Hello, Old Times Chapter 73

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Chapter 73: Happiness is Indescribable

“The teacher is treating?”

“Mhm, it’s already past two. Everyone is starving to death. The other students are going back to school first while the Physics teacher takes the eight of us who did the experiments to the KFC nearby.”

Yu Zhou Zhou thought about it, “Wen Miao, tell the teacher that I have something to do and have to go home. I have to… go home.”

“Go home?”

Before Wen Miao finished asking, Yu Zhou Zhou had already turned and ran out.

The Middle School Affiliated to Normal University and Normal University were close together.  On her way to the bus station, she passed by Normal University’s main entrance. Yu Zhou Zhou slowed down and suddenly remembered the bustling of the parents and students on a cloudy morning and the anticipation in their eyes.

Where was everyone who participated in the Maths Olympiad now? Did they still have the same strong aspirations and ambitions as they did at the beginning?

Yu Zhou Zhou who was still in a daze, suddenly heard the sound of an erhu.

As if the strings at the bottom of her heart had been plucked, Yu Zhou Zhou turned over a corner and effortlessly found that old beggar under the bridge who was wearing the same clothing and same pair of sunglasses as back in the year.

“…Why are you still here?”

He still played so terribly as well. Yu Zhou Zhou swallowed that second half back into her stomach.

The old beggar lowered his head like before and looked at her from the gap above his sunglasses. His forehead was filled with deep wrinkles.

After closely looking at her for a while, he suddenly laughed, his mouth filled with golden yellow teeth.

“Little girl, I remember you.”

Yu Zhou Zhou smiled, It was yet another winter, That year, the little girl who had been crying non-stop because of the Maths Olympiad and her future seemed to be lost in the torrent of time. Although it seemed now that those worries back then were so naïve, it wasn’t actually impossible for her to enter into the Middle School Affiliated to Normal University. However, Yu Zhou Zhou knew that there was no point in criticising herself and it wasn’t a big deal now that she looked back.

She suddenly really wanted to borrow Doraemon’s  time machine to travel back. She didn’t know if she would be able to still meet her original self – would that Yu Zhou Zhou in that point and moment in time have to keep crying and stay in despair?

“Do you still want to listen to the music I made?”

Yu Zhou Zhou shook her head, “I didn’t bring any money.”

The old beggar pouted his mouth, “Don’t fool me, you just don’t want to spend any money. My music is specially performed for those who are willing to spend money to listen to music. You girl don’t know how to distinguish between the goods.”

Yu Zhou Zhou laughed, “Other than me being dumb in the past, do you think that there are people who would spend five dollars to listen to that shitty piece of yours?”

The old beggar smiled mysteriously, “You don’t know now right? Last winter, a boy gave 50. He stood here without budging for 20 minutes and insisted on listening to that piece you listened to.”

“What?” Yu Zhou Zhou was stunned.

“How would I know which piece he wanted to listen to. The music pieces I have are too much to even fill into this basket. This talent of mine is just overflowing. He stood here and described it to me for a long time.” The beggar imitated that boy’s tone, “It was that girl who gave you money to play music. She was this tall, with her hair in a ponytail, wearing a black coat and red scarf…”

After he finished speaking, he smiled mischievously, blinding Yu Zhou Zhou with his golden yellow teeh. She suddenly felt her nose turn sour. The grievances blocked in her chest because of Lin Yang’s coldness and harshness that she had intentionally suppressed down were released in an instant.

“I already said, if you’re not willing to listen, there’ll definitely be someone else…”

The old beggar was still babbling and showing off but when he raised his head, he discovered that there was no one on the sidewalk in front of him.

—

Yu Zhou Zhou was in a rush to get home because it was an important evening. She needed to take leave to go home in advance and “prepare” because her mum had said that there was an uncle* that she had wanted her to meet on Christmas Eve.

*[Not actually blood or family related, it’s just a polite form of address for a male adult]

Her mum always had uncles around who wanted to pursue her but she had never introduced any of them to Yu Zhou Zhou and they would all disappear randomly.

When she was younger, she would ask, why doesn’t Uncle XX call anymore?

Her mum would always rub her head and say, if he’s disappeared then he’s disappeared. Just pretend as if they’ve never appeared.

Hence, the uncle today must be someone who wouldn’t just disappear casually.

Yu Zhou Zhou would place a lot of importance on the people her mum valued. As she gradually grew up, the mother and daughter would sometimes chat about topics in this area including some past taboo events.

Yu Zhou Zhou really strongly hoped that her mum would be happy. There was a type of happiness in the world that Yu Zhou Zhou wasn’t able to give to her mum, no matter how diligent and sensible she was.

She felt a little nervous as she arrived neatly dressed, holding her mum’s hand at the revolving door outside the entrance of the restaurant. Her mum’s hand were as soft and warm as usual, sending her a steady stream of strength.

“Hello Uncle Qi.” She looked up at the tall, middle-aged man in front of her and smiled sweetly.

“Hi Zhou Zhou”. Uncle Qi lightly patted her on the head with his large hand, as if she was a little animal.

At the table, Uncle Qi frowned for a long time as he stared at the menu before bursting into a hearty laughter and scratched his head embarrassedly as he said to Yu Zhou Zhou, “Zhou Zhou, order some dishes with your mum. Uncle can eat whatever.”

Yu Zhou Zhou was a little astonished. She leaned forward and asked, “Then isn’t there anything you like to eat?”

“There is”, Uncle Qi’s smile was a little similar to Huang Ri Hua’s version of the protagonist Guo Jing*, “I like to eat the zhajiang noodles your mum makes.”

*[From The Legend of the Condor]

“Nonsense,” Yu Zhou Zhou’s mum rolled her eyes at him.

Yu Zhou Zhou was stunned for a moment before nodding deeply, “I like it too. Uncle, you have good taste.”

Uncle Qi was different to those elegant uncles. He didn’t have on airs and wasn’t showy. When he smiled, he looked a little silly and gave a warm feeling.

It was a warm feeling, like a real father.

Plus, he really liked to watch cartoons and he also liked wuxia and detective novels. More importantly, he was an engineer and was very good at mathematics…

When they got home, Yu Zhou Zhou’s mum was still waiting for the bath water to fill up when Yu Zhou Zhou went over to the bathroom with a smile, “Uncle Qi is pretty cute.”

For a forty two year old man to be called cute, one didn’t know if it would be considered a form of praise or not.

“You skipped class this afternoon right? When I rushed back home from work, I saw that you were at home.”

“Hehe,” Yu Zhou Zhou resolutely used the tactic of changing the subject, “Can Uncle Qi accompany me to go buy a computer?”

Her mum sighed and closed the showerhead, the rushing water sound stopping abruptly.

“Zhou Zhou, do you really like him?”

Yu Zhou Zhou raised her eyes. Her mum’s face which still had makeup on, barely had any traces of aging and was still smooth and flawless. Only Zhou Zhou knew about the puffy eyebags and the fine lines at the corner of her eyes below the mask. When her mum walked between the house and the office on 10cm heels like a superwoman, all Yu Zhou Zhou could do was not increase her burden – so she desperately hoped and waited for someone who could really relieve her mum’s burden.

Anyone was fine, as long as they had a straight back, a thick chest and a warm smile.

She knew that her mum didn’t want to see her pretend to be courteous and magnanimous for the sake of whatever reason as if she didn’t care about her mum’s remarriage – but she truly didn’t care and even really, really anticipated it.

“I like him. As long as it’s a person that you like, I’ll like them too.” Yu Zhou Zhou said earnestly.

Her mum was stunned. She raised her hand and brushed away the loose strands of Yu Zhou Zhou’s fringe. The warm beads of water on her fingers fell onto Yu Zhou Zhou’s fine eyelashes, blurring her vision.

“Zhou Zhou, you don’t have to…”

“I have conditions,” Yu Zhou Zhou interrupted her mum’s sad mood with a smile, “In the future, when I find a boyfriend, you must also have this attitude.”

The hand that had been stroking her cheek a second ago changed directions and fiercely pinched her instead. Yu Zhou Zhou shouted exaggeratedly and took a step back. Her mum laughed and scolded her, “You brat, do you have a goal? Are you taking precautions with me?”

Yu Zhou Zhou shook her head with a smile, “Budhha said, it can’t be said, it can’t be said.”

There was a sentence that really can’t be said. Hard-earned happiness can’t be said out loud fr fear that it will be taken away again by the jealous Gods.

Mum, you have to be happy.

A warm tear rolled down down inside Yu Zhou Zhou’s smiling heart.

—

Third prize.

When the Physics teacher announced this news, the whole class erupted. Yu Zhou Zhou’s first thought though, was if Shen Fen heard this news, would she be a bit happier?

On the first Saturday after the open class, Yu Zhou Zhou and Shen Fen still acted as if nothing had happened. There was almost no conversation between them. If there was, it was only “Excuse me, I need to go out” and, “Okay”. However, towards Yu Zhou Zhou, Shen Fen was no longer mysterious or cold. This girl’s fervent dream was the same as Yu Zhou Zhou’s, it was also the thing that the students of No. 13 Middle School were unwilling and afraid to say out loud.

Although the award for the open class was a collective award, but Yu Zhou Zhou sincerely hoped that this result would make Shen Fen feel better – because to a certain extent, it showed that No.13 Middle School wasn’t such a bad school and there wasn’t such a big gap between them and the students in Normal University Affiliated Middle School.

Of course, it was just a testification to a certain degree. Everyone including Wen Miao had deeply realised the gap when they watched Normal University Affiliated Middle School’s English class, it wasn’t just a gap between results. That type of confident attitude wasn’t something just results could bring.

After the Open Class, Wen Miao also became inexplicably silent for a while.

The gaze he used to look at Yu Zhou Zhou was always weird. Yu Zhou Zhou would still turned back to bicker with him like usual but she always received boring responses back. Over time, she also consciously restrained her boisterous behaviour in front of him.

The psychological impact brought by that stage on of the morning of Christmas Eve was not so easy to get through.

The only people who hadn’t changed was Xin Mei Xiang and Ma Yuan Ben.

Whenever Ma Yuan Ben started to make weird noises in the self-study classes, Yu Zhou Zhou would always pinch him hard, receiving back a “damn woman”. What also made Yu Zhou Zhou linger with fear was Ma Yuan Ben’s dandruff which almost glistened in the bright sunlight but it wasn’t something she could pick on because it would be hurtful to say it out. Sometimes, when her mood was good, she would also sing him the Cantonese version of, “Congratulations, your family is flooded with water”. Every time, Ma Yuan Ben would always laugh like a hen laying eggs. Of course, even though he would always neatly arrange the papers that were handed out, the forgetful Yu Zhou Zhou would still reach into his desk to find blank papers or calculation papers from time to time. During class quizzes, he would lay on the desk and specially check simple calculation questions for her. She’d do the major questions at the back with a peace of mind and he’d follow her calculations check the decimal points behind each step. If it was a literature paper, he would open the book and point to Yu Zhou Zhou’s fill in the blank and say, “This word is wrong.”

Occasionally, when Xu Zhi Qiang and the others asked him to run errands, Yu Zhou Zhou would lightly ask him if he couldn’t be tough for once and say “No” to them?

Every time, Ma Yuan Ben would lok at Yu Zhou Zhou with the gaze of looking at a strange creature.

“They’re my bros”, he’d say solemnly.

They’re just playing with you. Of course, Yu Zhou Zhou would bury this sentence inside. Some things would only make the other even sadder.

Perhaps, when Ma Yuan Ben cheerfully ran downstairs to buy snacks or cigarettes, his heart was filled with the type of happiness of being needed and she had no right to take away that type of happiness, even if it was just an illusion.

Ma Yuan Ben would also often ask Yu Zhou Zhou why Zhang Min would always scold him and Xin Mei Xiang but never pursue Xu Zhi Qiang and the others for failing their grades. Weren’t they all dragging down the average score of the class?

Yu Zhou Zhou shrugged, “Because you aren’t incurable.”

She believed that no matter how muddle-headed Zhang Min was, she would still be able to clearly see that Ma Yuan Ben was a young man with a kind and pure heart.

However, the bruises on Xin Mei Xiang’s face made Yu Zhou Zhou very worried. In all the classes now, whenever they had to answer questions ‘by train line’ from the first row backwards, the teachers and students would all bypass her. Once, just as Xin Mei Xiang who was sitting in the last row stood up, the girl from the first row of another group had already stood up and started a new ‘train line’.  Xin Mei Xiang stood there silently for a minute then sat back down silently.

After that, she never stood up again.

As for the bruises on her face, there was no need to ask to know that it was her mother’s work.

“Chen An, sometimes I wonder, to Xin Mei Xiang, would it be better not to have been born?”

When Yu Zhou Zhou was lying on her desk writing in her journal, she suddenly heard hurried screams and curses from behind her.

“I told you to f***ing hand over your schoolbag, did you turn f***ing deaf!?”