What we lost in one place, we gained in another

After moving away from those people who never played fair, I was actually enjoying life quite a bit.

The only drawback was that money was still tight.

To save money, I started cooking for myself after the move, even though I didn't know how.

Luckily, noodles were my favorite food, and I could manage those. I just tossed them into some water, gave them a stir, and once the water boiled, they were cooked.

A two-dollar bundle of noodles could last me a very, very long time.

My favorite vegetable was Chinese cabbage-hailed as the king of vegetables. Sometimes I tossed a leaf or two into my noodles, which felt both healthy and nutritious.

During this time, Du Le and Sun Qirui became the darlings of their class.

The Bible said, "When God closes one door, he will surely open another."

Academic achievement and beauty might well have been two different doors.

If the girls in ACCA were enchantresses, then the girls in CAT were little fairies.

Bai Zhigao and I were so envious that we often went to sit in on their classes.

As soon as class ended, we would find ourselves surrounded by sweet-smelling little fairies.

What we lost in one place, we gained in another.

We made lots of friends there.

There was Li Xuan, with her mature, commanding air; Weiwei, with her goofy streak; and Jin Ling'er, sweet, innocent, and a little ditzy.

Among all these fairies, one stood out in particular, dazzlingly radiant.

Her skin was fair and smooth as jade, her brows like distant mountains, her eyes bright and her teeth pearly white. Her figure flowed like water, every inch of her graceful and alluring...

Du Le introduced her to us. "Her name is Cai Wen. Her family seems really rich. She gets driven to and from school."

For people like us, who could barely afford to eat, that already amounted to a class divide.

But that didn't stop us from appreciating beauty.

Beauty was a scarce resource, a feast for the eyes, lovely enough to live on. Just one glimpse from afar could leave you perfectly content.

Especially when she was such an exquisite little fairy.

Whenever we had no classes, we liked to sit in on CAT lessons and call it listening practice.

Whether deliberately or not, we always managed to sit near our goddess, either one row ahead or one row behind.

It was as though, basking in our goddess's radiance, every little step closer brought a little more happiness.

The only person who might not have felt that happiness was Du Le.

He often wailed in despair, "There are so many Chinese people in Singapore! Why do they have to teach in English?!"

Bai Zhigao wholeheartedly agreed, nodding so wildly his head practically threatened to fall off. "Exactly, exactly!"

"Exactly, my ass!" I tipped my chin toward Sun Qirui and asked, "Why doesn't he think that way?"

Du Le muttered under his breath, "Because he found himself a good teacher."

Not understanding, Bai Zhigao leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, hungry for gossip, "Why? Why?"

Du Le shifted into a stance that would let him bolt at any moment and said, "If you want your lessons to stick, you've got to sleep with your teacher."

Sure enough, Sun Qirui sprang to his feet and chased after him to give him a beating.

"Huh? What happened? What happened?" Bai Zhigao asked me, his eyes lighting up. "How did he pull that off?"

His English wasn't up to much, but his Chinese comprehension was certainly spot-on.

The problem was, I wanted to know how he'd pulled it off too!

Although most people in Singapore were ethnically Chinese, the main official language was still English.

Forget passing CET-4 or CET-6-even TEM-8-level English wasn't enough here.

All we could do was keep cramming, especially technical vocabulary.

After taking it easy for four years at university, I was back in college entrance exam preparation mode. Studying until midnight became routine.

One evening, while I was reading in my room, I kept hearing intermittent rustling noises downstairs.

They weren't loud, but they stood out in the quiet night, as though someone was hurrying back and forth.

Every so often, there would be another flurry of rustling activity.

Later that night, I heard Sister-in-law Wei's hurried voice drift up. "Just check that you have your documents and phone. I've already got the keys and everything."

Then Brother Wei replied weakly, "Mm, I know."

I had never known Brother Wei's or Sister-in-law Wei's real names.

Our landlord never came over to collect the rent, instead having a long-term tenant collect it on his behalf.

Everyone called that man Ah Wei or Brother Wei.

And everyone called his girlfriend Sister-in-law Wei.

Brother Wei and Sister-in-law Wei lived in a single room on the ground floor.

The kitchen was also on the ground floor, so I often saw them whenever I cooked.

I wasn't usually very sociable, so even when we occasionally ran into each other, we only exchanged nods.

But something about their voices sounded decidedly wrong just then, so I put down my book and peered downstairs out of curiosity.

Keeping my voice low, I asked, "Brother Wei, Sister-in-law Wei, what's wrong?"