Xin Hexue came back clattering in his slippers, carrying a crimson mandarin duck washing basin with sulfur soap and a towel inside, his face still flushed from the steam of the bathhouse.
Zhuang Tongguang followed behind, carrying an extra net bag. Once inside, he stuffed the changed dirty clothes into the red basin with the washboard.
Looking up again, Xin Hexue had already rushed into the bedroom and burrowed under the covers.
The quilt on the bed bulged up like a small hill.
Xin Zhiying had already left for the night shift. Zhuang Ping had just finished rinsing his mouth and returned from the water room, reminding them, “Drink your milk before sleeping.”
Zhuang Tongguang nodded.
Their family subscribed for fresh milk to be delivered everyday for the two growing children. It was placed on the corner cabinet by the door in the living room. Zhuang Tongguang no longer needed the stool used for stepping, and he skillfully poured the large bottle of milk into two blue-patterned glass cups.
“Xiao Xue.” Zhuang Tongguang carried the milk back to the bedroom. “Drink a cup of milk before sleeping.”
Xin Hexue rolled over in one motion, picked up the glass, and gulped the milk down until the bottom showed, leaving a bit of white on his lips.
The strange uncle in his head asked him why he didn’t tell the adults about today’s events.
He burrowed back under the covers, turned around, and squeezed his head out from under the quilt. “Big Brother, do you have drawing class tomorrow?”
Zhuang Tongguang had turned off the main bedroom light, leaving only the small desk lamp on his wooden desk. He was currently doing his homework there. Hearing the question, he looked up and replied, “Yes. Why?”
Xin Hexue nodded. “I see. Then can you lend me your colored pencils the day after tomorrow?”
After getting an affirmative answer, he pulled the quilt up to his chin.
[Why tell the adults?]
[Smart children know to use this to think of a way.]
Xin Hexue poked his own head and curled up the corners of his mouth.
K understood.
A smart cat uses its smart fur to think of a way.
………
Because the groups in the classroom were almost semi-fixed, with members rarely changed for half a semester, Xin Hexue, who was temporarily placed in the Red Flag Group, was isolated by Su Zhuang and his little followers.
But it didn’t matter; Xin Hexue didn’t want to play with these guys anyway.
Besides drawing class, kindergarten involved learning songs, playing with handmade paper-cutting, watching TV in the small classroom during the morning snack time, outdoor activities after the afternoon nap, and rarely any academic content…usually just recognizing a few numbers.
There were picture books in the metal cabinet at the back of the classroom, and Xin Hexue had almost finished reading the copies of “The Little Tadpoles Look for Their Mother” and “One Hundred Thousand Whys for Young Children”. His cat’s cradle skills were also improving rapidly.
During drawing class, Su Zhuang was showing off his box of thirty-six colored pencils again. “My dad bought this for me from outside! The stationery shops in the factory area don’t sell these!”
Xin Hexue glanced at it and the annoying Su Zhuang deliberately shook it in front of his eyes.
Several little followers and children from the next group gathered to look, touching them enviously and cautiously.
A boy who always followed Su Zhuang’s lead, nicknamed “Stone,” couldn’t stop looking. “Su Zhuang, can you lend them to me?”
To flaunt his style as the king and boss of the kids, Su Zhuang put his hands on his hips, as if bestowing a great favor. “I’ll lend them to you. Don’t break them, they’re very expensive.”
Miao Ling, who was in the group at the back, snorted disdainfully.
Su Zhuang glared fiercely at Miao Ling and Xin Hexue. “Some country bumpkins are so envious they can’t even have them!”
The children in the class all used his crayons for drawing, which made him extremely proud. What was the use of being pretty? He only had twelve colors in his crayon box!
Miao Ling and Xin Hexue ignored him. They glanced at each other, thinking about what they would do later, and both smiled secretly with understanding in their eyes.
After art class was lunchtime. The children in the classroom rushed out in a swarm. Xin Hexue walked at the back, glanced back, and saw that the box of thirty-six colored pencils was still on Stone’s desk.
And in the pocket of his cotton-padded jacket, he had hidden a colored pencil he had taken from his older brother.
………
The nap room was equipped with iron bunk beds with mattresses and bedding, arranged in rows and columns, with aisles on the left and right between each bed.
The teacher urged everyone to close their eyes. Whoever opened their eyes during naptime wouldn’t get cookies in the afternoon.
Xin Hexue closed his eyes and counted the time silently. His bed was near the nap room’s front door, so he could hear two teachers whispering in the corridor outside.
“Another child coming later? Then there will be thirty-one children in the class. Should we regroup?”
“Mhm, the new one is a boy. I know his mother, it’s Sister Zhu from the pastry room in the factory cafeteria. Didn’t you say her egg cakes are really delicious?”
“That child was originally raised by his grandma in the countryside. I heard he’s very naughty, he climbs trees to steal bird eggs, goes down to the river ditches, teases yellow dogs in front, chases chickens behind, and has beaten up a whole class of kids. His grandma really couldn’t handle him anymore, so she quickly sent him back to the city for his parents to take care of.”
“That sounds like a real headache…’
When he counted to the twentieth “60,” Xin Hexue estimated that all the children had closed their eyes and fallen asleep, so he quietly opened his eyes and raised his hand.
The teacher came over and asked him in a low voice what was wrong.
Xin Hexue whispered that he needed to use the toilet.
The restroom was on the first floor, and the nap room was on the second floor. Teachers usually accompanied the children.
On the way back from the restroom, another teacher was holding Miao Ling’s hand and walking out. Miao Ling winked at Xin Hexue.
When they were just one stair landing away from the nap room, Xin Hexue looked up and said, “Teacher, my button fell off on the way.”
He showed the teacher his clothes where a button was missing.
The teacher hesitated for a moment, then said, “Then you go back to sleep first. Be quiet, don’t wake the other children. Teacher will go look for it for you.”
“Mhm, thank you, teacher.”
Xin Hexue said obediently.
Su Zhuang’s bed was near the back door, which happened to be the farthest from Xin Hexue’s bed. Su Zhuang was sleeping soundly, and upon listening closer, he was even snoring.
Xin Hexue looked around the nap room; all the children were fast asleep. He took the colored pencil from his pocket, lowered his eyes, and began to doodle expressionlessly.
When he straightened his back, two glass marbles rolled out of his pocket, making faint sounds. Fortunately, they didn’t wake anyone else.
This padded jacket was the same set of clothes Xin Hexue had worn when he first came from Licheng. The pockets were stuffed with the “gift” Xiao Hu had given him before he left.
He had kept it in his pocket for too long and had forgotten about it. The gift was glass marbles Xiao Hu had collected from somewhere.
The two marbles rolled all the way to the back door.
Xin Hexue lifted his eyelashes and only then did he notice that an unfamiliar boy had arrived at some point and was staring at him from the back door. It was clear he had witnessed the entire scene and caught him red-handed.
Xin Hexue raised his index finger. “Shh.”
………
The new boy had wheat-colored skin, very dark eyes, two thick, black eyebrows, and a shaved, energetic, neat buzz cut.
His eyebrows were low over his eyes, giving him a somewhat sharp look, clearly a child who was hard to discipline.
He stood in the corridor, holding the two glass marbles.
He looked at the marbles in his hand, then at Xin Hexue. “Can you give these to me?”
Back in Licheng, the little boys in the village loved playing marbles, but Xin Hexue didn’t play with them because the game required lying on the ground.
But aside from the gameplay, these marbles were indeed very popular among little boys, otherwise, Xiao Hu wouldn’t have searched everywhere to give them to him. These two were the prettiest among them, with one a three-color inlay, and the other green cat’s eye.
His grape-like eyes shifted, and Xin Hexue took back his glass marbles.
“Are you the newly transferred classmate?” he asked the other boy. “My name is Xin Hexue. What’s your name?”
“My name is Lu Yang.” The boy nodded. “I didn’t want to come originally, but my mom twisted my ear and made me come to school.”
He frowned and rubbed his reddened ear.
‘So this was the boy the teachers had mentioned as being a headache.’
“Where does your dad work?”
Xin Hexue asked.
Lu Yang: “My dad? Do you know him? He is a technician in the turbine section.”
Xin Hexue understood. He saw that Lu Yang was half a head taller than him, probably even taller than Su Zhuang, with a sturdy build.
He opened his palm, revealing two round glass marbles. “Do you want them?”
Sure enough, Lu Yang couldn’t take his eyes off them. But then he looked at Xin Hexue and stared intently.
[So pretty.]
“Can you give them to me?”
Lu Yang asked again.
Xin Hexue said yes, but on one condition. Because Lu Yang was new, later in the afternoon when the cookies were distributed, a certain boy would definitely come to snatch them.
When that happened, Lu Yang had to do as he said, and then he would give the glass marbles to Lu Yang.
………
The bell signaling the end of naptime rang, and the broadcast room played a leisurely song that echoed across the playground.
Because of the new student, the teacher had to leave the nap room first to move a set of desks and chairs to the classroom.
“Everyone, wake up! Go outside to the playground for free play first. The teachers will come later to hand out cookies.”
Su Zhuang stretched lazily and came out of the nap room. Along the way, the classmates he saw either glanced at him and started snickering quietly, or had expressions like they were trying hard not to laugh and looked at him as if he were a monkey.
“What are you laughing at?!”
Su Zhuang glared fiercely at these people.
But instead of being afraid, they burst into laughter.
The boy nicknamed Stone reminded him, “Su Zhuang, your face, your face…”
He gestured with his fingers, but ultimately burst into laughter too. “You should go look in a mirror! Hahaha!”
Su Zhuang’s face turned red with anger. He rubbed his face, not knowing what had happened, and rushed into the restroom. There was a mirror in front of the sink.
His face was like a painted monkey’s, with a big turtle drawn on it.
A roar immediately came from the restroom. “Who?! Who drew a turtle on my face?!”
Outside on the playground, Xin Hexue and Miao Ling secretly high-fived each other.
………
Su Zhuang scrubbed his face carefully with soap. Anxious and furious, he rushed out and grabbed Stone by the collar.
“Was it you?! Zeng Zishi, it was you! You borrowed my colored pencils this morning!”
There was still a faint mark on his face that wasn’t completely washed off, from which one could guess the original doodle shape.
Miao Ling and a few good friends were playing jump rope under a tree on the playground, hopping and singing.
“Little tyrant, turtle-shell flower!”
“Cries secretly at night because he is afraid of his mom.”
“Snatches my patterned ball by day,”
“Pulls pigtails and tugs hair clips away.”
“Little frog, croak croak!”
“Call you a lying little nit.”
“Pretends to be good when teacher’s near,”
“Turns around and steps on toes, oh dear!”
Su Zhuang shouted angrily, “Stop singing! I’ll tell my dad to teach you a lesson!”
The children glanced at him and jumped even more cheerfully, leaping high. “Jump high, step on it…”
“So the turtle can’t crawl after all!”
“Count to three,go home fast,”
“Your mom’s coming with a broomstick at last!”
Seeing Su Zhuang charge over like a wild bull, everyone pulled the rubber band and scattered, laughing at him from a distance while holding their stomachs.
Seeing the teacher coming, his usual little followers quickly grabbed Su Zhuang. “The teacher’s coming, the teacher’s coming!”
Stone even went to pull him, looking arrogant. “Don’t bother with those people! Tell your dad later, have your dad secretly deduct their families’ wages and make them all go pick through garbage to eat!”
Su Zhuang was so angry he could barely breathe. He pushed Stone away. “And you! You’re the one who took my colored pencils!”
Miao Ling was delighted to see these usually domineering bullies having internal conflicts. They walked under the tree, gathered around Xin Hexue, and praised the great contributor. “You can even make up songs? You’re amazing.”
“Let’s spread the song Xin Hexue made up, so everyone knows about this bad guy.”
“It’s time we took him down, so he doesn’t dare to bully classmates again!”
Su Zhuang behaved for a little while, but as soon as the teacher turned away, he reverted to his old ways.
Taking advantage of no teacher watching, Su Zhuang, followed by his little followers, strode chest out to Lu Yang’s side. “Hey, you’re the new one, right? I heard you’re like Xin Hexue, a country bumpkin who lived in the countryside?”
Lu Yang looked him up and down. “What are you? How many fists do you have to dare talk to me like that?”
Su Zhuang didn’t believe he could run into a tough opponent with so many people with him. Puffing out his chest, he said arrogantly, “Let me see your animal crackers… It’s actually a lion? Can you even appreciate it? Give it to me!”
………
This afternoon was labor class, so the affiliated elementary school’s dismissal bell rang early.
The cement floor of the classroom was washed clean, flushed bucket by bucket with water. The brilliant sunlight shone in, evaporating the moisture and producing a smell similar to after rain.
A clean environment makes people happy.
Zhuang Tongguang was on duty today. He had worked the hardest cleaning, and now, looking at the classroom, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He was still carrying the small red bucket brought from home. The bucket contained dirty water after wiping the windows and washing the rags, so he prepared to go to the restroom to pour it out.
He could go wait for his younger brother at the kindergarten gate a bit earlier.
“Zhuang Tongguang, bad news!”
The classmate who had borrowed his eraser earlier came running back with his schoolbag and found Zhuang Tongguang.
“Is your younger brother in the Wild Goose Class at the kindergarten?” the classmate said urgently. “I heard a new kid came today and beat up half the boys in the class!”
The small red bucket in Zhuang Tongguang’s hand fell to the ground with a “thud”, splashing water.
He threw down the rag, rolled up his sleeves, and rushed out with a cold face.
Author’s Note:
“The History Of The Little Cat’s Rise to Enforcer” by Boxing Champion Lu Yang
