Chapter 12: Su Xiaoqing

At three thirty that afternoon, the final piercing bell for collecting papers brought the monthly exam that had tormented Xia Minghan Primary School all day to an end.

I felt refreshed as I walked out of Room Three. Whether it was the morning’s multiplication, division, and unit conversions or the picture composition full of childish language, none of it had even qualified as a warm-up for me.

The mission to place first shouldn’t be a problem.

When I returned to Class One, Grade Three, the desks and chairs that had been arranged in rows were already a mess. A restless air, fermented from sweat and eraser shavings, filled the room. In large red chalk characters, the blackboard announced: “Results and seating assignments tomorrow during morning study!”

“I’m doomed! I forgot to use a ruler for the last matching question in math. Old Liu is definitely going to deduct presentation points!”

“Was the second English listening question banana or apple? My deskmate picked C!”

“Don’t ask. I only wrote a hundred characters of my Chinese composition before the bell rang. I’m dead when I get home…”

The children gathered in little groups to compare answers, some happy and some miserable, as noisy as a market receiving a fresh delivery.

I’d just stuffed my scattered books back into my drawer when my deskmate Chu Hanya returned, her bag packed. She folded her arms, looked me over, and asked quietly, “Fang Luo, I heard people from the next class gossiping in the corridor. They said there was a major cheating incident in Room Three and someone swallowed a note on the spot… The person who passed it wouldn’t have anything to do with you, would they?”

“How could that be? I’m a well-behaved student who follows the rules.” I shook my head without a flicker of guilt.

But I couldn’t withstand the way Chu Hanya examined me like a suspect. When she even mentioned Su Xiaoqing by name, I figured the whole grade probably knew already.

I gave her a brief account of how Su Xiaoqing and Zhang Wei had been caught that morning and how Xiaoqing had heroically swallowed the note.

Chu Hanya’s chest rose and fell as she scolded me like a little adult. “Fang Luo! You’re far too bold! Teacher Zhao is the most fearsome disciplinarian in the school. If he’d traced it back to you, you wouldn’t just have gotten a zero in math. You’d have had to read a self-criticism at the flag-raising ceremony!”

All right, perhaps I really hadn’t taken it seriously enough.

Still, it had ended without further trouble. I thought I’d be more cautious afterward, though mainly I just didn’t care much about elementary school rules.

Whatever. What was done was done. I’d be more careful in future.

Su Xiaoqing hadn’t betrayed me. She really was a loyal heroine.

Chu Hanya gave a little huff and put on her schoolbag. “I’m going home. Don’t cry when the results come out tomorrow.”

“Sure, sure.” I had no desire to win an argument with her.

As it happened, it was my turn to clean the classroom today. For some reason, though, I was the only one doing it. Usually there were two people, but I didn’t know where to find the roster. Whatever. It wasn’t much work.

I swept, mopped, and wiped the blackboard. By the time I’d emptied the trash can at the back and locked the windows, a yellow evening glow had appeared in the sky.

I’d assumed the classroom was empty. But when I turned around, I found Su Xiaoqing curled up alone in the far corner of the back row.

She lay over her desk with her face buried deep in her arms, her body shaking. I could faintly hear restrained sobs.

I froze. Why was she still here?

After a moment, I went over and tapped her desk. “Su Xiaoqing? School ended more than half an hour ago. Why haven’t you gone home?”

She slowly lifted her face. Good grief. The usually fearless, carefree face was covered in tears and snot, and the skin around her eyes was red.

When she saw me, her mouth drooped and tears poured down again. “Fang Luo… boo-hoo… I might… I might be dying…”

?

I was completely baffled. “Why would you be dying? Teacher Zhao didn’t actually give you a zero, and there wasn’t any public criticism.”

“It’s not that…”

She sobbed, pressing both hands to her stomach. “My belly hurts. It feels like it’s burning inside… It must be that note!

“I stuck a finger down my throat in the washroom for ages, trying to throw up, but all that came out was water. The note never came out! Pencil dust is poisonous… The paper must be stuck in my intestines. I’m going to get a terminal illness and die!…”

What? She just hadn’t brought the paper back up.

People didn’t die that easily. I felt helpless listening to her. A scrap of exercise-book paper half the size of a fingernail would disappear after soaking in stomach acid, yet this loyal heroine acted as though she’d swallowed deadly poison.

There was no need to scold her, though I was curious about her thinking. I sighed. “Why did you have to swallow it in the first place?”

Su Xiaoqing sniffed and glared at me with red eyes, hurt and loyalty mixed together. “I was afraid you’d get dragged into it!

“If Teacher Zhao found out you wrote it and gave you a zero in math, your parents would beat your butt too…

“You let me copy your answers. How could I betray you and tell on you…?”

She curled up with a grimace as another pain seemed to hit her. When it eased, she looked at me through tears. “Fang Luo, am I really going to die? My stomach feels awful…”

I looked at her pale face. “What did you eat at lunch?”

“I… I didn’t dare eat.”

She sniffled, her voice barely audible. “I drank a whole bellyful of cold water, thinking it would dissolve the paper. Now my stomach feels terrible. I really haven’t eaten a single bite…”

“…”

I couldn’t help pressing a hand to my forehead. She’d filled an empty stomach with tap water and hadn’t eaten since. No wonder her stomach hurt; she would probably feel better after some food.

Honestly, what could you do with such a stubborn child?

She was so weak she could barely stand, and I was the only one left in the classroom. I couldn’t just leave her there.

Resigned, I sighed, turned my back to her desk, and crouched down. “Get on. I’ll carry you home.”

Su Xiaoqing stared at my back through tears, surprised and touched. “Huh? You… you’ll carry me?”

“Stop talking. If you don’t get on, I’m locking up and leaving.”

“Oh… okay!”

She sniffed and carefully climbed onto my back, putting her slender arms around my neck. I supported her legs and asked casually before lifting her, “By the way, was it your turn to clean today?”

“How did you know?”

“…I was wondering why I had to do it alone.”

I sighed, then held my breath and concentrated.

Up!

I rose with Su Xiaoqing on my back, swaying a little as she held around my neck. A nine-year-old girl wasn’t especially heavy.

As she settled against me, I caught the scent of grass and plants warmed by the sun, mixed with a faint trace of sweat. Her quick, warm breaths touched my neck, and I could feel her warmth against my back.

For once, she lay quietly on my shoulder without fidgeting or speaking. Perhaps her stomach hurt too much.

The school corridor was empty. Only my somewhat heavy footsteps sounded as I carried her outside.

“Where’s Zhang Wei?” I asked, turning my head slightly. “Don’t you two usually go home together after school?”

Su Xiaoqing rested her chin on my shoulder and mumbled:

“Zhang Wei’s mom took him home… He got caught cheating on the English exam afterward too. Teacher Zhao called his house, and his mom came charging to school with a feather duster. She whacked him all the way home.”

“That guy…”

I imagined the chubby boy getting walloped and couldn’t help laughing. “Why does he love cheating so much?”

By the time I’d carried Su Xiaoqing from the third floor to the school gate, my nine-year-old body was getting tired.

Just outside, the familiar electric scooter stood beneath a streetlamp. My dad, Fang Jianguo, was leaning against it, smoking a Hongmei cigarette. When he saw me carrying a girl out, he nearly dropped the cigarette onto his pants.

Once he recognized our neighbor’s child, he recovered and hurried over. “Oh! What happened?”

I stopped and briefly told him the whole story: how Su Xiaoqing had acted out of loyalty, heroically swallowed a note, and now mistakenly believed she was about to die of poisoning.

Dad looked as though he could hardly keep from laughing. “This girl…”

Shaking his head, he reassured Xiaoqing that such a small thing wouldn’t endanger her life and offered to take her to the hospital if she was worried.

But Su Xiaoqing kept her face buried by my neck, miserable. Evidently she thought the adult was lying to comfort her in her final moments.

Seeing how despondent she was, I knew we couldn’t simply go home. Her trouble had started because of me, and I needed to help put her mind at ease.

I motioned to Dad. “Can you give me five yuan?”

He blinked, looked from me to Su Xiaoqing on my back, and, after thinking who knew what, took a crumpled five-yuan note from his pocket. Even so, he asked, “What do you need it for?”

I said I planned to take her to a clinic. Hearing from a doctor would be the best reassurance, and she didn’t seem to want to go to a big hospital.

“Dad, ride home first. Don’t let Mom worry.”

He was uneasy, but apparently figured that, being a son of the Fang family, I didn’t need to be stopped from spending time with a little girl. He didn’t say he’d go home, though. “I’ll ride slowly behind you.”

Fine by me. Adults really did worry about everything.

I hoisted Su Xiaoqing up again and moved through the crowd outside the school gate. After about seven or eight hundred meters, my short legs began to shake badly.

“Su Xiaoqing,” I sighed, “what do you usually eat? You’re heavy.”

Any other girl in class might have thrashed around, punched me, and accused me of talking nonsense. But Xiaoqing only sniffed and loosened her little arms. “Then… then I can get down and walk. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“…I was joking.” I sighed. What else could I do after she said that?

This child’s body really wasn’t good at exercise. Maybe I’d need to work on that in the future. In any case, I bounced her up and got a better hold.

After gritting my teeth through another few minutes, I finally reached Old Li’s clinic on the street corner.

Three concrete steps led up to the entrance. I gently put Su Xiaoqing down and had her sit to rest. “Stay here. I’ll go ask Doctor Li first.”

Hugging her knees, she looked up with red-rimmed eyes and caught the hem of my shirt. She began to give me a solemn set of last instructions, elementary-school style.

“Fang Luo… if I really don’t make it, please don’t tell my dad… He drives a big truck on long trips every day and might get distracted. If he knew I’d died, he could have an accident…”

My silence was like the evening breeze brushing our hair.

She sniffed and continued earnestly. “Also… my red basketball. Dad saved up to buy it for me last New Year. I’ll leave it to you… Please take good care of it. Take it to the court and shoot with it. Don’t let it gather dust… Boo-hoo…”

Should I make a joke?

But this was a child’s worry. Better tell her she’d be all right.

“You’ll be fine.” I hesitated, then ruffled her hair.

Su Xiaoqing looked up at me blankly.

I lifted the door curtain and went into the clinic. The elderly Doctor Li, who wore reading glasses, was sitting inside. He and Dad knew each other in passing.

Standing on tiptoe at the counter, I rapidly explained Xiaoqing’s situation and her fear that she was dying of poisoning, then asked Doctor Li to play along and put on a little act with a miracle cure.

Old Li had clearly seen it all. Without turning a hair, he said, “Leave it to me.”

I ran back to the steps and carried the half-dead Su Xiaoqing into the clinic again.

Doctor Li put on a serious, professional expression. He listened to her stomach with a stethoscope for some time, examined her eyelids, then nodded and announced, “Young lady, you’re strong, and you came in time.

“Your stomach acid has suppressed all the poison. It can’t reach your heart. You won’t die.”

To a nine-year-old, the doctor’s words were as good as law. The despair in Su Xiaoqing’s eyes froze, then gave way to a spark of disbelieving hope.

“R-really, Uncle Doctor?”

“Would a doctor lie to you?” Old Li took two digestive tablets wrapped in colored paper from a glass jar and held them out. “Here. Chew these two miracle antidotes.”

He thoughtfully poured a large cup of warm water from a thermos and produced a packet of crisp biscuits from under the desk.

Hungry and frightened, Su Xiaoqing chewed the sweet-and-sour miracle pills, drank the warm water in large gulps, and devoured three sweet, dry biscuits.

As calories and carbohydrates entered her empty stomach, the cramping miraculously gave way to warmth. She even gave a small, contented burp.

The terrible pain in her belly… really had disappeared!

Her big eyes lit up like stars. Restored to full health, she jumped off the examination bed and bounced twice in excitement. “It doesn’t hurt anymore! Fang Luo, I’m really not going to die!!”

I couldn’t help smiling at her foolish expression.

I took the crumpled five-yuan note Dad had given me from my pocket and offered it to Old Li. “Uncle Li, thank you. For the medicine and biscuits…”

He smiled, waved it away, and pushed my hand back. “Take your little classmate home. It’s already completely dark.”

May good people have peaceful lives, then.

We stepped out of the clinic into the night breeze. The sun had fully sunk behind the western hills, old streetlights cast yellow halos along the road, and cars passed by.

Su Xiaoqing, having survived her ordeal, skipped happily ahead. I dragged along behind on legs that felt full of lead. After carrying her nearly a kilometer, I could barely lift my feet and staggered as I walked.

“Sigh…”

Ultimately, a third-grader’s stamina was poor. And I didn’t like exercise, either.

Ahead of me, Su Xiaoqing suddenly stopped and turned to inspect my exhausted state.

Strictly speaking, girls often developed a little earlier than boys at nine. Xiaoqing was tall and lean, three or four centimeters taller than me.

She stepped back, crouched in front of me without waiting for an answer, and patted her back. “Fang Luo, get on! My turn to carry you!”

“You carry me?” I asked, puzzled.

“You carried me here, and now you can barely walk. So it’s my turn to carry you. Don’t worry, I won’t drop you. Hurry up, or it’ll be dark before you can get home!”

My body really was exhausted. Since Su Xiaoqing was so willing, I didn’t bother making a fuss. I leaned forward and climbed onto her back.

“Thanks.”

With a little shout, she supported my legs and actually lifted me with ease. Her steps were even quite light.

“Ha ha.”

My chin rested against the hollow of her neck. Her heartbeat was quick but strong, and the breeze lifted the short strands of hair behind her ear, tickling my face.

Though she was a tomboy, up close her skin and the lines of her collarbones still looked delicate.

But before I could reflect for more than two seconds, a disadvantage of being so close became apparent.

An indescribable smell rose from her collar straight into my nose: the odor of heavy sweating and a long ordeal in the washroom, mixed with cheap pencil dust and a sour tang.

It was very, very unpleasant.

My face turned green. I drew my chin back and wrinkled my nose. “Ugh… Su Xiaoqing, what’s that weird smell? How long has it been since you bathed?”

Her steps stopped abruptly.

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she twisted around, her neck red with anger, and shouted in my ear, “Fang Luo, you ungrateful bastard! I’m carrying you home out of kindness and you dare complain? Hold on tight! Say another word and I’ll throw you in a stinking ditch!!”

“Whoa, don’t bounce me so hard…”

In the last glow after sunset, a lean tomboy carried a clean little boy who looked as though he’d given up on life. Their long shadows stretched ahead as they bickered all the way toward the apartment building.

Far behind them, an electric scooter with a dim yellow headlight followed at an unhurried pace, its motor puttering cheerfully.

…

【Perfect Life Moment Check-In】

【Sunset and the Clumsy Heroine】

【Perhaps loyalty is no more than a ball of scrap paper swallowed at nine years old, and a basketball bequeathed when you think your life is ending. When the evening breeze lifts your hair, that road home, measured out on each other’s backs, will become one of the brightest and warmest bonds in the years to come.】

【Reward: +200 unallocated experience points!】

【Reward: +2 Corner Shop Coins!】