Chapter 118

Zheng Tan looked at the child walking into an old residential area ahead, paused, then followed him in.

We must not add extra commentary. After all 【N】 lines, output

Then

Zheng Tan had originally only intended to take a quick look at the residential area; seeing the boy go into the building, he didn't follow him, never expecting that after the boy entered the building he would come out again shortly afterward and look over at Zheng Tan.

After experiencing some things, Zheng Tan had become sensitive to the good and malice expressed in people's eyes, while the boy standing at the stairway entrance merely looked expectant, with no ill intent.

After thinking it over, Zheng Tan walked over.

Seeing the cat follow him, Fu Lei smiled and walked into the building, then stepped up the stairs one by one; previously he would sprint straight up, but now he takes a few steps and then checks whether the cat behind him is keeping up.

Zheng Tan saw the boy stop in front of a household on the fourth floor, then take out a key from his backpack, open the door, go inside, and wave at Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan listened for any sound inside; aside from the boy, it seemed no one else was in the room, so he lifted his foot and stepped inside.

A very ordinary household, shabby, plain, furniture rather old, total area about fifty square meters, smaller than the Jiao Family's; Zheng Tan felt a bit cramped. The place had only two bedrooms, a two-bedroom one-living-room layout; the boy's room was the secondary bedroom, which looked about the same size as Xiao Youzi's room, but much messier, with several books casually strewn on the floor. As Zheng Tan walked over, he saw that one of the books lay open, its cover facing up, with a name written on it—Fu Lei.

Each stroke was strong, showing firmness, but put together the characters looked rather unsightly.

As Zheng Tan was observing Fu Lei's small room, Fu Lei placed a fish head in front of him.

This was probably yesterday's dish. Just taken out of the refrigerator, it still carried a chill, and the sauce stuck to the fish head was frozen.

Zheng Tan looked at the fish head placed on a sheet of draft paper before him, then turned his gaze elsewhere.

"Not eating?"

Fu Lei was puzzled. If it were the cat from next door, it would probably have snatched the fish head before it even settled and run off with it.

Zheng Tan walked around the small room, then jumped onto the cluttered desk. The books were scattered messily, but there was one exception—a dark wooden carved small trophy placed there, with nothing else around it and it was clean, lacking the layer of dust on the nearby savings jar. Clearly the owner often wiped it clean, valuing this object highly.

"This is what I got when I was ten!" Fu Lei picked up the small trophy and said proudly.

When he got happy, the boy talked more.

Like many people Zheng Tan had seen before, when facing an animal, a person's guard drops; they say what they think, without hiding anything.

For a child, any somewhat happy, proud thing they are willing to share, even if the listener is just a cat that might not understand anything.

From Fu Lei's account, Zheng Tan learned that the boy had indeed trained, though he was self-taught.

Fu Lei's hometown was in the countryside; when he was little, his parents were busy, so he stayed with his grandparents. In the village there was a master who knew a bit of martial arts and had opened a small martial arts hall; the village children would go there to learn. Fu Lei was one of them.

Studying martial arts strengthens the body and improves health, which the elders still welcomed.

And this wooden trophy was carved by that self-taught master of Fu Lei's; the workmanship is decent, the wood isn't top-grade, but it's not shoddily made either.

Fu Lei won this trophy in a competition where he defeated four other kids about his age. Later, the martial arts hall couldn't stay open, and that self-taught master, together with several young villagers, went south to work as a security guard, reportedly earning a few thousand yuan a month; after that there was no word from him, and he never returned.

Even without a teacher, Fu Lei still practiced whenever he had time. In fifth grade his parents brought him to the city; he didn't buy a bicycle, his parents were busy and had no time, so to save on bus fare he ran to school and back.

Incidents like today, where older students extort him on the road, have happened several times; each time he settled it with a fight, sometimes winning, sometimes losing when the opposition outnumbered him, and Fu Lei also left many people with the impression of a bad student, so many of his elementary school classmates are unwilling to associate with him.

After entering junior high, some people also spread stories about Fu Lei's deeds, so even now, shortly after the school term began, his reputation as a bad student was already firmly established; otherwise he wouldn't have been directly relegated to the back row by the teacher, who merely gave him a lazy glance and didn't bother to discipline him.

Fu Lei felt uninterested in studying, thinking that when he grew up he would just go south to work like his self-taught master. When he first said such things, his father beat him severely, leaving him bedridden for a week.

Whenever Fu Lei mentioned not wanting to study, his father settled it with his fists. So afterward Fu Lei stopped saying it, adopting a get-by attitude and just muddling through; moving from elementary to junior high wasn't too difficult due to national policy, and since his household registration was in this district, his parents spent some money to get him into this junior high, hoping he would "study hard and make progress every day." Fu Lei's response to that was to pick his ears.

As the conversation went on, Fu Lei's mood sank again; he found school meaningless and preferred the old days in the wooden shed martial arts hall, which had been more enjoyable.

He carefully placed the wooden trophy back, then Fu Lei opened the drawer, took out a box of ointment, and applied it to his scraped hand.

Zheng Tan glanced inside; the drawer held various ointments—did Fu Lei's parents buy all these in preparation for his fights?

That's really embarrassing.

After applying the ointment, Fu Lei sat on the floor, dragged his backpack over, took out the few pens inside, examined them, tossed aside the ones with broken casings, and after pulling out the ink cores they could still be used by swapping them.

As he was pulling out the ink cores, the door lock clicked and the sound of a key turning in the lock was heard.

Fu Lei startled, shoved all the pens in his hand into his backpack, and at the same time told Zheng Tan, 'Hide quickly!'

Zheng Tan didn't know why Fu Lei said that, but he quickly hid under the bed.

The next moment, the door opened. A man about forty walked in; upon seeing Fu Lei, he was like a long-dormant volcano suddenly erupting.

"Fu Lei! You're skipping class again?!"

The man strode over, glanced at the ointment placed nearby, and roared, 'You damn brat, fighting again?!'

Then Zheng Tan heard the sound of Fu Lei being hit, probably a spanking.

This father's temper is truly explosive; he starts hitting without asking the reason, which from another angle shows that Fu Lei really does often get into fights, even skip class.

"I spent so much money to get you into that school just for you to skip class and fight?! If I hadn't forgotten something at home and come back to get it, I would really have let you brat get away with it, you little bastard!"

Fu Lei's father kept hitting and cursing while rushing back to fetch something; he hadn't even drunk water when he saw Fu Lei. After another round of beating, he was likely tired, sitting on the bed's edge panting, but his mouth never stopped.

"Everything is lowly except for scholarship; if you don't study, are you planning to spend your days toiling in a factory like me for a pittance?! Even a hotel bellboy these days needs to know a few foreign languages! The motto I wrote for you—can't you see it?"

As he spoke, Fu Lei's father pointed to the calligraphy pasted on the headboard of Fu Lei's bed.

As for Fu Lei's father, although he only attended elementary school, he later took on a master to learn a bit of skill, and now makes a living in a factory with that ability; Fu Lei's mother also graduated from elementary school, her education not high, and now works as a sales clerk in a nearby small supermarket. Having suffered from lack of knowledge and education, they especially want Fu Lei to study well, taking the sages' saying 'Study hard and make progress every day' as their motto.

To that end, Fu Lei's father specially wrote that motto with a brush and placed it on Fu Lei's bedhead; but now, looking at it, he sees that Fu Lei has scribbled over it.

At this moment, the paper on the bedhead reads in large characters: 'Lazy study, husbandly upward.'

Fu Lei's father was about to blurt out his lecture when he paused for two seconds, then took off his shoe and swung it at Fu Lei.

From under the bed, Zheng Tan looked over; he couldn't see the full body, only four legs, but from the sounds he could tell how badly Fu Lei was being beaten by his father.

Even so, Fu Lei didn't utter a single sound.

Fu Lei's father, probably in a hurry, after a few lashes grabbed a sheet of paper, wrote a leave note, signed his name, slammed it hard on the table, then left; the force was so great that when the door shut it made a loud 'bang'.

Zheng Tan crawled out from under the bed, looked at Fu Lei with a wrinkled face rubbing his buttocks, then his gaze fell on the paper Fu Lei's father had left; after reading its contents, Zheng Tan felt a mixture of laughter and tears. It was a leave note, with an excuse written in, followed by Fu Lei's father's signature.

Zheng Tan was a bit unsure how to speak about this father-son pair, but he thought Fu Lei's father's view was rather extreme; if he knew that in ten years there would be masses of graduates with various certificates crowding job fairs, cheaply selling their labor, and in many fields amateurs leading experts, what would his mood be?

However, this society is inherently complex; in a pyramid-shaped society, only a few ever occupy the top.

Of course, what Fu Lei's father said is partly right but not entirely; it depends on how Fu Lei will deal with the future.

Seeing Fu Lei put the paper away and then calmly pack his backpack, Zheng Tan realized that such situations were not uncommon for him.

This guy really can take a beating.

Suddenly Zheng Tan wondered what would happen if he made Fu Lei run 1,500 meters.

This guy has been running back and forth on his own since elementary school; he's got good stamina, likely someone with endurance, which saves Jiao Yuan and the others from racking their brains all day.

The problem now is how to get Fu Lei to agree to go running; they're in the same class, Fu Lei couldn't possibly be unaware of the sports meet, no one signed up for the long-distance run, he knows that too, so what does it mean that he still hasn't signed up? Or is there some other reason?

Never mind, let Jiao Yuan ask him himself when the time comes.

After staying a while at Fu Lei's place, Zheng Tan glanced at the alarm clock on the table; it was time to go home.

"Huh? You're leaving?" Fu Lei saw the black cat run toward the door, got up, walked over, and opened the door.

Zheng Tan glanced at Fu Lei, then looked at his door number, and went downstairs. (To be continued...)

ps: 【The following word count does not count toward v chapter】

I still owe one chapter; I had planned to make up the missed chapters on Sunday, but I slept too late, woke up with a headache during the day, and only now have I managed to put out the second chapter for Sunday.

Thank you for the gifts, thank you to everyone who voted for the monthly ticket—over six hundred sixty votes in a day; after removing the double factor, that's about three hundred thirty tickets. Perhaps for many big shots this is routine, but for me, it's the day I've received the most monthly tickets since I started writing.

I bow my thanks for your support!