DBTHDCAR Chapter 26

“Fan Xia, were you out being a thief last night?”

Early the next morning, Ning Xiaobei waited in the small square under the apartment building for quite a while before Fan Xia finally showed up late.

Fan Xia let out a huge yawn, and tears welled up at the corners of his eyes. With his dark complexion, Ning Xiaobei could still make out his dark circles.

“Don’t even mention it. I didn’t sleep all night, only dozed off a bit around three or four in the morning.”

Fan Xia pulled his bicycle out from the shed and couldn’t help yawning again.

“If I didn’t want to get punished by the homeroom teacher, I wouldn’t even be able to get up.”

“What happened? Did your stepmom bully you? Did your dad hit you? You didn’t flip a table at the restaurant last night, did you?”

Ning Xiaobei hopped onto his bike, firing off a string of questions.

“What are you talking about… she’s actually pretty nice. Don’t say that.”

Fan Xia lowered his head awkwardly.

After he got home yesterday, he set off with his uncle for a big restaurant on Huanghe Road. His dad had already booked a private room and was sitting side by side with his new wife, just waiting for the two of them to arrive.

His stepmother was named Liang Huihui, a local from Chongming. She ran a small shop next to a video store, selling soy-sauce wontons. Over time, the two of them got close and ended up together.

The last time they went to Beijing, Liang Huihui had just gotten pregnant and wasn’t feeling well, so she couldn’t follow Fan Xia around.

As for Fan Jian, as a father he really wasn’t responsible. He only cared about the baby in her belly, and his attitude toward Fan Xia inevitably became harsher. Anyway, he had always been like this, that was why Fan Xia’s mother dumped him back then.

Actually, the moment Fan Xia boarded the train, Fan Jian already regretted it. But because of man’s pride and father’s dignity, he could only watch helplessly as the train pulled away.

After returning to the hotel, Liang Huihui immediately scolded Fan Jian harshly. That very afternoon, the two of them bought train tickets back to Shanghai.

“Since they came back, why didn’t they pick you up?”

Ning Xiaobei asked, turning his head slightly as he rode his bike.

“Auntie suddenly felt unwell after returning to Shanghai. Something like… threatened miscarriage? My dad said she stayed in the hospital for more than a week. After she was discharged, she had to stay in bed to keep the baby, and only got up three days ago.”

Fan Xia replied.

“Then… what did you talk about yesterday? Did your dad lose his temper again and make you mad? Or did you say something that upset him?”

It was hard to say who would anger whom. This father and son had exactly the same temper. Both cared too much about pride and suffered for it, and were like burning charcoal, ready to explode at the slightest spark.

“We didn’t fight. It was Auntie… she knitted me a sweater…”

They happened to stop at a red light.

“It’s blue, with a big panda on it. It’s a bit childish, but… it actually looks pretty nice…”

Fan Xia lowered his head, his voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz.

He had been so touched that he couldn’t sleep. In the middle of the night, he kept putting on the new sweater and taking it off, over and over, tossing about until late. Then, in the latter half of the night, he thought about his biological mother who had gone to Shenzhen.

His mom knew he got into No. 1 High School and sent over two thousand yuan, saying it was for tuition. But she didn’t come back to see him at all, and was still living with that Hong Kong businessman.

“Isn’t that a good thing? Your new mom treats you well. I’ve never even worn a sweater knitted by my own mom.”

Although Ning Jianguo was great at cooking, he wasn’t very good at other household chores. All their clothes were store-bought, and if they got torn, he could only ask the auntie at the entrance to help mend them.

When Ning Xiaobei was little, every winter, he would feel especially envious seeing his classmates wearing sweaters, scarves, and little hats knitted by their mothers.

“Anyway, Auntie said she won’t touch my room at home. Whenever I want to go back and stay, I can go back anytime.”

At this point, Fan Xia looked a bit angry.

Before that, his dad had actually said that since Fan Xia was now staying at Zhao Jingwen’s place most of the time and only came home once every ten days or half a month, he might as well turn Fan Xia’s bedroom into a nursery for the baby.

His uncle immediately blew up, saying, “The child’s surname is Fan, not Zhao. If you really want to do that, fine…go to the police station first and change his surname. Forget about a nursery, Fan Xia won’t come back at all from now on. That way you’ll get exactly what you want.”

Only then did Fan Jian give up that terrible idea.

The red light turned green, and the two set off again.

“Your dad speaks without thinking. Don’t take it to heart. Your new mom seems like a good person, just get along with her from now on. Besides, in a few months, you’ll have a younger brother or sister. That’s great, isn’t it?”

As an only child, Ning Xiaobei actually envied people who had siblings.

If he had a brother or sister by his side, maybe his dad wouldn’t have left so early… or at least, even if his dad had passed away, he wouldn’t feel so lonely, like the only person left in the world, all by himself.

“Yeah, and I even told Auntie…”

By the time they reached the school gate, they got off their bikes and gave the Young Pioneers’ salute to the teacher on duty and the older students.

“I told her, you should drink more milk and definitely don’t eat soy sauce or chocolate. Otherwise, if it’s a baby boy, it’s fine even if he’s a bit dark. But if it’s a baby girl, what then? If she’s as dark as me and my dad, she won’t be able to get married.”

After entering the bike shed, Fan Xia locked his bicycle and said this with a completely serious face.

“Fan Xia…”

Ning Xiaobei looked at him with a very serious expression.

“What?”

Fan Xia tilted his head back to look at him.

“You’re really cute.”

“What do you mean cute? Nonsense! Boss, you’ve been influenced by Zhuang Li and those silly girls.”

A suspicious pink flush spread across Fan Xia’s cheeks as he rushed toward the classroom without looking back.

So cute, definitely a boy.

The strange uncle couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

So… even a stepmom can be a good person, right?

………………

When the two of them entered the classroom, they immediately felt something was off.

There were far too many people already, it wasn’t even 6:50 yet.

Although Yan Bingru had become almost obsessive about catching late students, the classroom was usually only this full around 6:55.

“What’s going on? Did something happen?”

Ning Xiaobei walked to his window seat in the front row, put his bag into the desk, and asked his deskmate Lin Ziying.

Lin Ziying was practicing the pen-spinning trick Ning Xiaobei had taught him a few days ago. As expected of the second-ranked student in the grade, he picked things up faster than others.

Even though Fan Xia had started much earlier, he could only spin the pen between his index and middle finger on his right hand. But Lin Ziying, after just a few days, could already do it with both hands. Surpassing the master was only a matter of time.

“You don’t know? The teacher is announcing the class committee today. Everyone’s nervous, so they all came early.”

Lin Ziying put down his pen and said.

Ning Xiaobei looked confused. He narrowed his eyes and thought for a while before finally remembering that Yan Bingru had casually mentioned it during last Friday’s class meeting. But he hadn’t taken it seriously at all. After all, what thirty-something uncle would compete with middle schoolers for class committee?

He turned his head to look at Fan Xia, only to find Fan Xia looking back at him just as blankly.

Great, they were truly a pair of brothers in misfortune, both indifferent to fame and status.

Sure enough, during the class meeting after Monday’s flag-raising ceremony, Yan Bingru went up to the podium with a big chart in hand and wrote down all the class committee she had already decided on, one by one, on the blackboard.

Since school had only started half a month ago and the students didn’t really know each other yet, this round of class committee wasn’t elected. Instead, Yan Bingru selected and appointed them herself based on their entrance scores, placement test rankings, and their performance in class over the past few days.

From class monitor to various committee members to subject representatives, everything was included. The entire blackboard was filled to the brim.

Unlike in the real world, where he missed the placement test due to illness and didn’t get even the smallest position, this time, thanks to his solid grades, Ning Xiaobei got himself the title of “Study Committee Member.”

Seeing this arrangement, Ning Xiaobei let out a sigh of relief.

Very good. The teacher wouldn’t force the study committee member to lead the whole class to improve together. It was a nice-sounding but easy job, unlike the “Life Committee Member”, who had to manage class funds and daily affairs, or the “Labor Committee Member”, who sometimes had to personally step in to sweep the floor and wipe windows.

The “Study Committee Member” position was basically like a lifetime honorary award, just for recognition.

However, what surprised Ning Xiaobei was that Fan Xia had actually become an officer, and not just one position, but two!

“What’s there to be happy about? P.E Committee Member and P.E Class Representative, it makes me look like some idiot who only grew muscles but not brains…”

After the afternoon exercise break, boys and girls gathered in groups, chatting animatedly about the class committee list. Ning Xiaobei, Fan Xia, and Lin Ziying huddled together and held their own little meeting.

Although Lin Ziying had excellent grades, he didn’t have even a trace of that bookish, dull air. Instead, he got along quite well with Fan Xia, the former little troublemaker, and the three gradually became good friends.

As for how Lin Ziying, with his second-place rank in the whole grade, ended up as Ning Xiaobei’s deskmate, according to Fan Xia, it went like this:

“I’m temporarily letting you take Boss’s deskmate seat, just keep it safe for me. If some random nobody snatches it away, I’ll hold you responsible.”

In Fan Xia’s eyes, he and the second-ranked student were on equal footing. Both of them were Ning Xiaobei’s underlings.

Strictly speaking, he was even the senior brother.

Don’t be fooled by Lin Ziying’s plain looks. Even his name drew some side-eyes from the girls because it rode on the coattails of the hottest Taiwanese idol singer, Lin Zhiying (Jimmy Lin). In reality, though, his family was dripping in money.

Lin Ziying was a boarding student from out of town. His dad was a wealthy businessman from Wenzhou running big operations in Shanghai. Sure, he rode a bike to school like everyone else, but it wasn’t a ‘Phoenix’ or ‘Forever’, it was ‘Giant’ brand, costing several times more.

Although everyone wore the same school uniform, Ning Xiaobei and Fan Xia had on domestic ‘Warrior’ and ‘Feiyue’ sneakers, while Young Master Lin was in ‘Nike’ or ‘Adidas.’

Normally, students from other regions couldn’t take Shanghai’s middle school or high school entrance exams. But in recent years, Shanghai had loosened rules for real estate development: anyone who bought property or made large-scale investments could get a “blue stamp¹” household registration.

Lin Ziying’s father, thinking about his son’s future, planned to buy him a house in Shanghai in a few years.

All in all, compared with Lin Ziying, Fan Xia, whose family ran a video rental store, was small fry, barely worth mentioning. And Ning Xiaobei, coming from a working-class household, was on a completely different level; night and day.

It was only in the 1990s and early 2000s that kids from these three kinds of families could mix and play together at school. By the 202Xs, that would be nearly impossible.

“I just don’t get it. How did Ding Zheyang get to be class monitor?”

Fan Xia got angrier the more he thought about it. “Old Lin, you’re the vice monitor, so fine; and forget about my boss here. But that Ding Zheyang, why him? His grades are only average, he doesn’t talk to anyone after class, practically a lone ghost. How does he get to be class monitor?”

Fan Xia would bet fifty cents that Ding Zheyang probably couldn’t even name everyone in the class. Not like him, he was a born social butterfly. Not only did he know many classmates in his own class, he even knew quite a few in other classes, often playing ball with them after class.

That said, while No. 1 High School pushed for top grades, it didn’t encourage rote studying to the extreme. Unified remedial classes only started in 3rd year of middle school. From preparatory class up to 2nd year, classes ended at 5 p.m., and the playgrounds and gym were packed with students playing basketball or soccer.

Especially the students in Class Four of each grade, they were all the sports mainstays. Many were specially recruited, aiming to become professional athletes.

In Shanghai, quite a few schools, while not sports academies, consistently produced promising athletes for the city. For example, Julu Road Primary School was called “cradle of table tennis champions,” having produced world-class players like Lu Yuansheng and He Zhili. The boys’ volleyball team at Shibei Middle School served as a training ground for Shanghai’s men’s volleyball team. And the basketball team at Shanghai No. 2 High School even produced a world-class star like Yao Ming.

No. 1 High School also had its own swimming and badminton teams. Don’t be fooled by the young ages, most of these team members were already part of district-level teams. If you checked out the high school division, it was even more impressive; many were national-level athletes.

Besides professional athletes, No. 1 High School also promoted what was then the trendy concept of quality education. Every Tuesday afternoon was interest class time, when students could pick courses they liked. Besides various sports, there were dance, art, and even classes like calligraphy, cooking, knitting, embroidery, and all sorts of other oddball courses.

But these interest classes wouldn’t start until after the National Day holiday. For now, registration was still ongoing, and the forms were still in Ning Xiaobei’s backpack.

“Don’t even talk about it, the homeroom teacher has already made the decision.”

Ning Xiaobei felt uneasy as he mentioned it.

Unlike Old Ma’s family, who had tried to snatch their welfare housing, Ding Zheyang, while destined to be his future enemy, hadn’t done anything yet.

Even if Ning Xiaobei wanted to strike back or teach him a little lesson, there was no justification.

His mind, already mature beyond his years, constantly reminded him: this guy was still just a middle schooler. Even if he ended up on a criminal path in the future, that was a problem for the future. It wouldn’t be humane or fair to punish a kid just because of what might happen twenty years from now.

So the situation now was that not only was Ding Zheyang avoiding Ning Xiaobei and Fan Xia, but Ning Xiaobei didn’t want to see him either. Even though they had all graduated from Fourth Primary School together, they hadn’t formed any sort of clique.

“He must’ve bribed the teacher,” Fan Xia said disdainfully.

Yes, ever since the first day of school when Teacher Yan dropped that little hint, and with Teacher’s Day and Mid-Autumn Festival right after, parents who wanted to get ahead had already been quietly paying tribute.

— This wasn’t just Ning Xiaobei guessing. Just looking at the morning’s class committee appointment list was enough to see it. There were plenty of people in positions they didn’t deserve.

Unlike him and Fan Xia, both of whom earned their committee roles through their own abilities.

For Ning Xiaobei, it went without saying: with grades like his, if he didn’t get study committee, even the grade leader wouldn’t approve.

As for Fan Xia… most of Class 1’s students, boys and girls alike, were all bookworm types, weak in both body and mind, some tall-headed and skinny, looking like bean sprouts. He was the only one who looked like he could run and jump.

So even though he, like Ning Xiaobei, hadn’t given any gifts, Yan Bingru still handed him this otherwise undesirable duty.

“You guys didn’t know?”

Lin Ziying finally spoke up at this point.

“The homeroom teacher’s housekeeper was actually hired by Ding Zheyang’s dad. 500 yuan a month, mind you, all the way until Ding Zheyang graduates.”

“What?!”

Both of them were shocked.

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