Volume 1: Elementary School 2004-2005 (1)
On September 4, 2004, Jiang Yubai just turned nine and transferred to a new school.
He was assigned to Grade Four (Class One).
The head teacher was a female teacher in her thirties, with shoulder-length hair, wearing rimmed glasses, a white shirt and a linen skirt, and looking a little serious.
The principal, vice principal, and dean of studies all stood at the door of the Grade 4 (1) classroom and whispered a few words to the head teacher. The head teacher immediately showed a very bright smile and said in a gentle voice: “Jiang Yubai, I am your head teacher, my name is Wu Xiqian.”
Jiang Yubai stood straight and said, “Hello, Teacher Wu.”
Wu Xiqian smiled even more deeply: “Jiang Yubai, come into the classroom quickly. This period happens to be my Chinese class, I’ll let all the classmates in our class come to meet you.”
Teacher Wu raised one hand and knocked on the front door of Grade 4 (1).
In an instant, the whole class became quiet.
Teacher Wu stepped into the classroom, her shoes making a dull sound on the plastic floor. Meanwhile, Jiang Yubai, carrying a backpack, walked without a sound, like a silent ghost, and stood on the three-foot-high platform.
“Attention, everyone in the class,” Teacher Wu clapped his hands and introduced, “There is a new transfer student in our class this semester. His name is Jiang Yubai.”
There are a total of 48 students in the class. After Teacher Wu finished speaking, 48 pairs of eyes focused on Jiang Yubai’s face.
Jiang Yubai was wearing a light-colored T-shirt and black sports pants. His height, body shape, and appearance were superior to all the boys in the class.
The truth was in front of everyone – Jiang Yubai was the best-looking boy in the whole grade, and even in the whole school. His facial features could withstand the most critical scrutiny.
He introduced himself: “Hello everyone, my name is Jiang Yubai, Jiang is the Jiang of the Yangtze River, Yubai is…”
A girl’s voice came from the last row of the classroom, “Against blue water birds appear more white; On green mountains red flowers seem to burn.”
Against blue water birds appear more white; On green mountains red flowers seem to burn.
That’s right, this poem was written by Du Fu and is also the origin of Jiang Yubai’s name.
Who is speaking?
Jiang Yubai followed the voice and saw a pretty girl with a ponytail. She still had a hint of childishness, with clear and bright eyes. She looked past the many classmates in the classroom, and looked at him with keen interest.
There was an empty seat next to her.
She had no desk mate.
Jiang Yubai was a little distracted. He thought his name was so obscure that no classmates would know it, but he didn’t expect that even a random girl in the class could recite it?
At this moment, Teacher Wu knocked on the blackboard. The head teacher wrote the three characters “Jiang Yubai” on the blackboard. Then, she added: “Jiang Yubai has been attending a private elementary school in Singapore for three years. He returned to China with his parents this summer. If he is not good at Chinese, classmates, shouldn’t you all help him?”
The whole class shouted in unison: “Yes!”
Teacher Wu nodded and said loudly, “You are the third group of students I’ve taught. Every time I take a new class, I start from first grade and continue all the way to sixth grade… Why? Because this way, Teacher Wu and the students become like a family, very close, right? Our class is also the experimental class for the entire grade, setting a good example and leading the way. I’ll make it clear in advance: if anyone dares to bully a transfer student in my class, don’t blame me for being merciless. Do you hear me?”
The students answered sparsely: “I heard it!”
Teacher Wu wiped the blackboard clean and patted off the dust.
The chalk dust floated in the bright sunshine, and each particle of dust had a specific shape.
They fell on Teacher Wu’s clothes and stuck to her hair, like a heavy snowfall from the sky, and made Jiang Yubai unconsciously take a step back – he had a mild obsession with cleanliness since he was a child.
Teacher Wu faced the whole class and urged again: “Speak louder! Didn’t you have breakfast this morning? Did you hear what the teacher said?”
The students immediately responded in a louder voice: “I heard it!”
Teacher Wu was satisfied.
She turned around and said to Jiang Yubai: “Okay, look for a seat and pick one yourself. Otherwise, the teacher will help you pick one…”
Jiang Yubai hesitated for a moment and walked straight to the last row of the classroom. He sat next to the girl just now. Before he opened his mouth, the girl said to him: “Hello, my name is Lin Zhixia.”
He replied politely: “Hello, my name is Jiang Yubai.”
“Haha,” Lin Zhixia smiled sweetly, “I know your name is Jiang Yubai.”
Jiang Yubai opened the zipper of his schoolbag and took out a black leather notebook. He placed the notebook on the desk, then shoved the backpack back into the drawer, ready to listen carefully.
He and Lin Zhixia’s seats were in the corner of the last row of the classroom. Lin Zhixia sat next to a glass window, and the blue curtain folded into a one-inch crease, hanging at the side.
She was very curious about Jiang Yubai, and she would turn her head and secretly look at him from time to time, which eventually annoyed him.
He whispered: “Why are you looking at me?”
Lin Zhixia asked back quietly: “How old are you this year?”
Jiang Yubai answered truthfully: “Nine years old.”
Lin Zhixia then asked, “Did you grow up in Singapore?”
Jiang Yubai shook his head, “I went abroad with my parents when I was six and returned to the country this year.”
Lin Zhixia held her chin with one hand, “So, can you speak English?”
Jiang Yubai modestly replied, “Not really.”
Although he said this, Jiang Yubai deliberately opened his maths notebook in front of Lin Zhixia. Every page was filled with maths notes written in English—because when Jiang Yubai was preparing for the TIS and PISA mats tests in Singapore, he could only find relevant materials in English. So his maths notebook was full of topics like basenversion (base conversions) and even had two pages on bers (complex numbers).
Lin Zhixia’s eyes lit up, and she seemed very happy. “Complex numbers, have you studied complex numbers?”
She was so excited that she didn’t know what to do, and she enthusiastically told Jiang Yubai, “Complex numbers are truly a marvellous invention! They made me realise that physics is the most wonderful subject in the world! The combination of real and imaginary parts makes wave superposition calculations so much easier! Even quantum computing can be simplified using complex numbers. The product of a complex number and its conjugate becomes a real number, and quantum computing requires determining a series of positions where a particle might be observed, allowing us to use complex space to compute the inner product in Hertz…”
Jiang Yubai’s mind buzzed. He couldn’t understand a word of what Lin Zhixia was saying. Not a single word.
Jiang Yubai had learned complex numbers because his parents found a doctoral student in mathematics from the National University of Singapore as a tutor for him when he was in Singapore.
Jiang Yubai had learned complex numbers because his parents found a doctoral student in mathematics from the National University of Singapore as a tutor for him when he was in Singapore.
The tutor was very responsible. He often helped Jiang Yubai to expand his thinking, first from “integers” to “fractions”, then from “fractions” to “radical numbers”, and then from “radical numbers and real numbers” to “imaginary numbers and complex numbers”.
He often praised Jiang Yubai: “You are a very smart student.”
In fact, Jiang Yubai has always been the top student in his grade during his three years in Singapore. His English, mathematics, science, Chinese, sports and music are all at the top level among his peers.
The annual tuition fee of the private primary school in Singapore where Jiang Yubai studied is as high as 200,000 RMB. In 2003, the housing price in the second-ring area in Beijing was about 10,000 RMB per square metre. Jiang Yubai’s mother jokes: “Your annual tuition fee is equivalent to a small study room in Beijing.”
At that time, Jiang Yubai’s primary school classmates were either rich or noble. Their parents attached great importance to education, and everyone took extra classes. Jiang Yubai was able to stand out from this group of people and rank first without losing. He felt that he was pretty good.
But today, Jiang Yubai was a little confused.
The long conversation Lin Zhixia had with him reminded him of his own experience of attending lectures.
When Jiang Yubai was in primary school in Singapore, their principal occasionally invited some professors from the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University of Singapore to give lectures. At that time, Jiang Yubai and his classmates sat upright in their seats. Although they could not understand what the professors said, they still applauded the professors.
Those university professors, like Lin Zhixia, would talk about their research fields and could not stop.
Jiang Yubai closed his notebook and could not help asking: “Lin Zhixia, what do you usually think about?”
Lin Zhixia clasped her hands: “Do you like physics and mathematics? Do you believe that the universe has an end? Do you think time and consciousness can measure this world? Do you think humans have free will?”
She lowered her head slightly, her voice was very soft, and her fair face was slightly flushed because of excitement.
She also stretched out a finger and pointed at Jiang Yubai’s notebook: “Jiang Yubai, you should not only… just know some complex number operations, right?”
Lin Zhixia didn’t know that her words were like a knife, stabbing Jiang Yubai’s heart, piercing his self-esteem and bleeding.
“I…” Jiang Yubai took a deep breath, and before he could say anything, Teacher Wu on the podium yelled: “Lin Zhixia!”
Lin Zhixia sat up straight and opened the textbook.
Teacher Wu knocked on the blackboard again: “You! Don’t talk in class! Classroom discipline! You must abide by classroom discipline! Only I am willing to reason with you. When you go to junior high school, which teacher will pay attention to you? You students who talk nonsense will be kicked out of the classroom immediately. You won’t be able to pay attention, your grades will drop, you will fail the junior high school entrance examination, and you can’t get into a good high school. Then you will know that Teacher Wu is doing this for your own good today!”
Lin Zhixia used her hand to cover her face and laughed secretly.
Even though Teacher Wu’s eyes were fixed on the area near Jiang Yubai, Jiang Yubai still asked, “Lin Zhixia, what are you laughing at?”
“It’s fun,” Lin Zhixia replied, “I’m a human behavior observer.”
*****
After the Chinese class ended, as soon as Teacher Wu stepped out of the classroom, most of the students in the class gathered around Jiang Yubai.
The students formed a solid barrier, and Jiang Yubai was like an exhibit within the barrier, available for everyone to observe.
They were all nine or ten years old, and their jealousy, novelty, and exploration were not concealed at all.
A chubby boy spoke up, “Jiang Yubai, I’m Zhou Bufeng. I sit in front of you.”
Jiang Yubai recognized his name from his homework book and nodded, saying, “Hello.”
Zhou Bufeng propped his hands on Jiang Yubai’s desk. He was wearing a pure cotton T-shirt, with his stomach slightly tight, revealing a small belly. He patted his belly and suddenly asked, “Jiang Yubai, I saw you and your dad at the school gate this morning. Do you have a sports car at home? Is it an Aston Martin?”
Aston Martin refers to a luxury sports car brand under Ford Motor Company, headquartered in London, UK.
As soon as Zhou Bufeng asked, Jiang Yubai responded, “My dad didn’t come today. The person you saw was our family driver.”
“Ah—” A burst of excitement erupted among the students.
This collective reaction made Jiang Yubai feel somewhat uneasy. Besides the Aston Martin, his family’s garage also had a Porsche, Ferrari, Koenigsegg, and McLaren F1. Or, in other words, his family background was extremely rare in the class.
Sure enough, Zhou Bufeng pushed Jiang Yubai: “Where do your parents work? Your family is so rich!”
Lin Zhixia also said: “Yes, you transferred here, and the principal stood at the door to see you.”
Zhou Bufeng glanced at Lin Zhixia and continued interrogating, “Jiang Yubai, where do you live? Does your family have a big villa?”
“Do you have a big villa?”
This straightforward question seems rude, and an intrusive answer would be abrupt. After all, most of the classmates in the class don’t have sports cars at home, and they probably don’t have villas. Jiang Yubai’s home in this city is not only a villa… To be more precise, it should be a private manor. His home has a tennis court, a swimming pool, a rose garden, and a martial arts training ground.
In the first few days after Jiang Yubai returned home in July, he often got lost in his own house.
Jiang Yubai lowered his head in thought and furrowed his brow slightly. “I don’t know.”
He was very satisfied with his answer, so he repeated: “I don’t know.”
“Even you don’t know that?” Zhou Bufeng looked at him as if he were foolish.
Lin Zhixia asked: “Because your house is too big, so you can’t tell whether it is a villa or not?”
Lin Zhixia asked: “Because your house is too big, so you can’t tell whether it is a villa or not?”
“You’re right,” Jiang Yubai admitted coldly. He had been sitting next to Lin Zhixia for less than half a day, and was already beginning to dislike her quick-wittedness and pretence of cleverness.
Zhou Bufeng pointed to another boy in the class with a crew cut and said, “Hey, that’s Dong Sunqi! Dong Sunqi is our class monitor, and he’s the richest kid in our class! Jiang Yubai, you’re even richer than him!”
Dong Sunqi heard his name being called. He glanced at Zhou Bufeng and then turned his face away.
The fourth grade (one) class was divided into two camps invisibly.
The first group centred around Dong Sunqi, has mostly boys surrounding him. The second group formed around Jiang Yubai, with an almost equal ratio of boys to girls by his side.
The first group centred around Dong Sunqi, with mostly boys surrounding him. The second group formed around Jiang Yubai, with an almost equal ratio of boys to girls by his side.
Dong Sunqi wore a red scarf and proudly displayed his two-bar armband. He extended his left arm, showing off the two bars, He stretched out his left arm and showed the two bars. The boys around him were all laughing, and there was an inexplicable atmosphere of joy in the air.
Someone shouted, “The Tiger Team Adventures! Dong Sunqi bought more of The Tiger Team Adventures!”
Dong Sunqi slowly stood up to let the students in the back row see his collection.
Everyone looked over and saw that seven copies of The Tiger Team Adventures were stacked on Dong Sunqi’s desk.
The Tiger Team Adventures was a wildly popular series throughout the school. Students loved reading the books while using a transparent “decoder card” to search for clues hidden within the pages.
Each copy of The Tiger Team Adventures cost 18 yuan.
Buying one for yourself would be a loss for sure.
Borrowing one from a classmate, on the other hand, was much more worthwhile.
Dong Sunqi was a regular supplier of The Tiger Team Adventures and had a good relationship with everyone in the class. In addition to The Tiger Team Adventures, he also frequently bought series like Goosebumps and Ghost Blows Out the Light, satisfying his classmates’ extracurricular reading needs.
Dong Sunqi once claimed, “My family is rich! I’m rolling in wealth!” As a result, he earned the nickname “Dong Wanguan [2],” and some even called him “Young Master Dong.”
[2]he nickname “万贯” (Wànguàn) is a term that literally means “ten thousand strings of coins” and is used to describe someone who is extremely wealthy.
Therefore, his nickname is “Dong Wanguan”, and some people call him “Master Dong”.
Zhou Bufeng took the lead and ran to Dong Sunqi, calling him: “Dong Wanguan, lend me a book! I’ll return it to you next week.” More and more people borrowed books, and Dong Sunqi’s area began to make noise.
Jiang Yubai’s side was much quieter.
Lin Zhixia finished tidying up her desk and said to Jiang Yubai, “In this city, the best schools are all public. Public school tuition isn’t expensive… The school selection fee seems to be a little more expensive.But compared to your private school in Singapore, our good schools are still much cheaper.”
“What do you mean… you Singapore?” Jiang Yubai said impatiently, “I’m not Singaporean, I’m Chinese.”
Lin Zhixia tilted her head: “Sorry. Are you angry?”
She blinked, her eyes were very confused.
Jiang Yubai blushed when she stared at him. He could only turn his head and look the other way before answering her: “I’m not angry.”
“That’s good!” Lin Zhixia clapped her hands, “Now, get out of the way, don’t block my way. There’s only ten minutes between classes, I’m going to play flip cards.”
The so-called “flipping cards” is a fun little game popular in the whole school. This game has been circulated in the whole school for a long time. It was once initiated by senior students, then spread to lower grades, and even became popular in all primary schools in the city.
Before participating in the “flipping cards” game, you first need to prepare 1 yuan as the starting capital. With this 1 yuan, you can buy 40 small cards at the snack shop near the school gate. Each card has a crisscrossing blue pattern on the back, and on the front, there are different characters from the Japanese anime Pokémon, including Pikachu, Togepi, Psyduck, Bulbasaur, Chikorita, and so on.
When the game begins, the two students stand on opposite sides of the desk, reveal their cards, and then place them face down on the table. They then take turns bending slightly and using the palm of their hand to slap the table—whoever can flip the card over with the slap wins that card.
“What’s so fun about this?” Jiang Yubai said in shock.
Jiang Yubai looked at the obsessed look of his classmates, especially Lin Zhixia who was also enjoying it…Jiang Yubai simply couldn’t understand it.
A new round of card games has begun.
This time, Lin Zhixia will play against Dong Sunqi.
Lin Zhixia wore a pink long-sleeved shirt and grey jeans, and her figure was thin and frail. Her wrists were too thin and soft, which looks like it was difficult for her to burst out with strength. How could she possibly knock over two cards?
Despite facing such an opponent, Dong Sunqi still did some warmup exercises on the spot. He bounced up and down a few times, stretched his hands and feet, and prepared himself for battle: “I’ll go first!”
Lin Zhixia cheerfully agreed, “Okay! You go first!”
She presented a “Dream” card.
The surrounding classmates exclaimed, “Dream! Dream is so rare! A senior in sixth grade was willing to pay 3 yuan to buy a Dream card!”
“So, what do you think?” Lin Zhixia said, “I’m playing Dream, what are you playing?”
Dong Sunqi felt the pressure from facing such a strong opponent. He had to stay calm. He took a deep breath, the air settling deep in his lungs. He spread his fingers and gripped the corners of the table: “’Il play… Pikachu!”
“Ah! Pikachu!” Another classmate commented, “Last time, I spent 7 yuan and bought hundreds of cards, but I couldn’t get a single Pikachu! Class Monitor Dong, you’re so generous!”
Dong Sunqi raised his palm and pressed down, signalling the crowd to be quiet.
He said, “I’m the class monitor of our class. If I’m not generous, who will be?” He looked at Lin Zhixia, “I’m about to make my move!”
Lin Zhixia urged, “Hurry up, don’t waste my time.”
Dong Sunqi bent over, mustering all his strength, and slammed his palm heavily on the desk. He hit it so hard it seemed like he was trying to break the entire desk.
The two cards on the table did not move at all.
Dong Sunqi’s expression collapsed .
“Hahahahaha, it’s my turn now!” Lin Zhixia was overjoyed.
She knelt on a chair, right hand flat, adjusting the angle while muttering to herself.
What was she saying?
Jiang Yubai couldn’t help but walk over to eavesdrop. He was very close to Lin Zhixia. He heard Lin Zhixia saying, “An angle of thirty-seven degrees, the torque in this direction…”
Then, she tapped lightly, and the two cards turned over at the same time, revealing the faces of “Dream” and “Pikachu”.
The classmates applauded her, “Lin Zhixia, you’re so strong!”
“Aww, just got lucky,” Lin Zhixia happily put away the cards and then joined the group of girls to play cat’s cradle.
Dong Sunqi sat dazed on the chair, silently grieving over the loss of “Pikachu.” His expression was sorrowful and melancholy, and a classmate nearby comforted him, “Class Monitor Dong, don’t be sad.”
Dong Sunqi shook his head. His eyes penetrated the window and looked at the sky: “No, I’m not sad. Winning and losing are the meaning of fighting… What I wanted to protect, I finally lost! Goodbye, Pikachu!”
Jiang Yubai murmured to himself: “Psycho.”
These classmates from fourth grade (Class One) were still clinging to the childishness of third grade, not yet having developed the composure of fourth graders. Jiang Yubai walked out of the classroom, wanting to get some fresh air. Then the mobile phone in his trouser pocket suddenly began to vibrate wildly. He stood in the corridor, took out his mobile phone, and answered: “Hello?”
His family’s driver responded,”Young Master Jiang, you left your water bottle in the car. I just noticed, so l’ll bring it to your school right away..”
“No need,” Jiang Yubai insisted, “I’m not thirsty, I don’t need to drink. You don’t have to bring the water bottle.”
The driver, sounding anxious, replied, “That won’t do, Young Master Jiang, kids your age are growing every day. I’m already at your school gate.”
When Jiang Yubai was talking to the driver, he felt someone behind him. He turned around and Lin Zhixia was standing behind him. It was as if She had just dug out a big secret, staring at him with her eyes wide open.
He asked, “Why are you staring at me again?”
Lin Zhixia asked in return, “Are you afraid of me?”
Jiang Yubai responded, “What’s there to be afraid of?”
Lin Zhixia explained, “Some of my relatives call me a freak. Just like your relatives… call you Young Master Jiang?”
Jiang Yubai’s driver wasn’t a local; he had just worked for the Jiang family for a long time and had gotten used to calling Jiang Yubai’s father “Master Jiang,” so he naturally started calling Jiang Yubai “Young Master Jiang.”
In fact, Jiang Yubai didn’t like the title “Young Master Jiang” at all.
But he felt too embarrassed to ask the driver to change it—it would make him seem petty, as if he couldn’t even handle such a trivial title.
He was about to speak when the class bell rang.
Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai walked back to the classroom one after the other, quietly returning to their seats.
Today, the sun was shining brightly, and sparkling patches of light fell on the desk, making the wooden surface gleam with gold and silver hues. Lin Zhixia found it amusing and used a ruler to chase the bright spots. She also mimicked others and called out to him, “Young Master Jiang.”
He avoided her gaze, turning his face to the side: “If you call me that again, I won’t play with you.”
Lin Zhixia became even more interested and called out again, “Young Master Jiang.”
In elementary school, many students enjoyed giving others nicknames and calling them by those names. Lin Zhixia used to think this behavior was very boring.
But once Lin Zhixia discovered how much fun it was to call someone by a nickname, she couldn’t stop. The more embarrassed the person got, the more curious she became, and the more she couldn’t resist calling him: “Young Master Jiang, Young Master Jiang, Young Master Jiang… Young Master Jiang!”
Jiang Yubai slammed his fist on the desk with a loud bang.
____________________________
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