DBTHDCAR Chapter 14

“Today is the last day of this semester. Here, the teacher wants to praise one student. This semester, he has performed very well and made significant progress.”

At the last class meeting before winter break, Teacher Qiu stood on the podium, holding the report card with a beaming smile.

Ding Zheyang pushed up his glasses silently.

No way the teacher was talking about him.

In this final exam, he had come second again. Now, he had earned a new nickname in class: “Forever Second Place.”

Unless Ning Xiaobei had a catastrophic brain meltdown or somehow both hands were broken and he couldn’t hold a pen, there was no room left for Ding Zheyang to improve.

Ning Xiaobei had already guessed who the teacher was talking about. Excited, he nudged Fan Xia with his elbow.

“It’s Fan Xia! This time, Fan Xia’s total score in Chinese, Math, and English has jumped from third-to-last at the start of the semester to tenth place overall! Everyone, give him a round of applause!”

Wow! Top ten? For real?”

“Amazing! Fan Xia, how did you do it? Did you take extra classes?”

Hearing the classmates’ words of admiration, Fan Xia sheepishly lowered his head.

To be honest, he really enjoyed this feeling of being the center of attention.

Before, he had been flattered for showing off, treating his little brothers to food and drinks but being respected for doing well in exams was truly a first-time, earth-shaking experience.

The joy he felt now far surpassed any happiness money could buy.

But as for how he improved his grades, he really didn’t want to say…

Fan Xia carefully glanced at Ning Xiaobei beside him.

As class monitor, Ning Xiaobei wholeheartedly played along with the teacher, clapping loudly, “Clap, clap, clap.”

He couldn’t very well admit that he was a little scared of his deskmate, that Ning Xiaobei had pushed him to study, and he hadn’t dared resist…

Ever since leaving the police station last time, Ning Xiaobei had replaced Chen Haonan as the person Fan Xia both admired and feared the most. After all, Chen Haonan was still in Hong Kong and hadn’t returned yet, while Ning Xiaobei was right beside him…

At home, Fan Xia could argue with his parents and go against his uncle, but in front of Ning Xiaobei, he turned into a meek little crab, obedient and compliant.

Now, he stuck to Ning Xiaobei not only at school but even after classes, enduring lessons from Teacher Ning.

Ever since tasting Ning Jianguo’s cooking at Ning Xiaobei’s house, the Zhao pair of uncle and nephew had become more resourceful.

Zhao Jingwen couldn’t cook at all. Breakfast wasn’t mentioned; lunch was eaten separately at the factory and school cafeteria. Dinner was either at a restaurant or the leftover portion Zhao Jingwen had cooked for lunch.

As a salesperson, Zhao Jingwen often had to dine with clients late into the night, leaving Fan Xia with only biscuits and instant noodles for dinner.

In Ning Jianguo’s words, this wasn’t really eating, it was just scraping by.

Zhao Jingwen was an adult, so it didn’t matter much for him. But Fan Xia was still growing and needed proper nutrition, eating like that would ruin his health.

Ning Jianguo suggested that Fan Xia might as well come to their house for meals after school.

So a month ago, his uncle officially started paying for shared meals, and now every day after school, Fan Xia would go to the Ning family’s place in Jiande Lane to eat, then do homework with Ning Xiaobei. Around eight or nine at night, Zhao Jingwen would come to pick him up.

Speaking of the matter of meals, there was one family that had to be mentioned.

That was Ma Zhiguo’s family.

Although that night Ning Jianguo had loudly declared he would report them, he wasn’t the kind of person to drive others into a dead end. Liu Meifang spent several days in fear, waiting for the Ning family to take action. When nothing happened, she had just begun to relax, only for Ma Zhiguo to be fired from the shoe factory soon after.

It happened on a late autumn night, when “the autumn wind rises and the crab claws itch”. Ma Zhiguo’s hairy crab business at Tongchuan Road Seafood Market was booming, business was thriving and the restaurant was packed every day.

But one day, a group of well-dressed customers suddenly came in. The waiter hurried to fetch the boss, saying a big group of important clients had arrived.

Ma Zhiguo went over with a wide smile to greet them, only to discover that they were none other than the factory director and deputy director, who had brought northern clients to discuss business.

At that moment, Ma Zhiguo, who was supposedly “resting at home”, locked eyes with the two directors. The scene was extremely awkward.

The next morning, he was dismissed from his position, removed from the payroll, and ordered to repay the sick-leave wages he had falsely claimed over the years.

The Ma family had schemed for over a decade to take advantage of the state, only to end up losing everything.

After hearing the news, Liu Meifang even planned to go to the factory and make a scene. But the department head personally stepped in and, with just a few words, made her back down and drop the matter.

No one knew exactly what was said, but in the end, although Liu Meifang managed to keep her position in the state-owned enterprise, her salary was cut by two grades. Now, her monthly pay was even less than that of an apprentice.

The Ma family had always had poor relations at the shoe factory. When others heard the news, they simply laughed and said that since the family was rich anyway, they wouldn’t miss those few hundred yuan.

This was something Ning Xiaobei only heard about much later from his father.

After hearing it, he asked Ning Jianguo a question:

“So which salesperson was it who suggested that the factory director go eat crabs at that restaurant?”

Tongchuan Road Market wasn’t that big, but it wasn’t small either. More than a dozen crab stalls and restaurants lined up side by side. To just happen to run into someone there, it wasn’t easy.

Ning Jianguo only smiled without saying a word.

Ning Xiaobei smiled as well.

Today was the last day before winter vacation, which meant Fan Xia’s days of eating at his house this year had come to an end.

“See you when school starts.”

Ning Xiaobei stood at the door, smiling as he waved at Fan Xia.

Winter had come especially early this year. Ning Xiaobei wore a newly bought blue wool sweater, soft and fluffy like a marshmallow.

Thinking that they wouldn’t see each other for over twenty days, Fan Xia suddenly felt a little down.

“Who says you have to wait until school starts? You two brothers can still hang out during winter break.”

Ning Jianguo said with a smile.

Ning Xiaobei thought to himself, ‘Who’s his brother? I could be his dad.’

“Xiao Xia, if you ask me, you should aim to get into the same middle school as Xiao Bei. I used to think that after middle school, you could just go to a vocational school and work in a factory, that wouldn’t be bad. But now that you’re following Xiao Bei, maybe you can go to high school, even take the college entrance exam.”

Zhao Jingwen pushed his bicycle out of the alley as he spoke.

“Your mom said that as long as you can keep studying, you don’t need to worry about tuition.”

Fan Xia’s mother had recently gone off with a Hong Kong businessman. She shut down her mahjong parlor and moved to Shenzhen. Every month she sent money back on time, and called every now and then to check in, that was considered fulfilling her duty as a mother.

“High school? College?”

Fan Xia walked behind Zhao Jingwen with his schoolbag, asking softly.

“Yeah. At the parent-teacher meeting yesterday, your homeroom teacher told me that with your current grades, you could try for a better middle school. You know, the Fourth Middle School your primary school affiliated to isn’t that great…”

Shanghai adopted the “5–4 school system” quite early. Students graduate from primary school after fifth grade and go straight into a preparatory year of middle school.

By the third year of middle school, students are split: some take the high school entrance exam, while others are directed into technical schools or vocational schools.

Fourth Primary School was just an ordinary public school, and its affiliated Fourth Middle School was equally average. If students didn’t apply to other schools independently, they would automatically advance to Fourth Middle School after graduation, that same school Ma Jiaqi attended.

As for students from Fourth Middle School, their paths were usually technical school, vocational school, or even reform school. In any case, none of them were particularly promising.

Zhao Jingwen had long heard from Ning Jianguo that Xiao Bei was determined to get into a top-tier high school. As the saying goes, “Those who stay near vermilion turn red”, if his nephew followed Xiaobei all the way, maybe he could make a leap like a carp turning into a dragon.

“Xiao Xia, if you get into college, you’ll be the first university student in our Zhao family and your Fan family too. That would bring great honor to the family. Work hard and bring some pride to your uncle, alright?”

Zhao Jingwen said, full of hope, as he patted Fan Xia’s head.

Fan Xia held onto his backpack strap with one hand and said nothing.

After returning home and washing up, he went back to his small bedroom and looked at the stack of brand-new, still-unopened reference books on his shelf.

These were all Olympiad math problems and logic training books he had bought together with Ning Xiaobei.

Just how terrifying Ning Xiaobei’s mind was, Fan Xia knew it clearly from sitting beside him.

During class, Ning Xiaobei didn’t even listen to the lesson. He would just read his own books under the desk. Once, a teacher caught him in the act, but when the teacher saw that he was working on mock middle school entrance exam papers with nearly perfect accuracy, all they could do was sigh and hand the paper back.

Yes…Ning Xiaobei, a primary school student, was already doing exam papers meant for middle school graduates.

A few weeks ago, when Fan Xia passed by the office, he overheard teachers discussing that with Ning Xiaobei’s level, he could already take the high school entrance exam without any problem.

When that sentence was said, Ding Zheyang was standing right beside him holding a stack of notebooks. He clearly saw his face turn pale in an instant.

To shake off the title of “Forever Second Place” by the final exam, Ding Zheyang had been studying like a madman. In just one semester, he had already gone through two pairs of glasses. At this rate, Fan Xia suspected he might go blind. Yet with that one remark from the teacher, it was basically a death sentence for him.

Fan Xia thought to himself, this must be the difference between a genius and an ordinary person.

After meals, rather than the two of them doing homework together, it was more like Ning Xiaobei checking his work and then giving him extra drills.

By now, Ning Xiaobei was no longer as obsessed with wuxia novels as before. Only Fan Xia still regularly visited the book stalls. With nothing better to do, Ning Xiaobei had started studying Olympiad math problems instead.

For some reason, Fan Xia had also followed along and bought a couple of those books, even though he knew he couldn’t understand them at all.

His gaze fell on the book covers, and he suddenly remembered something that happened during break the previous morning.

After PE class, he had rushed back to the classroom to drink water. As he passed Ding Zheyang’s desk, he accidentally bumped into it, knocking the books inside onto the floor.

To his surprise, Ding Zheyang had bought the exact same books!

Unlike him, Ding Zheyang had actually been working on them, though how accurate he was, only heaven knew.

It was as if Fan Xia had stumbled upon some huge secret. Flustered, he quickly picked up the books and stuffed them back into Ding Zheyang’s desk.

‘Am I… turning into a bookworm like Ding Zheyang too? Otherwise, why am I doing the same things as him?’

Thinking back to the resentful look in Ding Zheyang’s eyes behind those black-framed glasses in the teachers’ office and the sarcastic tone he used when speaking to Ning Xiaobei, Fan Xia felt a chill crawl all over his body.

Last weekend, he had gone with his uncle to the zoo to feed the monkeys. On the way back, they passed by the Workers’ Cultural Palace.

His uncle went off to play billiards with someone, and Fan Xia wandered around. Inside the arcade, he saw several elementary school kids playing video games…his former “little followers” from his previous school.

Those little followers recognized him right away and immediately started pouring out their complaints. Ever since he left, they had been “a group of dragons without a leader” and ended up being taken over by the boss from the next class. That boss wasn’t as generous as Fan Xia, and his gaming skills were terrible, making them lose face.

They even asked Fan Xia how he was doing at Fourth Primary School now, whether he was dominating everything. If so, they didn’t mind crossing schools just to be his followers again.

Fan Xia, who hadn’t been a boss for a long time, showed a world-weary smile and handed all his arcade tokens to them.

He patted the shoulder of the lackey he used to trust the most and said before leaving, “I’ve already retired from the jianghu.”

As he walked away and saw the disappointed looks on their faces, Fan Xia felt lost.

Wasn’t he supposed to live the kind of life sung about in those songs? To “laugh freely across the vast seas as waves crash on both shores,” to “carry the sorrows of ages on one shoulder,” and in the end to “walk his own path with no regrets”? (Note 1)

And now, being Ning Xiaobei’s follower was one thing, but was he really going to turn into a bookworm like Ding Zheyang next?

The more Fan Xia thought about it, the more meaningless everything felt. His whole life suddenly seemed bleak.

Frowning and pursing his lips, he thought for a while. Then he pulled out his homework book, tore off a sheet of paper, and scribbled a few bold words across it.

“Where there is oppression, there is resistance. Study my ass—I… I quit! Whoever wants to study can go ahead!”

Fan Xia said this as he tossed his pen aside.

“Down with the academic tyrant Ning Xiaobei!”

……………… 

Author’s Note:

① These lines are from theme songs of popular 1990s TV dramas: 《The Smiling, Proud Wanderer》, 《The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants》, and 《The Great Conspiracy》

Fan Xia couldn’t stand the pressure from the top student anymore, so he decided to rebel. Hahaha.

As if that was ever going to work. Dream on.

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