DBTHDCAR Chapter 72

Until yesterday, young teacher Gu Kaige had been unwavering in his dream of being a devoted people’s teacher.

He believed it was a noble profession. He might not be able to teach philosophy or pass on wisdom, but at least he could clarify doubts and guide children in the right direction.

Now, however, he was uncertain about his own path in life.

Over the years, from his hometown Yuyao to Hangzhou, then Hangzhou to Shanghai, he had pursued education and career opportunities. His life experience wasn’t vast, but it wasn’t meager either.

Earlier this year, the grade leader had promised him that if he handled this class well, he could earn honors as an outstanding young teacher, and perhaps even secure Shanghai residency as a recruited talent.

So, at 1:30 this morning, before receiving a call from a town police station in Chongming, Gu Kaige never imagined his life would intersect with the words anti-pornography and illegal publications raid.

His students, prestigious X University Affiliated High School students in Shanghai had been swept up during a raid on Chongming Island last night.

Ning Xiaobei, Fan Xia, Ding Zheyang…

My most beloved little class monitor, my little solid buddy, and my little brown-noser; on a Saturday night, instead of staying in the dorm to sleep, they actually took a long-distance bus all the way to Chongming Island just to play cards. And when the island’s special police task force was raiding a brothel they had been tracking for months, they got caught being mistaken for clients!

Could anything be more absurd than this?!

Standing on the ferry, Gu Kaige banged the railing in frustration as he stared at the rolling river. He just couldn’t understand why they would go all the way to a notorious brother on Chongming Island to play cards!

When Gu Kaige arrived at the police station with his ID, work badge, and a letter of introduction from the school, he barely recognized the three kids in front of him.

When the police took them away, these three little rascals were, like the clients and women dragged out from the nearby rooms during the raid, completely naked except for a pair of shorts.

Fortunately, Ning Xiaobei had his student ID on him; otherwise, they might have been treated as some really strange characters. Instead of being in a reception room, they’d have ended up in a detention cell.

Their clothes were soaked and unwearable. The few items they did have on were kindly borrowed from nearby residents by a thoughtful policewoman.

Ning Xiaobei wore a pink women’s blouse, paired with tight cyan pants popular in the ’70s. Since the original waistband was too loose, he had to tie a bright red sash around his waist, making it look like a string of chili peppers. It was impossible to miss.

Ding Zheyang wore an old man’s vest, not a regular modern one, but the white coarse-cotton vest that peasants wore in films like 《Tunnel War》 and 《The Landmine Warfare》, with gray baggy lantern-style pants. The only thing missing was a towel wrapped around his head.

The funniest of all was Fan Xia. His outfit was at least complete, though it came from some retired soldier who’d donated his uniform. Judging by the cut, it had been out of service for over thirty years. The original army green had faded to a pale green, which, against Fan Xia’s dark skin, made him look like a farmer just back from a day in the fields, exuding a rugged, sun-facing, rustic kind of beauty.

Gu Kaige suddenly didn’t feel like taking them back; this was way too embarrassing for the affiliated high school!

The three kids lowered their heads as soon as they saw their teacher, not saying a word.

“Ah, the teacher’s here. Have a seat,” said the welcoming police officer.

The moment Gu Kaige walked in, the officer started laughing, and it made him feel all tingly and uncomfortable.

“Sorry to trouble you,” Gu Kaige said, placing his stack of documents on the table and sitting down nervously.

“Your three students are something else, skipping class all the way to Chongming Island. If we hadn’t stumbled upon them by accident, you’d probably still be out looking for them. Look, since the parents entrust their kids to you, the school has to take some responsibility…”

Every time the officer spoke, Gu Kaige could only nod. He felt like he wasn’t there to pick them up, he was there to get scolded.

“Don’t worry, it’s not a big deal. The worst part is that they didn’t register their ID when staying at the inn. Besides, today’s Sunday, skipping class didn’t even work. Once the parents arrive, they’ll take the kids home, give them a proper bath, change clothes, and give them a little talking-to. That’s it.”

“What? The parents are coming too?”

Fan Xia’s feet nearly sprang off the ground. He’d thought that once Brother Kai came to pick them up, it would be over. Now they were telling him the parents were on the way? He didn’t want to see his uncle at all.

Ning Xiaobei looked up in surprise, wondering why Fan Xia was reacting so dramatically.

“Of course. We already called. Your parents should be on the way to the island now. The sea’s been calm for the past few days, no heavy fog. They should be here in about half an hour,” the officer said cheerfully, getting up to photocopy the documents Gu Kaige had brought and preparing the release forms.

“What’s wrong?”

Ning Xiaobei tugged at Fan Xia’s sleeve. “You heard what the officer said, it’s nothing serious. It’s not even skipping school. What are you scared of? Besides, Ding Zheyang and I are here with you.”

“No, it’s… uh…”

Fan Xia buried his face in his hands, rubbing his head frantically, clearly at a loss for words.

About twenty minutes later, Ning Jianguo and Zhao Jingwen came running in, their faces red with anger.

“You little brat! Just wait, don’t even think about running!”

Zhao Jingwen had a bag tucked under his arm and immediately pointed at Fan Xia like he wanted to tear him apart.

Fan Xia instinctively shrank behind Ning Xiaobei and pulled Ding Zheyang in front of him, turning into a little turtle trying to hide.

He’d grown over the past two years, and his uncle hadn’t been physically rough with him lately. But he worried that if his uncle started hitting, he might forget his own strength and hit too hard.

“Officers, I’m the uncle of this little dark-skinned one here. And this is Ning Xiaobei’s father. Officers, please listen— Xiaobei and Yangyang are good kids. Ah, Teacher Gu, you’ve arrived! Thank you for coming. There’s no need to say more; this whole thing was caused by our family’s brat.  Sorry for embarrassing everyone.”

Zhao Jingwen bowed and nodded to everyone around, feeling like his dignity had completely evaporated.

Fortunately, nothing serious had happened. Teacher Gu had already finished the paperwork, and Ning Jianguo, Zhao Jingwen, and Gu Kaige each led a child out of the police station.

“Ding Zheyang, why didn’t your parents come? Are they on a trip today?”

Seeing that Ding Zheyang’s parents weren’t around, Ning Xiaobei asked with concern. After something like this happened, it felt a bit unreasonable that the parents were still focused only on work. He had thought their family situation had improved a lot.

“No, they’ve subcontracted their travel agency business recently. Back when they were working in Japan, there was an elderly store manager who helped them a lot. That old man has no children and is seriously ill, lying in the hospital with only nurses to care for him. My parents heard about it and went over for a month to help take care of him.”

“That’s right, that’s right. When someone does you a small favor, you repay it a hundredfold.”

Ning Jianguo kept nodding in agreement.

Fan Xia clicked his tongue softly. No wonder this guy is so calm, he thought. His parents weren’t even in the country, so the police couldn’t get in touch with them, really cunning.

“Parents, how the school handles this will be decided in a meeting after classes start tomorrow. But really, nothing serious happened. From the school’s point of view, it’s at most a matter of staying out overnight and violating dormitory rules. Besides, all three are good students, so the school will handle it with discretion. You don’t need to press the matter further.”

Earlier at the station, Gu Kaige had seen Zhao Jingwen chase Fan Xia around with a broom. If the police hadn’t intervened, who knew how badly Fan Xia would have been beaten.

If Ning Xiaobei knew what Gu Kaige was thinking, he would have let out a cold laugh.

This was nothing more than the classic self-inflicted injury trick the Zhao family uncles and nephews liked to pull.

Fan Xia still had bandages and a taped-up leg. If Zhao Jingwen really wanted to chase him, he could easily have caught him. But this little performance was for the school teachers and the police officers to see. Once they saw how angry Zhao Jingwen had gotten, naturally, nobody dared to pour gasoline on the fire.

“In the end… it’s still my fault…”

As expected, Gu Kaige shifted the topic and began a deep session of self-reflection.

“If they had gone home for the weekend like usual, instead of coming to the botanical garden with me, none of this would have happened.”

“What?!”

Ning Jianguo and Zhao Jingwen both exclaimed in shock.

Fan Xia clenched his eyes shut in pain.

Gu Kaige, I will hate you for the rest of my life!

………………

Waving at Ning Xiaobei, Ding Zheyang followed the teacher onto the shuttle back toward the school.

Ning Xiaobei dragged his tired feet into the Toyota Zhao Jingwen was driving. He hadn’t slept all night; his eyelids felt like they were glued together. He didn’t immediately notice that the air in the car felt… off.

Earlier, Gu Kaige had thoughtfully suggested that, since it was still the weekend, they should go back to the city to relax a bit, get everything out in the open, and return to school later that night.

Fan Xia, hearing this, almost got the impulse to transfer schools on the spot. If I could go home and face my Uncle and Uncle Ning, why would I even go all the way to Chongming Island?

Helpless, he turned to Ning Xiaobei beside him and blinked furiously. But Xiaobei was half-asleep, half-awake; so much so that by the time the car entered the river tunnel, he hadn’t noticed.

“Ah…”

Fan Xia rubbed his sore, blinking eyes and sighed quietly.

“Xiaobei…”

Ning Jianguo turned from the passenger seat with a stiff smile.

“Dad, today’s mess is entirely my fault. I didn’t manage Xiao Xia properly, and Ding Zheyang only came to the island with us because he had no choice. If you want to scold someone, scold me. Fan Xia knows he was wrong, right?”

Ning Xiaobei forced himself to stay alert. He thought that now there were no outsiders, and his father was about to settle accounts. He hurriedly took the blame upon himself.

“No, I, Dad just want to ask… um…”

Ning Jianguo licked his lips and asked tentatively, “You guys went to the botanical garden this morning?”

“Yeah, it was the spring outing organized by Teacher Gu.”

Fan Xia shut his eyes in despair.

“We did go, but we didn’t really play much before coming out. Right, Xiaobei?”

Fan Xia struggled to speak.

“Yeah, we didn’t do much. Just rowed a boat and went to the little island in the middle of the lake once.”

The car weaved in an S-shape through the tunnel. For a moment, the whole world tilted 75 degrees south, and Ning Xiaobei’s and Fan Xia’s faces pressed tightly together. It felt like their souls and brains were about to be flung out.

That did the trick, they were wide awake now!

Luckily, Zhao Jingwen quickly turned the steering wheel back. Even so, honks and shouts erupted from the back row, continuing until they exited the tunnel. Some drivers even drove up specifically to yell insults at Zhao Jingwen.

Even Ning Xiaobei, usually slow to notice, could sense something was wrong after that near-death experience, especially seeing Fan Xia’s expression. He checked Uncle Zhao’s face in the rearview mirror and saw cold sweat and a pale complexion.

What on earth had happened?

“Let’s eat first. We’ll talk after we eat…”

Ning Jianguo didn’t dare let Zhao Jingwen drive anymore. He stopped in front of a random restaurant by the roadside.

The staff at Yaping Restaurant saw a relatively high-end car pull up and smiled brightly, moving to open the door. But Ning Xiaobei and Fan Xia’s wildly unconventional outfits scared her.

She couldn’t tell whether this was Shanghai middle schoolers’ latest fashion trend, or if these two were escapees from No. 600 Wanping South Road with serious mental issues. For a moment, she didn’t know whether to greet them or not.

“You go buy some clothes for these two kids nearby, don’t scare anyone else,” Ning Jianguo said, firmly sending Zhao Jingwen off to handle it. He asked the staff for a private room on the second floor so the boys could hide there while he stayed downstairs to order.

The restaurant was quite large. The first-floor lobby had no dining tables. Rows of glass tanks displayed hundreds of live seafood, making it feel like walking into 【Changfeng Park Ocean World.】 In the open kitchen, chefs and assistants prepared ingredients behind glass, giving a clean, transparent, and reassuring impression.

Fortunately, it was still early, and the restaurant had just opened, so there weren’t many diners. Ning Xiaobei and Fan Xia ran across the lobby, almost sprinting to the private room, with the trailing server struggling to keep up.

Luckily, there were no Weibo or WeChat back then. Otherwise, if someone had taken a photo and posted it online, it would have been social death.

Once inside the private room, Fan Xia kicked over the chair facing him the moment he entered. Fuming, he stomped over to the sofa by the window at the far end, hands in his pockets, saying nothing.

Ning Xiaobei set the chair upright, thought for a moment, closed the door, and walked over to him. “Spit it out. What happened?”

Fan Xia turned his head to the side and shut his eyes, pretending to be dead.

“Yesterday… they went to the botanical garden too?”

He guessed cautiously.

“How did you know? Did you see it too?”

Fan Xia had no guile; he immediately took the bait.

“That’s not right… your eyes were so swollen from the allergy yesterday you couldn’t even open them… Boss, you’re mean, tricking me again.”

Fan Xia mumbled.

“So, what exactly did you see yesterday?”

Ning Xiaobei’s palms were sweating with nerves.

“Boss, don’t ask… I can’t say it out loud.”

If Xiaobei knew that his own uncle had forced his dad into… well, he wouldn’t just see Fan Xia as a brother anymore. Maybe even classmates and neighbors couldn’t handle it.

Homosexuality!

Who could stomach seeing their own dad involved with another man without feeling completely disgusted?

Only someone like Fan Xia, toughened by a childhood of hardships, who’d seen more than a dozen of his parents’ partners, and whose father even dated foreigners, could accept this reality so quickly.

Fan Xia had always known Ning Xiaobei to be traditional and conservative. Usually, when the guys in the neighboring dorm smuggled in foreign pin-up magazines, or even little adult books, and passed them around, Xiaobei wouldn’t even glance at them, showing no interest whatsoever.

He couldn’t imagine the shock Xiaobei would feel once he learned the truth; it would be like being struck by lightning, unbearable.

Without a word, Ning Xiaobei lifted one foot and planted it on the edge of the sofa, just wedging it between Fan Xia’s legs, which he’d carelessly spread.

Fan Xia shivered in panic as Xiaobei grabbed his right hand in a firm grip.

He looked up at Xiaobei’s face, serious and imposing, looming over him with such intense pressure that he felt nailed to the sofa, unable to move — if Xiaobei weren’t wearing that pink ruffled women’s blouse, he probably would have fainted from fear.

Ning Xiaobei reached out his right hand, turned Fan Xia’s hidden face toward him, squinted, and threatened, “You better tell me obediently, or else…”

“I didn’t see anything! Don’t ask!”

“Hahaha! Stop, stop! I’m ticklish! Okay, okay, I saw it in the camphor grove, I saw it…”

“Oh my, Xiaobei, are you okay?!”

Standing at the restaurant room’s doorway, Ning Jianguo leaned against the door, listening amidst the waitstaff’s curious stares.

When he heard Fan Xia’s pitiful scream, he couldn’t help but push the door open.

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