Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 983 New Classmates
Wang Zhan, who had been harboring doubts, mentioned during dinner that he was going to have military training at his vocational school and might not be back for a month. Wang Li looked at her brother and tears welled up in her eyes. Wang Zhan had no choice but to comfort his sister.

Grandma Sun took full responsibility, which put Wang Zhan at ease, and he entrusted Wang Li to her care.

Wang Zhan came mainly to talk about this matter, but the fact that he didn't necessarily have to live on campus still made him very anxious.

The next day, Wang Zhan went to the school and went directly to the branch school for military training. This military training was not just for show; it was conducted in accordance with the training subjects of soldiers. Wang Zhan, wearing his faded military uniform, began his arduous training.

For a whole month, Teacher Yu did not appear. It wasn't until the training report meeting that Wang Zhan saw Teacher Yu on the stage.

After the report meeting, Wang Zhan was pleasantly surprised that Teacher Yu found him immediately and told him that the school had decided to allow him to stay on campus and not participate in morning classes and evening self-study, but there was a prerequisite that his academic ranking in each subject could not fall below 20th place.

Wang Zhan agreed without hesitation. For him, studying all subjects was child's play; he had never lost to anyone when it came to academics.

During the National Day holiday, Wang Zhan rode his bike home. Wang Li hugged her brother and cried her heart out, which made Wang Zhan feel a little sorry for her.

After that, Wang Zhan began his vocational school life, going to school and taking care of his child in a routine manner.

Wang Li didn't notice anything amiss, except that her brother started school earlier and finished a little later; everything else remained the same.

While in school, Wang Zhan made several new friends. They got along very well and often played together. As for studying, well, as anyone who's been in school knows, some of them would discuss academics in private, but instead they'd be smoking, drinking, and partying.

However, there was a classmate who was very familiar with Lü Qing, but he wasn't in their class. He was in the Industrial Materials Class 3, also from Changping. Lü Qing had mentioned this person to Wang Zhan. This kid was two years older than Wang Zhan, sixteen years old, and supposedly came from a family of hunters, having been a hunter since childhood.

Later, through Lü Qing's introduction, Wang Zhan also met Zhang Biao, a classmate who was over 1.7 meters tall and only 16 years old. Zhang Biao was also a very outgoing and generous person. Like Lü Qing, Wang Zhan liked this classmate very much.

The group gradually became acquainted and would often get together to buy food outside the school. At that time, the school cafeteria was really unbearable to look at. It was filled with potatoes and cabbage, without any oil, and the staple food was cornbread and cornmeal porridge. It was the same every day, except that the difference between breakfast and lunch was that there was no cornbread.

After two whole months without meat, the students' faces turned ashen. At this point, the more resourceful students started to find their own way out, like Wang Zhan and a few others.

On the first day, when they decided to leave the school and find their own food, they still had hope. But when they jumped over the wall and saw the elderly people digging for wild vegetables all over the place, their hearts sank.

Wang Zhan thought for a moment and said, "Why don't we go to the Yongding River? Maybe we can catch a couple of fish to eat."

After thinking it over, the group of five agreed. They found a bus stop, spent nearly ten cents, and went to the Yongding River.

When Wang Zhan reached the Yongding River, he was disappointed. It was crowded with people; catching even a shrimp was a struggle, let alone a fish. Seeing the disappointed faces of the others, Wang Zhan simply took off his shirt and trousers and jumped into the river. Not long after, he threw up two large carp, leaving the other fishermen speechless with astonishment.

In fact, once Wang Zhan went down into the river, he could see the situation in the water clearly. There were no fish at all, only small fish fry. It was estimated that too many people had been fishing here recently, and the river had become dry. Wang Zhan had no choice but to take out two fish from his spatial storage and throw them into the river so as not to disappoint his classmates.

When his companions saw Wang Zhan throw up two carp weighing three or four pounds, they were instantly excited. Wang Zhan went ashore, wiped himself with his shirt, put on his trousers, and ran away with his companions shirtless.

There was no other way but to run. Seeing the people on the shore getting restless and about to surround them, Lü Qing panicked and shouted, "Run!"

The five people grabbed two fish and ran off. They ran for about thirty minutes before stopping. There was a barren mountain next to them, with no plants at all. Lü Qing directed them to find a secluded spot and started grilling the fish.

Wang Zhan slapped his forehead and said, "Big brother, you need to clean the fish first. Never mind, you guys go and gather some dry branches. I'll take care of this."

The four men scattered in all directions, and Wang Zhan started digging a pit to make a stove. Then he took out a dagger and started cleaning the fish. By the time he finished, the men had returned. Fortunately, before they came back, Wang Zhan took out a bag of salt and put it aside.

One person was grilling while four others watched, their mouths watering. Lü Qing urged Wang Zhan to hurry up, saying she was starving. Wang Zhan rolled his eyes and said, "Why don't you take a bite now? Can you eat it if it's not cooked?"

It was this grilled fish meal that brought the five people closer together, but Wang Zhan wanted to observe them for a while longer, as these people were still not as good as Xiao Si and Xiao Wu.

On Saturday, Wang Zhan said goodbye to a few friends and left the school early, riding his bicycle home. There were few pedestrians on the road, and Wang Zhan felt as if no one was going out anymore.

The sky was gray, the walls on both sides of the road were gray, and people were dressed in black and gray. Bright colors only appeared on women, and even then, they were very rare. Occasionally, some people wore military green, which attracted the attention of passersby.

As they approached Qianmen Street, Wang Zhan noticed two young men with their arms around each other. They looked familiar, but their patched clothes seemed out of place.

When Wang Zhan rode up behind the two people, he realized that they were Liu Guangtian and Yan Jiefang from courtyard number 95. Wang Zhan was puzzled. When did these two become friends? As far as he remembered, weren't Liu Guangtian and Yan Jiefang good friends?

Wang Zhan hadn't paid attention to Courtyard No. 95 during this time. He had no idea that Yan Jiecheng was now single-mindedly focused on becoming independent, getting married, and having children. However, he wasn't qualified enough, and the textile factory wouldn't allocate him a house. They only gave him a dormitory room, which was for four people. So Yan Jiecheng never went back to the courtyard.

Liu Guangtian became the second street hustler to do odd jobs in the courtyard house, and there was indeed a purpose behind his association with Yan Jiefang.

Yan Jiefang was still in school. Some of his classmates came from well-off families and would bring some pocket money to school. Liu Guangtian's purpose was to have Yan Jiefang act as an informant to see who had money, while he would act as a robber and give Yan Jiefang 30% of the money. When Yan Jiefang heard this idea, he immediately agreed. He was also penniless and wanted to get some money to spend.

(End of this chapter)