At ten that night, the streetlights outside had all gone dark, leaving the road pitch-black. Ning He and Yang Guifang arrived home. Ning He was about to take out his key when Yang Guifang quickly shushed him and whispered, “Give me the key. I’ll do it.”
Ning He knew what she was planning, so he said nothing and obediently pulled out the key. Yang Guifang took it, carefully slid it into the lock, and opened the door.
Then the two of them felt their way inside and tiptoed to their son’s door. Seeing the light through the crack, they still didn’t let their guard down. Instead, they felt for the doorknob, quietly turned it, shoved the door open, and shouted, “You little brat, playing games again!”
The two of them charged in, only to find that Ning Li was not playing his Xiaobawang game console as they had imagined. He was sitting properly at his desk, reading a book.
Ning He and Yang Guifang looked at each other. Ning Li glanced back at them and said sternly, “Don’t disturb me while I’m reading.”
Ning He: “……”
That actually came out of your mouth?
Yang Guifang rushed over and picked up Ning Li’s book. “……Physics? You’re reading a physics book at night? Is the sun going to rise in the west?”
Ning Li said, “My physics foundation is weak. What’s wrong with reading more?”
Yang Guifang stared at Ning Li’s face, looking him over from every angle. She felt as though she barely recognized him anymore. Somewhat dejected, she put the book down. “All right, then. Keep reading……”
She and Ning He left the room and began whispering in the kitchen. “Has that kid suddenly changed his ways? Burning the midnight oil and everything.”
Ning He said, “What do you know? This is called finally seeing the light.”
Yang Guifang said, “I’ve caught him several times, and every time he was reading. That makes it a serious problem. He isn’t secretly dating someone, is he?”
Ning He stroked his chin and said gravely, “It’s possible. After all, that kid has the kind of face that attracts bees and butterflies.”
Yang Guifang said, “No way. He hasn’t figured that sort of thing out yet.”
Even as she said that, she still began to worry.
She went back into Ning Li’s room and started probing him indirectly.
Ning Li was a little stunned when he first heard where she was going with this. His eyes immediately began to wander. In Yang Guifang’s eyes, that was clearly a guilty conscience. Before she could get angry, Ning Li spoke up. “No, I’m not dating anyone.”
He said it with absolute certainty, more resolute than ever before, which only made Yang Guifang even more suspicious.
Still, since he had put it that way, she didn’t say anything more.
After leaving Ning Li’s room, she said to Ning He again, “Don’t focus only on work. You need to pay more attention to the child’s mental health, too.”
Ning He chuckled. “Isn’t this great? If he can become motivated, you won’t have to chase after him every day to beat him.”
As he spoke, he recited a cheesy poem: “The prime of life never comes again, and a day will never have two mornings. We must make the most of our youth, for time waits for no one①~!”
Yang Guifang: “……”
The thing she had hoped and prayed for day and night had actually come true, yet she couldn’t help feeling that something about it was abnormal.
She wanted to see how long Ning Li could keep it up.
The next day.
Although September was still hot, it was much better than during summer vacation.
Ning Li was a day student, so he went home for lunch. Since he had been behaving so well lately, Yang Guifang was no longer stingy with him and had been eagerly preparing lavish meals.
Yang Guifang was battling it out in the kitchen, but her ears were sharp. When she heard Ning Li come in and call for his mother, she answered. When she noticed there was no movement in the living room, she put down her spatula, wiped her hands, and went out to take a look. The living room was empty, so she tiptoed to Ning Li’s room. The door wasn’t closed, and she could see what he was doing at a glance.
Oh, he’s reading as soon as he gets home? Yang Guifang felt a little awkward. At this hour, he would normally be planted in front of the television, but this was different.
At lunch, Yang Guifang was astonished. “Hey, you’re eating bitter melon? Didn’t you hate bitter melon?”
That brat Ning Li had all sorts of problems, and being a picky eater was one of them. He wouldn’t eat scallions, ginger, or garlic, and he refused plenty of vegetables, so Yang Guifang had to keep putting food in his bowl and forcing him to eat.
Bitter melon was Ning Li’s least favorite dish of all. Yet this time, he actually picked up a huge mouthful of pickled vegetables stir-fried with bitter melon.
Ning Li shoveled rice into his mouth and said without looking up, “I can eat it now!” Then he added sweetly, “I love everything you cook, Mom. Your cooking is the best in the whole world. I’m so happy I get to eat food made by my mother. You’re the best mother in the world, Mom. I love you.”
Yang Guifang: “……”
She felt goose bumps break out all over her body and said stiffly, “If you like it, eat more.”
That little brat had honey on his tongue or something. How could he be this sweet?
Good heavens, could heartbreak really change a person this much?
Ning Li had not only been a picky eater before, he hadn’t even liked eating much. Boys his age generally ate at least three or four bowls of rice, as though they had a pocket dimension hidden inside them. Not Ning Li. He would roll his eyes as he swallowed a small bowl of rice, and forcing him to eat more had always been a struggle. Now he was doing it voluntarily, shoveling rice into his mouth. After finishing one bowl, he even went to get a second, then a third.
Yang Guifang was becoming lost in her search for all the differences between before and now. She gathered up her questions and asked Ning Li, “Is it really all right for you to eat that much?”
Ning Li said without looking up, “The tallest boy in my class is 185 centimeters, and he’s an athlete. I’m only 176. I need to grow taller, so you have to order milk for me, Mom. Fresh milk. I need to reach at least 186.”
After swallowing the rice in his mouth, Ning Li lifted his face. His beautiful, shining eyes gazed seriously at Yang Guifang. “Mom, this is your mission. You have to help me grow to 186 centimeters in one year. Do you have the confidence to complete this arduous mission?”
Yang Guifang: “……”
Before Yang Guifang could say anything, Ning Li continued, “I know you have confidence. Go ahead and do whatever you need to do. I’ll eat anything you make, as long as it helps me grow taller.”
Yang Guifang said blankly, “……Oh.”
She studied Ning Li’s face carefully. He was eating the bitter melon in huge mouthfuls, without the slightest trace of reluctance. When he accidentally picked up a piece of ginger mixed into the stir-fried chicken and put it in his mouth, he only looked as though he might throw up for an instant. Once he realized what it was, he actually chewed it expressionlessly and swallowed it.
Yang Guifang said, “You got a piece of ginger, didn’t you?”
Ning Li said, “It’s fine. It’s not that bad. I love everything you make, Mom.”
After a pause, he said, “I’ll still wash the dishes after we eat. Don’t fight me for it.”
Yang Guifang: “……”
No. No, this was definitely not right. Had this child been possessed?
After Ning Li put on his backpack and left for school, Yang Guifang called Ning He and told him everything. It was noisy on his end, so he walked somewhere quieter. After listening to her account, he said unconcernedly, “He’s grown up. People always grow up in a single moment.”
Yang Guifang said, “How could I not know my own son? Before, if he could lie down, he absolutely wouldn’t sit; if he could sit, he absolutely wouldn’t stand. He avoided every chore he could, and he practically wanted me to feed him. A lazy kid like that suddenly comes home and sweeps the floor and washes dishes. Don’t you think that’s strange?”
Ning He said in a deep voice, “Growing up is a rotting process everyone has to go through. This kid’s about due for it.”
Then he recited another cheesy poem: “Youth must be cherished early. How could one remain young forever②!”
Yang Guifang: “……”
She hung up with a sharp click.
*
Ning Li arrived in the classroom and took his seat. He sat in the very last row.
In the teachers’ eyes, the students seated in the back row were practically on the same level as the trash cans. They had the worst grades.
Ning Li himself wasn’t stupid. He always scored highly when playing games, and he was a master at Legends of the Three Kingdoms, a strategic lord whose schemes could rival Cao Cao’s.
Since he was so good at games, all the boys liked to ask him to play. Internet cafés already existed by then, but they were strictly regulated, and minors weren’t allowed inside. So the boys could only gather in the back and play little games with cards and Xiaobawang game consoles.
As soon as he entered, several boys immediately called him over to play and pushed several Xiaobawang consoles toward him. “Ning Li, get me past this level.”
“Play mine. I’ve been stuck on this level forever!”
Ning Li replied righteously, “I’m not playing. I’m going to read.”
“Read? What are you reading? A dirty book?”
“Stop reading. You’re all seniors this year. Just lie down and wait for death in peace!”
“Exactly. With our abilities, catching up with the curriculum in one year will be a piece of cake.”
Ning Li gave them the same answer as before. “I’m not playing anymore. I’ve quit gaming.”
He glanced around the classroom and saw that several classmates were already seated and working through practice problems. A sense of urgency immediately rose within him, and his expression grew more serious. “I’m never playing games again. Don’t call me over anymore.”
The boys looked at one another, somewhat incredulous. “Seriously?”
Ning Li ignored their reactions, took out a newly purchased test paper, and began working through it in earnest.
He even sat up straight, his face filled with concentration.
Everyone fell silent. Turning their heads away, they whispered, “What happened to him?”
“No idea. He’s probably just putting on an act. Let’s see how long he can keep it up.”
“Don’t say that. Watching him sit there so seriously, reading and doing problems, is more painful than killing me.”
Ning Li no longer gave them any reaction. He seriously worked through half a test paper, and his heart felt much more settled.
The first class in the afternoon was a math test held after the start of the new term. When Ning Li received the paper, he was brimming with confidence, as though the whole world were already in the palm of his hand.
His deskmate Jiang Zhi saw his confident expression and asked tentatively, “What do you think of this problem?”
Ning Li flipped his palm once. “It’s as easy as turning over my hand.”
“……” Jiang Zhi said, “All right, all right. I want to see how many points you can get.”
After sitting beside Ning Li as a bottom-ranked student for over a year, how could Jiang Zhi not understand him? He didn’t believe Ning Li could get a good score. After an entire summer vacation, he had nearly forgotten all the material himself.
Ning Li: “A perfect score!”
“The ones in the back, be quiet. Stop whispering to each other,” the math teacher shouted.
Ning Li picked up his pen and began solving the problems.
Jiang Zhi glanced sideways at him. Oh, look at him working out the rough calculations so quickly. He was really putting on an act.
Their school, Dongling High School, was average. It couldn’t be called especially good, but it wasn’t bad either. Apparently, the authorities had begun placing more importance on Dongling High School’s college acceptance rate and had assigned several well-regarded teachers to Dongling as grade-level heads. Others said Dongling had gotten a new principal who had poached them from First High School by spending a fortune.
In any case, their class had also managed to get a special-grade teacher. She taught English, but since she was beautiful, everyone was still enthusiastic about studying.
As for the other subjects, they could only leave it to fate. There were some students with good grades in their class, but most of them attended Tutoring Class after school. Their results weren’t exactly thanks to the teachers.
Those who didn’t attend Tutoring Class and didn’t work hard generally ended up with grades like theirs. The total score was 720, and there were plenty of students who scored only three or four hundred on a mock exam.
Ning Li had been exactly that kind of student. If he could find an opportunity to sleep in class, he would sleep like a log. His favorite subject to sleep through was math.
But lately, it was as though his personality had changed. He actually wasn’t sleeping anymore. He was listening attentively!
Jiang Zhi felt a sense of crisis. Could the title of last place in the class be coming for him?
He didn’t dare get distracted again and hurriedly took out his scratch paper to start calculating.
The test lasted for two class periods, and naturally, the physical education class during the second period was also taken away. With ten minutes left before the bell, Ning Li spotted someone standing up to hand in their paper. He quickly stood up as well, hurried over, and handed his paper in.
The teacher glanced over the paper and said to Ning Li, “You haven’t finished the last big problem. There are still ten minutes. You can go back, finish it, and hand it in afterward.”
Ning Li quickly said, “No need. It’s fine like this.”
His heart was pounding as he watched the teacher place the papers from the students behind him underneath his own. He immediately felt much more at ease.
After class, Ning Li also wanted to be the first one out of the classroom to use the restroom.
However, someone was already in the men’s restroom. Ning Li glanced over. The boy was tall and somewhat thin. Even in the dim restroom, his skin seemed to glow white. When the boy saw Ning Li come in, he paused, then expressionlessly undid his pants.
The smile immediately fell from Ning Li’s face. He knew this boy. He lived next door to him, was an excellent student, and his name was Pei Ling.
Damn it. His name sounded a little nicer than Ning Li’s.
Several more boys came in from outside, and the stalls suddenly became scarce.
Ignoring the unspoken rule that one should never abandon an empty stall, Ning Li stood beside Pei Ling and undid his pants.
The boys in the neighboring stalls glanced at Ning Li. What a social butterfly.
Pei Ling: “……”
Ning Li took his time, then craned his neck to look at Pei Ling.
Blue veins stood out on Pei Ling’s pale hand. His white teeth were faintly visible between his red lips as he asked coldly, “What are you looking at?”
Ning Li said calmly, “What else would I be looking at? Your dick, obviously.”
Pei Ling: “……”