[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-1987-my-era":3,"chapter-1987-my-era-1987-my-era-chapter-9":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","1987: My Era",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2259169,4409,"Chapter 9: Black and White Spirits Couldn","1987-my-era-chapter-9",9,"\u003Cp>Before attending preschool, the two had barely spoken to each other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From preschool to sixth grade, they were desk partners and academic rivals, alternating for first place in the class, every time without exception.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For seven full years, first place never left their hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were nicknamed the Black and White Killers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after entering middle school, the gap between them widened instantly. At that time, Yang Ying seemed to have unlocked some divine power—she was always first in the entire school, in middle school and still in high school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What was Li Heng doing when he first entered middle school? Fighting, seeking revenge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hui County was a well-known poor county, with a traditionally fierce folk spirit, and rural middle schools were even worse. Because this generation of children was so numerous, their quality varied wildly; school cliques were everywhere—boys and girls, older siblings and younger ones, all bullying and dominating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment he and Zhang Zhiyong stepped into the town school, they were betrayed by their elementary school buddy Liu Shuiwen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Shuiwen, relying on his cousin who was a troublemaking underachiever at school, often brought his cousin and a gang into the dorms to collect protection money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In just one month, Li Heng and Zhang Zhiyong were robbed four times—each time their meal money was taken, and each time they were kicked in the stomach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the fifth time, because they didn’t have enough money, the entire dorm was beaten by Liu Shuiwen and his brother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After being beaten severely and pushed to their limit, Li Heng, Zhang Zhiyong, and others exploded. They gathered classmates who had also been bullied to fight back, and often ambushed Liu Shuiwen and his brother on their way home after school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At their peak, dozens of classmates who had suffered under them came together to surround the Liu family’s village home, wielding sticks to smash and demand justice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That time, Liu Shuiwen and his brother trembled in terror, finally understanding true fear. Later, under mediation by school teachers and the village committee, they signed and stamped written guarantees, and their parents were forced to pay double compensation to everyone—they now avoided Li Heng and his group whenever they saw them on the road.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This incident looked flashy and glorious, but it was ultimately not worth it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because he hadn’t studied seriously for over a semester, Li Heng’s brilliance vanished, and his grades plummeted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I remember there were fifteen classes in first year of middle school, about a thousand students—he ranked 250th or lower in the entire school. This was only because his math talent was exceptional—he nearly always scored full marks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In contrast to his celebrated math, his English was utterly miserable—he never passed, and his highest score was 53, half of which came from guessing; it was unforgettable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching Chen Zijin consistently rank among the top twenty in the school and Yang Ying firmly holding first place, Li Heng was stung by Tian Rune’s words: “Littlest son, why haven’t you won any awards since entering middle school?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In second year, his self-respect awakened—he decided to work hard and catch up to them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After relentless day-and-night studying, his other subjects improved gradually.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But English—oh, it was always a nightmare. He was like a withered eggplant soaked in frost, utterly unable to grasp the basics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Ying’s English was terrifying—she scored full marks every time, could converse fluently with teachers in class, and every teacher in the school remembered her as a genius.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps fate had intervened—throughout all three years of middle school, they were both in Class 125, still classmates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once after an English class, Li Heng, still confused, humbly asked the girl:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yingwen, what does ‘decide to do sth’ mean?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Yang Ying, sitting in the front row, half-turned her head and said with a mocking tone:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh! Li Heng, aren’t you the guy who beats people up and still gets full marks in math? Why are you even reading?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After uttering this sharply sarcastic remark, she turned back and resumed her own work, refusing to answer him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was right after class, and many people were watching. Li Heng, shamefully humiliated, stood bent over, face flushed, unable to speak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He deeply regretted it—why hadn’t he just walked a few more steps to ask Chen Zijin in Class 129 on the third floor?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Xiao Han, Yang Ying’s desk partner, curled her lips, gave him several mischievous glances, and unexpectedly came to his rescue—she explained the grammatical structure in detail and gave him three examples.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that instant, Xiao Han’s figure expanded infinitely in his heart—like Guanyin Bodhisattva incarnate, radiant and saving all beings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a long time afterward, he racked his brain trying to figure out why she had helped him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, he concluded: the shark, tired of blood, had momentarily felt pity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I say this because throughout first year, Li Heng and Xiao Han had never spoken; they had even argued over a chair, fighting fiercely twice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, unlike in later times, desks and chairs were extremely valuable—damaging one required double compensation to the school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So everyone marked their chairs—writing their names to claim ownership, like dogs urinating to mark territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every time, Xiao Han would team up with three girl friends to verbally eviscerate him alone—he was utterly crushed, fled with his hands over his head, no match at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where was his good buddy Zhang Zhiyong? Standing nearby, pretending to be mute, grinning like a fool, watching the show.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Afterwards, that idiot raised his right fist, stuck out his chicken neck, and proudly defended himself: “Everyone knows Xiao Han is the prettiest girl in our school—I’m not stupid enough to argue with her.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Decide to do sth”—Xiao Han taught it with great care and precision; Li Heng felt as if divine energy had flooded his meridians—he suddenly unlocked his potential, and his English gradually improved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First he passed, then reached 70, and later stabilized above 80.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of this English question, Li Heng’s relationship with Yang Ying hit rock bottom in second year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although they sat in front and back rows, she occasionally blurted out a few words by accident, but both had erased each other from their list of friends.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or rather, because of his frequent fighting and troublemaking in first year, he had become someone Yang Ying deeply disliked—and she erased him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Starting in second year, Li Heng entered his spring again—his grades in all subjects caught up, and his school ranking soared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the final few mock exams of third year, he surged into the top twenty in the entire school, qualifying for admission to No. 1 and No. 2 High Schools.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, only thirty-five students from the town middle school could apply to No. 1 and No. 2 High Schools—just enough to fill one bus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, these thirty-five students took the entrance exam in a separate room at No. 1 and No. 2 High Schools; a special bus transported them from town to county, one hundred li away, and their own teachers supervised the exam. Students from other areas—even if they met the score threshold—were not accepted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, if you didn’t take the exam at No. 1 and No. 2 High Schools, they didn’t trust your real scores.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s how prestigious it was!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing that he had truly turned his life around, Yang Ying later initiated several conversations with him and apologized; their relationship unexpectedly improved, and by first year of high school, it returned to normal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He once, while drunk, asked this girl with the ponytail: “Why did you treat yourself like that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Ying replied: “Didn’t you ever resent me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He thought for a moment and answered honestly: “Resentment? Not quite—but I couldn’t let it go. After all, we used to be so close.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Ying stared into her cup for a long time, then said: “I don’t know why I said that—I was just frustrated. You were so disappointing in first year.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, the reason he abandoned his iron rice bowl civil service job to enter business was because of her constant persuasion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Speaking of Yang Ying’s name, there’s a funny story behind it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When her mother was pregnant, she dreamed of the God of Literature descending from heaven; upon waking, she was so excited she told everyone she was carrying a boy who would be brilliant at studies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The result? Obviously, she was only half right—it was a girl, but she was indeed terrifyingly brilliant at studies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The name “Yingwen” was chosen to pray that her dream would come true—to fulfill the prophecy of the God of Literature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1441,"2026-06-19T15:27:33.982Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","342f16d90c2dcd7291015e4181d05375f445b96533bb6c68db6749d1806e7779","1987-my-era-chapter-10","1987-my-era-chapter-8",713,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002F1987-my-era-cover.jpg"]