Don't Stop My Burning Youth

In the autumn of 1997, Liu Ran entered the Northeast Normal University Affiliated High School with the seventh highest score in the city. On the first day of school, he caught the attention of the homeroom teacher nicknamed 'Meng Yanwang'—someone in the back row whistled, and Meng Yanwang scanned the room before fixing his gaze on Liu Ran. In the same class were five others: the big-mouthed but timid Da Tou, the steady and silent Tun Lao Er Qi Dong, the fat but tough Ma San Ri, the stingy and shrewd Wang Shi, and the romantic and loyal Yu Di. The six of them went from strangers to comrades in less than a semester—the first ball game on the playground, the first group fight in the pool hall, the first time standing up for a brother in the bike shed. When the first snow fell, they used cigarettes as incense, kowtowed and smashed bowls, and pledged their lives to each other in the snow.