Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Taking a year off from school to learn from a master
After a long and somewhat boring recovery period, my spirits slowly returned, and the depression symptoms that had been with me all the time also gradually dissipated. At that time, the radio became my closest companion in life, and I plunged into the world of sound, intoxicated. Because of the radio, I became fascinated with pop songs. In 1997, Fan Xiaoxuan was a popular idol singer. Her singing was like magic. I listened to her tapes every day, and the more I listened, the more addicted I became. Not only did I like her songs, but I also liked her from the bottom of my heart. Occasionally, I would change my taste and listen to the songs of Jimmy Lin and Eric Suen. They were also my favorite idol singers at the time. Speaking of talented singers, I most admire Zhou Huajian as a male singer, and Faye Wong as a female singer, especially their classic old songs, which I never get tired of listening to. At that time, there was also a song "Heart Too Soft" that was popular in the streets and alleys, which also made me a fan of Richie Jen.
Listening to music is really a good medicine to heal the soul. It is of great help to people like me who have been troubled by mental illness. Compared with the songs now, I always feel that the songs we had back then are more flavorful and can sing into people's hearts. Fan Xiaoxuan's "Leading Star" was my favorite at that time. Until now, every time I go to KTV, this song is my must-order song. During that period, my body was also developing rapidly. My legs recovered very quickly. In less than six months, they were basically the same as before. My height was like bamboo shoots after the rain, and it kept growing. In our era, everyone liked to carve their height on the door frame. Every time I measured my height, I was surprised to find that I had grown a lot taller. I am 17 years old, but I am almost 1.7 meters tall. Moreover, I don't have to take anti-depressant drugs every day. It can be said that I have said goodbye to depression completely. In order to make my legs completely healed without any sequelae, my parents specially found a distant relative from my hometown in Shandong. This relative is a martial arts master, and his Shaolin boxing skills are so amazing that he is quite famous in Shandong. In this way, he became my master and taught me Shaolin boxing. Considering that my legs were injured, the master focused on leg skills and taught me a lot of practical leg skills. I was young at that time, full of curiosity about martial arts, and I learned very seriously. Since practicing kung fu, my legs have recovered faster, and I can jump, run, and run again, just like a normal person. The master lived in my house for nearly three months, and patiently taught me various kung fu every day. Although some moves look fancy, I have mastered the basic boxing routines very well.
Originally, the master planned to stay in my house for a long time and continue to teach me martial arts, but an accident forced him to return to his hometown in Shandong. That day, the master took me downstairs to rent a video tape. When I went back, I found that it was a Cantonese version, and we couldn't understand it, so we thought about taking it back to exchange. But the boss thought this reason was not sufficient, and he refused to change it no matter what he said. He also said that if he wanted to change it, he had to pay another dollar. The normal rental price was two dollars a day. The master was impatient. He argued with the boss for a few words but to no avail. In a rage, he performed a sweeping kick and tripped the boss to the ground. Then he went forward to argue again. The boss was so excited that he accidentally bumped into the cabinet next to him and fainted. I was stunned watching from the side. I had learned these moves before, but I had never had the opportunity to use them. I didn't expect the master to use them so well. Who knew that the boss called the police after waking up and even said that the master was robbing the house. His wife came to my house every day to make trouble, asking for medical expenses, saying that her husband was dizzy. After more than a week of tossing like this, the master couldn't stand it anymore and had to go back to Shandong, and the matter was left unresolved.
After the master left, I didn't continue to practice martial arts, and my kung fu was wasted. I took a year off from school at home, and the school was about to start. My father went to school in advance to find the teacher and the principal to arrange everything for me to repeat the year. I'm going to be in the first grade of junior high school again. Strictly speaking, this is the third time I've been in the first grade of junior high school. The first time I was held back was because I was ignorant and participated in money grabbing before, and the second time was because of a car accident, plus I was already a year late in school. I was born in 1981, but I have to go to the first grade of junior high school with children born in 1984. I'm three years older than them, at least two and a half years older. There's nothing I can do. This is all caused by my past experiences. I can only accept reality. After staying at home for two years, I no longer resist going to school like before, and I even have some expectations in my heart. The hormones of adolescence are at work. I especially want to meet female classmates. To put it bluntly, I go to school not only to study, but also to have a relationship and make some good friends. I secretly swore that this time when I go back to school, I must say goodbye to the troublesome me in the past and start over.
On the first day of school, I came to school early to register. There were many big red papers on the playground with class lists on them. I searched for a long time before I found my name. I was assigned to Class 4 of the first grade of junior high school. I walked into the teaching building, found the classroom, and sat down at random. After a while, the students came one after another. The teacher asked everyone to be quiet, and stood in the middle of the podium to introduce herself. Our head teacher is a middle-aged female teacher. Then, the head teacher talked about the school time, rest arrangements, and also explained the collection of tuition and miscellaneous fees. After that, the teacher asked the students to introduce themselves one by one, talk about their interests and hobbies, and the careers they want to pursue when they grow up.
After the first few students introduced themselves, it was the turn of a fashionable little beauty. She wore sunglasses on her head. At that time, it was popular to put sunglasses on the head, which was very fashionable. She wore jeans on her lower body. In the eyes of our generation born in the 1980s who had just escaped poverty, wearing jeans was simply cool. When the little beauty opened her mouth, her voice was crisp and pleasant: "My name is Sun Yao, from Experimental Primary School, I like skipping rubber ropes, and I want to be a lawyer in the future." I started to mutter in my heart, with your dress, you look like a little gangster, and you still want to be a lawyer? Then a few more students introduced themselves, and finally it was my turn. I took a deep breath and said steadily: "My name is Huang Zhong. I graduated from Malan Primary School. I like listening to music and reading comics. I want to be a radio host in the future." After saying that, I subconsciously glanced at Sun Yao, but I didn't expect that she was looking at me with a slightly contemptuous look. Through the self-introductions of my classmates, I found that there are quite a few top students in our class. Of course, there are also many beauties. The looks of several girls would definitely be school beauties in my previous primary school. I vaguely feel that my new life is about to begin in this new class. The moment I stepped into the new class, my heart was full of joy. My eyes swept across the unfamiliar faces, and I was sure that no one knew me, and no one knew about my past of repeating a grade. After all, it has been two years since that incident, and the torrent of time seems to have really washed away those unbearable memories. I thought to myself that I finally ushered in a brand new beginning. Now I can study with peace of mind, and I can be in the same room with beautiful girls all day long. I must be very motivated to study. However, I was still a little worried. The figures of the gangsters in the school and Ma Chao appeared in my mind from time to time. Fortunately, Ma Chao seemed to have transferred to another school, and I never saw him again. To be on the safe side, I decided not to go through the main gate after school, for fear of running into the gangsters who knew me before. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that the new class was not on the same floor as the previous class. This brand-new environment made me feel that it was time to start again. An indescribable comfort came to my heart.
After the registration, all the freshmen in the first grade were summoned to the playground. The school was going to hold a freshman meeting for us. Standing on the playground, I looked up inadvertently and saw many heads popping out of the classroom corridor opposite the playground. I didn't need to guess, I knew they were all students who were just going through the motions. The principal was speaking below, and they were blowing harsh hooligan whistles above, and shouting from time to time, not taking this meeting seriously at all. The physical education teacher couldn't stand it anymore, and shouted at them, roughly warning them not to make trouble again, otherwise the school would punish them. The hooligans were temporarily suppressed by this shout, and they were silent in an instant. When we, the first-year junior high school students, saw this scene, we couldn't help laughing out loud. But unexpectedly, a leading hooligans shouted at the top of the voice: "Who dares to laugh? Try laughing again!" As soon as these words came out, the first-year junior high school students who were still laughing secretly, instantly closed their mouths and dared not breathe. I looked up at the leading hooligans, and I always felt that he looked familiar, but I couldn't remember who he was for a while.
After the meeting, because the playground was a yellow mud stone ground, the principal asked each of us to pick up a slightly larger stone and throw it behind the playground. It is said that this will be what we must do after morning exercises every day in the future.
When I got home, my mother asked me about my school registration with concern. I said with a relaxed look on my face: "Everything is fine. The teacher looks very kind, and the classmates look very serious. There is only one girl who dresses like a little gangster. I guess she is a scoundrel." When my mother heard me say this, she was relieved and started her ideological education mode again. She kept saying the same thing over and over again, asking me to study hard and never repeat the mistakes of the past.
Three days later, the school officially opened. I have to say that the school is very efficient. We were given school uniforms on the first day of school. On the day of registration, everyone reported their own sizes. The school uniforms we received looked pretty good. Compared with the colors of the previous class, I think they are much better. When arranging seats, the head teacher stood on the podium and said: "Everyone sit wherever you want first, and I will slowly adjust them later. However, tall students should try to sit in the back, and students with poor eyesight or short height should try to sit in the middle and front." As soon as the head teacher finished speaking, the students started to scramble for seats like a pot of boiling water. I was not in a hurry. I had already made up my mind that I must find a pretty female classmate. No matter how I arranged it, the premise that the classmate must be a girl could not be changed.
I stood aside calmly and observed quietly. I saw that most of the students were scrambling for the front and middle seats. I watched eagerly as the empty seats next to several beauties were occupied by some nerds wearing glasses. I couldn't sit still anymore and had to act quickly. Suddenly, my eyes lit up and I found that there was an empty seat next to a girl in the third row from the bottom in the middle, and she was very beautiful. I remember when I introduced myself, her name was Yang Fang. I couldn't miss the opportunity, so I immediately walked over there quickly. I was about to reach the place, but who knew that a Cheng Yaojin appeared halfway, and a male classmate who looked particularly wretched sat down, which directly disrupted my plan. At that moment, I was so annoyed that I really wanted to use the tricks my master taught me to teach him a lesson. His behavior was really infuriating. Maybe the wretched guy also noticed that I was going to sit there, so he turned around and smiled at me, and said hypocritically: "Brother, do you want to sit here too? I really want to give this seat to you, but you are so tall, wouldn't it be more appropriate for you to sit behind me?" He pointed to the empty seat behind. I looked closely and found that the wretched guy was indeed not as tall as me. I am 168 cm tall, and he is probably just over 160 cm tall.
Since we have come this far, I have no choice but to accept the reality. I looked at Yang Fang reluctantly and sat down behind her reluctantly. Just a few seconds after I sat down, a female classmate came to my side. I turned my head and almost screamed out of fright. It was the little gangster girl. The little gangster girl threw her schoolbag on the desk with a "bang", and my heart "thumped". I quickly said to her with a big smile on my face: "Classmate, can you see the blackboard clearly when you sit here?" The little girl rolled her eyes at me and said unhappily: "What's it to you!" I didn't give up and continued to persuade her with a smile: "There are still empty seats in the front, you can sit there." She rolled her eyes, pointed to the front and said: "Are you blind? Can't you see that the seats in the front are full?" I took a closer look and found that there was really no empty seat. But I still didn't want to give up, so I pointed to the window and said: "What about the window?" She replied impatiently: "Why don't you go bask in the sun yourself?" I was disappointed, but still didn't give up, so I pointed to the corridor and said: "There are still empty seats in the front row there." The little girl was completely angry and shouted impatiently: "Can't you smell the toilet? I can't sit by the door, it's so stinking!" I really had no choice but to accept this cruel reality. In this way, the little girl Sun Yao became my deskmate.