The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 88: Elementary School

“My elementary school.” Wan Sisi nodded with a smile.

“I studied here too!” Gao Yang was taken aback. “If you were a student here, how come I didn’t know you?”

Wan Sisi smiled in lieu of a response.

The shop selling cold drinks by the school entrance was holding a marketing campaign. A person in an ice cream suit stood by the road attracting customers. They had a selfie stick in their hand and a signboard on their neck, which said, ‘Take a selfie for free ice cream cones.’

Wan Sisi changed the subject by saying, “Do you want ice cream, Gao Yang?”

“Sure.”

Wan Sisi quickly went up to the mascot and had two pictures with them. Then she returned to Gao Yang with two ice cream cones. “Here.”

Gao Yang accepted the offer and took a bite. “It’s sweet.”

Wan Sisi followed suit and said with her eyes curved, “Yeah...it’s so sweet.”

She then turned to the school entrance and said in a pleading tone, “I’d like to walk around in our old school, Gao Yang.”

“Why not? We have time.” Gao Yang was feeling nostalgic as well. It had been years since he last came back.

The Yushan Elementary School wasn’t big. Past the running track claimed by weeds was an old classroom building covered in ivies. They walked into the first classroom on the first floor. The door lock had fallen off, and the wall was weathered with patches of discoloration. The desks were covered in dust. On the blackboard, Gao Yang could still make out the faint traces of everyday writings, and the chalk ledge had collected dust of different colors. It looked like the place hadn’t seen any visitors for quite some time.

“Is the school abandoned?” Gao Yang had thought the school was empty because the students were on vacation, but it was clear to him now that the school had closed down.

Wan Sisi said a little sadly, “Yeah, there are less and less children in the town, so the schools were consolidated, and Yushan closed down last year.”

The setting sun of dusk cast the classroom in a lonesome wine red. A breeze swept through the window and ruffled Wan Sisi’s bang. She snuck a glance at Gao Yang’s profile; his eyes were gentle and distant.

Gao Yang turned to her, “Let’s go.”

“Ah, okay...” Wan Sisi hurriedly looked away.

The two of them walked out of the classroom and back to the running track. Wan Sisi suddenly stopped walking to look at the wall beyond the track. It was missing a chunk, which made the part much shorter than the rest of the wall. Gao Yang remembered it well. Many students would take advantage of the shorter part to sneak out. On the other side of the wall was a small hill, and standing at its top was a large ginkgo tree.

“Gao Yang.” Wan Sisi turned around, her voice tinged with tentative hope. “Do you...really not remember me?”

Gao Yang blinked. When he met eyes with her, he suddenly saw a rush of old, blurry memories in his head.

“Ah!” Gao Yang was surprised. “Are you...Liu Xiaoli!”

...

That was a long, long time ago.

When Gao Yang was in his second year in elementary school, there was a bespectacled girl with overbite named Liu Xiaoli.

It was said that her father was a construction worker, and he died in an accident on a construction site when she was four. Her mother spent her days playing cards rather than doing anything productive or taking care of her, and her tuition hadn’t been paid for.

Liu Xiaoli almost always came to school in the same clothes. Because she didn’t have anything else to change into, a pungent odor followed her around. That, as well as her ‘ugliness’, made sure that she had no friends in the class. The girls didn’t want to play with her, while the mischievous boys bullied her.

They put caterpillars in her pencil case, tore her homework to pieces, and hit her with rubber band slingshots. Once, a boy in class used the lighter he smuggled into school to burn her hair.

Unable to tolerate it, Gao Yang stopped the bully. He ended up getting beaten up by the boy and his friends.

The homeroom teacher called the parents to school, and it became a whole thing. The boys got scolded and were forced to write apologies.

After that, the boys in class stopped actively bullying Liu Xiaoli out of their fear of their teacher, but they started to ostracize Gao Yang and Liu Xiaoli in a less obvious form of bullying. They even paired them up and came up with an insulting jingle to mock them.

—Gao Yang has an ugly wife! She smells bad and has an overbite!

Li Weiwei was in their class as well, and being Gao Yang’s childhood friends, she got dragged into the mess despite her being beautiful and quite popular.

After a brief struggle, Li Weiwei decided to take Gao Yang’s side.

That summer, the three of them were always hanging out together, and they had fun.

Once in a PE class, the three of them were excluded again, and neither the girls or boys allowed them to join their games.

Naturally opinionated, Li Weiwei pointed at the ginkgo tree on the hill beyond the wall and said, “Let’s have a race! To the top of the hill!”

The three of them happily vaulted the wall and made it to the hilltop.

Gao Yang was the first, Li Weiwei the second, and Liu Xiaoli the third.

Li Weiwei and Gao Yang put their allowance together and used the pennies to buy the most beautiful box of sweets at a small shop in the neighborhood. It was a tin box printed with the drawing of the seven fairies, and inside were seven fruit gummies of different colors. Gao Yang and Li Weiwei each ate two, while Liu Xiaoli was given three. Liu Xiaoli ate two and didn’t have the heart to finish the last one. She hid it in her pocket.

Afterward, the three of them started talking about the future. About what they wanted to do and who they wanted to become.

Li Weiwei got another idea. She stood up with her hands on her hip and took out a crayon from her pocket. Then she picked up the three gummy wrappers on the ground. “Let’s write down our dreams and bury them under the tree. Then our dreams will come true!”

“Great idea!”

Gao Yang and Liu Xiaoli clapped in agreement.

The three of them each wrote down their wish with a crayon and folded the wrappers. They then put the wrappers into the tin box and dug a small hole under the ginkgo tree to bury it, serious and devoted.

A few days later, Liu Xiaoli didn’t come to school. The homeroom teacher said that she had transferred out. It was in such a hurry that she wasn’t able to even finish the proper procedures.

Then Gao Yang found out from the adults’ gossipping that Liu Xiaoli’s mother found her a stepdad with the surname Wan, and that they had taken Liu Xiaoli to Li City.

It hadn’t been long until Gao Yang and Li Weiwei moved to Li City as well, leaving Yushan Elementary School behind, along with their childhood promise. It ended up lost and forgotten in the passage of time.

The rush of memories left Gao Yang lightheaded. He stared at Wan Sisi. The girl with fair skin, orderly teeth, and clear eyes were night and day from the unkempt girl with an overbite. Her nervous, deer-like eyes, however, were the same as those of Liu Xiaoli.

“When did you realize it was me?” Gao Yang asked. “And Li Weiwei too. Did you recognize her?”

Wan Sisi nodded. “I recognized both of you on the first day of military training in our first year. But neither of you recognized me.”

“You’ve changed a lot.” Gao Yang smiled apologetically. “Why didn’t you tell us?‘

“I don’t know.” Wan Sisi tilted her head and smiled. “I was going to, but I couldn’t find the right time. Then I couldn’t find the right words.”

Gao Yang’s heart was filled with a myriad of emotions. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Gao Yang, there’s a question I’ve always wanted to ask you.” Wan Sisi looked up at him. The nervousness in her eyes was replaced by determination.

Gao Yang pursed his lips. “What is it?”