The next day when he got up, Chen Yuanming was strangely quiet, saying nothing, his expression blank, and even the usually careless Chen Jianhua noticed something was wrong.
“Dou Dou, are you sick?” Wang Juan put her hand on her son’s forehead. “Is school too busy lately? Later Mom will get you some eggs to build you up…”
As if those worried words about money from last night had never existed at all, her smile was still so gentle, her eyes full of care and hope for him. Chen Yuanming silently shook his head and lowered his eyes.
He remembered. His uncle’s younger daughter, Wang Hui, childhood name Yuanyuan.
A gloomy, quiet little girl with a slight limp. In his previous life, he had not been deeply impressed by this cousin; he had only seen her a few times during holiday visits, and vaguely remembered that she had injured her leg in an accident when she was little.
But he had never thought that if they’d had money back then, this lame leg might have been cured…
Memory is like a dried-up water skin; unless you twist and wring it hard, you cannot squeeze out what you need. But when you truly recover those things, they are often pitiful and bitter.
In the days that followed, why his parents’ relationship grew colder by the day, why his aunts never came to visit again, why his youngest uncle always treated their family coldly… a pile of bad debts tore the family apart.
He had once thought it was because the family had no money and was short-sighted that they did not want him to attend high school or take the college entrance exam, wanting only to send him to the factory for an iron rice bowl.
But he had never expected that his parents had once so eagerly hoped he would succeed in his studies and make something of himself.
And in this life, he truly could do it. Attend the best high school in the city, get into a top national university.
He was not a genius type, but as long as he was willing to study hard, these things were not difficult.
But what about his family… even if he could earn money, several thousand, tens of thousands, even a hundred thousand or a million, that would still be two or three years later, after he left this closed-off city.
Distant water cannot quench immediate thirst.
In the classroom, everyone was listening intently, making a final sprint for the upcoming final exam; this was their first chance in this life to change their fate.
But Chen Yuanming sat blankly in his seat, staring at the draft notebook filled with writing, at the date that had been traced over and over again.
He had actually always known how to take the shortcut; he had experience, ability, and most crucially, foreknowledge. But subconsciously, this plan had never been put on paper.
Only because of his longing, because of his heart full of hope. Living again, why shouldn’t he have a better life?
A childhood less anxious, valued by his parents, full of pride; a campus life less impoverished, walking openly and honorably through the highest halls of learning…
Unfortunately, he could not have it.
“Chen Yuanming!”
A sharp voice interrupted his thoughts. Chen Yuanming looked up and saw Teacher Han on the podium, glaring at him viciously, her eyes full of contempt and anger.
“Answer the question I just asked!”
Chen Yuanming did not move, staring straight back.
“Your grades go up and you start reverting to your old ways?” Seeing the other’s expression without a trace of regret, Teacher Han’s voice grew even sharper.
“Stand up! You dare to space out in my class? What are you holding? Hand it over! Do you think you don’t need to listen anymore? That you can do whatever you want? It’s only been a few days and your tail is already up to the sky! As if you deserve to!”
Chen Yuanming silently stood up and swept his gaze around the room.
More than half the classroom held gloating looks, and a few frowned in disdain. He lowered his head, touched that date once more, and closed the notebook.
Reaching into the desk, he took out his schoolbag, swept all the textbooks on the desk into it, then slung the bag over his shoulder and walked out of the classroom without hesitation.
Shocked by this action, the classroom immediately erupted in whispers. Teacher Han was stunned for a long moment before she came back to her senses, and as the youth stepped out of the classroom she shouted furiously.
“Chen Yuanming!! Do you want to be expelled? This is a school, not a place where you can come and go as you please!”
Chen Yuanming turned his head and took a deep look at the bright, clean classroom, at those young boys and girls with their various expressions, at that middle-aged woman so angry she had lost her composure… so familiar, so strange. He could no longer go back.
A slightly self-mocking smile rose to his lips.
“No need to expel me. I’m dropping out.”
Amid an uproar, Chen Yuanming stepped out of the classroom, his steps light. A strange sense of relief suddenly surged in his heart.
Now he was in the top three of the whole school; would Han Qian bear some responsibility for his dropping out? But that no longer mattered.
He no longer had to pretend, no longer had to awkwardly stay among these children. Now, for him, there were more important things…
“Chen Yuanming!”
With a furious shout, the door was kicked open with great force. Chen Yuanming put away the envelope beside him and looked up. He saw his father rush in, face full of rage, grab him by the collar, and drag him up from the edge of the bed.
“You fucking explain yourself! What happened at school today!”
“Just like you heard, Dad.”
“You fucking dare talk back to me!” A palm as big as a palm-leaf fan slapped down with a crack, making Chen Yuanming stagger. “Go apologize to the teacher!”
“Dou Dou!” Wang Juan also rushed through the door. “What are you thinking? The graduation exam is almost here, how can you talk back to the teacher! You! Go admit your mistake, I’ll go with you…”
It seemed the call had gone straight to the factory. His mouth corner stung with a burning pain. Facing his shocked and furious parents, Chen Yuanming gently shook his head. “I really don’t want to go to school anymore, don’t…”
“You little bastard!!”
Chen Jianhua kicked out at him. With a clatter, the table and chairs beside him were knocked over. Chen Yuanming lost his balance from the kick, staggered back a few steps, and caught himself on the ground with one hand.
“Not go to school?! What can you do if you don’t go to school?!” His trembling hands quickly undid his belt, and the leather belt was gripped tightly in his palm. “How old do you think you are? What do you think you’re doing?! You fucking explain yourself!”
“I’m not going to school anymore. I want to go out and make money…”
With a whoosh, the belt swung down, and a bloody welt appeared on his cheek. Chen Yuanming flinched from the pain but did not dodge.
“Make money?! Make shit! You’re a 15-year-old little brat, where are you going to make money? What money can you make?!” Along with the roar, the belt came down over his head and face, each strike raising another bloody welt.
“What kind of madness is this…” Wang Juan collapsed blankly onto the bed beside her, her voice full of tears. “What kind of madness is this?! Ah… is it that bitch Liu Yun! It must be her!!”
“No…” A lash struck his neck. Chen Yuanming gritted his teeth and shook his head hard. “That little bit of money of hers, I don’t care for it!”
Chen Jianhua laughed in anger, panting as he stopped.
“Don’t care for it?! Have your wings grown hard, do you think you’re capable now! Make money? Do you think making money is that simple?!”
“I’m almost forty and still only make eighty yuan a month. What makes you think you can make money? Because you didn’t even finish middle school?!”
Blood trickled down Chen Yuanming’s cheek. He smiled, the corner of his eye twitching with pain. “Because I helped Aunt Liu come up with an idea, and she made more than 1,000 yuan in a month.”
Those words were like a bolt from the blue, freezing both of them in place. Chen Yuanming did not pause at all. “I already have a plan, and I’ve bought a train ticket. It departs at 7 AM tomorrow. I’m going to the South to work.”
“Train…” Wang Juan’s lips trembled. She had never ridden a train in her life, had never even been around the train station.
“You’re only a few years old, do you know… what the neighbors will say about you… do you know, if you don’t go to school, your future… I’m begging you, Mom is begging you, don’t go crazy like this, okay? Let’s go apologize to the teacher. You can get into No. 1 High School, Dou Dou, you can get in…”
Tears slid down Wang Juan’s cheeks. Chen Yuanming felt a painful lump in his throat.
He wanted to tell his mother that in his previous life they had never been able to save enough money to repay his youngest uncle, leaving a once innocent and lively little girl with a lifelong disability.
He wanted to tell his mother that years of overtime had crushed her spirit, that three years later she would fall deeply asleep during a night shift, letting a group of petty thieves steal important materials from the factory, lose her job, and spend half her life under people’s mocking gazes.
He wanted to tell his mother that because of overwork, his father would eventually develop a strain-related illness, his back and waist aching unbearably whenever the weather changed…
So many words surged in his heart, but what finally squeezed out from between his teeth was, “I want to make money, a lot of money. Even if you break my legs, I’m still going out to try.”
Looking at his son’s straight-backed kneeling posture and the thing radiating from his eyes, Chen Jianhua’s hand trembled, and the belt slipped from his fingers.
His back hunched, as if he had suddenly aged ten years. He looked at his weeping wife and his blood-streaked son, swayed, and walked toward the door.
“Jianhua! Jianhua!” She cried out twice but could not call her husband’s back. Wang Juan threw herself onto her son.
“Why can’t you think straight? How are you going to let me and your father hold our heads up in front of others… It’s all Mom’s fault, all Mom’s fault… Why can’t our family have a good life, why can’t you go to school! Dou Dou, why can’t you think straight…”
Something hot slid down his neck, dripping onto his torn, raw wounds, a burning pain. Chen Yuanming endured it for a long time, but in the end reached out and wrapped his arms around his mother.
“I’ll make big money, Mom… don’t worry, I’ll make big money…”
Something churned behind his eyes, burning his heart. But compared to his earlier entanglement, his heart was calm and certain.
He was no longer that innocent child; he had memories and experience far beyond his age. He should bear the weight of this family, rather than let his parents fall again into the desperate straits of poverty and hardship.
Living a second life, he could do it.
Early the next morning, carrying a small bundle, Chen Yuanming brought more than 200 yuan and an ID card with him and stepped into the green train car, setting off on his journey to the South.
Behind him, there were no relatives or friends to see him off.
Only a letter lay quietly in the mailbox outside the train station, on the cream-colored envelope a few neat pen-written characters: L City Bearing Factory Second Middle School, Grade 9, Class 2, Sun Lang.