Chapter One: Childhood

  One day in the mid-1980s. A very ordinary day.

  There were no spectacular celestial phenomena like a purple star descending into the world, nor any shocking news of some president being assassinated.

  But for Lin Xiaoyu, today has a special meaning.

  On this ordinary day, Lin Xiaoyu wailed loudly as she arrived in this world.

  Lin Xiaoyu's arrival brought immeasurable joy to this ordinary family, as the first grandson born to the Lin family, he really made his grandparents overjoyed.

  Lin Xiaoyu's full moon photo fully illustrates this point. The smiling grandfather, who only saw teeth, proudly hugged Lin Xiaoyu, who was wearing open-crotch pants and was white and chubby - Grandpa even deliberately exposed the most important symbol of being a boy in Lin Xiaoyu's open-crotch pants to the camera.

  Mom told Lin Xiaoyu that this was a pose specially thought out by Grandpa to tell everyone that he is the first grandson of the Lin family.

  This made Lin Xiaoyu, who had grown up since then, feel very embarrassed about this first photo of her life.

  Lin Xiaoyu was born in a small town in the south, and Lin Xiaoyu's parents were ordinary workers.

  Lin Fu Lin Zhi Mao is a very hardworking and capable honest man, in the unit he is a mechanical maintenance technician.

  In his hands, the gigantic mechanical equipment that was too big to operate normally in the factory and the electric toy car that Lin Xiaoyu had played with until it was broken could all be restored to their original state.

  Almost all the neighbors and friends around would ask Lin's father for help when some electrical appliances were broken, and Lin's father would always do his best to help others with their requests. Sometimes he even spent his own money to buy new parts for others' repairs without telling anyone. Therefore, people who knew Lin Zhi Mao liked this kind-hearted good man very much.

  In Xiaoling's eyes, her father is an all-powerful person.

  Dad's thick and strong arms easily lifted the heavy rice cooker and gas tank, moving forward with ease; Dad could effortlessly lift Lin Xiaoyu onto his shoulders, letting her sit high above the crowd on the street to play; The dishes Dad cooked were more varied and delicious than Mom's, so Lin Xiaoyu never developed a picky eating habit from a young age; Those broken toys and appliances would be fixed by Dad with just a few tweaks of his tools in the tangled wires.

  Lin's father liked to smoke and drink a little wine before Lin Xiaoyu was born, but he never got drunk.

  But since Lin's mother became pregnant with Lin Xiaoyu, smoking and drinking disappeared from Lin's father's life. Lin Xiaoyu had never seen his father smoke before, and he had never smelled the smell of wine on his father either.

  Lin Xiaoyu also couldn't find a single thing that she disliked about her dad, except for the occasional serious look he gave her when she made a mistake, which scared her.

  Lin Mu Ke Hsing Fang is a very virtuous and kind person.

  At the age of 23, she married Lin Zhimo, who was six years older than her, through a matchmaker's introduction.

  Ke Huanfang is very satisfied with her husband. Lin's mother was the eldest of three siblings since childhood, and she had been taking care of her younger brothers and sisters who were a few years younger than her since she was a child, cultivating Lin's mother's careful, patient, and hardworking personality. After graduating from high school, Lin's mother started working in a textile factory.

  Mrs. Lin spent her daily life without anything of her own, taking care of her family and passing the time in a dull but fulfilling way. The things Mrs. Lin liked best were listening to Teresa Teng's songs and eating snacks, especially the rice cakes with sesame seeds and scallion oil that were sweet, soft and fragrant.

  After working in a textile mill for a year, Lin's mother married Lin's father and quietly took on the role of wife.

  The birth of Lin Xiaoyu brought a new center to Lin's mother's world, and from then on, Lin's mother's world began to revolve around this little life, busily spinning without leaving any remaining energy.

  In Lin Xiaoyu's heart, her mother is a person who loves herself extremely.

  I have never scolded or beaten myself since I was a child. Not even loudly shouted at myself. Just repeatedly reminded myself not to do dangerous things like swimming by the river, climbing walls and trees.

  For her own requirements, Mom always tries her best to satisfy them. Every time Lin Xiaoyu sees a toy she likes at the mall, her mom will try her best to buy it for her with her meager salary, no matter how expensive it is.

  Mothers are like this, they would rather suffer a thousand hardships themselves than let their children suffer even one.

  Although Mom didn't have the same omnipotence as Dad, the incredibly powerful love that burst out of her slender body always enveloped Lin Xiaoyu at all times.

  Every year there is a triangular amulet sewn with brand new red cloth hanging on Lin Xiaoyu's neck, which is what her mother asks for every year.

  From young to old, every new sweater of Lin Xiaoyu was knitted by her mother with her own hands, but her mother always wore an old-fashioned sweater.

  Every night, Lin Xiaoyu kicks off his quilt for love, and it is Mom's necessary work every midnight.

  Young Lin Xiaoyu could hardly feel the boundless love his parents had for him. Living in a state of abundance, Lin Xiaoyu spent his childhood at home like a little emperor, surrounded by one broken toy after another and one set of old and small clothes after another.

  Four-year-old Lin Xiaoyu was sent by his parents to kindergarten. He came into contact with the first batch of playmates in his life.

  Like most children born in the 80s, family planning deprived Lin Xiaoyu of the right to have siblings from birth, and it wasn't until she entered kindergarten that she had the opportunity to interact with playmates around her age.

  When Lin Xiaoyu went to kindergarten for the first time, she was very scared. Lin Xiaoyu, who had never tried leaving her family before, cried and shouted as she was dragged by her father into the kindergarten gate. There was even a time when Lin Xiaoyu put her small school bag in the water basin to get it wet, thinking that without a school bag, she wouldn't have to go to kindergarten. Unfortunately, naive Lin Xiaoyu still ended up being dragged to kindergarten with empty hands by her father.

  After a brief period of adjustment, Lin Xiaoyu quickly grew to love her time in kindergarten, with all sorts of games, various toys and children the same size as herself bringing her great joy.

  Lin Xiaoyu's parents were honest and kind, but it seemed that these good genes had not been passed down to Lin Xiaoyu. Being naughty and mischievous became the most common evaluation given by kindergarten teachers to Lin Xiaoyu. At this time, Lin Xiaoyu's playful nature was indulged, and she excelled at snatching toys, candies, and making her peers cry. These naughty behaviors made Lin Xiaoyu stand out among children of the same age, which also led to her spending a lot of time in the "dreaded black room" mentioned by kindergarten teachers.

  "The little black house" was the first place where Lin Xiaoyu felt loneliness. Like many children, when she was first locked in the "little black house", Lin Xiaoyu was also afraid of being alone in such a small and dark room. However, as time went by, Lin Xiaoyu thought that the "little black house" wasn't so scary after all. So, her mischievous and naughty behavior became even bolder and more reckless. This made the kindergarten teachers more and more helpless against this clever and daring little troublemaker.

  Every week, the kindergarten has two meals with a dish of stir-fried pork and tofu. This dish is Lin Xiaoyu's favorite since she knew food, its appeal to Lin Xiaoyu far exceeds that of sweets and cookies. Even after growing up, Lin Xiaoyu still remembers the wonderful taste of this dish. In her kindergarten days, Lin Xiaoyu often looked forward to eating this dish. This made Lin Xiaoyu remember that there are Tuesdays and Thursdays in a week. Lin Xiaoyu went home and asked her mother to make this dish many times, but no matter how she ate it, it didn't taste as good as when she had it in kindergarten, which left Lin Xiaoyu puzzled.

  Of course, there are also things in kindergarten that Lin Xiaoyu dislikes very much, that is bean sprouts and fish soup. Every time such dishes appear, Lin Xiaoyu goes on a hunger strike to protest. However, after being severely criticized by the aunties, Lin Xiaoyu learned to secretly pour the bean sprouts or fish soup into other children's bowls...

  The time in kindergarten was spent in carefree play, and Lin Xiaoyu muddled through the first graduation of his life. A most innocent graduation.

  This graduation had no exams, no commencement speech, and no diploma. There were also no graduation photos or yearbooks. However, this graduation marked the true beginning of Lin Xiaoyu and many other innocent flowers from kindergarten facing life's storms and challenges.

  Lin Xiaoyu learned a lot of things in her 3-year kindergarten career, apart from being naughty. For example: girls with long hair wear skirts; when snatching things from other kids, don't let the auntie see; shoes are originally divided into left and right...

  After officially entering elementary school, Lin Xiaoyu found that her backpack suddenly became heavy, and the Transformers toy gun and toy knife could no longer be put in it. Replacing the toy knives and guns was a pile of textbooks, workbooks, and exercise books. The person teaching class was no longer called "Auntie", but had become "Teacher". Class was no longer about playing games, but rather spending the whole day with her mouth open, following the teacher's recitation: "bpmf"

  These changes made Lin Xiaoyu very uncomfortable, but the teachers who were stricter than the kindergarten aunts had more weapons and methods to discipline children. So in Lin Xiaoyu's world, there was another terrible thing, the teacher.

  Under the diligent irrigation and cultivation of gardeners, Lin Xiaoyu and many flowers in the motherland grew vigorously along the road of good learning and progress. However, after all, the number of gardeners is limited, and the number of flowers is so large that the gardeners are overwhelmed and cannot keep up. As a result, some unusual or withered flowers appeared among the flowers.

  Clever and mischievous Lin Xiaoyu is just the kind of unexpected surprise that pops up.

  When Lin Xiaoyu's literacy skills were basically in place, his parents, who had high hopes for their son, bought him various children's books to strengthen his knowledge and education.

  This trick was quite effective, and Lin Xiaoyu's interest in children's book illustrations gradually shifted to the text itself, and then became fascinated with the content contained within. As a result, Lin Xiaoyu transferred her interest from toys to books.

  Lin's father and Lin's mother were overjoyed to see their mischievous son calm down and read books. As high school graduates, Lin's parents were confident in cultivating Lin Xiaoyu into the first university student in the Lin family. So they worked harder to buy a large number of books for Lin Xiaoyu to absorb knowledge.

  Lin Xiaoyu was also really attracted by the content of the book.

  The energy I used to spend playing marbles, collecting stickers and playing gunfights with friends is now all focused on reading.

  From "Picture Dictionary" to "Secrets", "Ten Thousand Whys", from "Children's Nursery Rhymes" to "Three Hundred Tang Poems", from "Andersen's Fairy Tales" to "Zheng Yuanjie's Fairy Tales" and "Around the World in Eighty Days"... As the books on the family bookshelf grew day by day, Lin Xiaoyu's little brain was filled with more and more knowledge and ideas.

  Of course, "Saint Seiya", "Clever Ichi", "Iron Arm Atsumi", "Shu and Beita" and so on, this kind of animation Lin Xiaoyu will definitely not miss.

  Fortunately, there are these lively animations that attract Lin Xiaoyu, so she didn't become a bookworm.

  To show off his mastery of the "Pegasus Meteor Fist" and other techniques from Saint Seiya, Lin Xiaoyu often made his classmates, including Xiao Pang, cry. After watching Football Junior, Lin Xiaoyu spent all day practicing being a goalkeeper like Wakabayashi Genzo, wearing a red hat among a group of kids playing soccer. To become strong like Popeye the Sailor, Lin Xiaoyu forced himself to eat spinach, but unfortunately, his small body didn't change much after eating it...

  There were two people in Lin Xiaoyu's primary school days who had to be mentioned.

  One is Li Jingru, who was one of the most influential people in Lin Xiaoyu's elementary school life.

  Li Jingru is Lin Xiaoyu's classmate and monitor, and also lives next door to the Lin family.

  Li Jingru and her family moved to live next door to Lin Xiaoyu when Lin Xiaoyu was just about to start elementary school. It's not wrong to say that Lin Xiaoyu and Li Jingru were childhood sweethearts.

  Although both were born in the same year, Li Jingru is several months older than Lin Xiaoyu, but it feels like Li Jingru is several years older. Because Li Jingru's height is more than half a head taller than Lin Xiaoyu, and she looks beautiful and quiet, much more sensible than Lin Xiaoyu. At home, she is the good daughter of her family, and at school, she is recognized by teachers as a good student.

  Lin Xiaoyu was a thorough bad student in school, except for her relatively good grades. She would talk back to the teacher, not listen in class, bully her classmates, not do her homework, often run away from school, and damage public property... Lin Xiaoyu had committed almost every offense against the "Primary School Student Daily Behavior Norms" during her six years in elementary school.

  If Lin Xiaoyu wasn't relatively smart and always one of the top students in class, she might have been held back or expelled from elementary school.

  This fall made Lin Xiaoyu feel a bit uncomfortable.

  Because Lin's father and mother often used Li Jingru as an example to educate their son.

  Although Lin Xiaoyu often brought home a few perfect test papers for her parents to sign, which made Lin's father and mother feel relieved. However, due to the exceptional excellence of their neighbor's daughter, Lin's father and mother unconsciously raised their expectations of Lin Xiaoyu.

  "Xiao Yu, look at Lao Li's daughter, Li Jingru, she is so well-behaved and sensible... if you can learn from her even a little bit, we would be delighted."

  "Xiao Yu, look, Li Jingru's family has so many awards that their walls are completely covered."

  "Xiao Yu, can't you just listen for once?"

  Facing all kinds of things her parents said, Lin Xiaoyu had never been worried or complained about having such a neighbor and classmate.

  Because Li Jingru is very good to Lin Xiaoyu. No, it should be extremely good.

  Every day, Li Jingru rushes to Lin Xiaoyu's home with her schoolbag on her back while Lin Xiaoyu is brushing her teeth or eating breakfast, and they go to school together.

  Lin Xiaoyu made a mistake at school, Li Jingru never reported to Lin Xiaoyu's parents and often helped Lin Xiaoyu hide some bad things that she didn't want her parents to know.

  Sometimes Li Jingru secretly helped Lin Xiaoyu with her homework. There were always delicious and fun things that would be secretly left for Lin Xiaoyu. The interesting books at home would often be taken out to show Lin Xiaoyu.

  When Lin Xiaoyu's family was not at home, Li Jingru's family would always invite Lin Xiaoyu to have dinner at their place. Li Jingru's parents also loved Lin Xiaoyu very much, who was slender and intelligent, and treated him like their own son.

  Lin Xiaoyu often secretly kept some forbidden items that her parents wanted to confiscate, such as comic books, slingshots, and air guns, at Li Jingru's place for safekeeping. And Li Jingru seemed to enjoy helping Lin Xiaoyu keep these little secrets too. This made Lin Xiaoyu, an only child, feel the warmth of having a sister in a subtle way.

  Lin Xiaoyu and Li Jingru barely spoke to each other in school, after all, boys and girls being together in elementary school would be ridiculed by their classmates. But at home, Lin Xiaoyu always loved going to the opposite door to find Li Jingru to play.

  Sitting on the floor playing with toys, leaning over the table to play chess. When the weather is good, run to the river embankment to play, when it rains, use a small long table as a ping-pong table in the house... Two children together always seem to have endless topics and fun.

  Tangerine soda for 5 cents a bottle, bean milk for 8 cents a bottle, ice pops for 1 cent each, slightly salty dried plum candies, sour fruit leather, sweet and sticky candied hawthorns... These were all Lin Xiaoyu's favorite snacks when she was in elementary school. The most luxurious snack Lin Xiaoyu had as a kid was a cylindrical popsicle that cost 5 cents.

  For Lin Xiaoyu, who only has one yuan of pocket money a week, it takes half a month to save up to eat that fragrant taro-flavored ice cream cone.

  Li Jingru also likes to eat that fragrant taro flavored ice cream cone on Monday.

  So the two children came up with a way that one plus one is greater than two.

  In the summer, Lin Xiaoyu and Li Jingru would pool their money every week to buy an ice cream stick, and the two little kids would take turns savoring the sweetness of the ice cream.

  And the five cents saved will be put aside, and by the third week they can each have a whole ice cream.

  Every time Lin Xiaoyu and Li Jingru sat shoulder to shoulder on the balcony of Li Jingru's home, watching the scenery composed of white clouds, blue sky, flying birds, and factory chimneys in the distance, they would take turns licking a mouthful of ice cream with rich milk and fragrant vanilla flavor.

  In the few minutes it took for the ice cream to be shared, this was one of the most beautiful moments in Lin Xiaoyu's childhood memories.

  Perhaps the temptation of ice cream was too great, on a summer afternoon, Lin Xiaoyu secretly used the fifteen yuan in her mother's dresser drawer to exchange for ten sticks of fragrant ice cream at the store.

  Two kids tried for the first time in one afternoon to eat away their usual monthly amount of ice cream.

  A huge sense of happiness almost instantly melted the two children like ice cream.

  That afternoon, Lin Xiaoyu and Li Jingru, the two children, indulged in the joy brought by the five-stick ice cream, until the sunset shone on their happy little faces, when the ice cream in their hands had all melted into a sweet spring that nourished their hearts.

  Happiness is followed by suffering. Lin Xiaoyu had her first physical experience of the philosophical words after eating five ice cream cones on the second day.

  Mrs. Lin found the money in the drawer was gone, and as a result, Mr. Lin's five fingers left their mark on Lin Xiaoyu's tender buttocks.

  This was Lin Xiaoyu's first time getting hit, and he naturally cried his eyes out. Actually, the slap on his butt didn't hurt that much, Lin Xiaoyu was completely scared to tears by his angry father. His father was afraid that Lin Xiaoyu would become a great thief in the future because of stealing needles when he was little, so he also steeled himself and disciplined his son for the first time.

  "It was worth it to exchange the five fingerprints for five ice cream, and your five ice cream is even more valuable, I got them just by using my tears." This is what Lin Xiaoyu said to Li Jingru in her room while eating the snacks that Li Jingru had left for her.

  Lin Xiaoyu's childlike face had a heroic and carefree expression, as if she had just accomplished some great feat of robbing the rich to help the poor. If Lin's father saw her like this now, he would probably want to leave five hundred handprints on her.

  Another one is Chen Yi, Lin Xiaoyu's best friend in elementary school.

  The boy with a name similar to General So-and-so's is Lin Xiaoyu's best friend in elementary school.

  Chen Yi is a student who gives teachers a severe headache. A large part of the mistakes Lin Xiaoyu made were committed with this person. However, because Chen Yi's father is a certain powerful leader in the city, the teacher feels somewhat helpless towards this student who has been determined to be a future loser.

  Lin Xiaoyu and Chen Yi's acquaintance has a bit of an unacquainted yet familiar flavor.

  In a childish and flavorful quarrel, Lin Xiaoyu used his self-created Tianma Liuxingquan to engage in a fierce battle with Chen Yi's painstakingly trained Beidou Shenquan.

  Because they were evenly matched, Lin was quick-witted and agile, while Chen was tall and powerful, so the two were difficult to distinguish between each other. As a result, they developed a deep affection for each other as fellow masters, becoming sworn brothers who would not part ways without a fight.

  Afterwards, the two of them met and regretted not starting earlier to study together the unpredictable martial arts moves in comics. Whenever they had an epiphany, they would right wrongs on campus, helping those in need and punishing the evil. They made the school a chaotic mess, having the time of their lives.

  Chen Yi provided Lin Xiaoyu with a large number of toys, snacks, game consoles, comic books and some interesting and bold games. In return, Lin Xiaoyu helped Chen Yi greatly in passing his exams. The two helped each other and their friendship deepened.

  The combination of these two people has exhausted the teacher's brains.

  A clever and resourceful person teamed up with a reckless and daring one, together they messed up the class atmosphere.

  The teacher repeatedly advised Lin Xiaoyu not to play with this notorious bad student, but the teacher's dissuasion could not shake Lin Xiaoyu's firm friendship with this Jianghu brother.

  The teacher was at a loss with these two people, so Lin Xiaoyu and Chen Yishuang were moved by the teacher to the position specially set for disobedient children - the left and right sides of the podium.

  Lin Xiaoyu was initially uncomfortable with this special position and felt a bit difficult, but after being blown by Chen Yiren's nonsense that this seat is the teacher's left and right protector's position, she gladly accepted this honorable and special seat.

  It was also the case that every year on Lin Xiaoyu's student ID, the teacher's comments never included words like "unite with classmates" or "obey discipline".

  The six years of elementary school also passed in a daze, and Lin Xiaoyu, who had finally taken off the red scarf that he had to wear every day to school, entered junior high school.

  I hope you like it and support me by collecting and clicking below, or giving some advice and suggestions, I'm really grateful.