Rumors

An Nuan didn't talk to Liu Chang'an, and Gao Dewei was even less likely to strike up a conversation with anyone. Liu Chang'an didn't feel bored, either. He took out a modern Chinese reading-comprehension workbook and started working on it.

Classical literature had its own elegance and beauty, while modern literature had its own contemporary qualities and pleasures. Liu Chang'an felt he hadn't read enough modern literature. There was never a shortage of writers in any era, and the larger the pool, the more masterpieces it produced.

While Liu Chang'an seemed to be engrossed in his studies, An Nuan carefully went over his chat history with her mother again.

An Nuan's mother had no idea how old Liu Chang'an really was. She'd actually mistaken him for a man in his thirties or forties... Judging by the content and tone of their conversations, there was no way to connect a high school student with someone who repeatedly brought up Li Lingyu, Cai Guoqing, Mao Ning, and Yang Yuying, and even rambled on about all sorts of things from the eighties and nineties: blood-stimulating therapy, swinging-arm therapy, satellite dishes, cosmic energy, qigong for increasing crop yields, and qigong for predicting earthquakes and curing cancer.

Should she tell her mother? An Nuan hesitated. If her mother found out that the person she'd been enjoying chatting with was actually her daughter's deskmate, and that this deskmate also knew she was only pretending to be a young girl, her mother would probably be mortified. She might even come to the school to confront Liu Chang'an.

Maybe she'd tell her after the college entrance exams. It wasn't as if Liu Chang'an chatted with her mother every day. They just made small talk now and then.

Class began, but An Nuan was a little distracted. Sunlight and the shadows of trees spilled in through the window, dappling the classroom. The walls and floor of the old classroom always seemed grimy, nothing like the spotless classrooms in TV dramas, where everything looked as if it had just been painted. But at that moment, An Nuan felt things were more real. Maybe life really was this way. There wasn't so much fresh, sweet flirtation or warm, bashful tenderness. Their three years of high school were almost over, the girl thought glumly. She still hadn't dated anyone.

She felt that college romance was too practical, lacking the awkward, fresh innocence of middle and high school. An Nuan glanced at Liu Chang'an beside her and felt inexplicably gloomy.

"Here!" An Nuan slapped the phone down hard on Liu Chang'an's book.

Liu Chang'an picked up the phone from the desk and put it in his desk. The school was strict about students using phones on campus, though the rules had relaxed quite a bit.

The Chinese class representative handed back last week's Chinese exam papers. An Nuan checked her score and was fairly satisfied. Then she hurriedly glanced at Liu Chang'an's. His score was just a little lower than hers. She watched him turn the paper over and saw a whole lot of X's beside the reading-comprehension questions, along with the teacher's comment: Don't make things up!

An Nuan couldn't help gloating. "Hehe, you like doing reading-comprehension questions so much, but it doesn't seem to help."

"Have you ever heard of the art of slaying dragons?" Liu Chang'an asked, closing his exam paper.

An Nuan's long eyelashes fluttered as she nodded. "Zhu Pingman studied dragon-slaying under Zhili Yili. He spent a thousand gold pieces from his family and mastered the skill after three years, but had no use for it."

"The art of slaying dragons isn't useless. We can use it to describe how important it is to learn certain skills." Liu Chang'an pointed at the reading-comprehension questions. "This is the art of slaying dragons."

"If you said political economy was the art of slaying dragons, I could understand. After all, it's something you can't really use in daily life. But comparing reading comprehension to that is a bit much." Reading-comprehension questions had been part of An Nuan's schoolwork from seventh grade through high school. She found them the most boring and pointless of all.

"A while ago, I saw a news report about a meeting on the work of the Publicity Department. Someone said the West wasn't bad at reaching the public; in fact, it was very good at it. How does that show? Take any ordinary American or Western European. They all know about democracy and freedom, and they'll all say our country is an authoritarian dictatorship. But when it comes to the concepts of democracy and freedom, or the foundations of our political system, they can't explain a thing. If you debate them, all they can do is repeat 'democracy, freedom, dictatorship, tyranny' over and over." Liu Chang'an paused. "That's because they aren't good at reading comprehension."

An Nuan couldn't help laughing. What did that have to do with anything? Thinking of Liu Chang'an chatting with her mother, she had to admit that the man could ramble about anything.

"What reading-comprehension questions are really teaching you is to consider why the author wrote the piece and what his motives were. Did his living conditions, family, or childhood experiences shape what he expressed in the article? Were certain words or descriptions intended to steer your emotions? What was happening when he wrote it? Was he trying to achieve some purpose? Who was his audience? Was he speaking on behalf of some interest group?" Liu Chang'an pointed at the seemingly rigid and pointless questions. "If everyone could master these skills and apply them, wouldn't it be much harder for certain organizations or reactionaries to use the media to brainwash people? Isn't that the art of slaying dragons?"

An Nuan nodded without thinking. She'd been doing reading-comprehension questions for years, but she'd never considered it that way.

"When I chat with your mother on WeChat, she often forwards articles from her social media feed. Think about it: if you knew all the methods of reading comprehension, how could those articles that spread propaganda and try to brainwash people affect you? Why does the Western media have so much influence? Because their readers aren't good at reading comprehension. Too many people don't know how to analyze an author's position, the language he uses, or his motives." Liu Chang'an sounded regretful. "It's a pity. We've been taught the art of slaying dragons from childhood, but hardly anyone thinks it's useful or knows how to apply it. People see a rumor or a brainwashing article and smugly act as if they've had a revelation, thinking, 'So that's how it is.'"

"You're still chatting with my mother on WeChat!" An Nuan seized on the important point and stared at Liu Chang'an in disbelief.

Liu Chang'an carefully moved the phone to another pocket, then pressed his leg down over it.

"Give me my phone!" An Nuan could only glare at him. The pocket was at the front, close to the space between his legs, and she'd have to lean forward and bend down to grab it. That would be too much.

"Do you know what privacy is?" Liu Chang'an refused. He watched her eyes darting around as if she were eager to make a move, then pointed at Gao Dewei beside them. "Don't distract Gao Dewei from studying."

An Nuan thought it over. She could sneak a look at her mother's phone when she got home. Since Liu Chang'an was unwilling to reveal that she was An Nuan's deskmate, he wouldn't warn her mother that her daughter might snoop through her phone.

"Planning to sneak a look at your mom's phone when you get home?" Liu Chang'an asked, eyeing the motionless An Nuan suspiciously.

An Nuan said nothing.

After school, their classmate Bai Hui invited An Nuan and Liu Chang'an to go sing karaoke.

"It's just a little class get-together," Bai Hui explained. She was the organizer. "We have a day off tomorrow, so even the boarding students can leave campus. Most of us have to go home, but fewer than twenty people are coming. One big private room will do."

"Gao Dewei, are you going?" An Nuan asked him across Liu Chang'an.

"No, I have an appointment with Teacher Liu tonight for extra lessons. Teacher Liu said he could explain a few details to me. I'll take notes and bring them for you guys the day after tomorrow." Gao Dewei shook his head. Teacher Liu was a relative of his and didn't teach their class, but every teacher had something of their own to share about the college entrance exams.

"Okay. Be careful," Liu Chang'an told Gao Dewei. Gao Dewei was the kind of good student who thought about how to solve problems even while walking.

"I can't go. My mom won't let me go out at night," An Nuan said regretfully. "If I'm not home before eight, I'm in trouble."

After saying that, An Nuan looked at Liu Chang'an. Since she wasn't going and Gao Dewei wasn't going either, would it seem inappropriate if he went?

"I'm free," Liu Chang'an told Bai Hui.

Bai Hui gave Liu Chang'an a lovely smile, then went to invite some other classmates.

"I heard you like Bai Hui. Looks like it's true," An Nuan said casually.

"I heard you like Chen Changxiu. Looks like it's true too," Liu Chang'an said with a smile.

An Nuan felt like Liu Chang'an was going to drive her mad. Though they were classmates, some people in a class were closer than others, while some got along worse. An Nuan and Bai Hui weren't exactly on bad or hostile terms, but they weren't close enough to hang out together, either.

In their first year of high school, An Nuan had already been fairly well known at the Affiliated High School since middle school, so she was naturally the girl who drew the most attention in class. Bai Hui, on the other hand, was outgoing and sociable, the kind of girl who could get along with almost anyone. She liked organizing or joining all sorts of school and class activities. Maybe because of the subtle competition and rivalry between girls, the two prettiest and most conspicuous girls in their class, Bai Hui and An Nuan, had never really spent much time together.

An Nuan remembered that Liu Chang'an had been a little taciturn in their first year of high school. Once, he'd even fallen down the stairs because he'd been staring at Bai Hui. She'd felt a little exasperated at the time. He was so clueless—how could someone like Bai Hui ever like a guy like him?

Liu Chang'an was no longer clueless, of course, but Bai Hui was still unlikely to like him. An Nuan thought sympathetically that Bai Hui was the kind of girl who cared a lot about material things and practicalities.