Your loneliness is more moving than this world

Chapter 8 The Bad Boys of East Street (1)
1. Gao Lei from the Eastern District

I was born in painting, but I am not sincere to this art.Back then, there were dozens of large and small painting classes in Niucheng, all of which were set up for speculative college entrance examinations. Art colleges had strict requirements for professional ability, but had extremely low requirements for cultural class scores.The scheming class teachers stuff all the students with poor grades in their classes into the painting class. This kills three birds with one stone. First, art students are admitted to the university, which is also counted in the enrollment rate of their school; second, they recommend their own students to private schools. I will get a little remuneration for the painting class; finally, and most importantly, I will dump those naughty and bad boys to others.

The class teacher obviously underestimated the ability of bad children, just as they overestimated the role of traditional exam-oriented education.When a middle school is so bad that even the "three good students" can't get into the undergraduate course, art, music and other majors become shortcuts to further studies. For example, in Niucheng No. [-] Middle School where Mingming and I are, art students have always been the envy of cultural students. Objects, the homeroom teachers who can eat ancient times define the painting class as a concentration of poor students, and refuse any request to learn art from any non-"bad boy".This is very similar to the attitude of the poor in the old society towards theatrical troupes: even if you have the opportunity to be promoted, even if you will become famous in the future, you will not belong to the orthodox lower class.

On the night of early winter, in the painting class of Dongda Street, the new art students were guided by the teacher to visit our sketching homework. As the leader of the new students, Gao Lei appeared in front of us for the first time, with his hair neatly combed back , wearing an adult woolen coat and shiny pointed leather shoes, no matter from which angle you look at it, it is not what an art student should be.In the middle of the visit, the art teacher ordered us to stop the brushes in our hands and stand up, and comment on the fan paintings with the freshmen. Gao Lei took the opportunity to stand beside me and whispered: "You are Guo Xiaoyu, and the one opposite you is Guo Ximing. , isn’t it?” I turned my head to look at him and said, “Who are you?” He said, “You don’t care who I am, anyway, I know you, I used to go to Gonggong Road, and I was with you at that time There’s another one named Guo Xiaoning, he’s coming out soon?” I said, “What do you want?” He said, “It’s not a big deal. We’ve met before, but now we know each other. This is fate. Let’s go outside when we have a rest. Let's chat?"

Under the broken lampshade at the gate, Gao Lei delivered cigarettes to every student present, and then introduced himself in exaggerated language. The boss of the gangster claimed that there was no gangster on the road who didn't know him, and he didn't even bother to associate with these people.He let out a puff of smoke, looked at us and said: "I don't like art, I just want to go to college with it. People in my family require me to have a bachelor's degree certificate. Only with a bachelor's degree certificate can I be admitted to an institution in the future and continue our work. The forces whose home is in Niucheng."

There are no more than three types of peers admired by adolescent students: academic bullies, handsome bullies, and bad bullies.Gao Lei's art skills are not good, but he is "handsome" and "bad" in the limelight, coupled with his proud aura and endless big talk, the smoke eaters in the Dongda Street painting class are stunned, the newcomer Several girls even fell in love with him on the spot.Just one meeting, just one night, he conquered a place.

In the gouache class the next morning, the art teacher announced the names of Gao Lei and others in public. Since then, he has officially become a member of the Dongda Street painting class.To show his sincerity, he generously donated money, took a group of boys in his class to the Rolling Stone Internet Cafe to surf the Internet all night, went to a tavern near No. [-] Middle School to drink, and went to the serviced apartment of No. [-] Middle School to gamble. Fully stimulate the hormones of these little villains.Before Gao Lei appeared, the bad boys in the East Street Art Class were just a group of stragglers, but now there are generals and arrows.

Soon, Mingming and I seemed to be the only boys in the painting class who had doubts about Gao Lei.The two of us only selectively go out to eat or surf the Internet with him, and we don't obey him, let alone admit that we are his followers.Gao Lei understood this, he looked at me and Mingming obviously differently from others, but Mingming and I did not receive this kind of favor in private.First of all, we do not worship bad boys, but only those who are good at painting; secondly, when we were bad boys, our reputation in the world was far greater than him.Three years ago, Mingming, Xiao Ning, and I fought a last-ditch fight on the workers' road, and I bought a bunch of children from the Niucheng Metallurgical Plant, and Xiao Ning even went to jail for this.As a bad boy, it is impossible for Gao Lei not to know about this matter, perhaps because of this, he respects us.

"It's obvious, he wants to use us, that's why he treats our guests all day long." After sharpening a pencil, Mingming put it down and said, "Think about it, now he is showing off with his painting class, and the entire East District of Niucheng How many small gangs don't like us, especially Fatty Yuan from No. [-] Middle School. Fatty Yuan and Gao Lei were enemies in No. [-] Middle School. It is said that he kicked Gao Lei out of the painting class of No. [-] Middle School. Now Gao Lei is shaking here Qi, sooner or later we will have to fight Yuan Fatty. Who is Yuan Fatty? He is a bully who fears strength. Gao Lei wants to curry favor with us. He just wants to take advantage of our reputation on Gonggong Road." I said, "I don't care to follow. Gao Lei will provoke someone, but he just thinks it is not a good thing for him to lead the painting class to be so public, maybe one day the art teacher will turn his face, the painting class allows students to smoke and have sex, and will not condone students to fight." Mingming sneered With a sound, he continued to sharpen his pencils and said: "This group of people, pure brats, what time is it? They will take the college entrance examination in half a year, and now they still feel that forming a gang is very prestigious."

At ten o'clock in the evening, when the painting class was over, Gao Lei and a few followers got together and whispered together, then walked out the door together, and Mingming shook his head lightly at me, I nodded to show that I understood.After all the attendants left, Ming Ming put down his drawing board and sat down and said, "They went to fight with Fatty Yuan, and it's at the intersection of East Street." I said, "Then shall we make a detour later?" "They fight, why should we detour? Mingming said, "Go out in 10 minutes and watch the excitement."

Near midnight, the East Street was cold and desolate, without even a stray cat. After passing through more than a dozen street lights, the figures of Gao Lei and his followers appeared at the entrance of the alley.The children of the painting class on Dongda Street won the battle, and the students of the Fifth Middle School scattered like monkeys, leaving Fatty Yuan alone to accept the humiliation from everyone. The fat man's arms were drooping, his eyes were looking into the distance, and he was crying endlessly.

I pushed a boy away and said, "Okay, Gao Lei, you'll win if you win. Why do you push him to a dead end?" The boy I pushed away rushed up and said, "Can you control it?" Said: "Stand back for me! It's not your turn to talk here!" Gao Lei waved his hand to signal the boy to step back, and said to me: "Xiaoyu, do you know Fatty Yuan? Save face for him too?" I said, "I'm not saving face for anyone, I just think it's not good for you to hurt others like this, just beat him up, why force him to kneel down? Someday will any of you be treated like this by others , What do you think? Let him get out." Gao Lei was speechless, glanced at Mingming and the others, and then said loudly to Fatty Yuan: "I told you to get out, do you hear? Someone will speak for you today, don't let I'll see you again, I'll hit you once when I see you!"

Gao Lei actually doesn't like to fight. His followers can testify to this. In most conflicts, he prefers to persuade others with reason. Do it, then step aside and watch.What he said was: Fighting is an ugly thing, no matter whether you win or lose, you are not handsome.A truly awesome person hides his secrets and relies on deterrence.If there are a hundred chances to make a shot in life, then 99 times can be achieved through negotiation, and the only shot is to put the other party to death.Gao Lei carried a precious dagger with him, which was said to be a relic of his grandfather who had worked in the secret service company, so the implication was that he was too ruthless and not suitable for small grievances in the world.

This man shows his superiority everywhere.

During the recess of the painting class, everyone talked about cars, and he talked about the original German exhaust pipe; girls and boys argued about who is the school belle of No. 21 Middle School, and he can accurately name every school beauty from No. [-] to No. [-] Name; his cousin's son is a senior colonel who participated in the National Day military parade, and his family was an official for three generations. When his father stomped his feet, the entire Water Conservancy Bureau was shaken.There is nothing he does not understand or is not professional in. He will have the upper hand on any topic we talk about. If you refuse to accept it, he will keep talking until you agree that he is better than you.

Although Gao Lei is distasteful when he is high-minded, he sometimes shows some different demeanor, for example, he opposes laughing at beggars on the roadside, opposes boys watching porn in the video hall, and opposes leading other painting classes. When girls with different grades came out, he loudly criticized those attendants who brought girls: "We are art students, not hooligans on the street. Whoever brings girls out in the future will get the hell out of me!" I dare not say that this is Gao Lei is also a bad boy, but he obviously understands elegance better than us.

Well, he did it, he is even worse than us, it is a victory of blood, it is a victory of genes, this victory made me completely lose my favor with Gao Lei, and I gradually accepted Mingming’s judgment on Gao Lei : "He is just a vain official son, and behind the vanity is just another kind of inferiority and unbearable."

At this time, Gao Yu appeared.

Gao Lei's younger sister, Gao Yu, is a well-known beauty in No. [-] Middle School and my first love.She is as tall and beautiful as Gao Lei, but she stays at home. If you want to see her, you can only follow her brother to the studio of the Fifth Middle School.Gao Yu walked out of the studio, stood at the door and said to Gao Lei: "What are you doing here? You are not allowed to make trouble here, if you want to make trouble, wait until I am away." Gao Lei grabbed the drawing board in her hand and looked at it Said: "What are you talking about, why don't you come to your place for a visit? By the way, why have you regressed so much in painting recently?" Gao Yu rolled his eyes, took back the drawing board, walked up to me and said, "Xiao Yu help me see, How do you change this painting?" Gao Lei laughed, and said, "That's right, that's how it should be, let us masters from the Dongda Street painting class give you good advice." Gao Yu turned his head and gave Gao Lei another look, turned around I turned my head and said, "How is it?" I blushed and said, "Let's... draw another picture."

People will love their houses and crows, let alone a child of seventeen or eighteen.Because of Gao Yu, my increasingly icy trust in Gao Lei began to warm up, and I frequently followed him to play near the Fifth Middle School. My purpose was very clear, that is, to see his sister more often.Gao Lei was well aware of this, but he didn't point it out. Perhaps he was used to this kind of thing. There are too many people chasing Gao Yu, and there are only a few in his own class. His unified response is: no objection ,not support.

I managed to make an appointment with Gao Yu, took her to visit the Dongdajie painting class, had dinner at the Dongdajie restaurant, and went to the train station to draw sketches together on weekends.Many people thought that Gao Yu and I had established a romantic relationship, including the art teacher, every time they saw Gao Yu, they would call my name half-jokingly, but as this girl came to Dongda Street painting class more and more Only then did everyone realize that I was just another wishful suitor.Mingming was the first one to stand up against my pursuit of Gao Yu. He said, "This girl is as vain and snobbish as his brother. You will never succeed, and even if you succeed, you will be deceived. Don't even think about it." Afterwards, Gao Lei Stand up and say: "Xiao Yu, I have no objection to you chasing Gao Yu, but you can't know who she is better than me. Forget it, so as not to hurt our buddies' feelings because of this incident in the future."

I finally gave up my pursuit of Gao Yu, not because my friends objected, but because of the loss of self-confidence.Gao Yu really looked down on me. Facing my desperate courtship, she stood at the door of the studio sharpening her pencils and said, "We are still high school students and immature. You are good at drawing and you look good. You will go to college in the future." Don't worry about not having a beautiful girlfriend."

The long loss accompanied me through that long winter.Not long after Gao Yu declined me, her brother was expelled from the Dongda Street painting class.Although I expected this ending a long time ago, I was still surprised from the bottom of my heart when I saw the announcement posted on the wall.It is not new for Gao Lei to take the boys out of the painting class to drink during the training camp, and he has never been punished for it. No one knows why the art teacher made such a cruel move this time.Naturally, Gao Lei didn't want to leave the painting class, and ran around mobilizing all his classmates to intercede for him. Because I was too ashamed, I didn't help, which caused dissatisfaction between Gao Lei and his followers.In front of all the students in the studio, Gao Lei announced that he would cut the robe with me. He said: "I have known you for so long, but I didn't realize that some people are so heartless. I was really blind at the time." After that, he packed up his things and left. Lei's men and women continued to mobilize the entire painting class to denounce me. They obviously couldn't see it, and reported on the leaders of the other party, and the art teacher expelled these people together.

Gao Yu came out, took off his sleeves and said, "Why don't you just go in and find me?" I said, "Just talk here, and I'll leave after I finish. You help me pass a message to your brother, just say that I'm right." I can't stand him. I'm different from you kids. I'm a student from a bad school. In the future, I will point to that painting class to take the college entrance examination. If I took the initiative to intercede for him in that situation, the teacher will definitely oppose me and will never If you value me, I have no hope." Gao Yu lowered his head and clutched the sleeve in his hand, and said calmly: "It's okay, no matter what others think of you, I think you are right."

In 2003, after SARS passed, the results of the provincial joint examination were announced. Among the bad boys in the art of Ten Middle School, Mingming and I were the only ones who passed the undergraduate score.At the end of the month, Ming Ming and one of Gao Lei's buddies had a fight on the scorching sun-baked playground.When I heard the news, I rushed over and found that the police station had already dispersed the crowd, and the ground was covered with blood. I didn't know which ones belonged to others and which ones belonged to others. It was shocking and sad to step on it.

2. Summer in Huaian Road
When I was studying at university in Shijiazhuang, Mingming, as one of my few relatives and friends, never took the initiative to visit me at the Normal University. I have been brooding about it for many years.He is obviously such a person, if he likes something, he will tolerate the other person a lot, and if he doesn't like it, he won't give the other person a chance.Of course, the distinction between love and hate only represents a person's sensibility, and does not represent right or wrong. For example, Ming Ming's prejudice against Gao Lei's brothers and sisters is obviously class-colored. He comes from a lower-level laid-off family, and the Gao Lei brothers and sisters' family members are all on salary. officials.

Another child of mine, Xiao Ning, has a similar attitude to Mingming. In the autumn of 2003, Xiaoning was released from prison after serving his sentence, went to the provincial capital to attend a computer technical school, and rented with Mingming in a family courtyard near Hebei University of Science and Technology.At the end of every month, I would go to Mingming and Xiaoning's place for dinner, and every time they had dinner, they would reprimand me in front of their girlfriends about the embarrassing things about my pursuit of Gao Lei's sister.In their eyes, it was unwise for me to associate with someone like Gao Lei, and it was even more contemptuous to pursue his sister.

"I didn't say that because I had a fight with his subordinates. Think about it, why did Gao Lei break up with you? Is it because you didn't intercede for him at the beginning? He understands very well that even if you intercede for him, That art teacher won't forgive him either." Ming Ming flicked down the cigarette ash and said, "He didn't like us from the very beginning, just because we didn't join his gang. Actually, you have a small heart.” I smiled and said, “So you think it’s absurd for me to pursue his sister?” Xiao Ning said, “I didn’t say you were ridiculous, it’s because you have a good heart, and you always turn people away. I thought about it, if it’s really like what I said clearly, how can there be any good people in the students in your painting class? They are all the little bastards left by the teacher in charge. , how can it be compared with those who have suffered together?"

In my senior year, I moved out of the school dormitory and went to an advertising company on Donggang Road as an intern.Soon, I ran into Gao Yu on Huai'an Road.

At that time, I was rushing to the Golden Melody Audiovisual Store to meet a friend, and she followed up quietly, stretched out her hand and yanked the rear of my bicycle, and I fell to the lawn beside the road.I thought I had offended someone, so I got up tremblingly. She laughed, and I patted my clothes and said, "Why are you? Where did you come from?" She sat on the electric car without changing her face: "Wait Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait for me to finish laughing, hahahaha..." The passers-by on the road began to watch, and I became impatient, and said, "Okay, there's no end to you!" After Gao Yu laughed, there were two spots on his face. Flushed, and said: "I'm fine, I just came back from the library, did you move here? I've been seeing you on this road recently." I said: "It's been more than three months." She said : "Oh, that's enough. You haven't talked to me on the Internet for the past two or three years. Now you are out for an internship. We live on the same street and don't even say hello." I said, "Sister, you look like me now." Where can I recognize you!" She said: "Where are you going to play in a hurry?" I said: "Go to the golden melody, do you want to join in the fun?" She said: "Okay, but you have to treat me to dinner when you come back .”

(End of this chapter)