Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Under our teacher’s approving smile and the applause of the entire class, I returned to my seat.

Yao Nan looked at me with surprise and admiration.

“Wu Zhong, I never knew you were this good. You really placed first in the entire grade! Congratulations.”

At the desk behind us, Wang Dachun and Zeng Jin let out a chorus of strange cheers, shouting things like, “Boss is invincible!” and “Boss is bound for Tsinghua University!”

I shook my head with a wry smile.

“It’s not really anything worth celebrating. I only just scraped through. The thought that I have no idea when this kind of life will end still scares me…”

Yao Nan’s expression turned peculiar. Her beautiful eyes shone as she studied me and asked tentatively, “Wu Zhong, don’t tell me you have to place first every single time or you’re finished.”

I nodded.

In my sincerest, most innocent tone, I said, “That’s right! I’m not joking. I have to place first in the grade every time, or I’m finished.”

Yao Nan was speechless.

Sympathy appeared on her face. “I used to think my parents were already terribly strict. They watch my grades like hawks, and I still have tutoring classes on weekends. I never imagined your parents were even stricter.”

Wang Dachun eagerly chimed in.

“Yeah, exactly, Brother Wu! You’ve got it so rough. Your parents expect way too much from you, especially when you can even perform arca–cough, cough, cough!”

He clapped both hands over his mouth, his face full of alarm.

I was already glaring daggers at him.

I did not treat my abilities like some earth-shattering secret that had to be concealed at any cost, but that did not mean he could blab about them wherever he pleased, did it?

Yao Nan looked curiously from Wang Dachun to me but did not press the matter.

“Anyway, congratulations, Wu Zhong.”

“Thanks, deskmate,” I replied with a smile.

Perhaps because the weight hanging over my head all month had finally fallen away without crushing me, I was in an excellent mood and smiled far more than usual.

Honestly, Master losing her temper or scolding me was more troubling in my eyes than any of the problems I had encountered so far…

I would rather stand before Lord River God and call it a dumbass than do poorly on an exam and earn Master’s disappointment.

Class continued after that, with Mr. Chen going through the test one problem at a time.

Since I already knew nearly everything, I hardly listened. Instead, I took out my mathematics textbook and previewed the material ahead.

After a while, I felt Yao Nan gently nudge my arm.

I looked up.

The girl was passing me a note beneath the desk.

Back in our day, passing notes was how students secretly talked during class.

I took it and unfolded it.

It read: Wu Zhong, could you tutor me every afternoon between the end of classes and evening study?

Uh… she wanted me to tutor her?

Come on. She was third in the grade, and I was first. There was barely any difference between us. She did not really need tutoring!

Still, studying together like that would help reinforce what I had learned too. It was not a bad idea.

So I wrote a reply.

It read: Sure! I wouldn’t really call it tutoring. We can pair up and study together. But since this was your idea, I should get something out of it, right? From now on, you pay for dinner every day. Just treat me at the cafeteria.

When the note came back, Yao Nan propped her mathematics textbook upright to shield it from the teacher’s view as she read.

Then she pouted, her cheeks puffing up in annoyance.

She glanced at me, nodded hard, and muttered, “You opportunistic miser!”

I chuckled.

She could call me whatever she liked. Getting something tangible out of the deal was what mattered.

I would gain another top student to study with and a free dinner in the cafeteria. What could be better?

The only downside was that when Wang Dachun heard about my arrangement with Yao Nan, he shamelessly demanded to join us.

That fellow was like a strip of adhesive plaster. He simply loved sticking to me.

I could hardly beat or curse him over it, so I had no choice but to let him eat and study with Yao Nan and me every day.

And once Wang Dachun joined, Zeng Jin naturally tagged along too…

Just like that, there were four of us.

After classes ended that afternoon, Yao Nan and I went to the cafeteria for dinner.

Since she was paying, I did not hold back. I ordered two meat dishes and one vegetable dish: twice-cooked pork, fish-fragrant shredded pork, and stir-fried shredded potatoes.

Our cafeteria served small portions, each dish in its own bowl, which students collected themselves from the service window.

Yao Nan glanced at the food I brought back. “At least you have some conscience. You didn’t exploit me too badly. Two meat dishes and a vegetable dish are just right for the two of us. My allowance can still afford to keep you fed.”
Uh…

I stared at her wordlessly. “What do you mean, keep me fed? Besides, these two meat dishes and one vegetable dish are all for me. Go pick out your own food.”

“What?”

Yao Nan looked astonished. “You’re eating all three dishes by yourself? Aren’t you a poor kid from the countryside? How can you be so extravagant?”

I knew she was teasing me rather than deliberately mocking me, so I gave her a shameless shrug. “Exactly. It’s because I’m a poor kid. I finally have a chance to sponge off someone rich, so why would I economize?”

Yao Nan huffed and went to the service window to get whatever she wanted. Chuckling, I picked up a slice of twice-cooked pork and began to eat.

Beside me, Wang Dachun and Zeng Jin gave me thumbs-up.

Wang Dachun sighed admiringly. “Boss, that was brilliant. Truly brilliant! Yao Nan looks quiet and pretty, but she has a fierce temper. She used to hit and scold me all the time in elementary school. I never thought you’d be able to tame her.”

I rolled my eyes. “Quit babbling and go get your food. I already told you these three dishes are barely enough for me.”

Before long, all four of us had collected our meals and gathered around a small table.

We ate and chatted about whatever came to mind.

Wang Dachun loved celebrity gossip. He said Aaron Kwok was his favorite star because he was incredibly handsome, cool, and a fantastic dancer. Wang Dachun hoped he could visit Hong Kong and get his autograph after he grew up.

Yao Nan’s favorite was Nicholas Tse, the handsome, rebellious young rocker who played guitar.

Wang Dachun asked me, “Brother Wu, do you follow any stars? Which one?”

Expressionless, I pointed toward a certain part of the sky.

“Of course. I follow the Big Dipper.”

Wang Dachun and Zeng Jin were both speechless. Only Yao Nan burst out laughing, though she said my joke was so lame it was not funny at all.

Young people who were gradually becoming friends always found plenty to talk about…

Eventually, the conversation turned to movies. Yao Nan said she loved films from Hong Kong and Taiwan, especially Hong Kong zombie movies. They were so exciting.

I found that amusing.

This girl claimed she loved Hong Kong horror and zombie films, yet when she had seen the real floating corpse of Zhou Min at our riverside picnic, she had fainted on the spot!

With courage like that, she watched zombie movies?

I did not really believe her.

When I thought about myself back then, I had only been in fourth grade when I dared to row a boat with Master in the middle of the night and escort a ferociously vicious water revenant to the Hundred-Bone Pagoda for confinement…

Now that was courage!

At that moment, Wang Dachun suddenly lowered his voice and said mysteriously, “Everything you’re talking about is from movies. I know a horror story that might be true. Want to hear it?”

I reached out and smacked him on the head.

“Spit it out! Quit trying to build suspense.”

Wang Dachun clutched his head, aggrieved. “You’re way too brutal, Brother Wu. Stop hitting me on the head all the time. If you make me stupid, how am I supposed to stay out of the bottom rankings like you ordered?”

Then he continued, “My dad has a friend who’s a low-level supervisor at the county archives bureau. Last weekend, I visited his home in the county seat and happened to see some records he’d brought home from the archives to organize. One was the Fubei County Gazetteer, a record of important events in our county from ancient times to the present.”

Of course I knew what a county gazetteer was.

It was a reference work devoted to a county’s history, geography, customs, notable figures, education, products, and other matters.

Beginning in the Tang dynasty, the imperial court required county governments to formally compile such records and pass them down through the generations.

Of course, dynastic upheavals and wars had destroyed many county gazetteers. Most surviving editions did not go back very far.

The majority dated only to the Qing dynasty. A gazetteer that began in the Ming dynasty was already exceptionally rare!

Wang Dachun said the copy of the Fubei County Gazetteer he saw at the archives supervisor’s home began during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor and continued through the end of the Republican era and the founding of the People’s Republic.

He had only been flipping through it for fun but unexpectedly found several interesting stories inside.

“I read a few of them. One was especially horrifying. It recorded something terrible that happened in the early Republican era at the place outside town where Xiaowan Village stands today.”

Wang Dachun lowered his voice further and leaned toward us. “According to the Fubei County Gazetteer, a terrifying living corpse appeared where Xiaowan Village is now! Do you know what a living corpse is? The book said it was someone who had died and become a corpse without realizing it, so he still thought he was alive.”

Clatter!

My chopsticks fell from my hand.