Chapter 23: The Allure of Lilies

Jiang Meili didn't even glance at me. "Are you stupid?" she said. "This is PE, not a core subject. As long as everyone is here, that's all that matters!"

I was unfamiliar with how things worked here, so asking seemed natural enough to me. In her eyes, however, Zhengtai was not a new student; he should have understood everything.

The PE teacher was not a handsome man. His face was covered in a thick, bristly beard that made him look like a savage, and his eyebrows were unusually thick. He didn't look like a teacher at all. Knowing nothing about him, I had nothing to say.

Class began. He wrote two large characters on the blackboard: "Martial Arts." He turned around, scanned the room, and shouted, "Who can answer this question?"

Students scrambled to raise their hands, eager to be called upon. I alone kept my head down, not even looking up. Seeing so many hands, the PE teacher pointed at a girl and shouted, "Bi Juanyan, you answer!"

The name caught my attention. I wanted to see who Bi Juanyan was, but she was blocked by the forest of raised hands. When she stood up and the others lowered their hands, I finally saw her: a girl with a black ponytail. I couldn't see her face clearly. She was wearing a white school uniform and, staring directly at the teacher, said, "Martial arts is a method used to strengthen the body and, at the same time, for self-defense to protect oneself."

After finishing, Bi Juanyan stood there blankly, waiting for the teacher’s response. Students began raising their hands again, and the classroom erupted in chatter. I still didn't look up.

The PE teacher scanned the room, waved for Bi Juanyan to sit, and looked at another girl. "Mei Linlin, you stand up and answer!"

She sat in the side row, quite close. She was also a fifteen-year-old girl, with her black hair neatly tucked back and held in place by a hairpin, giving her a relaxed and natural appearance. She wore a blue school uniform. Locking eyes with the PE teacher, she said, "Martial arts is a technique; if you learn it well, you can hit people, defend yourself, and not be bullied."

The teacher waved for her to sit. I felt quite frustrated and couldn't help but whisper to Jiang Meili, "Why does the teacher only call on girls and not boys?"

Jiang Meili’s answer was simple: "I don't know."

I felt even more annoyed. She was useless. I might as well have asked the teacher. As I was considering it, he suddenly bellowed, "Xin Zhengtai, stand up and answer!"

I was stunned. I remembered I was a man—I stood up like a fool, looked at the two characters on the blackboard, and finally collected my thoughts. I scanned the room, surprised to find that all the students had turned to stare at me. Bi Juanyan and Mei Linlin’s faces were now visible; their looks were quite ordinary.

I might not have been able to answer other questions, but when it came to martial arts, I had plenty to say. For instance, what is martial arts? "Wu" means to fight, and "shu" means technique; put together, it is the technique of fighting.

The students had never expected that within the profound concept of martial arts lay such simple content. I went on from punches to forms, from grappling to neutralizing an opponent. My long string of theory overwhelmed the PE teacher, who had to wave for me to sit down, repeatedly shouting, "Alright, alright, that's enough!"

***

I had just sat down, ready to hear the teacher’s grand lecture, when the bell rang, accompanied by the sweet voice of a female announcer over the speaker. This voice followed every student around. I couldn't help but think: Is she a teacher at this school? Her voice is just too beautiful.

Jiang Meili didn't think so. She had never seen the person, so maybe she wasn't. I didn't believe her and wanted to ask the PE teacher, but he ran out faster than the students.

Jiang Meili grabbed my hand and we were about to leave the classroom when a group of students crowded around, smiling and looking at me with various expressions. They were all asking questions at once; I didn't know who to listen to. Before I could speak, Jiang Meili interjected, "One at a time!"

Bi Juanyan leaned in toward Jiang Meili and asked maliciously, "Are you and Zhengtai lesbians? You're so intimate!"

Jiang Meili didn't care what others said. She wanted to get close to me and replied without hesitation, "So what if we are?"

"Whoa!" Bi Juanyan opened her eyes wide and looked at the surrounding students, mocking further, "Did you hear that? They're lesbians!"

This was the first time I had heard this derogatory term. I couldn't help but ask, "What is a lesbian?"

"Hahaha!" A burst of wild laughter erupted. The male and female students looked at each other.

One shameless boy took the opportunity to tilt his head, making a secretive gesture. "Have you two kissed? Do you do it like men?"

I vaguely sensed something was wrong. "What do you mean?" I asked.

The boy giggled, thinking he was very clever. He pointed at me and said, "Stop acting! What do lovers do? Do you really have to ask?"

Jiang Meili, reckless and uninhibited, shouted, "So what if we are? You all want to be Zhengtai's lover but can't even get the chance!"

I cursed her silently for being such a fool—how could she say such things? I wanted to change the subject. "Stop with this nonsense. Who wants to sign up for the martial arts performance?"

The students thought it over, but no one answered, except for Mei Linlin, who said that unless I taught them, it wouldn't be possible...

The same boy from before, wanting to show off, shouted in front of everyone, "Zhengtai, can you perform a special skill for us to see?"

Jiang Meili looked at me with eager eyes. "Zhengtai, we all want to see your special skill. You were about to perform earlier when the bell rang."

I thought about it. To become the most powerful person in this class, I had to be a step above the rest and open their eyes. I took a piece of paper from my bag, placed it on the desk, and asked, "Who wants to touch it and see if it's paper?"

The same boy stepped forward, touched it, and said, "Isn't this just torn from a notebook? It's definitely paper!"

***

Bi Juanyan and Mei Linlin also reached out to touch it but said nothing. A few other students nodded in agreement.

I slapped the desk hard. The paper was sent flying by the breeze, drifting gracefully until it landed on Mei Linlin and slid off.

Everyone was stunned. Someone shouted, "Money!"

Mei Linlin bent down, picked it up, and looked at it—it was a one-hundred-yuan bill. Everyone went crazy, reaching out for it. The boy snatched it away, and a mob of students swarmed him... the hundred-yuan bill was passed around and then vanished.

Everyone looked at each other and asked the boy about it, but he claimed he had given it to a girl. After arguing for a while, he simply refused to admit the money was in his hands.

Jiang Meili looked at the students and shouted, "Hand over the money!"

No one made a sound, as if they wanted to pocket it. But since no one would admit it, there was nothing to be done.

The bell rang again, and that same sweet voice of the mature woman played over the speakers.

To be honest, I had always wanted to see what she looked like. Her voice was incredibly sweet, gentle, and gave one a sense of comfort.

Students rushed in from outside and scrambled to their seats. Jiang Meili and I sat up straight.

A female teacher walked in, about thirty years old, with an average appearance—about the same age as Zhengtai’s mother. She was wearing a teacher's uniform and carrying folded paper. Without saying a word, she opened it and used transparent tape to stick it to the blackboard.

I was stunned! It was two colored diagrams of a man and a woman, the content clearly visible. What was this teacher doing? Bringing this kind of filth into the classroom?

The teacher finished, turned to face the students, scanned the room, and asked, "Why are we having this lesson? Which student can stand up and answer?"

She looked left and right, but no one raised a hand.

The teacher tried a different approach. "Students, you had this lesson in the first year of junior high. I believe you are not strangers to it. Who can answer?" She waited for a long time, but still, no one raised a hand.

My brow furrowed into a knot. After a long while, I finally raised my hand slowly.

The teacher was finally let off the hook. "Please, Xin Zhengtai, stand up and answer."

The students shifted their gaze to my face. I felt my face burning, but since I was already standing, I had to bite the bullet. "Teacher, I feel this is wrong. Shouldn't this be brought into the classroom?"

No one laughed, and no one made a sound, but it didn't have the effect the teacher wanted.