Chapter 60: Entering School

Saturday, August 31st.

A little past 10 o’clock in the morning.

Su Chunfeng and Li Zhichao rode their bicycles, sweating profusely, arriving at the gate of Jinzhou County No.1 High School.

They braked, planted one foot on the ground, held the handlebars, and stopped in front of the school gate bustling with people. The two of them looked up at this highest institution of learning in Jinzhou County, where they had taken the High School Entrance Examination two months ago. Now, they were about to begin their high school life here.

Through the closed iron gate, they saw broad roads inside the school and towering, lush trees. About ten meters straight ahead from the gate was a huge oval-shaped flower bed, planted with verdant evergreens and some blooming flowers. Behind the flower bed stood a massive screen wall. On it were written the words: “Education is the foundation of a century-long plan.” The background was a hand-painted landscape painting titled “A Hundred Miles of Rivers and Mountains Bathed in Red Sunlight,” grand and particularly eye-catching.

On both sides of the open school gate, a table was set up each. The school had arranged for staff to be responsible for checking and guiding the new students and parents reporting today to the registration points.

Looking at the simple, inexperienced students and their parents in the bustling crowd, Li Zhichao’s face showed an expression of pride. He curled his lip, flicked his parted hair, and muttered disdainfully, “Pfft, coming to school to report and still needing parents to accompany them? Greenhouse flowers, so pretentious…”

Su Chunfeng smiled and patted Li Zhichao’s shoulder, saying, “Let’s go.”

In those days, although communication was not very developed, many people in the countryside still held the idea of raising boys loosely. It seemed like people were quite at ease letting fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys go anywhere. Put simply, it was: “After all, it’s a boy, he’s this big already, are you afraid he’ll get lost?” So during the High School Entrance Examination, apart from girls whose parents would send them to the examination school in the county town, basically no parents accompanied the boys. Even if occasionally a few parents were worried and wanted to follow, their own children would resist—other classmates didn’t have parents sending them, if you send me, where would my dignity as a man be?

But now, on the first day of school registration, the number of parents accompanying their children was much higher.

After all, the children were carrying several hundred yuan in tuition and miscellaneous fees!

Moving slowly with the crowded flow of people into the school, they found the bicycle parking area under the guidance of school staff, locked their bikes, and then Li Zhichao and Su Chunfeng each carried their bags and headed to different registration points.

Su Chunfeng’s admission notice clearly stated that he was a top student.

As for Li Zhichao, since he hadn’t passed the exam at all, he didn’t have an admission notice. He only had a later-issued notice for admission into the third batch special program class, which his father had spent money and pulled strings to obtain.

At every registration point, long queues had formed.

Su Chunfeng waited honestly in line. When it was his turn, he entered the office, handed his admission notice to the young male teacher wearing glasses who was in charge of registration, and rummaged in his backpack for the 775 yuan in tuition and miscellaneous fees required, placing it in front of the teacher.

The young teacher checked and compared the list, then asked with some surprise and a smile, “Su Chunfeng, High School Entrance Examination score of 679, right?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t your school’s teacher notify you that you are exempt from tuition?”

“Huh?” Su Chunfeng was stunned for a moment; this was a pleasant surprise. He asked, “Completely exempt?”

“Books fees, accommodation fees, living supplies, school uniforms, and other miscellaneous fees will not be exempt.” The young teacher patiently explained, “First-year high school tuition is completely exempt. If your grades remain excellent at the end of the semester, this will continue into the second year… So you need to keep studying hard, understand?”

“Understood, thank you, teacher.”

The young teacher smilingly returned 260 yuan of tuition to Su Chunfeng, then briefly filled out a form, handed it to Su Chunfeng, and lifted a stack of new books from the side onto the table. He said with a smile, “The dormitory buildings are in the north area. Buildings No. 3 and No. 4 are the boys’ dormitories. You are in Room 211, second floor, Building No. 3. It’s all written on the form. Take good care of the form, don’t lose it; you’ll need it tomorrow for the physical check-up and to get your school uniform. Don’t just stand there; first go to the Dormitory Management Office at the dormitory building to get your bedding and living supplies, settle into your dorm, and later familiarize yourself with the campus. Your new class is in Classroom 1, first floor, Teaching Building No. 1, Class 1, Grade 10.”

Su Chunfeng nodded with a smile and said, “Thank you, teacher.”

The young teacher waved his hand. “Next.”

Su Chunfeng didn’t say more. Holding the form and carrying the thick stack of new books, he walked out of the registration office.

At that time, Li Zhichao was standing in line outside another registration office, chatting warmly with the two students in front and behind him as if they were long-lost friends—this was also his strength: he was naturally sociable, able to quickly get along with anyone, and he never looked down on anyone, nor did he flatter or look up to anyone.

Su Chunfeng walked over, greeted Li Zhichao, told him which dorm he was in, and then went ahead to find his dorm.

After getting his bedding, living supplies, and key from the Dormitory Management Office, Su Chunfeng carried everything on his back and in his hands, like a migrant worker going out to work, and arrived at his dorm.

The dorm door was open, and two students were already inside.

One of them, a thin and weak student wearing glasses, was tidying up the bed he had chosen. The other one, who looked tall, strong, and had a parted hairstyle, was lying on his back on the lower bunk at the innermost spot on the east side, using his bedding as a pillow, hands under his head, one leg crossed over the other and gently swaying.

The dorm was not large, about twenty-something square meters. There were three bunk beds on each of the east and west sides.

At the southern end was a relatively spacious window.

But the room was a mess, covered in dust and garbage. Presumably, this year’s graduating seniors had left this memento for the new students.

Carrying his bag, Su Chunfeng smiled and took the initiative to greet them. “Hello, my name is Su Chunfeng.”

“Hello, my name is Liu Yue.” The bespectacled boy said with a smile.

The tall boy lying on the bed glanced askance with an indifferent look, glanced at Su Chunfeng, then looked up and continued staring at the upper bunk as if he hadn’t heard Su Chunfeng.

Su Chunfeng didn’t mind much either. He walked to the innermost part, placed his canvas bag on the table by the window, and put his bedding and other supplies on top of the canvas bag. Then, he picked up a dirty, old bedsheet from the floor, went out, found the public restroom at the end of the hallway, tore the sheet into several pieces, rinsed them casually, wrung them out to use as rags. Returning to the dorm, he walked to the bunk bed at the innermost west side, stepped on the lower bunk to climb up, lightly wiped the old, yellowed, dust-covered white mattress a few times, also wiped the steel pipes of the bunk and the walls, and only then laid out the blue-and-white checkered patterned bedsheet issued by the school. He placed his bedding, pillow, backpack, and books on it, wiped the bottom of his canvas bag, and threw it up there too.

After doing all this, he turned his head to glance around the room, walked to the bunk by the door, took out a shabby plastic washbasin from underneath, went outside to fetch some water, sprinkled it on the floor, then picked up the old broom lying on the floor and began cleaning up the dirty, messy dorm.

Seeing this, the student named Liu Yue hurried over to help.

The tall, strong student lying inside saw this, curled his lip, and muttered disdainfully, “Fake enthusiasm, playing the good guy? Got nothing better to do?”

Liu Yue, who was wiping the table with a wet cloth, looked somewhat displeased at the tall boy.

“What are you looking at?” the tall boy glared and shouted fiercely.

Liu Yue was clearly a timid, well-behaved student. His face reddened, and he quickly turned his head, continuing to wipe the table without a word.

Su Chunfeng frowned slightly but also ignored the rude boy and continued sweeping.

Before long, several more students arrived one after another. Most of them politely greeted each other and introduced themselves upon entering. Seeing Liu Yue and Su Chunfeng cleaning the dorm, four classmates even thanked them repeatedly, placed their things on the cleaned bunks, and started helping with the cleaning.

Only the student lying at the innermost remained indifferent to everyone, as if everyone owed him money. Moreover, after being talked back to by two students who wanted the upper bunk above him and had quite some temper, he fiercely got down from his bunk and, relying on his robust, ox-like physique and fierce, rude expression, intimidated those two students.

“Hey, you’re Liu Yue, right?” the tall boy lying on the bed ordered with a sidelong glance, “Wipe the steel pipes of my bunk…” Then he glared at another boy who was mopping the floor and shouted, “Hey, mop under my bunk, don’t you dare dirty my shoes, be careful.”

Liu Yue and the boy mopping, Xue Xiaoliang, both frowned but ignored him.

“Are you deaf? Not convinced or what?” the tall boy glared fiercely.

Liu Yue bit his lip and silently went forward to help him wipe the steel pipes. Xue Xiaoliang hesitated for a moment, then also didn’t make a sound, just symbolically extended the mop under the tall boy’s bunk and mopped a few times.

At that time, Su Chunfeng was at the doorway using a small square shovel to scoop garbage into an old woven bag. Seeing the scene inside the dorm, he couldn’t help but shake his head with a wry smile—he guessed that most of those assigned to this dorm were probably the top academic students, and such students were mostly of the honest, well-behaved type.

New cleaning tools hadn’t been distributed yet, but fortunately, the tools left by the previous year’s students, though old, were complete.

With everyone working together, the dorm was quickly cleaned spotlessly.

By then, there were already nine students in the dorm.

“Hey, I just remembered, you didn’t sweep under my bunk when you were sweeping!” the tall boy suddenly recalled something and shouted at Su Chunfeng.

Su Chunfeng ignored him, took out a towel from his canvas bag, turned, and walked out.

“Damn it! Are you fucking deaf?”

From the dorm behind came the tall boy’s angry cursing.

Su Chunfeng acted as if he hadn’t heard, walked calmly to the restroom at the end of the hallway, took off his T-shirt, wearing only big shorts, washed his arms and legs clean, washed his hair and face, and wiped his upper body with the towel.

After washing, he returned bare-chested and clean to the dorm doorway, draped the wet towel over his neck, hung the T-shirt over his shoulder, picked up the old small square shovel placed outside the door, pulled out the wooden handle, about as thick as a child’s arm and only about a meter long, and placed the shovel head back against the wall.

He tested the feel of the wooden handle in his hand; it was pretty good.