15. This is simply feudal superstition
"Assemble, assemble!"
......
Shouts for assembly were heard everywhere.
"Xiao Cheng, gather!" Gao Zhe ran over. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Why are you here?"
Xiao Cheng replied, "I thought there were fewer people here and wanted to come here for some peace and quiet, but I didn't expect there would be so many people."
Gao Zhe quickly glanced at Xu Wenqiang next to Xiao Cheng: "Aren't these just the two of you?"
Xiao Cheng smiled and said, "We're the only ones left here now. It was quite lively just now. Right, Xu Wenqiang?"
"Yes, that's right." Xu Wenqiang said with a laugh.
Gao Zhe glanced at Xu Wenqiang, then turned away and said, "Let's go and gather together."
"Then I'll go over first." Xu Wenqiang noticed it and didn't say much. She walked towards the direction where their class was gathering.
After Xu Wenqiang walked away, Gao Zhe said to Xiao Cheng in a deep voice, "Xiao Cheng, we have to stay away from her."
Xiao Cheng knew what Gao Zhe had heard. But he didn't want to listen to hearsay, so he jokingly said, "Gao Zhe, why do you sound so much like a line from a TV drama?"
"I'm not kidding you." Gao Zhe said seriously, "Xu Wenqiang is a student at Qingshi Junior High School. Do you know how famous she is in Qingshi?"
"How is it famous?"
"Strictly speaking, the famous ones are her and Chen Yang, the boy from Class 12 who sang this morning—"
"Could it be that they are in a premature relationship?" After his courtship failed, Chen Yang turned his love for Xu Wenqiang into hate.
"Xiao Cheng, be serious."
"Okay, I'm serious, go ahead."
"The two of them, plus Su Xiaoshan from our class—"
"What's Su Xiaoshan doing here? Su Xiaoshan was also there when we were singing this morning."
"Xiao Cheng, can you let me finish what I'm saying?" Gao Zhe was interrupted again and again, and he became completely angry and embarrassed.
Xiao Cheng smiled lazily: "Okay, you talk, I listen."
"The three of them used to have a pretty good relationship, going in and out together every day. But suddenly one day, Xu Wenqiang and Chen Yang had a complete falling out. Whenever they met, they would curse and fight. I heard that one time, they swung plates at each other in the cafeteria, and another time, they had a knife fight in the classroom..."
Xiao Cheng listened to Gao Zhe's passionate story in silence, occasionally looking up at Xu Wenqiang who was walking in front of him. When Gao Zhe finished speaking earnestly, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "I understand."
Gao Zhe was afraid that Xiao Cheng would be perfunctory, so he warned him, "Xiao Cheng, I know you're not a warm-hearted person, but as long as someone comes to you, you'll definitely help them if you can, out of respect. But Xu Wenqiang—"
"I promise you, I'll stay away from her." Xiao Cheng made this promise to Gao Zhe, and then added, "If you can be less enthusiastic and more reserved, I can also be shameless and stop doing those good things."
Gao Zhe said, "Then it's settled."
After a period of rest, the exhausted team had regained some energy when they set out again. Everyone said words of encouragement to each other, hoping to complete the training as long as possible.
But the good times didn't last long. Physically exhausted, morale began to wane, and the team became disorganized. Everyone shuffled dejectedly, neither in the mood nor in the energy to care about the freshmen's style. Some even started cursing, "What's the point of this bullshit?"
After about half an hour of walking, some people began to approach the teacher, seeking a way out. Some were adamant and refused to move an inch, while others suggested breaking away from the main group and resting before catching up.
Originally, the homeroom teachers had all been riding their own bicycles, but to encourage more students to stay, the homeroom teachers from other classes stopped riding and walked among the students, singing songs, reciting lyrics, and so on, doing everything they could to relieve students' fatigue and boost morale. For a while, the atmosphere was once again bustling with the sound of gongs and drums.
But only Class 4 was dead silent, without any movement.
Fu Dongqing, still on her bicycle, no matter who tried to persuade her to quit or temporarily leave the team, would simply repeat the same few words: "Hold on a little longer," "Perseverance leads to victory." The only subtle difference was that with some people she'd repeat them more often, with others less, and with some, she wouldn't even say them at all.
Xu Wenqiang recalled the rumors she'd heard behind the rockery: that Fu Dongqing divided students into different levels, favoring the good students and ignoring the poor ones. It seemed the rumors were true; even during a physical training session, Fu Dongqing would offer more advice if the students were doing well, but wouldn't bother with the poor ones.
Xu Wenqiang thought that if she went to tell Fu Dongqing that she didn't plan to persist, she felt that Fu Dongqing might applaud and send her off.
As some dropped out and fell behind, the ranks of each class dwindled. Before they knew it, Xu Wenqiang found herself walking side by side with Lin Tong. However, Lin Tong wasn't in great shape. She lowered her head, her brow furrowing with every step, as if she were treading on a knife's edge. She looked incredibly painful.
Out of kindness, Xu Wenqiang said to Lin Tong, "Tell the teacher to take a rest."
"No thanks." Lin Tong refused directly.
Xu Wenqiang added: "I can accompany you. When you have rested well, we can catch up."
Lin Tong's face turned cold: "Don't mind your own business!"
Xu Wenqiang was naturally furious at being criticized for her kindness. But when she saw Lin Tong looking tired of talking, she thought, forget it, she wouldn't argue with someone who didn't have the energy to argue.
But after walking a few steps, Lin Tong suddenly staggered, and Xu Wenqiang quickly reached out to support her.
"Can you still hold on?" Xu Wenqiang asked Lin Tong.
Lin Tong said with a straight face, "I can handle it, thank you."
"Are you sure?" As soon as Xu Wenqiang let go of Lin Tong, he fell to the ground.
"You can't hold on anymore." Xu Wenqiang said nothing and helped Lin Tong out of the team.
"I can hold on." Lin Tong was still struggling, but he had no strength, and even his protest was weak.
"Someone can't hold on anymore." Gao Zhe saw it and said to Xiao Cheng.
Xiao Cheng was a little surprised when he saw Xu Wenqiang walking out of the team. She didn't look like such a delicate person.
"I wonder if they need help." Gao Zhe slowed down his pace.
Xiao Cheng looked at Gao Zhe, who looked like he was about to make a move, and said, "You were the one who said to stay away from Xu Wenqiang."
Gao Zhe hesitated, "We are all classmates, helping each other is what we should do."
"You said I'm not a warm-hearted person."
Gao Zhe scratched his head: "What if they take the initiative to ask us for help?"
"You said it, I have to help for the sake of my reputation, but that's Xu Wenqiang, should I still help her?"
It was indeed what he said. Gao Zhe was speechless.
Seeing that Gao Zhe finally calmed down, Xiao Cheng thought, it seems that there is no need to take the initiative to do good deeds.
But when he passed by Xu Wenqiang and Lin Tong, he still took a second look. When he saw Xu Wenqiang's lively appearance, he thought to himself, she is indeed not a frail person.
Su Xiaoshan also saw Xu Wenqiang parked on the side of the road, but he walked past her as if he didn't see her.
Xu Wenqiang didn't care. Su Xiaoshan had always been like this. After letting Lin Tong sit on a bench by the roadside, she went to explain the situation to Fu Dongqing. After hearing this, Fu Dongqing came over and asked Lin Tong if he could still hold on.
"Teacher Fu, I--" Lin Tong's words finally turned into a sentence after seeing the ferocious-looking Xu Wenqiang next to him, "I can't hold on any longer."
"Can't you hold on any longer?" Fu Dongqing asked
Lin Tong shook his head with a look of guilt.
Fu Dongqing didn't say anything more. He patted Lin Tong and said, "Think about what I said in the classroom before leaving."
After Fu Dongqing left, Lin Tong was stunned, as if he had lost his soul.
"What's wrong with you?" Xu Wenqiang sat down next to Lin Tong.
Lin Tong watched the team walk further and further away, muttering, "I'm afraid I'm going to be in great danger these next three years."
"Ah, bah, bah, bah!" Xu Wenqiang put her hands on her hips and spat three times on the ground, fearing that bad luck would come to her. "Nonsense, good luck."
"I'm not making this up. This is what Teacher Fu said."
The words Fu Dongqing said before leaving are still fresh in my mind.
"The three years of high school are a long, arduous battle. What does it mean to be long? What does it mean to be a battle? You can experience it today through this training. This training marks the beginning of your three years of high school. As all things are difficult at the beginning, I hope you can make a good start and secure good luck for these three years. Three years later, when you have taken the college entrance examination, whether you succeed or fail, you will find that this training will become an important commemoration of these three years."
"If I can't even hold on through this training, I'm sure I'll fail the college entrance exam." Lin Tong's voice was already filled with tears.
Xu Wenqiang scoffed. "A training march is a training march, and the college entrance exam is the college entrance exam. One is happening now, and the other is happening three years from now. They're two completely different things. How can they be confused? Besides, three years is too long. No one knows what we'll be like in three years. So you're linking these two events, which happened three years apart, together and forcing a causal relationship between them. This is simply feudal superstition!"
"Feudal superstition?" Lin Tong was stunned, but after thinking about it carefully, it made sense. After three years of high school, using only one leg training session to finalize the decision was indeed a bit hasty.
"Everything depends on human effort, so don't look down on yourself," said Xu Wenqiang.
"I understand." Lin Tong nodded and agreed.
After coming to his senses, Lin Tong said to Xu Wenqiang, "I don't want to drag you down either. Hurry up and catch up. I'll catch up when I have enough strength."
"Don't worry." Xu Wenqiang took out a pack of biscuits from his trouser pocket and handed it to Lin Tong: "Eat this first."
Lin Tong looked at the roughly packaged biscuits with a bit of disdain: "Isn't it expired?"
"If you don't want to eat it, then forget it!" Xu Wenqiang opened the package and started eating.
The sweet smell of the cookies and the "power" they contained tempted Lin Tong. She swallowed her saliva and reached out to Xu Wenqiang: "Give me some."
Xu Wenqiang gave all the biscuits to Lin Tong.
Lin Tong took the biscuit and started eating. When she was halfway through, she looked up and asked Xu Wenqiang, "Don't you want to eat it?"
"Just eat it all. I can still hold on." Xu Wenqiang said.
Seeing Xu Wenqiang sitting next to him, her legs swinging leisurely, Lin Tong couldn't help but ask, "Why aren't you tired?"
"I'm tired too, but not that tired," said Xu Wenqiang.
"Do you exercise regularly?"
"Exercise?" Xu Wenqiang was about to deny it, but then asked, "Does selling seafood at the farmers' market count as exercise?"
Lin Tong stuffed another biscuit into his mouth: "Tell me what you have to say."
"My mom sells seafood at the Qingshi Farmers' Market. On weekends and holidays, as long as I'm not in school, I go to help her. Sometimes when business is good, I'm constantly busy, constantly busy, and I might not be able to sit down all day. Over time, I got used to standing. Do you think this counts as exercise?"
Lin Tong put down the biscuits in his hand, looked at Xu Wenqiang, and was speechless for a moment.
Xu Wenqiang turned around and saw Lin Tong looking as if he was about to say something but hesitated. She thought to herself, "Oh no, I said the wrong thing again."
She shouldn't have mentioned the farmers' market. Otherwise, the consequence would be facing the pity on Lin Tong's face. And she would have to work hard to clear up that look of pity.
"Actually, I think that can also be considered physical exercise," said Xu Wenqiang.
But Lin Tong said, "No, that doesn't count as physical exercise. At most, it's your mother hiring child labor for free." After saying that, he put the last biscuit into his mouth.
When Xu Wenqiang looked up at Lin Tong, she regretted that she should have taken two packs of biscuits earlier.
After Lin Tong finished eating the biscuits, he sat for a while. After his strength recovered a little, he and Xu Wenqiang set out on the training again.
On the way back, they were alone, so they slowed down their pace. Occasionally, they would exchange a few words, but after all, they were not familiar with each other, so they spent most of the time in silence.
When they returned to school, the lights were already on. When they walked into the classroom, they unexpectedly found Fu Dongqing sitting alone on the podium.
"You're too slow. You're the only two left in the class," Fu Dongqing said. "But I didn't expect you to actually persevere."
Xu Wenqiang and Lin Tong looked at each other and grinned.
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