Chapter 5

Halfway through the semester, something awful happened.

The lecturer released our coursework marks. One of mine was a zero.

Coursework carried a lot of weight at university. With a zero in the calculation, I was certain to fail the course.

And once I failed, any honors or opportunities would be out of reach.

I clearly remembered handing every assignment to the class representative on time, so I went to ask him. He hemmed and hawed before giving up all pretense. “So what if I forgot to hand yours in? Go complain to the lecturer, if you like. It wasn’t on purpose.”

I couldn’t be bothered to argue. Getting it sorted mattered more. I emailed the lecturer, using the timestamps on my electronic copy to prove I’d completed the work on time, and asked to resubmit a printed copy.

There was no reply. I went to his office, but I’d barely said a few words before he impatiently slammed the door.

All the words I’d rehearsed, all the courage I’d scraped together, were smashed before I’d even begun.

After standing awkwardly outside his door for over ten minutes, I dragged myself back to the dorm. I climbed into bed and went to sleep with my head buried.

I’d studied so hard, and now I was going to fail. What was the point of university?

Qiu Ting urged me to ask Professor Chen to speak for me. “For his daughter’s sake, he’ll help.”

But I was too full of hurt, too dispirited. I didn’t.

When I did nothing, Qiu Ting went and told Chen Wei herself.

According to her, Chen Wei went with her to see the lecturer. He was very pleasant to them. Once he’d heard why they were there, he replied to my email on the spot and told me to resubmit my assignment.

Problem solved, Qiu Ting came over and tapped my bed rail. “Get up, Zhenzhu. You’ve got your favorite class today.”

After the assignment incident was settled, exam week seemed to arrive in no time.

University offered more freedom, but finals were more exhausting than high school. Between revision and term papers, I sat in the library from morning till night, until my backside ached.

The crowded library was stuffy. I went outside for a walk during my lunch break and suddenly heard someone call my name.

I turned to find a familiar broad face grinning at me. Old Zhou! I hadn’t seen him in ages.

Dad was immensely pleased with himself. “Missed you so much. Finally found out the university had some scrap to sell. Heh, and here I am!”

It turned out Old Zhou thought a university campus wouldn’t let someone like him wander in. After all, he could barely read.

He scratched his head and laughed. “If they let just anybody in, what kind of place would it be?”

Of course, I knew we couldn’t have bumped into each other on that road by chance. He must have come several times already, walking round and round the campus.

I showed him around, then took him to collect the old woman’s scrap. Sure enough, the young man from last time had refused to come back, whatever anyone said.

Dad and the old woman hit it off straightaway, enthusiastically comparing notes on scavenging. What was valuable, what contained brass, the old tricks buyers and sellers used on each other, switching things, filling them with cement… They got so carried away that collecting a little scrap took half the day.

Before leaving, Old Zhou fussed over me. “Brush morning and night. Less candy! Or your teeth’ll go rotten and black again, and then you’ll cry!”

I loved sweets, but my teeth were prone to cavities. As a child, I always seemed to have a mouthful of decay. Once, Dad found a piece of brass going cheap, sold it at a profit, and immediately marched me off to the hospital. The dentist drilled and dug away in my mouth, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Who could have known that a year later, my baby teeth would start falling out to make way for permanent ones? All those fillings for nothing!

I nodded solemnly. Don’t worry, I told him. You might not mind the dentist’s bill, but I do!