Chapter 9 Periphery

  In the classroom, Ouyang was having lunch with Wang Lin, Xu Xue Mei and Li Jun. During their conversation, Ouyang roughly understood the detailed situation of this class. This class, which is the 2003 level students, has about 55-60 people in each class, a total of 8 classes. What surprised Ouyang was that among these approximately 480 or more students, at least 200 were from District D.

  "So, there are many people in our group who signed that non-return agreement?" Ouyang asked while giving Wang Lin a piece of ribs.

  "That's for sure, they all say we are the little pigs of the new curriculum reform." Wang Lin said while eating.

  "What does it mean?" asked Li Jun beside him.

  "It's just a sacrifice for the new curriculum reform." Xue Mei said coldly.

  "You don't have to worry, you were one of the top students in elementary school, and this curriculum reform is just a piece of cake for you." Wang Lin said to Xu Xue Mei, with Ouyang nodding in agreement beside him.

  After finishing lunch, everyone packed up their own lunch boxes and Li Jun returned to his own class. The afternoon classes started at 1 o'clock, Ouyang looked at her watch, "It's not even half past twelve yet, let's go out for a walk." She said and pulled Wang Lin out.

  "You guys go ahead, I'll take a nap so I won't be out of energy for this afternoon's class." After saying that, Xu Xue Mei returned to her seat.

  Ouyang and Wang Lin came down to the playground, in fact, private middle schools are like this, most of them are in remote areas or residential areas, which is convenient for management. The playground of Fengmao Middle School is not particularly large, with a total of four basketball hoops, and about a few hundred meters away from the main entrance of the teaching building, there is a row of whitewashed low walls.

  "What is it?" Wang Lin asked.

  "Oh, the wall opposite is another private middle school. I think it's impossible to climb over with our height. Zhao Junyi might be able to make it, but if he gets up there and can't get down, that's it." Ou Yang finished speaking, and both of them burst out laughing.

  "The school was originally not very big, and the teaching building on that side is still a high school campus. If these two schools are put together, they will definitely fight." Ouyang and Wang Lin walked towards the school gate, diagonally opposite the teacher's office building, which was the campus of C District Municipal Key High School.

  "It's nothing, it seems like they're going to move out in two years, and I guess this building will eventually belong to our school too." Wang Lin was quite open-minded about it. "Actually, what I dislike the most is this big iron gate. Our school has closed management, except for lunchtime and after school, we're not allowed to go out. That's just how closed schools are." Ouyang looked in the direction of Wang Lin's pointing hand, and indeed, the entrance was sealed off with iron bars, now only a small door on the right side was open during lunchtime. "With so many warehouses around our school, do you think if we want to buy something after class, they can come out?" Ouyang asked

  "You're stupid, there are only ten minutes left before class is over and you come to buy things? Aren't you afraid of being late? Besides, this way Zhao Junyi will see it for sure and he'll definitely report you." Wang Lin said with a slap on Ouyang's head.

  "Alas, I feel like being in class is just like being locked up in prison!" Ouyang sighed and said.

  "Don't sigh anymore, we've all chosen this school, you can't do anything about it. Let's go, let's take a walk around." Wang Lin said, and followed Ouyang out of the school gate to the Le Fang residential area.

  "Jianbing fruit, spicy hot pot!" As soon as Ou Yang walked out of the school gate, he heard the distant hawking voice.

  "There are quite a few food stalls around here." Ouyang said while walking in the direction of the sound.

  "Of course, people like us who bring lunch are in the minority. Our parents are afraid we'll eat something bad, but there are still some parents who think cooking is a hassle and let their kids eat out, as long as they're given money." Wang Lin had a very understanding expression on his face.

  "I'd rather have my mom give me money," Ouyang said, and then he saw the place where the calling voice came from earlier. It was a one-story house on the right side of the school gate, with a man standing in a room with an open window, continuing to shout outwards, next to him was a pot filled with all kinds of spicy skewers.

  "You must be pleased, your mom knows that if she gives you money, you won't eat, so she brings you food. I don't understand you at all," Wang Lin said with a smile.

  "Hey, how did you know?" Ouyang was very curious.

  "My mom told me so," said Wang Lin, and Ouyang burst out laughing.

  "Hey, aren't those two village bumpkins?" The one who said this was Zhao Junyi. He had just received a pancake from that man and was walking towards Ouyang, probably having heard Ouyang's laughter.

  "Aren't you living in this neighborhood? Why are you eating out?" Ouyang asked Zhao Junyi.

  "Never mind, the food at home is too hard to eat, so I came out. Anyway, it's not expensive, a pancake fruit is only 3 yuan." Zhao Jun said with a bite of food in his mouth.

  Wang Lin swallowed his saliva, and Ouyang poked him, whispering in his ear, "Don't be so pathetic, wait till tomorrow when I ask my mom for money, we'll also go out to eat."

  "You must be Ouyang Chenxi. I'm his friend, my name is Zhou Feng, just call me Xiao Feng." said a boy beside Zhao Jun

  Ouyang took a look at him, and this person named Zhou Feng was also relatively tall, but very thin, so thin that it couldn't be described. However, the feeling he gave Ouyang wasn't bad, at least better than Zhao Junyi, so Ouyang also greeted him.

  "What's-his-name Lin, what class does he have this afternoon?" Zhao Jun suddenly couldn't think of Wang Lin's name and asked casually.

  "Nature, sports, society, self-study. I remember it was something like that, anyway the last class was always self-study." Wang Lin thought for a moment and said.

  "Zhao Junyi, you're from this neighborhood, is there anything fun around here?" asked Ouyang to Zhao Junyi.

  "There's a small district inside with recreational facilities, and in the center of the district there's a musical fountain. In the summer you can go to the fountain to cool off, but it's not open in autumn. The recreational facilities are all old men and women, so this side is more lively. There are warehouses, bookstores, restaurants, and street vendors selling food." Zhao Junyi finished speaking, and Ouyang also felt that the area around the school entrance was the most lively, with various delicious foods on the streets, and even the warehouse had pushed their carts to sell by the roadside.

  "Does the flat house selling spicy hot pot also belong to this neighborhood?" Wang Lin asked.

  "No, this building will probably be demolished in three to five years. Because our school is located on the edge of this neighborhood, next to other neighborhoods, so it's not clear which neighborhood is responsible for these bungalows." This was said by Zhou Feng, and later Ouyang found out that Zhou Feng also lived in Lefang Neighborhood.

  "Oh dear, it's already 12:45, let's head back." Ouyang said after glancing at his watch.

  Zhao Junyi swallowed the last mouthful of food, then walked into the warehouse. After a while, he brought out four cans of Coke and handed them over to them. "Thank you," said Wang Lin and Ouyang together.

  "Do you two know the difference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi?" asked Zhou Feng.

  "Coca-Cola tastes good." Ouyang said without thinking.

  "Why?" Zhao Junyi asked

  "Because Coca-Cola was out first," Ouyang said, apparently this reason did not convince everyone.

  "It's because Coca-Cola has a high caramel content, high purity and estimated caffeine content that suits American taste, while Pepsi is probably catering to Chinese taste, otherwise why would they find Jay Chou as their spokesperson?" Zhou Feng said, opening his own can of Coke and taking a sip.

  When it comes to stars, Ou Yang likes many of them. Because Ou Yang likes singing, his favorite is still JJ Lin and Jay Chou is also good. As for female stars, Ou Yang prefers Jolin Tsai, mainly because of Jay Chou's influence. The rest are the SHE group that he has always liked. However, Ou Yang is puzzled as to why all the stars he likes have to endorse Pepsi. What Ou Yang cares more about is Zhou Feng, a student who doesn't talk much but sounds very knowledgeable when he speaks, and he thinks Zhou Feng should be very capable.

  Back in the classroom, I found that still only a few people had arrived. Zhao Junyi said, "Locals basically all wait until just before class starts to come back." Ouyang felt this made sense too.

  "Hey Ouyang, is District D fun? How's it going? Wasn't your elementary school pretty interesting?" Zhou Feng asked Ouyang.

  "We in District D can't compare to you, there's nothing worth saying." Before Ou Yang could speak up, Xu Xue Mei, who was reading a book at her seat, threw out such a sentence. Zhao Jun Yi was about to shout but was stopped by Zhou Feng. Ou Yang felt very embarrassed and didn't know what to say for a moment. Fortunately, the classmates started coming in one after another, and the afternoon class was also about to begin. Zhao Jun Yi pointed at Xu Xue Mei with his finger and then returned to his seat.

  The first lesson of Nature class, Ouyang in general felt that he had no fate with nature, studying what this substance is, what that thing is, how many kinds of animals are divided into, feeling very tired.

  After the first class, everyone walked out and prepared for the second physical education class. At this time, Ouyang and Wang Lin were stopped by Xu Xue Mei.

  "I'm telling you, stay away from Zhao Junyi. He doesn't look like a good student at all." Xu Xue Mei said very seriously.

  "It's okay, we're not good students either, we know our limits." Ouyang said and walked out with Wang Lin.

  The PE teacher asked us to divide into groups, football group and basketball group. Ouyang originally wanted to choose the basketball group, but he found that there were four classes on the playground taking physical education class at the same time. Even if each class had a basketball court, it would be difficult to divide so many people, let alone only ten people could play basketball at the same time. So Ouyang chose the football group. Even if they played with other classes, more than twenty people could go up at once without having to queue and wait to play basketball.

  It turned out that Ou Yang's choice was correct. When he played football with his classmates, Wang Lin waited by the basketball court for a whole class and didn't go on to play.

  Because it was a physical education class, Ou Yang and the others didn't have to do eye exercises in the afternoon, which made Ou Yang very happy. During the third period, because they played too much during physical education, Ou Yang felt a bit sleepy and wanted to sleep. His deskmate Chen Juan said, "The teacher is very strict, it's best not to sleep." Ou Yang could only hold back and didn't fall asleep. The last period was self-study, and Ou Yang thought he could take a nap, but the result was that the class teacher Liu changed the weekly Monday self-study class to a class meeting. Of course, the first week of class meetings had to be held to elect class cadres. The representatives of each subject were appointed by the teachers, as expected, Ou Yang became the English representative, and as for the positions of class monitor, art committee member, and study committee member, Ou Yang didn't care much about them. He was secretly reading extracurricular books under his desk. Afterward, he heard from Wang Lin that Xu Xue Mei became the study committee member, and the art committee member was a person named Xiao Yang Chen. The most important position of class monitor was personally appointed by the teacher, named Li Fang.

  After finishing the homework, Teacher Liu organized the classmates to study on their own. Ou Yang continued reading his ghost story book he brought from home. Just when Ou Yang was deeply absorbed in the most thrilling and exciting moment of the book, someone suddenly tapped on Ou Yang's shoulder...