Chapter 39

Volume Two, Chapter One: My high school

Xiahai was a city that would still give people endless things to talk about years later, including its vast, rolling stretches of camphor trees, its old streets steamed almost to the point of sweating in summer, the crisscrossing power lines that cut across the clear sky, and those girls in colorful, fashionable clothes who occasionally offered a fleeting, stunning glimpse.

But Xiahai City First High School had already begun making adjustments and exerting itself to defend its crown. Its central administrative building, the Tian Jiayu Building, had the most distinctive and beautiful architectural style on campus. Coconut palms with a somewhat tropical air and luxuriant cycads grew below it. Paths radiated from the building to every part of the school, with green grass laid between them, giving a strong impression of all roads leading to Rome, of connections in every direction.

Inside this administrative center, the brain of Xiahai City First High School, senior school leaders, the homeroom teachers of the major classes, and director-level administrators from the academic affairs and political education offices had gathered in a conference room overlooking the entire school square and athletic field. Principal Ding Juntao wore a grave expression, and the atmosphere was rather heavy.

"Tell them what happened this year." Ding Juntao stood before the window with his hands behind his back and spoke to his assistant.

The assistant turned to face the assembled school officials. "The results of this year's citywide assessment are out. Our No. 1 High School still ranks first in the city in both total and average scores."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing Ding Juntao's stern expression when they entered the meeting room had put even their hearts under greater strain.

As with Murphy's Law, where things always took a turn, the assistant shifted his tone. "But neither the city's top high school entrance exam scorer nor its top college entrance exam scorer came from our school!"

Those words were like a heavy bomb, setting the entire room abuzz. Each year's top scorers in the high school and college entrance exams, and even the number of students admitted to first-tier universities, were always highlights in any school's recruitment efforts. City First Middle School was the strongest school in all of Xiahai City, the leader in education, not because of its enormous pool of high-performing students, but precisely because it claimed the leading places each year in the contest to retain the crown.

If one day people no longer took it for granted in their conversations that the top scorer in every exam came from City First Middle School, then the school really would have a problem.

So everyone knew just how serious the problem was now.

"Not only the top college entrance exam scorer, but even the top three high school entrance exam scorers weren't from our school. They were from Waihai Middle School on the outskirts of Xiahai City. Apparently, they're preparing to contact the city television station to run their admissions announcement. Their main selling point is having the top scorers in both entrance exams to make a name for themselves."

Everyone realized the gravity of the situation. The three schools of any standing within Xiahai City were First, Second, and Third Middle School. Waihai Middle School, however, was something of an anomaly. Founded ten years earlier, it had remained obscure, but over the past two years, since its new principal took office, it had become increasingly assertive. Its principal was reportedly a former member of First Middle School and had some tangled history with the current principal, Ding Juntao.

Everyone looked uncertainly at Ding Juntao, but all he offered them now was a solitary back that invited thought and speculation.

There was probably more than one person present wondering why Waihai Middle School's actions in recent years had all pointed to First Middle School as its chosen rival. Beyond its ambition to become the best in the city, there were probably countless connections to Ding Juntao as well.

Still not satisfied? Ding Juntao turned around, and everyone involuntarily held their breath.

"Can't we poach those students?" Ding Juntao lit a cigarette and asked thoughtfully.

Several people in charge of the academic affairs office shook their heads. "We heard Waihai signed contracts with them. Anyone who becomes the top college entrance exam scorer and gets into Tsinghua or Peking University receives a hundred thousand yuan in financial aid."

That caused an uproar. Financial aid was already nothing new at the time. To preserve their reputations and standing, some schools paid high prices to bring outstanding students in as transfers to win prestige and benefits for the school. It would only become a widespread trend in later years, but the first signs were already appearing.

Ding Juntao took a deep drag on his cigarette. The other side had come prepared and was determined to shake No. 1 High School's position. If they did not take action, could City First Middle School remain proudly at the head of the city? The answer was certainly yes-a school with a long academic tradition and the city's finest teachers was not so fragile. But if Waihai Middle School were allowed to rise just like that, there was no guarantee that nothing would go wrong. At the very least, it would affect City First Middle School's admissions and its position at the very top.

External factors were only one aspect; internal factors could not be ignored either. Large numbers of officials' children had set their sights on No. 1 High School and poured in. While invisibly adding to its reputation, they were also quietly corroding a school whose academic culture and atmosphere had originally been sound.

Competition over status, food and clothing, teenage romance, and even school violence had, to some extent, already become obstacles to the school's development.

How to rein in officials' children and keep them from causing further trouble, while controlling the school's atmosphere and correcting its academic attitudes, was an urgent priority.

Ding Juntao promptly issued three directives. "First, starting with the newest intake of high school students, we will implement a focused training plan. After one year of study, students will be divided into advanced and regular classes based on their year-end exam results, with no favoritism. Second, there will be four advanced classes, two for humanities and two for sciences, all with our most experienced and outstanding special-grade teachers as homeroom teachers. The performance of the other first-year homeroom teachers will be assessed according to the proportion of their students who enter advanced classes. Third, set aside two hundred thousand yuan in special school funds to support this class-streaming plan. The school must begin to change, starting small, starting now!"

Many were both alarmed and delighted. Their concern was whether separating students into advanced and regular classes would cause an uproar, damage ordinary students' enthusiasm, and make them mistakenly believe the school had given up on them, leaving them indifferent to studying. Their delight came from the direct connection to the teachers' own interests. From the sound of it, two hundred thousand yuan in bonuses would be distributed among the high school homeroom teachers the following year.

Each high school year had an average of seven classes. It was indisputable that No. 1 High School had become excessively bloated because of its reputation. With one homeroom teacher per class, the first-year homeroom teachers would share this pie. What a fortunate turn of events.

Xiao Rihua had previously resented being assigned as a first-year homeroom teacher for the coming term, but now it looked like a very good thing indeed. He was considering getting a different apartment. His wife had long complained that the school housing was too cramped for their family of three, while their neighbors were retired teachers with nothing to do who liked prying into other people's private affairs. They had long wanted to leave the old dormitory housing and secure an apartment in the new housing the school would jointly fund the following year, but they were still several tens of thousands of yuan short. Hadn't this come at just the right time? All he needed to do was train a few more top students for the school. That should not be too difficult.

Inside City First Middle School's Tian Jiayu administrative building, Principal Ding Juntao's voice had barely faded before it had already unfolded a magnificent vision of the future before the teachers present.

Every teacher whose personal interests were involved had already begun praying that the computerized assignment of the new first-year intake would give them a decent class and a favorable starting position.

August 31 was the day new students registered and collected their textbooks. Su Can changed into clean casual clothes and left home carrying a newly purchased schoolbag. He had not gone for a brand name, only something sturdy and plain that could hold plenty of books. When he reached the entrance and saw that it was still early, he first had breakfast at the rice noodle shop outside the work-unit compound.

Su Can's parents had become busy now that the shop was operating. His mother got up at seven every morning to open it, and his father followed afterward. Once he had helped his wife, Zeng Ke, clean the shop, he came back to work.

Sunlight spilled across the nearby street and bus platform. The street and trees before him still held a trace of twilight. Everything before him was reflected in Su Can's brown eyes, and his heart brimmed with boundless beauty.

He had imagined how someone who was reborn would be filled with ambition and dreams, chasing down all their past regrets and even reaching heights that all of society looked up to.

Yet none of that had happened.

None of it had. After truly being reborn, he discovered that even walking the same route every day, moving through the world and time of eleven years earlier, filled him with an indescribable sense of cherishing and nostalgia.

Every place unchanged from his previous life-the video rooms, the burgeoning video rental shops, the familiar old men from his childhood sitting outside the compound entrance, waving palm-leaf fans and basking in the sun, the camphor trees not yet grown lush and towering, the bus platforms serving routes that had yet to change, the old supermarkets not yet renovated or restructured, and the flower beds in the neighborhood center that would later be filled with flowers but were now overrun with weeds-all blended into the flavor of the bowl of beef rice noodles in his hands. Rich and mellow, it pierced through time in an instant, a taste he had missed for ten years.

Su Can knew he was not an ambitious person. Though he had a few dreams, they were not yet excessively outlandish or extravagant. Even after being reborn, he did not think he had any great ability, nor had he planned a life that would shine and blaze like a rocket, tracing a dazzling trajectory.

So he continued to live contentedly, savoring every moment of this second life heaven had granted him.

So Lin Daiyu was not necessarily the only person who grew melancholy at the sight of plants withering and flowers fading. There might also be Su Can, who sighed with every mouthful of rice noodles because there was one less bite of deliciousness in his bowl.

"Hey, what are you daydreaming about?" A voice interrupted his musings. Su Can looked up. It was that fellow Xue Yiyang.

Xue Yiyang was wearing newly bought clothes, jeans, and Anta sneakers, brimming with energy. His face was full of anticipation for romantic encounters in the new term. He made a show of lowering his head to inspect Su Can's bowl. "Oh, eating well, huh? Beef noodles!"

"Want to join me? My treat." Su Can smiled.

Xue Yiyang was a little tempted, but then he spotted the Route 8 Bus wobbling toward them from the far end of the street. He hurriedly swallowed and waved a hand. "Forget it, the bus is here. I'm off. I still have to register. Apparently, our Class Five is going to be packed with pretty girls this term!"

That No. 1 High School was full of pretty girls was indisputable, but with Xue Yiyang deliberately bringing it up like that, he could hardly avoid seeming to show off.

"Bye, then! I'm off!" Looking handsome and neat, Xue Yiyang hopped onto the bus. "Head to your school as soon as you finish eating. Maybe you'll meet your other half too!"

Su Can opened his mouth. He wanted to say, "Actually, we could go together," but before he could get the words out, the Route 8 Bus carried the smug-faced fellow away.