TBTTSP - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Zhang Xu Has No Story (9)

Shang Yi was smart, and that was one thing. But Xu Wanqing, a woman from ancient times, was somehow preternaturally gifted when faced with a society of simplified characters and modern vernacular, never once slipping up. Not only that, but she also got along swimmingly with our Chinese teacher, a woman who was past her prime but still dreamed of having students all over the world.

I don't know if it was because my grades were too poor to comprehend the realm of top students, or if Xu Wanqing herself was just a masterpiece of creation, as if the goddess Nüwa had taken extra care in sculpting her.

Because these two had entered my life one after the other—not that they did it willingly, of course—I was dragged into the ranks of the top students, basking in the teachers' attention.

With the Middle School Entrance Exam just around the corner, our Chinese teacher pushed us to attend early morning self-study sessions with the same intensity she'd use for third-year high school students. She specifically reminded me not to get cocky for the exam and to perform consistently.

I mean, what primary school student needs morning and evening self-study? But this move won the unanimous approval of the parents. Their kids were too naughty and mischievous at home; it was better to just stuff them in school. Whether they studied or not, at least they weren't at home causing trouble.

My desk mate was a staunch supporter of the self-study system. She woke up early and went to bed late. While her family's dog was still snoring, she would tiptoe out the main door, stare straight ahead without a glance in my direction, and walk straight to school.

I have no idea what Shang Yi said to her mother, but now I have no friends. Ever since I got on good terms with Li Zhaodi, it was like I'd put on a protective talisman that warded off my old bad-news friends. But now Li Zhaodi was ignoring me. Was I supposed to tell Shang Yi what was on my mind?

I opened the notebook, only to be greeted by the sight of Shang Yi's flippant and flirtatious conversation with Xu Wanqing. I closed it again.

Whenever I was on duty in the body, I would definitely swing by Li Zhaodi's house. Over time, even her dog got to know me and would wag its tail whenever it saw me. Li Zhaodi, on the other hand, clearly had a worse sense of right and wrong than her dog. She treated me like I was invisible. The moment her mother appeared, she would put three hundred meters between us, terrified of being associated with me.

Of course, I understood. I knew what a vicious, shrewish force of nature her mother was, so I eventually stopped waiting for her at her gate to walk to school.

Since I was used to waking up early, I had no choice but to go to the classroom. And guess what? I was so early that it was just me and my desk mate in the room.

My desk mate recited: "I lost my proud Poplar and you your Willow, Poplar and Willow float lightly up to the Ninth Heaven…"

I recited: "Apple, a… p… p…"

My desk mate recited: "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn…"

I recited: "Apple… a… p… p… l…"

Smack! My desk mate slammed her book down, its spine hitting the desk. I jumped.

"Take this."

She tossed over a box of vocabulary cards.

That was the first thing she'd said to me in ages. I was so grateful I could have cried, feeling like I'd finally been released from solitary confinement. "You're finally talking to me?"

"Study hard!"

"…And make progress every day?"

I thought she was giving me a secret code.

My desk mate looked like she was about to faint from exasperation. She snatched my notebook, glanced at it, and shoved a pen into my hand. "Reading it a thousand times isn't as good as writing it once. You spend twenty minutes on one word—have you even been thinking?"

"I can't memorize it."

"Use your brain!"

"It won't go…"

My desk mate turned her head away. I quickly changed my tune: "I'll try!"

To be honest, I really did want to remember, from the bottom of my heart. But it felt like something was inexplicably stuck in my brain. Maybe I was entering old age prematurely and becoming forgetful. I'd finish a problem, nod along as the teacher explained it, thinking I understood, but the moment I looked down to write it again, my mind would go completely blank.

It's not like my grades were always this bad. But, how should I put it… my parents were migrant workers, so I was always transferring schools. I moved around so much that even the textbooks were different, not to mention the teachers and classmates. That's why I'm fifteen and still in the sixth grade. It's really discouraging. So later on, I just didn't want to study anymore. I wanted to go find work. I think I went to work with my parents? Or maybe I didn't. See, look at my memory. When it fails, it really fails. Now that I'm being forced to study, I'm really lacking in a lot of areas.

Shang Yi also gave me some academic support. She bought me supplementary study materials, but most of them were too complicated for me to use, so I gave them all to my desk mate.

My desk mate still ignored me during this time, but if I asked her about schoolwork, she would deign to show me a little pity.

But if, for example, I tried to share a cookie with her after class, she would bury her head in her work and pretend not to hear me.

But I could see her swallow, so I would secretly put it in her desk and pretend it wasn't from me. That way, she would eat some of it.

My homeroom teacher was always pulling me aside for a talk, saying my review sessions weren't going well. My scores on the practice tests were always alternating between good and bad, with no consistency at all.

Actually, they were very consistent. I was consistently ranked among the bottom of the class. With the help of my desk mate and Shang Yi, I was slowly improving, bit by bit, but the results weren't great. I just wasn't cut out for it; there was nothing to be done.

If Xu Wanqing took the tests for me, my Chinese scores would be high, but math, science, and English would be just as abysmal as mine. If Shang Yi took them, I'd be a well-rounded student and could get first place.

I took out the calendar ahead of time to check the day of the Middle School Entrance Exam. I was on duty myself. As expected, at the major turning points in life, you have to overcome the hurdles on your own.

Shang Yi squeezed out a line in the notebook to tell me: "Keep a positive mindset. It's okay if you don't do well. I can arrange for you to transfer."

Tsk. It seemed like that gave me a reason not to study. Shang Yi had money, after all.

But perhaps it was precisely because of Shang Yi's tolerance that I felt I shouldn't let her down. I resolved to face my report card like I was showing it to a parent and see what I could really accomplish.

Maybe because I didn't have parents anymore, I felt like Shang Yi was a long-lost relative I had found again. I was a bit timid and cautious around her. Pretty pathetic, really.

Hoping and hoping, the footsteps of spring… ah, no, the footsteps of the exam drew near.

The test site was at another school. The Middle School Entrance Exam was a county-wide unified exam. My testing location was at Pingdu No. 2 Middle School, and Li Zhaodi was also testing there.

Getting into No. 2 Middle was the highest aspiration for primary school students in our county. It was the equivalent of Tsinghua or Peking University for middle schools.

No. 2 Middle was a multi-story building, unlike our primary school. The windows were bright and clean, and there was a large flower bed. But I was a person who had seen the world now. I'd seen Shang Yi's hotel and her office building, so I wasn't like my desk mate, who looked down at every step as if on a pilgrimage.

She stroked the stainless steel railings, took a long look at the marble sign with the school's name, and then carefully touched the hydrangeas planted in the flower bed, her face full of longing.

What was there to long for? With her grades, getting into No. 2 Middle should have been as easy as reaching into a bag to grab something. After all, my desk mate was number one in the entire county!

I was a different story. I'd probably be properly assigned to No. 5 Middle School based on my district—a place full of delinquents, a place where left-behind children grew up, a place where kids fought and played cards all day instead of studying.

The Middle School Entrance Exam took the entire day. The entrance to No. 2 Middle was crowded with parents waiting to pick up their children.

Like me, Li Zhaodi had no parents there to pick her up. I followed her out of the school gate, planning to talk about what we would do after graduation.

"Li Zhaodi! How did it go?"

She lifted her chin, a "how could I possibly do poorly?" expression on her face. I felt relieved and took out a butterfly hair clip I had just bought, handing it to her. I thought she would like it.

"I don't want it."

She turned and walked away, giving me no chance to say anything else.

Anyway, like I said, this isn't my story. There's no point in going on about the trivial details of my life with Li Zhaodi.

I'm not mushy like Xu Wanqing, calling out "Younger Sister Shang, Younger Sister Shang" all the time. Nor am I as decisive as Shang Yi, who never hesitates when making a decision.

Part of me felt that Li Zhaodi was great and we could still be good friends, but another part thought, since she's ignoring me anyway, why should I keep trying to curry favor with someone who's giving me the cold shoulder?

Besides, she wouldn't even give me a cold shoulder to press against.

I agonized over it for a while until the results were released. Our primary school must have had something wrong with it, because they wrote the scores on large sheets of yellow paper and posted them on the outer wall. At first glance, it looked like they were announcing an imperial decree.

Li Zhaodi, as always, was ranked first. She got a perfect score in every subject except for English, where she lost one point. Good grief, even her Chinese essay got a perfect score.

I found my own name at the very bottom of that "imperial decree." I calculated my total score: over two hundred and twenty points for the four subjects. It was a little better than usual, which counted as an exceptional performance for me.

The principal saw me. "You didn't do so well!"

The moment I saw the principal, I remembered his white ass. It's not that I looked on purpose; he was fooling around with a female teacher in his office, and when I passed by, I saw his unbelievably white ass.

In my eyes, he was basically an ass himself, so I didn't answer. It probably looked like I was in a bad mood because of my score.

"Alright, registration starts next week. Tell your uncle in advance so you don't miss it."

The principal left. I breathed a sigh of relief and decided to go tell Li Zhaodi the news.

Li Zhaodi's younger brother greeted me, his face solemn. He even gave me a piece of candy from his private stash.

"Where's your sister?"

"At Erxi Barbershop."

If I hadn't left the barbershop under Shang Yi's express orders, maybe I could have washed Li Zhaodi's hair for her and given that knowledge-filled head a good scrub.

But who would have known? The moment I walked in, Li Zhaodi slowly looked up. "Here, have a seat. Let me wash your hair."

Was something wrong here?

Barbershops have a rule for attracting customers: whether you're getting a haircut or not, you get a wash first. Once you're looking refreshed, you're supposed to get a new style. I was well aware of this rule, so I didn't make things difficult for Li Zhaodi. I half-heartedly complied and lay back in the chair, feeling two slender, chicken-foot-like fingers press against my forehead.

Oh, no way. Who could stand this?

I started to sit up, about to do a carp-like kip-up. I couldn't bear having the esteemed hands of our top scholar scrubbing the hair on my unintelligent head.

Li Zhaodi pushed me back down. I was stunned for a long moment before I finally understood. "You're working here for the holidays?"

"I'm not studying anymore. I'm an apprentice here."

I shot straight up, splashing water from my hair all over both of us. "Are you crazy?"

"I haven't rinsed out the shampoo yet."

"How long have you been here?"

"About a week." Li Zhaodi pushed me down again, aimed the shower head at my roots, and ran her fingers through my hair. I felt like the washing was making me dizzy; the world was spinning.

When I connected this to what Shang Yi had said about telling off her mother, a terrible possibility finally occurred to me. "Your mom won't let you study anymore?"

"Yeah. My little brother is about to start third grade, and my mom said expenses are going up. She wants to rent a storefront this year and needs the money urgently."

The number one student in our entire county, the class monitor and Chinese class representative, vice president of the broadcasting station, the flag bearer on Children's Day, captain of the Red Scarf squad, leader of the Young Pioneers squadron, the leader for morning exercises, the student representative in the school's promotional video, first prize winner of the Little Lotus essay competition, first place in the John Cup English speaking contest—my proud desk mate was quitting school after primary school for this bullshit reason?

I shot up again. "Bullshit."

"…?" My desk mate smiled a little. "You're starting to talk more and more like a city person. Isn't this normal? Look at Hai Yan from our class in fourth grade, and Zhou Dada in fifth grade…"

"If I couldn't continue my education, I'd deserve it. But if even you can't, then I say all that talk about fairness and conscience can go to the dogs."

I paid the boss for the hair wash, grabbed Li Zhaodi, and ran outside.

No wonder my desk mate was touching everything at No. 2 Middle that day, as if she'd never be able to go there in her life.

So it really was a farewell.

I pulled out all the money I had on me and offered it to her. I don't know why, but I felt so wronged I wanted to cry.

"It's not fair. I should be the one who stops studying. You should have been the one to meet someone as good as Shang Yi. You're the one who should have gotten different parents."

She pushed my money back.

I dragged her back to my house, locked the door, and searched the entire place for Shang Yi's contact information.

Shang Yi would definitely have a way.

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