Chapter 12 (2/2)
“Su Fei, how do we describe ‘living opposite’ in English?” Yang Pan turned to Su Fei.
She smiled. “Door-to-door!”
“Yes, door-to-door! Living next door! Understand?”
“You’re no better!”―Zhang Jun poked―”and you still have the gall to poke fun at others!”
Yang Pan gave his friend a sideways glance. Then, he leaned in mysteriously towards An Ke and Ren Yu De. “I’ll let you guys in on a secret: Zhang Jun has a habit of sleeping naked!”
The accused sprayed his tea on the floor. The pair who just joined them showed immediate interest. “Really?!”
“I swear this on my 16 years as Zhang Jun’s friend. Every word is true, nothing is false!” Yang Pan said, his hand held up in solemn declaration.
Su Fei quickly interrupted them. “That’s enough!” she said. “Aren’t you guys tired after the game yesterday?”
“Yeah!” everyone else replied, as spread themselves across the table.
“I’m so excited!” She continued passionately, “I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Whenever I closed my eyes, I would remember the game. The sounds in the arena and how all of you looked like on the pitch, I remember all of it. It plays out like a recording, non-stop every time my eyes are closed. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt like this. It’s great!”
The four of them watched her cheerful expression without a word. Maybe they had felt the excitement so many times that they became apathetic or simply forgot the sensation entirely; they were speechless at the sight of Su Fei’s excited expression.
Today, Su Fei made them remember all those feelings.
Zhang Jun stood up and told her in a serious manner, “Rest assured, we will make you as happy as you were yesterday.”
She looked up at him.
“I’m going to the toilet.” Yang Pan stood up to leave.
“We’re going too, wait for us.” Ren Yu De and An Ke followed in his wake.
After the others left, Su Fei asked, “Really?”
“I promise.”
Su Fei held out her baby finger. “Pinky swear!”
Taken slightly aback, Zhang Jun pulled out his finger too. “Pinky swear.”
“Cross my heart and hope to die!”¹
…
Zhongyuan Technical High School. Two kilometers and four bus-stops away from Shu Guang High School.
“Li Yongle!” Zhang Yang called out. He held up a magazine as he trespassed into the first year’s classroom, ignoring the stares.
“Bro, this isn’t your classroom!”
“So what? All students are family!” Zhang Yang responded, flamboyantly pulling out a chair from his side and plonking himself on it.
“That’s a skewed reasoning!” Li Yongle retorted exasperatedly. He was used to his friend’s behavior since their time in middle school; Zhang Yang, otherwise known as Swanky Zhang, a name that fitted the bill.
“What’s up?”
Zhang gestured at a few guys on the magazine cover. “Take a look!”
Li Yongle was left dumbfounded for a few moments. “Them again?”
“Yup. Zhang Jun, Yang Pan… It’s them again!”
“Who?” Zhang Lintao said as he came by with a comic in his hand. “Zhang Jun and Yang Pan?” Picking up the High School Soccer magazine, he adjusted his glasses as he poured over it. “It’s the Shu Guang High School jersey. They went to that school? What a waste! If they came to our school, it would be… tut!”
He mumbled to himself, leaving the other two confounded.
“What are you eating there? Your mouth never stops moving!” Zhang Yang said, snatching the magazine away with a swipe.
“Me? I’m not eating anything!”
“He’s saying ‘what are you talking about?'” Li Yongle translated. “We don’t get it.”
“Oh! It’s natural that you guys wouldn’t know,” Zhang Lintao explained. “The Shu Guang soccer team is like a grain of sand in the Luoyang zone. They’re nothing special at all. They would join in on the qualifiers every year but never get past the first round.”
“That bad, huh!” Zhang Yang was at a loss.
“That’s why I’m saying that it’s a waste for them to enter that school. Just think about it, with Zhang Jun and Yang Pan up front alongside our captain, they would make a divine combination. They’ll raid fortresses and burn towns with us at the back staving off any attacks. It would be nigh impenetrable. If that happens, we won’t only be the kings of Luoyang, the seventh national title would be as good as won!”
Zhang Yang touched his chin thoughtfully. “Exactly! Exactly! But, they still went to that school. Now, the two of them are dead and bellied².”
“It’s buried!” Zhang Lintao corrected him.
“Who cares! Since they are buried, won’t they be belly up!”
Li Yongle flipped the pages of the magazine as the two argued.
The first page introduced the opening ceremony of the nationals; but starting from page two all the way to page ten, it was all about Shu Guang! There were long essays and intricate details written about the players as well as rich photographs.
The feature photo for the first editorial pictured the entire Shu Guang team celebrating a victory. The report was titled:
“3 : 2, The Shocking Defeat of a Giant, a Dark Horse Born in Turning Tides!”
…
“Listen to this! ‘3 : 2, The Shocking Defeat of a Giant, a Dark Horse Born in Turning Tides!’ What a great title!” An Ke held the new issue of High School Soccer and read it out loudly, “Oh, there’s another one: ‘Shu Guang Takes Its First Steps Towards the Dawn of a New Era!’ Wow, there’s even a picture of me!”
But his voice was largely unheeded by everyone―they all held the same issue of the publication in their hands. They were fully engrossed, busy looking for photos and columns about themselves.
Zhang Jun entered the activity room before promptly retreating. He thought he was in the wrong place and that he had ended up in the literature club. He looked up at the class label to check that he was indeed in the right place before going in again.
The first thing he saw was a thick and straight red line sketched on the huge match schedule, which was on the wall. It pointed Shu Guang High School towards their next match. He remembered the scene yesterday where he made the pinky promise with Su Fei and looked at his own pinky―he had unknowingly taken up another responsibility and it was too late to walk away. He put down his schoolbag, picked up a clay pot near the wall and clubbed it with a wooden stick.
“Training time!!!”
…
TL Note:
(1) A Chinese equivalent of the typical pinky swear.¹
(2) Zhang Yang made a pronunciation mistake of the Chinese word for “buried” in the original text.