DBTHDCAR Chapter 20

As for how Fan Xia would turn out, after seeing Officer Fan in the real world, Ning Xiaobei was at least certain he wouldn’t end up in a vocational school or become a dangerous element in society.

“So, Fan Xia is going with me to No. 1 High School, right?”

In the Ning family’s first-floor living room, after dinner, Ning Xiaobei patted Fan Xia on the shoulder and asked Uncle Zhao, who was sitting next to his dad.

He had actually wanted to find a chance to talk to Uncle Zhao about Fan Xia’s future, maybe even have Dad take him to the Workers’ New Village.

But when he got home today, he saw Uncle Zhao in the kitchen helping his father, washing fish at the sink.

After asking around, he learned that news had come through about their company’s welfare housing. The group had approved the report, and the documents were circulating internally. In about two months, they’d get the keys. So, Uncle Zhao bought a bunch of prepared foods and came early to congratulate Dad.

Unlike Ning Jianguo, who kept his head down and just worked, Manager Zhao, who often followed the factory director into offices, knew plenty of inside gossip.

“Xiao Xia, you’re sure about this? You really want to take No. 1 High School’s exam?”

Zhao Jingwen crossed his arms, looking seriously at the anxious Fan Xia, pretending to be solemn.

“Uh…”

Fan Xia nodded in a way that was neither yes nor no.

“This kid, how can he change his mind every day? Last time, your uncle told you to aim for a good middle school, and you ran away from home, wanting to go up the mountain to train in martial arts. And now, just hearing Xiaobei talk, you even dare to aim for No. 1 High School? What’s next, do you think you can try for Peking University or Tsinghua University?”

Zhao Jingwen grinned mischievously.

“Uncle!”

Fan Xia was mortified.

‘Going up the mountain to learn martial arts’ was already an indelible stain in his life. Just thinking about it made him want to crawl into a hole. And this uncle liked to bring it up now and then just to poke at him.

“All right, all right. It’s good that kids want to improve themselves, why crush his spirit?”

Ning Jianguo said, half laughing, half exasperated.

“But getting a ‘recommendation admission’… that’s really hard, right?”

Zhao Jingwen rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“Do you want Uncle to go pull some strings for you?”

Zhao Jingwen, used to running business matters and greasing connections everywhere, thought everything was negotiable.

“Or, Fan Xia, why don’t you go to the office and ask around yourself? Didn’t you say there’s a four-eyes in your class who, after every class, besides going to the bathroom, hangs around the teacher’s office helping out? Why not learn from them?”

“Why would I learn from Ding Zheyang? I’m not a brown-noser!”

Fan Xia glared in annoyance.

“No need to make it so complicated. Today, Teacher Qiu said the final recommendation admission spots will be based on the next midterm exam scores, this time, it’s all about real skill.”

Ning Xiaobei analyzed, “I don’t plan to take this spot anyway. Either way, I’ll pass No. 1 High School’s independent admission exam. Giving it to me would be a waste.”

If anyone else said this, Fan Xia would definitely think he was bragging. This is the prestigious No. 1 High School. Their independent admission exam reportedly selects only about ten students from hundreds of applicants each year. Only one in a hundred talents can make it.

But coming from Ning Xiaobei, it sounded completely convincing—

What if it’s No. 1 High School?

His boss, Xiaobei, could get in with his eyes closed!

It was No. 1 High School’s honor to have Ning Xiaobei attend.

This wasn’t Fan Xia being delusional; it was just that during dinner, Ning Jianguo had mentioned that, besides No. 1 High School, the admissions officers from X University Affiliated High School and S University Affiliated High School had both tried to recruit him.

Those teachers said that although Ning Xiaobei’s household registration wasn’t in their school district, and cross-district enrollment for middle school technically violates regulations. However, rules are strict, but people are flexible. If Ning Xiaobei wanted to go, they could find ways to work it out and ensure he got in.

But Ning Jianguo had refused all of them outright.

No choice. His son wanted No. 1 High School, so as a dad, he had to support him.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t No. 1 High School choosing Ning Xiaobei. Ning Xiaobei chose No. 1 High School.

Thinking of this, Fan Xia inexplicably felt a sense of pride. Maybe this was the unique feeling of having a top student as your ‘Big Brother’.

“So, for the next exam, in theory, as long as Fan Xia ranks fourth in the grade, he can get this recommendation spot.”

Ning Xiaobei clenched his fist.

“‘As long as fourth in the grade’…”

Zhao Jingwen looked at his nephew’s dazed expression and gave a wry smile to Ning Jianguo.

“That as long as in your son’s mouth is kind of something, huh. Getting fourth in the grade sounds as easy as buying vegetables at the market; light and effortless.”

Hearing this, Fan Xia covered his eyes with his two little dark hands.

“Last semester’s final exam, Fan Xia was already tenth in the class. By grade ranking, that puts him around twenty-ninth… So fourth in the grade isn’t that hard.”

Ning Xiaobei said, giving Fan Xia a firm pat on the shoulder, “Anyway, you just need to push your score up this time. Fan Xia, I have confidence in you. And I’ll help you.”

Exams and studying are similar, but strictly speaking, they are two different things. At least exams have strategies. If you know how to use the techniques, it’s definitely possible to dramatically improve your rank in a short time.

Having gone through countless exams himself, Ning Xiaobei had plenty of experience in this.

“Xiao Xia, do you have confidence in yourself?”

Zhao Jingwen crossed his legs and looked at his nephew.

“I… I have confidence in Xiaobei.”

Fan Xia lowered his hands and spoke sincerely.

If Big Brother says I can do it, then I can do it!

……………… 

That said, raising your rank from the twenties to fourth place in a month and a half was not going to be easy. After all, Fan Xia had spent the past few years goofing off in school, with a shaky foundation. Last time getting tenth place was more of a fluke, a case of luck hitting the ceiling, rather than a true reflection of his ability.

Regarding Fan Xia’s situation, Ning Xiaobei thought hard for three days and came up with a complete study plan for him.

The plan was divided into two main parts. First, using a sea of problems approach to improve his grades quickly and tackle the midterm exams. Second, during the remaining half of the semester, he would review and fill in knowledge gaps, possibly using part of his summer vacation to thoroughly reinforce elementary school knowledge in preparation for the upcoming middle school curriculum.

“What? Isn’t it enough just to get fourth place?”

Fan Xia stared in shock at the [Rescue Fan Xia Plan] that filled three full sheets of draft paper. He never imagined Ning Xiaobei would be ruthless enough to even interfere with his summer vacation plans.

He was supposed to go on a trip to Beijing during his last summer of elementary school. His father had promised it long ago.

“It won’t affect your trip. At most, you’ll just make up two weeks of lessons. I’ll refine the details in the next few days and make a project… uh, I mean, a detailed schedule.”

Getting a little too excited, Ning Xiaobei accidentally revealed his inner workaholic nature, making him tongue-tied.

“What’s with that expression? You don’t think getting the recommendation spot is the end of it, do you?”

He glanced at Fan Xia, and that iron-but-not-yet-hardened fatherly instinct surged up in him.

“Getting into No. 1 High School is just the first step. Do you know how intense the studying there is? Each grade is divided into four classes. Classes One to Four are ranked by academic performance. There are monthly exams, and if you place at the bottom three times in a row, it means you get assigned to the lowest class. Of course, Class Four has nowhere else to go, so it’s also called the trash bin. You want to end up in the trash bin?”

Don’t ask why Ning Xiaobei knew all this so well, because in the real world, he had spent both his junior and senior high years at No. 1 High School. Seven years of that life felt like being whipped constantly, and he knew it firsthand.

Even after graduating from university N years later, he would occasionally dream at midnight about taking rank exams in No. 1 High School classrooms.

“Even if it’s the ‘trash bin,’ it’s still the ‘high-class trash bin’ of No. 1 High School…”

Fan Xia muttered under his breath.

Last year, the high school admission rate for No. 1 High School was 90%. That means even the average students of Class Four could get into high school.

“What did you say? You’re really going to the trash bin? Then I don’t care about you anymore!”

Ning Xiaobei threatened.

“No, no! I’ll study, I’ll study, isn’t that enough? First, let’s tackle the midterm exams. Come on, let’s go, open sesame, open sesame… Alibaba is a happy youth¹A childish, made-up chant for kids to pump themselves up..”

Fan Xia didn’t dare go against Ning Xiaobei. He put down the draft paper, hummed a little tune, and picked up Ning Xiaobei’s notebook.

Ning Xiaobei had said that his notes were the cream of the crop; looking at the notes was more efficient than reading the textbook directly.

Now, Fan Xia stopped going home at night and went back to sleeping on the floor of Ning’s second floor. After dinner and homework every day, Ning Xiaobei gave him extra tutoring, planning to continue until the midterm exams were over.

The two kids worked hard at home, so the other two in Ning’s household couldn’t even watch TV, and Teresa Teng’s music was off-limits too.

Grandma Ning joined the post-dinner mahjong army, playing eight rounds at Auntie Wu’s house before returning to nap behind the main hall.

As for Ning Jianguo, after dinner he went to hang out with Zhao Jingwen.

Zhao Jingwen had gotten a Russian warship model from the border. The rugged aesthetics of Russians suited Ning Jianguo perfectly. Every day, he went to Zhao’s house: one day assembling the bow, the next day a cannon, making impressive progress .

While Fan Xia was buried in notes, Ning Xiaobei wasn’t idle. Since this midterm exam was a district-wide standardized test, not set by school teachers, he studied past fifth-grade district exams; obtained, naturally, from Teacher Qiu.

Once Ning Xiaobei asked, there was nothing Teacher Qiu wouldn’t try to help with; be it exam papers or even the vice principal’s wig.

That’s the privilege of a top student.

“That’s all.”

Ning Xiaobei circled all the questions he thought were most likely to appear in red and tossed the papers onto Fan Xia’s desk.

“Just make sure you finish all these problems. Then I’ll check and correct them, and explain anything unclear. After that, there shouldn’t be any big issues.”

Fan Xia thought Ning Xiaobei really had a way with words today, words like just, make sure, shouldn’t… do they really sound right when applied to him, Fan Xia?

“But your biggest problem in Chinese is composition. You just use plain, simple words, no highlights, no extra points.”

Elementary school essays were simple; they only required straightforward narration and smooth flow. No need for fancy topics or lofty ideas. But what Fan Xia normally wrote was too flat and plain, so getting high marks would still be a challenge. After all, this time he was competing against Ding Zheyang and Zhuang Li.

How Ding Zheyang’s essay skills were, let’s set that aside for now.

As for Zhuang Li, a few days ago she wrote an essay called ⟦ The Star in My Heart ⟧, which somehow got circulated in their class. Ning Xiaobei was lucky enough to sneak a peek.

In her essay, Zhuang Li used seven or eight consecutive parallel sentences, a dozen idioms, and all sorts of fancy expressions to praise her idol, the forever prince Alan Tam.

The heartfelt emotion and the elegant words even impressed her fandom rival, Wang Qingyu.

Wang Qingyu had tears in her eyes reading it, reflecting on why she couldn’t write the same level of essay to praise Leslie Cheung. She wasn’t a proper Rong fan²Leslie Cheung given name is Zhang Guorong. Rong fan is taken from that name, she blushed, she felt ashamed, she only knew how to buy Leslie Cheung’s stickers, cassettes, and posters…

In short, someone who can write like that makes essay writing look effortless.

“Alright, here’s the plan. Start writing these essay topics. Once you’re done, I’ll correct them. Memorize them. During the exam, you can adapt them to the questions. The key is to use as many idioms and xiehouyu³Chinese two-part allegorical sayings – humorous, two-part phrases where the first part sets up a riddle-like scenario, and the second part provides the witty, metaphorical answer as possible.”

“Memorize them?”

Fan Xia’s face turned even darker.

He watched Ning Xiaobei quickly draft seven or eight essay topics on paper, feeling first bitterness, then dryness in his throat.

“Fan Xia, you can do this, right?”

After finishing the essay topics, Ning Xiaobei put down his pen, took Fan Xia’s right hand, and looked at him with sincere eyes.

“When we get to No. 1 High School, can we still be deskmates?”

“Of course! Your deskmate has to be me!”

Fan Xia nodded without hesitation.

By the side of the top student, how could there be anyone else?

Ning Xiaobei let go of his hand and turned around.

Silly kid, don’t you know that at No. 1 High School, not only are the classes ranked by grades, even the seating chart is arranged according to scores??

The top seat in Class One is mine for sure. If you want to sit next to me…

Ning Xiaobei glanced at Fan Xia, who was scribbling away diligently.

You better work hard, kid.

……………… 

Author’s Note:

额骨头碰到天花板 (é gǔtóu pèng dào tiānhuābǎn) – Shanghainese idiom meaning “extremely lucky” or “luck hitting the ceiling.”

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• 1
  A childish, made-up chant for kids to pump themselves up.
• 2
  Leslie Cheung given name is Zhang Guorong. Rong fan is taken from that name
• 3
  Chinese two-part allegorical sayings – humorous, two-part phrases where the first part sets up a riddle-like scenario, and the second part provides the witty, metaphorical answer