Chapter 38

As the New Year approached, they told the children it was relatively free, and they spent all day thinking about what to play. For the adults, however, it was all kinds of busy.

The school had officially closed for vacation, the campus was nearly empty, and it suddenly became quiet. Two days earlier, Yi Xin had also left school and gone home; after Jiao Ba and the other teachers held a summary meeting, they basically stopped going to the office, taking the exam papers home to grade, while also making Jiao Yuan do manual labor, with Xiao Youzi helping on the side.

One required course, one elective, but when several departments and several classes are combined, there are still quite a few.

Jiao Yuan helped grade the multiple-choice questions; he didn't know the other specialized material, but he could still handle the ABCD multiple-choice questions. After tallying, he wrote the scores in the blank space beside them with a pen, so that it would be convenient for Jiao Ba to calculate the total after grading the other question types.

Jiao Ba had Xiao Youzi help on the side, checking Jiao Yuan's graded papers a second time. Don't look at Xiao Youzi only being in second grade, but she is very familiar with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; Jiao Ba even left a calculator on the side for her to use to verify, whereas Jiao Yuan, who is about to enter junior high, still needs a calculator for basic arithmetic? Jiao Yuan himself would be embarrassed to admit that.

The affiliated school's report card came out, and Jiao Yuan ranked fourth in his class this time. Jiao Ba had never explicitly demanded that he achieve a certain rank or score; those were standards Jiao Yuan set for himself, sometimes met, sometimes not. This time, however, he obviously succeeded, and the developments were roughly as Jiao Ba had expected. When Jiao Ma took him to the mall, passing the toy-gun stall, Jiao Yuan stared at those toy guns, his eyes glazed over, and in the end he chose the gun, giving up the option to buy clothes.

As for today, sitting here obediently helping to grade the papers, Jiao Yuan's main motive was to earn pocket money—one cent per paper, and there are about two or three hundred copies here, so when he goes out to play he can also buy some 'junk food'.

Zheng Tan squatted on the small folding table with a chessboard pattern drawn on it, watching them grade the papers.

Each exam paper was covered with childish red-ink marks; sometimes when he encountered those who had doodled on the back of the paper out of boredom during the exam, Jiao Yuan would add a couple of strokes, then sit there and chuckle to himself.

"Hey, I know this teacher, Dad—isn't this the one who's always toting a personal loudspeaker? The drawing is really spot-on!"

Zheng Tan stretched his neck to look; on the back of that exam paper someone had drawn a simple sketch of the invigilator with a ballpoint pen, and Jiao Yuan added a few strokes with his pen. Xiao Youzi wanted to see, but Jiao Yuan blocked her view, pressing the paper underneath, waiting until he finished grading to take it out and hand it to Jiao Ba—he couldn't let her see it. Because he had added a little stroke to draw a tiny jj on the teacher's crotch, and to avoid suspicion he used a ballpoint pen of a similar color rather than the red pen used for grading.

Anyway, the final exam papers aren't handed back unless a student with doubts about their score applies to view them; under normal circumstances nobody sees these drawings. So, regarding Jiao Yuan's behavior, Jiao Ba didn't say anything.

Zheng Tan flicked his ears; this little brat really has a nasty sense of humor.

Not long after, Zheng Tan heard Jiao Yuan let out a 'Huh?'

"Dad, this person says he hasn't studied English, asking you to go easy on him." Jiao Yuan pointed to the English-only terminology explanation question on the multiple-choice section of the exam paper in his hand, and said to Jiao Ba.

Zheng Tan saw that on the blank space after the first major section's all-English terminology explanation on that exam paper, there was a ballpoint-pen note: 'Dear Teacher Jiao, I am of the xx ethnic group; I never studied English, and for the college entrance exam I took the r language; if I answered poorly, please go easy on me…'

According to Chu Hua Da Xue's requirements, failing a course means direct retake; previously it was a makeup exam, but later the school discovered that some students harbored a lucky mindset, thinking that just scraping by in the makeup was enough, since makeup exams were basically always passed, so they cared less and less. As a result, this year the school introduced a new policy: failing a course means direct retake.

At first many people protested; when Zheng Tan went out for a morning run he even saw some slips of paper posted on walls and tree trunks, anonymous protest letters. Because other schools in Chu Hua Shi weren't this strict, students condemned the school as inhumane, but in the end they gave in. Some felt that retaking a failed course with lower-year underclassmen would be terribly embarrassing. But others were optimistic, because they could get to know many pretty junior girls.

Hearing Jiao Yuan's words, Jiao Ba glanced at the name on that exam paper and said, 'I know this person's situation; other teachers are aware of it too, so they will definitely loosen the standards for him when the time comes.'

"Hey, there's also this perk—when I take the language exam later, I'll write at the end of the essay, 'Teacher, my hand is injured; I'm taking the test wounded, so my writing is bad—please go easy on me.' Maybe the grader will soften and give me a high score."

Jiao Yuan's composition score is his sore point; it drags down his language grade because his ballpoint handwriting is poor, and the script always lowers his score—sometimes by just one or two points, causing his rank to fall several places. Since a lower rank prevents him from fulfilling his family's wishes, Jiao Yuan harbors a deep resentment toward composition.

However, although Jiao Yuan's ballpoint handwriting is bad, his brush calligraphy is completely the opposite.

When Jiao Yuan participated in the elementary-school brush-calligraphy contest, the characters he produced left his homeroom teacher incredulous—his ballpoint writing looked like each character was stunted, yet his brush calligraphy could be this good?! Even some middle school students might not match such brushwork. As his homeroom teacher put it, this brush calligraphy already 'carries a hint of vigor.'

Later his homeroom teacher also sighed, 'Jiao Yuan, when will your ballpoint handwriting also have a bit of vigor? Stop being so underdeveloped.'

Zheng Tan had seen Jiao Yuan's ballpoint handwriting; there is a piece of brush calligraphy hanging on the wall of Jiao Yuan's room, and the room also has some ballpoint-written reminder notes stuck up. The contrast is truly intense—if he didn't know the truth, Zheng Tan would absolutely not believe they were written by the same person.

Jiao Yuan looked at the exam paper in his hand, turned the pen, and began to ponder his little scheme.

For the final exam, papers are exchanged for grading—one's own teacher grades another class's papers, while the teacher grading one's own paper doesn't recognize one's handwriting… Jiao Yuan nodded, 'Yeah, this method works!'

"Wipe that little cleverness out of your brain—if you pull this during the primary-to-middle-school entrance exam, it'll surely backfire; do you think those teachers are idiots?" Jiao Ba didn't even look at them; hearing Jiao Yuan turn his pen, he knew the kid was starting to scheme again.

"Oh." Jiao Yuan sighed and continued grading the subsequent papers.

Buzz buzz buzz—

The bedroom phone rang.

Jiao Ba glanced at the caller ID, and his expression grew much more subdued.

"Hello…"

Zheng Tan's hearing is much better than the two children's; the bedroom is small and not far away, so he could hear the conversation on the phone.

It was a female voice; most of the time it was just her speaking, occasionally interjecting an English phrase. Jiao Ba held the receiver, standing there and giving a couple of brief responses, not saying much more.

Although Jiao Ba doesn't talk much, according to Zheng Tan's understanding, he isn't usually this cold when on the phone.

The caller mentioned 'her' several times, but Zheng Tan didn't know who this 'her' referred to; then the caller said most often that she would send money, hoping Jiao Ba could take care of 'her'.

After a few minutes, Jiao Ba finally stopped just saying 'uh,' 'oh,' 'okay,' and asked, 'Do you want to talk to her?'

The other side fell silent for a moment, then said, 'All right, I still have a bit of business here; I'm afraid I can't talk for more than a few minutes.'

Jiao Ba also didn't listen to the faint whisper on the other end, turned, and looked at Xiao Youzi, who was busy with the calculator: 'Youzi, your mother wants to talk to you.'

Zheng Tan's ears perked up.

Xiao Youzi's mother? That's the one who, while living abroad, completely didn't want to return but sent her own seven-year-old daughter back to the country, while she herself enjoyed life overseas?

Zheng Tan hadn't immediately connected it to Xiao Youzi's mother earlier, mainly because those words and that tone of speech were overly detached, like she was pushing them away, as if afraid that people on Jiao Ba's side would cling to her.

No wonder Jiao Ba reacted that way.

If it were Zheng Tan, he would have launched straight into a tirade. Unfortunately, Zheng Tan can't speak—he can only meow.

Jiao Yuan also stopped grading the papers, looking over at Xiao Youzi with eyes full of sympathy.

Xiao Youzi spoke even less on the phone than Jiao Ba did—just an 'uh,' an 'oh,' and then nothing; the other end had already hung up.

Zheng Tan couldn't resist extending his paw to scratch at his feet; Xiao Youzi's mother said only two things: one was asking Xiao Youzi 'Are you all right?', the other was instructing 'Be obedient at Auntie's house.'

Xiao Youzi pressed her lips together, hung up the phone, walked over, and continued working the calculator, checking those few exam papers just finished; after checking, she drew a check mark on the paper to indicate no error. Those few exam papers still bore the scratches from Zheng Tan's cat claws that had just been raked across them.

"All right, that's enough for today." Jiao Ba clapped his hands, gathered the exam papers from Jiao Yuan and Xiao Youzi's side, sorted and tidied them up, then said, 'By the way, Youzi, your mother has transferred some money over for you to buy New Year gifts—what would you like to get?'

Xiao Youzi thought for a moment and replied, 'A bicycle.'

"Me too!" Jiao Yuan exclaimed, excited—how had he forgotten about the bicycle? Once he enters junior high he'll need to ride, so he should practice in advance; then he can go speeding with Xiong Xiong and the others! Besides, there aren't many motor vehicles on campus anyway, so it's suitable for bike racing.

Jiao Ba looked at Jiao Yuan, his expression unchanged, and said, 'Rejected.'

"Why?"

"Your mother said to wait until summer to buy it; Xiong Xiong, Su An, and the others are the same—they won't buy bicycles in advance either."

As for buying bicycles, the several mothers had already discussed it and unanimously decided not to buy them for now; there's still half a year left, and if they bought them now, those little brats would just go crazy. When summer vacation comes, they'll go together to buy them—the shop has already been chosen, it's an acquaintance of Xiong Xiong's mother, so they can get a group discount then, and if the bikes have any problems they'll be easy to fix.

Hearing that the others were getting the same treatment, Jiao Yuan felt reconciled.

For a child Xiao Youzi's age, she certainly wouldn't want a bicycle like Jiao Yuan and the others; she'd get a children's bike. The place to buy it is the nearby Central Department Store; this afternoon the three of them walked over there. Zheng Tan didn't follow—it's almost New Year, the place is packed with people, and following would be inconvenient, so he just stayed home to nap. Or he could squat in the kitchen watching Jiao Ma prepare some New Year snacks, like fried glutinous rice balls, fried lotus-root sandwiches, braised dishes, and so on.

While Zheng Tan was squatting there, Jiao Ma would from time to time hand him a warm meatball that had just been fried not long ago; chewing the meatball in his mouth, Zheng Tan felt that life was truly rich and moist—this is the so-called 'food comes to the mouth, eat your fill and sleep, no worries at all' existence.

The three went quickly and returned quickly. When they came back, Jiao Ba carried home a fully assembled pink‑purple children's bicycle.

Choosing a children's bike is not a simple matter; don't think that installing two training wheels on the rear wheel makes it safe and fine. You also need to check whether the size of the brake lever on the bike's hand brake is suitable for the child. If it's too large, the child won't be able to grip the brake lever tightly when braking, and thus won't be able to stop the bike. You also need to check whether the braking force is too strong, how well the chain guard covers, and other such details; only then can the likelihood of a child getting injured be reduced.

So Jiao Ba let Xiao Youzi personally go pick out a bike and test-ride it.

After test-riding, Xiao Youzi asked to swap in a larger basket; the stock one was too small. Although the larger basket didn't look as nice as the original, Xiao Youzi liked it, and Jiao Ba and Jiao Yuan could guess why she wanted such a big basket, so they didn't object.

"Wow, this bike looks pretty!" Jiao Ma, wearing an apron, came out of the kitchen, saw the bike's basket, and smiled: "Is this specially prepared for Hei Tan?"

"Mm!" Xiao Youzi nodded, then looked toward Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan flicked his tail, walked over, and jumped onto the basket. Because it's a children's bike, it's not as high as Jiao Ba's little electric scooter, so Zheng Tan felt close to the ground. Fortunately, the basket had enough space; crouching inside wasn't uncomfortable, and it would be best to line it with a plush mat or something…

Zheng Tan was thinking about that when Xiao Youzi pulled out a woolen hat: "Putting this in will make it better."

Dust clung to the wheels; Jiao Ba and Jiao Yuan each walked on one side, escorting Xiao Youzi, who was riding a bike for the first time, back home. With the training wheels, balance was stable, and after pedaling a few times she got the hang of it.

Watching Xiao Youzi ride, Jiao Yuan felt so envious he wanted to drag over a row of parked bikes nearby to practice, but no matter how he thought about it, he never wanted to ride Xiao Youzi's children's bike. A real man riding such a bike would be laughed at.

After getting the bike, Xiao Youzi would go downstairs to ride a few laps every day, and Zheng Tan would crouch in the basket; with the woolen hat as padding, he didn't feel cold. Once, A Huang saw Zheng Tan crouching inside and jumped in too, but Zheng Tan slapped him down. It's a private cat territory—outside cats are not allowed to enter.

Not many kids in the compound had their own bicycles; seeing Xiao Youzi ride, they all died of envy, clamoring for their families to buy them one, and those whose families refused came to borrow Xiao Youzi's bike for a spin, only to be scared off by Zheng Tan. Thus, within a couple days all the kids in the compound knew that Xiao Youzi's basket always had a fierce black cat, said to scratch children. So gradually, even without Jiao Yuan stepping in, no one dared to touch Xiao Youzi's bike.

At first Xiao Youzi only rode within the compound, but later she started riding outside it, because she didn't want to keep accruing resentment inside the compound—too many people were jealous.

Jiao Ba followed behind her, watching; these past two days the temperature had risen and the snow had mostly melted, so there was no fear of icy roads causing slips. After several rides, Jiao Ba also felt much more at ease.

Although Xiao Youzi is young, she is very sensible; an overly sensible child tends to be pampered, and adults are more tolerant of anything she does. The family could see that Xiao Youzi's mood had been off lately, probably because of that phone call from her mother, so each day when she needed to go out of the compound to ride her bike, no one said anything.

That day, Xiao Youzi, as usual, went out of the compound to ride her bike after lunch; her children's bike was locked beside Jiao Ba's little electric scooter, so she wouldn't have to lug it up and down every day, which would be tiring, and besides, the home space was already small, so keeping it indoors would be inconvenient.

Jiao Ba didn't ride the electric scooter; he walked behind her, watching. Xiao Youzi wasn't riding fast, so Jiao Ba could catch up with just a few quick steps.

Not long after, Jiao Ba's phone rang; Yuanzi was looking for him about something, asking him to go to the company side for a bit. Jiao Ba gave Xiao Youzi a few reminders, telling her not to ride too far, to ride a while and then return home. After getting her assurance, Jiao Ba then left.

Without Jiao Ba behind her, Xiao Youzi rode a bit faster, continuing straight ahead along the main road.

Zheng Tan glanced and realized this road was his usual jogging route; if he kept going straight ahead, he would reach the woods beside the school district.

Xiao Youzi's destination was exactly that grove; she had been there once with Jiao Yuan and the others, so she remembered the place.

The woods area wasn't quiet; various sounds from a nearby construction site carried far, as workers had been day and night rushing to finish their tasks before heading home for the New Year.

Xiao Youzi rode toward the woods for a while, but she didn't intend to go deeper; the area wasn't very safe, adults had said so many times, and even though it was daytime, Xiao Youzi didn't plan to go in and look, so she prepared to turn back home.

Just as she was about to turn around, a child's shout came from inside the woods, along with a dog's bark.

Zheng Tan could tell whose dog it was—the one from the side-gate guardhouse, a black-backed dog that had been brought over not long ago, four months old; normally it would come to the woods to frolic, having fought Zheng Tan before, but after getting familiar, seeing Zheng Tan it didn't act up too much, sometimes even running alongside Zheng Tan through the woods; as soon as its owner whistled, it would dash back quickly.

But what happened now? Did it scare the child?

After a moment's hesitation, Xiao Youzi stopped the bike, locked it at the side, and pulled out a rolling pin from her small backpack—this was something Jiao Yuan had gotten after receiving a toy gun and then discarded; when Xiao Youzi went out to ride, Jiao Yuan had slipped it into her backpack.

Watching Xiao Youzi grip the rolling pin and head into the woods, Zheng Tan also hurried after her, scouting ahead a short distance in front of her.

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Today a friend read the end of my Sanjiang thank-you note and asked me: "Are all your readers really people with no integrity?"

I said: "Although their integrity is worrying, their character is still pretty good~"

Right? ^_^

Thanks to Wangmao~!, Ji Shou., Chan Mo 〓van, Piaoliao's Melancholy, Ophimyth, sj56454564, Zhong Er Ren Sheng, Lezi Xiao, Qi Huang Liu Xuan, Yu Ruo Wen Xiang, Hun Yuan Wei Shi, lazyorange, Yan Zheng, Du Bai's Words, Hejian Shali, Medical Angel's Reward! Thanks to hkk19890318 (5), Chun Bai Huan Yi, and a friend who couldn't see the record for casting a vote! Thanks to all friends who vote daily for Sanjiang and recommendation tickets!

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