Xiao Hua City is a gathering place for the second generation of those whose homes were demolished for redevelopment.
Even though their salaries can barely cover their expenses, everyone lives in their own self-built mini-villas.
Xiao Hua City has a small dock in the rear, where a tributary of the Fengtan River rushes past.
Most residents along the riverbank have converted their self-built houses into shops, occasionally tossing instant noodles, cigarettes, alcohol, and dried shrimp to passengers on passing tour boats.
Some people look down on such petty profits—like Boss Yu, who runs four or five toy factories and is as busy as a donkey that never finishes hauling. Naturally, he doesn’t bother with the paltry business at his shop’s doorstep.
His shop and Li Shuli’s shop are separated by the entire length of Chuanming Street.
Li Shuli is at the head of the street, he’s at the end.
He knows very well how mischievous Li Yingqiao is. Even though the little rascal kept calling out “Uncle, Uncle, Uncle, Uncle” all the way, he didn’t soften his heart, determined to fix her habit of wanting to pull out every valve core she sees.
At first, Li Yingqiao still struggled, but after being dragged along like this by him, she completely gave up.
Her little head hung in resignation, a look of utter surrender on her face, just like a little pig caught red-handed stealing dried fish, leaving herself at Yu Renjie’s mercy.
Then, at Boss Yu’s order, she immediately grabbed the pump and, with all her strength, spent a full ten minutes inflating his rear tire before finally huffing and puffing, “Uncle, is that enough?”
Why is it that this Uncle Yu, who usually loves to show off in his big Benz, is riding such an outdated 28-inch bicycle today? she wondered.
I thought only stiff people like Teacher Hu would ride this kind of bike.
Yet, ten minutes wasn’t even enough time for Yu Renjie to finish a cigarette.
He stood under the streetlamp at his front door, puffing away, determined to make this little rascal work for at least the time it took to smoke a cigarette.
He was just about to tell her to pump up the front tire too, when suddenly Tang Xiang’s voice rang out behind him, “Yu Renjie!”
Tang Xiang stood at the door, with a little one next to her, holding freshly pulled garlic sprouts in her hand.
She looked at the pair under the streetlamp, then hurriedly called out, “What are you doing?”
Yu Renjie felt the back of his head tingle from her shout, as if the skin was being peeled off.
He was afraid Tang Xiang would think he couldn’t be a proper father at home and was fooling around outside, so he was about to explain that it was the little rascal who pulled out his valve core first.
But before he could, Li Yingqiao seized the initiative and shouted, “Tang Xiang Auntie! Uncle Yu said he’d give me five yuan if I helped him pump his tire!”
Tang Xiang looked at Yu Renjie, “Then pay her, what are you dawdling for.”
Sometimes I think every member of the Li family must have been marinated in garlic sauce in a past life. They’re just too much.
For a long time, Yu Renjie has considered Li Yingqiao to be Xiao Hua City’s “number one monkey spirit” and “the hardest to handle.”
She was like this as a child—who knows what she’ll be like grown up.
He’s told his son three times over to keep his distance from her.
***
Yu Jinyang lay on his desk doing homework, speaking to his father in a tone that said, “How can you not understand?”
“Dad, if we’re deskmates, it’s impossible not to talk at all. Besides, with Li Yingqiao’s temper, if I ignore her, she’ll keep pestering me until I respond. Can you just stop provoking her, so she won’t come bother me in class tomorrow?”
“Just hold on until next semester, you’ll have a new deskmate. Be a man.”
“Ugh, can’t you let it go already?”
Of all the things to bring up… Yu Renjie was about to leave the room, but turned back to look him up and down.
“Son, did you not grow any taller this year? Are you still tall enough to be Li Yingqiao’s deskmate? I think she’s almost a head taller than you now.”
“That’s why she got into the Guoqi Class.”
“Are you going to join too?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Nonsense,” Yu Renjie came back, leaned down, and stared into his son’s eyes, ruthlessly exposing him, “You obviously want to.”
Yu Jinyang didn’t flinch. His pen scratched away at his homework, and as soon as he sensed a shadow fall over him, he buried his head in his arms, refusing his father the chance to study his expression.
His voice buzzed muffled in the desk, “I said I don’t, so I don’t.”
Yu Renjie thought for a moment, then shamelessly sat on his son’s little navy bed.
“How about I call your principal…? The factory just got a new batch of Shanmao wood. I could ask the carpenters to make a few hundred desks and chairs—”
Yu Jinyang’s eyes widened.
“What desks and chairs?”
Tang Xiang came in, rubbing her waist, and pushed him out.
“Stop bothering your son when he’s doing homework. Can’t you do something useful for once? Don’t you think your son gets talked about enough at school already?”
“They’re just jealous! He’s got a handsome dad like me, and we’re loaded—what’s wrong if people talk about him a bit?”
“You can’t even handle a few words yourself, and your son’s much more thin-skinned than you. Besides, the Guoqi Class has strict requirements. He’s so short, even the teachers complain when he’s in the front row. Are you trying to roast him over a fire? Can you stop comparing him to Li Yingqiao all the time?”
Before she finished, Yu Jinyang’s door clicked shut.
The two outside stopped, glanced at the tightly closed door, then turned back in unison.
Tang Xiang still stared at him, lowering her voice, “Why compare heights? Why not compare grades? Or better yet, you and Li Yingqiao can compete yourselves.”
Yu Renjie, “You want me to go to jail?”
Tang Xiang, “….. Ever read a book? Can’t you tell good advice from bad? I’m saying, don’t do to others what you don’t want done to yourself! Especially to your own son—he already complains enough about you.”
Yu Renjie didn’t take it seriously, “Nonsense. The other day, his test paper had ‘Renjie’s son’ written right on it in big, bold letters. Which other dad in Xiao Hua City gets that treatment?”
Tang Xiang smacked his head, “You dare bring that up! That’s because you insisted on adding the ‘Jin’ to his name. He could barely write ‘Yu Yang’ properly! Now he doesn’t even want to use his own name. ‘Renjie’s son’—four big characters for someone simple-minded with strong limbs.”
***
In a flash, it was 2007.
The Bird’s Nest, Water Cube, and other Olympic venues had been completed one after another.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics was entering a race against time to prepare.
That day after school, the adults of Xiao Hua City hadn’t gotten off work yet.
The ridges of Xiadong loomed like claws of a giant beast trapped deep in the earth, unable to snatch away the evening sun.
As soon as the end-of-class bell rang, Li Yingqiao tossed her pen into the desk and sprinted home at hundred-meter dash speed.
She vanished so fast it was like the Huoqian Fashi, leaving Yu Jinyang, who had been trying to gently persuade her, “Teacher said I should remind you you’re on duty today—”
The next second, her seat was already empty, not even a fallen leaf left behind.
He really couldn’t stand it. Paper cranes—she never folded them. Duty—she was never diligent.
Studying—she was at the bottom of the class.
He must have used up eight lifetimes’ worth of bad luck to end up as her deskmate for two years.
Xu Laoshi was transferred to a city school not long after, and the new homeroom teacher wasn’t familiar with them, so after consulting the parents, didn’t randomly change the seating.
Even though Yu Renjie tried everything, the new teacher was strict and didn’t fall for his tricks—especially after seeing his big Benz, she ignored him even more.
So, Yu Jinyang remained deskmates with Li Yingqiao until fourth grade.
To this day, he still couldn’t accept it.
How could someone like her get into the Guoqi Class and raise the bright national flag every Monday, basking in everyone’s attention!
Ever since he entered Huacheng Primary School, under Tang Xiang Lady’s guidance, he’d tried to become the “perfect child” in the eyes of Xiao Hua City’s adults, except for his height, which was his Achilles’ heel.
He was both class monitor and squad leader, with only the position of head squad leader left to strive for, but that wasn’t in his plan for the semester.
Tang Xiang Lady also insisted grades were more important.
But ever since he shared a desk with Li Yingqiao, she never bothered folding the paper cranes for PE’s lung capacity tests, and her grades were a total disaster except for the two names she wrote beautifully on the test paper.
The rest was unbearable.
Several times, teachers scolded her in the comments—‘If you use this test paper to cushion your sunflower seed shells again, I’ll call your mother!’
And she was always fighting with boys from the neighboring class, causing trouble for him as class monitor every day. In the end, because she was tall, she got into the Guoqi Class with Gao Dian, while he, as squad leader, could only stand below the Zhuxitai and look up at her showing off as a flag bearer.
Then he still had to serve her tea, water, and lend her homework to copy after school.
Yu Jinyang gritted his teeth—this time, he was determined not to care about her anymore.
At that moment, Gao Dian turned around, “Where’s the tank?”
Yu Jinyang replied with a blank face, “Drove off.”
Gao Dian was a left-behind child.
His parents worked in Shenzhen and only came home for New Year.
Usually, he lived with his grandparents in Xiao Hua City.
They were old and couldn’t pick him up from school, so he always carried his own bag across the street.
The school was right across from Xiao Hua City, not far, and though Gao Dian was tall, he clearly traded his height for brains.
In first and second grade, the gatekeeper had to help him cross.
He was worrying now, “Miao Miao, what did you write on your great-grandma’s birthday card?”
‘Live a hundred years, happiness as boundless as the East Sea, longevity like the Southern Mountain.’
“What’s wrong?”
Gao Dian, “If there’s someone in this world, who, say, is ninety-nine years old, with an older brother named East Sea and a younger brother named Southern Mountain, and both of them have died, what blessing should he get?”
Yu Jinyang, “….. Just wish him good health and a long life, honestly.”
Gao Dian scratched his head, “But then my grandma will say my tuition was wasted!”
“…… That’s a tough one.”
Yu Jinyang could only sigh in sympathy.
***
Li Yingqiao ran home in under a minute—the distance from school to the grocery shop was only two or three hundred meters.
For Li Shuli, she had just finished tidying up the warehouse when the school bell rang.
The next second, Qiaoqiao appeared at the door, the bell’s echo still in her ears as her daughter was already sitting in the glass counter, munching away on snacks.
Li Shuli sighed, locked up the warehouse, and said, “I really should’ve listened to your PE teacher and sent you to train for sprints. With this speed… Did you hear what homework the teacher assigned today?”
“Nope.”
Li Yingqiao chewed on shrimp chips, answering honestly, “I’ll ask Yu Jinyang later. He probably remembers everything. He’d probably even grab a teacher’s fart and save it for his mom to sniff if he could.”
Li Shuli didn’t have time to deal with her, “I’m going to buy some groceries. Your uncle’s coming for dinner. Lock up the cash drawer tight—don’t let him see it.”
Li Yingqiao immediately stood up straight on her little stool and declared loudly, “Roger!”
As soon as Li Shuli left, she belatedly slapped her own forehead and groaned, I’m on duty today! I’m doomed!
The stone-paved Chuanming Street radiated summer heat, and the evening sun was like oil heated and cooled at the bottom of a wok, its residual warmth covering the quiet street.
Students, like swarms of bees, streamed in groups down the street.
Li Yingqiao estimated the time, poking her head out to watch the crowd about to flow across the road.
Sure enough, she spotted a very familiar head.
She quickly pulled out a prepared bowl of water and a spoon, then scooped a big slanted spoonful onto her own neck.
The veins beneath her skin instantly burst open, creating a bright patch of red sand.
Ah? I’m really heat-stroked.
She felt a huge sense of relief and immediately called out to Yu Jinyang, who was about to walk past her shop, “Jinyang!”
Yu Jinyang pretended not to hear, clearly not wanting to interact with her.
He had purposely put on the trendy over-ear headphones his dad brought back from a business trip to Shanghai, which his dad had frantically stuffed into his schoolbag that morning.
If Li Yingqiao talked too much, he could put on the headphones and ignore her.
But there was no MP3 or portable music player—just a decorative headset.
Grandpa said listening to music would distract him and could even damage his hearing, so it was better for kids not to listen too much.
The real use of the headphones was to block out the annoying Li Yingqiao.
He didn’t wear them in class, but after school, he decided to put them on to avoid being stopped by her at the grocery shop.
But Li Yingqiao still managed to stop him, even pulling out the headphone cord he had nowhere to plug in and waving it in front of his eyes with a mischievous grin, “Jinyang, what are you listening to? The sound of your own heart?”
He snatched back the cord, his face flushing red, feeling exposed.
He really was thin-skinned—blame Dad for the bad idea.
To maintain his class monitor dignity, he could only glare at her coldly, “Li Yingqiao!”
Li Yingqiao burst out laughing, imitating the cool boys of Xiao Hua City who always wore walkmans, “So thin-skinned but still trying to act cool. Alright, I won’t tell anyone, as long as you cover for me about skipping duty. Otherwise, I’ll tell Gao Dian and the others. You secretly like pretending to be cool.”
Yu Jinyang wasn’t buying it this time and didn’t bother explaining, “Do whatever you want. I’m telling the teacher tomorrow anyway that you skipped your duty.”
Li Yingqiao froze, then angrily grabbed at his headphone cord again, “You! How could you! You traitor! Tattletale! Enemy of the people!”
Yu Jinyang turned his head to dodge, frowning, “You really are noisy, I’m serious. Even with these on my ears, I can still hear you loud and clear.”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.