Doing It Over Again

On Chinese New Year's Eve, the village that had previously seemed quiet became extraordinarily lively. The sounds of firecrackers, children's laughter, and barking dogs brought daytime's bustle into the night. Shen Shao lay in bed, falling asleep to the noise outside.

On the morning of New Year's Day, he made himself a bowl of tangyuan (rice balls in soup). After eating, he locked the front door, visited his mother's grave, and then went to the county town.

The county town was very bustling on New Year's Day. Since Shen Shao's previously purchased second-hand apartment had old appliances, he had moved them to his current rental home before leasing out the apartment. He turned on the television, which was replaying last night's Spring Festival Gala. The hosts, speaking in perfect Standard Mandarin, were announcing New Year's greetings from various enterprises to the nation, their smiles flawless even under a magnifying glass.

Although the program was from twenty years ago, some performances remained spectacular. Shen Shao watched TV for a while but grew bored, so he grabbed a book from the study and sat on the sofa to read. Just as he was reaching an exciting part, he heard commotion from downstairs. Looking out the window, he saw that the dragon dance troupe had reached this street. Many people lined both sides of the street watching the performance - laughing, chatting, and applauding - creating a strong festive atmosphere.

Shen Shao watched from the window for a while, and after the dragon and lion dance troupes passed by, he returned to the kitchen to reheat the leftover dishes he had brought from his hometown. He made do with this meal. It was a local New Year custom that on the first day of the lunar year, one shouldn't eat newly prepared food but rather leftovers from the previous year, symbolizing having surplus year after year.

Looking at the newly hung calendar on the wall, Shen Shao let out a wistful sigh - 1997 had arrived.

Those who didn't pay attention to economics wouldn't know that this year the world would face a major economic crisis. The currency of some countries would depreciate significantly, and many factories would close. However, China would find new paths during this crisis, allowing its economy to develop and consolidate further.

Although Shen Shao wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, at twelve years old, there wasn't much he could do. It was like seeing a gold ingot behind a glass door - visible but untouchable.

He decided not to dwell on things beyond his reach. Having lived another life, Shen Shao's best quality was his mindset, so when the new semester began, he put aside the things he couldn't accomplish.

During this period, certain magazines were promoting how independent Japanese students were, highlighting how well Japanese children performed compared to Chinese children in Sino-Japanese summer camps. Often, when Shen Shao browsed through magazines, he would find writers lamenting with patriotic concern about why other countries' children were so good while Chinese children were lacking, wondering what had happened to their children.

Or they would write about how other countries' children showed amazing creative thinking during storytelling while their own children were so dull, as if China would be faced with a generation of stupid and lazy young adults in twenty or thirty years.

Shen Shao personally disliked these types of articles. While it was true that other countries' children had their merits, their own children also had many praiseworthy qualities. As an internet celebrity would say more than a decade later, "When other people's children are quiet, they're called mature, but when our children are quiet, they're called stupid; when other people's children are lively, they're called clever, but when our children are lively, they're called troublemakers."

In fact, twenty years later, these children who had been criticized so harshly by experts and professors grew up to be no worse than children from other countries.

Academically, Shen Shao was becoming increasingly proficient, having already previewed more than half of the second-year middle school material before finishing his first year. Due to the simple atmosphere in middle school and Shen Shao's background, there was little jealousy towards his position as top student, but rather increasing praise and admiration.

With relatively little academic pressure, Shen Shao enrolled in two hobby classes, studying calligraphy and piano, attending classes on weekends or holidays.

There weren't many hobby classes at that time, but the teachers were truly skilled, especially the calligraphy teacher. Though silver-haired, his wrist was incredibly strong when writing, producing characters with great dignity. Shen Shao admired his writing immensely, with the words "national treasure" gleaming in his mind.

The female piano teacher was a retired professor from a music academy. Though very serious during lessons, she was also dedicated. While the students secretly referred to her as "the Merciless Teacher" behind her back, they deeply respected her.

For Shen Shao, this kind of learning experience was something he couldn't have even dreamed of in his previous life. Later, he had often thought about how wonderful it would have been if he had had money to study properly and attend hobby classes he enjoyed. But time past couldn't be bought back, even with money.

Now that he was finally realizing his dream path in life, what reason did he have not to work hard for himself?

Time slipped away, and Shen Shao quickly became a third-year middle school student. Thanks to good nutrition during these crucial developmental years, avoiding malnutrition, he had grown significantly taller. Combined with his good grades and athletic abilities, he had secretly won the admiration of some female students.

Sometimes he would find letters decorated with cartoons and perfumed in his desk drawer. At such times, he felt somewhat helpless, silently reproaching himself for being like a strange old man enticing innocent young girls.

He kept the letters but never responded, nor did he publicize them to embarrass the writers. While this behavior caused many girls to give up hope, few became resentful due to "unrequited love."

"Shen Shao, how many love letters did you receive this month?" Yang Hongqiang asked, smacking his lips, his eyes showing a mix of envy and jealousy. "I heard the school beauty has a crush on you, did you know?"

"No idea," Shen Shao shook his chemistry book, smiling, "I only know you just borrowed my chemistry homework."

Making a zipping motion across his mouth, Yang Hongqiang lay on his desk and said, "Why do I feel like you're getting meaner?"

"Hmm, probably because you're becoming less and less to my liking," Shen Shao said calmly. "Anyone would get tired of the same deskmate after three years."

"Your Majesty, how could you abandon your beloved like this," Yang Hongqiang covered his acne-covered face, acting like a scorned wife.

"Watch less 'Wu Zetian,' especially since you haven't learned the main character's intelligence." Indeed, palace dramas weren't popular yet, but Tang Dynasty dramas were all the rage.

Yang Hongqiang: "..."

Did those girls who had crushes on Shen Shao know how sharp his tongue could be?! Did they?!

The coursework in third year became increasingly heavy. Originally there were two PE classes per week, but one was taken over by math, leaving the remaining class as a rare chance to catch some fresh air. However, today's PE class wasn't going smoothly for Shen Shao, as anyone would find it unpleasant to be angrily confronted by a fellow student from the same grade and hometown.

The current Shen Zhengyang still had a childish face, unlike the capable person described by fellow villagers in the previous life. Instead, he was more like an angered bull, and the reason for his anger was unclear.

"Shen Shao, don't think you're so great just because you have good grades. Stay away from Zhao Xiaoxue!"

Shen Shao silently sighed. What kind of TV shows were kids watching these days? Such dialogue was becoming cliché, and besides, who was Zhao Xiaoxue?

Seeing Shen Shao's indifferent expression, Shen Zhengyang's anger escalated, making him speak recklessly: "You parentless bastard, how could you be worthy of Zhao Xiaoxue? Look at your family's run-down house! What good are good grades? Can you afford high school tuition? Your uncle is still begging my father for food - can he support you?"

Several classmates who were close to Shen Zhengyang immediately started jeering, bursting into mocking laughter, as if this would make Shen Shao lose face and never be able to hold his head up in front of his classmates again. They were all from Class 5, considered the regular class in others' eyes, and had long harbored resentment towards students from the advanced class. Now that they had a chance to trample on the reputation of the top student in their grade, these fourteen or fifteen-year-old kids, not knowing any better, only knew that saying such things felt satisfying. They never considered whether their words might leave psychological scars on others.

The students from Class 1, hearing Class 5 students talking about Shen Shao like this, were already furious, and now with several boys from Class 5 mocking him on the side, they couldn't hold back anymore. Yang Hongqiang charged to the front, pointing at Shen Zhengyang's nose, saying, "What the hell are you talking nonsense about? Who the hell is Zhao Xiaoxue? Our Shen Shao doesn't even know her. If you want to go crazy, go do it in a dog hole, don't make a scene here."

At these words, it was Class 1's turn to burst into laughter. Although some people didn't find Yang Hongqiang's words funny at all, it didn't stop them from using this opportunity to mock the Class 5 students.

In recent years, Shen Zhengyang's family had taken over the village's rice milling house and hired two villagers as helpers, one of whom was Shen Shao's uncle, which was why Shen Zhengyang used this to confront Shen Shao.

If any other teenager had heard these words, they probably would have gotten angry enough to fight with Shen Zhengyang, but Shen Shao felt he shouldn't stoop to a child's level. So after both sides had finished mocking each other, he smiled calmly and said, "Thank you for your concern. I'll figure out the tuition issue myself. As for this Zhao classmate you mentioned... I'm sorry, but I really don't know her." After saying this, he even put on an apologetic expression.

Perhaps because Shen Shao was being too graceful, Shen Zhengyang looked at his smiling face and, despite the other's politeness, felt an inexplicable anger burning inside him, yet he couldn't find a way to vent it. He looked around at his classmates and saw many of them wearing expressions that seemed to say "you're being unreasonable," which made him feel even more frustrated.

"My uncle's family is indeed having some difficulties, and I'm very grateful to Uncle Fudong for taking care of my uncle," When it came to social graces, the young Shen Zhengyang was no match for Shen Shao. After just a few exchanges, even the Class 5 students who had previously looked down on the advanced class began to feel that Shen Zhengyang was being unreasonable.

After all, it was just about him having a crush on Zhao Xiaoxue, and Zhao Xiaoxue having a crush on Shen Shao. Shen Shao hadn't even gotten together with Zhao Xiaoxue, so how was any of this his fault?

The stance of young teenagers... is always rather unstable.

The two PE teachers who had originally thought there would be a fight between the two classes saw that Shen Shao had resolved the situation in just a few words, so they didn't intervene to ask questions, pretending they hadn't seen anything. However, they privately decided to mention this to the homeroom teachers.

These kids nowadays, how young they are to be thinking about girlfriends already?

Sure enough, during evening self-study, Shen Shao was called to the homeroom teacher's office by Li Lu, where he found Class 5's homeroom teacher lecturing a head-hanging Shen Zhengyang. Seeing him enter, Class 5's homeroom teacher, considering that Shen Zhengyang was also a top student in his class and wanting to save him some face, stopped speaking.

When Shen Zhengyang saw Shen Shao come in, he hung his head even lower, though in his heart, he had begun to hate him.

As for Shen Shao, he was still marveling at how difficult the teachers' working conditions were - they were still using desks with peeling paint, and the office of less than ten square meters was crammed with several desks, looking very crowded.

He didn't pick up any of the brain waves of hostility Shen Zhengyang was sending his way.

This was probably what they called a generation gap - how could a mentally-approaching-thirty adult understand a middle school student in his chuunibyou phase?

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