4 Chapter Three
◎You're really noisy. ◎
Xiaohuacheng is a gathering place for the "second-generation demolition beneficiaries," who, despite earning meager wages, live in self-built villas. Behind Xiaohuacheng is a small dock, through which a tributary of the Fengtan River rushes. Most of the residents along the riverbank have converted their self-built houses into shops, occasionally selling instant noodles, cigarettes, alcohol, and small shrimp to passengers on cruise ships. Some disdain these petty profits, like Boss Yu, who runs four or five toy factories and is busy as a donkey, naturally not caring about these meager gains at the doorstep.
His shop and Li Shuli's shop were separated by an entire Chuanming Street; Li Shuli's was at one end of the street, and his was at the other. He knew how mischievous Li Yingqiao was, and even though the little brat kept calling him "Uncle, Uncle" the whole way, he didn't soften his heart. He was determined to help her correct her habit of wanting to pull out valve stems whenever she saw them.
At first, Li Yingqiao struggled, but after being dragged along by him without explanation, she completely gave up. Her little head drooped resignedly, looking like a kitten caught stealing dried fish, completely at Yu Renjie's mercy.
Then, at Boss Yu's command, she immediately swung her arm and pumped air into his rear tire for a full ten minutes before angrily saying, "Uncle, is that enough?"
Li Yingqiao couldn't understand why Uncle Yu, who usually loved to drive his Mercedes-Benz around town, would be riding such an outdated bicycle today. She thought only someone as rigid as Teacher Xu would ride that kind of bike.
However, ten minutes wasn't enough for Yu Renjie to have a cigarette. He stood under the streetlight in front of his house, puffing away, thinking that he had to make sure this little rascal had enough time to smoke a cigarette. Just as he was about to say that he would also light up his uncle's front wheel, Tang Xiang's voice suddenly came from behind him: "Yu Renjie!"
Tang Xiang stood at the doorway, with a younger child standing beside her, holding freshly picked garlic sprouts in her hand. Looking at the two of them under the streetlight, she hurriedly asked, "What are you doing?"
Yu Renjie felt a chill run down his spine, as if a layer of skin had been peeled off from the back of his head. Afraid Tang Xiang would misunderstand and think he was being a sly father outside the home, he was about to say that this little brat had pulled the valve stem out of his body first. Li Yingqiao immediately preemptively shouted, "Aunt Tang Xiang! Uncle Yu asked me to help him pump up the valve! He'll give me five yuan!"
Tang Xiang looked at Yu Renjie: "Then pay up, what are you dawdling about?"
Yu Renjie: "…………"
Yu Renjie began to feel that his and everyone else's birth charts had been marinated in garlic sauce in their past lives—this was just too auspicious.
For a long time, Yu Renjie listed Li Yingqiao as the "most mischievous" and "most difficult to deal with" in the entire small painting town. She was like that when she was a child, and she was even more formidable when she grew up. He repeatedly told his son to stay away from her.
While doing his homework, Yu Jinyang said to his father in a helpless tone, as if saying, "Dad, it's impossible for us to sit together without saying a word. Besides, with Li Yingqiao's temper, if I ignore her, she'll beat me until I do. Can you please stop bothering her so she won't bother me in class the next day?"
"Let's change deskmates next semester, just bear with it a little longer. You're a man."
"Hmph, let it be drought."
As if bringing up a sore spot, Yu Renjie, who was about to leave his room, turned around and looked him up and down again. "Son, it seems like you haven't grown any taller this year. How can you be classmates with Li Yingqiao? I think she's almost a head taller than you."
"So she joined the flag-raising team."
Do you want to come in?
"In no mood."
“Bullshit,” Yu Renjie turned back, leaned close to his son’s chin resting on the edge of the table, looked into his son’s eyes, and mercilessly exposed him, “You clearly want to.”
Yu Jinyang wouldn't let anyone see, his pen tip scribbling something on the workbook. As soon as he sensed a dark shadow looming over him, he buried his head in his arms, not giving his father a chance to investigate. His voice was muffled and muffled under the table: "I said I don't want to, and I don't want to."
Yu Renjie pondered for a moment, then sat down on his small cot on the warship and shamelessly said, "Should I give your principal a call...? The factory recently received a new batch of beechwood chairs; we can have the carpenters make a few hundred tables and chairs—"
Yu Jinyang stared with wide eyes: "..."
"What are you doing with the tables and chairs?" Tang Xiang came in, shoved his arm, and pushed him out. "Don't disturb our son's homework. Can't you do something productive? You think our son isn't being talked about enough at school?"
"They're just jealous! He has a handsome dad like me, and he's rich too. What's wrong with people saying a few words?"
“You get so worked up over a few words, but your son is much more sensitive than you. Besides, the flag-raising team has such great conditions; even the teachers complain he's too short to stand in the front row. You're putting him on the spot! Can you please stop comparing him to Li Yingqiao all the time?!”
Before she could finish speaking, Yu Jinyang's door slammed shut. The two people outside stopped abruptly, glanced at the closed door, and then turned back in unison. Tang Xiang, still glaring at him, lowered her voice and said, "Why are you comparing heights? How about comparing grades? Or, if all else fails, why don't you compare yours with her father's?"
Yu Renjie: "You want me to go to jail?"
Tang Xiang: "...Have you ever been to school? You can't tell right from wrong. I'm saying, do not do to others what you would not have them do to you! Especially since it's your own son, he must be incredibly annoyed with you."
Yu Renjie dismissed it: "Nonsense. The other day when the test papers were handed out, they all clearly stated 'Renjie's son.' Tell me, which father in Xiaohua City gets this kind of treatment?"
Tang Xiang slapped him on the forehead: "You still dare to mention it! That's because you insisted on adding the character 'Jin' to his name. He couldn't even write the characters 'Yu' and 'Yang' properly to begin with! Now he simply doesn't want his own name anymore." As she spoke, Tang Xiang counted on her four fingers and said slowly and deliberately, "'Renjie's son'—what a simple-minded and physically strong four characters."
"..."
****
In the blink of an eye, it was 2007. Olympic venues such as the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube were completed one after another, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics had entered a state of preparation where every second counted.
That day, after school, the adults in Xiaohua City hadn't gone home yet. The rugged mountain ridges, like the exposed claws of a giant beast trapped deep in the earth, couldn't even hold back the setting sun.
As soon as the bell rang, Li Yingqiao threw her pen into her desk and sprinted home at top speed, disappearing at a speed comparable to a rocket launch. Just a moment ago, Yu Jinyang was trying to persuade her gently, saying, "The teacher asked me to supervise your cleaning duty today—"
The next second, the seat was completely empty, not even a single fallen leaf remained for him.
Yu Jinyang: "..."
Yu Jinyang simply couldn't stand it. She wouldn't fold any origami cranes, she wasn't diligent when it came to cleaning duty, and she was always at the bottom of the class when it came to studying. He was incredibly unlucky to have to sit next to her for two years.
Not long after, Teacher Xu was transferred to a school in the city. The new homeroom teacher was not familiar with them and did not arbitrarily change their positions after consulting with the parents. Even though Yu Renjie had raised his leg, the new teacher was impartial and did not listen to him. In particular, after seeing his Mercedes-Benz, he looked down on him even more.
And so Yu Jinyang remained Li Yingqiao's deskmate until fourth grade. To this day, he still can't accept that someone like that could join the flag-raising team and carry the bright red national flag every Monday to receive their salutes!
Since entering Huacheng Elementary School, under the patient guidance of Ms. Tang Xiang, Yu Jinyang has tried his best to become the "perfect child" in the eyes of the adults at Huacheng, except for his height, which is a major drawback. He is the class monitor and part-time squad leader, and his only remaining promotion option is to become the head of the student council, but this is not in his plans for this semester. Ms. Tang Xiang also insists that academic performance is more important.
Ever since she became Li Yingqiao's deskmate, she's been too lazy to fold the origami cranes used for lung capacity tests in PE class, and her grades have been even worse—except for the neat handwriting on her test papers, everything else is atrocious. Several times, the teacher has been so angry that she's written comments like, "If you use your test papers to pad your sunflower seed shells again, I'll call your mom!"
Moreover, she would frequently get into fights with boys from the next class, constantly causing trouble for him, the class monitor. In the end, because she was tall, she could swagger into the flag-raising team with Gao Dian, while he, as the squad leader, could only stand below the platform, admiring her as the flag bearer. Afterwards, he had to go back and serve her tea and water and let her copy his homework.
Yu Jinyang gritted his teeth in anger, determined to ignore her this time.
At this moment, Gao Dian turned around: "Where are the tanks?"
Yu Jinyang said expressionlessly, "It's gone."
"..."
Gao Dian is a left-behind child; his parents work in Shenzhen and only come home once a year for Chinese New Year. He usually lives with his grandparents in Xiaohuacheng. His grandparents are elderly and can't pick him up from school, so he always carries his schoolbag across the street by himself. The school is just across the street from Xiaohuacheng, not far away. Gao Dian is very tall, but it's clear he's traded his height for intelligence; in first and second grade, the gatekeeper had to watch him cross the street. Right now, he's worried: "Miaomiao, it's your great-grandmother's birthday, what kind of card are you going to write for her?"
May you live a long and healthy life, with boundless blessings and longevity.
Gaodian: "..."
"What's wrong?"
Gao Dian: "If there were a person in this world who was ninety-nine years old this year, whose elder brother was named Donghai and younger brother was named Nanshan, and both of them had passed away, what kind of blessing should he receive?"
Yu Jinyang: "...Then let's just sincerely wish him good health and a long life."
Gao Dian scratched his head and said, "Then my grandma will say I paid my tuition for nothing!"
“…We go to the same school,” little Yu Jinyang said helplessly.
***
Li Yingqiao ran home in almost a minute; the distance from the school to the grocery store was only two or three hundred meters. For Li Shuli, she had just finished cleaning up the warehouse for the day when she heard the school bell ring. The next second, Qiaoqiao was already at the door. The echo of the bell was still lingering in her ears when her daughter was already sitting in the glass counter, munching on snacks.
Li Shuli sighed, locked the warehouse door, and said, "I really should have listened to your PE teacher's advice and sent you to train in sprinting or something. With this speed, did you even hear the teacher assigning homework?"
"I didn't hear it." Li Yingqiao chewed on a shrimp cracker and said truthfully, "I'll ask Yu Miaomiao later. He definitely remembered it. He'd love to put even the teacher's fart in his pocket so his mom could smell it."
Li Shuli didn't have time to pay attention to her: "I'm going to buy some groceries. Your uncle is coming over for dinner. Lock the cash register securely so he can't see it."
Li Yingqiao immediately stood up from the small stool, head held high, and loudly proclaimed, "Received!"
As soon as Li Shuli stepped out the door, she belatedly flicked her forehead and suddenly remembered, "It's my turn to do chores today! I'm doomed!"
The cobblestone pavement of Chuanming Street steamed with the summer heat. The setting sun at dusk, like hot oil that had been heated and then cooled, left a lingering warmth on the quiet street. Students swarmed across the street like bees, passing by in waves. Li Yingqiao estimated the time and peered cautiously at the approaching flow of people across the street. Sure enough, she spotted a very familiar head. She immediately took out a bowl of water and a spoon she had prepared, and first, she scooped a large spoonful into the side of her neck. The subcutaneous veins burst instantly, revealing a patch of bright red blood.
Oh? He really did get heatstroke.
She felt a great sense of relief and immediately called out to Yu Jinyang, who was about to walk around her shop, "Meow!"
Yu Jinyang pretended not to hear her, clearly not wanting to communicate with her. He was also wearing a pair of headphones that his father had given him a couple of days ago when he returned from a business trip to Shanghai. They were very popular at the time, and his father had hurriedly stuffed them into his backpack when he left home that morning.
If Li Yingqiao talks a lot, he's told to wear headphones and not talk to her, but he wasn't given any MP3 player or portable music player; they were purely decorative headphones. His dad said that listening to music is distracting and could even cause hearing loss, so children shouldn't listen to too much. The headphones' main purpose was to keep Li Yingqiao, that annoying person, out of his sight.
He didn't wear it during the day at school, but decided to wear it after school now, afraid that Li Yingqiao would catch him when he passed by the grocery store.
But Li Yingqiao still caught him, even taking out his earphone cord that he had nowhere to plug in, and held it up in front of him mischievously, saying, "Meow meow, what are you listening to? Listening to your own heart?"
"..." He snatched back the earphone cord, his face involuntarily turning red. He felt embarrassed, as if he had been exposed. He was indeed very thin-skinned. It was all his father's fault for giving such a bad idea. In order to maintain his position as class monitor, he could only look at her coldly: "Li Yingqiao!"
Li Yingqiao laughed heartily, recalling those little boys in Xiaohua City who always wore Walkmans to act cool: "You're so thin-skinned, yet you still try to act cool like others. Fine, I won't tell anyone. As long as you help me cover up the duty roster, I'll keep this to myself. Otherwise, I'll tell Gao Dian and the others. You actually like to act cool in private."
"..."
Yu Jinyang wasn't buying it, and didn't bother explaining: "Whatever, I'll tell the teacher tomorrow that you skipped your cleaning duty again."
Li Yingqiao was stunned, then angrily grabbed his earphone cord again: "You! How could you do this! You traitor! You snitch! The enemy of the people!"
Yu Jinyang turned his head away, frowning as he said, "You're really noisy. I'm telling you, even with this thing in my ears, I can still hear everything you say clearly."
[Author's Note]
See you tomorrow.
Happy reading.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
