A new semester, a new atmosphere.
Turning down Ning Jianguo’s offer to personally walk him to school, Ning Xiaobei, dressed in his primary school uniform, carried his backpack and walked into Fourth Primary School, just across the street from Jiande Lane.
A few days ago, when he came back to collect his books, Ning Xiaobei wandered around for quite a while before finally finding his classroom, and ended up being late. Luckily, he wasn’t the only muddleheaded kid. Their homeroom teacher, Teacher Qiu, who was waiting in the corridor, recognized him and took him straight back to class.
Teacher Qiu was a kind, gentle-looking old lady, around fifty. She spoke softly and warmly, more like a grandmother than a teacher, and the students all loved sticking close to her. If Ning Xiaobei weren’t mentally already in his thirties, he’d have wanted to tug at Teacher Qiu’s hand too.
Sitting at his desk, listening to the ear-splitting screams around him and watching the children beside him, never quiet for even a moment, bursting with endless energy, Ning Xiaobei let out a helpless sigh for the Nth time.
In this life, what he feared most was children.
Whether eating out or occasionally riding the bus, if he ran into families with kids, he would avoid them whenever possible. And now, great…he was surrounded by primary schoolers. It was practically a living hell of noise.
As the class bell rang, the noisy classroom finally quieted down.
Ning Xiaobei took the bits of paper stuffed in his ears out and watched as Teacher Qiu walked in, her face like a gentle spring breeze1“spring breeze on the face” (春风拂面) — an idiom describing a gentle, warm, and comforting demeanor., with a child beside her who wore a defiant, unruly expression.
“Hey, who’s that?”
“Is he a transfer student?”
“Why isn’t he wearing a uniform?”
“Why is he so dark? Is he from Africa?”
“Do people from Africa speak Chinese?”
At the sight of the unfamiliar boy, murmurs instantly filled the classroom. Teacher Qiu clapped her hands hard, and only then did the noise die down.
“Students, this is your new classmate, Fan Xia. He’s transferred into our class this semester. Let’s welcome him.”
Primary schoolers were great at playing along, no sooner had Teacher Qiu finished speaking than the children burst into applause.
All except one person.
It was the class monitor of Grade 5 Class 4, sitting in the last row — Ning Xiaobei.
“Fan Xia…”
Watching the dark-skinned boy walk straight toward the empty seat beside him, Ning Xiaobei thought to himself: What was meant to come had finally come.
Fan Xia walked over, tossed his schoolbag onto the desk.
“Hmph!”
Before Ning Xiaobei could even greet him, the dark-skinned boy lifted his chin proudly, presenting his two impressive nostrils for full display.
To give his new desk mate a show of force, Fan Xia had barely sat down before he pulled out a utility knife and drew a boundary line between them.
Of course, Fan Xia wasn’t that polite. His so-called boundary line crossed nearly a third past the middle, leaving Ning Xiaobei barely enough space to rest even both arms.
“If you dare cross the line, I’ll chop off your hand, just like this eraser.”
As he spoke, Fan Xia took out a brand-new eraser from his pencil case and, with a thunk, sliced off half of it.
“I suggest you know what’s good for you.”
Fan Xia’s face was full of provocation.
A row of black lines slid down Ning Xiaobei’s forehead.
He had been careless last night, thinking this kid might be different from before. Now it seemed, he was just as smug and annoying as ever.
After the first class ended, the curious kids finally couldn’t hold back and gathered around the transfer student, bombarding him with questions. Boys and girls alike were drawn in by his ‘cool and handsome’ outfit today.
Not only was Fan Xia not wearing the school uniform, he was dressed head to toe in denim.
On the bottom were stone-washed jeans, and on top a matching denim vest. Under the vest was a black T-shirt, paired with brown little boots. A few strands of hair hung over his forehead. Standing among a group of kids in green-and-white uniforms, he looked like a crane among chickens2“a crane among chickens” (鹤立鸡群) — an idiom meaning someone who stands out prominently from the crowd. .
“This outfit of mine…my dad bought it for me in Guangzhou. You know Guangzhou?”
Fan Xia stood up, deliberately swinging his arms and striking what he thought was an extremely cool pose.
Some of the kids nodded, some shook their heads.
“Next to Guangzhou is Hong Kong, you’ve heard of Hong Kong, right?”
Fan Xia thought to himself, if you guys don’t even know this, then what am I supposed to show off?
“I know Hong Kong. The teacher said Hong Kong will return to China next year. And Hong Kong movies are the best. There’s Joey Wong, Maggie Cheung, Aaron Kwok, Leon Lai. I like Leon Lai the most, he’s my prince. When Hong Kong returns, I’ll be able to go see my prince.”
The little fangirls around them all had dreamy looks on their faces.
Fan Xia looked at them with disgust.
Why do girls all like pretty-boy types?
“Just look at how he’s dressed, you can tell he’s copying Chen Haonan from 《Young and Dangerous31996 Hong Kong gangster movie.》Leon Lai? Not even close.”
Ning Xiaobei couldn’t help but speak up.
“Ning Xiaobei, you know Chen Haonan4movie character too? Do you like Ekin Cheng5actual actor name as well?”
Fan Xia looked at him in surprise.
Fan Xia’s family ran a video rental store, and his parents didn’t care much about his studies. Every day after school, he would dive straight into the screening room at home, watching one movie after another.
The hottest and best-selling films right now were Hong Kong crime movies.
A few years ago, Fan Xia worshipped Chow Yun Fat. He was obsessed with his roles as Mark Lee6Chow Yun Fat’s role in the 1986 film 《A Better Tomorrow》 and the 《God of Gamblers71989 Hong Kong action comedy film 》, completely obsessed, wearing sunglasses every day with a toothpick in his mouth.
In the past two years, the 《Young and Dangerous》series had become a huge hit, and now he was obsessed with Ekin Cheng. He thought Chen Haonan could fight, had loyalty, and was truly a man among men. Using the most popular words nowadays, he was just insanely cool.
Fan Xia’s father, when he was young, was a well-known loafer in their neighborhood, going in and out of the police station like it was nothing more than a daily routine, carrying a strong air of the jianghu world. That’s why he named his son “Xia” (hero). The kid inherited his father’s ambitions, determined to roam the jianghu and become a big boss.
It was said that in his previous school, Fan Xia led a group of boys around like a pack. Now that he had transferred to Fourth Primary School, none of his little followers came with him. He had been thinking about how to find like-minded friends in this new territory.
Unexpectedly, the first person to voice exactly what was on his mind was actually the class monitor, Ning Xiaobei.
He felt a bit happy, yet also a bit unhappy. The kid couldn’t sort out his thoughts for the moment and felt somewhat conflicted. Luckily, he was dark-skinned and looked fierce, so others just thought he was still trying to act cool.
“Just know a little…”
Ning Xiaobei thought, maybe others don’t know, but how could I not understand you, you brat?
In the real world, Fan Xia had taken advantage of young Ning Xiaobei’s timid nature and good temper, bullying him for an entire school year.
Throughout the whole fifth grade, after school Ning Xiaobei had to do his homework for him, help him cheat during exams, and even when Fan Xia skipped class to play games at the arcade, he forced him to cover for him and fool the teachers.
He didn’t have a single good impression of this guy.
What he couldn’t figure out, though, was why in this dream world, his meeting with Fan Xia had happened earlier.
And how had he suddenly become Uncle Zhao’s nephew? In his previous life, he had absolutely no memory of anything like that.
Could it be that it wasn’t just the dream world affecting the real world… but that what happened in the real world could also change the dream world?
Ning Xiaobei’s thoughts were in complete chaos.
“I think you’ve got some class. I’ve decided to take you in as my little brother. What do you say?”
Fan Xia waved off the group of kids surrounding him and sat down.
Anyway, it wasn’t their first time meeting, and Fan Xia was the type to act familiar right away. As he spoke, he slung an arm around Ning Xiaobei’s neck and rested it on his far shoulder, copying what he’d seen in movies — recruiting a lackey.
He might have asked What do you say?, but in reality, he had no intention of giving Ning Xiaobei a chance to refuse.
Ning Xiaobei lowered his head and glanced at that black paw of his. One eyebrow lifted, he decided to play along.
“What’s in it for me if I become your little brother?”
“There are tons of benefits. I’ll treat you to food. I can buy you sausage, Little Raccoon instant noodles, cola, and I can even take you to KFC.”
Back in those days, eating KFC was a big deal. Ning Xiaobei remembered that only on Children’s Day or his birthday would Ning Jianguo occasionally take him there for a meal.
The moment Fan Xia mentioned KFC, it was clear his family was pretty well-off, a young master as Grandma Ning would say.
“I don’t like snacks, and I don’t like KFC either.”
“Then… I can lend you videotapes for free. What kind of movies do you like? Hong Kong, Taiwan, Western…I’ve got all the new ones at home. I can even give you posters of your favorite stars… alright, we’ve got Leon Lai posters too, and they sell pretty well.”
Fan Xia patted his chest and spoke proudly.
“I don’t have a VCR. Nowhere to play tapes. And I don’t have any favorite stars.”
“Then… I…”
Fan Xia got shut down twice in a row and suddenly couldn’t continue.
At his previous school, these tricks had worked on a whole group of followers. Coming and going, he had been impressive and full of swagger, but now, in front of Ning Xiaobei, none of it worked at all.
“How about this…you, be my little brother instead. What do you think?”
Ning Xiaobei switched from defense to offense and went straight for a comeback.
“You?”
Fan Xia widened his eyes and looked Ning Xiaobei up and down. In the end, he shook his head with a mocking expression.
“I think you’re talking in your sleep.”
Even though that night he had been quite brave when calling people to catch the hooligan, with those thin arms and legs of his, wanting to be his, Fan Xia’s, boss, he still wasn’t qualified.
“Let me show you a trick. Watch carefully.”
Ning Xiaobei let out a light laugh, opened his plastic pencil case, and took out a drawing pencil.
Fan Xia looked over with suspicion.
The next moment, his mouth slowly opened wider and wider, until it was big enough to fit a whole egg.
That plain, ordinary pencil, in Ning Xiaobei’s slender, fair fingers, suddenly turned into something like a magical golden cudgel8magical weapon of Sun Wukong in 《Journey to the West》, spinning so fast it left behind a streak of green afterimage.
Seeing his shocked expression, Ning Xiaobei felt quite pleased.
“Don’t blink.”
As he spoke, he took out another pencil with his left hand. Both hands moved at once, spinning left and right, like a full-on acrobatic performance.
This trend of pen-spinning only became popular after Ning Xiaobei entered middle school. Back then, bored, he had practiced it for a while with his classmates. Using a middle schooler’s skills against primary school kids, it was practically a crushing victory.
“Well? What do you think?”
Ning Xiaobei stopped his hands, raised his chin, and asked with a lifted brow.
As he spoke, he crossed the boundary line and opened Fan Xia’s pencil case, taking out a mechanical pencil and holding it out to him.
“Not convinced? Then try it yourself. If you can do it, I’ll call you big brother.”
Ning Xiaobei thought to himself mischievously: Don’t be fooled…mechanical pencils may be lighter than regular ones, but they’re actually harder to balance. If you can really spin it, forget big brother, I could even call you grandpa.”
“You said it, don’t go back on your word.”
Fan Xia’s competitive spirit flared up at once. He pinched the mechanical pencil between his fingers and tried to spin it the way Ning Xiaobei had just done.
But that light little pencil now felt like a heavy rod weighing a thousand jin91000 jin = 500 kilograms . No matter how hard he tried, it just wouldn’t spin.
Not only that, it kept dropping…onto the desk, onto the floor. The mechanical pencil had just been refilled with lead, but now it was already shattered into pieces. It probably wouldn’t even be usable for writing anymore.
Watching him fumble in a panic, sweating all over, Ning Xiaobei gave a sly grin.
Kid, I can even handle those impossible-to-please clients and get them completely in line. How could I not deal with a little primary school brat like you?
“Ning Xiaobei, how did you do that? Hurry and teach me.”
Fan Xia held the pencil with both hands. All his earlier swagger was gone, he lowered his not-so-noble head.
“What did you call me?”
“Boss!”
………………
Author’s Note:
Achievements unlocked during primary school:
- Gained one welfare apartment.
- Recruited one follower — classmate Fan Xia.
Of course, the future husband is more reliable when raised personally, haha~~
Wishing everyone a Happy National Day! Updates will be every other day for now, gotta enjoy going out and having fun~~
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