Zheng Su Nian straddled his bike, waiting for Shao Xue to finish queuing in front of Daoxiang Village’s long line.
“What’s up with her? She goes to school and comes back like she’s half-dead,” he turned to ask Zhang Qi.
“What else could it be?” Zhang Qi, sitting on the back of the bike, chomped down on a packet of “Little Raccoon” snacks. “She thought the final exams would be canceled because of SARS, so she didn’t review at all. Turns out, she was wrong. And now, the math scores are out.”
“She must be feeling pretty conflicted,” Zheng Su Nian sighed. “Facing the pressure of bad grades but still determined to stand in line for those lamb skewers.”
At that time, Daoxiang Village still had a window that sold skewers. Chicken skewers were 1.5 yuan, lamb was 2 yuan, generous portions seasoned with chili oil, wrapped in kraft paper, and smelling delicious. Zhang Qi, finishing his last bite of instant noodles, earnestly remarked, “I can actually understand Shao Xue. Daoxiang Village may be a century-old brand, but I swear, they must be making their profits from these lamb skewers. With sales like this, even McDonald's could go out of business, and they’d still be thriving.”
Shao Xue, looking utterly defeated but munching on her lamb skewers, walked over. Zhang Qi sympathetically patted her shoulder and said, “Look at our classmate Shao Xue. Facing Aunt Yu’s fury head-on, she eats and drinks without a care—what incredible mental strength.”
“Shut up!”
Aunt Yu was worried.
That morning, the homeroom teacher had called her. Shao Xue was among the five students in her class who had failed math. Worse yet, her English score was third in the entire grade—and the homeroom teacher happened to be the math teacher.
“Shao Xue’s mom,” the teacher sounded displeased, “could you ask your daughter if she has some issue with me? Her poor performance in math seems too deliberate, almost like she’s expressing some dissatisfaction.”
“That’s impossible, Ms. Xiao!” Yu Dong Ge was practically bowing over the phone. “We know how dedicated you are. As soon as she got her grades, I started teaching her a lesson. You don’t need to worry about it.”
Shao Hua wasn’t as concerned. He set down his newspaper and tried to calm his wife. “It’s not like she’s not studying. Her only problem is math, right? When she gets to high school, she can just choose the liberal arts stream.”
“Do you think liberal arts students don’t have to take math?” Yu Dong Ge was on edge and ready to explode. “High school? With her grades, what good high school would accept her? Zhang Qi and Su Nian are attending prestigious schools—where will she end up?”
Just as those words left her mouth, Shao Xue walked through the door.
Yu Dong Ge’s face fell as she sat down at the dining table.
“Where’s your test paper?”
Shao Xue lethargically handed over her test paper, muttering, “You won’t understand it anyway.”
And Yu Dong Ge really didn’t.
Few were like Jin Ning, who had studied abroad. Yu Dong Ge and Zheng Jin had started working as apprentices at the Forbidden City when they were sixteen or seventeen. At least Shao Hua had graduated from high school. He stepped in, trying to help, and after studying the paper for a while, remarked, “Hey, junior high math sure is tough these days.”
“Stop taking her side.” Yu Dong Ge glared at him. “Not everyone failed. Plenty of students did well, but she scored this low.”
“Well, I came in third for English in the entire grade. Not even a word of praise for that.”
“There’s no need to praise you for doing well. We need to point out your shortcomings so you can improve.”
Shao Xue thought the logic was flawed but didn’t know how to argue back, so she slumped in her chair, silent.
“I’m telling you, you should learn from Su Nian and Zhang Qi. Stop spending all your time listening to music and watching movies.”
Funny how times change—Zhang Qi had now become her model for studying. Meanwhile, Yu Dong Ge, growing increasingly frustrated, used Zheng Su Nian as the perfect example.
“Is that really necessary?” Shao Xue, feeling cornered, shot back. “Just because I did poorly in math doesn’t mean I’m completely worthless.”
“If you’re a student and your grades are bad, then yes, you’re pretty much worthless.”
“You’re always praising Su Nian for being so great, but Aunt Jin never judges him based on his grades.”
“Well, Su Nian didn’t fail math, did he?”
Shao Hua, sensing things were getting out of hand, set down his newspaper and turned off the weather forecast. Grabbing a small notebook, he hurried over to distract Yu Dong Ge. “Hey, didn’t they mention at the meeting yesterday that we’re supposed to present the results of our ‘Olympics English Learning’ program tomorrow? Are you prepared for that?”
Yu Dong Ge was easily sidetracked. With Shao Hua’s diversion, her focus quickly shifted away from Shao Xue.
Seeing the signal from her father, Shao Xue seized the opportunity to escape.
Years later, Shao Xue still found it funny whenever she remembered the “Olympics English Learning” campaign. The TV stations broadcasted segments of everyday people showing off their English, and taxi drivers grinned at the camera, exclaiming, “Nice to meet you, welcome my friend!”
The trend was so strong that even the high walls of the Forbidden City couldn’t keep it out.
Yu Dong Ge’s team was instructed to memorize some professional terminology in case they had to introduce themselves to foreign guests. For the younger generation like Fu Qiao Mu and Dou Si Yuan, this didn’t pose much of a challenge—they were college students and had already passed the CET-4 and CET-6 exams. But for older generations like Zheng Jin and Sun Qi Rui, it was much harder.
Sun Qi Rui was particularly resistant. In his words, “I’ve lived through most of my life, with one foot in the grave—why would I learn English now?”
So when Dou Si Yuan eagerly presented his master with a copy of The Complete English Guide to Chinese Porcelain, he ended up getting scolded instead.
Three days after the meeting, Sun Qi Rui walked into the building one morning and bumped into Luo Huaijin from the replication group. Luo, who was two years older than him and also rehired to mentor apprentices, was pushing a bicycle as he waved one hand energetically, shouting, “Good morning, Master Sun!” in an exaggerated, thickly accented English.
Sun Qi Rui, already irritated in the early hours, snapped back, “Where did you get that accent? At our age, why are you messing around with this nonsense?”
“This isn’t nonsense, Master Sun. Your thinking is outdated.”
Sun Qi Rui couldn’t swallow his anger. Furious, he returned to the ceramics room and grabbed Dou Si Yuan, demanding he teach him some foreign words.
During lunch, the two elderly men ran into each other in the cafeteria again. Sun Qi Rui raised his hand, trying to look refined, and said, “Good afternoon, Master Luo!”
In no time, the west wind blew in the east, and Yu Dong Ge could be seen holding Shao Xue’s old electronic dictionary, dragging Kang Mo Shui along as she practiced: “Silk. Silk. You see? Pretty standard, right?”
Kang Mo Shui blinked in surprise and pointed to the embroidery on her clothing. “What about this embroidery, Teacher Yu?”
Yu Dong Ge tapped the dictionary a few times, struggling to pronounce: “E-M-B-R-O-I-D… goodness, why is this word so long? No wonder Shao Xue worked so hard to place third in her grade for English.”
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