CH 22

Translation checker: Rin

Editor: Junyans

“I haven’t talked about how to write a persuasive composition yet, so when we, the teachers, set the Language questions for the monthly exam, we did not have strict requirements on the subject matter of the composition. It was even simpler than the questions in many junior high school exams. We just wanted you to get more points.” 

When Teacher Wang was halfway through her speech, she couldn’t help taking a deep breath wearily. Then she looked at Yu Ran and emphasized: “It was a no-proposition composition. The topic we gave you was for you to write about an unforgettable event or an unforgettable person, and reflect on what you’ve realized through those things or people. Basically, what we’ll write in this grade are all narrative compositions. Do you still remember the six key elements of a narrative composition? Yu Ran, stand up and say.”

Yu Ran, who had long memorized the answer to this question, stood up and answered fluently: “Time, place, person, cause, process, and result of an event.”

“Yeah.” Teacher Wang nodded in satisfaction for the time being, but did not let him sit down, and then asked: “Then do you know, what’s the major premise of writing a narrative composition?”

Yu Ran was dumbfounded, and none of the students around him seemed to have any intention of telling him, so he tentatively guessed, “It has to be exciting?” 

Teacher Wang was speechless. She licked her dry lips, patted the test paper in her hand and told Yu Ran loudly: “No, it has to be ‘real’!”

She waved her hand to let Yu Ran sit down. After a few seconds, she couldn’t help but say, “Yu Ran, we don’t have to write narrative compositions in the college entrance examination, otherwise I’d have to buy ten copies of ‘All Compositions’ for you to see how we normal people make up stories. There’s not enough time today, so I’ll save you some face. You don’t need to read your composition in class, take your paper away.”

When he heard that he couldn’t show his composition to everyone, the expectant smile on Yu Ran’s face faded, and he sullenly took back the paper and lay on his desk. He didn’t listen to the whole class.

However, Teacher Wang’s remarks made the students very curious about Yu Ran’s composition for the monthly exam. After class, they swarmed to Yu Ran to see his narrative composition. Soon everyone was laughing and passing it around.

Yu Ran was still lying on the desk without saying anything, playing with a ball pen’s spring without expression.

He didn’t care that he only scored 23 on the exam. What made him unhappy was that the teacher had promised him before that he would read his composition in front of the whole class, but now she went back on her promise.

Chu Mian looked at Yu Ran’s back and clearly felt that he was depressed now. The laughter of the surrounding students annoyed Chu Mian. He frowned, raised his head and said to them, “Give me the paper.”

The cold voice cut through the lively atmosphere with a slash, and the smiles of the few students closest to Chu Mian, who clearly saw the menacing look in his eyes, froze immediately. 

Chu Mian didn’t know about the gloominess on his face, and his expression only calmed down after he took Yu Ran’s composition from someone’s hand.

“Yu Ran,” Chu Mian called him from behind, “Turn around, I want to see your composition now.”

Coafg tfjglcu Jte Zljc’r nblmf, Te Ejc jeabwjalmjiis gfmbnfgfv rbwf bo tlr rqlglar. Lf lwwfvljafis aegcfv jgbecv jcv ijs bc Jte Zljc’r vfrx jcv mtemxifv aklmf.

Vfflcu atja Te Ejc’r fzqgfrrlbc kjr cba jr vfqgfrrfv jr tf tjv lwjulcfv, Jte Zljc ifa ub bo tlr kbggs jcv ibkfgfv tlr tfjv ab ecobiv atf fzjw qjqfg. 

He took a closer look, and the title of Yu Ran’s composition was “My Uncle Yu Le”

“… this is the title of a textbook’s passage that we’ve learned before, right?” Chu Mian said as he recalled, “Yu Ran, you can copy compositions from textbooks, but it’s impossible to score when you use stories from textbooks.”

“What passage?” Yu Ran was a little confused. “My uncle is really called Yu Le.”

Chu Mian helplessly said “okay”, then read from the beginning. 

[My Uncle Yu Le]

[Growth is a set of long stairs. If I fall down on the first step, I still have to climb up. Growth is a rainbow after a rain. Even if I have never seen it before, I have to hope that it will appear one day. Growth is a glass of tempting wine. I got drunk with a sip, and I became addicted to it from then on… Growth, let me grow from a little boy to a big man. All this was taught to me by my Uncle Yu Le…]

Although this parallel structure didn’t have any logical connection and the vocabulary was not beautiful enough, it still looked like the opening style of a composition template at first glance. Chu Mian felt that Yu Ran had at least thought about it seriously and should not face so much ridicule. He comforted Yu Ran: “The format at the beginning is very standard, but it would be better if you polish it up.”

When Yu Ran heard the praise, he nodded hurriedly. 

[Like most people my age, I am fifteen years old this year.]

Seeing the beginning of the second paragraph, Chu Mian was silent.

[Just last month, I saw my uncle again. That day, the sun was shining in the sky and I was in a good mood, so my brother Yu Jeen (pseudonym) and I went out to play on a cruise ship on the Lanjiang River. My mother was worried about letting only the two of us go outside alone. She had to work and couldn’t accompany us, so she called our Uncle Yu Le. Uncle Yu Le’s original name was actually Yu Lele, so my brother and I both call him Uncle Lele.]

[But I don’t like Uncle Lele. He doesn’t look for work, but only picks up plastic bottles discarded by others on the roadside and sells them for money. His income is low, so he depends on my dad for food and drink every day, which is why I look down on him.] 

[When I arrived on the cruise ship, I sat at the bow of the ship, and played Cat's Cradle with my younger brother. Anyone who created a dead-end figure would be pulled by the hair. I pulled my brother’s hair a lot, and almost pulled all his hair off! Haha! When I was feeling happy, Uncle Lele suddenly came over and wanted to play with us too.]

[In your dreams!! I looked at his patched pants and rough hands with contempt in my heart. Uncle Lele was left out by me. With a sad look on his face, he silently left to pick up the bottles on the ship. I watched him indifferently, and disdainfully thought to myself: “Humph, how much money can you earn by selling bottles? You are a big man, so why aren’t you eager to make progress?” The faster the ship went, the more exciting it was, so I went out on deck with my brother to catch the breeze.]

[The Lanjiang River was as blue as the sea and wider than the sky, so I couldn’t help but want to fall into its embrace. Unknowingly, I stepped on the bow of the ship and opened my arms to enjoy the free wind, the warm sunshine, and the joy of sailing…]

[But just then, the sky suddenly turned cloudy and windy! I wasn’t able to react, and I only heard the shrill screams of the people on the ship. I turned my head and was shocked to find: There was a huge reef above the Lanjiang River!] 

[Oh no, the ship was about to get hit! I ran, but it was raining heavily and the wind was like a demon which clutched me and pulled me off the bow! I felt dizzy, and by instinct, I gripped the railing of the ship with both hands. What could I do? The strength in my body was flowing out non-stop and I would soon fall into the river! I was only fifteen years old! I didn’t want to die! My strong desire to gain victory made me shout out: “Help! Help!”]

[Unfortunately, the sound of the thunderstorm completely drowned my shouts, and no one noticed that there was a teenager about to fall into the water on the bow of the ship… Where was my brother? Where was he? Why didn’t he come to my rescue?]

[My vision was slowly starting to blur and my arms were gradually running out of strength. But just when I was about to give up and prepare to die, something unexpected happened — Uncle Lele rushed over and handed me a mineral water bottle!]

[“Child! Hold on to it!” Uncle Lele shouted anxiously. Half of his body was hanging off the bow of the ship while he was trying to save me. I was shocked, I couldn’t calm down for a long time. Not only did Uncle Lele not care about my previous indifference and contempt for him, but now he was also risking his life to save me! I choked up, my tears fell like rain, heavier than the real rain in the sky…] 

[I couldn’t care less about how dirty that mineral water bottle was, I grabbed it in a hurry and that’s how I got my life back. When I was panting and trying to get my heartbeat to settle down, I was surprised to find: my brother was eating ice cream on the ship! It turned out that when danger occured, the people I thought were close were actually more selfish than I could have imagined, and the people I thought were no good would be willing to give everything to save me. I had mixed feelings for a moment and turned around ready to say thank you to Uncle Lele when…]

[He vomited a mouthful of blood.]

When Chu Mian saw this, he couldn’t help but cough.

[“Uncle Lele, what’s wrong with you?” I helped him up anxiously.] 

[“Child, in fact, I have been hiding it from you…” Uncle Lele’s voice was hoarse, and scarlet blood gurgled out of his mouth. “I have a terminal illness. Your father has been spending money to help me treat it. Unfortunately, I am running out of time… I was able to save you before I die, I have no regrets…” As he said this, Uncle Lele slowly closed his eyes, but there was a contented smile at the corner of his mouth.]

[Uncle Lele!” I cried and shouted at him, but the only response I got was the sound of rain, as if heaven was also crying in grief.]

[I will never forget my uncle Yu Le, who taught me what it means to know people. He taught me that one could know a person’s face and not know their heart, he taught me to not judge people by their appearance, and he taught me what growth is.]

The composition had seriously exceeded the word limit and there were no grids left in the end. Thus, Yu Ran could only make the end concise, reduce the font size and write on the reverse side of the paper. But he felt that this had not prevented the ups and downs of the story itself from being fascinating. 

After having finished reading the composition, Chu Mian couldn’t calm down for a long time.

Cui He, who was sitting next to him, read it and just smiled and said, “These 23 points are too high,” only to have Chu Mian silently glare at her.

She was forced to shut her mouth bitterly. She changed her previous remarks and praised Yu Ran, going against her conscience to say: “Aiya, it’s a wonderful piece of writing. If you weren’t sitting in front of me right now, I would almost think you were already dead!”

Yu Ran wanted to be humble with her, but seeing that Chu Mian had stopped talking, Yu Ran’s attention shifted to him and he asked with scorching eyes: “How is it? I didn’t lie to you, did I? You see, you’re so moved that you can’t even speak.” 

Chu Mian avoided his gaze and hesitantly commented, “Well, the writing was an…eye-opener for me.”

Yu Ran gave a big smile and honestly told Chu Mian: “Actually, this composition was made up by me.”

Chu Mian was speechless, and Cui He was stunned: “Oh my God, we really wouldn’t have been able to tell if you hadn’t said it.”

Seeing that the two of them appreciated his literary talents, Yu Ran’s mood suddenly brightened. He no longer cared about Teacher Wang breaking her promise, and returned to his usual lively and overactive self. He called Fang Zhao to go to a shop to buy snacks and invited them both to eat. 

As soon as he left, Cui He couldn’t help but let out a “fuck” to Chu Mian.

Chu Mian did not look up at her, but only asked in a low voice: “What’s wrong?”

“I found that after you went to senior high school, you became a bit… a bit…” Cui He repeatedly considered the wording, and there were several words about to pop out of her mouth like “gentle” and “considerate”, but after thinking about it, she found that these were qualities that had originally been present deep in Chu Mian’s character, and there was no need for them to be emphasized like this.

So she smiled and said happily, “Became a bit more like yourself.” 

Chu Mian was confused by her remark: “Did you also learn to talk nonsense after reading Yu Ran’s composition?”

Cui He asked in return, “Since you also thought his composition sucked, why didn’t you allow me to laugh?”

“There’s nothing to laugh about,” Chu Mian said calmly.

Whether it was his true feelings and tears when he was writing the composition or his pride about his own level of writing, Yu Ran always had a serious attitude as he waited for the teacher’s praises and his classmates’ compliments. So if he were to laugh at him just because of the content, Chu Mian would not be able to bear it. 

Especially when Yu Ran ‘s mood was down — the more other people laughed, the more disgusted Chu Mian was.

But if Yu Ran’s composition was only shown to him, Chu Mian would tease him to his heart’s content, as if there was a position of “I’m qualified to laugh at him” in his subconscious mind. So he didn’t want others to look down upon Yu Ran, because that made him feel like they were also looking down on him.

Chu Mian looked up, silently remembering those who had been the most active in snatching Yu Ran’s composition just now.

— I’ll write their names in my notebook when I go back.