Age of Legends

Chapter 9 Godfather
In the office, several teachers started talking.

"I just came over and saw Zhuang Yanyue from Class 7 downstairs in the Higher Education Building with a boy. They looked like they were just hanging out with a boy." A physics teacher just walked in, filled a teacup with water from the water dispenser, blew away the tea foam and took two sips. He was usually serious, but now he was smiling.

Teaching is a profession, and the professional circle is the workplace. Although teachers have the moral requirements of being role models and naturally have to maintain their authority in front of students, everyone is a human being, and there are still office topics, trivial life and personal likes and dislikes in the workplace.

Someone looked up and said, "Zhuang Yanyue, you know her. She is the goddess of many people. That girl is amazing. Many people like her. She will definitely be amazing in the future."

As for things like this between high school boys and girls, in fact, everyone turns a blind eye. After all, they are all at the age of youth and love, and most of the time they will not interfere too much, unless there are special circumstances, such as a top student from Peking University or Tsinghua University dating a grade-low student, then they may intervene. In fact, the teachers are also very clear, and they know how many couples there are. They simply evaluate the interests in their hearts and decide whether to intervene.

"I know that boy. He's in your class, Zhou Ming. I think his name is Zhang Chen."

"Hiss...!" Zhou Ming's ears perked up when he heard that he was from the same class. Then when he heard the name Zhang Chen, Zhou Ming became annoyed. He had already seen him getting angry recently, and now he was making trouble for me again?
"Oh, Zhang Chen... I know." A male teacher nodded. Some subject teachers in the grade group teach two or three classes at the same time, and they are familiar with many students.

"Well, this Zhang Chen! He got the last place in the exam this time, and he still has the nerve to be friends with others!" This was the angry voice of English teacher Tan Guimei.

"He went to provoke Zhuang Yanyue? Who is Zhuang Yanyue? Would she like him?" Tan Guimei had an urge to call Zhang Chen to the classroom to teach him a lesson and make him stop in his tracks.

If Zhang Chen knew what she was thinking, he would probably say that Teacher Qin was a very nice person.

Zhou Ming sneered. He was ranked last in English and had no interest in studying. He only thought about chasing girls.

Haha, this boy has high standards. He is chasing Zhuang Yanyue. I will call your mother tomorrow to scold her and see what her son does at school all day long! A toad wants to eat swan meat!
Just as he was thinking this, a young teacher came in. After hearing what Tan Guimei said, he smiled and said, "Teacher Tan, you don't know this time. I just heard that it was Zhuang Yanyue who wrote a love letter to Zhang Chen first, and today Zhang Chen rejected her downstairs. I didn't expect that this guy is quite popular with girls!"

The office suddenly became quiet, and the conversation among the people came to an abrupt halt.

What?
What's the connection?
hiss……!
Zhou Ming took a deep breath after hearing it clearly. How can I file a complaint?
……

……

The mechanical bell hanging on the side of the roof of the teaching building rang, and the evening self-study get out of class ended. People poured out of the high school teaching building like a tide.

Zhang Chen and Wang Shuowei walked out of the classroom carrying their schoolbags. Unless there was anything unexpected or special, they would basically go back to NanGuang Company on Zhengheng Street and their homes in the TV station compound together every day.

There are two routes to go home. One is to take the bus, which goes through six stops and takes about twenty minutes. The other is to walk, which takes about half an hour at a fast pace. If they don’t have a lot of homework that day, they usually choose the latter.

When they got to the street, Wang Shuowei still shook his head and said, "What a heroic act, a heroic act!"

Finally, Zhang Chen seemed to have become a different person and couldn't understand it anymore. He said, "What you said today is very reasonable. Are you going to take the postgraduate entrance examination? That's a big-breasted girl. How could you resist being tempted? I don't understand. I really don't understand..."

"You don't understand. That's right, it means you are still very happy."

Zhang Chen smiled.

Seventeen-year-old Wang Shuowei didn’t understand how Zhang Chen could be so cruel as to reject and push Zhuang Yanyue away.

But in fact, there is nothing to be confused about. Zhang Chen thought that if you had fallen like me, you would not want to jump into the pit again. So, Wang Shuowei, who did not jump into the pit of fire, was happy with his clear stupidity.

Zhang Chen just compared his previous failures and chose to retreat when faced with a choice this time.

Some things are just like this. If he accepts it, he will probably be calm.

However, Zhang Chen’s refusal caused a sensation in the entire grade.

"Happiness your sister! You are Wong Kar-wai!" The only voice in the night was Wang Shuowei's shouting.

……

There is an uphill road leading out of the school gate. At night, the dim lights in the ancient buildings on West Street contrast sharply with the stars above the newly built buildings.

The trees on both sides of the street were dotted with shadows, and students whose homes were nearby were walking among them. No one was seen, but their voices could be heard.

Some gossip on the street, and some tell ghost stories.

The voices of the people chatting in groups in front drifted over from afar. "So, a tomb was dug up over at the stadium. I don't know if it's from the Qing or Ming dynasty... It's said that there's a row of coffins, and each one is dressed like an official wearing a dragon robe..."

"No way! I heard that there are several mummies used as eternal lamps... When the archaeological team went in, the eye sockets of those mummies were still staring at people..."

“Huh…”

There were urban legends about zombies in Rongcheng a few years ago. The reason was actually the arrival of the housing commodity economy, and construction was started everywhere. Rongcheng itself has a history of more than 2,000 years, so there are many tombs in the urban area from ancient times to the present.

A few years ago, a Qing Dynasty cemetery was unearthed in Dongmen, and it happened that a family living nearby was infected with rabies. The word spread that an old rice dumpling from the construction site was caught by the wind, crawled out, jumped into a nearby farmer's house at night, bit someone, and then infected the entire village. The armed police force went to suppress the situation. It was really mysterious.

In recent years, we often hear about new graves being dug up somewhere. The glory of Hong Kong zombie movies in the 90s is still lingering, and people describe them vividly. The legend of zombies has always existed in this city, and they have become monsters. It is said that they are hiding in some unknown corner, causing disappearances in the metropolis, which makes people's spines numb...

In short, these are the topics that high school students talk about with great interest and fear on their way home from evening self-study.

And it is always such a night, quiet, with a matt black or dark blue sky, and a relaxing and pleasant breeze after a day of study and life.

When they reached the intersection of Zhengheng Street, a middle-aged man with a stubble and carrying a bag of midnight snacks stopped them.

"Xiao Wang!"

Wang Shuowei looked over, his face gloomy, "Old Wang! Dad!"

The unkempt middle-aged man is Wang Bowen. He doesn’t look like the energetic and capable man who commented on current affairs when he hosted the financial column of Rongcheng Metropolitan Channel.

"Hey, my godson is here too!"

"Godfather!" Zhang Chen was also helpless. Back then, Wang Bowen pressed his head and called him godfather. However, the title of godfather was indeed a good term. Wang Bowen had various channels at the time. When buying televisions and bicycles still required planned tickets, he got a lot of rare things for Zhang Chen's family. The electric fan in Zhang Chen's house was still as useful as before when Zhang Chen was working. Only then did Zhang Chen understand why some state-owned factories at the time did not go bankrupt. There was no concept of "planned scrapping" at all.

It's a pity that this "godfather" has been in a slump since his godmother ran away, and now he is just a sloppy middle-aged man. He was once one of the most popular actors on TV, and he and Wang Shuowei's mother were a perfect match, famous far and wide.

"I bought some midnight snacks, the Mama's Pig's Feet under the East Street Bridge. Would you like to have some together?" Wang Bowen waved the bag in his hand.

"No, I'm going home first. You can pick up Wang Shuowei and bring him back for dinner."

"Okay, okay, come to my house for dinner someday. We haven't talked for a long time!" Although Wang Bowen is now more withdrawn, he is very good to children, otherwise he would not have wanted Zhang Chen, who has bright eyes and white teeth, to be his godson. On the other hand, he and his son seem to have nothing to talk about, and can only use Zhang Chen as a lubricant between the father and son.

Many years later, Wang Shuowei started a business and was in debt, unable to recover and became decadent at home. Zhang Chen saw Wang Bowen sitting on a bench in the park, like a lonely old man. He didn't talk to anyone, but looked at the children playing in the park with unspeakable love and regret in his eyes.

He likes children. I don't know if it's because the adult world is too complicated and annoying. He likes to get along with children and experience the carefree happiness.

(End of this chapter)