Returning to '97, creating a new life

Haircut.

I have a buzz cut and I like to blow-dry my hair, then touch the top of my head and look at myself in the mirror. It feels so good.

Hmm, my skin seems to feel better, and I have fewer pimples. Is this just a feeling or is it real?

Xu Kai leaned closer to the mirror to examine himself closely. He couldn't recall what his facial skin looked like during his adolescence. At this moment, he felt pretty good and didn't delve into it. If there were any changes, he would simply consider them a benefit of his rebirth.

There's nothing we can do; he's the chosen one, it's to be expected.

Having experienced finding a hundred yuan, finding five yuan is, well, expected.

The smoky arcade nearly knocked Xu Kai off his feet when he pushed open the door. Even though he smoked, the enclosed space of the arcade, filled with all sorts of heavy cigarettes, made him feel extremely uncomfortable, both physically and mentally.

I glanced at the screen and found Wang Lei. The scene overlapped with my memory: his body moving with exaggerated movements, shaking the joystick and pressing the buttons, accompanied by his mouth spitting out saliva.

"Ah, Dugen, Haoyougen..."

Instead of going in, Xu Kai sat down on the steps at the entrance. The series of attempts and applications he had made since morning had temporarily solidified some established facts, but now they had pulled him back to the "highest priority" of his behavior under his established cognition after his "rebirth".

Now, at fifteen or sixteen years old (by Chinese reckoning), what can I do to earn money, change my life, and improve my living environment?

a long time.

"Holy crap, you scared me! What's wrong with your hair? You look like a convict! I was just about to go find you, what are you doing sitting here?" Wang Lei slapped Xu Kai on the shoulder, as always, making a big fuss and exaggerating.

"Finished playing?" Xu Kai snapped out of his daze, glanced at him sideways, and stood up.

"Hey, don't you even look at the time? Planning to skip the second class?" Wang Lei rolled his eyes, his hand unconsciously reaching out to pat Xu Kai's head, then burst into uncontrollable laughter: "Hahahaha, Xu Kai, did you get your brain squeezed by a door? What kind of hairstyle did you get? Holy crap, it's so damn funny, hahaha..."

Not just him.

The two students who were caught by their homeroom teacher upon returning home were punished with being made to stand facing the wall at the front of the classroom and listen to the lesson, as well as having their parents called in.

Calling the parents is scary, but if you pretend not to hear and don't notify them, at most you'll get another scolding, a few whacks, or a few words of abuse—nothing serious. In the third year of junior high, in a regular class, and for a group with little hope, the homeroom teacher will eventually let it go. Wang Lei isn't afraid at all; his attention, and indeed the attention of the entire class, is on Xu Kai.

Even while standing still, Wang Lei would sneakily glance at his classmates from time to time, exchanging winks with some of his close friends to convey a message—"See Xu Kai's hairstyle? It's getting tons of attention!"

Some classmates couldn't help but chuckle. If someone had a buzz cut or short haircut in junior high, no one would have thought it strange, and even if their elders cut their hair asymmetrically, no one would have made a fuss. However, Xu Kai's hair had been long since junior high, and he had been following the style of Hong Kong and Taiwanese celebrities with a middle part. His teachers had ordered him to cut it more than once. But in this era, in a non-key middle school and a non-key class, some things couldn't be resolved by talking to the parents, so the school would turn a blind eye and not be so strict.

Regardless of one's physical appearance, long hair is considered handsome. Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok, Jimmy Lin, and others are the benchmarks of handsomeness. Suddenly, this classmate who prides himself on having a buzz cut that's almost touching his scalp was hard for everyone to accept. They found it funny and ridiculous. Only a few girls who were more mature thought that Xu Kai, with his forehead and eyes exposed, actually looked quite good. Without his long, center-parted hair, he looked much cleaner and fresher.

After standing for three periods, Xu Kai and Wang Lei were finally allowed to return to their seats at the normal dismissal time.

"Xu Kai, why did you shave your head?"

"Xu Kai, what were you thinking? Did you have your mom cut your skin open and force you to shave it?"

No one cared that the two skipped class, no one cared that they were punished by standing, but the fact that they cut their hair was more eye-catching.

Several guys, including some who were on good terms with him, couldn't resist coming over to rub his "braised egg" (hair). There were also a few girls in the back row who weren't studying and had outgoing personalities. They came over to comment on his new hairstyle and sneakily rubbed his short hair to feel the friction.

Xu Kai didn't feel that anyone was being malicious or excessive, so he didn't care. Unlike teenagers who are easily angered and easily offended, he joked and laughed with everyone. He even managed to get a bag of Little Raccoon instant noodles from his deskmate.

I was starving.

The stir-fried tofu that had been reheated twice at noon had no flavor other than saltiness and the natural taste of the ingredients. He had no appetite for it and ate three meals' worth of food in one sitting. He just ate a few bites and went back to school.

Playing ball, skipping class, and standing as punishment—by the fourth period in the afternoon, hunger surged up. From 4:40 to 6:50, there were two more evening self-study sessions, each lasting an hour.

The thought of the fact that key middle schools dismiss students at 8 or even later forced Xu Kai to continue his resistance to school and even studying. It's something you really don't like, and you can't force it.

Looking at the teacher on the podium, even though his mind was wandering during the lecture, it didn't diminish Xu Kai's respect for the teacher. He knew he would never again see a teacher so dedicated and responsible to their students, asking for nothing in return. This evening study session didn't require any extra fees from the students; all the homework was personally corrected by the teacher; and on the podium, a full hour of tireless explanation of ample knowledge unfolded…

Autumn has arrived, and it gets dark earlier. By the time the school bell rings, it's already pitch black outside.

Xu Kai had no interest in playing around in the classroom. In the ten minutes before the teacher on duty came to chase everyone away from the classroom, he saw Zhang Chunlei standing in front of him and remembered that they were neighbors in the alleys in front of and behind each other. Most of the time, they would walk home together after school, especially when it got dark.

You can see a dozen or so parents here and there at the school gate. It's okay for girls, but for boys, being picked up by their parents is an extremely shameful thing. They will lower their heads and walk quickly, afraid of being laughed at by their classmates.

"Huang Lili, let's go together."

They were classmates and neighbors in the same alley. They used to walk home together on the same road. Their parents would tell them to take care of the girl. Xu Kai and Zhang Chunlei would always follow behind without saying a word, tacitly acknowledging that we were walking the same road and that the boy was taking care of and protecting the girl.

Xu Kai, now naturally, doesn't have the vague behavioral and emotional patterns of teenagers. He walks out of the school gate, turns a street, and strides confidently a few steps to walk side by side with Huang Lili, who has already parted ways with other female classmates.

Huang Lili, who has a round face, turned her head and looked at Xu Kai with surprise. She didn't refuse, just said "oh" and continued walking forward.

Slightly different from Wang Lei, although Zhang Chunlei and Huang Lili also disappeared from each other's lives during their growing years, their parents both worked at the vehicle depot. More than ten years later, when chatting with their mothers occasionally, they would hear some vague news about them, such as Zhang Chunlei going to work in the provincial capital and Huang Lili marrying someone in the south.

"If you shave your head, Aunt Sun won't say anything to you."

Seeing Zhang Chunlei, a well-behaved boy with short hair since childhood, walk over, Huang Lili, who rarely interacted with him despite being neighbors and classmates, suddenly took the initiative to speak.

"Hehe, right? By the way, let me ask you something. When you girls buy hair clips and hair ties, do you usually go to the small shopping mall or the East Market in groups on weekends?"

"Um."

Huang Lili, misunderstanding the situation, thought that Xu Kai was just going through the motions of adolescence and preparing gifts to woo a girl. So she didn't resist his questions and was very interested in the conversation, answering all his questions without reservation. She only asked him one last time, just to fuel her gossip: "Who are you going to buy it for?"

Xu Kai didn't give her a chance to gossip. He said goodbye and went into the alley where his house was located. As for Huang Lili's task of escorting her home, her house and Zhang Chunlei's house were in the same alley.

Shredded potatoes.

Mmm, I love to eat it, I'm so hungry, and there's a little bit of shredded meat too.

Sun Xiuyun was very happy to see her son's neat hairstyle, and her smile broadened.

Xu Kai, who still felt hungry after eating two bowls of rice, couldn't control himself. The extra two centimeters he had grown that morning gave him even more to look forward to.

An apple after a meal—a privilege not available during holidays. If they wanted to indulge a little in fruit, they could only wait until winter when their mother's workplace distributed fruit—either a box of apples and pears, or a bag of Guoguang apples. Normally, given their family's standard of living, they weren't unable to afford fruit, but they certainly had to carefully budget their portions. With the young man eating as much as he wanted, Sun Xiuyun's plan to save a little from her monthly salary was destined to fall through.

Xu Kai held the fruit knife, intending to cut it in half, but paused for a second, then cut off a small piece and handed it to his mother: "Mom, you eat some too. I ate too much rice, I can't finish one."

"If you can't finish it, leave it and eat it later," Sun Xiuyun waved her hand.

"Eat up, apples are hard to eat if you leave them for a while after they've been cut open." Xu Kai shoved the apple into his mother's hand and turned to go back to his room.

After taking a bite of the sweet apple, Sun Xiuyun realized that she hadn't thought about eating it herself when she was washing it; she was used to saving money.

"Xiao Kai, aren't you watching TV?"

"I won't look. I'll boil some water and wipe myself down in a bit."

The black and white TV in their house wasn't replaced until several years later. In terms of upgrading household appliances, their family was indeed lagging behind. Xu Kai had once begged his mother to replace it with a color TV, even a second-hand one. Now? Mom, wait until your son earns some money and I'll buy you a 25-inch color TV.

Half an hour later, looking at the large iron basin in front of him, Xu Kai hesitated for a moment, but in the end, reality prevailed over his little bit of pride.

Inside the main room, the mother was watching television.

In the kitchen, there was a large iron basin filled with more than half a basin of water.

shame?

Tsundere?

Uh.

Xu Kai gritted his teeth and began to take off his clothes. Even though the room was filled with steam and the heat of the stove, he was still a little cold. From the moment he started taking off his clothes, he had no other choice...

Step into the iron basin with your feet in front of you, squat down, and support yourself with your hands on the edge of the basin to sit down. Your feet are no longer used for support. In the "crowded" environment, as your calves emerge from the warm bath water again, make room for your thighs and buttocks.

Finally, the middle of the body is exposed while sitting in the iron basin, with the lower part of the body (below the knees and above the abdomen) exposed.

If a sufficiently large iron basin is used to bathe an adult, such a childlike and shameful posture is inevitable.

"call."

It was indeed very comfortable. She splashed water onto her shoulders and chest and quickly accepted this temporary bathing method.

"The task ahead is arduous and the road is long..."

Poverty, even if you have a lot of ideas in your mind, is still a considerable pressure for a junior high school student who is not yet an adult.