Eye exercises

Sun Sun had never accepted anything from a boy before. Although this sheet of paper was neither a love letter nor really a gift, she could neither keep it nor throw it away...

She studied the beautiful, ornate English lettering, like something out of a book. She had never imagined that a boy could write English so beautifully...

It was only a town junior high school. Even the teachers merely made their English handwriting a little prettier according to their own habits and tastes. Of course, they would not deliberately seek out a famous script to study and imitate as foreigners did. This was Sun Sun's first time seeing genuine handwritten calligraphy in English, and only now did she realize how beautiful English handwriting could be...

His dad is Teacher Qin... an English teacher too, so it's no surprise that he's good at English. He probably memorized this poem and wrote it out after learning that he'd be sitting next to me... but even Teacher Qin's handwriting isn't this pretty... Sun Sun racked her brains...

Before they knew it, class was starting. Ye Zhulan and her companion hurried past again without so much as glancing at Qin An, but Qin An felt neither particularly disappointed nor uneasy...

After all, he was no longer a teenage boy fretting over every gain and loss, while Ye Zhulan at this point was only a thirteen-year-old girl...

The second period was Chinese. Wearing a white shirt, the Chinese teacher wrote across the black-painted board with free, flowing strokes. Chalk dust drifted through the air; what was being passed on was the essential foundation of Chinese culture, and what was being buried was the youth of generation after generation of teachers...

Qin An remembered that this Chinese teacher was one of the very few young teachers who had stayed at Town Junior High School all along. When the wave of layoffs came, many teachers applied for unpaid leave and sought their fortunes at private secondary schools along the coast. Their monthly salaries could reach three thousand, over five thousand, and, a few years later, even ten thousand or several tens of thousands. Meanwhile, this Chinese teacher's salary had merely risen from a few hundred to two thousand, and that was more than a decade later...

For now, he was still brimming with youthful energy. His voice rose and fell with a distinctive cadence, as though giving vent to his passion. He was very satisfied with his profession...

The Chinese teacher's surname was Deng. Chinese lessons at this stage consisted of little more than famous works or excerpts, along with simple classical Chinese passages, such as the famous line, "When three people walk together, there is bound to be someone I can learn from"...

"Three people walking together" would acquire somewhat sexual connotations many years later. Those degenerate years and desires seemed to be what constituted his memories. Looking at the conscientious Teacher Deng, the innocent Sun Sun, and all those unassuming faces, Qin An felt out of place. Though he was immersed in it all, he found it hard to truly enjoy the essential pleasures of this innocent era...

There were two Chinese periods. During the break, Qin An watched Teacher Deng preparing to explain an essay in the next lesson and suddenly could not help asking, "Teacher Deng, if you had to give up your teaching job at Town Junior High School and go into business to find another job with better pay, ten times what you earn here, would you go?"

Teacher Deng gave Qin An a puzzled look from behind his thick glasses. He knew this student, the son of his colleague Teacher Qin. Teacher Qin was one of the teachers he admired most. He had also heard that his son was particularly mischievous, but he had never expected a teenage child to ask such a mature question in such a mature tone...

Teacher Deng thought for a moment, then smiled. "I probably wouldn't be able to find one..."

"What if everyone else found one, including some people who aren't as capable as you?" Qin An persisted...

"I probably wouldn't go looking either. I'm used to being here. Being used to it is good enough. Once you're used to it, you don't feel like looking anymore..." Teacher Deng shook his head...

Habit... so it was habit. Qin An felt something dawn on him. He simply had not gotten used to things yet. Starting life over, how could he possibly settle into it right away? At least now he could see Ye Zhulan bounding about like a rabbit and Sun Sun as quiet as water. This was a rare happiness, the happiness he had dreamed of...

Sun Sun glanced at Qin An. This fellow had spent an entire lesson staring into space without once opening his Chinese textbook, yet he still had the nerve to talk to Teacher Deng...

"To protect your eyesight for the revolution and prevent nearsightedness, eye exercises will now begin. Close your eyes..."

Soothing music came over the loudspeaker, and the classroom fell quiet. A clear female voice rang out. "First exercise: massage the Tianying Acupoint."

Qin An was dumbfounded. He looked around. Sun Sun and the other students were all in position to do their eye exercises. As far as Qin An remembered, these exercises had no longer been compulsory between classes starting in senior high school. How could he possibly still remember how to do them...

"Qin An, why aren't you doing your eye exercises?" Teacher Deng looked at him...

Qin An hurriedly shut his eyes and copied Sun Sun, pressing the pads of his thumbs against the corners of his eyes beneath the inner ends of his eyebrows, with his other fingers curled against his forehead...

The clear female voice began counting out the rhythm. Now Qin An's memories of doing eye exercises came back naturally. After a brief period of awkwardness, he tried them with interest and actually got them more or less right...

When the eye exercises ended, Qin An opened his eyes. Feeling that Sun Sun seemed to be looking at him, he quickly turned toward her, and Sun Sun withdrew her faintly exasperated gaze...

"Qin An, you only need to close your eyes for the first and second exercises. You should keep them open for the third and fourth..." Teacher Deng reminded him...

So Sun Sun thought he did not even know how to do eye exercises...

"I know how to do yoga. I'll teach you sometime. It can help you stay in shape, so you won't have to worry about getting fat from eating too many snacks..." Qin An said quietly...

"Pervert..." Sun Sun rolled her eyes at him, going straight for a word that carried a distinctly emotional charge in this era...

Qin An froze for a moment before remembering that the Sun Sun of today was not the Sun Sun of later years, who worried about growing older and developing flab around her waist and stomach. At fourteen, Sun Sun already knew to pursue beauty in her appearance and paid attention to her figure, but she absolutely could not tolerate a boy discussing such private subjects with her...

"What's yoga?" After a moment, Sun Sun could not resist asking...

Qin An let out a snort, unable to stop himself from laughing quietly under his breath...

"Hmph, think you're so great?" Sun Sun felt thoroughly embarrassed. This was the first time she had taken the initiative to speak to him seriously, and he had actually seized the chance to laugh at her...

"'Yoga' is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word Yoga. It originated in India. You could describe it as physical movement and a connection with the mind. Really, it's a kind of radio calisthenics involving both body and mind, only a little more complicated. Whether you're worried about getting fat, under too much pressure, too nervous, feeling unwell, or feeling depressed, doing yoga can help relieve it..." Qin An tore off a sheet of paper and wrote Sun Sun a note...

Sun Sun stole a look around and, only after seeing that no one was paying attention, took it with her cheeks flushed and her heart pounding. What was wrong with her? She was actually passing notes with someone on the very first day they had really interacted!

But she was genuinely curious. This boy seemed to know some strange and unusual things, and she wanted to know just what yoga was...

After reading Qin An's explanation, Sun Sun touched her long braid. It was that amazing... Sometimes she really did get very nervous before exams. Holding on to first place in her year was no easy task. Whenever she was nervous, she wanted to eat, and whenever she ate, she worried about getting fat. She did not want people calling her a little fatty...