Chapter 37 First Grade
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Little Shiyu calmly reached into his pocket, silently pushing open the utility knife tucked inside.
The sharp blade emerged from its casing, ready to strike.
“Is there anything else, Uncle?”
Little Shiyu turned around voluntarily, staring up at the man from 304.
The uncle from the convenience store looked down at him, his mouth curved in a friendly smile.
Under the bright sunlight, his entire face was vividly clear, even the pores. Seeing so clearly, Xie Shiyu noticed that the uncle’s eyes, like snakes, were icy cold, a stark contrast to his smile. This completely contradictory expression on the same face created an unusually eerie feeling.
“For you.”
The uncle from 304 suddenly pulled out a 10 yuan bill from his pocket.
“I heard you used to help others find lost pets, and you were often successful. Can you help Uncle find Little Odd? Kittens often wander into places we adults can’t reach. As a child, you should be able to find her.”
A blue 10 yuan bill was handed to Xie Shiyu.
“If you help Uncle find the cat, Uncle will give you the rest of the money, okay?”
Another brown 20 yuan bill was drawn out from the uncle’s other pocket.
“How about it, a total of thirty yuan. Come on, take it.”
The uncle from 304 handed Xie Shiyu the 10 yuan cat-finding deposit.
In an era where instant noodles cost 50 cents, spicy instant noodles 50 cents, popping candy 5 cents each, and 1 yuan could buy a bowl of wonton with three fried dough sticks, 10 yuan was a huge sum for a first-grade elementary school student.
But Xie Shiyu didn’t take the 10 yuan.
“I have homework after school.”
—No time to find a cat.
He didn’t want to get involved with this uncle.
“So, does this mean… you won’t help Uncle?”
The convenience store uncle narrowed his eyes. “Your teachers should have taught you to help others. Uncle lost his cat, he’s so sad, will Xie Shiyu just stand by so cold-bloodedly? Such a heartless kid will be punished.”
Xie Shiyu keenly sensed the danger in the uncle’s kindly tone. He quickly put away the ten yuan bill, flashing an innocent and romantic smile:
“Just kidding! I’ll help Uncle find the cat.”
The convenience store uncle also smiled happily, waving his hand kindly:
“Then, I’ll leave it to you, Little Shiyu. Remember to tell Uncle if you see the cat.”
The convenience store uncle reached out, wanting to pat Xie Shiyu’s head.
Xie Shiyu stepped back, avoiding him.
“Goodbye, Uncle!”
Little Shiyu turned and ran to school.
The uncle from 304 watched him from behind.
***
Click.
The car door opened again.
“Why did you come down?”
Chu Feng’s mom hurried down and got into the small car, her face sullen:
“Let’s send him together.”
She worked in the Education Bureau, so the principal and teachers were naturally familiar with her, and they would arrange a better class for her son, Chu Feng.
Chu Feng’s dad didn’t say anything, he started the engine and drove off.
Chu Feng held his small backpack, looking out the window at the receding scenery.
“Oh, and Chu Feng, take this.”
His mother in the back seat handed him a new boiled egg.
—Took another one from the pot.
Chu Feng: …
“You, really…” Chu Feng’s dad gripped the steering wheel, “he doesn’t like it, why do you have to force him to eat like this? How can you be so stubborn!”
Chu Feng’s mom ignored him, directly addressing Chu Feng, “Eat it during break time at school, and when you come back, Mom will check your backpack. I know all the school teachers, if you secretly throw it away, Mom will know.”
Chu Feng’s dad: “Chu Feng, just throw it away at school. Everyone has things they don’t like to eat, it’s normal.”
Chu Feng’s mom: “I don’t have anything I don’t like to eat. You’re picky yourself, and you’re indulging the child to be picky too!”
Chu Feng’s dad: “What do you mean indulging? He’s said hundreds of times he doesn’t like it, forcing him to eat an egg every morning, you’re not tired, but I’m exhausted just watching you!”
Chu Feng’s mom: “He’s so young, what does he know about likes and dislikes? If you let him eat whatever he wants, he’ll end up eating junk food like fried chicken and fries every day. Boiled eggs are the most nutritious, if he eats them a few more times, he’ll get used to it!”
***
“I’ll eat it.”
Chu Feng suddenly spoke up.
He silently put the boiled egg into his backpack:
“I’ll eat it.”
***
The car fell silent.
Chu Feng’s parents brought him to a street near the school, where they parked the Mercedes-Benz sedan on the side and got out.
With one hand each, Chu Feng’s parents led him to school.
Just as they reached the school gate, there was a screech—
The sound of tires scraping against the concrete road.
A black SUV exaggeratedly parked right in the middle of the school gate.
Around it were parents dropping off their children, some walking, some cycling, and the more well-off ones driving a new motorcycle.
Adults and children alike stopped and looked, casting sidelong glances at the car.
The door opened, and a chubby child jumped out, followed by an equally chubby man, his face full of flesh, his whole body straining in a suit, like a pig squeezed into a suit.
“Oh! Professor Chu. Why didn’t you drive here today?”
The man in the suit, with his son in tow, walked over with a flattering smile. Chu Feng’s dad involuntarily took a step back, forcing a dry laugh:
“Just wanted to walk with my child. Boss Sun, are you also sending your child to school?”
“Oh, yes, yes! It’s the first day of school today, it’s good to walk, healthy, unlike us driving, oh, that air conditioning smell is not good. Oh! Who’s this…”
Chu Feng’s mom timely hooked Chu Feng’s dad’s arm, smiling sweetly.
With each of them holding one of Chu Feng’s hands, they looked like a happy and fulfilled family about to overflow with happiness.
Chu Feng’s dad: “This is my love.”
“Oh, oh, I’ve never seen her before! So this must be your son.” Boss Sun looked down at Chu Feng, then nudged his own son:
“Hey! Sun Bing, look, do you know each other? Didn’t you both attend the English class together before?”
In first grade, the school hadn’t started English classes yet, but parents with educational awareness had already sent their children to English training classes, getting ahead of the curve.
Sun Bing, the fat and tall kid in front of him, disdainfully glanced at Chu Feng:
“Don’t know him.”
He was in the B class at the English training institution, and he was the best student in that class. Their teacher said that six or seven-year-old kids who were good at learning basically went to the English B class. Since Sun Bing hadn’t seen Chu Feng in the B class, it meant Chu Feng’s English level was very poor, definitely in one of those garbage C or D classes.
Sun Bing sneered inwardly at Chu Feng, wondering how the son of a professor could be so bad at English.
Chu Feng remained silent.
Boss Sun laughed twice, “It’s okay, it’s okay, the English institution is so big, maybe you didn’t notice, now you know each other, you can be friends in the same school in the future!”
Chu Feng’s mom smiled warmly, “Yes, yes, Chu Feng, why don’t you say hello?.”
“Hello, Uncle.” Chu Feng paused, looking at Sun Bing, “Hello.”
Sun Bing gave him a disdainful glance without smiling.
“Haha, Professor Chu, then I’ll take the child to register at school first!”
“Okay, okay! You two go first.”
Chu Feng’s dad quickly bid them farewell.
The suit pig led his little piglet away.
As soon as they left, Chu Feng’s mom let go of Chu Feng’s dad’s hand and whispered softly:
“Is that the Boss Sun you mentioned last time?”
—Who’s having an affair outside, the third party is a female college student from Chu Feng’s dad’s school, who dropped out midway due to pregnancy, and now wants to return to school. Boss Sun privately gave her a hundred thousand yuan to take care of the relationship.
Chu Feng’s dad scoffed softly:
“New money.”
Chu Feng’s mom: “I hope we don’t end up in the same class.”
“It’s difficult.” Chu Feng’s dad said, “That guy will definitely bribe the principal to get his son into the best class. We’ll definitely end up in the best class too, since Chu Feng is going to the best one.”
Chu Feng’s mom: “Chu Feng, if you see that man’s son in the class again, just ignore him, understand?”
Chu Feng: “Okay.”
***
The campus was bustling with activity on the first day of school.
In front of the school flagpole, there were several pots of newly blooming butterfly orchids. On the right side of the flagpole was a sandpit, where a few sneaky kids were happily playing with sand.
Chu Feng had never played with sand before. His weekends and spare time were spent attending various training classes: English, mental arithmetic, traditional Chinese culture, piano, swimming. His mom said they would add calligraphy later on, and his handwriting must not be ugly.
He didn’t know what was so fun about playing with sand.
Chu Feng looked around at the bustling children and parents, the long queues, some crowding to look at the class placement list, others registering for classes. Occasionally, loud cries erupted from the crowd: “Mom, I want to go home, I don’t want to go to school!”
He didn’t recognize anyone.
So boring.
Chu Feng followed his parents. On the left side of the flagpole was the office building, and their family didn’t need to line up like other ordinary parents in the scorching heat.
Chu Feng’s parents led him directly to the air-conditioned principal’s office.
Chu Feng followed silently, stepping up the stairs in his small Adidas sneakers. He was only seven years old, but he seemed to have seen his seventy-year-old self in a glance. He would always go to the best school, the best class, with the best teachers looking after him.
In addition to studying, he had many hobbies he wasn’t interested in. He appeared to be a well-rounded person, excellent and capable.
In the future, his parents would introduce him to a girl with similar conditions, and then they would start a family, have another child, who would be just like him, winning on the starting line. They would continue to enroll in English classes, mental arithmetic, traditional Chinese culture, piano, swimming, and calligraphy. His mom even prepared a wedding house for him, waiting for him to grow up, and his life plan would be implemented step by step, perfectly.
…So boring.
Chu Feng looked around at the snow-white walls, the sparkling tiles. They entered the principal’s office, where a Gree vertical air conditioner stood, spotlessly white.
His parents were chatting with the principal. Chu Feng knew his mom worked for the Education Bureau, and his dad was a professor at a prestigious university. And now, the principal’s daughter was studying at that prestigious university.
The principal must be aware of the connections among them.
In the future, when he was in elementary school, he would have many teachers looking after him, or rather, watching him closely.
Little Chu Feng gazed at the empty, white, devoid-of-everything whiteness around him, listening to the lively conversations of the adults.
—So boring.
Chu Feng lowered his head, looking at his little shoes:
Is there really anything interesting in this world?
A few minutes later.
“Okay, okay, thank you, Principal!”
“Not at all, it’s my pleasure. Class 1-1 is on the opposite first floor. I’ll make sure the homeroom teacher takes good care of him.”
Exiting the office building, the homeroom teacher of Class 1-1 received a call and hurried over to pick up Little Chu Feng.
Chu Feng’s mom from the Education Bureau smiled, “Ah, Teacher Meng, I’ll leave my son to you. If he misbehaves at school: daydreaming in class, talking to other classmates, you can tell me. Children need proper discipline.”
Teacher Meng nodded, “Certainly, certainly. Education cannot rely solely on us teachers; it requires cooperation from parents as well. Chu Feng, come with me~”
With a beaming face, the female teacher grabbed Little Chu Feng’s hand, leading him step by step towards Class 1-1. His parents waved at him with smiling faces from behind, seemingly very happy that their son was starting elementary school.
Little Chu Feng wasn’t happy at all. But he wasn’t sad either, at least he wouldn’t cry and throw tantrums like other children, clinging to their mothers’ legs, refusing to go to school.
He moved forward, entering Class 1-1. It looked like a new prison. At home, his parents would scrutinize his every move, and at school, every action of his would be reported back to his parents. It was the same everywhere.
***
Little Chu Feng was relatively tall, so he should have been seated in the back row.
But the homeroom teacher naturally placed Little Chu Feng in the middle of the classroom:
Row 4 of Group 3.
Also sitting in the middle with him was the chubby and tall Sun Bing. It directly blocked the view of the classmates behind, and the teacher didn’t seem to mind.
The homeroom teacher had to attend to other parents, busy with registration and enrollment. The children in the classroom couldn’t sit still and started to get noisy. Since there was no formal class yet, the kids were getting to know their new classmates.
Chu Feng glanced at Sun Bing, whom he had met at the school gate earlier. He was sitting in the adjacent group, Row 4 of Group 2, boasting to his female desk mate about some things he learned in English class, occasionally mixing in a few unclear English words in his Chinese.
There were also other kids around, talking excitedly about the interesting things that happened during the summer vacation.
Little Chu Feng didn’t like summer vacation. Every summer vacation was the time for his piano exams. He had just passed Grade 4 of the piano exam. He didn’t want to boast like Sun Bing about learning English, nor did he want to go around boasting about being able to play the piano…
So boring.
Little Chu Feng sat alone in his seat, wanting to see if there was anything interesting in his backpack.
—There were English vocabulary books brought by his mom, a list of the top three hundred commonly used Chinese characters, a handwriting practice book, a mental arithmetic fill-in-the-blank workbook, an empty notebook, a Disney Mickey Mouse pencil case…
And a boiled egg.
Little Chu Feng put back the practice books one by one and took out the boiled egg.
It had already cooled down.
His mom would check his backpack when he got home. If he secretly threw it away, he might be caught by the teacher.
Although the homeroom teacher didn’t instruct them to be quiet, he stood at the door of the classroom, conversing with other parents while keeping an eye on them.
Little Chu Feng gathered his courage, laid a piece of paper on the desk, and started peeling the unappetizing boiled egg.
—The white part of the egg was okay, but the yolk inside was particularly fishy, especially after cooling down, it was even harder to swallow. Every time Little Chu Feng was forced to eat boiled eggs, he felt like throwing up when he got to the yolk. But his mom said the yolk was the most nutritious and must not be left uneaten.
Crack, crack.
Little Chu Feng laid a piece of paper on the desk, and the reddish eggshell fell off, revealing the snowy white egg white.
Little Chu Feng lowered his head and took a small bite.
Just right, this bite was all egg white. Little Chu Feng breathed a sigh of relief and started chewing.
The boiled egg in the palm of his hand revealed its yolk, untouched and whole.
The yolk of the boiled egg was not a tasty golden yellow; it was covered with a layer of greenish-blue, resembling moldy green. Only after biting it open would the normal orange-yellow yolk be visible.
Little Chu Feng hated it.
He opened his mouth several times but couldn’t bring himself to swallow it.
Suddenly—
“Hey.”
Little Chu Feng felt a pencil poking him in the back.
—Not the tip of the pencil, but the eraser end, gently poking his back.
Little Chu Feng turned around.
***
“… It’s you?”
—The person from kindergarten who squirted him with a water gun!
He didn’t know the name.
Little Shiyu greeted Little Chu Feng, “What a coincidence, you’re also assigned to this class?”
“…Sort of.”
Little Chu Feng knew he wasn’t randomly assigned, but he could only say so much.
“Don’t you like boiled eggs?” Little Shiyu glanced at what Chu Feng held in his hand:
“You’ve been holding it for a while and only took one bite.”
“Um…” Little Chu Feng lowered his head, feeling a bit aggrieved:
“My mom insists that I eat it.”
“Oh.” Little Shiyu thought for a moment and said:
“If you don’t mind, I can help you finish it.”
“Really?”
Little Chu Feng’s eyes lit up suddenly, saved! His bright black eyes looked at Little Shiyu, then dimmed suddenly:
“But… I already bit into it.”
Little Chu Feng felt a bit regretful. If he had seen this guy earlier, he could have given him the intact egg to eat. Little Chu Feng didn’t want to miss this opportunity to be saved, so he added quietly:
“But, I haven’t bitten into the yolk, the yolk is still good.”
Little Xie Shiyu reached out like a bird plucking a flower and took the boiled egg from Chu Feng’s hand.
Two small hands briefly touched and then quickly separated.
Little Shiyu held the egg in his hand and easily finished it in two or three bites. He smiled at Little Chu Feng:
“Actually, I wouldn’t mind even if you had bitten into it.”
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