This entry was triggered by a talk given by a teen boy called Chen Si. Currently we are retelling stories from the past journal entries. I ask the teens to review their written pieces and to choose one that they think worth a recount. When it is their turn, they will have to come up to the podium, from where they share the story with the whole class.

Mr Chen Si told the mates the other day:

I attended a get-together at a restaurant last year. In the toilet on the premises, I came across a boy about my age, who was mopping the floor. It disturbed me to see someone as young as myself working in the toilet. I asked the cleaner how old he was, how many hours he put in, and what his wages were. The boy told me that he worked long hours and earned about 800 yuan a month. …

Chen Si’s presentation above provoked another teen in the class, Zhiqiang, into journaling about one of his middle school classmates. Zhiqiang thought that the toilet cleaner’s experience was quite akin to that of his ex-classmate, which, too, impacted on his outlook on the world.

Zhiqiang’s ex-classmate, Miss Yuan, had a dream in middle school that she could be admitted to YYHS, one of the best high schools in the region. Having sweated over her lessons in middle school, the girl passed the high school entrance exam with distinction. Regrettably, she could not afford the tuition fees and the expenses that it would cost her to study in the regional capital. Therefore, she had to let go of the opportunity. Now the girl is a student at the local high school in Danjiangkou.

Miss Yuan was unfortunate in Zhiqiang’s eyes. When she was a primary school student, her parents split up, upon which occasion neither party was willing to take her along. The court’s verdict was that the father got custody of the girl. Following the court order, she joined her father, who later remarried.

In the new household, the stepmother treated Miss Yuan meanly, and the father was no kinder. Feeling that she could not stand the two adults any longer, gradually Miss Yuan became estranged from them, and the girl ended up banished to her aunt’s home.

One evening last summer holidays, Zhiqiang was taking a stroll in the street when he happened to see Miss Yuan doing the washing-up at a small restaurant. It was high summer. So sultry was the weather that the girl’s face was red while she was doing the dishes. Curious, he asked his friends about it.

Upon inquiry, Zhiqiang was informed that Yuan had to find a summer job to earn her school fees and living expenses for the coming term. The boss of the restaurant promised to pay her 800 yuan a month for the washup.

For two months, the girl was toiling at the restaurant. Every day she drudged at the sink from 7 pm to 2 am. It was a slog, but Yuan did not complain in order to earn her education. Every night when she came back to her aunt’s home after the shift, she was dog tired.

When it was time to go back to school for the new term, Yuan asked the restaurateur for her wages. The boss tried to persuade her to work for him another two months. The girl refused. Then he withheld payment unless she agreed to his condition.

From Miss Yuan’s perspective, education far outweighed earning more cash at the restaurant. She pleaded with the boss to let her go with the wages. In the end, the shabby man paid her 1,400 yuan, instead of 1,600 yuan, which was the originally agreed amount for the two months’ employment.

In his journal entry, Zhiqiang cursed the boss, calling him a bastard. The teen confessed that every time he saw the girl doing the dishes in the heatwave when most people were watching TV or having fun in the open air, he could not hold back his tears. Every time he felt an impulse to go over and say hello to Yuan, he bit his lip and refrained lest the girl should be mortified.

Not everything about the girl is hopeless, though. The good news is that Miss Yuan came out first in the last final exam in her high school. A high achiever academically, the teen is in one of the fast-track classes at the school, whose admins help her out by providing a generous scholarship.