Our Generation –  Chapter 1

Lin Qile had encountered countless seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her life. Each time, she managed to overcome them.

When she was nine years old, an incident occurred.

“There’s no way forward,” Yu Qiao, the tallest among them, said as his shoe touched the edge of the cliff. Tiny pebbles fell from beneath his feet, plummeting far down the mountainside.

The echo lingered for a long time, hinting at the unknown depth below.

Du Shang, thin and trembling, stood nearby with his backpack. He stretched his neck, peering over the cliff’s edge. “No, no, no—” he stammered, his face pale as he stepped back. “It’s too scary. Let’s go back.”

Cai Fangyuan, a chubby boy, lagged far behind. Despite being the same age as the others—just nine years old—his body was too heavy, a spherical mass barely supported by two thin legs. Dozens of meters from the cliff, Cai Fangyuan was already out of breath. Leaning on his knees, he panted, “Lin Qile, what kind of awful path did you lead us on?”

Lin Qile—the only girl among the four—stood at the cliff’s edge in her little dress, looking down into the deep mountain valley. She then raised her head, her cherry-like eyes fixed on the forest path several dozen meters away on the opposite side of the ravine.

“I can jump across!” she suddenly exclaimed.

“You can’t,” Yu Qiao immediately retorted, glancing at her sideways.

“Are you crazy?” Cai Fangyuan shouted from behind.

Lin Qile refused to give up. She was determined to reach the farm on the other side today to see the big white geese raised by the village uncle. “I can fly across!” she yelled.

Du Shang rolled his eyes dramatically and reached out to grab Lin Qile’s pink arms. “Let’s go back, let’s go back!”

Feeling unsatisfied, Lin Qile pouted. The sun hadn’t set yet as the four elementary school students walked back toward their school from the cliff. Lin Qile stepped on the thick pine needles covering the ground, listening to the crunching sound. She solemnly told Du Shang and Yu Qiao, “I read in a book that if we had made up our minds and mustered the courage to jump, wings would have grown from our backs, and we could have flown!”

Yu Qiao, the tallest and most mature-looking, had his hands in his pockets, seemingly unfazed by Lin Qile’s statement.

Du Shang furrowed his brow, causing the Band-Aid on his forehead to wrinkle. He said seriously to Lin Qile, “Have you ever seen a meat pie, Cherry? Like the ones Aunt Zhao sells at the construction site cafeteria.”

Du Shang held out his hands, gesturing a circle in front of himself.

“If you flew out there, your face would end up this big! This flat! Your arms and legs would be flattened too, just like that big roll—”

Cai Fangyuan, walking at the front, was reaching into his pocket for a big roll to eat. Du Shang pointed at him and said to Lin Qile, “See that? Like Cai Fangyuan’s big role. Look how he’s chewing it. If you feel there, you’d be just as gross—”

Cai Fangyuan, with a piece of the roll still dangling from his mouth, turned back irritably and said, “Are you going to let me eat or not?”

Where there was no path in the forest, persistent people had eventually created one. Near the foot of the mountain, there was a low wall about five meters long and over a meter high, built of red bricks. The Qunshan City government had specifically constructed it to stop unaware passersby: the path was closed, and the mountain was dangerous.

It was also meant to deter mischievous kids like Lin Qile and Yu Qiao who loved “adventure.” Though it was hardly effective.

Lin Qile climbed up the mound, gripped the bricks with her hands, and scrambled over the low wall.

Du Shang followed behind her, muttering, “We walked all this way today and didn’t even see the big white geese… Cherry, I want to come to your house after school to see the little white rabbit Grandma Zhang gave you—”

“No!” Lin Qile rejected it immediately, clearly emotional.

“Why not?” Du Shang complained.

“You’ll just gross me out,” Lin Qile said, jumping down from the wall. She stood up straight, dusting off her palms, and added unhappily, “You’ll want to gross out my little white rabbit too!”

Yu Qiao jumped down from the wall and looked up to see Lin Qile already running swiftly towards the school. She was always the fastest of the four, moving like the wind.

“But I…” Du Shang stood there, wanting to say more. He watched Lin Qile’s retreating figure, then turned back to the other two, indignantly saying, “Why would I want to gross out a rabbit?”

The major taxpayer in Qunshan City, the Qunshan Zhongneng Power Plant, didn’t finish work until 5:30 PM. To accommodate the working parents, the affiliated elementary school usually kept the children until 5:30 PM as well.

September 6, 1999, Monday.

5:00 PM.

The director of education at Zhongneng Power Plant Elementary School stood in the security room, flipping through the student roster and grumbling, “Fourth grade, class one: Lin Qile, Yu Qiao, Du Shang, Cai Fangyuan—” He picked up the thermos on the table, took a big gulp, spat out the tea leaves, and continued, “This little ‘Gang of Four,’ when I catch them today—”

The four elementary school students crawled on their hands and knees across the cement ground, nimbly sneaking past the security room and through the school gate.

Normally, once inside, they would immediately return to their classroom. If the director called their names or caught them at the school gate during dismissal, they would at most reply, “I just went to the bathroom!” No matter how angry the director got, he couldn’t catch them in the act.

Today was different.

“Um, you guys… you all go ahead,” Cai Fangyuan said hesitantly as they walked.

Yu Qiao turned around, along with Lin Qile and Du Shang, all looking at him.

“I need to go to the principal’s office first,” Cai Fangyuan said awkwardly, his eyes shifting.

“Why are you going to the principal’s office?” Du Shang asked.

Cai Fangyuan glanced furtively at Lin Qile, then at the other two boys. “I…” he finally admitted, “He took my book! I need to get it back.”

Lin Qile blinked in surprise, “What book? Why did he take your book?”

Du Shang looked slightly uncomfortable.

Yu Qiao looked at Cai Fangyuan with resignation, “You’re going by yourself?” He looked up, gauging how high the second floor of the school was.

Yu Qiao and Lin Qile exchanged a glance, and without another word, Lin Qile turned and started leading the three boys again.

As a former announcer for the school broadcasting station, Lin Qile was more than familiar with the principal’s office, having been in and out of it many times.

The four elementary school students skirted around the corner of the teaching building, climbed the stairs, and quietly gathered beneath the principal’s office window. The office was on the second floor, and although the path behind the wall was elevated, it was still difficult to climb up. Cai Fangyuan, with a pained expression, crouched at the base of the wall under the determined gaze of the other three.

Lin Qile walked over, her little red shoes stepping onto Cai Fangyuan’s shoulders.

Among the four, Lin Qile was the lightest. However, even her weight was too much for the delicate body of Manager Cai’s son.

“Can’t you be gentler?” Cai Fangyuan cried out in agony. With Lin Qile standing on him, her footing was naturally unstable. “Don’t… don’t move around!” Lin Qile placed her hands on the rough wall surface, looking down anxiously.

Yu Qiao and Du Shang quickly came to help. Each taking one side, they expertly lifted Lin Qile’s feet, pushing her higher so she could step onto their shoulders.

Lin Qile strained to grip the wall above, her fingertips aching. She finally managed to open the principal’s office window a bit wider.

Cai Fangyuan, having completed his part of the task, dusted off his shoulders and stood up, moving to the side. He pointed and directed, “Hurry up, Lin Qile!”

Du Shang supported one of Lin Qile’s feet from below, struggling, “Have you gotten heavier?”

Lin Qile couldn’t spare the energy to respond to them. She gripped the sides of the window with both hands, her left foot on Du Shang’s hand, her right knee bent and pressed against the metal window frame.

Her knee left three bloody marks on the window frame as she pushed off, but Lin Qile paid no attention. She pushed off with her left foot, flipping her body forward through the principal’s office window, landing gracefully inside.

Though there was no audience to applaud her.

There was still half an hour until dismissal. Usually, at this time, the old principal would be nodding his head while listening to Shan Tianfang’s storytelling under the flagpole, leaving the principal’s office empty.

Today was different.

“Jiang Qiaoxi was a renowned Math Olympiad talent at the Provincial Experimental School! He even ranked first in his grade! Old Principal, there’s no way he could have scored only ten points on our entrance exam. There must have been a mistake in grading!”

“What mistake?” The principal himself could be heard replying wearily from the outer office. “He only answered one question on the entire paper, and didn’t even attempt the others! Whether this child couldn’t do it or didn’t want to, with this score, he can only start in third grade here!”

“Principal Sun!” The other person sounded desperate. “It’s the child’s first day here from the provincial capital. He endured a long, bumpy bus ride, and wasn’t used to the food or sleep. He… he just underperformed due to the circumstances!”

“You’re putting me in a difficult position,” the old principal said.

“You’re the one putting us in a difficult position!” The person was almost crying. “For Manager Jiang’s son to transfer from the provincial capital to our school shows trust in our teaching standards. The child is nine years old; it’s impossible to have him repeat third grade! You need to consider the Electric Construction Company’s reputation. I’m telling you, Manager Jiang is on track to become the second-in-command at headquarters in a few years—”

Compared to the argument outside, the inner room was much quieter. It was then that Lin Qile realized she wasn’t without an audience after all.

Not far away, near the sofa, stood a rather tall boy.

Though they had never met before.

Lin Qile seemed to forget how to blink, staring at him in a daze.

No, not once, but twice.

Lin Qile had encountered countless seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her life.

At nine years old, she faced two hurdles.

At least until Lin Qile grew up, she never managed to overcome them.

This boy looked unfriendly. The air around him was extremely quiet, almost solemn. He stood there, lifeless, without even the sound of breathing. He wore clothes Lin Qile had never seen before and carried a square black backpack she’d never encountered. He stood next to a suitcase. He didn’t look like someone from Qunshan City, not like anyone in Lin Qile’s life. His skin was snow-white, the kind of boy Lin Qile had only seen in cartoons. He raised his eyes, taking in Lin Qile’s entire “crime process” in this unsettling silence.

“Lin Qile!” Cai Fangyuan’s hushed voice called from the window behind her, “Have you found my book yet?”

Then came Du Shang’s voice: “First tell her what book it is.”

“I covered it with a calendar,” Cai Fangyuan shouted up, “My name is on the front, and it says ‘One Hundred Classical Poems Elementary Students Must Memorize’—”

“Cai Fangyuan! I knew it was you!” Somehow, the old principal suddenly opened the window from the outer room, yelling down, “You little rascals, don’t move!”

Lin Qile’s fingers clutched her skirt in fright as she watched the inner door being pushed open forcefully from outside.

Many adults rushed in, surrounding the unnaturally quiet boy, looking in surprise at the little girl who had appeared out of nowhere.

The old principal entered too. Seeing Lin Qile standing dumbfounded by the window, he exclaimed in distress, “Lin Yingtao! Call your father here right now!”

Lin Haitao, an electrician at the Electric Construction Company, was engrossed in his work at the workshop. He received two messages from a colleague: first, that a high-level leader from headquarters, Manager Jiang Zheng, had been transferred to the Qunshan worksite, and a small welcome party would be held at the workers’ club tonight.

Second, Lin Yingtao had caused trouble again, and Principal Sun from the power plant elementary school was asking Lin’s father to come for a lecture.

The electrician slowly climbed down from the ladder, smiling wryly as he removed his gloves and safety helmet. Wearing a plain deep blue work uniform, he dusted himself off. Everyone at the Qunshan worksite knew about his mischievous daughter.

After signing the duty roster and flipping his off-duty card, Lin was ready to leave. He walked to the personnel department door. “Xiao Tang,” he called inside, “Congratulations on your marriage!”

“Lin, hurry up and go!” Xiao Tang handed him a pack of wedding candy, laughing along with several female colleagues, “Manager Cai and Team Leader Yu are already waiting outside! Be sure to listen to the lecture!”

Cai Yue, the general manager of the Qunshan project site, was elementary student Cai Fangyuan’s father.

Yu Zhenfeng, the maintenance team leader and model worker at the Qunshan project site, was elementary student Yu Qiao’s father.

Lin Haitao, an ordinary electrician at the Qunshan project site, was elementary student Lin Qile’s father.

The three middle-aged men squeezed into Manager Cai’s small car, heading from the worksite to the Zhongneng Power Plant Elementary School.

As they left the worksite gate, the young security guards called out with smiles: “Manager Cai! Team Leader Yu! Electrician Lin! Off to another lecture?”

Manager Cai, a rather refined man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, felt quite embarrassed about his son’s constant mischief. He waved to the security guards as the gate opened, then said to his two old friends behind him, “That Manager Jiang transferred from headquarters stayed at the guesthouse last night. I asked Production Manager Liu to get some guys to help him move today. Tonight, I’ll have Manager Liu toast on their behalf—”

“Where did they move him to?” Team Leader Yu, a tall and burly man occupying two seats in the back, furrowed his brow imposingly, “The family dormitories have been full for ages.”

Manager Cai pointed at Electrician Lin beside Team Leader Yu.

“You know Team Leader Yu from the boiler squad next door to Lin’s place? He was transferred to the Laibin worksite last week, so his house is just vacant.”

Team Leader Yu nodded, asking no further questions. Electrician Lin, however, was surprised: “Our row… isn’t it a bit small? Coming from headquarters, will he be able to adjust?”

“There’s no other way for those from headquarters,” Manager Cai looked out the window as the power plant school came into view. He said helplessly, “Manager Jiang only brought one son with him. The leadership houses are all full, so we could only give him a dual-career worker’s apartment as a temporary bachelor pad.”

Led by Lin Qile, the four rebellious troublemakers from the power plant school stood in a row before the old principal’s desk, heads lowered as they were scolded. Lin Qile, with her big eyes, secretly observed the inkstone on the principal’s desk, noticing its circular patterns like tree rings. She wondered if inkstones had annual rings too.

Du Shang, Yu Qiao, and Cai Fangyuan stood nearby, turning their heads to look at the transfer student surrounded by adults, whispering, “Hey, look at his shoes!”

Cai Fangyuan covered his mouth and lowered his voice, “American Jordans! They cost thousands!”

A polite knock came from outside.

As the door opened, Cai Fangyuan’s father, Manager Cai’s voice rang out clearly: “Cai Fangyuan! What trouble have you caused to make Principal Sun angry again—”

His tone, initially quite authoritative, suddenly changed direction, like early autumn willow leaves twirling up in the wind.

“Oh my, Manager Jiang!” Cai’s father’s voice was filled with pleasant surprise as he began exchanging greetings in the outer room, “What a coincidence! You’re here, to transfer your child?”

Lin Qile quietly turned her head and saw her father appear at the door.

Unlike Manager Cai, who was enthusiastically mingling with the crowd, Electrician Lin wore a smile but remained on the outskirts of the group.

“Dad,” Lin Qile called softly, “Dad!”

The three parents entered behind the old principal, along with the group of unfamiliar adults.

The old principal explained as he walked, “These three, they’re regulars! Coming here is like visiting an old friend for them!”

Lin Qile hid behind her father, grasping the corner of his work uniform. At first, Electrician Lin checked her injured knee, then asked if the other children were hurt, especially Du Shang.

“Does your knee hurt?” Dad quickly asked in a low voice.

Lin Qile immediately shook her head, her pigtails swaying across her shoulders.

The old principal sat down, took a sip of tea from his mug, and then began today’s lecture, mainly targeting these four incorrigible troublemaking students. While listening along with his old colleagues, Lin’s father fished out a small piece of red wedding candy from his pocket and passed it back to Lin Qile.

Lin Qile, suppressing her joy, cupped the candy in her palm and quickly hid it behind her back.

To avoid being discovered by others, Lin Qile glanced around and then peeked back.

That boy called Jiang Qiaoxi from the provincial capital, surrounded by adults, was standing right behind her.

Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his eyes, his face pale and expression cold. It seemed that every minute and second he spent here was torture for him, and he could barely endure it. But with so many people around, including his father, he could only persist.

Lin Qile froze, then immediately turned back. She bit her lip and tried to put on a serious face too.

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Cherry’s story is about love, friendship, and family, as well as the coming-of-age stories of many people around her. Beginning at the end of the last century, it’s generally a healing urban fairy tale.

Happy birthday to my friend Qingbao!

Because it’s set in the last century, there are some millennial-era background elements. Considering that young readers might read the story, I’ve written this part of each Our Generation –  Chapter as notes, attached to the author’s notes. Readers who have experienced that era can skip this.

This story is fiction based on a semi-realistic background. All characters related to the protagonist are fictional.