≈≈≈ In this world, is this mountain the highest? ≈≈≈
≈≈≈ Hey! Ha!≈≈≈
≈≈≈ Or is there somewhere even higher than the heavens? ≈≈≈
≈≈≈ Huu, ha!≈≈≈
In the taxi, the radio was playing the theme song1 Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9lHR4bFe8M from a wuxia TV series, sung by Roman Tam and Jenny. The driver, Mr. Guo, wasn’t just nodding along, he was joining in with all the “hu-hu, ha-ha” chants.
“Xiao Bei’s dad, what made you decide to go to Sheshan today?”
Mr. Guo glanced at Ning Xiaobei and his father in the back seat through the rearview mirror, smiling so broadly that his double chin almost showed.
“It’s a vacation, the weather’s nice… just thought I’d take the kid out for a bit. Thanks for driving us there and back today, Mr. Guo.”
“No problem at all. This kind of long trip is something I normally can’t get. Traffic in the city every day, breathing exhaust all day just to earn a base fare, what’s the point? Going to Sheshan is good, the airs fresh in the countryside. When you two go to Suzhou, remember to let me drive you too. Old neighbors need to look out for each other.”
These days, going to Sheshan meant no subway. Taking a taxi from the city was about the same distance as going to Hongqiao Airport, round trip cost at least one zhāngfēn (slang for hundred yuan). Mr. Guo could make money and do a favor at the same time, so why not?
Ning Xiaobei was adamant that Fan Xia had gone to the mountains to train, and the two adults, half-believing, decided to check it out.
Once out of the city, the car sped along, bare trees on both sides retreating in a blur.
The winter suburbs looked desolate. Along the road were small, squat houses of local farmers and wide fields. Back then, the outskirts weren’t full of high-rises like later; they didn’t look very different from the city.
Zhao Jingwen sat silently in the passenger seat, fists clenched, looking less like he was on a trip and more like he was going to fight.
Mr. Guo had been driving taxis for years; he was a slick old hand. Sensing the tense atmosphere inside, he immediately turned off the radio, driving quietly with eyes on the road and mind alert.
“Xiao Bei, are you really sure he went to Sheshan?”
Ning Jianguo, sitting in the back seat, lowered his head and asked his son.
Ning Xiaobei nodded.
“A few days ago, Fan Xia asked me if I knew about a mountain in Shanghai that’s full of snakes. He said it’s just like Spirit Snake Island in《The Deer and the Cauldron.》He also said you could watch the stars there, much more spectacular than in the city; a real hidden paradise.”
Ning Jianguo looked utterly confused.
Ning Xiaobei whispered, “Later I found out that it was just some long legs kid from the other class who went to Sheshan with his family over the weekend to visit the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory. On the way back, he bragged about it to Fan Xia. Fan Xia, being half-illiterate, misheard ‘Sheshan’ as ‘Snake Mountain2 佘山 (Sheshan) is the real name of mountain while 蛇山 (Shéshān) literally means “Snake Mountain,” because 蛇 (shé) = snake, 山 (shān) = mountain.’ and thought it was some amazing place.”
“Ah…”
Ning Jianguo was momentarily at a loss for words.
He actually wanted to tell his son that when he was a kid, he didn’t even know the characters for ‘Sheshan’ and always thought it was ‘Yushan’…
The car drove for nearly two hours before finally reaching the foot of Sheshan. Driver Guo pulled into a gas station to fill up, agreeing to meet them there again at three in the afternoon to head back to the city.
Though Sheshan is quite low, less than a hundred meters above sea level, it still has an East Peak and a West Peak. Compared with China’s Four Great Mountains, it’s insignificant; even some small hills in Zhejiang or Fujian would overshadow it.
East Sheshan is scenic, with Fishing Rock3Mei Gong Fishing Rock: Located on the southeast slope of East Sheshan, named after the Ming Dynasty literary figure Chen Jiru (Mei Gong) who fished here., Lion Rock4Lion Rock: The mountain shape is like a lying lion, with curly stone patterns resembling a lion’s mane., and the Cleansing Spring5Buddha Fragrance Spring/Cleansing Spring: A natural spring located in the area, known for its clear and cool water. among its attractions.
West Sheshan is culturally rich. Besides the Sheshan Observatory built during the Guangxu era, it also has the Sheshan Basilica, on par with Notre-Dame in France.
Both would later become internet-famous scenic spots. The basilica, especially, has been featured countless times in movies and TV shows depicting old Shanghai.
At the time, though, it wasn’t particularly popular. In this bitter winter, the mountain had almost no tourists, and even local vendors were scarce.
The three walked up the steps toward the summit. The cold wind lashed at their faces, the tall trees loomed overhead, and the crows cawed mournfully. It truly gave a sense of the lonely, heroic atmosphere of a wuxia film; like a lone swordsman climbing with a single blade.
Though low in altitude, the climb to the top in one go was still a challenge for asthmatic Ning Xiaobei. Halfway up, he was panting and the group had to stop for a short rest.
Fortunately, halfway up the mountain there was a small snack shop. An old woman in a blue cotton jacket huddled inside a tiny tin-roofed shed. In front of the shed was a coal stove, and on the stove sat a stainless-steel pot, in which tea eggs and five-spice tofu were simmering, sending out an irresistibly fragrant aroma.
They arrived at Sheshan right around mealtime. The adults were hungry, and the kids couldn’t hold back either. So the three of them squatted by the snack shop, planning to buy something to eat and drink to stave off hunger.
Ning Jianguo asked the old woman for a small stool for Ning Xiaobei to sit on and warmed up a cold bottle of mineral water in his hands before handing it to him.
Zhao Jingwen ate ten tea eggs in one go, peeling the shells while grumbling and cursing. He threatened that if Fan Xia fell into his hands, he would make him suffer terribly.
“Where are you going? Today’s not Sunday, the church up the mountain isn’t holding service,” the old woman said.
Having sat alone for a long time, she was a bit lonely and curiously spoke to the group of young people.
So Ning Jianguo decided to chat with her for a while.
The woman spoke with a thick local accent from Songjiang Sheshan, quite different from the Shanghai dialect. After a while, Ning Jianguo understood that she said today was Monday, the observatory wasn’t open, and the church was practically empty, so there were basically no visitors on the mountain.
“Nothing’s open, then can we even find anyone up there?” Zhao Jingwen asked worriedly, wiping his hands.
“Granny, did a kid about my size come by earlier today?” Ning Xiaobei, now a bit less winded, walked up to her and showed his height with his hand. “He was very dark-skinned and carrying a backpack.”
“Oh, you mean that little dark kid. I saw him this morning. At that time the snack shop hadn’t opened yet, and he came by.”
The old woman nodded repeatedly, clearly confirming that Fan Xia’s dark skin had made quite an impression.
“Where is he now? Did he go up the mountain?” Zhao Jingwen leaned in anxiously.
“Ah, that kid… I had just climbed up from the foot of the hill and sat down to catch my breath, and he came knocking; my heart was pounding! He said he was hungry, but I hadn’t started boiling the tea eggs yet. All I had in the shop were biscuits. And this kid pulled out a hundred-yuan bill to buy them! You see, it was early in the morning and I didn’t have change. Just then my son came by, so I said, ‘Son, come quick…’”
The old woman rambled on, avoiding a direct answer to Zhao Jingwen, spinning a long, winding story that left the three of them growing impatient.
“So… where did he actually go?”
Zhao Jingwen was burning with anxiety, practically ready to kneel and kowtow to the old woman.
“He went to the police station.”
The old woman puckered her lips, seeming a bit annoyed at being interrupted mid-story.
“The police station?”
“Yes, my son is a police officer there. I was about to say it, but you wouldn’t let me finish…”
“Granny, I’m sorry. Please, tell me where the police station is. I’m Little Dark Kid’s uncle, and we’ve been looking for him all morning.”
Zhao Jingwen grasped the old woman’s hands tightly.
It turned out that even the “Shoe Factory Fei Xiang” couldn’t resist his charm. The old woman looked at the young man’s firmly held hands, and her wrinkled face flushed pink like a young girl’s.
“Right there, just down there.”
She nodded toward the road they had come up from.
“Right at the foot of the mountain, next to the gas station.”
The trio, exhausted from climbing up from the gas station, could only stare: “……”
Ning Xiaobei really didn’t expect that in this second life, he would end up with such a close connection to the police station. In just a few months, he had gone in and out of police stations several times, from the city to the suburbs, adding a strangely interesting experience to his life.
Of course, Fan Xia, sitting across from him, definitely wouldn’t think it was interesting.
Hugging his backpack, head hanging down to his chest, Fan Xia sat slumped on the wooden bench in the reception hall, radiating pure gloom and fear.
If it hadn’t been for Ning Jianguo and the police officers holding him back, Uncle Zhao would have performed the tear my nephew apart act right then and there. Ning Xiaobei rubbed his ears, as if he could still hear Uncle Zhao’s shouting.
This time, Fan Xia had really been scared. He had snuck out at two in the morning, caught an unlicensed taxi to Songjiang, and luckily hadn’t run into any trouble; the driver even safely dropped him off at the foot of the mountain.
The little guy was too scared of stepping on snakes in the dark and only dared to start up the mountain at first light. Cold and hungry, he couldn’t make it halfway up.
Finally, he spotted a house halfway up the mountain with a light on outside. Overcome with relief, Fan Xia burst into tears on the spot.
When he finally knocked on the door, it wasn’t some legendary martial arts master from the novels who answered, but an old woman speaking a local dialect he couldn’t understand.
This wasn’t a secluded mountain hut of a martial arts elder, it was just the old woman’s small shop.
Well, a shop was a shop, and he was hungry anyway. Fan Xia pulled out a hundred-yuan note and pointed at the cookies in the glass case. “I’ll take one of these.”
All his spare change had gone to the taxi fare, and fortunately, he knew the roads of the Jianghu are dangerous, so he hadn’t dared to take out a large bill on the ride.
The old woman selling tea eggs was startled by the city kid’s generosity. Luckily, her son had come early to stoke the coal stove. The police officer watching Fan Xia felt something was off and immediately took him back to the station.
When Ning Jianguo and the others trudged back down the mountain and arrived at the station, several officers were already questioning Fan Xia.
“Your nephew,” one said, “his mouth is tighter than a clam shell. We’ve been asking all morning, and he still won’t tell us his home address or phone number. But he did eat two of my prized instant noodle cups.”
“Really sorry for troubling the officers. I’ll be sure to teach him a lesson when we get home.”
Hearing that the boy’s family had reported him missing at their local station, the old woman’s son was overjoyed. Once the Songjiang station confirmed it with the city station, everything matched up.
After checking Zhao Jingwen’s ID and work credentials and confirming everything was in order, they brought Fan Xia out from the back office so uncle and nephew could be reunited.
Ning Xiaobei sat across from Fan Xia. His father and Uncle Zhao still had some paperwork to handle in the back office, and Ning Xiaobei’s job was to keep an eye on Fan Xia, no running off this time.
In Ning Xiaobei’s eyes, Fan Xia now looked like a frostbitten eggplant. No matter what, he couldn’t run away.
“See that?”
Ning Xiaobei asked deliberately.
“See what?”
Fan Xia lifted his head.
Turns out he had been crying all along, his nose red and raw, with a string of clear snot dangling below. Ning Xiaobei rolled his eyes, pulled out a napkin, and handed it to him.
“Snakes. And stars.”
“Bullsh… it’s all made up by the long legs kids to trick me.”
Fan Xia blew his nose and pitifully said, “There were no snakes at all. The stars are there, but I’m freezing to death. Who cares about stars or the moon?”
“Why did you run away from home?”
Ning Xiaobei cut straight to the point, “Don’t tell me you actually wanted to go up the mountain to learn martial arts. If you want to learn martial arts, go to Hongkou’s Jingwu Sports School, or have your dad send you to Shaolin Temple in Henan.”
A few years later, who knows—you might have another “Dark-Skinned Wang Baoqiang6Wang Baoqiang is an actor and director widely recognized for playing “grassroots” or underdog characters who rise from humble, rural beginnings to achieve success through hard work.” on your hands.
“I… I…”
Fan Xia stuttered for a long time before finally forcing out a sentence.
“I’m jealous of you.”
“Huh?”
Ning Xiaobei froze.
“I’m jealous of you. I’m jealous, okay? You’re smart, good at studying, even your dad’s better than my dad by ten thousand times. I’m just a yellowfish brain7The idea comes from the yellow croaker fish (黄鱼, huáng yú), which is considered small, wriggly, and not very clever in appearance. Calling someone a “yellowfish brain” is like saying they’re a bit scatterbrained or slow. No matter how hard I try, I can’t catch up to you. I’m afraid I’ll turn into a bookworm like Ding Zheyang. That wouldn’t be me at all. I’m scared of you, so I ran up the mountain.”
Fan Xia spoke in one breath, hiccupping from his agitation.
“How come you could still find me all the way out here? I just heard from Uncle that it was because you guessed I’d come to Sheshan that he even came looking for me. I admit I bullied you before, that was my fault, but don’t treat me like this too! You’re a genius, I’m a big fool. Please stop bothering me. I want to break off our friendship!”
Little Dark Kid said this, covering his face with both hands, crying so hard he could barely breathe.
This time, Xiaobei was stunned.
At first, he had only thought of giving Fan Xia a lesson, which is payback for bullying him when they were younger. But after spending so much time together, he really treated this kid like a younger brother, even like a son. He tutored him, helped him catch up on studies, all out of genuine care.
He had never considered how an ordinary kid would feel being around a child prodigy whose mind was essentially that of a thirty-something-year-old, always acting superior to peers.
“I’m sorry…”
Ning Xiaobei lowered his head and stepped back half a pace.
I made this world too simple. I was so focused on carrying out my plan to change the past that I didn’t think about how those around me might feel.
And the first person I ended up hurting was, unexpectedly, Little Dark Kid Fan Xia.
I’m sorry, Fan Xia. I never meant to hurt you.
Besides, I’m not a genius either. I’m just a big jerk who takes advantage of social experience and knowledge to boss around an elementary school kid.
………………
Author’s Note:
The two boys had a falling out. Fan Xia demanded a breakup, sobs. Don’t worry though, they’ll reconcile soon. How could Xiaobei ever really let go?
The fool who thought Sheshan was Snake Mountain? That was me. The one who thought it was Yushan? That was my dad. The one who couldn’t catch her breath climbing less than a 100 meters? That was my mom. Yeah, we’re a family of fools.
Shanghai really does have a Jingwu Sports School, by the way. It’s now called the Jingwu Athletic Association. It was started in 1910 in Shanghai by the same Huo Yuanjia from the TV show 《Huo Yuanjia》, right in Hongkou District. When I was a kid, my health was poor, and my mom had thought about sending me there to learn boxing. Too bad I stubbornly refused. Otherwise, I’d probably have abandoned books for martial arts by now, ha!
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