Chapter 14: An English Competition and Basketball

On the third day of the National Day holiday, elementary schoolers throughout the county were enjoying a lazy, blissful life.

For most of them, the first three days of a vacation were heavenly. Homework hadn’t yet reached the point where it absolutely had to be finished, the Subor cartridge console could be played all night, and *Journey to the West* on television had reached the battle with the White Bone Spirit.

None of those pleasures had much to do with me, of course.

To complete the monthly goal Build Strength from Childhood, I was living on a strict schedule. I got up at seven thirty every morning and jogged a kilometer along the concrete path by the river. I spread my sit-ups and jump-rope sessions sensibly throughout the day: fifty jumps in the morning, fifty in the afternoon, and twenty-five sit-ups before bed.

At that rate, I’d meet the running, rope-jumping, and sit-up targets by the end of the month.

My growing body needed nutrition, so I’d told Mom in advance that I wanted to grow taller. Lin Sufen naturally cared about me and made different meals each day. Breakfast was usually a steaming boiled free-range egg with warm milk, sometimes rice noodles with minced meat and scallions, or at least steamed buns and fried dough sticks.

Sometimes, though, sitting by the roadside after a run, I couldn’t help reflecting.

Like now.

“Steamed buns! Fried dough sticks! Hot soy milk… Oh, Xiao Luo, up running early again?”

“Morning, Uncle Xia.”

Having just finished my run, I slowed and rested on the roadside steps. It was a fine morning, leaves rustling in the breeze. Was this uneventful, worry-free routine really right for me?

As a reborn protagonist, wasn’t I being a little too complacent?

I hadn’t drawn up a grand plan to beat Microsoft in three years and knock out Sony in five, nor was I desperately buying and reselling goods to make my first fortune.

Of course, I could blame the parallel world and my soft little hands.

Come on, I was in third grade!

At an age when I had to tiptoe past uniformed patrols just to enter an arcade, rushing for quick gains would only leave me dizzy. After thinking it over, I decided to take things step by step and first figure out the Perfect Life Guidebook in my head.

I wouldn’t neglect my studies, naturally.

At nine that morning, I returned home sweaty from my run. As I changed out of my sneakers in the entryway, I was surprised to see a visitor sitting properly in the living room.

She was a young teacher who looked barely into her twenties, with a neat bun and a floral blouse. She had the warmth and energy of someone fresh out of teachers’ college.

Our new English teacher in Class One, Grade Three.

Teacher Lin.

Dad, Fang Jianguo, was attentively refilling her tea. Mom, Lin Sufen, had washed a large plate of red early-ripening Fuji apples for the coffee table and was smiling so widely her face might bloom.

“Oh, Teacher Lin, drink some tea and have an apple! Fang Luo was exercising downstairs!”

Mom beckoned as soon as she saw me. “Son, come here! Teacher Lin has come especially for a home visit!”

Dad nodded with satisfaction, sitting straighter than he did at meetings in his bureau.

After some small talk, I learned that Teacher Lin had come because she’d been impressed by my monthly exam result. I’d scored 97 in English, the highest across all four third-grade classes.

My handwriting had been neat, and I hadn’t missed a single grammar choice. She’d deducted three points because several sentence patterns in my composition were beyond the syllabus.

“Fang Luo has a real gift for languages.” Teacher Lin’s eyes curved as she smiled. “He doesn’t often raise his hand, so I didn’t realize how hard he worked in private. You two must put a lot of thought into his education.”

My parents exchanged a slightly embarrassed look, but they couldn’t stop smiling. Ever since school began, I’d shut myself in my room whenever I had time off.

To me, I was studying the Perfect Life Guidebook and slacking off. They didn’t know that; they thought their son had suddenly come to his senses and was applying himself tirelessly.

After praising my exam result, Teacher Lin set down her cup and came to the point.

“Actually, I’m here because the city education bureau is organizing the Citywide Primary School English Skills Competition next month. Students compete by grade.

“Our school has selected a few top students. Fang Luo excels in every respect, and I’d like to recommend him to represent the school.

“The competition can help considerably with admission to middle school. And if he wins gold, the education bureau will award a 500-yuan educational grant!”

Five hundred yuan!

At the start of the millennium, when an ordinary worker earned only a little over a thousand a month, that was an astronomical sum to a primary school student!

Before my parents could answer, familiar text appeared before my eyes.

【Ding! Perfect Life event detected!】

【Mission issued: Making a Name!】

【Objective: Represent Xia Minghan Primary School in the citywide primary-school English competition and win the city-level gold award by an overwhelming margin.】

【Reward: 10 Corner Shop Coins, 1,000 unallocated experience points】

Ten coins and a thousand experience? Wow, that was generous.

With daily homework check-ins and previous missions, I’d already accumulated more than seven coins. Even so, many things in the shop remained dark and unavailable, and experience was more useful than ever after the skills panel had unlocked.

The Perfect Life Guidebook really was useful.

With things put that way, whether for my parents’ sake or the system’s generous reward, I had no reason to refuse.

“Don’t worry, Teacher Lin. Our child will prepare seriously,” Mom answered solemnly on my behalf.

I nodded and put on the proper attitude for an elementary schooler. “I’ll do my best, Teacher Lin!”

Satisfied, she stood to leave. Though it was nearly mealtime, she repeatedly declined Mom’s invitation to lunch, picked up her little handbag, and said goodbye with a smile.

Once the door closed, Dad affectionately ruffled my hair. Mom immediately announced an extra dish for lunch and went to the market for half a jin of braised beef.

“Look at you! You can even compete at the city level!”

“Good boy, keep up the hard work.”

Ha ha. Lunch passed in an exceptionally harmonious atmosphere.

Afterward, I returned to my room, sat at my desk, and opened the secondhand *C Programming* book I’d bought with more than half a month’s allowance.

I’d read almost a third of it and had mostly sorted out the basics of variables, loops, and pointers. I hadn’t majored in computer science in my previous life, though my work was somewhat related, so this was essentially learning again.

The only regret was the lack of a practical environment. In an era when a bulky Great Wall computer easily cost over ten thousand yuan, I couldn’t ask Dad to buy me one. He’d probably assume it was an excuse to indulge in computer games and give me a taste of his belt.

“Fang Luo! Is Fang Luo home?”

As I read, Su Xiaoqing’s vigorous pounding came from outside the security door. After some conversation, Mom’s smiling voice sounded outside my room.

“Son, Xiaoqing and Xiaowei are calling for you! Go out and get some exercise. Don’t stay shut in reading all the time or you’ll ruin your eyes!”

What could I do?

I reluctantly closed the book and went to play with Su Xiaoqing and the others. I wasn’t interested in children’s games, but parental orders were hard to resist.

After I changed into sneakers and went downstairs, Zhang Wei’s chubby face appeared close to mine. “Luo! Everyone’s here today! I called Monkey, Li Bo, and the others. We’re going to the big court for a proper full-court five-on-five game!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? Full court, with just us? Can you keep running?”

Full-court and half-court basketball were two different games.

“Why couldn’t we?” Su Xiaoqing, bouncing the ball with one hand, lifted her chin indignantly. “Full court is much more fun! You can fast-break and counterattack. Half court is everyone crowded together like they’re grabbing cabbages. It’s no fun. We have to play full court today!”

That was what she said. Reality had other plans.

The elementary schoolers’ idealistic grand undertaking met a merciless setback at the first step. When we arrived at the outdoor court, panting, and counted heads, we found a key player missing: Chen Ziang, who wore thick black-framed glasses. Another boy we’d arranged to meet, Cao Zijian, was nowhere in sight either.

“Where are they?!” Su Xiaoqing’s face fell.

Zhang Wei knew where one had gone. Wiping sweat from his face, he cursed. “Don’t ask. I passed the arcade on the corner and saw Cao Zijian holed up playing Street Fighter. I couldn’t drag him away! His eyes were practically glued to the screen!”

I thought back. Cao Zijian was a complete game fanatic in class, always talking about Chun-Li and Iori Yagami. If he didn’t change, in a dozen years or so he’d probably be the standard anime-and-games shut-in.

With players missing, we couldn’t play full court. Su Xiaoqing angrily slammed the ball against the concrete, but had to compromise. She gathered Monkey, Li Bo, and the others, divided us into two sides, and started a three-on-three half-court game.

Don’t ask why Su Xiaoqing could play with a group otherwise full of boys. We were all buddies.

The sun was fierce after two in the afternoon. Running back and forth on the concrete, everyone soon broke into a sweat.

In the middle of the close game, a steady horn suddenly sounded beyond the court’s wire fence.

Beep, beep—