Chapter 27: The Forgotten Corner

  "How dare you be so bold, aren't you afraid of being alone at night?" Liu Gong asked again.

  Yu Songyuan opened his mouth and laughed, revealing a row of white teeth. "The timid fear ghosts, ghosts fear evil people. Didn't I tell you this morning that I've been practicing martial arts since childhood, and except for murder and arson, I've done all sorts of bad things? I'm considered an old hand at being an evil person. Besides, I never believed in those ghost stories about hanging ghosts or drowning ghosts."

  Ms. Zhang forced a smile, but her nose was sour. She took out another lunch box, which contained freshly made dumplings. She said: "Little brother, this is specially packed for you, as a welcome gift. Originally, I wanted to invite you to my home to eat together, but I didn't dare come alone to call you, so I had to wait until your brother came back and we gathered our courage to bring it to you."

  When Teacher Zhang went back, Yu Songyuan accompanied the couple to the teacher's dormitory area. Along the way, a large black dog suddenly ran in front of them, scaring Teacher Zhang so much that she turned pale and let out a loud cry of "Ah!" It wasn't until they returned to the dormitory area that she exclaimed, "Oh my god, I'm scared to death! This place is haunted!"

  When they were about to part ways, Liu insisted on leaving the flashlight with Yu, saying it was specially bought for him in the afternoon. Yu politely declined at first before finally accepting it.

  Yu Songyuan, who lives in the "ghost house", has become a person completely ignored and forgotten by school and classmates. He is free to come and go as he pleases, with his daily routine following the habits of his past martial arts training. Every night after finishing self-study at 9:30 PM and returning to his dormitory, he would head to the wooden bridge, taking advantage of the rare tranquility to practice his martial arts non-stop. Then, facing the cold autumn wind, he would wash himself with a cold bath in front of the pool, before going to bed feeling refreshed, living an extremely regular life.

  The dormitory is under the big embankment, and all the house tops are not higher than the big embankment. At night, the wind blows over the big embankment, and the damaged places on the roof, doors and windows, and the broken newspaper pasted on the doors and windows make various strange sounds, which really makes timid people lose their courage. But Yu Songyuan has always been brave and soon gets used to these sounds.

  On windless nights, he would even feel unaccustomed and couldn't fall asleep.

  Students who attend cram schools are mostly from local, especially county town's prominent families. These people wear brand new "Dakar" Zhongshan suits, with pens on their chests, shiny leather shoes on their feet, riding Forever and Phoenix bicycles, forming their own cliques, coming and going like the wind, looking down on students from ordinary worker and peasant families.

  Among them, a small group led by Peng Yuhui was the most prominent, with some individuals being particularly fond of fighting and chasing girls. One-third of the students in the tutoring class were girls, and those who looked slightly better than others would become their targets. Among them, the prettiest one was a rural girl named Li Yun, who had a tall and slender figure, and was also good at studying.

  Yu Songyuan was taciturn in the supplementary class, and his classmates didn't bother to associate with him. As a rural student who transferred to this school, he could only live in the "ghost house" and nobody looked up to him. The teachers didn't pay attention to him either, even if he didn't hand in his homework or didn't attend classes, no one would ask about it, leaving him in a state of complete self-abandonment.

  At first, he didn't have a desk and sat at the back near the wall. The chair had only three legs, the fourth leg having been broken off by students fooling around. There were many old chairs in the dormitory that could be sat on after simple repairs, but he deliberately didn't change it. With his skills, even if the chair had only one leg left, he could still sit steadily.

  Every day, he sits in the last row to listen to classes and can't even take notes. In class, he just listens, during self-study, he quietly sits at the back, looking at new supplementary books. When it's time to do homework, he goes back to his dormitory, which isn't a bother either. Except for Zhang Yu, teachers don't bother with him, so he never asks teachers questions, with an air of being uncompetitive and harmless.

  Every day when he returns to the dormitory, he will quickly organize the key points into notes based on his memory, and then complete his homework. His English is not very good, and Teacher Zhang Yu, their English teacher, takes extra care of him and gives him extra classes regularly.

  Yu Songyuan had a good cultural foundation. During the second mock exam, he did his test on his knees. He was so tired after each exam that his neck hurt, but he still managed to rank 9th in two classes. After the results came out and were posted on the bulletin board at the back of the classroom, classmates asked around about him, but no one knew who Yu Songyuan was.

  The cram school is a place to prepare for the college entrance examination, very utilitarian, only learning, and heroes are judged by scores. After the results of the mock exam were announced, the head teacher specially assigned a new desk and a brand new chair to Yu Songyuan. It was not until then that his classmates realized that the transfer student sitting in the back was actually Yu Songyuan.

  Yu Songyuan's poor English pulled down his overall score, but he was ranked first or second in the other four main subjects. This caused a stir among teachers and classmates, and no one underestimated him again. Soon everyone realized that this quiet boy was actually the eldest of the once-famous "Yu Brothers", which explained why he was so impressive.

  Some classmates began to take the initiative to get close to him, especially those rural classmates. When they encountered difficulties, they were more willing to find him to discuss. Gradually, a large group of male and female students gathered around him.

  Li Yun's family was in the sixth suite, her father was a commune cadre promoted from the team secretary, and their home was only a dozen kilometers away from Yu Songyuan's. In two mock exams, she scored 41st in both classes. According to the teacher's prediction, those who could score among the top sixty had the potential to attend a key undergraduate university. The top fifteen students performed normally and basically attended a first-class key university.

  Li Yun is a very opinionated rural girl who studies very hard. She was always in the top three in middle school, but last year she performed poorly and only scored above the minimum for vocational school. She decided to retake the exam after a year of supplementary study, but didn't expect such a big gap in scores when she arrived at the supplementary class. Yu Songyuan is quiet and taciturn, able to clarify complex problems with just a few words. She took the initiative to find the class teacher and asked to be moved to the last row, where she sat next to Yu Songyuan. Whenever she encountered a difficult problem, she humbly sought guidance from Yu Songyuan.

  On Saturday evening before self-study, classmate Peng Yuhui handed Yu Songyuan a movie ticket for the 2 pm show the next day, starring Bai Yang in "The Spring River Flows East". Yu Songyuan said, "I really want to go see it, but I'm truly embarrassed, tomorrow I have to go home to get food and can only rush back at night, thank you for your kind intentions."

  Peng Yuhui's face turned gloomy, and he threw the ticket at him, snorting, "What's so great about studying well? You deal with it, go or not!" After Peng Yuhui left, Yu Songyuan felt it was a waste, so he casually handed it to Li Yun, trying to curry favor.

  Li Yun said, "If you want me to watch a movie with you, you have to buy the ticket yourself. I won't go if it's Peng Yuhui's ticket." In the end, the ticket was given to Liu Chengjun, and Yu Songyuan regretfully didn't have time to watch the movie.

  On Monday evening, after self-study, Yu Songyuan walked alone to the dormitory with a book in his arms. When he reached the vegetable field behind the last row of dormitories in the teaching area, Peng Yuhui and several others blocked him. Yu Songyuan asked inexplicably, "What do you want from me? Is there something going on?"

  Peng Yuhui said: "Brothers come and have a smoke, let's discuss something." As he spoke, he handed Yu Songyuan a cigarette.

  Yu Songyuan said: "I won't beat around the bush. Say what you want quickly, I have other things to attend to!"

  Liu Jun beside him said, "Brother, I'm warning you. Li Yun is our Peng Ge's, you'd better stay far away from her. As the saying goes 'it's better to destroy ten temples than ruin a marriage', Peng Ge has been chasing Li Yun since middle school, don't be a shameless third party and ruin Peng Ge's good thing."

  Yu Songyuan was laughed at by him, "It's a bit boring, who you like is your business, it has nothing to do with me! You can rest assured, I came to the tutoring class not to find a partner." After finishing speaking, he left with his head held high.

  Peng Yuhui said afterwards: "Consider this a warning, don't be shameless if you're given face. Otherwise, bear the consequences yourself!"

  Yu Songyuan didn't take them seriously, of course he wouldn't bother. Although he didn't have that kind of intention towards Li Yun, but instead deliberately paid attention to her studies. That day, during physics class, Yu Songyuan quietly asked her, "Are you very familiar with Peng Yuhui? He said you're his person."

  Li Yun whispered to Yu Songyuan, "Peng Yuhui's dad just became the deputy director after entering the city, and I was a classmate with him in junior high school." Then he handed Yu Songyuan a note that read: "He is a self-righteous and shameless person, don't bother with him if he causes trouble!"

  She was as clear-minded as a mirror, obviously, she is a very insightful girl.

  A few nights later, when Yu Songyuan was walking to the cafeteria after self-study, he was intercepted by Peng Yuhui and seven or eight others. Peng Yuhui sat on the back seat of a bicycle, his body leaning on the saddle, with a cigarette in his mouth, looking very arrogant. He said, "You think you're great just because you study well?"

  "Peng Ge's woman, you also dare to chase after her? I think you've lived long enough!" Liu Jun said viciously.

  Yu Song looked at them calmly, "I advise you to stay away from me. I'm here to study and have no interest in chasing women or fighting with you guys. And let me warn you, don't bother Li Yun either. If you keep pestering us, don't blame me for being impolite!"

  Tall and stout Zhang Qiguan laughed loudly, "You little brat, you still have the energy to spare, truly a death wish."

  Peng Yuhui clearly didn't put him in his eyes, threw away the cigarette and cursed viciously: "Fuck your mother, poor boy, you think studying well makes you awesome? Today I'll let you know what happens when you hit on other people's women. You guys, beat him to death, who's first?"

  Originally, Yu Songyuan only wanted to make a point, but Peng Yuhui's sentence "poor kid" suddenly ignited his killing intent. Damn it, being poor is not my fault, it's fate, because I'm poor you mock me, then don't blame me for this. He put the book he was holding in his arms on the roadside ridge, "What's the point of that, come at me all together!"

  A few people rushed up, Peng Yu Hui lit another cigarette and waited for Yu Song Yuan to be knocked down and beg for mercy... However, in just a short while, his men were all knocked to the ground. Yu Song Yuan showed no mercy, he wanted these arrogant young masters to "rest" on the ground for two hours before they could move.

  Of course, after all, he was studying in the county town and didn't want to cause trouble, nor did he hurt them. At least, he could guarantee that even if they went to the hospital now, there would be no internal or external injuries found.

  Peng Yuhui was stunned, the cigarette burning to his fingertips and he had forgotten to throw it away. Yu Songyuan had already walked up and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him high into the air, a hook punch struck his abdomen, Peng Yuhui let out a "wow" as he spat out a mouthful of food. Another punch hit his stomach, and he vomited again, covering his brand new "Dika" Zhongshan suit in filth.

  Yu Songyuan threw him to the ground like a dead dog, and coldly said, "Trash, garbage, stay away from Li Yun! If you dare to harass her again, I'll beat you up every time I see you!"

  The next day, Peng Yuhui and others collectively skipped class and did not come to school.

  The next day, Peng Yuhui and others walked to the classroom door and saw Yu Songyuan hugging a book and slowly walking around the corner. Peng Yuhui led the way and stood at the classroom door, and several people respectfully invited Yu Songyuan in before daring to enter the classroom. This scene made all the students in the classroom feel very puzzled, and Li Yun asked in a low voice, "What did you do to them?"

  Yu Songyuan also said in a low voice, "After being fixed once, they don't dare to look for trouble with you again."

  Although he lived in a desolate corner under the big dike, a completely forgotten corner of the school, however, the thief did not forget him. One night, when he returned to his dormitory after self-study, he was shocked to find that the door of the dormitory was wide open, and under the moonlight, it looked like a big black hole, as if it wanted to swallow everything.

  Yu Songyuan's heart sank, and he took a deep breath of cool air. It's all over now.