A Book Dedicated to Our Youth - Tong Hua

When I met him

A Book Dedicated To Our Youth: Chapter 1.2

This chapter made my heart break for Luo Qi Qi. She's so lonely that I just want to hug her tightly and tell her that it's going to be alright!
We're introduced to a new character- Zhang Jun. Although he still seems like a mystery, will he turn out to be a ray of light for Qi Qi!?

Read on to learn more of Luo Qi Qi's sad past and her struggles to grow stronger.

2. When I Met Him

Recognizing the importance of teachers in a child's life, Chinese traditional culture has always been emphasizing the need to respect teachers.
Respect for teachers has long become a moral standard in China. However, we forget that due to the importance of teachers in children's lives, teachers should be the ones to respect children.
Only when they have respect for an individual would they be able to properly guide these individuals.

Near the end of Year 3, there were rumors that as the school's number of students had risen, the classes would have to be divided again. I secretly prayed for this, please change Teacher Zhang!

In our school, we have a flag raising ceremony every week. After raising the national flag, the Principal will first give praises, then criticism and at the end, award the previous week's best class.

This week was the same. During the ceremony, I lowered my head and didn't bother to concentrate since whichever class got awarded had nothing to do with me. After awarding the class, the Principal started talking in a serious manner about theft and what was against the law.

A boy was lead up the stage and the Principal started announcing the boy's crimes: stealing a bicycle, stealing a teacher's wallet, blackmailing younger students along with older students from higher year levels, forcing them to steal their parents' money, gang fighting, injuring a Year 6 boy with his bicycle chain, writing love letters to girls from higher year levels...

This 12 year old boy seemed as if he could be thrown straight into jail for his crimes. The students were dumbstruck as they listened and all stared at him. However, what drew my attention wasn't the crimes he had committed but his expression.

He was taller than the other boys of his year which made him seem skinny, his blue uniform hung slackly on his frame. He had a crew cut and as his hair was hard and all upright, from a glance, his head looked like a hedgehog. He stood there lazily with his head bowed as though he was acknowledging his crimes but occasionally when he glanced up, the corners of his mouth were curled up into a smile.

Could he not see everyone's stares? Did he not feel embarrassed? He was in front of the entire school! I could not understand him.

After the ceremony, the girls around me talked in whispers. I walked behind them and gained some information about the boy. He was the same year as me but as he repeated Year 2, he was older than us. I heard that he was the youngest in his family, his parents only had him when they were over 40 years old. He had four sisters who were much older than him. Apparently his family was very rich, his sport shoes were Nike and the watch on his wrist was from Swatch, all bought overseas by his brother in law. In the late 80s to early 90s, overseas was still a very distant word so I had no understanding of any significance of the brands. I was just confused, if he had money then why did he steal money and blackmail others for money?

His actions and his expression were like a mystery to me. In my puzzlement, I remembered this bad student's name- Zhang Jun. However, I believe on that day, I wasn't the only one who remembered him.

—

In Year 4, we were allocated to new classes and two unlucky things occurred: the first was that my maths teacher was still Teacher Zhang; the second, she wasn't only my maths teacher but also my homeroom teacher.