Shengliver’s Note: In this entry you will read about one of my ex-pupils, who is now a uni student in Kunming. In the winter holidays I met him at a reunion of his former mates and teachers. All the memories came flooding back. This entry is a revised one, written and posted for the first time when he was a Year 11 student.

Mr Zhang Jilong was in the sole rocket class in the first term of high school because he had performed distinctively well in the high school entrance exams. Unluckily he degenerated in the first term. According to some sources, he binged on games on the mobile phone at night and every weekend was spent in a digital café around the clock. At the beginning of the second term, stripped of his rocket membership, the boy was demoted to one of my classes, which is not a rocket but a bullet, as it is officially termed.

Change

Initially Jilong was not good enough. He failed to turn in his journal many times. His classmates confided that he still spent loads of time and dough on computer games. He even purchased a digital card, which enabled him to play games at a discount at a cybercafé.

In the first term of Grade 2, changes all of a sudden came about. He trashed his game card, handed in his journal, and did his schoolwork even in the dorm in the evening. I was wondering about it when a journal keeper filled me in on the metamorphosis. Mr Zhang was positively transformed all because of a girl classmate. He adored her so much that he felt ashamed of his past behaviour. To win the girl’s heart or to impress her, he made up his mind to be a good boy. To remind himself of his ambition, the adolescent even wrote the girl’s name on a slip of paper and pasted it on the wall at the bedside.

Before morning and afternoon lessons begin, all the classes have to do a song in chorus. The purpose is to wake the sleepers up and to start the day in a merry mood. Miss Wen was originally in charge of the activity, but she went for songs that most teens hated. As a result, their performance fell far short of the supervisors’ expectations. One day the class director James himself picked a revolutionary song on the digital whiteboard for the class to sing along to. It so infuriated Mr Zhang that he went up to the front and switched off the board, snapping at James in his face, “Your song is rubbish! We should choose what we like.” Dumbfounded, the master blinked rapidly. The colour of his face changed several times before he ordered Mr Zhang to take over the job from Miss Wen. Since then, Mr Zhang has been in control of the singing, doing the job very well indeed. He wakes up the sleepy heads and leads the chorus. He sings bloody loud like a ghetto-blaster. He flicks on and off the white board punctually, like a clock.

Confrontation

The Chinese language instructor, Mr King, is a harsh man. A lot of teens dread him. First thing in each Chinese period, he checks if the students have done the work he assigned.

The other day, Mr King was doing the inspection as usual. Most teens had done their work. When he came to a boy called Mr Zhang Jilong, to his annoyance, he found the teen had done next to nothing on the paper except for some ridiculous scribbles. Mr King demanded an explanation from the teen. The boy said that doing Chinese work was of no use because it was irrelevant to his marks in the exam. According to the teen, it made no difference to his Chinese exam performance whether he did his Chinese homework or not. Bloody angry and very much offended, Mr King commanded the boy to ‘roll’ out of the classroom.

No sooner had Mr King finished the sentence than Mr Zhang stood up and started for the exit. He slammed the poor door as he was going out. It was thunderous, man. Bang! The next moment witnessed Mr King the Chinese master storming out of the room and bawling at the teen in the corridor. He was as loud as if the entire building were shaking.

Since the confrontation, Jilong has taken no Chinese lessons in the classroom. It is his own choice. When it is time for a Chinese lesson, he either stands outside or moves his desk out of the room and sits in the corridor. He vows he is to learn Chinese on his own. So far, Mr King the instructor has not forgiven the adolescent for his misdemeanour.

Cousin Ma

Mr Zhang had a cousin whose family name is Ma. Ma’s father is Zhang’s mother’s brother. Cousin Ma is dead. Zhang shared with me about the cousin in his journal.

Cousin Ma was one of the high achievers in his middle school. He scored extraordinarily well in each exam. Teachers petted him; classmates worshipped him. Misfortune struck him in the second year, unfortunately. A mental disorder befell him. The condition robbed him of most of his memories. His father plucked him out of school and put him on medication.

Closeted away in his room, Cousin Ma was forbidden by his father to step out of the house while he was under treatment. A miracle happened after some time. He was completely rehabilitated. So ecstatic was the father that he played host to a string of banquets, to which all their kith and kin were invited.

Cousin Ma resumed education afterwards. His mind was so sharp that pretty soon he regained his supreme rank in the league tables. Then he entered high school. The performance as stunning as before, all his teachers prophesied that Cousin Ma would make it to one of China’s renowned unis after he graduated from high school.

In the last school year during the winter before the Spring Festival, Cousin Ma was reported missing. He failed to make it home after school one evening. The parents combed the whole community, but no trace of the preteen was detected. Then word came that his corpse was spotted three kilometres downstream in the river Hanjiang. It came to pass that Cousin Ma had jumped off a bridge over the river and drowned himself.

What was the cause? No one then knew. It might have been that his disease crept back. It might have been that he was depressed. It might have been that he was fed up with his lifestyle. No one knows exactly.

An Update

While the entry was being prepared, Mr Zhang updated me on the cause in the lead-up to Cousin Ma’s death. He is not 100% sure of it, but he suspects that it was the cousin’s lack of love towards the father that led to his suicide. Zhang said that whenever he visited the cousin and the uncle, he felt ill at ease. The familial ambience was abnormal. As far as Zhang can remember, never once did Cousin Ma call the father Dad. The day before his vanishing, he asked his father if the adult loved him. Startled by the question, the father had no clue as to why the son had raised it. The next day witnessed his departure.

Best Wishes

A candid boy, Mr Zhang Jilong has his own mind. The qualities I have found in him are lacking in many other teens. A lot of them are too obedient too unassertive. My impression is that they are either chickens or yes-men and yes-women. Of course, Jilong is far from perfect. I hope he keeps improving himself and shines.