One bite yesterday, one bite today, one bite a day
After understanding what homework was, Xia Tong was never on the blacklist (the list of those who didn't do their homework) again, but her accuracy rate was still not high. So every time Teacher Yan asked her to do mental arithmetic in math class, she was trembling with fear, because according to Teacher Yan's old rule, she would do twenty math arithmetic problems each time, and if she got one wrong, she would hit her palm with a steel ruler. Xia Tong had suffered this before, so she was particularly nervous and afraid.
The other students in the class would usually check their answers with their deskmates after each dictation session, and Xia Tong really wanted to check with Fu Jia too, since Fu Jia's math accuracy was practically 100%. So, when the teacher wasn't looking, Xia Tong nudged him with her elbow: "Hey, let's check our answers!"
Fu Jia gave her a haughty and aloof look: "Why should I show it to you?" After saying that, she even raised her arm to block her answer.
Xia Tong bit her lip, glanced at Teacher Yan who was directing others to collect the test papers, and said anxiously, "Everyone else has checked the answers, so wouldn't it be better if we checked the answers and didn't get punished?"
"No way! I never get questions wrong, I always get a perfect score, whether I'm right or wrong," Fu Jia said righteously. Then, after a moment's thought, he added, "Unless..."
"Unless what? Hurry up, the teacher is about to receive us!" Xia Tong's ears turned red with anxiety.
"Unless you obediently let me bite you from now on--" Fu Jia deliberately dragged out the time.
Xia Tong was taken aback. Ever since Fu Jia bit her ear last time, he had found biting people to be a fun game: biting ears, biting chins, biting cheeks—he liked to bite any soft, chubby part of Xia Tong's body. Although it didn't hurt when she bit him, Xia Tong didn't like the feeling of being at her mercy with her face covered in saliva; she really disliked it.
Seeing her hesitation, Fu Jia made a slight concession: "I can show you all my mental arithmetic dictation from now on, as well as my classwork."
Xia Tong glanced at the teacher, gritted her teeth, and said, "Okay!"
Thus began Xia Xiaotong's life of being kept in captivity. Of course, her life as a captive was not smooth, and was even somewhat bumpy.
For example, one day, the classmates were spreading rumors that Xia Tong liked Fu Jia. Don't be surprised; kids these days are more precocious than you can imagine. Don't forget that you were also parroting gossips when you were in first grade. Although Xia Tong had no idea what liking someone meant, she was furious at the almost mocking tone of everyone's voice and clenched her fists: "I didn't! I didn't!"
Fu Jia seemed quite pleased to hear the rumor. In fact, many classmates had seen Fu Jia biting Xia Tong, which was considered an intimate gesture. So, they wanted to spread the rumor that Fu Jia liked Xia Tong. However, Fu Jia was a bully in the class, and compared to the easy-to-bully Xia Tong, they naturally wouldn't be so foolish as to provoke Fu Jia. Thus, Xia Tong naturally became the target of the rumor.
During eye exercises, someone in the class started shouting, "Xia Tong likes Fu Jia--" Actually, kids love to egg each other on, and this egging also saved them from doing the annoying eye exercises. Those who were observant even glanced at the art teacher standing at the door. The art teacher was a young, slightly chubby graduate who was smiling as he watched them egging on, showing no intention of stopping them. So everyone shouted even louder.
Xia Tong likes Fu Jia--
"Wedding -- Wedding -- Giving out wedding candy -- Giving out wedding candy --"
Xia Tong shook her head repeatedly: "I didn't, please stop talking..."
No one wanted to listen to her weak explanation. Everyone was just having fun and didn't really want to know the truth, so they all automatically ignored Xia Tong's words.
Lu Yuan, who was familiar with Fu Jia, asked, "Fu Jia, do you like Xia Tong?"
Fu Jia was feeling smug about the rumors when he heard this and glanced at him: He was a man after all, and he couldn't lose face: "I don't like Xia Xiaotong at all, she's so stupid!"
Xia Tong was already agitated from being embarrassed, and hearing his words, coupled with his usual bullying of her, she retorted defiantly, "I don't like you, you bad guy! I like Yan Chufan, go to hell!"
Fu Jia was also furious: "I hate you, you idiot! Fool! Pig!"
Xia Tong retorted, "I hate you more than you hate me! You're the stupid, idiotic pig!"
This was the first time Fu Jia had been rendered speechless by this usually easily bullied little rabbit. He pounced on her and bit Xia Tong's neck. This time, unlike the usual tentative licks and bites, almost instantly, red teeth marks appeared on Xia Tong's fair neck. Xia Tong burst into tears, half from pain and half from grievance, so her tears flowed freely, like a tap that had been turned on.
The new art teacher was shocked. How could such a thing happen right under her nose? She immediately separated the two of them and carried away Xia Tong, who was crying loudly.
Fu Jia was furious. Even biting her didn't quell his anger: Who is Yan Chufan?! Why does he like him and not me?! You're my deskmate, not his. Where does my pride go if you like him?! Fu Jia himself couldn't understand his own chaotic logic, but he was just burning with anger.
The eye exercises ended, and after being comforted by the teacher, she dared not cry anymore, only sobbing uncontrollably. The teacher comforted her a few times and let her go home. She gave Fu Jia a perfunctory reprimand, thus hastily resolving the incident. Back home, Fu Jia was even more displeased, constantly harassing Xia Tong: hiding her art notebook, stealing her watercolors, glaring at her and forbidding her from crossing the line they had never drawn between them… Xia Tong was subjected to his harassment all afternoon, while the teacher only gave him a token reprimand, which had no deterrent effect on this unruly individual. Although this incident seemed to have resulted in Fu Jia being criticized and reprimanded, for Xia Tong, this defeat in battle laid the foundation for the pain of being bullied by Fu Jia for over a decade without being able to resist. That day after school, as usual, they had to line up first, and Fu Jia stormed off first. Xia Tong naturally didn't want to go with him, so she stayed behind, dawdling, when she suddenly noticed that Fu Jia had left a Chinese textbook in his desk.
All the students in the class had left by now. Xia Tong looked around; the empty classroom was indeed perfect for doing something naughty. Xia Tong placed the poor textbook, which its owner had left behind and which had unfortunately fallen into the hands of her enemy, on the table and punched it twice. Still not satisfied, she flipped to the first page and slammed it down on the page with Fu Jia's name and class: "You damn Fu Jia, you bad guy! You pervert! You took my colored pencils! You bit me! I'll beat you to death!" Xia Tong hit hard, as if she were hitting Fu Jia herself, muttering to herself. If someone were to pass by Class 1, Grade 1 of Jiyuan Road No. 1 Primary School at this moment, they would definitely see a pretty little girl in a princess dress, her eyes resolute and her movements fierce—slapping a book o(╯□╰)o. Such a bizarre scene, we can't blame the poor child, she—sigh.
After venting her frustrations, Xia Tong finally felt much better and clear-headed. It's a pity that young Xia Tong didn't know who the famous Ah Q was; otherwise, she would surely have considered him a close friend.
"Xia Tong!" At this moment, Yan Chufan from the next class was already standing at the classroom door. As the class monitor, Yan Chufan didn't need to queue up at all; he only needed to check every day to see if the other students' lines were neat and if anyone was missing. Today, he had looked for a long time but couldn't find Xia Tong in Class 1's line, so he came to their classroom.
Xia Tong turned her head and saw that it was Yan Chufan. She quickly stuffed Fu Jia's book into his desk drawer, picked up her own backpack, and walked out, asking in surprise, "Why haven't you left yet?"
"I asked our class's sports representative to help me organize the team. What about you? Why aren't you leaving yet? It seems your class has already left." Yan Chufan was also a good-looking boy. Among a group of boys who loved to jump around and were always sloppy, he stood out as exceptionally well-behaved and clever. His nails were always neatly trimmed, his clothes never had any messy ink spots, and his homework was always as neat as printed text. Therefore, all the teachers liked him, and he became the undisputed class monitor.
"Oh! Right, I haven't lined up yet!" She hurriedly rushed out, but Yan Chufan grabbed her backpack strap: "It's too late for you to go now. This will only attract more attention from the teacher." He then led Xia Tong out.
Xia Tong's father is a bank employee and is usually very busy, so the task of picking up and dropping off Xia Tong falls entirely on Xia's mother. While waiting for her child, Xia's mother met Yan Chufan's mother, who was also waiting for her child. The two bored women started chatting every day on their bicycles, ranging from their children's education to the color matching of their home curtains. As they got to know each other, they discovered that their children were in adjacent classes of the same grade. Later, they also discovered that their homes were in similar directions and lived very close by, so they could walk home together. Therefore, the two parents started to wait for their children together every time they came out, and also had their children come over together.
Yan Chufan was the first friend Xia Tong made at this unfamiliar school. She naturally didn't consider Fu Jia, who always bullied her, a friend, and the other classmates, intimidated by Fu Jia's power, also avoided her. Therefore, Xia Tong relied heavily on him. So, in that instant when she argued with Fu Jia today, she thought of Yan Chufan, even though she wasn't entirely sure what liking someone meant.
Yan Chufan didn't take Xia Tong's hand proactively, but Xia Tong felt very safe and warm when she was with him.
The two walked together to their mothers, who were still chatting enthusiastically, and tacitly agreed to climb onto the back of their mothers' bicycles. Suddenly, Xia Tong heard someone call her. Turning around, she saw Fu Jia sitting in a bicycle slowly driving towards them. Xia Tong noticed that he looked particularly unhappy, so she turned her head away.
"Xia Xiaotong! Xia Xiaotong!" Fu Jia persisted, calling out. At this moment, Xia's mother realized what was happening, turned around, and saw Fu Jia. She then said to Xia Tong behind her, "Tongtong, isn't that your deskmate? She's calling you. Go say hello." Xia Tong turned around reluctantly and mumbled a "Mmm."
Fu Jia's car pulled up beside them, and Xia's mother paused for a moment when she saw the license plate. Fu Jia then opened the car door and ran out. When he got there, Xia's mother noticed he was carrying a box of colored pencils. He smiled warmly at Xia's mother and said, "Hello, Auntie, I'm Fu Jia. Xia Xiaotong left her colored pencils behind, so I brought them back to her." Xia's mother smiled happily and patted Fu Jia's head, saying, "Good boy."
Xia Tong retorted, "You're talking nonsense! You're the one who hid my colored pencils and won't give them back!" Then she noticed that the uncle who picked up Fu Jia last time had also gotten out of the car, so she complained, "Uncle, your Fu Jia always bullies me!"
Xia's mother glared at Xia Tong: "What nonsense are you talking about?! Your classmate specially brought the colored pencils back to you, aren't you going to thank her?"
Xia Tong felt a little wronged. Seeing that the uncles standing behind Fu Jia were all smiling and didn't seem to be scolding Fu Jia, she reluctantly said "thank you".
After Xia's mother and Yan's mother parted ways, Xia's mother suddenly asked Xia Tong, who was sitting in the back seat of the car fiddling with her lost and found colored pencils, "Tongtong, do you know what your classmate Fu Jia's family does?"
Xia Tong continued fiddling with her colored pencils, feeling unhappy upon hearing Fu Jia's name, so she replied without even looking up, "I don't know."
"You need to get along well with him, okay?" Xia's mother instructed.
Xia Tong didn't say anything, thinking to herself, "No way! The farther away he is from me, the better!"
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This is the third update! I just registered a pen name yesterday to post, but then my internet went down!!! I frantically ate a whole bag of Want Want snacks, but it didn't calm my depressed mood. Later, I saw it was a China Mobile employee coming to fix the broadband. He said it would be up by tonight, but it still wouldn't connect—I didn't even eat dinner (probably because I was too full from the snacks). This morning I got up at 8 AM!!! 8 AM!!! I usually get up at 10:30, and it still wouldn't connect!!! Frustrated, I went to the dentist with the most tragic of feelings possible, and finally had a wisdom tooth pulled…and now I can finally connect! A friend said…this is called "good things come to those who wait"—please come often, dear readers, because my cheek is swollen! If you don't, I curse you with the wisdom tooth I had today: may your teacher check your summer homework when school starts!!!
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