Chapter 40

Chapter 2: Reporting in

Su Can sat aboard the next Route 8 Bus. This route circled the city, setting out from its terminus on the edge of Xiahai before making a loop that passed along several major roads, including the entrance to First Middle School. It had always been Xiahai City's busiest bus route. Though it was called a circuit of the city, in a place as small as Xiahai, a full circuit took only an hour.

He found a single seat in the third row from the back and sat down. It was Su Can's favorite seat. Xiahai was a small city, so its buses could hardly compare with the huge passenger trains in the big city where he had made his living in his later life. Viewed through the eyes of that later era, a bus with nineteen seats seemed rather cramped, yet Su Can enjoyed that confined feeling aboard the bus. Most of those boarding were students, and their destination was naturally First Middle School.

Perhaps because it was the first day of registration, everyone seemed a little excited. Every so often, he spotted a few pretty girls in the crowd. Su Can could not help reflecting that there was good reason No. 1 High School had always been the envy of the entire city. Its students' pride probably came from more than just being at the top. Even its social circles and the sheer number of pretty girls were likely beyond anything other schools could match.

The bus rolled leisurely along sunlit streets. There were none of the hurried, indifferent passersby of a big city. The easy pace of life showed in the gentle shades of people's expressions, and everything seemed immersed in egg-white-colored foam. The scattered chatter of young girls holding on to the bus rails kept reaching his ears, but Su Can filtered it all out. His attention was focused more on the view outside.

Vroom! A piercing growl from an engine shattered the quiet of the street, and even that inside their bus. With a low, throbbing rumble, a blue motorcycle came streaking into view like a shadow.

It emerged onto the street alongside their slow-moving bus, varying its speed before dropping back a little. Then, with an even sharper, deeper roar, the motorcycle rapidly picked up speed, overtook the bus, and cut into the lane ahead. It soon left the bus far behind, but even as it receded, the low rumble of its engine that had broken the quiet still lingered.

At the same time, startled cries rose from some of the young girls. "Wow, so cool!"

Su Can was somewhat speechless. Hong Kong and Taiwanese dramas were popular in this era, and "wow" was the most fashionable catchphrase in Hong Kong's TVB shows. These young girls were all competing to imitate it. He really did not know whether to laugh or cry. Then again, in his later life, those born in the nineties had so often used a gray-toned gothic style to conceal their empty, fragile inner worlds. Was that, too, an indelible trait shared by an era?

Now everyone on the bus started talking.

"That Yue Zijiang is showing off a bit too much, isn't he?" Several older boys sitting behind Su Can, who looked like third-year students, offered disdainful comments. Despite their words, there was unconcealable envy in all their eyes.

Some girls' murmurs drifted over at the same time. "That's Yue Zijiang from the second year. He's really handsome, and I hear he's a starting forward on the school basketball team."

"Oh, please. You think he'd be interested in you? His grandfather was the former chief of the Public Security Bureau, and both his parents work in sections of the Tax Bureau. His family's very well-off. I hear the former school beauty is really close to him." An occasional acidic voice rang out, and the girls who had spoken earlier fell silent.

Su Can smiled. This probably showed why No. 1 High School's social circle was so large, yet so small. It seemed to have already developed its own distinctive information channels and network. Whenever anything happened to anyone, or some prominent figure began to make a name for themselves, people always had an inexhaustible supply of rumors and news to discuss. No wonder people said gossip was a fearsome thing. The connections here, and their richness and variety, were already far beyond anything the social circle at Third Middle School could match.

Still, First Middle School really did have an endless stream of happenings and surprises. Take that prominent student Yue Zijiang riding a motorcycle to school just now. A luxury motorcycle like that was something one would never see at Third Middle School, where the students' family circumstances and status were on an entirely different level.

After arriving at school, Su Can went straight to the academic affairs office. Tian Feng looked busy, chatting with several students' parents. When he saw Su Can enter, Tian Feng stood up and acknowledged him. "You're here."

That looked rather different in the parents' eyes. They had some connections in Xiahai City themselves. They were talking and chatting with Tian Feng in hopes of getting the dean of students to have a word with their children's homeroom teachers and make sure their children were looked after, yet the arrogant Tian Feng had never stood up for them. An ordinary student had actually made this dean of students rise to his feet. It was quite conspicuous.

Tian Feng took out the class roster and set it on the desk, then said to Su Can, "Take a look yourself. See which class you'd like to join. Once you've decided, I'll write you a note. Just take it straight to the homeroom teacher."

Since Su Can had come alone, Tian Feng naturally did not show him the same outward enthusiasm he had shown Su Can's eldest maternal uncle, Zeng Qu anming, the current acting director of Xiahai City's Construction Bureau. Still, his manner was quite mild. He thought that Su Can's grades were rather good, too. With the principal's policy of vigorously cultivating top students, a student like this would be a prized addition to any class. But he had already promised the boy the right to choose his own class, so he could hardly assign him to someone he knew better.

Seeing that Su Can could actually choose his own class, the parents, who were already dissatisfied with the homeroom teachers their children had been assigned to, could not help looking startled. They wondered whether this boy might be the son of some prominent city official.

Su Can held the roster and looked through it. Recalling that Xue Yiyang had told him that morning that he was in Class Five, Su Can smiled faintly and turned to the roster for Class Five of the senior high graduating class of 2001. Then he set it down and told Tian Feng, "Class Five, then."

"Xiao Rihua's class..." Tian Feng frowned, then nodded. "All right!"

He then took out a slip of paper bearing the academic affairs office's official seal and the printed opening words "This is to introduce." He wrote down Su Can's name, signed and dated it, then handed it to him. "Give this note to Xiao Rihua, Class Five's homeroom teacher, and you'll be studying in Class Five."

Only long after Su Can had left the academic affairs office with the note did the parents standing nearby venture to ask, "Well, Dean Tian, what's that boy's background? How come he gets to choose his own class?"

Tian Feng smiled. "There's nothing I can do. The mayor personally selected him, and the principal gave special approval. He's the only one in the whole school who gets this treatment."

Personally selected by the mayor, specially approved by the principal-now that left plenty of room for speculation. These well-dressed middle-aged men and women, who had always liked to judge people by appearances, began murmuring in wonder.

Of course, those were merely polite words Tian Feng offered on the surface. Inwardly, he was thinking that, of all the classes Su Can could have chosen, he had picked Xiao Rihua's. Xiao Rihua had certainly landed a bargain. Tian Feng and Xiao Rihua had their share of friction and generally could not stand each other. This boy Su Can was taking his note to Xiao Rihua. As for what came afterward-well, that might prove rather interesting.