blogombal 039 A small thing
039 A small thing
Wang Zhanyang was also Yu Wenhao's high school classmate and is now the director of the Yongcheng City Cultural Center.
When they were in school, Yongcheng had not yet been changed from a county to a city. Wang Zhanyang's father was the deputy county head in charge of culture, education, and health at the time.
Because of this background, Wang Zhanyang, despite being as thin as a reed, was quite arrogant at school, and even the teachers and principal gave him some leeway. Most of the male students in the class sided with him. Only Yu Wenhao, Er Mao, San San, and I, the F4, didn't listen to him and formed their own independent group.
In my second year of high school, something small happened, I think it was because of San San, but I can't even remember what it was. It was so trivial that even the two of them couldn't remember it now. Anyway, neither of them was willing to back down, and they started arguing back and forth. Because it was lunchtime, there were a lot of people in the classroom, especially the girls who were watching, making it even more awkward for both of them.
The argument escalated to the point where they started pushing and shoving each other. Then, the other side, taking advantage of their numbers, prepared to beat the four of them up and teach them a lesson, turning them into a real "F4" – which is what Wang Zhanyang and his friends usually used to mock F4.
The opposing team had more than a dozen people, while Yu Wenhao's side only had four of them, and they immediately found themselves at a disadvantage.
Despite being at a disadvantage, Yu Wenhao, adhering to the principle of capturing the leader first, disregarded the fists raining down on him and charged directly at Wang Zhanyang. With a fierce punch, Wang Zhanyang screamed and fell to the ground, bleeding profusely.
The conflict abruptly ended, and everyone was frightened. The female class monitor ran out, followed by the homeroom teacher, the dean of students, and the principal, who were all awakened from their afternoon nap and rushed over.
Yu Wenhao's punch was quite powerful; he fractured Wang Zhanyang's nose and broke his own hand. The problem is that his fracture wasn't visible, while Wang Zhanyang's fracture was horrific.
His face was deathly pale, and his white school shirt was stained red. Blood was still flowing. The school doctor and teachers who helped him to the hospital said they were really afraid he would die on the way.
The deputy county head's son was beaten. This was unacceptable. The director of the education bureau rushed to the school, only to find out that the boy was gone. He then rushed to the hospital.
Wang Zhanyang's mother works in the Land Management Bureau building diagonally opposite the school. When she received the call, she rushed to the school and then to the hospital. When she saw her son with blood all over his face, she felt heartbroken and extremely angry.
The fact that Vice County Head Wang's son was beaten was naturally taken very seriously by the principal and the director of the education bureau, who were their superiors and their superiors' superiors. Coupled with the pressure from Vice County Head Wang's angry wife, the director of the education bureau passed the pressure on to the principal, and the school quickly made a decision on how to handle the situation.
What was originally a brawl between the two sides turned into a matter between Yu Wenhao and Wang Zhanyang because Wang Zhanyang was injured.
The principal called both sets of parents to the school. Yu Wenhao's mother went to the school, while Wang Zhanyang's mother, a section chief from the county land management bureau, was the one who went instead of Deputy County Head Wang.
The principal announced the decision to both parties, mainly regarding the questioner's decision: expulsion.
After hearing the decision, Yu Wenhao's mother, who had been constantly apologizing to Wang Zhanyang's mother, suddenly turned cold. This woman, who usually had a good temper and was always smiling, turned cold.
She asked the principal, "It's already decided, can't it be changed? My family is definitely going to be expelled, right?"
The principal glanced at Wang Zhanyang's mother, who sat there expressionless with a stern face. The principal then turned to Yu Wenhao and said, "It's decided. This is our collective decision."
Yu Wenhao's mother then looked at Wang Zhanyang's mother and asked, "Is this also your opinion?"
Wang Zhanyang's mother snorted, but made no sound.
"Is this also Wang Cuomao's opinion?" Yu Wenhao's mother then asked.
The principal and Wang Zhanyang's mother, especially the latter, both changed their expressions upon hearing this.
Yu Wenhao's mother used to work for the county's Yue Opera troupe. After the troupe disbanded, all the staff were required to be absorbed into the cultural system. She was absorbed into the Xinhua Bookstore to sell books.
Wang Zhanyang's father was the deputy director of the county cultural bureau at the time, in charge of the resettlement of Yue Opera troupe members. The resettlement of members was a headache, and Deputy Director Wang had to persuade them with reason and emotion, and resolve their ideological knots one by one.
He communicated with Yu Wenhao's mother many times before finally getting her to work at the Xinhua Bookstore counter; they were, of course, very familiar with each other.
Wang Zhanyang's father had a mole on the right side of his neck with several long hairs on it. According to folk beliefs, the hairs on the mole should not be cut, so these hairs grew strong and unruly, earning Wang Zhanyang's father the nickname "One Tuft of Hair," which, when combined with his surname, became "Wang Tuft of Hair."
Of course, no one dared to call him Deputy Director Wang to his face. Deputy Director Wang later became Director Wang, and then Deputy County Head Wang, and people dared not call him that to his face even more.
Yu Wenhao's mother stood up, first pointing at the principal and cursing him, and then saying:
"The fight was a class-wide incident, and the ringleader was her son. If we're talking about injuries, my son also suffered a fracture. Now your school is only punishing my son? I know you're trying to curry favor with Wang Cuomao, and I don't care if you want to, but if my son gets expelled, I'll come to your office every day. I mean what I say."
Yu Wenhao's mother then pointed to Wang Zhanyang's mother and said:
"I'm not going to argue with you. Go back and make it clear to Wang Cuomao that if my son gets expelled, I'll work at the school every morning and then go to his office in the afternoon. This is outrageous! We older generations have been bullied by you, and now the younger generation has to be bullied too? Are you addicted to bullying people?"
After saying this to Yu Wenhao's mother, she turned and left without listening to the principal's explanation.
The final outcome of this incident, it is said, was that Deputy County Head Wang directly called the principal and told him, "Isn't it normal for boys to roughhouse? Don't make a big deal out of it. Just write a self-criticism and that's it. Don't ruin his life. He still has to take the college entrance exam next year, right?"
"Yes, County Chief Wang, I understand. But the college entrance exam is the year after next," the principal said.
At that time, it was the beginning of the first semester of Yu Wenhao's second year of high school.
Deputy County Head Wang chuckled and said, "Oh, I don't usually concern myself with children's affairs. You're being bureaucratic."
The homeroom teacher went to find Yu Wenhao, but Yu Wenhao refused to write the self-criticism no matter what, stubbornly saying, "Fine, you can just expel me then." This gave the homeroom teacher a real headache, and she almost gave him a good whack on the head. "Writing a self-criticism is to prevent you from being expelled, understand? You really are stubborn!"
Finally, the homeroom teacher called me over and said, "You're good at writing this, so you'd better not write it." And that was the end of it.
I readily agreed.
When I skipped classes too often, the teachers couldn't stand it anymore and made me write a self-criticism. I would immediately pull one out of my bag and hand it in. After handing in the self-criticism, I would still come and go as I pleased, acting as if I had nothing to lose.
Today, since I didn't need the apology letter in my schoolbag, I sat down and quickly wrote it, signed my name "Yu Wenhao," and handed it to the homeroom teacher. The teacher thought it was well-written and the attitude was very sincere and profound. I almost couldn't resist picking up a pen, putting a checkmark on the apology letter, and writing "Excellent."
The homeroom teacher is right, I am indeed very good at writing this.