Chapter 6: The Tragic High School World (Part 2)

  A year and a half later, Longbiao was already in his second year of high school when another even more dangerous and terrifying incident occurred with Grandpa Qi.

  The reason for the event was that one afternoon, Longbiao was running on the mountain road on his way home when he was suddenly caught in a heavy rain. After the rain stopped, it continued to drizzle without stopping. Seeing that the sky was already darkening, Longbiao knew that if he didn't hurry back home, Grandpa would go hungry. He wrung out his clothes and used a large lotus leaf from the pond as an umbrella on his head, then ran towards home. The sky was gray and unclear, and Longbiao's foot slipped, causing him to fall heavily onto the road and roll into a small ditch. His whole body was covered in mud, and his knees were scraped raw. By the time he hobbled back home, it was already past 7 o'clock at night. Grandpa saw his state and was heartbroken, hastily telling Longbiao to change out of his clothes.

  Longbiao insisted on finishing dinner, took a bath, ate something, and unusually didn't do any chores before going to bed. That night, Longbiao had his first high fever, burning severely. In this small mountain village, the nearest villager, Liu Jinfu, was tens of meters away from their home. Grandpa yelled for help on the bed but no one responded, and he was anxious all by himself.

  Fortunately, the little dog leopard seemed to understand Grandpa's call and ran to Liu Jinfu's house to bring him over. Longbiao's head was scalded to death, Liu Jinfu found a barefoot doctor in the village, gave him an anti-inflammatory injection, took some cold medicine, and applied some purple iodine.

  The whole night, Grandpa was unable to move on his own, fortunately Liu Jinfu kept using a wet towel to help Longbiao cool down. After all, such persistent exercise had a great effect on Longbiao's physical transformation, and the medicine also worked well for Longbiao who had never been injected or taken medicine before. A crisis was finally over. By morning, not only had Longbiao's fever subsided, but his cold seemed to have improved as well, and the injury on his knee wasn't too serious. Except for a slight dizziness, he was basically fine.

  This was originally an unexpected event, and Longbiao did not suffer much harm. However, the impact of this incident on Grandfather Qī far exceeded the influence of the event itself. Two nights later, Grandfather Qī used scissors to cut his wrist and end his life. He stubbornly believed that if he hadn't been a burden, Longbiao wouldn't have risked being struck by lightning while rushing back to the mountain village on a rainy night. He recalled how he had solemnly given Longbiao four major prohibitions, but now, because of his own reasons, Longbiao was violating all of them and constantly facing life-threatening danger - these were exactly the reasons why the ancestors of the Long family had died in the past. Grandfather Qī felt that if Longbiao really met an untimely end, he would have no face to meet the ancestors of the Long family in the afterlife. It was better for him to end his own life now and let Longbiao be free from the burden and constraints he had imposed on him. Under the cover of night, while Longbiao was fast asleep, Grandfather Qī used scissors to cut open his wrist.

  Fortunately, the leopard has always been extremely sensitive to blood. As soon as it smelled the bloody smell on Grandpa's hand, it sensed that something was wrong and instinctively used its nose to wake up Longbiao, trying to remind him that there was a bloody smell on Grandpa's body, so Longbiao discovered and stopped this tragic event in time.

  Long Bao quickly tied Grandfather's cut arm with a rope. Since Grandfather hadn't exercised in years, the bleeding wasn't severe. Long Bao chewed some hemostatic herbs they kept at home into a pulp and carefully applied them to Grandfather's wound. Grandfather didn't move or speak, allowing Long Bao to bandage him. No matter what Long Bao said to him, he remained silent, only silently crying.

  Long Bao knew that Grandfather had probably made up his mind to end his life this time. He knelt on the ground, in front of Grandfather's bed, tears streaming down his face as he vowed: "Grandfather, if you must do it again, torture yourself like this, seek death like this... if you die today, I'll jump into the river tomorrow; if you go first, I'll follow right after. It doesn't matter to me whether we die early or late in our lives, it's all the same fate for our Long family. Grandfather, listen to me, I mean what I say." After speaking, he heavily kowtowed three times to Grandfather.

  Grandfather knew Longbiao's character, once he made a vow, no matter what, he would definitely go and do it. Grandfather couldn't help but sob.

  "Grandpa, you know that if you die like this, I will absolutely not live alone. Grandpa, think carefully from now on." Longbiao knocked his head heavily three times again.

  At last, Grandfather burst into tears, this time Longbiao did not cry, but looked at his grandfather with an extremely resolute gaze.

  After a long while, Grandpa Qi stopped and the old man finally turned his head around, speaking in a hoarse voice: "Child, Grandpa won't do this again, get up, child, the ground is too cold."

  The wrist pulse was not cut off, but only cut open. Under the care of Longbiao, Grandpa's wound slowly healed half a month later.

  A slight delay of a few days did not affect Longbiao's studies, but only made the school teachers worry for a while.

  Longbiao's deeds had long been widely circulated in the school, and students were deeply shocked and stimulated by comparing themselves with Longbiao. The school leaders and teachers clearly felt the improvement of the school spirit, more students loved to learn, and there was a significant change in class discipline and self-study discipline. Not only in Longbiao's grade but also among all students in the school, this sentence was quietly circulated, making teachers feel gratified: Let's take a look at Longbiao! See how he studies!

  After entering the second year of high school, Long Bao became the president of the student union. Although the boy who was not yet thirteen years old had grown a lot taller, he was still a bit shorter compared to other students. Every time Long Bao spoke at the school assembly, his speech was very moving and could effectively mobilize his classmates' learning enthusiasm. Although he was only a thirteen-year-old child, his prestige in the eyes of the students was like the sun at noon.

  Long Bao's grades were undisputedly the first in his grade, but after all, the teaching quality of No. 12 Middle School was still far behind, and the lack of reference books made Long Bao have obvious shortcomings in some subjects compared with the top students in No. 1 Middle School, and a certain gap appeared half a year later.

  Principal Wang Zihai and several teachers, after detailed analysis and planning, unanimously believed that under the current circumstances where it is impossible to introduce famous teachers, they can only start by collecting a large amount of reference materials, launching a comprehensive dragnet operation, mobilizing all possible connections, thinking of ways even spending money to get a large number of materials and test papers from other provinces, cities, and schools. Meanwhile, Long Bao was no longer fixed in one class, but instead changed classrooms every half month or month, taking classes with other students of the same grade, giving them some assistance.

  Long Wan usually did the homework or tests assigned by teachers, and rarely listened to classes. He could understand new lesson content just by reading books, and doing exercises was to deepen his understanding and memory. Among all subject teachers, only the Chinese teacher was the most pleased and relaxed, as Long Wan's compositions made it difficult for so many teachers to find any flaws. The Chinese teacher sometimes submitted Long Wan's prose, poetry, and essays to newspapers, and over several semesters, quite a few were published, especially his writing on classical poetry had a unique insight. The English teacher was the most suffering one, as Long Wan was good at everything except for English pronunciation, and it was extremely difficult to correct his pronunciation. This situation didn't change until a university graduate majoring in English came from the Education Commission in the third year of high school.

  After the principal's plan was officially implemented, Long Bao's grades improved rapidly. In the first semester of high school, in the county's unified final exam, Long Bao finished all the questions in half the time and his total score exceeded the first place in Shan Cheng No. 1 Middle School by twenty points. The entire school's academic atmosphere also underwent a significant transformation, with the overall scores improving significantly compared to previous years. Many parents found that their children's grades had improved, and they were more sensible when they returned home, often taking the initiative to do household chores. When they learned that all this was indirectly caused by Long Bao, some even came to school to express their gratitude to the teachers and Long Bao in person.

  At the end of sophomore year, No. 12 Middle School rose from last place to fifth in the county's unified examination, ranking behind only No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 8 Middle Schools. This was an unprecedented achievement, breaking a record that had stood since the school's founding.

  That year, 170 students from the grade above Long Peng's took the college entrance exam, and amazingly, 16 of them scored high enough to get into key universities, while 37 made it past the cutoff for regular colleges. This was an incredible achievement for this rural middle school!

  The school office walls were filled with banners and couplets sent by students and their parents to express gratitude and respect, so densely packed that they brought joy to every teacher's face. The Education Commission even issued a special commendation notice.

  The initial success of the "Tihai Tactics" made Principal Wang overjoyed. After all, this was a glorious page in school history! The fact that such great results could be achieved through effective methods during his own term was almost unimaginable. Principal Wang naturally attributed half the credit to Long Bao, without whose drive and exemplary role, it would have been impossible for the teachers alone to achieve this. The radiant effect and energy produced by a powerful model and a clear fact were far more than a hundred times stronger than empty preaching, and Principal Wang deeply felt this.

  In the following days, he brought Longbiao's role in Class 12 to an extreme. In large and small meetings, class meetings, he often pushed Longbiao forward to speak on behalf of others, or pulled out students who had improved their learning results quickly to ask them to share their experiences. Longbiao's prestige reached an unprecedented peak in the following days, just like Principal Wang. Even Principal Wang's casual words in school became almost sacred decrees in the teachers' minds. The school was tightly united around Principal Wang as its core, and all forces were directed towards a single goal: improving the passing rate. Everyone's morale was high, and their enthusiasm was overflowing.

  By the time they reached their third year of high school, the number of students had increased dramatically. Many parents who were eager to give their children a good education sent them to No. 12 Middle School, and as a result, the Education Commission also increased its funding accordingly. The economic benefits for teachers also improved. As a result, the beautiful scenery along the riverbank of the school, which was previously not considered particularly noteworthy, became something that everyone admired, and even more so, parents hoped that their children could receive a good education in this school.

  However, what happened next almost pushed Long Bao into an abyss.

  Hu Wenming, the head of Jiangping Town, had a young son named Hu Zide who was originally studying at No. 3 Middle School in the county seat. However, this kid was a troublemaker and would often skip class to play electronic games, table tennis, or gather with other classmates who didn't study to gamble on meal tickets. He had a very bad influence on the school. After several ineffective attempts at education, the school no longer cared about the town head's face and persuaded Hu Zide to drop out in May 1998. To make it easier to discipline this kid, Town Head Hu arranged for him to attend classes at No. 12 Middle School within the jurisdiction of Jiangping Town. For the leaders of No. 12 Middle School, giving face to Town Head Hu was a must, so they arranged for Hu Zide to be in Longbiao's class.

  Hu Zide's mischievous nature did not subside after transferring schools, but instead became even more rampant. The beautiful scenery of the riverbank gave him fresh stimulation, and although the 12th Middle School was located in a rural area, the girls raised by the natural environment here were really very pretty. Hu Zide, who was only eighteen years old, already had the height and stature of an adult, and the strong hormonal effects of puberty made him like a ** male dog, searching everywhere for beautiful targets.

  Wu Wenli, a 17-year-old girl in his class, was the one he had set his eyes on and longed to possess. Wu Wenli's heart was set on going to university to experience the big city and see the world, so she didn't even bother with the love notes that Hu Zide, the son of the town head, kept passing her, often disdainfully throwing away what he wrote into the trash can. This made Hu Zide extremely angry. Wu Wenli was the daughter of a government official in Jiangping Town, and Hu Zide thought to himself: Your dad is my dad's subordinate, how dare you not give me face? I'll make you regret it.

  Long Bao always goes to the small grassland by the river after lunch to lie down and watch the white clouds in the blue sky. The scenery in November is already a deep autumn scene, and on this day, when Long Bao was chewing on the grass and playing, he saw Hu Zi De chasing Wu Wen Li and pinning her to the ground, with his mouth messing up her face. Several classmates around them dared not speak out, as most people in school were afraid of this school bully. Long Bao was already thirteen years old and had a height of 1.6 meters, with a sturdy body. In such a situation, he immediately rushed over without hesitation and pulled Hu Zi De away from Wu Wen Li.

  Hu Zi De saw Long Bao and immediately jumped up, pushing Long Bao to the ground and kicking him several times before walking away. The surrounding classmates told the principal and teachers about the incident, which caused a big stir as Long Bao was considered a treasure of the school. No matter who you are, even if you're the son of the town mayor, you can't bully him like that. The principal reported this to the town mayor, hoping he would discipline his son properly. However, since Hu Zi De was indeed the town mayor's son, they couldn't expel him without offending the mayor. To avoid further trouble with Hu Zi De, Long Bao and Wu Wen Li were transferred to another class.

  Huzi De, under the warning of his father, the town head, and the school, temporarily reined in for a while. He got together with three other rich kids at school: Liu Dongping, Liu Jingshan, and Cao Qiuyue. After Cao Qiuyue became his girlfriend, he also temporarily lost interest in Wu Wenli. Classmates called them the "Gang of Four".

  It was May 1999, and in just two months, the college entrance examination would take place. Due to the influence of El Ni?o and the global warming trend, the weather in May was extremely hot. After graduating from high school, studying became relatively tense, and almost everyone was working hard to prepare for the upcoming national college entrance examination.

  It was another sweltering noon, and Longbiao and several classmates came to the willow tree by the river to recite English words. Hu Zide and his four-person gang walked to the adjacent willow tree, where Hu Zide, Liu Dongping, and Liu Jingshan took off their shirts and pants and headed into the river, leaving Cao Qiuzi sitting under the willow tree.

  "It's so hot today that we can't go into the water, especially at noon when the scorching sun is burning down, something will happen." The classmates whispered to Longbiao.

  Yes, Grandpa had repeatedly emphasized to himself. Long Bao hurriedly turned his head and shouted to Cao Qiuyue: "You quickly call them over, now is not the time for swimming, the school also does not allow students to enter the water. What if something happens?"

  Cao Qiuyue clearly looked down on this shabbily dressed poor boy, and sneered: "How old are you? You haven't even had enough of your mother's milk, and yet you're interfering in our affairs!"

  Long Bao didn't care about Cao Qiuqiu's cold ridicule and hot satire, and said: "What if something happens?"

  "Cao Qiuqiu glared at him with a fierce gaze: 'It's none of your business if something happens! Scram!'"

  Looking at the three of them splashing water in the river, Long Bao and his classmates smiled wryly, stood up, and prepared to leave.

  Suddenly, a loud shout came from Liu Jingshan in the river: "Quickly!! Quick!......"

  Long Bao and his classmates, who were walking tens of meters away from the shore, heard the cries for help. They knew something was terribly wrong and turned around to see two people struggling in the middle of the river, with Liu Jinshan facing the shore and shouting in extreme terror.

  Long Bao and his classmates rushed to the riverbank at high speed, all of them were frightened, Cao Qiuyue was also scared silly. Long Bao didn't have time to take off his pants, he threw away his upper garment and ran desperately towards the river. After running for two steps, he plunged into the water with a loud splash, using all his strength to swim forward.

  Liu Jinshan exposed half of his body on the water surface, pointing at the two people still struggling in the water with his hand and stuttering: "Hurry up! They won't make it, they won't make it."

  Long Bo shouted loudly towards the shore while swimming: "Quickly call for help! Hurry up!"

  Long Bao plunged into the river without any preparation, and when he swam to the two people who were drowning, he was already a bit exhausted. Long Bao actually wasn't very good at swimming, he rarely swam because his grandfather repeatedly emphasized that water was a disaster for the Long family. But for some reason, at this moment, Long Bao didn't consider this issue at all, he just thought: no one can die, if they die, what about their parents?

  Liu Jinshan saw Long Bao come, perhaps emboldened for a moment, and followed him to swim over to rescue together.

  These two drowning kids are really bold, the river water at noon is very strange, the water on the surface is very hot, but the water about one meter down is very cold. Adding to that, the scorching sun is baking the heads of the swimmers, and the steam from the water's surface is rushing straight into their faces. This is extremely unbearable for adults, I really don't know how they can play so happily. In this kind of water and weather, it's easiest to get heatstroke, especially for people who have just finished lunch, it's highly likely that they will cramp up in the water, and once you cramp up, you'll drown, or even die.

  Long Wan remembered that the adult had said it's best to tell the drowning person not to panic first, then grab them from behind and hold their neck, exposing their nose and mouth; if all else fails, try to grab their hair and pull back.

  Long Bao didn't know who the person in front of him was, who was currently splashing water and dancing with joy. He only knew that this person's face had become distorted due to extreme fear. Long Bao moved behind him, intending to grab his neck, but unexpectedly, the man's survival instincts caused him to suddenly turn around and try to grab Long Bao instead. Long Bao leaned back, dodging the attack, and countered by wrapping his arms around the man's neck. As they swam away, he said, "Don't panic, it's okay! Don't panic!"

  This man was Liu Dongping. Longbiao found out when he was panting, and Liu Dongping was still quite alert and calm, slowly cooperating with Longbiao to swim back and forth, which saved Longbiao a lot of energy. Longbiao swam to the shore, where several brave classmates were standing in the shallow water on the sandy beach waiting for them. They took over Liu Dongping from Longbiao and carefully helped him up. Longbiao turned around again towards Liu Jinshan who was also rescuing someone else, but instead heard Liu Jinshan's cry for help: "Come quickly, my foot is cramping!" It seemed that Liu Jinshan had gotten into trouble too.

  Long Bao was already washed downstream by the river water to a certain location, he turned around and went upstream, swimming against the current was very strenuous, it was easy to quickly swim in front of Liu Jinshan, Long Bao shouted: "You quickly do the backstroke, quickly do the backstroke!"

  Liu Jinshan understood immediately, Long Bao swam over and used one hand to hold his waist and lifted him up with all his might. Then he turned to his feet, grabbed one foot with one hand, leaned to one side, and pushed him towards the shore with force. After pushing several times, seeing that Liu Jinshan seemed to be okay, he said: "You swim back yourself, don't worry." At this time, two classmates also came down from the shore to support Liu Jinshan.

  "Is there another one? Is there another one?" Long Bao remembered that there seemed to be another one and asked the person on the other side.

  "There he is! He was just drinking water there!" a classmate pointed to a place not far ahead and said, "It's Huzi De! Huzi De!"

  Turning his head to look around, Long Biao couldn't see anything resembling a human body, only the rippling surface of the river. The Zijiang River hadn't flooded, and the riverbed wasn't very wide, but from the floating grass leaves and tree branches on the water's surface, it was clear that the current wasn't slow.

  Long Bo swam to where he estimated Hu Zi De was submerged, and despite being extremely tired, he continued to tread water and search the surface. He remembered what the adults had said, that a drowning person would float to the surface three times, exposing their head or back each time.

  Huzi De finally met the river bottom when he instinctively struggled to come up, and he could have saved his life. Just as Longbiao's eyes were looking downstream, Huzi De happened to float up from under Longbiao's feet, and just as he swung his arm for the last time, he bumped into Longbiao's crotch. He grabbed onto Longbiao's pants like a lifeline, pulling him underwater without warning. The classmates watching anxiously on the shore suddenly saw Longbiao disappear beneath the surface, and they were shocked, screaming and shouting for help in unison!

  Long Bao was dragged underwater by him and had a few mouthfuls of river water poured down his throat. He felt himself irresistibly sinking downwards, his chest feeling like it was going to explode with difficulty. He strained to open his eyes in the water and looked around, vaguely seeing Hu Zi De's deathly pale face underwater, an unspeakable horror!

  I won't die! I won't die!

  In an instant, his innate potential burst out! He used his hands to loosen the belt of his pants, held his breath, and kicked hard at the pants. After a long time, he struggled in the difficult struggle, as if there was a thousand-pound weight tied to his body. Just when his endurance had reached its limit, he made a final effort, suddenly feeling his body lightening, floating out of the water's surface. He panted heavily, trying to wave his weak arms.

  The people on the shore immediately shouted: "Longpo is over there, in that place!"

  Long Bo had actually lost all his strength, he no longer had the energy to swing his arms and swim, he lay on his back, with his face up towards the sky, his legs slowly swaying, relying on instinct to drift towards the shore.

  At this time, the riverbank was already crowded with onlookers, and several students who were good at swimming were searching around.

  As Longwang was about to reach the shore, someone jumped into the water and helped him up. He stumbled forward, coughing violently, vomiting out the river water from his stomach.

  After he came to himself, his first sentence was to ask his classmates: "Where is Huzi De? How is he?"

  Huzi De was already dead, and it wasn't until an hour later that he was fished out. His body had stiffened, curled up in a bow shape, with his face contorted in extreme terror. In his hand, he still tightly grasped the pants that Longbiao had taken off.

  Long Bao and Liu Dongping were also sent to the Jiangping Town Health Clinic for treatment due to water entering their lungs. Principal Wang and several teachers stood around them, their faces pale, listening to a few classmates who witnessed the incident recounting the details.

  Hú Zhènzhǎng grabbed the pants that had been pulled out of Hú Zǐ Dé's hands and rushed to the principal, shouting loudly: "Whose pants are these? Whose? Speak! Speak!"

  Looking at Hu Zhen's face, which was indescribable in words, and his eyes that could kill people, Principal Wang involuntarily took a step back, muttering: "This... this..."

  "Sorry, these pants are mine," said Longbiao in a low voice.

  "Is it yours? Is it yours? Ah?" Hu Zhenzhang raised his pants with his hand and shouted angrily at Long Bao, "You say, why is your pants in my son's hands? Say! Say! Say!"

  Long Bao made a great effort to recall that terrifying scene in the water, and with great difficulty he slowly began to describe what had happened in the water at the time.

  Bang! Bang!

  Hutou's face was twisted with rage, the veins on his neck bulging as he swung his hand with all his might and slapped Longbiao squarely in the face, sending the IV stand crashing to the ground. Two bright red palm prints instantly appeared on Longbiao's cheeks!

  This was the second time Longbiao had been hit. The 14-year-old boy was already filled with remorse over Hu Zide's death, but he never thought that he would be slapped by this parent-official of the town. He was completely stunned! Tears of grievance welled up in his eyes, almost overflowing, and he struggled to hold them back.

  Longbiao is Principal Wang's most cherished person and he would never permit anyone to harm him, no matter who that person might be, even if it were the town mayor!

  Principal Wang rushed to the front of Director Hu, blocking the bed of Long Bao with both hands and stopping Director Hu: "Director, director, you are a public servant, you can't hit this child! Everything can be explained clearly!"

  "You can't hit him? You can't hit him?! I'm going to kill him!" The town head Hu was furious, shouting and waving his fists.

  "We've already thoroughly investigated the whole thing, and it has absolutely nothing to do with this child! He even bravely saved two people!" Principal Wang said, shielding his heart and unafraid of the overbearing Mayor Hu. "At that time, he tried to stop them from swimming in the river, but those students didn't listen to his advice!"

  Hu Zhenzhang, seeing that he couldn't beat Longbiao anymore, turned around and kicked Liu Dongping, who was lying on the hospital bed, kicking him alive from the bed.

  Liu Jinshan didn't even have time to run before he was caught by the cadres brought by Hu Zhenzhang, who shouted at Hu Zhenzhang: "Hu Zhenzhang, this is Liu Yonggui's son Liu Jinshan, it was him who took them down to the river to bathe together!"

  Hu Zhenzhang rushed out, and no one dared to stop him. He kicked Liu Jinshan with a leg, knocking Liu Jinshan down onto the long bench beside the aisle.