Chapter 17: Seven years later (1)

Seven years may not seem like much in the rush of time, but seven years is enough to change a lot of things. Just like the world outside the village has gradually calmed down and is no longer as crazy as it was, so too has my family. My two older sisters have grown into young women, and I am now in the second grade of elementary school.

Chen Chengyi, nicknamed Sanwa’er. The village’s most mischievous child, his academic performance is far behind his two older sisters. This is what the villagers say about me.

Of course, sometimes they would say, “This kid was very weak when he was young, but fortunately his father was able to get him some nutritious food, and now he’s as big as a calf.”

Yes, since the first grade of elementary school, I have been the tallest boy in my class, and I am also very strong. Why do I say I am the tallest boy? Because girls develop a little earlier than boys, and there is another girl in my class who is taller than me.

Because of this, I often bullied others, so it was common for other parents to come looking for me.

In September of that year, not long after the start of the school year, the summer heat had not completely dissipated. After school at 4:00 p.m., many boys would meet up to go to the ditch to take a bath. Unlike the small river in our village, the ditch was dug by the villagers for irrigation purposes. The deepest part was only one meter, so there was no danger of drowning. Therefore, parents and teachers did not care at all.

In the past, I was most enthusiastic about this kind of thing, but today I’m not in the mood. I’ve turned down all the invitations to go with others because I made a big mistake at school today and I’m afraid to go home.

It was a simple matter. I stole a box of matches from my father before going to school today to show off to my classmates. After all, matches were a rare thing among young children in the countryside at that time.

Showing off obviously had the desired effect, everyone envied me for having a box of matches, and they all gathered around me. It was only when the school director rang the bell for class that everyone reluctantly dispersed.

I was always a restless person, and I was a bit of a show-off. When the class started, everyone else settled down, but I was still excited. When I was excited, the class seemed extra boring. I wasn’t the kind of student who could pay attention in class, so I took advantage of the teacher’s inattention to play with matches.

It was a coincidence that the girl sitting in front of me was the one I hated the most. She was taller than me and I stared at her back and her two big black braids. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I lit a match and reached out to burn someone else’s braids.

In fact, I swear I was just playing a prank. God knows why her hair was so easy to burn. The match flamed up as soon as I held it, and an unpleasant smell of burning spread through the classroom. But she was still paying attention to the lesson.

I was sitting behind her and panicked because the students sitting around us couldn’t help but snicker and laugh. If the teacher, who was writing on the blackboard, noticed, I would be completely finished.

I tried to blow it out, but it was having a good time. I was so desperate that I spit on the girl’s hair, but it was obviously no better than a water tap (a water pipe), and it didn’t help at all.

The students around me started laughing, and the doll with the burning head and smoke was oblivious, but the noise was enough to attract the teacher’s attention. The young female teacher turned around and saw the student with smoke coming out of her head, looking like a fairy. When she took a closer look, she couldn’t help but scream.

Then, she grabbed the books on the desk and rushed down, without even having time to explain, and slammed her hand hard on the doll’s head. The doll was so scared by the teacher’s actions that she almost burst into tears.

But later, she didn’t know who shouted, “Liu Chunyan, your hair is burning.” She only then realized what had happened and burst into tears.

“Come help, the other students go get water.” The young female teacher’s voice became sharp with anger. It was only after she yelled that everyone reacted. The students who were sitting in the back picked up their books and clumsily patted Liu Chunyan on the head. Some other students ran out of the classroom under the pretext of getting water.

In short, I made a mess of the classroom in one minute.

In fact, the fire was not very big, and it would have been extinguished with a few quick smacks. But when the students who had gone to fetch water returned, they didn’t look at the situation and just splashed Liu Chunyan with water without thinking.

Liu Chunyan, who had been in a state of collapse, was finally doused with water, and her crying turned into wailing. This attracted the attention of the students in the next class, who came to watch the fun.

In the end, Liu Chunyan, whose braid had been burned down to half its length and who was soaking wet, was sent home by a few female classmates arranged by the teacher. Of course, before that, the teacher had already interrogated and found out that I was the culprit in this matter.

So, I was punished to stand for the whole morning. During lunch break, I had to stand up except for eating. Yes, the students who didn’t go home slept on the desk, and I stood at the end of the classroom.

In addition, the teacher announced that I would have to bring my parents to school the next day because I was so naughty! I wasn’t really afraid of standing in the corner, but I was afraid of having to bring my parents to school.

I deeply hated my father at that time. He was gentle and kind to my two sisters, but to me, he was always ready to give me a good beating. I could foresee that this would be far more than just a beating from my father. My mother might even join in the ‘mixed doubles’.

I was worried, but also a little happy, because I was in a rural elementary school, which was far from my home. It took about an hour and a half to get to school, so even if my parents knew, they couldn’t come to school in the afternoon. At most, they would wait for me to go home, which meant that I had the afternoon to think of a way out. Even the teacher said that the parents would be brought in tomorrow!

So, I spent the morning and the afternoon trying to think of a way out, but in the afternoon, Liu Chunyan’s arrival made me despair.

I was a problem student, but Liu Chunyan was a good student. Nothing could stop her enthusiasm for learning, and today was the best proof. In the morning, she was sent back in such a disheveled state, but in the afternoon, she cut a man’s hair and returned to the classroom with a swagger.

“Chen Chengyi, I’ll tell you, I’ve already told your mother, and your mother said that you’ll definitely be punished when you go back, so just wait.” Liu Chunyan gave me a warning as soon as she came into the classroom.

This is a primary school in the countryside, with students from several villages. I am from the same village as you, Liu Chunyan, so why are you doing this to me?

I gave Liu Chunyan a disdainful glance, but my heart was twisted into a ‘twist’. I thought of my father’s powerful old fists, supplemented by my mother’s ‘iron palm’, and the ecstasy made my calves tremble.

In the afternoon, I could sit in class, but I wasn’t moved by this treatment. I scratched my scalp until it was raw, but I still couldn’t think of a good, feasible solution.

So, you tell me, how can I be in the mood to go to the river to bathe when they tell me to? For the first time, I felt that the school was so lovely that I didn’t want to leave it. I just wanted to stay at school until I died.

“Sanwa, are you really not going?” The one speaking was Su Laifu, my best friend when I was young. Because he liked to eat, he was a rare fat boy in those days, and was nicknamed “Su Rou” (a Sichuan snack, made by wrapping half-fat and half-lean meat in a mixture of flour, then frying it in oil until crispy. It is especially popular in rural Sichuan).

“Go to hell, you know my dad beats me up for no good reason. It’s annoying to think about it.” Su Rou is my buddy, and I don’t mind sharing my troubles with him.

“Then you should go even more. Since you don’t want to go home anyway, you might as well have fun before you go back. Just like when my old man beat me, I usually told him to wait until I was full before he beat me. Sanwa, are you really so afraid that you don’t even dare to have fun?” Su Rou is heartless. Only when he was young did he come up with the idea of beating him after he had eaten. This saying was a long-standing ‘joke’ in our village at the time.

I am most afraid of provocation, most afraid of people saying I have no guts, and even more afraid of people saying that because I have no guts, I will not become a “combat hero.” Besides, Su Rou’s words make sense. I’m going to get beaten anyway, and I don’t want to go home anyway, so why not go play?

When I thought about it, I was suddenly filled with courage. I put the books in my yellow satchel in a messy pile and said, “If you’re afraid of death, you shouldn’t be a Communist. Chairman Mao is waiting for me to become his glorious combat hero. Let’s go, Su Rou, and take a bath.”

Bathing in the river was a happy thing. A dozen boys jumped in naked and forgot everything when they started playing. They even forgot that time was passing by quickly.

I don’t know how long we played in the ditch. Gradually, some people started to go home. As the number of people decreased, I started to panic. In the end, there were only two of us left in the ditch: me and Su Rou.

Su Rou was soaking in the water, and her lips were already turning pale. Although the heat of the day had not subsided, the coolness was coming quickly. It was already dark, and the sun was about to set. Naturally, the water was cold.

“Sanwa, I can’t stand it anymore. It’s so cold, and I’m hungry. I want to go back and eat.” Su Rou looked at me pitifully and said hesitantly. Although he was just a little boy, Su Rou was quite loyal and didn’t want to leave me alone.

“Let’s talk about it on the way back.” I was also freezing, and I guessed that my lips were as pale as Su Rou’s.

Once we reached the shore, we both dressed shakily and felt a little better, but by then the sun had already set.

“Sanwa, why don’t we go home? You can’t stay out here forever.” Su Rou couldn’t stand the hunger any longer. The smoke from the cooking fires in the village was already rising into the sky, and the smell of the food could be smelled from a long way away in the open fields.

When Su Rou said that, I also wanted to go home, and I was hungry.