Chapter 36

Deng Hua arrived back in Yu city feeling thoroughly refreshed, finding even the dry cold air improved. He took a deep breath of it and turned to the three of them. "Home at last. There's nothing like your own place."

They agreed. All three were at the age where the body runs hot — good with cold, bad with heat — and their days in Guangzhou had left them irritable, while being wrapped in Henan's cold air cleared the head considerably.

Bags collected, the two boys spotted familiar faces at the exit, and both families converged on their own sons with a flurry of concern before turning to Li Lan and Deng Hua. "Teacher Deng, thank you for looking after them this week."

Deng Hua wasn't much of a talker and struggled somewhat under the enthusiasm — fortunately their attention transferred quickly to Li Lan.

"So this is the girl who came first. What a pretty thing — you can see she's a good student," said one of the mothers, beaming.

"Exactly. Neat as anything. My boy says you got full marks. That's extraordinary."

These parents weren't like Li Lan's, understanding none of it. Their own children were competition students, so they knew precisely what it meant, and knew that barring accidents Li Lan was going to Tsinghua or Peking — and parents warm naturally to a student who does well.

"It's freezing, don't let's stand about here. Teacher Deng, come with us, both of you — it'll save you the journey." The tall boy's mother was already steering them towards the car.

Li Lan looked at Deng Hua, who waved it off repeatedly. "No, no, thank you. Li Lan and I will take the coach, it's much the same." An hour and a half into the city — an hour and a half in the company of a student's parent — and the thought exhausted him.

He had no hope of out-manoeuvring two sets of parents. "Nonsense, you'd have to change again to get to the school. We'll take you to the gate, it's much better. Come on, Teacher Deng, no ceremony." And they were pushed into the respective cars.

The two of them, resigned, were distributed between the vehicles, and so that Li Lan wouldn't feel awkward, the tall boy's mother sat in the back with her. Somewhere in the journey Li Lan learned that her name was Liu and that she was to be called Auntie Liu.

Under Auntie Liu's warm and unrelenting conversation, Li Lan expended very nearly all the mental resources she had, and reaching Yu No. 1 felt harder than four hours of competition problems.

---

She got to the school around seven, evening study having just begun, so the campus was deserted. She dropped her bags in the dormitory and went to the classroom.

The teaching block was silent, the end-of-term exams being the day after tomorrow, and when she opened the door of Class 3 the whole room was revising quietly.

Wang Jing, frowning over a maths problem, felt somebody sit down in the seat that had been empty for a week, looked round, and nearly shouted with surprise — remembering just in time that this was evening study, and hissing instead, "When did you get back?"

Li Lan was pleased to see her friend after a week. "Just now. How's the week been?"

Wang Jing thought about the exams and sighed. "How do you think. Revision, every day. Your timing's dreadful, though — exams the day after tomorrow, then the holiday. Come back a few days later and you'd have missed them."

Then again, with Li Lan's marks exams presumably held no fear. Which made it worse. If she could have some of Li Lan's marks — just a few — she could have a decent new year and collect more red envelopes.

"Oh — how did the competition go? And I'm telling you, Xing Xiaozhen was vile while you were away. Every day, one way or another, saying you'd got lucky and the trip was a waste. And look at her — a wasted trip is still better than not qualifying for the league at all." She'd meant to ask kindly about the result and worked herself up remembering the week's hints and insinuations.

Faced with an indignant Wang Jing, Li Lan reassured her. "Don't worry. She's going to be disappointed."

Wang Jing's eyes lit up. Meaning — "You got a national second?" Li Lan only kept smiling, so she guessed on, watching her face. "A first? The training squad?"

At a small nod on training squad, a strangled squeal went up in the silent classroom.

Finding half the room looking at her, Wang Jing produced an embarrassed smile, put her head down on the desk and carried on. "Lanlan, seriously? You're in the training squad?"

At the nod she grabbed Li Lan's arm and looked at her with enormous eyes. "Lanlan, you're incredible. As of today you are my idol. Idol — my maths is your responsibility from now on. I'm not asking for much. Keep me above a hundred and thirty."

Li Lan was about to say something about her lack of ambition when Jiao Wenfu came in looking urgent, spotted her, turned delighted, ignored whatever the rest of the room was doing and came straight over. "Li Lan, come to the office with me."

Once the two of them had gone, the students in front leant out to check the corridor was clear and turned round. "Wang Jing, did you say Li Lan got a national first?" Hardly eavesdropping, given that Wang Jing's volume control was nonexistent; sitting in front, they'd caught one exclamation in two and been unable to make out the rest, which was maddening.

Wang Jing was radiant. "A first? A first is nothing. Lanlan's in the training squad." The pair of them looked at each other. The training squad meant Tsinghua or Peking, guaranteed. Both of them felt slightly suffocated. The same first-years, a term in, and how was the gap this wide?

The students behind then leant over their desks to ask, and Wang Jing, having no interest in studying, repeated it all.

So when Li Lan glanced back from behind Jiao Wenfu, she saw Wang Jing gesticulating energetically at the desks in front and behind.

And so, thanks to Wang Jing's publicity, the whole class knew about the training squad before Li Lan had reached the office.

The two of them had barely turned the corner before Class 3 erupted into discussion.

What a high-schooler cares about most is which university they can get into, and their class now contained a guaranteed Tsinghua or Peking student — so it's hardly surprising that with exams two days away they talked through the lesson.

Listening to the envious voices around her, Xing Xiaozhen's hand went white around her pen, and eventually she slapped the desk. "What is all this? Is nobody allowed to study? Some of us want to work even if you don't."

Class 3 went quiet for a beat. Then somebody said, quietly, "The class monitor didn't say anything. What's it got to do with you?"

She was shaking with anger and about to answer when the bell went, at which the discussion and the praise stopped bothering to be discreet at all.

"Li Lan's unbelievable. Straight into the training squad — Tsinghua or Peking's sorted, she can coast."

"Our class has produced an actual god. I'm in a class with a god. I'm telling my friends."

"Me too. Mine was going on the other day about some neighbour's competition results. My turn to do the boasting."

A good many of them felt that way, and the room was half empty within minutes.

Xing Xiaozhen's deskmate, startled by the sudden violence from someone normally so gentle, asked at the break, "Xiaozhen, what was that? The class is always noisy and you've never minded."

She produced a strained smile. "Nothing. Thinking about the exams — the pressure got to me, and I snapped."

Her deskmate was sympathetic. "Fair enough. Though if you feel the pressure when you work that hard, no wonder you do better than me. Not that it does any of us any good — look at Li Lan, she doesn't even have to sit the entrance exam now. Makes you sick with envy."

Privately Xing Xiaozhen thought: of course I do better than you. And then the rest of it landed on the person she'd been measuring herself against from the start, and something in her chest went tight and unsayable.

---

Knowing none of this, Li Lan followed Jiao Wenfu into the familiar office — and instead of the usual two of them, it held a crowd: her three coaches, the director of studies she'd met twice, and a group of faces she knew by sight and not by name.

Every one of them was bright with excitement and mid-discussion, and they all turned as the two came in.

The director of studies came forward beaming. "You'll be Li Lan. Good, good — anyone can see you're a credit to the school."

Li Lan laughed politely. "Thank you, sir."

He talked for a full half hour before anyone else got a turn. The first was her maths coach, equally delighted. "Li Lan, you've given us a considerable surprise. Several of us thought you weren't at the level — evidently we misjudged."

Li Lan had real respect for the coaches who had taught her one-to-one, and was immediately modest. "Not at all, it's down to your teaching. And the luck of it — the questions happened to suit me. I performed above myself, that's all."

He was cheerful about it. "Don't be modest. I've taught a great many students and never had a perfect score. Luck comes into it, but that was your own work."

"Quite so." The director came back over. "When Teacher Deng's message arrived this afternoon and Teacher Jiao told us, we assumed he was joking. We confirmed it three times and then it went as far as the headmaster, who's away on business — otherwise he'd be here. There wasn't time for a banner today, but once it's made we'll hang it at the gate. A proud day for this school."

Li Lan hadn't expected them to take it this seriously — a banner, already commissioned — and the memory of being photographed under one at Minhe No. 1 surfaced. "A banner? There's really no need."

He disagreed. "Of course there's a need. This is Yu No. 1 — no, this is the pride of the whole province. I shouldn't be surprised if the television people come to interview you."

"What?" Li Lan was appalled, and looked at her form teacher — and watched, in despair, as Jiao Wenfu nodded slowly. An interview was entirely normal: the province's first competition national first, and a perfect score at that. Henan's competition committee was not going to let that pass, and would publicise it thoroughly; with luck it might even stir up interest in competitions generally.

Seeing her resistance, the director hurried to soothe her — she was a walking advertisement now. "Don't worry, it's a very small interview. The questions will be prepared in advance; you read off the answers."

She remained unenthusiastic. It wasn't a question of a script; it was a question of being bad with people, in front of a camera. "I'm going home for the holiday in a few days. And there are still the biology and chemistry finals." Three shields at once, aimed at declining.

He had anticipated it. "Don't worry, an interview won't interfere with your exams — it would come afterwards in any case. And your other two coaches say your biology and chemistry are strong. Bring home two more national firsts and the interview will carry even more weight." At which he appeared to be picturing the scene of Li Lan interviewed with three national firsts, and looked upon her still more fondly.

There was nothing much to say to that, and being fixed by that peculiar expression very nearly gave her gooseflesh, so she confined her remarks to the inside of her own head.

Having achieved his object, the director said a little more and went back to his own office satisfied. The onlookers offered congratulations and drifted off, leaving the three coaches and Jiao Wenfu.

The chemistry coach spoke first, half joking and half not. "Li Lan, a national first in maths means you can hardly do badly in chemistry. I won't ask for full marks. A national first and a training squad place — that's not unreasonable, is it?"

The biology coach nodded. "I'd say the same. Of your three subjects, biology was your best result — I won't be pleased if the final goes worse than maths did."

The maths coach watched all this with a smile and said nothing.

Li Lan looked at the three of them ruefully. "Sir, that's a great deal to ask. I can only say I'll do my best."

"Your best won't do," said the chemistry coach cheerfully. "It'll have to be everything you've got. We're waiting on good news."

Jiao Wenfu, seeing his colleagues' teasing getting out of hand, stepped in. "What sort of talk is that? Li Lan can hardly control the result — you don't take a national first to order, or walk into a training squad. Don't listen to him."

Li Lan looked at her teacher with real feeling — for the two seconds before he continued. "The end-of-term exams are the day after tomorrow. I know the competition preparation has taken a great deal of your time, but the exams matter too, and doing badly won't do you any favours. You'll want to hold on to first in the year."

Li Lan said nothing at all.