Chapter 31: Revisiting Old Classmates

As dusk approached, Xu Chen and Feng Qingqing stepped out of the Internet café.

They were near the town’s center; Feng Qingqing’s home lay close by in a government compound.

Xu Chen offered to walk her back, though the girl seemed reluctant for reasons unknown.

He was growing impatient, but out of respect for the “official’s daughter,” he stayed by her side.

“How about juice?” he suggested.

“Sure…” she replied.

They ducked into a fruit shop, ordered two fresh orange juices, and sipped them as they headed toward her home.

The town was small, so they were soon standing at the compound gate.

They exchanged goodbyes, and then Feng Qingqing spoke up.

“Xu Chen, I don’t actually have a boyfriend. I lied to get you here…”

Xu Chen paused, chuckled softly, but said nothing.

Feng Qingqing hesitated, glancing at the bags he carried.

She pressed her lips together.

“I’ll head in now. If you need anything, just send me a QQ message or text.”

“Got it!” he replied.

…

Xu Chen grabbed a quick bite around town, then boarded the bus home carrying the shoes and sportswear he’d bought for Xie Bingran.

By evening, he returned to find his father, Xu Zhiquan, already home.

Xu Zhiquan greeted him with a smile. “How was hanging out with the girl?”

Xu Chen grinned, “Great!”

Xu Zhiquan eyed the packages. “What’s all that for?”

“Shoes and workout clothes,” Xu Chen answered.

“So my son’s decided to get in shape?”

Xu Chen smiled but didn’t reply directly.

“Dad, do you remember my desk mate from seventh and eighth grade?”

Xu Zhiquan frowned and thought, but couldn’t recall.

“The girl who used to skip meals because she had no money—Xie Bingran.”

Xu Zhiquan’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I remember! I even gave you extra pocket money so you could buy her something to eat.”

“Where is she studying now? Why bring her up all of a sudden?”

…

…

The next afternoon, Xu Chen took the town bus to his old middle school.

In his hands were the shoes and gear he’d bought for Xie Bingran.

At the school gate, he looked up at the entrance and the worn teaching and office buildings behind it.

They looked just as shabby as before; little had changed over the years.

The slogans on the entrance wall were faded.

【Unity and Struggle, Seek Truth and Progress】

【Knowledge Changes Fate】

【A River Begins with Tiny Streams, A Journey with Small Steps】

【Affirm Yourself, Create Yourself, Surpass Yourself】

…

This rural middle school wasn’t impressive. More than half the students dropped out or were streamed elsewhere after graduation.

Children in the town split into extremes.

Some worked tirelessly, seeing education as their only way out.

They were often introverted, silent, and insecure.

Others gave up on exams early, skipping classes and fighting, wasting their youth in aimless rebellion.

Those kids turned arrogant, ruthless, and reckless.

At fourteen or fifteen, they stood side by side yet lived worlds apart.

Even the hardworking few who passed the high school entrance exam and went to good urban schools were rare.

That spoke to the school’s teaching and the students’ backgrounds.

So when Xie Bingran got into Tiancheng No.1 High School, everyone was stunned.

They’d assumed she’d end up dropping out like her “bad kid” friends.

But “Bing Ge” overperformed on the exam and scraped in above the cutoff.

Xu Chen knew that was her true potential.

If she hadn’t ‘gone bad’—skipping school and fighting—in eighth grade, her grades might have been even higher.

Back in seventh and eighth, the quiet girl who often had no lunch was meticulous and serious about her studies.

Thinking of that, Xu Chen couldn’t help sighing.

Once high school began, he and Xie Bingran lost touch.

He’d heard she’d lost interest in studies and was always at the bottom of the class.

Without relying on exams, she’d likely have left to work right after graduation, as she once said.

Fortunately, she still had untapped athletic talent…

Xu Chen turned and headed to the athletic field.

The rusty gate stood open—the neglected rural school rarely locked it.

The four-hundred-meter dirt track still hadn’t been paved.

Weeds grew in random patches on the soccer field in the center.

It was a fitting image for so many students’ lives at this school.

…

Xu Chen walked onto the field and saw a group of a dozen teens gathered beside the stands.

They looked seventeen or eighteen, each with a cigarette dangling from their lips, arms slung around each other.

He spotted Xie Bingran among them at once.

She still wore that oversized black jacket, hands in her pockets, a cigarette unlit between her lips.

A burly boy noticed Xu Chen and shouted in a gruff voice,

“Xu Chen’s here!”

Xu Chen thought for a moment and recognized the kid as a classmate from middle school—Li Qiang.

He glanced at the others, recognized a few more former classmates, but their names escaped him.

He walked forward as some of them murmured,

“Long time no see, Xu Chen.”

He realized these were the classmates who’d hung out with “Bing Ge.”

Xie Bingran looked up at him, plucked the cigarette from her mouth, and hid it in her palm.

Li Qiang grinned and offered Xu Chen a smoke:

“Smoke, Brother Chen?”

Xu Chen shook his head with a smile. “No thanks.”

Li Qiang said,

“We heard Bing Ge was back, so we came to catch up…”

Xu Chen smiled but didn’t reply.

A few others drifted over and exchanged small talk with him.

Though not close, they were peers, so light banter came easily.

He learned they’d all rushed back from different places when they heard Bing Ge had returned.

In middle school, they’d been a rowdy bunch of underperformers who quit studying after graduation.

Some went to vocational school, some farmed back home, some drove taxis, others worked in factories or as apprentices in restaurants…

In a sense, they’d “turned over a new leaf” and left their delinquent days behind.

Each followed a different path after graduation.

But when they heard their old “Bing Ge” was back at their rundown school, they dropped everything to come to this weedy athletic field.

They weren’t here for anything special—just swapping cheap branded cigarettes and joking around like old times…

At that moment, Xu Chen seemed to understand a bit more of Xie Bingran’s past and her so-called “brothers.”