Chapter 9: Even Impermanence Cannot Stand in the Way

Before kindergarten, the two hardly spoke to each other.

From kindergarten through sixth grade, they were not only deskmates but also academic rivals, alternately claiming the top spot in their class, time and again.

For seven whole years, the first-place ranking remained toggled between them, never slipping away.

They earned the nickname “The Black and White Duo.”

But upon entering middle school, the gap between them suddenly widened. Yang Yingwen seemed to have unlocked some secret power, consistently ranking first in the entire school throughout middle and high school.

As for Li Heng, what was he doing when he first entered middle school? Fighting, avenging grievances.

Their hometown was known as a poverty-stricken county with a long history of fierce, rugged folk customs. Middle schools in rural areas were even more chaotic. The large number of students born in that batch had mixed qualities, and the school gangs were a menagerie—boys and girls, older brothers and younger sisters—all running rampant.

Just as Li Heng and Zhang Zhiyong set foot in the town middle school, they were betrayed by their childhood friend Liu Shuiwen.

Liu Shuiwen, relying on his cousin, a notorious school troublemaker, often led a gang into dormitories to collect protection money.

Within just one month, Li Heng and Zhang Zhiyong were robbed of their meal money four times; every time, their money was taken, and their stomachs were kicked.

The fifth time, due to insufficient money, their whole dormitory was beaten up by Liu Shuiwen’s two brothers and their gang.

After being severely beaten and pushed to the limit, Li Heng, Zhang Zhiyong, and others finally erupted. They not only rallied fellow victims at school to confront their tormentors but also frequently ambushed Liu Shuiwen’s brothers on their way home.

At the peak of their retaliation, dozens of students who had been bullied gathered at Shangwan Village to surround the Liu family, wielding sticks and bats, demanding justice.

It was during this incident that the terrified Liu brothers truly understood fear deep in their bones. Later, through mediation by school teachers and the village committee, the brothers signed written guarantees, and their parents were forced to pay double compensation to the victims. From then on, people avoided them on the streets.

Though this episode seemed triumphant and glorious, it came at a cost.

Due to more than a semester of neglecting his studies, Li Heng’s academic brilliance faded, and his grades plummeted.

In the first year of middle school, with about fifteen classes and roughly a thousand students, his rank fell beyond 250th in the school. This was still thanks to his natural talent in mathematics, nearly always scoring full marks.

In stark contrast, his English was pathetic—not only failing to pass but never scoring above 53, half of which were mere guesses. The memory lingered painfully.

Watching Chen Zijin regularly rank in the top twenty and Yang Yingwen firmly holding first place, Li Heng was stung by Tian Rune’s remark: “Manzai, how come you don’t get any certificates now that you’re in middle school?”

Entering the second year, his pride awakened, and he resolved to work hard to catch up with them.

After days and nights of diligent study, he gradually caught up in other subjects.

But English remained a thorny problem. He was like a frostbitten eggplant impervious to seasoning, never able to grasp the key to entry.

Meanwhile, Yang Yingwen’s English was formidable—so formidable that she scored full marks every time, conversing fluently with teachers in class, earning the admiration of all the school’s faculty.

Perhaps fate intervened, for all three years of middle school, the two were in class 125, still classmates.

One time after English class, Li Heng, humbly and somewhat sheepishly, asked her:

“Yingwen, what does ‘decide to do something’ mean?”

Upon hearing this, Yang Yingwen, sitting just ahead, half-turned and replied with a mocking tone:

“Oh! Li Heng, aren’t you usually full marks in math even though you fight? Why even bother studying?”

After this cutting remark, she turned back to her work, stubbornly refusing to explain.

It was just after class, with many onlookers around. Li Heng, humiliated and flushed, bent down, unable to recover his dignity.

He deeply regretted not walking a few steps further to class 129 on the third floor to ask Chen Zijin.

At that moment, Yang Yingwen’s deskmate, Xiao Han, curled her lips mischievously and, unexpectedly, came to his rescue. She patiently explained the structure of that sentence and gave three examples.

In that instant, Xiao Han’s figure expanded infinitely in his heart, like the Bodhisattva of Compassion incarnate, shining brightly and saving all beings.

For a long time afterward, Li Heng couldn’t fathom why she would help him.

Eventually, he concluded: even sharks tire of the taste of blood and occasionally show mercy.

He mentioned this because throughout first year, Li Heng and Xiao Han had barely spoken and had even fought fiercely twice over a chair.

Back then, unlike later times, chairs and desks were precious, and if broken, one had to pay double compensation to the school.

So everyone liked to mark their chairs with their names, claiming ownership like dogs marking territory.

Every time, Xiao Han, with three sharp-tongued girlfriends, would gang up and scold him mercilessly, leaving him battered and retreating—no match at all.

Where was his buddy Zhang Zhiyong then? Pretending to be mute on the sidelines, grinning at the spectacle.

Afterward, this dimwit raised his right fist, stiffened his neck, and argued confidently: “Everyone agrees Xiao Han is the prettiest girl in school. I’m an idiot for arguing with her.”

Xiao Han taught “decide to do something” earnestly and thoroughly. Li Heng felt as though a divine power had enlightened him, instantly opening channels in his mind and sparking progress in English.

His scores first reached passing, then 70 points, and finally stabilized above 80.

Thanks to this English lesson, the relationship between Li Heng and Yang Yingwen plunged into a low ebb in second year.

Although they sat in the front and back rows and she occasionally slipped a few words his way, they had both crossed each other off their friend lists.

Or rather, because of his frequent troublemaking and fighting in first year, Li Heng became someone Yang Yingwen deeply loathed and thus excluded.

From the start of second year, Li Heng entered his own springtime, catching up in all subjects and soaring rapidly in school rankings.

By the final few mock exams in third year, he surged into the top twenty in the entire school, earning eligibility to apply to the first and second best high schools in the county.

At that time, the town middle school had only 35 slots for these two top high schools—just enough to fill one bus.

Moreover, those 35 students took their entrance exams at a separate venue within the top schools, with special buses shuttling them 100 miles from town to county, and supervised by their own school’s teachers. Other candidates, even if qualified, were not admitted.

In short, if you didn’t take the exam at the designated high school venue, your scores weren’t trusted.

Such was the prestige!

Seeing him truly reform, Yang Yingwen later took the initiative several times to speak to him and even apologized. Their relationship inexplicably thawed and was fully restored by the time they entered the first year of high school.

Once, during a drunken moment, he asked the girl with the ponytail, “Why do you treat yourself that way?”

Yang Yingwen countered, “Did you ever hold a grudge against me?”

He thought for a moment and answered honestly, “Not hatred exactly, but I did hold it in my heart. After all, we used to be so close.”

Yang Yingwen stared into her cup for a long time and said, “I don’t know why I blurted those words. Maybe I was just disappointed in you. The first-year you really let me down.”

Later, the reason he abandoned the secure civil servant job to go into business was largely due to her constant encouragement.

As for the story behind her name, it was rather amusing.

Before she was born, her mother dreamed that the literary star descended to earth. Upon waking, she was so thrilled she told everyone she was sure the baby would be a boy and a top scholar.

The truth? Half right. It was a girl, but indeed a fiercely brilliant student.

The name “Yingwen” was a prayer for that dream to come true, a wish for the literary star’s blessing to manifest.