The winter sun stretched the shadows very long. I stood at the door of the large warehouse, feeling the warmth above my head and unwilling to take another step forward. I always felt that if I took one more step, my shadow would sink into the darkness of the warehouse.
The warehouse was abandoned by a freight company, and it seemed that when I was very young, the warehouse became a vegetable market.
The large iron pool was on the left side of the entrance. Bubbles were surging in the pool. A carp half as long as my arm was swinging its tail and making noises. I hated fish. The fishy smell always got into my nose. A liquid mixed with the fishy smell and chicken feathers flowed in front of the iron pool. I suppressed the impatience in my eyes, looked away, and tilted my head slightly, as if I could avoid the smell.
"Chicken seller, the water is flowing to me again!"
"Hey, the sewer is blocked, don't blame me! I'll clean it for you later."
Rotten vegetable leaves piled up on the ground, and the fishy water dyed the uneven ground black. Walking on the black ground, the elderly and old ladies shuttled through the crowded aisles, arguing over two cents. I am familiar with this place, but I instinctively resist it.
"sister."
Someone patted my arm. I turned around and saw my cousin looking at me while biting a piece of bread.
"Come in, sister, what are you doing standing at the door?" My cousin smiled warmly.
I nodded and followed my cousin inside.
There are six stalls from the entrance to the pork stall. I have walked this path many times. The elderly lady suddenly bumped into me and quickly jumped between me and the vegetable stall. I staggered two steps and saw the old lady jumping in front of a small stall. The old lady pointed at two handfuls of green vegetables and shouted with full energy: "Oh, these are the last two handfuls of small vegetables. I'll buy them for five yuan!"
"Grandma, I can't sell it for five dollars, I can't sell it..."
The old lady was still arguing with the vendor, and across the stall, two aunts selling vegetables were chatting: "The niece of the old man at the pork stall is going to take the college entrance examination. Did you know?"
"Oh, college. Her aunt shouts every day that their family is going to have a female college student, as if she's afraid that everyone doesn't know." The aunt was busy finding money, her hands were busy, and her mouth was not idle either.
The auntie had a loud voice and her small talk sounded like she was shouting. There were many children my age in the market, many of whom were going to graduate this year, but my uncle was the only one selling pork in the market. I walked on without stopping, as if I hadn't heard anything.
Another middle-aged woman in a maroon cotton-padded jacket with floral sleeves turned her back to the aisle and said in a startlingly loud voice: "How good can the academic performance be in a place like No. 6 Middle School? If you ask me, why do girls study so much? They are going to get married anyway!"
The aunt who was giving the change saw the customer off. When she looked up, she happened to look me in the eye. She smiled awkwardly and said, "Yuanyuan, are you here to see your aunt? Your aunt has gone to work, right?"
The aunt in the maroon cotton-padded jacket turned around quickly, but there was no embarrassment on her face. She said, "Yuanyuan, you came at a great time. Brother Cheng just came back from purchasing goods!" The aunt had a shallow scar at the corner of her mouth. When she smiled, the scar was pulled into a strange arc, which looked a little scary.
I nodded and said hello vaguely, but I was very impressed in my heart.
"Sis." My cousin pulled my sleeve and whispered, "They just said bad things about you!"
Even my 12-year-old cousin can understand it, so how can I not admire these middle-aged women who were caught speaking ill of others but still managed to greet me with a smile as if nothing had happened?
"Well, ignore them." I patted my cousin's head and stopped in front of the pork stall. "Go up and get your schoolbag."
"Sister, wait for me for a moment. I forgot to clean my schoolbag yesterday." After saying that, my cousin swiftly walked around the counter, entered the shop behind the pork stall, and went upstairs.
There were two customers standing in front of the pork stall, and a man in a green military coat was busy chopping ribs inside the stall.
"Uncle."
I suddenly remembered that I was only 7 years old when I first came to the pork stall. I also stood outside the pork stall and timidly called out, "Uncle." At that time, I was only a little taller than the stall, and I stood on tiptoe to look inside from under the large piece of pork hanging on the iron rod. A man leaned towards me and chopped the chopping board with a kitchen knife. The aunt next door reminded him that your niece was here. The man turned his head to look at me, cut a piece of meat from the iron rod and threw it on the chopping board. The piece of lean meat hit the wooden board with a "bang", and the meat hanging on the iron rod also trembled.
The man said, "Little girl, you are being rude again, aren't you? Here, take a piece of meat back to eat !"
I stared at the piece of meat that was only a dozen centimeters away from my nose, swallowing my saliva. Dad always bought fatty meat, which could be fried in oil and fried with chili and oil residue for a long time. But I wanted to eat meat, lean meat, like the piece in front of me.
A 7-year-old child doesn't understand the meaning of being rude. I tore a plastic bag to wrap the piece of meat, carefully wrapped it around my chest, tilted my head back and grinned at the man. A hint of coolness seeped through my leaky teeth, and I said, "Thank you, uncle."
What followed was the men's laughter and the giggling women's words: "Oh, you are so rude at such a young age. Haha, you are just a child after all." "Yuanyuan came to your uncle because she wanted to eat meat."
No one knows that I just wanted to come and play with my cousin at that time. I wasn’t a glutton, and I wasn’t begging for meat at my uncle’s pork stall... But I have never been able to forget the word "glutton" and those weird laughs.
I did things that I regret to this day.
I have been doing unspeakable things over and over again for so many years.
"Uncle."
My uncle, wearing a green army coat, with a cigarette in his mouth and a knife in his hand, said, "Oh, what's the matter?"
Someone wanted to buy spareribs, and my uncle stood in front of the chopping board, wielding a kitchen knife to chop a whole piece of spareribs. Several large pieces of meat were hanging on the iron rod, red and white, and the kitchen knife fell and shook with it.
"Boom, boom, boom."
"Uncle." I forgot to drink water in the morning, and my throat was a little dry at this moment. I swallowed my saliva, suppressed my palpitations, and said, "Uncle, my aunt said that she left the tuition money with you and asked me to find you..."
"What do you want from me?" Like the rage of a person who has been awakened, he chopped down with a knife, and flesh scraps splattered on my clothes.
"I need your money." I lowered my eyes, and my face felt hot when I said the word "money".
Whenever I say "ask you for money", I feel ashamed. I can't justify it. My aunt said that girls need to study more. If your father doesn't have money, don't you still have me? My aunt said, you underestimate your aunt. Can't I afford the tuition?
My aunt and my father are blood relatives from the same mother, but my uncle is not.
The man was silent for a long time, as if his reaction time was particularly long. After a while, he said in a deep voice: "Another tuition fee?"
"Boom, boom, boom."
It seemed like each blow was more ferocious than the last.
I hesitated, wanting to explain that the tuition fee at No. 6 Middle School was not that much, but I didn't know where to start.
"Brother Cheng, your niece is about to graduate, right?" the auntie at the next stall shouted in a hoarse voice, "It's time to pay the money!"
I shrank my neck, not knowing whether to answer the auntie. She was talking about me, but not to me.
My uncle made a sound from his nose, which was considered as his response to the aunt.
"Okay, give me a female college student!" The auntie got the response and talked about her son with great joy, "This guy really needs to read more books. Look at my son, he went to Beijing to study..."
"Bang." The force of the chop was a little too strong, and the knife got stuck in the ribs. My uncle paused and tried to pull the knife out.
The lady in the red cotton-padded jacket shouted from a few meters away: "Do you think it's so easy to get into a university in Beijing?"
"Ha." My uncle smiled.
I looked over and saw that the knife that had not been pulled out before was finally pulled out. I lowered my head in dismay, for I was so afraid that my uncle agreed with what the red cotton-padded jacket said.
"Dong, dong, dong..." The sound of chopping ribs started again. It seemed that my uncle had forgotten to give me money.
I rubbed my hands. It was very cold in the vegetable market. I hesitated whether to say it again.
Several aunts started chatting.
"My son worked really hard to get into college..."
"Yuanyuan, which school do you want to apply to? I heard from your aunt that you have good grades in school."
It was as if someone was asking me something. I pulled my lips together but couldn't say anything. Some people ask questions just to get back to their own topic and praise themselves by stepping on you.
"You can take any exam you want. Students nowadays, if they can pass the exam, they can go to school. If they can't pass the exam, they can just... But Yuanyuan, I think you can still get into a good school. It's just that the study atmosphere in No. 6 Middle School is not good. I often see students from No. 6 Middle School fighting at the bus station."
Just because some students in No. 6 Middle School fight doesn’t mean all students in No. 6 Middle School fight.
"You are about to graduate, and you still talk about the trend. I think it is better for you to go to a technical secondary school after graduating from junior high school. My son did that, and he is living a good life now!"
If the son's life was really comfortable, why would he let his mother get up early and work late to sell vegetables?
"How can you say that? There's nothing wrong with reading more books. Just read if you can. Yuanyuan, don't pay attention to Aunt Li. She has never been to school and can't speak."
I forced a smile.
"What are you still standing here for?"
Perhaps it was because he heard my name that my uncle chopped down hard with the knife, then turned his head and stared at me with bloodshot eyes.
I was stunned. My uncle looked down on our family, but he had never expressed it so explicitly.
"I, I haven't taken the money yet." I didn't want to say such words. If I could, I would leave immediately. But, just like me holding the piece of meat, I have been doing things that make me regret. I am still standing there.
My uncle stroked his hair and chuckled. He took out a small wad of money from his pocket and threw it on the table in front of me: "Here, take it!"
Here, take it!
I was still standing there in a daze, and from the corner of my eye I saw that the small stack of money was exactly the amount of money I had to pay for the extra lessons. In fact, the money had been prepared long ago, right? But I had to stand there awkwardly amid the teasing of the aunties and grandmas, and everyone in the vegetable market knew about it. I moved my fingers, but I felt I couldn't lift my hand.
"Sister, what are you doing? Take the money and go, you're going to be late!" My cousin went downstairs carrying his schoolbag.
"Mingming, don't forget to get the milk." After saying this, my uncle turned around and continued weighing the meat.
"I don't like that!" the cousin replied impatiently.
"You have to eat it even if you don't like it. I subscribe to it for hundreds of dollars a quarter, but you don't eat it if you say you don't like it. And your newspaper costs hundreds of dollars a year, but you don't even read it and use it to make paper airplanes..."
"Okay, okay, I'll take it, stop talking nonsense!"
The small stack of banknotes lay quietly on the table.
I slowly reached out my hand, touched the money on the table, and quickly gathered it in. I held the money in my palm, just like I held the piece of meat, but I could no longer say thank you.
My cousin said to leave, and I followed him in a daze. The aunties behind me were still talking, and I could hear a few words: "The one who passed the exam is not surnamed Cheng, why should Lao Cheng support her!" "Did you see the way he asked Lao Cheng for money just now? Oh, it's really a debt in this life." "Lao Cheng was happy to marry a beautiful wife, but he didn't know that he would end up with a bunch of burdens."
I walked to the entrance of the market and looked out at the bright winter sun. The sounds of the market sounded far away, as if I had escaped from it. The sun was shining brightly at this moment, but I felt the cold soaking through my body.
50 meters in front of the vegetable market, there is a stall for repairing bicycles and making keys. A bald man sits cross-legged on a small stool. He is fiddling with a key. The man is wearing a navy blue cotton jacket, and his elbows are covered in dust. Next to the man stands a green bicycle, which has been painted so that it doesn't look so old.
I walked over, squatted down, and brushed the dust off his elbow.
He was startled, looked at his elbow, and then smiled at me, revealing his yellow teeth: "Did you get the tuition fee?"
"Yeah." I looked at the man's wrinkled face, which might have spots on it in a few years. "Dad, I'm going to school."
"Yeah, okay." Dad smiled, and suddenly remembered something. He stood up by holding the low cabinet, "Yuanyuan, wait a minute."
I turned around and watched him limp two steps and take out a hot water bottle from another low cabinet.
He said, "You keep complaining about how cold the classroom is, don't you? Here, just fill the hot water bottle with some hot water. Isn't there a water dispenser in your classroom?"
I took the red rubber hot water bottle, pressed it to my chest, and said in a muffled voice, "Okay, thanks, Dad."
"Thank you, silly girl."
Dad seemed to be in a good mood. He sang a song and then sat back on the small stool to continue working.
I stuffed the hot water bottle into the compartment of my schoolbag. I couldn’t tell my dad because my classmates all used electric hot water bottles.
"Whose hot water bottle is this? It's fully charged. I unplugged it. I want to charge it!" The girl holding the Doraemon hot water bottle shouted in the classroom, but the classroom was noisy at the moment, and obviously few people could hear what she said clearly.
"Mine, mine! Please help me get it!"
When I opened my schoolbag, I saw the red rubber hot water bottle, which was an eyesore.
"Do you think the next English class will be with Teacher Hu or 'A Little Red in the Central Plains'?"
The "A Dot of Red in the Central Plains" mentioned by the boys refers to the substitute English teacher. The teacher had a large red mole on his forehead, so they gave him the nickname "A Dot of Red in the Central Plains".
"I don't want to be a teacher at 'Zhongyuan Yidianhong'. Her accent is so thick. I've been able to tolerate it for so long. It's good enough. She can't even tell the difference between present perfect tense and present perfect progressive tense. How can she be a teacher? It's really annoying just looking at her!"
I grabbed my schoolbag and pulled out my English book.
"I really don't understand why the school would transfer her to teach. She's so slow in class and talks a lot of nonsense! When she wasn't here to substitute, I scored over 90 points. After she came, I even had trouble passing. If this continues, my English will kill me in the graduation exam!" The girl next to me came up to me and said, "Student master, if you were to choose, which teacher would you choose to teach you?"
My hands were still in my schoolbag, which was wide open. I took out my political book and covered the red rubber hot water bag: "Of course it's Teacher Hu." I learned English by rote memorization to barely pass the exam. I finally met Teacher Hu and my English improved a little. But the teacher suddenly changed to "Zhongyuan Yidianhong". How important is English in the graduation exam! Teachers often say "graduation exam is a watershed in life", and I never doubt this. I have always wanted to use the graduation exam to change my life, but now it seems like a dead knot, "Zhongyuan Yidianhong" is lying in the middle of the rope.
"See! I told you, even the top students dislike this kind of teacher!" The girl shouted everywhere as if she had received some big news.
I zipped up my bag and stuffed it into the drawer.
"'A Little Red in the Central Plains' is here!"
This sentence was like a call to the police, and the students in the classroom who had just been cursing and speaking ill of the teacher suddenly stopped talking.
The female teacher walked over in high heels, and when the students saw her standing at the door, they groaned in unison.
"Why are you all sighing? Don't you want to face your true results?"
The teacher's messy hair seemed to have never been taken care of. She left it all messy, like a golden lion. The teacher walked to the podium and put down the test paper in her hand: "Before the exam, I asked you to read more books, practice more, and follow me in class, but you didn't listen. Now that the results are out, you sigh. Haha, who asked you not to follow me? But if you ask me, don't give up. Start following me now, study hard, and you will still do well in the graduation exam..."
"Teacher Liu." The English class representative stood up abruptly, "Do you want to hand out this test paper?"
The female teacher, whose speech was interrupted, twitched her lips impatiently. She picked out one of the two piles of papers and stuffed it to the class representative: "Distribute it, distribute it. What's the hurry?"
"You are not in a hurry to attend class, but we are." Someone in the classroom argued in a low voice.
My eyes were fixed on the word list, pen in hand, unconsciously marking letters, nuisance, nouns.
"Yu Jiao, you are still a few points away from passing, tut tut." Teacher Liu unfolded a test paper, "Teacher, I really only want to hand out the papers that have passed, but there is no way, there are too few. So for those of you who are close to passing, I beg you to work harder and get a few more points."
"Xie Tiancheng, 90."
Yu Jiao took the test paper, turned around and twisted her eyes and mouth, causing the audience to laugh.
"What's wrong? What are you laughing at? Xie Tiancheng got 90 points because of his hard work, why are you laughing?" Teacher Liu didn't know the truth, and the audience was still noisy, "It's not that I want the pass rate, but at this time, you pass not for my sake, but for you to get into a good school."
Xie Tiancheng grabbed the test paper and walked down the podium. He turned his back to the teacher and made a disdainful expression, and the classroom became even more lively.
"What are you laughing at? What's so funny about this? I don't know what you are laughing at. Do you have to laugh just because others did well in the exam?"
Nuisance, noun, I silently recited in my heart, nuisance, noun, damage, hindrance, hate, my hand holding the pen became more and more forceful, and the tip of the pen scratched the vocabulary book. I looked up at the clock hanging on the blackboard, and the class was 5 minutes away. The boredom in my heart was getting harder and harder to suppress. I thought if I didn't say something, I would lose control.
"I'm not laughing at you!" The English class representative shouted in anger. Perhaps realizing that his attitude was wrong, he immediately added, "Teacher Liu, please hand out the papers quickly. I'm anxious to see my score!"
I looked at the English class representative in surprise. I couldn't communicate with any teacher in an intimate tone. Even to Mr. Hu who liked me so much, I could only say thank you stiffly.
"Class monitor, please enforce discipline. The teacher is getting angry. Please be quiet."
I couldn't persuade my classmates in such a coquettish way. Feeling the eyes of the English class representative on my face, I tightened my fingers and put the pen down with a "snap": "Stop arguing, be quiet!"
"Hey, the top student has spoken, the little ones should be quiet!"
"Yes, I will obey the imperial decree!"
The students were still laughing, but the noise was much quieter than before. I didn't have any prestige, I was only given the title of monitor by the head teacher because of my good grades, but I didn't know how to handle these things in the class, and I didn't want to waste my study time to be a "monitor" who was not popular and hated by everyone.
Teacher Liu at the podium seemed a little satisfied and continued to hand out papers.
I moved my wrist and started to write down a word. The light reflected by the mirror suddenly hit my eyes. I turned my head away in annoyance, and the light disappeared. It must be the junior students in the building opposite who were using the mirror to reflect the sunlight. The light moved back and forth on the wall, which made me more annoyed.
Teacher Liu was still talking, and I suddenly heard two coughs, followed by the sound of clearing phlegm in the throat. I looked up and saw the woman on the podium stroking her dry hair and coughing hard.
"Eh, that's disgusting!"
“It’s so unhygienic!”
"It's so messy, there will be bacteria!"
The classroom became noisy again.
I tried to lean back in my chair, but that didn't make me feel any less sick. I tried to move my desk back as far as I could, away from the empty space next to the podium...
"What's wrong? I didn't mean it!" The woman on the podium said as if it was a matter of fact. "I didn't mean it. Just be more careful next time!"
"What's wrong?" The students in the back row didn't know what had just happened. Someone was explaining it in detail. The fat man's voice was very rough, and I could hear it even though I was sitting in the first row. The fat man was acting out the scene of the female teacher coughing hard on the podium without covering up. The girls said coquettishly, "Fatty, you are so disgusting."
The fat boy didn't think it was ugly and started to study harder. The back of the classroom was in chaos, and the female teacher slammed the podium and yelled "Quiet". I knew I should stand up and enforce discipline, but for some reason, I didn't move.
The fat man's laughter was not prominent in the noise of the whole class, but it was obvious that the female teacher's shouting was ignored by the students in the audience intentionally or unintentionally. Suddenly, there was a loud noise, and the fat man's exaggerated laughter was interrupted, followed by a muffled "pop" sound.
I turned around and saw the boy in front of the big devil Gu Yue timidly moving his chair forward. It was obvious that the loud noise just now was Gu Yue kicking his own desk, which also impacted the boy in front of him.
The students were stunned by the loud noise at first, but when they turned around, they were shocked by Gu Yue. Gu Yue was not a disciplinary committee member, he was a troublemaker, or a problem teenager. Almost all the rumors about him were violent.
The fat man held a comic book in one hand and rubbed his head with the other. After finding out that the culprit was Gu Yue, he immediately became timid and submissive instead of being furious.
The instigator said coldly: "Did it hit you? Sorry, I lost my grip for a moment."
The classroom, which was noisy just now, was now silent. The students who were supposed to be looking at the blackboard were all staring at Gu Yue without blinking.
The fat man rubbed his head and smiled smugly: "It's okay, it's okay." He left his seat and handed the book to Gu Yue.
Gu Yue didn't reach out to take it. He stared at the fat man with cold eyes: "I don't like being looked down upon."
The 150-pound fat man heard this and squatted in the aisle trembling.
Gu Yue took the comic book nonchalantly, grabbed the book and tapped the fat boy on the head twice: "Study hard in class."
The tone was very gentle, but the words were really weird. Gu Yue had just transferred to this school last semester. He usually either slacked off or got into fights and caused troubles. Now he was actually teaching others to study hard?
Gu Yue put down the book and patted the fat boy's head: "If you keep laughing and disturbing me while I'm reading during class..." Gu Yue paused, raised his head and looked around, meeting the eyes of other students. Their gazes met mine for a moment, and I felt inexplicably cold, "Then don't blame me..."
Gu Yue didn't finish his words, but everyone understood what he meant. He asked the fat man to leave, stood up and walked to the back door.
"Gu Yue! Where are you going?" Seeing Gu Yue about to leave the classroom, the female teacher scolded, "The get out of class is not over yet, where do you want to go?"
I turned around and looked at the female teacher on the stage who was speaking righteously, and a strange feeling surged in my heart. Even though the classroom was in such a mess just now, she didn't seem to be really angry or furious, and she didn't really want to discipline us. But now she was scolding Gu Yue?
However, what was even more strange was that Gu Yue actually stopped and scratched his hair impatiently: "Eat breakfast!"
The female teacher continued her chattering: "You don't listen in class, you don't do your homework, and you only get a few dozen points on the test. How dare you skip class to eat breakfast? Don't you know how to eat breakfast before class? Sit back down!"
To be honest, the female teacher looked very fierce, but she was not scary. She was not intimidating, and even the fat man was not afraid of her. I thought Gu Yue would talk back impatiently or just run out of the door, but he didn't.
Gu Yue's two "subordinates", or rather his friends, rushed over and pulled and coaxed Gu Yue back to his seat.
The female teacher waved her hand and continued handing out papers as if nothing had happened.
The clock showed that the class had been going on for 10 minutes, and the female teacher finally called my name. I was too lazy to stand up, so I leaned forward slightly, stretched out my hand, pinched the test paper between my index and middle fingers, and pulled it out suddenly. I didn't bother to listen to the female teacher's comments, and just flipped through the paper. 112 (out of 150), not very high, but it was still a few points higher than the last time, and I was secretly happy.
"Zhang Yuanyuan, even if you did well in the exam, you shouldn't be too proud. You still need to continue..."
The female teacher gave me earnest instructions with a strong sense of "concern" above my head. The annoyance in my heart was burning like fire. I couldn't speak, because I was afraid that I would explode as soon as I opened my mouth. What should I say? Say "thank you for your concern" to this person who really hindered me from improving my English grades? If it weren't for her, I would have... My depressed heart wanted to pull the knotted rope tighter and tighter.
But my silence did not win the teacher's forgiveness. She might look at me kindly or sarcastically. I didn't see her expression, but I could tell the contempt in her tone.
"Oh, you're still a child after all."
I lowered my head to check my test paper, and I caught a glimpse of a figure behind me trying to sneak over to see my test paper. I couldn't stand people trying to sneak over to see other people's results like this, what's the big deal, why can't they just ask directly?
"Heh." The sound I made seemed to come out of my nose. I sat back a little to give Tian Tian who was sitting behind me a clear view. After thinking that it might not be enough, I pulled the paper and moved the page with the score to the back.
"Yuanyuan, you did so well in the exam! You will definitely be first in the grade again this time."
What I didn't expect was that Tian Tian became extremely excited about this result and started asking me a lot of questions.
"Oh my god, how did you do in the exam? You actually got 110 points. I was always below the passing line..."
"Is this a high score? I think it's just average." No. 6 Middle School is not a very good school. If you are the best in No. 6 Middle School, you may be nothing outside. Besides, I never wanted to be the top student in the No. 6 Middle School.
Tian Tian's expression became strange, but soon, she acted as if she had not spoken to me just now, and started talking to her deskmate: "What should I do? My English grades have never passed since 'Zhongyuan Yidianhong' started teaching us."
"She has no ability at all, let alone grammar. If you ask her to read a word, she will spell it wrong. But luckily I hired a tutor."
I was holding a few books and looking at the female teacher at the podium. She still had a few papers to hand out. The class had already started for 15 minutes and I thought it would take another two classes to finish this paper.
"How can we not hire a tutor? I tell you, I don't know if I can finish this test paper in two classes!" said the girl sitting behind me confidently.
She was indeed right. The female teacher was not only poor but also slow in teaching.
"Listening to her lectures is a waste of time. It's better to hire a tutor." The girl said, and then as if she suddenly thought of something, "Yuanyuan, you also hired a tutor, right? You always do so well in the exams!"
My heart jumped, and the book knocked over the water cup on the table. I was so shocked that I immediately put down the book to support the water cup. The water cup still fell over, but no water came out - I forgot to fill it with water this morning. I pursed my lips, pulled the corners of my mouth that became a little stiff due to embarrassment, and then I opened my mouth. I heard myself say disdainfully: "Tutor? Haha, I didn't hire one. How many tutors are really capable?"
"Yeah, does Zhang Yuanyuan need to hire a tutor? Yuanyuan has always been the top student in her grade!" Tian Tian agreed.
There was something else in Tian Tian's tone, but I didn't have time to think about it. I just wanted to get over this topic as soon as possible. I could get first place in my grade in No. 6 Middle School by self-study, but if I hired a tutor, it would probably bring me unlimited possibilities. But the word "tutor" would be lost in the word "money" as soon as I opened my mouth. I couldn't talk about it, and I couldn't think about it.
The female teacher started the lecture. It should be said that the female teacher finally started the lecture.
The get out of class ends when the minute hand points to 9.
"Eleven multiple-choice questions." The female teacher was sitting behind the podium, holding the test paper in her hand. She didn't even read out the questions. She just called out the question numbers and waited for the people in the audience to give their answers.
"D, next question." I raised my voice and shouted. There were only 8 minutes left before the get out of class ended.
"Twelve questions."
"A."
"Thirteen questions."
"C." In fact, at this speed, it is still possible to finish the multiple-choice questions in eight minutes. I couldn't wait to give the answer.
Some students who didn't like English but were asked by the head teacher to correct their answers kept shouting after me: "Next question, next question!"
The female teacher looked a little unhappy: "Zhang Yuanyuan, why are you reporting so quickly? Do you know everything?"
"I got all the multiple-choice questions right." I looked straight at the female teacher without avoiding her.
The female teacher was a little annoyed, but she didn't know what to say: "You are right, other students still need to listen to the explanation."
I nodded.
When the female teacher saw that I didn't talk back, she seemed to be angry but had no place to vent, so she could only continue teaching.
"Didn't you get question 13 right? Aren't you going to explain this question?" the female teacher asked unwillingly, but all she got in response was a chorus of shakes of head.
"Okay, if you don't want to tell me, then I won't tell you. Then I will..."
"For question 14, choose C!" Someone didn't want to listen to the female teacher's nagging and directly gave the next answer.
The female teacher glared in the direction of the shouting, and after a moment she continued to explain the questions: "Question 15, this question..." The female teacher was shocked, and her raised eyebrows showed her complacency, "This question, there is an identical one on the previous paper, you can look at it yourself, I want you to tell me for yourselves, did I explain it before, did I explain it before? If you get this question wrong, then you shouldn't do it."
"B!" I shouted out the answer at the exact moment the female teacher finished speaking, followed by other people reporting the answers one after another.
"Choose B, choose B!"
"Next question, next question!"
The female teacher slammed the test paper on the podium, trying to create some momentum, but the concrete platform did not make any sound. While the female teacher was brewing her anger and did not speak, the students below shouted the answer to the next question, and the answer had already been reported to the twentieth question.
"Zhang Yuanyuan, what are you doing? You think you got all the multiple-choice questions right? You can get full marks, right? The class is not just for you. If you don't listen, other students will!"
I was suddenly called by the female teacher. I was shocked. I was not the only one who shouted out the answers, so why did she blame me? "I'm not the only one who shouted out the answers. Why are you blaming me? And it's obviously you who are slow in teaching!"
"I teach slowly? Am I really teaching slowly?" the female teacher asked the students below.
"We only taught a dozen multiple-choice questions in one class. Do you think it's slow?" I told the truth angrily, and the female teacher's expression changed immediately.
Before the female teacher could react, a tsunami of complaints came from the audience: "The class drags on." "It takes half a class just to hand out the papers!" "You spend 10 minutes chatting in 5 minutes of class!"
The female teacher was so angry that she laughed: "I've been teaching for more than ten or twenty years, and this is the first time I've seen students like you." The female teacher glared at me fiercely, "Those with good grades think they can fly; those with poor grades are criticized for teaching slowly even when the teacher explains carefully! If I explain quickly, you will only know one answer, and won't you still get it wrong next time? Well, now I ask you, do you want me to speed up, or do you want me to explain each question carefully?" The female teacher's hair was shaking with anger.
I'm sure this isn't a question we need to answer, but someone did.
"Speak faster!"
"Haha." The female teacher laughed, "If you want to go faster, go faster. If you want to go slower, go slower. Who should I talk to?"
The girl who had just spoken out was choked and her face turned red. I thought that no one would provoke the female teacher's anger again, and the get out of class would end smoothly after waiting for a few minutes. But it was not that simple. I heard the fat boy's self-righteous and smart voice: "Let Zhang Yuanyuan speak! Zhang Yuanyuan is the first in the grade!"
Other fearless people also came to join in the fun, taking advantage of the autumn wind: "Yes, let Zhang Yuanyuan come. After all, Zhang Yuanyuan is the top student in the grade!" "Otherwise, just copy the answers!" "Teacher Liu, why don't you send the answers to us!" "The class next door finished the test paper in one class, and they are progressing faster than us..."
I felt like I was in a pot of boiling water. I moved my fingers, and the pen moved slowly between them.
The female teacher in front of me couldn't calm down the increasingly heated classroom.
I pursed my lips and thought that if I waited a few more minutes, the whole class would end in excitement without me having to manage discipline.
“It’s so noisy!”
I looked back suddenly, and it was Gu Yue again!
Gu Yue must have just woken up, and there were still marks on his face from being pressed by his arms, but this did not diminish his deterrent power at all.
He only said one sentence, and the boiling water that had left the female teacher helpless immediately calmed down.
There was a small tuft of hair on his head that was sticking up because he didn't sleep well. He glared at the entire classroom, and perhaps because he was woken up, his whole body exuded a depressed aura.
Gu Yue suddenly pushed the table away, and the creaking sound of the table rubbing against the floor made people tremble in their hearts.
What did he want to do? Was he just angry because he was woken up? I had a lot of questions in my mind. I didn't know Gu Yue well, but I knew he couldn't cause any more trouble. He transferred to No. 6 Middle School because something happened in his previous school. He was about to graduate. In order to improve the enrollment rate, the school would persuade "problematic elements" to leave if there was any problem.
But he just wanted to stand up. The 1.80-meter-tall man stood up from the cramped space, banging against the tables and chairs, making noises.
Everyone in the classroom was startled by the noise, like frightened rabbits.
Gu Yue took out a piece of gum, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and walked towards the back door. Just when the whole class thought, or just I thought, he would do something surprising, he walked towards the back door.
Maybe he just wanted to live out this period of time in peace.
"Stop right there!"
It was the first time I noticed the female teacher's voice was so sharp.
"get out of class isn't over yet, where are you going?"
The scene of a female teacher persuading students that can only appear in movies can actually be seen in reality. But this scene is really weird. Just now, the female teacher was fighting with the whole class, but her voice was not as sharp as it is now, like the trembling call of a migratory bird. The female teacher can tolerate the whole class of students denouncing her, so why can't she tolerate Gu Yue skipping class? I looked at the female teacher's face full of righteousness, trying to find unusual clues from it.
Gu Yue did not ignore him and leave as usual. Instead, he stood upright in the open space at the back of the classroom, chewing gum and holding out five fingers: "5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" He bent a finger for each number he counted.
When there was only one finger left, the bell rang. Gu Yue stared at the female teacher with a half-smile and said in a very shameless tone: "Can I leave now, Teacher Liu?"
Teacher Liu at the podium opened his mouth but said nothing.
Gu Yue put his hands in his pockets and walked away with a swagger.
"Hey, Xueba, someone's looking for you outside!"
I looked in the direction of the sound and saw my cousin peeking in from the doorway. When he met my gaze, he smiled and opened his mouth to speak. I rushed over before he could say anything and pulled him to the other end of the corridor.
There are staircases at both ends of this teaching building, but the door to the left staircase is always closed, so almost no one uses the left staircase.
"Why are you here?" I looked at the raincoat in my cousin's hand, and the answer was self-evident, "My dad didn't come, did he?"
“Here it comes!”
My cousin said it simply, but I was stunned and took the raincoat he stuffed in my hand: "What?"
"It's over there on the playground. He saw me playing basketball and insisted that I bring it to you, saying that he didn't know which classroom you were in." My cousin looked unwilling, probably because he was having a great time playing basketball. "It's not that hard to find. I already said that the senior class is on the top floor."
"Oh." I calmed down and smiled perfunctorily at my cousin.
"Sister," my cousin suddenly looked at me with a gossipy look on his face, "yesterday when you were in evening self-study, my uncle came to my house."
"Oh, really?" I was a little dazed.
"Don't you want to find an English tutor? My uncle mentioned it to my mom last night."
I turned my neck, unable to believe that my dad, who was only good at repairing bicycles and would chase people for hundreds of meters if they gave him five more dollars, would talk to my aunt about finding a tutor: "What did my aunt say?" I hid a little hope and tried to slow down my speech, as if I was just asking casually.
"My mom said there's no need to find a tutor. She said she wants to buy us a repeater. Hehe, we can even listen to music after we buy the repeater!"
“Oh, I see.” Yes, that’s right. Even the tuition for my tutoring was paid by my aunt despite my uncle’s reluctance. How could I dare to think about hiring a tutor?
But that's a tutor! No. 6 Middle School is only a second-rate school. Compared with those students who go to good schools and have good teachers, I am completely incomparable. But what if I can hire a tutor? Can I narrow the gap a little? I was a little unwilling: "What else did my aunt say?"
My cousin thought for a moment and said, "My mom said that we should ask our relative who is admitted to university to give you some tutoring. After all, he is also a university student, so the tutoring he can give you won't be too bad."
I lowered my eyes sadly. As expected, tutoring was not something I could think of.
The person my cousin was talking about should be the distant relative who was admitted to the School of Economics two years ago. I sneered, "Him? He was so proud when he was admitted to university, but he is just a third-tier university. What can he teach me!"
"But people like him make me feel like it's easy to go to college. Last time, he told me that as long as your grades aren't too bad, you can basically go to college. He also said that if I were not too young, he could get me into his school." My cousin seemed to suddenly think of something, "Sister, he also said that if any of your classmates have average grades and want to go to college, he can help get them into his school."
Haha, what kind of schools are these? What future does it have to have in such schools? After spending several years and a lot of money, parents will brag about their children going to college, but when they enter society, they are nothing.
I poked my cousin's forehead and said word by word, "Don't even think about it!" My cousin wanted to refute, but I held his head down. I looked at him and said, "Those are all messed up schools. Going to that kind of school is not a talent, it's a disgrace!"
"sister!"
"Look at where you live, it's a mess. Do you think you are comfortable smelling those dead chickens and ducks every day?" I stared at my brother's eyes without blinking. "If you are comfortable and really like that vegetable market, why don't you dare to bring your classmates home to play? Why don't you dare to tell your classmates that you live in the vegetable market?"
My cousin lowered his eyes, as if he disagreed.
"Chengming, don't forget the first time you brought your friends home and they disliked you, and you cried so hard that you were out of breath." I admonished my cousin, but there was a stiffness in my voice that only I understood.
I have experienced this before. I happily took my friends home who said they would be my lifelong friends. They were having fun at the time, but the next day, they spread the news that my family lived in the vegetable market to the whole class. Everyone was wearing the same clean school uniform, but they thought mine was dirty. My school uniform was washed by my father with apple-scented laundry detergent, but they covered their noses and said I smelled like chicken shit.
I can never forget the little girl with two pigtails who should have been lively and cute, pushing me to the ground with a disgusted expression. I can never forget that face. She said, "Zhang Yuanyuan smells like chicken shit. Anyone who plays with her will also smell like chicken shit. Everyone, stay away from her."
Aren't we all equal? ​​Why should I be put in a position of being despised just because I live in a vegetable market? I don't accept it.
"We have no choice but to live in a place like this." I persuaded my cousin and told myself again and again, "But these are all things we can change. The only thing we can do now is to study hard, get into a good school, and leave here. Don't tell me that studying in a college is not bad. If you can live a casual life, then you can stop studying now!"
"Chengming." My cousin was still unconvinced, but he seemed to be compromising. I gritted my teeth and said word by word, "Studying is the only chance we have to change our destiny. Do you understand?"
I don't know if my cousin listened to it, but I did. Oftentimes, when people repeat something to others, it's not actually to make them understand or convince them. They just keep repeating it to themselves, like brainwashing.
Yes, you can only leave this market by studying, you can only go to Shanghai if you graduate and get admitted to a key school, you can only...
But now I only have an English teacher whose English is very poor.
I seemed to be split into two halves throughout the morning, one half was staying awake and studying rationally, while the other half seemed to be watching myself do all this indifferently. This terrible situation caused me to walk to the first floor after school, only to realize that it was raining and I didn't have a raincoat in my hand.
I went back to the fifth floor and heard people talking inside the classroom a few meters away.
"Teacher Liu, shouldn't I know to order takeout when it's raining? Why don't you take care of yourself instead of worrying about me? After all, I am not you..."
Gu Yue was sitting on the table with his back against the wall, and he hung up the phone immediately when he saw me come in. I walked straight to the first row to get my raincoat, and when I turned to walk out, Gu Yue suddenly blocked my way out.
"Zhang Yuanyuan!"
I was about to avoid him, but I didn't expect him to speak.
"Don't make trouble in English class anymore!"
This made me want to laugh. I thought Gu Yue was just telling a joke nonchalantly, but when I looked at his face, I realized there was no trace of joking on his face. He was serious.
I said hesitantly, "Did you recognize the wrong person? Was it me who caused trouble in English class?"
Gu Yue was a little annoyed, and the index and middle fingers of his right hand bent unconsciously: "I didn't recognize the wrong person, it's you, Zhang Yuanyuan."
I smiled, not intending to pay attention to him, and wanted to walk around and leave the classroom.
"Don't think I don't know. When was the English teacher unable to maintain discipline and you didn't start it? When was the chaos and you didn't just sit there and do nothing, monitor?"
"What's wrong with the squad leader?" I was so angry that I felt embarrassed. "Squad leaders must take care of these things? Who said that being a squad leader means you can take care of these things? I have no prestige and can't control them. Why don't you come?"
Gu Yue was a little angry: "Why should I care? I'm not the class monitor. Remember this, next time I see you making trouble in English class, I..."
"How are you?" I don't understand why he would take the initiative to do this. I have no grudge against him in the past or in the present, and we are not familiar with each other at all. "Why do you care so much? What does it have to do with you if someone makes trouble in English class? Did I hear it right? Gu Yue is in charge of discipline?"
The two words "Gu Yue" put together with classroom discipline are a mockery in itself.
"You, you guys are so noisy in class, can't you let me sleep well?"
The 1.80-meter-tall guy looked a little embarrassed when I looked up at him. I couldn't help but feel curious: "Gu Yue, are you okay? Normally, you don't go against the teachers, and the teachers would burn incense and pray to the Buddha. Now you are actually managing the classroom discipline. Do you think the class is too noisy? Did I hear it correctly?"
The wind blew the hair on Gu Yue's forehead, revealing his eyes that were filled with anger and embarrassment: "Why do you care so much about me? Aren't you a good student? How can a good student disrupt the class order?"
"Let me think about it." My train of thought did not follow his words. I suddenly realized what I found strange during class. "Come to think of it, you enforced discipline twice in English class today, right? Was it really because you couldn't sleep because of the noise?"
"None of your business!"
Gu Yue's eyes were fierce, but I ignored him and continued, "Teacher Liu is like this. No one in the class can stand her, and no one really likes her. Why do you help her manage discipline?"
“Who helped!”
"Isn't it true that you were the one who spoke up to stop Teacher Liu twice today when he couldn't control the situation? Aren't you helping Teacher Liu?"
I looked straight into Gu Yue's eyes, but he didn't dare to look me in the eye. He kicked over the chair next to him in anger and shouted, "Don't talk nonsense. If you make trouble again, don't blame me for being rude to you!" After that, he turned around and walked away, cursing.
I pulled my raincoat and wondered curiously, could it be that Gu Yue is still a good and innocent child?
I found my bike and just rode out of the school gate when a taxi passed by me. Inside was the timid Gu Yue. I sighed and continued to ride my bike home.
The heavy rain hit me recklessly with a chill, and even wearing a cotton jacket still couldn't keep out the cold wind. The wheels of the bicycle rolled quickly in the water, and the splashes of water all fell on my pants, making them heavier and heavier. I was still thinking about what happened just now, and I kicked into the air, losing my balance, and the bicycle tilted and was about to fall, and I stepped into a puddle of mud.
It was a sewer inlet. The yellow water covered my shoes and half of my trouser legs were soaked. I bent over and stared down. The wet trouser legs were sticking to my legs, and the cold air climbed up my already cold skin. I also looked closely at the bicycle that was a fist away from my calf. The chain was broken and the gears on the chain were bent out of shape.
car broke down.
My heart was beating fast, I tried to push the chain, and it broke! I pressed my heart, which was beating happily, and poked the gear, and it was bent and about to break!
car broke down!
Facing the biting wind, my face inexplicably turned red. Ha, the car broke down! My head seemed to be filled with hot air. This car broke down, I, I can buy a new car!
As if I had received a great benefit, I ignored the cold feeling on my legs and pushed the bike home. I slowed down when I reached the door of my house, took a deep breath, and pursed the corners of my mouth that were about to curl up.
The bicycle repair stall usually doesn’t open when it rains, but there is a huge shed outside the vegetable market, and my dad will usually open the stall unless the wind is too strong and blows the rain in.
I pushed the cart and walked over.
“Dad,” I cleared my throat, trying not to make my happiness so obvious, “the car broke down.”
"What? It's broken?" Dad immediately put down the work in his hands and came over to look at the bicycle.
"I've checked. The chain is broken and even the gears are bent. I'm afraid... Dad, I..."
"Yuanyuan." Dad was still squatting. He turned around and looked at me seriously, saying, "It's okay, Yuanyuan. It's not your fault. This car has been used for too long."
"Yeah." I pursed my lips, suppressed my smile, and waited for my dad's next words.
"Dad can fix it."
"Dad will definitely be able to fix it, you can go up and change your clothes first."
"Dad will definitely be able to fix it!"
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but smash the inner pot of the rice cooker hard onto the concrete table.
"Bang!"
Hearing the sound, I subconsciously quickly picked up the inner tank and checked its bottom. Fortunately, it was not broken. I breathed a sigh of relief. When I realized that I was actually relieved, my face was hot and cold.
Yes, even though Dad once said, “If this car breaks down again, I’ll buy you a new one,” but now the tuition fees of several hundred yuan are paid by my aunt. How can Dad afford to buy me a new car?
I sighed and subconsciously placed my hand on my chest: "How long will it take, days like this? How long do I have to stay here before I can leave?"
I looked around the dilapidated tube-shaped building. The wooden buildings were full of rotten wood. The shared public pool was clogged and gave off an unpleasant smell. I could no longer suppress the thoughts of decadence that were growing wildly. I patted my chest and said, "It's okay, Zhang Yuanyuan. It won't be long." I forced myself to cheer up. "As long as I pass the graduation exam, everything will be solved! Yes, that's it. Then I can go to Shanghai!"