Chapter 16: The Upright Monitor Chu

The seven-day National Day holiday flew by amid cartoons and warm autumn sunshine. Now it was over, and the children had to say goodbye to sleeping as long as they liked, shoulder their schoolbags, and return to familiar classrooms.

As an elementary schooler, I was no exception.

Autumn wind brushed the corridor, bringing a refreshing chill.

Thanks to the seating change after the monthly exam, when I entered Class One, Grade Three on this fine day, quiet Wen Shuyao was sitting beside me.

“Good morning, Fang Luo.”

I’d just tucked my bag into my desk when her gentle voice sounded. Wen Shuyao turned to greet me, and a faint scent of lavender drifted from the ends of her hair.

I had to admit, compared with my previous deskmate Chu Hanya, a quiet, clean deskmate like Wen Shuyao was a treasure. Anyone who shared a desk with her in elementary school would remember it for a long time.

Wait… I was in elementary school now.

“Good morning.” I came back to myself and nodded.

Before I could enjoy the peaceful morning, someone knocked twice on the corner of my desk.

“Fang Luo! Come out! We need another person in the corridor. Come play Eagle Catches Chicks!”

The lively boy standing before me had a buzz cut. Elementary school friendships depended simply on whether you clicked. I didn’t know when we’d become friends close enough for him to invite me to play; perhaps it was just because we sat near each other.

Let me introduce him: Le Tianyang.

Thanks to the last seating reshuffle, he was Chu Hanya’s new deskmate, diagonally in front of me. He was mischievous and energetic, with grades that hovered around the middle, but he had one trump card nobody else in the class could match.

His mother was deputy director of the academic affairs office at Xia Minghan Primary School.

With that powerful connection, Le Tianyang had become Class One’s chief source of intelligence. He often heard about monthly exams, holidays, and even which teacher was getting married before Old Wang did.

As for Eagle Catches Chicks, the rules were simple. One person played the eagle and tried to catch the others, one played the mother hen and protected them, while the rest clung to the back of the person ahead like little ants, forming a long line that swayed from side to side.

It was a game that used plenty of energy, with one rule: no hitting.

Normally I had no interest in playing tag in the corridor with a bunch of nine-year-olds. But Le Tianyang kept shouting, and when Su Xiaoqing heard there was fun to be had, she threw her pencil down, leaped out from the back row, and seized my arm.

“Count me in! Count me in!

“Fang Luo, hurry up! What are you standing there for?”

And so I was swept into the corridor outside the classroom, looking as though I’d given up on life.

No choice. I’d just think of it as mingling with the common folk.

But once the game began, the children’s enthusiasm left me speechless.

Le Tianyang volunteered as the mother hen, spreading his arms and jumping around like a windmill. Su Xiaoqing clung to the very end as the last chick, shouting excitedly.

Monkey, Li Bo, and Xiang Wenjie joined too. Zhang Wei was absent only because he was catching up on National Day homework, copying so hard that sweat covered his forehead.

The line of children swung from side to side like mad dogs let loose. Their movements were so wild that Su Xiaoqing nearly slammed into the whitewashed corridor wall several times, yet she kept shrieking and laughing.

Dangerous, I thought, standing nearby.

“Stop right now! No running!”

A clear voice carrying supreme authority cracked through the corridor like thunder.

Everyone stopped short.

Chu Hanya came up the stairs in her little leather shoes, red scarf perfectly straight and the red armband on her left arm particularly conspicuous.

The light of righteousness!

Her little face was icy, her brows drawn together. “No chasing or roughhousing in the corridor. That’s the first rule the teacher gave you! Have you forgotten it?!”

Her arrival deflated most of their boldness at once. Several children shrank back in fright.

But Le Tianyang, relying on his quick wits, panted, “Monitor Chu, the morning-study bell hasn’t rung yet. What’s wrong with getting a little exercise in the corridor?”

Su Xiaoqing folded her arms and chimed in, “Exactly. We weren’t bothering anyone.”

At their back talk, Chu Hanya’s chest rose and fell. She refused to give ground. “The corridor is only so wide. What if someone hits their head while you’re swinging around? It’s obviously dangerous, and you’re still arguing! If you keep running, I’ll go straight to the office and tell our homeroom teacher!”

At the mention of telling the teacher, several boys watching went pale and scattered back into the classroom.

Chu Hanya shouted angrily after them, “Why are you running? I remember your names! You’ll fall if you run again!”

I took the opportunity to disperse too. I’d only played with the children because they pulled me into it. Otherwise, I preferred to close my eyes and rest in melancholy solitude.

But Monkey, Hou Jian, was pacing anxiously behind the pillar by the back door. He tugged my uniform hem and pleaded under his breath, “Luo! Help! If Monitor Chu tells Old Wang, we’ll all have to stand in the corridor in a horse stance today!

“You’re the only one in class who’s close to Chu Hanya. Weren’t you her deskmate? Please go plead for us!”

Uh… were we close?

Still, they looked frightened. Monkey and Le Tianyang were nearly in tears, and Su Xiaoqing was scared too. Apparently I was the only one who could solve it.

Should I help?

Out of humanitarian concern, I decided to. To these kids, being reported to the teacher felt like a nuclear weapon about to go off overhead.

I sighed, went through the back door, and approached Monitor Chu, who was still angrily adjusting her hair clip.

The solution was simple: admit we were wrong. Chasing each other in the corridor was everyone’s mistake. Chu Hanya wanted to tell the teacher because they wouldn’t listen and talked back. An apology should resolve the conflict.

I walked over. “Good morning, Monitor Chu.”

She turned and looked at me warily, knowing I’d been playing too. “Fang Luo? What is it? Are you asking for leniency for them?”

“No. I’m here to apologize.

“It really was too dangerous. Su Xiaoqing nearly hit the corner of the wall, and so did Li Bo. Thank goodness you stopped us in time. Everyone knows we were wrong, and we’ve all decided to promise that we absolutely won’t play chasing games in the corridor during breaks again…”

When I finished speaking earnestly, Chu Hanya studied my face several times.

Perhaps because my attitude was proper and I wasn’t grinning like Le Tianyang, her face finally softened. She lifted her chin with restraint. “Since you’ve given your word, I won’t put this in the discipline notebook this time.

“But if there’s a next time, no amount of pleading will help!”

I breathed out and nodded. “All right, all right.” Problem solved.

After settling matters with the little monitor, I returned to the back of the classroom. The boys secretly watching from the doorframe breathed a collective sigh of relief and crowded around me in admiration.

“Whoa! Luo, you’re amazing!”

“You actually talked the Chu demon around! Incredible!”

Looking at their relieved faces, I supposed it hadn’t occurred to them to apologize. They spent all day thinking Chu Hanya was unreasonable and liked picking on people.

In fact, she wasn’t looking for trouble. She was simply a class monitor with a strong sense of responsibility.

After talking to Monkey and the others, I returned to my seat. Peace finally returned to the room.

Beside me, Wen Shuyao still had her chin in both hands, absorbed in the thick book propped at the corner of her desk.

I glanced curiously at the cover: a hardcover translation of *Pride and Prejudice*.

?

Her brows were slightly knitted, her profile intent. I fell into thought.

A third-grade girl aged √81 + 0 × 9 was reading a hefty book about the romantic entanglements of the English rural middle class… Could she even recognize all the characters?

Did she really understand Darcy and Elizabeth’s feelings, or did she simply like the handsome, substantial hardcover?

Riiing!

The clear bell interrupted my thoughts. Old Wang strode in as it rang and announced the start of homeroom.

His lecture gradually tightened the loose mood left over from the holiday, and the first day back passed quietly amid drifting chalk dust.

Near the end of first period, Le Tianyang, sitting diagonally ahead, furtively reached back and passed me a note.

I opened it. A crooked line had been written in pencil:

【Luo, top-secret intelligence! My mom said last night the city is holding a primary-school English competition this week! Our school has a few places. I bet Teacher Lin will announce the selections next period. Impressive information, huh!】

The triumphant exclamation mark at the end showed how proud he was of being the class’s little news source.

But I already knew. Teacher Lin had visited on the third day of National Day. Still, Le Tianyang was sharing in friendship, so I’d respond kindly.

【I didn’t know. Thanks for the news.】

I folded the note, tapped his back, and flicked the paper ball into his desk drawer. Watching him read it and whistle proudly, I propped up my chin by the window and lowered my eyes in rainy-Paris-night melancholy once more.

…

Ring, ring.

Just after the warning bell for second period, Teacher Lin entered carrying a stack of English-language booklets.

Sure enough, as Le Tianyang’s intelligence had predicted, she set down her lesson plan, braced both hands on the teacher’s desk, and smilingly announced the citywide primary-school English competition.

The sleepy classroom immediately became more alert. For third-graders, appearing in a citywide competition, perhaps even winning prize money, was more prestigious than scoring a hundred.

The patriotic children who didn’t take part, of course, continued thinking about Digimon and marbles during English class.

Teacher Lin spoke from the front. “After consulting teachers across subjects, Class One has provisionally selected four students for preliminary training.”

She looked around, cleared her throat, and read the names. “English representative Zhou Wei, Chen Ziang, Wen Shuyao, and Fang Luo.”

Hearing his name, Chen Ziang pushed up his thick glasses, retaining his serious old-scholar expression. Wen Shuyao blinked in surprise beside me.

Su Xiaoqing, who understood none of the English and was asleep and drooling in the back row, loyally woke briefly at the sound of my name, rubbed her eyes, and went back to sleep.

As for Zhou Wei, she was a girl with a mushroom haircut, but she sat too far away for me to see her expression.

“Don’t get excited just yet,” Teacher Lin said, clapping for order. “This is only the first preliminary list.

“Over the coming week, the sixteen selected students from the school’s four classes will undergo intensive training. There will be an internal selection on Friday, and ultimately only two students from each grade will represent Xia Minghan Primary School in the city competition.

“From after school today until next Monday, the four selected students must stay an hour each day. Bring your notebooks to multimedia classroom 501 on the fifth floor of the teaching building. The teachers will work on pronunciation and basic presentation skills.”

After announcing the list, Teacher Lin opened the textbook and began teaching the dialogue in Unit Two.

Having heard everything, I looked past the front row to the class monitor’s ponytailed back.

Chu Hanya didn’t seem to be participating.

As the perennial top student in the grade, with only two points deducted in English, she ought by rights to have been the school and homeroom teacher’s first choice for such a prestigious event.

But… wait. Why did I care?

I tilted my head at my own situation. As a reborn person, I’d begun living like a nine-year-old without noticing, even gossiping about the little girl in front of me.

Perhaps physical age really was in charge, as in that famous scientific thought experiment I’d mentioned: mental age was influenced by the body’s age.

Whatever. It wasn’t a big deal. If I was curious, I could ask.

I tore a corner from my exercise book, picked up my pencil, and wrote neatly:

【Chu Hanya, why didn’t you sign up for such a big competition?】

I poked her with my pen and passed it forward. Chu Hanya accepted the note in confusion.

Seeing her expression, I suddenly remembered that class was in session. Passing notes was a disciplinary violation, wasn’t it?

The girl in front had been monitor since first grade. She was now the icy Chu Hanya, strict about attendance, unable to tolerate the slightest infraction, and always ready to put names in her little discipline notebook.

It felt as though my note had gone on a one-way trip. Rest in peace, little note.

But before I’d finished thinking that, a small hand appeared behind her back and awkwardly slipped the note onto the edge of my desk.

She clearly wasn’t practiced at passing notes in class.

Huh?

I opened it in disbelief. Her neat little characters looked like a copybook:

【I’m preparing with all my strength for next month’s Golden Cup Mathematics Invitational. I’m not interested in the English competition. Studying English casually and getting full marks in ordinary exams is enough; there’s no need to spend extra time practicing.】

I understood. She must have chosen not to enter the English competition. As expected of an academic genius.

What did she mean, “studying casually and getting full marks is enough”?

That could have been the end of it. I’d only been curious and had no intention of passing another note.

But Le Tianyang, diagonally ahead, suddenly made trouble. He’d been watching the whole exchange and couldn’t resist stirring things up.

“Aha, Monitor Chu! Don’t you always say passing notes in class is a serious violation? You were writing away and passed one to Fang Luo yourself. That’s a double standard! You’re giving Fang Luo special treatment!”

“!”

Chu Hanya stiffened as though struck by electricity. Only now did she seem to realize what she’d done.

My expression turned awkward. Had she really not noticed? When we’d shared a desk, I’d sometimes passed her notes when I wanted to speak, since talking in class would get us caught.

Two deep red patches suddenly rose on her cheeks: the pink of embarrassed irritation.

She turned and glared at the grinning Le Tianyang. “Le Tianyang! Stop talking nonsense! I… I was only answering a classmate’s question!”

He stuck out his tongue, fearless. “Hmph. Answering a question is still passing a note. Who just said passing notes was a violation no matter the reason?”

The little monitor was struck speechless, trembling slightly.

She pressed her lower lip between her teeth and thought it over repeatedly. Finally, flushed with embarrassment and anger, she pulled out the black discipline notebook feared by the whole class and put it on the desk.

Le Tianyang looked as though a formidable enemy had appeared.

Oh no. He’d angered the monitor, and his name was going in!

Mom! No!

Unexpectedly, Chu Hanya gripped her pen, her eyes slightly red, and spoke with grim determination. “You’re right. I was wrong… I did something wrong, and I’ll accept the punishment. I don’t need you to remind me!”

With a few swift strokes, she wrote both her own name and Fang Luo’s on a page of the notebook.

Then she looked at Le Tianyang. “There. I’ve written down my name, and Fang Luo’s too!

“But Le Tianyang, you were shouting and disrupting class just now. Don’t think you’re getting away either! Say one more word and I’ll record you twice right now!”

“Eek!”

Le Tianyang froze, quickly covered his mouth, and withdrew like a turtle into its shell.

Behind them, I silently propped up my chin and looked at the two names, “Chu Hanya” and “Fang Luo,” side by side in the black notebook. I felt rather helpless.

Honestly… what was she doing?

…

…

By the time school ended that afternoon, the setting sun had turned the teachers’ office orange-red.

Homeroom teacher Wang Jianguo finished marking the last Chinese homework book, drank from his insulated cup, and casually opened the class’s daily discipline notebook that Monitor Chu Hanya handed in after school.

In all his years as a homeroom teacher, Chu Hanya had been one of the assistants Old Wang worried about least. She was impartial; anyone she wrote down had certainly committed the offense.

But the moment he scanned today’s list, he nearly sprayed the tea in his mouth across the desk.

There, below Le Tianyang’s name, two names were written neatly side by side in graceful yet forceful handwriting.

【Fang Luo (passing a note in class)】

The other name beside it was even more startling.

【Chu Hanya (replying to a note in class; as monitor, knowingly broke the rules; one major demerit)】

Old Wang widened his eyes and checked several times, wondering if he was hallucinating.

What was this?

Chu Hanya, the model of discipline he’d trained himself, the beloved little monitor known throughout the school… had put her own name on the violation list?

Not only that, she’d tied herself to Fang Luo, the new transfer student who’d just tied her for first in the monthly exam.

What were they doing?

Old Wang frowned at the weighty little notebook. Recalling Chu Hanya’s solemn, miniature-adult manner and Fang Luo’s unruffled melancholy, he felt his face twitch several times.

“What a mess…”

He’d pretend he hadn’t seen it. He couldn’t very well punish those two precious students.

Shaking his head, Old Wang decided these little geniuses were impossible to understand. He closed the notebook, shoved it into a drawer, and picked up his tea with a sigh.