"I don't think you need dinner. A beating with a bamboo switch should fill you right up."
Ye Chenghu shrank back and quickly lowered his head to eat, not daring to talk back again. Inwardly, though, he thought, I didn't say anything wrong. Other kids are still playing in the mud, but I have to go to school. Damn it, I got tricked! I thought studying would be fun!
The Old Lady smiled. "The bamboo shoots haven't even come up yet. Don't scare him. If his grades aren't good, at worst he'll repeat a year. Maybe then he'll be really good and know things the others don't."
"Bullshit. If he knew all that, he wouldn't need to repeat a year."
"I haven't repeated a year either. That would be so embarrassing." There was a boy repeating second grade in the classroom next door. He certainly didn't want to repeat a year and get laughed at.
"If you know it's embarrassing, work harder. Otherwise, once you repeat a year, everyone in your class will laugh at you. They'll say things like, 'That Ye Chenghu used to be in my class, but then he got held back.' I know you're just as smart as me. You just don't put it to proper use. If you bring home a hundred this term, I'll take you to the city."
The city!!!
Ye Chenghu's eyes instantly lit up, and he didn't even notice his father boasting about himself.
Last winter break, his father's offer of twenty cents in pocket money had been quite tempting. But after all the good food he'd eaten over New Year and having so much spending money, how could twenty cents make him work his hardest now?
But a trip to the city!
That wasn't somewhere just anyone got to go.