Two days later, school started. No matter how bad his parents’ expressions were, they couldn’t keep him confined anymore, and Chen Yuanming returned to his routine of home and school.
However, when he sat in his new seat with his backpack, what he felt was not satisfaction, but a deeper sense of dissonance.
More than a year of group rejection and self-isolation had dragged his image in the class to rock bottom.
Ma Zhiqiang no longer came looking for trouble, but the fearful expression on the kid’s face when facing Chen Yuanming, as if he wanted to say something but held back, really sparked rich associations among the other classmates.
Add to that the homeroom teacher’s still very targeted nitpicking and the endless homework and exercises of ninth grade, and his school life could only be described as dull.
Of course, if he put effort into managing relationships with classmates, it might not fail to improve his current situation, but Chen Yuanming just didn’t have the mood for it.
Even if he could act cute and obedient in front of Liu Yun and Sun Lang, he couldn’t really integrate into the lives of these 14 or 15-year-old kids anymore.
The childishness and innocence expected at this age had long been wiped out by another set of memories. The games, topics, and budding feelings they were interested in were all too distant for Chen Yuanming.
Unconsciously, he no longer doubted what was in his memories; instead, he was assimilated and swallowed by those memories, transforming into another soul.
This change was silent, but the sensitive middle schoolers still sensed something was off by instinct. Facing Chen Yuanming’s increasingly eccentric behavior, they took the most direct approach.
The space around Chen Yuanming grew colder and lonelier, as if he were a strange person who had wandered into the class by mistake, kept at a safe distance by his classmates.
Chen Yuanming didn’t mind such an attitude. His gaze only paused on the hands of those little girls for a few days, coldly observing as the fingerless gloves went from a few pairs to a dozen or so, and finally spread throughout the whole school.
In less than a month, these woolen gloves became a new trend, but the ones made by Liu Yun’s hands were less than the number of fingers on one hand.
He had been right again.
However, this accurate prediction didn’t bring him much joy.
During these days, Chen Yuanming gradually developed a habit. Besides the daily schoolwork he had to complete, he now had a draft notebook bound with waste paper, its back pages filled with row after row of plans.
From food, small commodities, stamp collecting, to scrap iron ingots from the Steel Factory, partnering to resell goods, investing in gambling-like arcades, and so on, he listed every money-making method he could think of, but each one ended with a huge black X.
Capital, time, connections, partners… all potentially lucrative industries required some level of investment, but aside from that set of memories, he had no advantages.
His family, his social circle, and his own age limit meant every path was a dead end; it was impossible to achieve anything in such an environment.
Chen Yuanming’s gaze once again fell to the end of the page, where there was a date, a key turning point enough to change anyone’s life, so easily obtainable, yet out of reach.
Taking a deep breath, Chen Yuanming closed the notebook and walked out of the classroom amid the bell signaling the end of evening self-study. A month and a half into the semester, the school had already held two placement tests.
Now he was fully confident he could rank in the top three of the whole school and smoothly enter Municipal First High School, but so what? In his heart, unwillingness and hesitation were tearing at him; he still couldn’t give up those coveted opportunities.
Maybe all of this should be put off until after he got into high school. Municipal First High School was a boarding school, and with enough freedom, he could try to do some truly profitable business, just waiting another three months.
Carrying all sorts of tangled thoughts, he set foot on the small road home. It was already the end of April, and by the time school let out, the sky was near dusk. The children running on the road were all in a hurry, eager to get home for a hot dinner.
Compared to them, Chen Yuanming’s pace was much slower, so as he approached the Employee Dormitory building, there was almost no one around him. Then, at the end of the road, a familiar figure came into view.
“Uncle.”
Chen Yuanming was startled, then quickly stepped forward to greet him. The man standing by the doorway was his uncle Wang Tao. His mother’s family was relatively simple, with only three siblings.
His eldest aunt had followed the army in Gansu, and his youngest uncle was the third, currently working at the Tractor Factory and had risen to lower management.
He was also their family’s only relative in L City now. Back then, after his father fell out with the aunts in the countryside over his grandmother’s medical expenses, only his youngest uncle still had some contact with the family.
“Dou Dou.” Wang Tao also saw Chen Yuanming and revealed a slightly bitter smile. “School’s out. How are your grades now?”
“Pretty good.” Chen Yuanming keenly noticed that the other’s mood wasn’t very good. He hesitated, then said, “My mom should be home by now. Why don’t you come up and sit for a while? She…”
“It’s fine, I just came down from your place.” Wang Tao interrupted Chen Yuanming and waved his hand. “It’s getting late, I should head back. Study hard, don’t make your mom worry too much.”
After saying these words without any context, Wang Tao got on his bicycle and rode away along the bumpy road. Watching the other’s back, Chen Yuanming was dazed for a while, then went upstairs.
Only Wang Juan was at home. It was late and the stove still wasn’t lit. She was sitting blankly on the edge of the bed, looking down at her fingers. Hearing the door open, she gave a start and stood up.
“You’re back.” A smile immediately rose to her face, but it was too stiff, not much like a smile. Wang Juan lowered her eyes to hide it.
“Mom got off work late today, I’ll go cook now. Your dad is still working overtime at the factory, so it’s just the two of us…”
“Mom, I saw Uncle downstairs…” Chen Yuanming said softly. “Is something going on at home…”
“What nonsense are you talking about?” Wang Juan lightly patted Chen Yuanming’s arm. “Your uncle just came to discuss something with me. You’re just a kid, don’t worry about so much, study hard.”
Saying that, she pushed the door open and went out, starting to light the fire and cook, as if nothing had happened. However, Chen Yuanming couldn’t ignore her reddened eyes. Standing in place for a while, he put down his backpack and sat on the edge of the bed.
Actually, in his impression, Chen Yuanming didn’t know much about his family’s situation when he was 15 or 16. He only remembered that when he was about to graduate from elementary school, his grandmother suddenly fell seriously ill.
To pay for treatment, they borrowed a huge foreign debt, several thousand yuan, but in the end, she couldn’t be saved.
The family went from an enviable dual-income household to a thoroughly poor one. They borrowed from all their relatives and friends.
Although people were kind back then, no one was wealthy, and the debt collection went back and forth until relations soured.
To repay the debt, his parents put all their attention on work, with no time or interest in disciplining their child.
He was among the first generation of only children, with no siblings around, and was bullied at school. Over time, he felt deep pain from his family’s neglect and misunderstanding.
Unknowingly, the family became a mess, cold and distant. In his previous life, he never heard about the family’s situation from his parents, nor did he ever truly receive their attention, until 1994 when his mother got involved in a theft case at the factory and was laid off directly.
Only then did he couldn’t hold back and went north to work…
However, in his previous life, the relationship between his family and his uncle’s family was indeed not good.
His uncle and Jinzi never visited their home at all, as if there was some serious conflict. But what exactly caused the two families to become enemies?
Eating, reviewing lessons, chatting, washing up… all the way until bedtime, Chen Yuanming still couldn’t get any words out of his mother.
Glancing at his mother, who was quietly mending clothes nearby, he let out a soft sigh and turned over to sleep.
He slept until the middle of the night. When he was awakened again by the tragic scene in his dream, Chen Yuanming, as usual, chose to lie quietly in bed to catch his breath. But after a few light breaths, he suddenly heard a faint sound of conversation.
It was already early morning, long past the time for the night shift to end. Chen Yuanming quietly turned his head slightly, eavesdropping on the whispering coming from the other side.
“…How about we squeeze out some money first and give it to them?” a female voice said, very faint, a bit uneasy.
“Where would the money come from?” another voice replied tiredly. “We just paid Liangzi back 500 yuan. We’ll have to cut back on living expenses for the next two months.”
“But little brother says Yuanyuan really can’t delay any longer. If it weren’t for treating your mother back then…” The voice took on a tearful tone. “Those sisters of yours, can’t you ask them to contribute a little? Isn’t she their mother too!”
“Keep your voice down.” A long silence. “Lingling’s son just started high school this year, her family really… You know about Lili and her husband, how can I bring it up?”
“If you can’t bring it up, can I? If Xiao Tao hadn’t helped our family back then, how could we have made it through? Now Yuanyuan’s leg has been injured for so long, if it’s not treated soon, it will leave a lasting problem. How can I face his couple?”
“…I’ll switch to two shifts next month, plus overtime pay, and with the little tuition we’ve saved…”
“You can’t touch the tuition! I heard people say, Dou Dou’s grades can definitely get him into Municipal First High School. You know how much that tuition is, what if it’s not enough?!”
“There are still two or three months left!” The voice rose a little, carrying some stubbornness. “Wait another two months and we can always make it work…”
“Chen Jianhua! That’s your son! If he can’t get into high school, do you want him to be a worker for life like you?”
“Of course I want him to go to high school and college! But you tell me what other way there is? Have you asked how much college tuition costs? Now your brother is still chasing us for money, what do you want me to do?”
“Go talk to Lili! She should have paid back then. At least Lingling contributed some. How can she, as the eldest sister…”
“If you want to go, you go!”
“Fine! I’ll go, even if I have to swallow my pride! But don’t you hold me back. Even if it’s not 1,000 or 2,000, 700 or 800 should be something!”
“She can barely get by. If she gets divorced and leaves with nothing, what can she give you? How can you even ask!”
“Chen Jianhua!”
Having listened for too long, Chen Yuanming couldn’t help but move his neck. The buckwheat pillow made a faint rustling sound. The two voices beside him immediately vanished completely.
Chen Yuanming gently turned half his body, facing his face toward the window. After a long while, a faint voice came from behind.
“Anyway, my son has to go to college. My Dou Dou is so smart, he’ll be much more successful than you!”
The whispering slowly died down, eventually turning into silence. Chen Yuanming’s eyes were wide open, staring blankly out the window.
The curtain was still so thin that it couldn’t block the bright moonlight at all. In that dazzling light, he could not close his eyes for a long time.