Yang Ming ran to the school gate and caught his breath.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to learn but deep down in his heart, he knew his situation very well. He procrastinated too long in his studies and it was impossible for him to pick it up again anymore.
Once upon a time, the Yang Ming in junior high was a student with an excellent academic record. However, an accident caused Yang Ming to walk onto a path of corruption and despair…
He thought about Su Ya, the girl with big eyes like those of a porcelain doll. She was his sentimental first love… But, all was ruined because of Yang Ming’s class teacher.
Yang Ming and Su Ya were the top students of their class. They sat right across from each other, and thus they naturally grew closer together. But they were mere children who had only mutually good feelings. They had never crossed the line.
On an autumn afternoon, both Yang Ming and Su Ya were summoned to the office of the class teacher, Wu Chiren.
The fathers of both Yang Ming and Su Ya were there. Father Yang’s and Father Sue’s faces were as dark as a gloomy sky. Wu Chiren embellished their “love story” by spicing it up and then he “kindly” comforted Father Yang saying, “The kid is still young. Please, by every means, don’t hit him!”
If he had not brought it up, things would have been fine. However, at the moment Wu Chiren mentioned it, Yang Ming’s father gave Yang Ming a big slap without any hesitation. The slap stunned Yang Ming! His father had never hit him that hard since he was young.
Ya Ming was aggrieved and burst into tears. Su Ya looked at Yang Ming worriedly. She wanted to stop Father Yang from continuing the assault, but she was pulled aside by her father. Father Su rebuked her saying, “Even if you want to find a partner, you shouldn’t be like this! Look at their family background. All of them are workers!”
When Father Yang heard Father Su’s words, his face twitched and then he gave another flying kick to Yang Ming. Yang Ming cried. Su Ya cried as well. There was only one person smirking with satisfaction. This person was Wu Chiren.
It was only later that Yang Ming discovered the reason why his father was so angry. It was because Wu Chiren spoke of things like, “The Su family is so rich. How could Su Ya, a little princess, fall in love with Yang Ming. She must have been bewitched by Yang Ming because of her young age.”
The reason why Wu Chiren said this is because Father Su usually offered him some gifts. On the other hand, Father Yang did not.
The next day, Su Ya was transferred to another school. Yang Ming received demerits in his school record for flirting with a female student. The incident itself was not severe until Su Ya transferred. Because Wu Chiren lost his source of income, he vented out his hatred onto Yang Ming.
After that, Yang Ming fell apart…
He got involved in fighting, crowd beating, smoking, drinking and ganged up with bullies outside school, and thus became a tyrant at school.
During the senior exam, he relied on his past knowledge to get a scholarship. Yang Ming didn’t want his father to spend money on him anymore. But after the incident, Yang Ming’s father realized that it was he who wronged his son. He wanted to make it up to his son no matter what.
As Yang Ming walked through the billiard room’s door, he saw that Li Dagang had just sat down and was talking to the shop owner. When they saw Yang Ming come in, both of them said at the same time, “Brother Yang has come.”
Yang Ming nodded his head toward them. The billiards shop’s owner, Xu Peng, was formerly in Yang Ming’s gang during junior high school, but since he didn’t manage to qualify for senior high school, he opened up a billiards shop.
The bullies in the neighborhood were familiar with Yang Ming. Since they recognized the relationship between Xu Peng and Yang Ming, no one messed around in respect of Yang Ming. That was why Xu Peng had always respected Yang Ming very much.
Yang Ming put aside those unhappy memories in his mind and spoke to them joyfully, “There isn’t anyone here this morning. Xu Peng, let’s have a match?”
“Great, but Brother Yang, you should be lenient on me!” Xu Peng jumped out excitedly and went to grab a cue stick.
Li Dagang threw a cigarette to Yang Ming. Yang Ming took it and sniffed it, and then said at once, “Wow, you can afford to smoke Red River now?”
“It is Xu Peng’s cigarette. Hehe.” Li Dagang replied with a hollow laugh. His family situation was not much different from Yang Ming’s. While Li Dagang was in senior high school, his specialty was in sports only. His academics were also a pile of mess.
When Xu Peng passed a cue stick to Yang Ming, Yang Ming held it in his hand to get a feel of it. He walked towards the table and spoke. “Who’s first?”
“Let me start first. I am afraid you’ll score in one shot!”
…
At noon, Yang Ming went home for lunch.
This was also his most painful daily moment. Whenever he saw his father’s wrinkled face and ardent eyes, Yang Ming always felt that he had let his father down.
No matter how busy the factory work was, Father Yang always went home on time to prepare lunch for Yang Ming.
Looking at the warm dishes, Yang Ming felt that he should work hard to study. However, it wasn’t because he didn’t want to put in the effort, but that he was too far behind his studies to catch up on it.
“Big Ming, classes have been busy, right?” Father Yang sat peacefully beside the table. Every day he waited for Yang Ming to finish eating before he began to eat.
“Dad, you should eat too.” Yang Ming said reluctantly, “My studies at school are still fine.”
“There is only half a year left. You should put in more effort. No matter how try to study at a college. If not, you will end up like father – forever a factory worker,” spoke Father Yang with a sigh. He knew the reason for Yang Ming’s decline and knew that the incident was his fault, so he didn’t force his son. “If you can’t qualify this year, you can spend one more year to study again. Dad can pay for you!”
Yang Ming was touched by his words, but he knew his own current situation the best. He consoled his father and said, “Dad, I will do my best. If I can’t enter a college, I will find other things to do!”
Father Yang didn’t say anything. He only looked at Yang Ming with kindness, but he could not hide the expectation in his eyes.
In the late afternoon, Yang Ming went back to school for class and his father returned to the factory to work. Father Yang gave his bicycle, “28”, to Yang Ming. He himself walked to the factory. Yang Ming’s school was actually closer than the factory, but this was for Yang Ming to reach school sooner to review homework. Seeing his father’s shadow stooping lower day by day, Yang Ming’s heart was deeply touched.
Study? Okay, then I’ll just do it! If I can qualify for university, it can be a good explanation to him; if I can’t qualify, I have tried my best, so I won’t feel sorry for myself! Yang Ming decided this in his mind.
“Old man, don’t you know this territory was under Brother Liang? If you put a stall to do business here, you must pay a protection fee or else we won’t be responsible if there is any natural or man-made disaster!” threatened a bully as he clutched the booth keeper’s wrists.
Yang Ming frowned his eyebrows. Two bullies were harassing an old booth keeper not too far away from him. Yang Ming usually didn’t mind others’ businesses, but he couldn’t just let these people pick on someone weaker.
Two young men bullying an old man. What kind of men are they?