The third day of the Chinese New Year, He Luo met her English teacher, Lin Shu Zhen at the temple. The teacher, who was holding hands with her boyfriend, looked over.
“Teacher Lin, happy new year.” Face-to-face now, He Luo respectfully greeted her.
“He Luo, it’s you.” Teacher Lin abruptly let go of her boyfriend’s hand and motioned for him to go.
The both of them exchanged pleasantries for a moment before reaching the topic of the changing class streams. Teacher Lin said, “Your class is changing to the humanities stream, there will also be changes in the teachers. I probably won’t be teaching you English anymore.”
“I might not be taking humanities,” He Luo said after a moment, twisting the candied fruit in her hand.
“Didn’t you say you want to become a diplomat in your last English essay submission?” Teacher Lin smiled. “It was very well-written, very realistic.”
“Teacher, that’s just an essay. Art is based on life, and is better than life.”
“Then what did your parents say?”
“They just let me be.” He Luo paused, “Teacher Lin, if I can join your class, then I will study science.” She hurriedly added, “I like your class the most, it’s relaxing. You’re like a big sister and your knowledge is also vast.”
What am I talking about? He Luo continued to hold the candied fruit, feeling increasingly anxious.
“Oh that’s okay. If you take science, you’re welcome to our class!” Flattery was still the most useful.
*
When school reopened, He Luo who has gotten her wish reported to class 6. She slept uneasily last night and kept worrying that she would oversleep. In the morning before her alarm could ring, she had already sat up straight in her bed, unable to sleep anymore.
When Mom woke up, she discovered that her daughter has already washed up, heated the milk, and fried an egg. She was sitting at the table quietly having breakfast.
“Huh, the sun has risen from the west,” Mom laughed. “Wouldn’t it be nice if you’re this hardworking every morning, I can also sleep in a little more.”
“Aren’t I going to a new class? If I’m late on the first day, won’t it look bad?” He Luo wiped her mouth. Grabbing her bag, she said, “I’m leaving.”
“Your school has 10 classes, I hope you change a class each day.” Mom stood at the door, waving at her back.
Standing in front of her new class, He Luo found that she was early. The homeroom teacher Lin Shu Zhen was still not there. She didn’t know where she should sit. Helplessly, she went to the back of the class. Class 6’s students who passed by her sent her curious glances and occasionally slowed their steps in front of her. He Luo felt awkward, as if she was being punished to stand.
Zhang Yuan and a few other boys walked past her, hands excitedly gesturing about NBA’s All-Star Game during the winter vacation. He stopped at the door and then took a few steps backwards. He leaned in and said, “Eh? I came to the wrong class.” He looked up to see the class plate and laughed. “Or is it you who walked into the wrong class? Perhaps it’s the confusion after Chinese New Year.”
“I’ve transferred to your class 2, oh no, it’s class 6.” Hateful! She was nervous again. He Luo held onto her bag tighter, reprimanding herself for her lacklustre performance.
Zhang Yuan bent over. He Luo can stare directly into his eyes; it was the first time she looked at him this close. She can even clearly see the pimple growing on his forehead.
“Why are you so nervous? Our class doesn’t have tigers.” Zhang Yuan already saw through her and swiped his nose with his thumb. “Don’t worry, I have your back.”
“Will you collect protection fees?” He Luo asked.
“Those biscuits earlier, then.”
Zhang Yuan’s classmates looked at him. “You won’t even let go of the new transfer student. The rabbit doesn’t eat the grass next to its nest [people do not do bad things outside their door].”
Someone said, “Is there a girl in our year that Zhang Yuan doesn’t know?”
“It’s true there are no girls who don’t know me!” a certain someone boasted.
A few persons laughed and walked into the classroom.
The corridor became quiet again and He Luo sighed in relief. She picked up his voice amidst the noise in the classroom. She can see him every day from now on. She was already very satisfied with this.
Her seat was in the fifth row. Zhang Yuan’s seat was diagonally behind hers. Her new seatmate Zhao Cheng Jie was a passionate and straightforward boy. In just half a day, he had already given her the low-down on class matters.
At noon, He Luo took out a lunch box and placed it on her desk. A short-haired girl called Li Yun Wei enthusiastically ran over and moved Zhao Cheng Jie aside. “Hurry and go, sit in my place instead.” She turned and said, “You have already monopolised He Luo for an entire morning.”
“The way you put is so annoying, as if I’m bullying her.” Even though Zhao Cheng Jie protested, but he still obediently took his lunchbox to the last row. On his way, he kicked Zhang Yuan’s long legs and said, “Kao, you don’t even manage your seatmate, she’s becoming more and more audacious!”
“Since you have the ability, then you go and manage,” Zhang Yuan lazily replied.
“My seatmate doesn’t require managing.” Zhao Cheng Jie said, “Seems like a reasonable girl.”
“Who did you say is not reasonable!” Li Yun Wei turned around in anger. “If you don’t clean after yourself after you eat, then I’ll clean after you!”
He Luo liked this loud-voiced girl. When she was in anger, she opened her eyes wide and carried a hint of a jianghu warrior. Her rabbit teeth made her looked like a young Michelle Yim.
It was indeed proven that Li Yun Wei was an easy-going girl. No matter what was going on, she would take He Luo along with her. During PE, she would stand beside He Luo. When she bought snacks, she would buy He Luo’s share. Even when she went to the washroom, she would ask, “He Luo, washroom. Do you want to come with me?”
Zhang Yuan covered his ears. “You don’t have to shout out every little thing, do you?”
Li Yun Wei chuckled and planted a loud smack on his shoulder. “If she wants to go, we should go together. It’s the same direction anyway.” Seeing her playfully joke with Zhang Yuan, He Luo would be lying if she said she wasn’t envious.
He Luo was neither reserved nor introverted. She was not the type of girl who would blush just by speaking with boys. In just a few days, after class ended, there were a boy from her former class called out her name. He asked, “He Luo, the new Popsoft magazine [about gaming] is out. Do you want to see?”
She ran outside the classroom and spoke a few words with the boy. When she returned, she saw Zhang Yuan hugging his bag and sitting in her seat. He was flipping through the papers [for calculation purposes] on her table.
“Don’t simply see!” He Luo hurriedly ran over and hid those papers.
“I already saw it.” He smiled slyly.
“What. What’s there to see.” When He Luo said this, it made feel incredibly guilty. The pages were filled entirely of bodies, side profiles, long legs. Can he see that it was him?
“What kind of comic books do you read? Your drawing looks like the comic Cipher.” He said, “I’ve only read a few girl’s comics, the lines drawn are very clean but the plot is too slow.”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s Cipher. Don’t tell anyone else.” He Luo swiftly put away those papers. Even though this boy who paraded himself as someone with an IQ of 140 couldn’t tell, it didn’t mean others couldn’t. A person would be most unaware of his or her own unique facial characteristics.
“I have never told anyone that you’ve daydreamed in class several times.” Zhang Yuan spread open his palms, as if she was some kind of repeat criminal offender.
“Yes, yes, you have my back. But today I didn’t bring my biscuits.”
“Lend me your Popsoft!”
“I don’t have it.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve already cleared all the levels.”
“There were a lot of story branches! You’ve already finished them?” Zhang Yuan replied bitterly. “Ay, it’s already sold out in the kiosk outside school. The sales this period is particularly good. Please lend me.”
“En, okay then. I’ll call him at night.”
“Thanks! I’ll treat you to iced black tea.” Zhang Yuan waited for her to pack up.
“No. Yoghurt.”
“Why? Black tea eases the thirst.”
“Yoghurt helps with digestion.” He Luo insisted and added, “My mom said.”
“En, true. You eat so many snacks after all.” Zhang Yuan snickered.
*
“Luo Luo, come and eat!” Mom shouted. “You’ve been flipping non-stop since you came back, why don’t you come and help me with setting the table.”
“Oh, oh!” He Luo answered. But she still didn’t stop her hands from searching the shelf.
“What are you looking for, what did you lose?” Dad walked over, newspaper in hand. “Go and wash your hands. You’re causing the dust to fly everywhere.”
“Dad, where’s my Cipher?”
“Ci… isn’t that a shoe? Are you looking for a book to read?” Dad sighed and put down the newspaper. He took out a thin book from the shelf. “Fortunately you didn’t study humanities. Here. A Tale of Two Cities, one of English novelist Charles Dickens’ representative works.” [Cipher and A Tale of Two Cities sound similar.]
“Aiya, I know the background of A Tale of Two Cities is Paris and London. It’s about a noble man who sacrificed for love.” He Luo nudged her father aside. “Come, come, don’t block the shelf. I’m looking for a set of comic books.”
“I’ve already tossed all your comic books in the balcony.” Dad frowned. “How old are you already? You’re still reading comic books.”
“Dear God, they’re my babies.” He Luo sighed and headed straight for the balcony.
“Wear a coat, it’s cold outside!” Mom peeked her head from inside the kitchen. “This girl, still reading comic books. She’s forever refusing to grow up.”
“It’s also okay if she doesn’t grow up.” Dad whispered to Mom. “Her first reaction upon hearing A Tale of Two Cities is to call it a noble love story.”
“Isn’t that true?” Mom knocked Dad’s forehead with the spatula she was holding. “Only you would see it as a reflection of the magnificent French Revolution. The two of us are only ordinary folks, we’re not top students studying history.”
Dad laughed but not without some worry. “Lately, hasn’t there been phone calls to Luo Luo from a boy? Once they talk, they would talk for a good half hour.”
“It’s not Luo Luo who is the one calling. What are you worried about? I believe in our daughter.”
“Yes, yes. The two of you are always gossiping behind my back.” Dad felt a little desolate. Whenever he watched the news channel, they would choose that time to hide in the study to happily chat with each other. They were obviously taking advantage of him not being around and strike him out of the family discussion.
“The boy is He Luo’s former classmate, he stayed in humanities stream.” Mom took a taste test of the braised beef soup. “If Luo Luo has any feelings for him, would she be so determined to study science?
Dad thought of He Luo’s reason for changing streams and felt hurt all over again.
“Not only are there many options after graduation, of those who made it the top thirty ranking, where are those who took humanities?” He Luo showed them last year’s ranking list. “Peking University and Tsinghua University, how many of those that they accepted were humanities students?”
It looked like he would have to have another bowl of braised beef soup today.
The balcony during the spring could be passed off as a natural refrigerator. He Luo put a few cabbages aside and found her treasure among the other junk. Her rose was red. Hugging Cipher, she returned inside.
The Shiva who was laughing happily, the Shiva who was wearing an oversized white shirt, the Shiva who was carrying his backpack lopsidedly, the Shiva with a face full of black lines, it really did look like Zhang Yuan. In particular, in the fourth volume where Shiva and Anise took the same elective PE class together. The Shiva who was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, picking up a basketball, smiling as he stood on the side lines – his demeanour looked exactly like Zhang Yuan’s.
I really envy Anise. Still holding the book, He Luo buried her face in her bed.
“If I lend you Popsoft, you must teach me how to play basketball.” He Luo mulled over the words in her mind and held out the book in her hand. No good, this expression looked too strict, as if someone owed her money. While brushing her teeth, she kept on trying a variety of smiling expressions in the mirror.
She decided it would be the best to hide the magazine behind her and smiled with her eyes squinted. That would look cute enough! With foam still on the corner of her mouth, she tried to act it out. It was too sickly sweet, to the point she felt goose bumps all over.
“Girl, do you need to take ten minutes to brush your teeth!” Dad knocked on the door.
“Luo Luo, hurry up and come out! Your dad can’t stand it anymore.” Mom couldn’t help her laughter. “Tonight he drank a little too much soup.”
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