat with Grandpa Li, who had just opened the door.
"Oh, this child is up so early!" Grandpa Li opened the door, intending to take a walk around the alley, but unexpectedly saw Jiang Yueming sitting on a stone bench with a schoolbag on his shoulder.
"Grandpa, are you going to the square to practice Tai Chi again?" Jiang Yueming asked.
"I'll just take a walk around the neighborhood," said Grandpa Li leisurely, pulling out his rocking chair. The morning air was still quite cool. "The primary school hasn't started its holiday yet?"
"Tutoring classes, huh?" Jiang Yueming said irritably.
"Oh, then you'd better study hard! Xiaoyu should also attend tutoring classes in a couple of years," Grandpa Li instructed him.
Jiang Yueming thought that was fine. He himself was reluctant to do it, but when it was someone else's turn, he felt happy.
Li Leshan appeared at the alley entrance right on time. After meeting Li Leshan, the two of them had to head to the tutoring center. Class started at eight o'clock, so they had to be in the classroom by seven forty. Although there was no morning reading session, they still had to arrive at the classroom early. However, there were still students doing morning reading, holding their books and reciting them aloud, although these students were not Jiang Yueming.
At this time of day, only grocery stores and breakfast shops are open. Jiang Yueming, familiar with the area, turned into the steamed bun shop next to the Iron Pagoda Primary School. The shop wasn't big, with a fryer outside where golden-brown fried dough sticks sizzled. Each fried dough stick, stuffed with an egg, was extra large and only cost two yuan and fifty cents. The steamed buns were also cheap, fifty cents each. This hadn't changed over the years, nor in the years that followed. And the old woman who ran the shop was particularly kind and gentle.
"Here, take another egg, to get some more nutrition." The old man insisted on giving each of them an egg.
Before Jiang Yueming could refuse, the egg was shoved into his hand.
"Haven't you been to Leshan for a while?" the old man asked with a smile. "You've grown taller again."
Li Leshan smiled at her, surprising Jiang Yueming who was standing to the side. He quickly asked, "You know Grandma?"
"Yes, Grandma Leshan and I used to be square dance partners. He would often come to the shop to help out; he's so thoughtful!" The old man laughed heartily. "How is your grandma's health?"
Li Leshan nodded.
She patted Li Leshan's head, signaling them to hurry up and go to school.
As Jiang Yueming munched on a steamed bun, he suddenly remembered a figure he had seen when passing by a breakfast shop before. He always saw a thin, small boy standing behind the counter, wearing a mask, with long bangs that almost covered his eyes. He always silently collected money and gave change, but his movements were exceptionally quick.
He suddenly choked, "I think I've seen you before!"
How could he not recognize me? He'd been to the steamed bun shop many times, ever since it opened, which must have been quite a few years ago.
Li Leshan told him that when his grandmother was still in relatively good health, she liked to do square dancing and take walks, which is how she got to know the grandmother at the steamed bun shop. He had helped out at the shop before, but it was mostly during winter and summer vacations. During those vacations, Jiang Yueming didn't go to school and didn't walk this road, so it was normal that he didn't recognize her.
"Then you, you..." Jiang Yueming was about to ask him if he had seen her before, but she felt that it would be too narcissistic to say such a thing. After all, who was she? Could someone remember her after just one glance? Maybe he hadn't seen her before, because in her memory, Li Leshan only collected money and calculated money.
Jiang Yueming had also wondered how the boy collecting the money, who seemed younger than her, could calculate the bill so quickly. While Jiang Yueming was still pondering this, the boy had already finished the calculations. If it was Li Leshan, then everything made sense.
“Yes, I’ve seen you before,” Li Leshan said in sign language.
His eyes met Jiang Yueming's, and those eyes that were once hidden under his bangs were now revealed. Jiang Yueming gradually felt a sense of familiarity.
It turns out we'd met before.
"But I only remember you," Li Leshan added. The students at Tieta Elementary School wore identical uniforms, flooding in and out of the shop like a tide every day; there were just too many people coming and going. The only one he could remember was Jiang Yueming. Some others had also come many times, but Li Leshan had no recollection of them.
Looking back now, besides the fact that Jiang Yueming always talked to his grandmother, it was probably also because he was so unforgettable. That lively and cheerful child was always smiling whenever I saw him; I could hardly see any worries in his eyes.
Li Leshan admired people like that.
“But you probably don’t remember me.” Li Leshan finished the last bite of his steamed bun and gestured to Jiang Yueming that they needed to hurry to the tutoring class.
Jiang Yueming paused, then hurriedly caught up with Li Leshan, quickly finishing the last bite of his steamed bun, still mumbling, "Because you've grown taller and cut your hair shorter... Back then, I used to call you Little Brother Er."
Extending from the way the waiter was addressed, Jiang Yueming had once remarked to Han Jiang that the waiter at the steamed bun shop was incredibly fast at calculating; he'd finished the bill in no time. While he was still wondering how much a fried dough stick and two steamed buns would cost, one yuan and fifty cents was already in his hand.
Li Leshan turned around and smiled at him, seemingly unconcerned whether Jiang Yueming remembered him or not. Jiang Yueming, however, was very concerned and caught up with Li Leshan, walking alongside him.
There were about twenty students in the class, with a small blackboard with peeling paint hanging in front. The class was not noisy. Thinking about it, it made sense. They were all students trying to get into the top class of the No. 1 High School. It was only natural that they were not noisy. Jiang Yueming, who was just trying his luck and might not even be able to squeeze into the No. 1 High School, seemed out of place here.
Jiang Yueming, who felt out of place, also sat down.
The tutoring center only offers math and English lessons. The schedule is utterly despairing: a relentless math marathon in the morning, followed by an English blitz in the afternoon. Just hearing about it evokes a sense of despair, and it truly is.
Jiang Yueming forced his eyes open, already drowsy. Li Leshan sat beside him, his back ramrod straight. Sensing that the man beside him was about to drift off to sleep, he quietly poked Jiang Yueming's leg with a pen under the table.
Jiang Yueming instantly sobered up a bit. He looked up at the blackboard, which was already covered with mathematical formulas. He couldn't understand most of the lines, but when he thought of his grand goal, he gave himself a pep talk.
And sitting at the same desk as Li Leshan was a novelty for Jiang Yueming. His deskmates had changed frequently, like a revolving door, and few of them were serious about studying. Yin Guiying wouldn't let him sit with the little girl because he was too noisy and would disturb her studies and life.
Jiang Yueming accepted that it only affected his studies. He couldn't figure out how it was affecting his life, but he didn't dare to ask Yin Guiying, so he gave up.
But he was just a troublemaker, not a slacker. He got along well with all his previous deskmates, but he was just too talkative and too talkative. While the teacher was lecturing on stage, he was talking offstage. When the teacher was explaining geometry and addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, Jiang Yueming was talking about how incredibly handsome Liu Xiang was at hurdling.
Finally, I was made to stand next to the trash can as punishment. I could still chat with the students in the back row, since chatting is definitely more interesting than attending class, isn't it? It was interesting, and I was punished for standing there. My legs ached every day, and I was always cleaning the toilets, but I still didn't learn my lesson.
Yin Guiying even asked Lin Cuiqin to take him to the hospital for a check-up, just in case the child had ADHD!
Jiang Yueming had a brief period of peace, but if she really went to the hospital for a checkup because of this, and the doctor asked why she came, what would she say? "Because I talk too much and can't stop." That would be too embarrassing. Jiang Yueming couldn't bear to lose face like that.
Lunch was provided at the tutoring center. Although it was just a large pot of rice, with dishes like cabbage stew with vermicelli and shredded potatoes, the variety of dishes was limited. How much food you took depended entirely on the auntie's preference. However, since it was our first time there, we were inexperienced and dawdled until we arrived, by which time the rice was gone. Jiang Yueming took two steamed buns, one for herself and one for Li Leshan, and found a cool spot to squat and eat.
There were seats available, but very few. Jiang Yueming and his group arrived late, so of course there were no seats. If they arrived any later, there probably wouldn't even be a place to squat.
"You get what you pay for." Jiang Yueming picked up a piece of food and found three peppercorns in it, making his mouth sting. It seemed the peppercorns were bought wholesale, and the quantity was indeed generous.
He missed Ms. Lin Cuiqin's cooking; her skills were truly exceptional. No wonder she was the last disciple of "Zhenhua Restaurant." Learning from a professional made all the difference. Who would have thought that Cuiqin was once a chef?
"Lele, can you cook?" Jiang Yueming asked.
Li Leshan nodded.
"You know how to do that? Cooking instant noodles doesn't count." Jiang Yueming said. He's so young, the same age as him, how could he know so much?
Li Leshan put the bowl aside and gestured, "I sometimes make it; I learned it from my grandma."
"Your skills must be excellent," Jiang Yueming said, sincerely praising, "You're really amazing."
Li Leshan smiled and said he wasn't particularly good at it.
But Jiang Yueming felt he was already very capable. Jiang Yueming couldn't understand who wouldn't like a child like Li Leshan who was good at academics, handsome, and obedient. Just by looking at him, he was the kind of child that Lin Cuiqin, Yin Guiying, and Tian Xiaoyun would like the most—the kind you couldn't find even with a lantern.
"You..." Jiang Yueming hadn't even finished speaking when he suddenly remembered something and abruptly took back his words, choking on his own saliva. This was the first time he'd ever known that air could be so choking.
Li Leshan looked at him with some confusion.
"N-nothing," Jiang Yueming stammered, a little guilty. He had meant to say, "Your parents must really like you, right?" In Jiang Yueming's mind, all Chinese parents were like that, and their preferred types of children were all the same. He started to speak but then realized his mistake. Luckily, he hadn't asked. The words "bastard" that Wang Hao had shouted earlier flashed before his eyes like a movie. He didn't know if Wang Hao was telling the truth, but Jiang Yueming couldn't ask that question. How could he? At least not now.
Jiang Yueming's hand gripping the chopsticks tightened unconsciously, his knuckles turning slightly white. A strong sense of regret and anger welled up inside him. He stared at the ground, truly regretting that he hadn't been ruthless enough.
A note from the author:
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Report! Went out for fun [glasses] Jiangxi cuisine is so spicy...
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