Chapter 77: Acquaintance
I always thought about the next time, and as a result, this "next time" was delayed until I was in elementary school.
Once, the school organized them to watch a popular science movie. Under the guidance of the teacher, Jin Yang found his seat, climbed up and sat down, with his hands placed obediently on his knees waiting for the movie to start. Suddenly, he felt someone stabbed him in the back.
When he turned around, he saw Rong Yuan standing behind him. His furry head was only slightly higher than the back of the chair, but his aura was not weaker at all. Seeing his dark eyes staring at him, Xiao Jinyang instantly recalled all the children who had been beaten by him and cried bitterly in the past few years. He quickly shrank back, holding the back of the chair with both hands like a kitten, revealing only a pair of big black and white eyes, and asked in a low voice: "What...what's wrong?"
"Something fell, help me pick it up." Xiao Rongyuan said in a domineering manner.
"Ah? Ah... Oh." Jin Yang looked down and found a little dolphin under his seat. It was distributed free of charge by the staff when they entered the venue, and each child had one. Jin Yang climbed down from his seat, picked it up, and stood on tiptoe to hand it to Rong Yuan.
Rong Yuan took it, took a look at it, and then asked him, "Kid, what's your name?"
"Jin Yang, you can call me Yang Yang." Jin Yang said in a low voice.
"Oh, I'm Rong Yuan." After Rong Yuan said that, he stood and looked at him for a while, as if he had something to say, but after a while, he turned around and left without saying a word.
"Hey..." Jin Yang called out hurriedly.
Rong Yuan turned his head and looked at him without saying anything.
Jin Yang lay on the chair and said somewhat unsatisfactorily: "I helped you, you should say thank you."
Rong Yuan stared at him with cold eyes for a long time. When Jin Yang thought Rong Yuan was going to beat him up, Rong Yuan said solemnly, "Thank you."
"Oh, you're welcome." Jin Yang said reflexively.
Rong Yuan stared into his eyes and asked him: "Since you want to say 'you're welcome', why do you insist that I say 'thank you'?"
"Yes, why?" Jin Yang was stunned. After Rong Yuan walked away, he was still thinking about this question.
The kid next to him poked him and said admiringly: "Yangyang, you are so brave. We didn't dare to talk to that person."
"Yeah, yeah, he looks so scary!"
"Last time I saw him beat a third grade boy until he cried! He's so fierce!"
The children chattered about the battle history of that scary kid. Jin Yang listened blankly and thought... he wasn't that scary! He was obviously a very reasonable and... thoughtful kid!
After returning home, Jin Yang asked his father this question: "Dad, why do we say 'thank you' and 'you're welcome' at the same time when we get help?"
Jin Bai touched his son's head and said, "This is because if you don't say thank you, others will think you are an impolite child and won't play with you anymore!"
So after school, Jin Yang found Rong Yuan and solemnly told him what Jin Bai said. After listening to him, Rong Yuan said without hesitation: "If he doesn't want to play with you just because he didn't say 'thank you', why would you want to play with him?"
Jin Yang was stunned, it seemed... like it made sense!
Returning home to learn from the past, Jin Bai looked at his son's innocent and confused eyes, held him in his arms and said, "But Yangyang, think about it. You just met a kid. He doesn't know what kind of person you are, and you don't know what kind of person he is. If you find out that he is impolite and unhygienic, would you not want to play with him? It's the same for other kids. So when you receive help, saying 'thank you' is not only a courtesy, but also shows that this person is kind and you keep his help in mind. If the other person says 'you're welcome', it's his courtesy. The connection between people is deepened little by little in the details."
This conversation was a bit complicated. Jin Yang repeated a few words to Rong Yuan that had a profound impact on him: "A child who doesn't say thank you is impolite and unhygienic. No one will want to play with you."
"Hmph, a bunch of idiots, you can play around if you want." Rong Yuan said with disdain.
After several exchanges, the two gradually became familiar with each other. Because of this incident, Jin Yang, as "the only child who can talk to Rong Yuan", was admired by his friends.
Unlike Jin Yang who was always picked up by his parents, Rong Yuan had been carrying his schoolbag to school or home since elementary school. Jin Yang soon forgot about the old man who had seen him for a short while, until the mid-term parents' meeting, when the old man walked past Jin Yang with a cane and looked menacing. After a few years, he had become older and more terrifying, scaring the children along the way to tears.
The next day Jin Yang asked Rong Yuan: "Xiao Yuan, who is that old grandfather?" - With Jin Yang's efforts, Rong Yuan finally agreed that Jin Yang could call him that even though he despised him. It was really an arduous battle!
"My uncle." Rong Yuan said.
Jin Yang held up his little head and thought for a long time, but he still couldn't figure out what kind of name "Uncle Grandpa" was - was it his uncle's grandfather? He couldn't figure it out, so he just didn't think about it. He sighed and said, "That old grandfather is so scary!"
"Really?" Rong Yuan has never felt this way since he was a child.
"Ah!" Jin Yang suddenly covered his mouth with both hands and said sullenly, "I forgot. You can't say bad things about people behind their backs! Xiaoyuan, forget what you just said!"
"Yeah, I've forgotten it!" Rong Yuan nodded.
"You're lying!" Jin Yang pouted, "How could you forget it so quickly?"
Rong Yuan was speechless and simply stopped talking.
After a while, Jin Yang couldn't help but come closer and asked in a low voice: "Xiao Yuan, are you angry?"
"No."
"Do you... like that old man very much?" he asked nervously.
Rong Yuan shook his head and said frankly, "I don't like it." He has his favorite foods, favorite colors, and favorite books, but he has never had such emotions between people. The relationship between him and his uncle is just one of survival and dependence.
Jin Yang breathed a sigh of relief, then asked curiously, "If you don't like him, why did you let him attend your parent-teacher conference?"
Rong Yuan was silent for a while and said, "Because there is no one else to rely on."
Little Jinyang didn't understand. He had many relatives, and every one of them loved him very much. He also had many uncles and aunts who were not blood relatives but loved him very much. So he couldn't understand what it was like to have only one person to rely on. He asked, "What about your parents?"
"I don't have a father or a mother." Rong Yuan said with disgust.
"How is that possible?" Jin Yang retorted, "Every child has a father and a mother, otherwise where would you be born from?"
Rong Yuan recalled a story he had heard before and said seriously, "I don't have a father or a mother. I was born from a peach. My uncle found a big peach in the river, and after he split it open, I was inside."
——Perhaps because he was too serious and sure about what he said, this clumsy lie deceived Jin Yang for five years. Until he started taking physiology classes, he firmly believed that some children were born from mothers and some were born from peaches. The fact that it lasted so long may also be related to the fact that every adult who heard his statement laughed and did not correct him. To this day, when relatives and friends mention this past event, they still laugh out loud.
Jin Yang is a very popular kid in school, but perhaps because he is favored by teachers and liked by girls, some boys hate him.
At the school's summer sports meeting, Jin Yang helped the teacher distribute cheering flags to each student in the class. After distributing them, there were still a few left. He happened to see Rong Yuan standing alone in a corner, so he wanted to go over and give him one. Then a few boys who usually ignored him stopped him and said, "Jin Yang, the teacher asked us to bring some things over."
Jin Yang didn't doubt him, thinking that the class matters were more important, and said, "Okay, let's go."
Rong Yuan had already looked over there. Jin Yang waved to him, smiled widely, and then left with a few boys.
Then Jin Yang was taken to a basement in a small building he had never been to before. When Jin Yang looked around for the teacher, several boys pushed him hard and threw him to the ground. One of them kicked him and cursed, "You annoying bastard! You bootlicker! You're the teacher's lackey! Just stay here and see who can find you!"
Several people ran out laughing and locked the basement door with a clang, shouting outside: "Hahaha... you deserve it! You annoying bastard! Get eaten by ghosts at night!"
Jin Yang sat on the ground, looked at the dark, broken and dirty environment around him, and was so scared that he burst into tears.
The place where Jin Yang was locked up was the old dormitory building of the school, which was planned to be demolished and a new building would be built soon. Jin Yang cried for a long time, but no one came.
That evening, the typhoon made landfall and heavy rain poured down.
The old dormitory building was originally located at a low altitude, and after years of disrepair, the walls had several cracks. Xiao Jinyang, who was trembling with fear in the thunder and heavy rain, suddenly heard the sound of rushing water. With the help of the faint , he saw a lot of water rushing in from the small windows separated by the iron fence on the wall and the cracks on the wall. Soon, a layer of sewage that submerged his ankles accumulated on the ground.
There were some old tables and stools piled up in the basement. Jin Yang hurriedly climbed onto a table and watched the water level rising higher and higher. It was dark and cold all around. The trees made terrible noises in the wind and rain. Lightning that occasionally split the sky cast ghostly shadows in the house. Jin Yang cried loudly, "Dad - Mom -"
The water level rose higher and higher, gradually submerging the table and reaching Jin Yang's chest.
In fact, if he had put a stool on the table, he could have reached a little higher. But when he climbed up, Jin Yang didn't think that far ahead. The stools were piled under the table and were now completely submerged in water. How could he dare to jump in and fish out the stools that were nowhere to be found in the dark water?
Jin Yang leaned against the wall, extremely panicked. For the first time in his life, he felt despair and fear.
Suddenly, a light flashed from outside, and someone could be heard shouting faintly in the sound of rain: "Yangyang!"
"I'm here! I'm here! Help!" Jin Yang shouted with a hoarse voice.
The light of the flashlight shone in through the small window in the basement. Rong Yuan leaned over the window and saw Jin Yang, whose face was red and eyes were swollen from crying.
"Wait a minute! I'll rescue you right now!" Rong Yuan shouted, then ran into the dormitory building to open the door, only to find that the entire passage leading to the basement was flooded, revealing a small iron lock hanging on it. He didn't have the key, and he couldn't swim.
Rong Yuan ran back and shouted to Jin Yang, "Wait, I'll find someone to help!"
Seeing that he was about to leave, Jin Yang was extremely scared and cried out heartbreakingly: "Don't go... wow wow wow... don't leave me alone... Xiaoyuan! Xiaoyuan! Don't go... wow wow wow... I will drown if you leave..."
Rong Yuan shone a flashlight inside. The water had already reached Jin Yang's shoulders. He leaned against the wall and tried to stand on tiptoe, stretching his neck to get away from the water. As the light illuminated, Rong Yuan also saw that the boy's usually bright eyes were filled with a burning desire for life and a strong fear.
For a moment, he felt that if he turned around and left at this moment, it would be the same as killing him.
Rong Yuan lay down, stretched his hand through the iron railing, and said, "Swim over here and hold my hand!"
Jin Yang learned to swim when he was very young. He looked at the dark water, then at the hand that Rong Yuan stretched out to him. He hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, pushed hard against the wall, and swam towards the light.
The basement window was very high. Jin Yang tried to swim over twice but still couldn't reach Rong Yuan's hand. Rong Yuan pressed against the wall and tried to reach over. Finally, the third time, their palms held each other. Then he used both hands to pull Jin Yang up from below and let him hold the railing. Jin Yang had no foothold. He was tired, hungry and scared for so long that he had already exhausted all his strength. It was only because Rong Yuan held him tightly that he didn't fall.
Rong Yuan held the flashlight with the mirror facing upwards and used his body to fix it to one side, hoping that someone would see the light and come to find them. Heavy rain poured down from above, and the rain flowed past him and poured into the basement. The two children used all their strength to hold on to each other. In this doomsday-like darkness and water, they only felt that the little warmth from each other was their only support in the world.
…
When we parked the car in the garage, the story came to an end. Zheng Yirou said: "We were almost going crazy looking for this child that night. Later, a teacher saw a beam of light from the school dormitory building and went there with a one in ten thousand hope. He saw the two of them, one outside and one inside, holding each other tightly. They were almost fainting, but they still hadn't let go. At that time, the water had already reached Yangyang's neck. If it had been a little later, I really don't know what would have happened."
"So there was such a past." Zhou Yunze also sighed: "Although I encountered danger, I also met such a good friend at the same time. It is also a blessing."
"Yes." Zheng Yirou touched Jin Yang's face lovingly and said with fear: "If it weren't for Xiaoyuan, I'm afraid my Yangyang wouldn't be here now."
Jin Yang smiled and touched her palm, his eyes warm and admiring. He comforted her, "Don't worry, Mom. I will celebrate your and Dad's 100th birthday in the future!"
"Oh, my son can talk!" Zheng Yirou happily hugged him and kissed him.
Jin Yang held her close for a while, his right hand grasping his chest. When he talked about the past, the scenes from ten years ago seemed to come back to him, and the intense emotions were still surging in his chest, unable to calm down for a long time.
