dmims Chapter 2 A Life of Many Misfortunes
Chapter 2 A Life of Many Misfortunes
In the late summer of 1990, the final exam results and the admission notice for the township middle school were sent to Hong Liguo's village primary school. Hong Liguo and his childhood friends Fa Zi, Jun Ge, Jie, Hong Bo, and Yan Bin were admitted to the township middle school. They would start their first year of junior high school in the new semester.
On the morning of the first day of school, Hong Liguo hurriedly ate breakfast with great excitement and anticipation, then put on his schoolbag, rode his old-fashioned bicycle that he had just repaired the day before, and arrived at Fa Zi's front door.
They agreed to meet at Fa Zi's house and go to the township middle school together to register.
Six green teenagers, filled with confusion and anticipation, hopped on their bicycles and set off with their classmates toward the rural middle school a dozen miles away.
They walked and played along the way, chasing and frolicking at each other, showing off their driving skills, having a great time.
Because Jie's bicycle was a bit old and not very fast, while Hong Liguo and Fa Zi were waiting for Jie, Hong Bo took the lead and rode ahead. Unexpectedly, just two minutes later, the scene at the beginning of this article happened - he had a minor collision with students from another village, which then led to a fight.
After resolving the dispute, Fa Zi watched the two men walk away indignantly, then turned back and called out to Hong Liguo and the others, "Let's go!" They all hopped on their bicycles and sped off towards the village middle school.
Along the way, the young and impetuous children continued to play and joke around, their laughter, singing, and shouts echoing in the air. Sometimes they would drift on the road; sometimes they would lift the handlebars and ride on a unicycle; sometimes they would let go of the handlebars and maintain their balance by swaying their bodies... completely forgetting the unpleasant experience from earlier.
At that time, they were fourteen or sixteen years old, just like the rising sun, full of vigor and vitality. They had an indomitable spirit, and none of them wanted to fall behind. They chased each other and released the joy of youth to the fullest. They were like unbridled foals, carefree and happy to the point of forgetting themselves.
However, he hadn't gone far, about a third of the way, when disaster struck. Jay's bicycle, like an old man struggling under the weight, first made a rattling protest, then the chain suddenly fell off and jammed the wheel. Jay panicked, trying to regain control of the bike. In his frantic efforts, the handlebars veered, and he and the bike plunged headfirst into the roadside ditch.
Although the ditch wasn't deep, Jie still fell and got into a sorry state, covered in dust from head to toe, his once clean clothes now filthy.
Upon seeing this, Hong Liguo and the others quickly braked, turned the car around, and rushed anxiously to Jie's side.
After everyone parked their cars, they quickly surrounded Jie, anxiously asking if he was injured.
Jay ignored everyone's concern, his gaze fixed on the ripped patch on his pants at the knee—one of his few decent clothes, now torn like a glaring scar. Jay's eyes instantly reddened, large tears welling up, overwhelmed with heartache.
Seeing Jie's state, Jun said nonchalantly, "Hey! You're alright, that's all that matters. It's just a pair of pants, a pebble poked a small hole in it, why are you crying!"
Upon hearing this, Jay exploded like a powder keg, angrily retorting, "You make it sound so easy! I only have one pair of decent pants, and now that they're torn, how am I supposed to go to school? Unlike you, your family is well-off, you get new clothes every year, and your relatives in the city send you clothes all the time, you can't even wear them all. What do I have? What do I have?"
Jay's voice trembled, a mixture of resentment and helplessness accumulated from living in poverty for so long.
In those days of scarcity, most families struggled to make ends meet. For children, wearing a new set of clothes for the Lunar New Year was an unattainable luxury. Usually, the eldest brother would wear the clothes, wash them, and then the second brother would wear them. When the second brother's clothes were worn out, they would be patched and mended before being passed on to the third brother. Only during the New Year could one occasionally see clothes without patches; these were the "luxury" that the whole family could only afford through careful saving and budgeting.
Hongbo stepped forward, picked up Jie's bicycle, and with a touch of childish frustration, kicked the bicycle hard, muttering, "It's all this broken bike's fault, it's like a black crow. If it hadn't broken, you wouldn't have fallen into the ditch. Broken bike, black crow."
His words immediately lightened the somewhat tense atmosphere, and everyone burst into laughter, feeling that Hongbo's description was extremely apt.
The bicycle was already old and worn out; it was an abandoned item from one of Jie's relatives. Since Jie was about to enter junior high school, and the school was over ten miles away from their home, walking wouldn't be enough. So, Jie's older sister shamelessly asked her relative for it. Knowing that Jie's family was struggling financially and couldn't afford a new bike, the relative generously gave it to her, along with two old but usable tires. However, the bike had been sitting outside for a long time and was covered in rust. Jie's sister then got some black lead paint from relatives in the city, repaired it, and painted the bike completely black, making it look quite like a black crow.
Jay's life was full of hardship, and fate seemed to be particularly cruel to him. When he was three years old, a sudden carriage accident mercilessly took his father's life, and his once complete family was instantly shattered.
When he was four years old, his mother, unable to bear the pain of losing her husband, fell ill and never recovered. Due to poverty, they could not afford medical treatment, and she soon passed away as well, leaving him and his sister to rely on each other in this cold world. Fortunately, their elderly grandmother provided them with a sliver of warmth and support.
But fate did not spare this poor child. When she was twelve, her grandmother also passed away, plunging the siblings into an even more difficult situation. They could only barely make ends meet with the help of their cousin's family. In order for her brother to continue his studies, the older sister resolutely dropped out of school and shouldered the burden of the family with her young shoulders, working hard in the fields, just to give her brother the opportunity to study—she was only fifteen years old that year.
Everyone quickly stopped smiling and silently helped Jie repair his bicycle. They carefully installed the detached chain and meticulously checked the other parts of the bike to make sure there were no problems before setting off for school again.
Having learned their lesson, they no longer fooled around as recklessly as before. Instead, they rode in a line, orderly and each of them was more cautious.
When they had cycled halfway through their journey, Hong Liguo inadvertently looked up and saw a figure riding hard on the road ahead. The figure was graceful, with long, shiny black hair flowing in the wind, and brightly colored clothes. Even from five or six hundred meters away, it was clear that this was a female student cycling alone.
Fa Zi and Jun Ge also noticed the figure. Jun Ge's eyes lit up, and a mischievous smile appeared on his face. He turned to everyone and said, "Brothers, how about we speed things up? Let's see who can overtake that pretty girl first!"