Chapter 9: 9

 Chapter 9 - High school entrance exam

Shen Shao got up from the ground and patted the dirt from his pant legs. He felt too embarrassed to look back. He’d fallen in front of so many teachers!

Shen ZhengYang walked up to him with some schadenfreude, told him the words, “you deserve it”, and walked away feeling like he’d won the field.

Shen Shao wanted to touch his face, but his palms were gray with dirt. All he could do was brush off his hands a couple of times and hurry back to the classroom. He didn’t want to meet the eyes of the teachers at all, OK?

“The fck, did Shen ZhengYang do that?!” When Shen Shao returned to the classroom, Yang HongQiang, who sat at the same desk, noticed the dirt on his clothes. He smacked the table and said, “Come on, we’ll help you get him back!”

“I fell by accident. It doesn’t have anything to do with anyone else.” Shen Shao coughed with embarrassment. Before returning to the classroom he’d washed his hands. The skin of his palms was scraped and now that he was sitting it stung a little. “Class is about to start. Where are you going to go?”

It was a pity that none of Shen Shao’s classmates believed him, though he told them the truth. In their eyes, Shen ZhengYang and his family were villains who’d bullied Shen Shao. This idea was deep-rooted in their minds and would probably affect their thinking for decades, even after they became adults.

Shen Shao didn’t know that he’d unknowingly dug a pit for Shen ZhengYang, but after that day, Shen ZhengYang didn’t bother him again. In addition, the boy became more and more serious about his studies, and he bothered fewer girls with love letters. All his attention went to his schoolwork.

By now, Shen Shao had confirmed that his brain really was better than in his previous life. He didn’t feel lightheaded no matter how many books he read every day, and he even remembered the contents of what he read. It was like heaven had suddenly raised his IQ from a value of 80 or 90 to something more like 120.

Two or three months before the high school entrance exam, all the properties Shen Shao had bought were included in a relocation and demolition order. The demolition notice was officially issued, but the compensation hadn’t been finalized. After all, every time the government moved forward with a land development plan, there were always one or two nail households.

At the start of Shen Shao’s third year of junior high school, he asked the calligraphy teacher of his interest class to help him move his registered permanent residence out of Shenjia Village into a real estate property he bought in town. At the same time, he increased his age by two years. At any rate, in this time period it wasn’t strange for rural children to start school late, and it wasn’t a problem to change his age to be a little older. The most crucial thing was that he could now apply for an ID card. A lot of things would be much more convenient in the future.

The neighborhood committee also began to notify residents in the demolition area to come in to sign the relocation agreement. However, although the residents were excited and talked a lot about it, none of them were willing to sign. Many people had the mentality of delaying longer, hoping the government would increase the compensation.

After observing the situation for a few days, Shen Shao saw that most residents still didn’t have much intention of signing, and he sighed to himself. He remembered that last time, no one was willing to sign until the government issued an ultimatum which said that if the residents didn’t agree, the developers would abandon the demolition plan. After that, it took less than a week for everyone to sign the agreement, but the final compensation ended up being slightly less than the original offer.

Shen Shao didn’t want to wait until things got to that point. He requested half a day off from school, took his property deeds, his ID card, and household register, and went to visit the demolition team at the office of  the neighborhood committee.

The demolition team leader was the person sent by the Planning Bureau to arrange matters. In the past few days, he observed that no one came in to sign, and he began to feel worried. Therefore, when Shen Shao walked into the neighborhood committee office on Friday, the director was sitting at his desk flipping through a newspaper. Anyway, no one was going to sign today. At most, a few old ladies would cry in front of him about how much they didn’t want to give up their home, how great their property was, and how close it was to the school.

When he saw a teenager standing in front of him, he didn’t even put down the newspaper in his hand. He just asked, “What can I do for you?”

The boy put the real estate property certificates and a household register in front of him and said, “I’m here to sign.”

“Sign?” The director excitedly closed his newspaper. The two assistants next to him became excited too. However, after they looked the boy up and down several times, the director hesitated and said, “Kid, this is something for adults to decide. It doesn’t count if you say it.”

“I’m the only person in my family.” Shen Shao took out the property deeds from the folder. “So I’m the only one who can decide.”

After the director checked the real estate certificates, the ID card, and household registration booklet, he was surprised to see there were four properties under the child’s name. According to the square meterage, it would be a large sum of money.

Shen Shao was the head of household and the only person in the household registration book, but the date in the newly-replaced book was just a few months old. Although the person in charge was eager for Shen Shao to sign the agreement immediately, he had to ask, “Where are the adults in your family?”

Shen Shao shook his head. “I don’t have a mom or dad.”

The assistant next to him took Shen Shao’s household register book and looked it up on the computer. In this time period, the Internet wasn’t highly developed, but the demolition team still had a computer to check matters related to the relocation and demolition plan.

“Director Yang, the information in the parents column says his parents are both dead.” After checking, the assistant whispered in the director’s ear. “It looks like there really isn’t anyone else in this kid’s family.”

Although the assistant’s voice was quiet, Shen Shao heard what he said. He suddenly felt surprised. Didn’t his irresponsible father run away with another woman? How could he be dead?

On second thought, Shen Shao realized that the management of household registries wasn’t very strict in this era. Shen JianBing and the woman were probably worried that Shen Shao, that dragged oil bottle, would try to find them, so they simply recorded Shen JianBing’s death as head of household and re-registered him in a new, different household registration.

No wonder Shen JianBing ran without hesitation. It turned out the woman’s family had some connections. And no wonder that when Shen Shao last saw his nominal father in his previous life, Shen JianBing was driving a BMW and wearing expensive brand name clothes.

Director Yang, the person in charge, saw that Shen Shao’s face wasn’t good. He thought his assistant’s words had made Shen Shao sad, so he kicked the assistant with his foot, then smiled and said to Shen Shao, “We’re just asking to confirm the situation. We didn’t mean anything else. Now I just need to know what kind of demolition contract you want to sign?”

There was an option to exchange housing area for storefront area at a one-to-one ratio, and there was an option to exchange housing area for new housing at a ratio of one to two-and-a-half. Last was the option to receive monetary compensation based on housing area.

The cheapest property Shen Shao bought was the dilapidated tile-roofed house, but in fact, the tile-roofed house was the largest. According to the field survey, it was nearly 200 square meters. Each of the other three houses were about 100 square meters, for a total demolition area of just over 500 square meters. After receiving the compensation, Shen Shao could be regarded as a wealthy Gao FuShuai.

In this era, not many people cared about storefront property, so the demolition group dared to offer one-to-one compensation based on the housing area. Seven or eight years in the future, no one would ever be so generous.

Shen Shao knew that in the future this neighborhood would become the central commercial area of the county town, and he wouldn’t be able to buy storefront property even if he wanted to. Without any hesitation he agreed to take five storefronts that were 70 to 80 square meters each. The remainder of his property, just over 100 square meters, was exchanged for money. Although that was the least efficient choice, he wanted to do more development in the next few years, and he needed the capital to do it. By losing a little now, he’d gain more benefits later. Over the long term it wasn’t a loss.

Director Yang didn’t think Shen Shao would ask for so many storefronts. He was startled for a while before he stamped the contract, and said, “Today a new reward policy was announced by the higher-ups. That is, the first eight families to sign will each be rewarded with a ninety-six square meter house. You’re the first one to sign the relocation agreement, so sign here on the reward clause. When the construction’s completed, you’ll receive an extra house.”

After the assistant entered Shen Shao’s demolition information into the intranet, Director Yang took out a reward contract from the drawer and said with a smile, “Young man, you’re very lucky. You arrived just as we were about to post the notice. If you came a little later, the reward would be taken.”

“It’s all because of good national policies. Thank you, uncles.” Shen Shao packed up all the signed contracts, smiled and thanked the people in the demolition team, and then left with his bag on his back. As for why the reward policy hadn’t been posted yet, it was none of his business. After all, maybe someone’s relatives wanted to know the inside information in advance.

Indeed, as soon as he walked out the door, he saw several people arriving in a hurry, probably running to get the reward.

But Director Yang didn’t injure him. He still gave Shen Shao the reward, which showed his generosity.

Sure enough, after the incentive policy was announced, plenty of people sighed over it. If only they’d signed earlier, they would have gotten another house of 90 square meters. Later, they heard that if they refused to sign again, the government would abandon the demolition plan and proceed to demolish the western side of the city. They ran to sign, worried that if they came too late the cooked duck would fly away.

Amid this exciting demolition atmosphere, it was finally time for Shen Shao to take the high school entrance exam.

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The examination room was located in an elementary school in the same county. During the exam, a crowd of parents gathered outside the school.

When the exam ended and Shen Shao walked out of the exam room, there was a sea of people at the gate of the school, and he had to edge his way through the crowd. Before he took two steps, Yang HongQiang grabbed him. “Shen Shao, how did you do on the exam?”

After being tortured by exam questions for two days, it was finally over, and Yang HongQiang sprang back to life. Even when talking to Shen Shao he was in a state of excitement. “Thank goodness you helped me do that surprise pre-test before the exam. A lot of the same knowledge points were on the exam. It’s all thanks to you, buddy.”

Seeing his excited face, Shen Shao reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “Since we’re buddies, why thank me.”

“OK, OK.” Yang HongQiang smiled and rubbed his hands. Yang ZhiAn, who was following, genuinely thanked Shen Shao as well. After all, he knew his son’s ability level. After the first day of the exam yesterday, Yang HongQiang told his parents that Shen Shao had reviewed with him a lot of the topics that were on the test. Now that it was over, Yang ZhiAn knew Shen Shao had studied sincerely with his son and hadn’t held anything back for himself. Otherwise his son wouldn’t be so excited now.

Yang ZhiAn walked up to Shen Shao and said, “Shen Shao, I have to thank you for helping this useless kid from my family. Now that the exam’s over, if you don’t have other plans, you’re welcome to stay at our house for a few days. Our family can be loud, but our cooking is OK. You’ve worked hard lately. You should get some rest to make up for it.” He knew Shen Shao didn’t have a mother or father, and the apartment Shen Shao had rented would be demolished soon. After graduating from junior high, there would be a lot of student get-togethers. If Shen Shao moved back to the countryside, it would be difficult to meet his friends.

“Thanks, Uncle Yang. My apartment lease won’t expire for another month or so, and the demolition isn’t until October. It’s OK,” Shen Shao said with a smile. “But I’ll definitely come over occasionally to try Aunt Luo’s cooking. Just don’t complain if I eat too much.”

“Hey, boys need to eat more to grow strong.” Yang ZhiAn didn’t insist. He gave Shen Shao a bottle of the iced drink he’d bought. “Then why not come to our house for dinner tonight. We’ll celebrate your successful graduation from junior high.”

Yang HongQiang also urged Shen Shao to come over, and Shen Shao drank the cold drink. In the end, they dragged him into the small car that Yang ZhiAn recently bought.

As soon as he walked through the door of the Yang house, he saw a large selection of dishes with all sorts of colors and flavors on the table. The dishes were still steaming hot, and there was a sizzling sound of cooking coming from the kitchen. It was obvious that someone was still frying up food.

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Luo Qiong heard the door open and put the food onto the plate. When she came out and saw Shen Shao was there also, she greeted him warmly and asked him to sit down, then served him some fruit and candied melon seeds. “Xiao Shao, eat some grapes first. The food is ready. I’ll ladle out the soup.”

Shen Shao wanted to help, but she pressed him to sit down. When the four people were sitting at the dinner table, Luo Qiong said, “Xiao Shao, I can’t tell you how much you helped HongQiang this time. Our family really doesn’t know how to thank you.”

“Aunt Luo, don’t say that,” Shen Shao said. He smiled and rubbed the tip of his nose. “HongQiang is a brother to me. It’s natural for us to help each other. HongQiang takes good care of me in class, too.”

Luo Qiong saw that Shen Shao’s face was shy and knew the boy was embarrassed. “OK, I won’t say anymore. Hurry up and eat.” Teenage boys could be thin-skinned. She didn’t want to make him feel shy, but they still had to thank him for his efforts, or it would be callous.

After dinner, Aunt Luo forced Shen Shao to accept some grapes before he successfully managed to depart the Yang house. He walked down the street as the streetlights were just coming on, watching the pedestrians coming and going as they went for their walks. There was a big smile on his face.

His junior high school life was finally over.

 

TL Notes:

Congrats to Shen Shao for moving on to high school! The plot is moving along quickly and college will soon be here too ♡ 

 

FYI! I’m traveling this week and it’s very chaotic here. That means I’m not able to do all the editing I normally do. I’ll give this chapter another pass when I get back. Which should hopefully be tomorrow. TY! (✿˵◕‿◕˵)

 

nail household – 钉子户 – Alternatively: snag household. A household that refuses to accept relocation, either because they don’t want to move or they think the compensation isn’t high enough

dragged oil bottle – 拖油瓶 – (derog.) (of a woman) to bring one’s children into a second marriage / children by a previous marriage

BMW – 宝马 

wealthy Gao FuShuai – 有钱的高富帅 – “Gao FuShuai” is a meme name for the perfect man and literally means “tall, rich, and handsome”

the cooked duck would fly away – 煮熟的鸭子弄跑 – An idiom which means something like “the fish slipped the net”. An opportunity you thought was in the bag has vanished

buddy – 哥们 – gēmen – Alternatively: dude, man

why thank me – from 谁跟谁啊 – Who is with whom ah – A way of saying you’re not outsiders: you’re good friends who are close enough to say anything to each other. Or in certain cases it can be used to tell someone they’re your friend but not your boyfriend (Baidu)

(his son’s) ability level – 几斤几两水平 – a few catties and a few taels – He knows what you weigh, AKA your capabilities

a brother (to me) – 兄弟 – xiōngdì – brothers / younger brother, buddies etc.

 

Transliterated names, places, and titles—new in this chapter:

Director Yang – 杨主任 – Yáng zhǔrèn

Uncle Yang – 杨叔 – Yáng shū

Aunt Luo – 罗阿姨 – Luō āyí

Luo Qiong – 罗琼

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