Ninety-two. How ironic this is.

“I was actually trying to write the story of two big dogs, so I titled it The You, and the Other You. But with only two dogs, the story felt a little thin, not very interesting, so I wanted to add myself into it,” Zhang Pa said with a smile. “At first I really did plan to put myself in, to create a character for myself. For reasons I can’t even explain, I ended up defining that character as an autistic patient.”

“Then later... right, at first I wanted to turn it into a web series. A web series definitely can’t be only dogs; it has to have characters and plot, so that was why I added myself. But after that I realized it couldn’t be filmed. The content was too full, too full to be realized. At the very least, I couldn’t handle it, and I wouldn’t have the heart to make those two big dogs slam into iron cages.”

“So I planned to turn it into an animated film instead. I gave the script to you, and you gave me some advice. Suddenly I felt that this was what I should have been writing all along, and the kind of story that ought to be made.” Zhang Pa said, “Thank you.”

He said so many words in one breath, and with such sincerity.

Liu Xiaomei said, “I was just making a casual suggestion.”

“I like that suggestion,” Zhang Pa said. “I’m going back to rewrite it. The big dog has to be just as important as the male lead. It needs laughter.”

Liu Xiaomei asked, “Did I make things hard for you again?”

“No, what you said was very good.” Zhang Pa laughed. “Still not hungry? I’ve said this much and you still aren’t hungry?”

Liu Xiaomei patted her stomach, thought for a moment, and said, “It really doesn’t seem like I am.”

Zhang Pa smiled. “If you say you’re not hungry, then you’re not hungry. What do you want to eat? I’ll go buy some. We can eat later when we are.”

Liu Xiaomei asked, “What do you want to eat?”

Zhang Pa thought about it and answered, “I don’t seem to be hungry either.”

Liu Xiaomei laughed. “Why are you so adorable? You even copied me on that.” Then she said, “Go buy something to bring back. We’ll have class in a bit.”

“What class?”

“Dance and vocal music. I need to teach you properly,” Liu Xiaomei said.

Zhang Pa agreed with a smile and went out to buy food.

The evening was deeply fulfilling. They watched a movie in the afternoon, then had class after dinner, and did not finish until nine o’clock. In the classroom of two, laughter never left; it was a kind of especially happy ambiguity.

At nine, Zhang Pa took his leave. Liu Xiaomei said, “This is bad, this is really bad. I’m liking watching you more and more. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? And you still won’t live with me.”

Zhang Pa said, “Then live here.”

Liu Xiaomei glanced back at the single bed. “Trying to invade my country? Dream on!” And she chased Zhang Pa out.

After that, he rode his bicycle home. On the road he thought of that group of monkeys, and then of the movie he had seen that day. Maybe he could use this method to coax them into studying?

When he returned to Xinyuan Community, Fatty and the others still weren’t there. Zhang Pa very much wanted to ask them: was the web drama still being made or not?

If not, he could save himself a great deal of trouble and focus on writing and teaching.

He turned on the computer, searched for some things online, copied them onto paper with a pen, and then went to sleep.

The next day, during the language class, Zhang Pa took out that sheet of paper and began, “Let’s talk. Just talk.”

“Teacher, what’s wrong with you now? Did you get dumped, or are you in a bad mood?” the students jeered from all sides.

Zhang Pa smiled faintly. “Today let’s talk about living.”

After he finished speaking, he fell silent for a moment, lifted the paper, and waved it a little. “A great many people are alive, including them.”

He had wanted to have a serious talk about what it means to cherish life, but the moment the words left his mouth and he looked at the miserable faces below, the thought suddenly vanished.

He put the paper on the lectern, considered it briefly, and asked with concision, “Is there anyone who does not want to live?”

“Only a madman wouldn’t want to live.” That was the students’ reply.

Zhang Pa nodded. “I want to write a script. The protagonist is an autistic patient. A friend once told me a number: for every sixty-eight children born, almost one in seventy will be autistic. You are very good. None of you are patients.”

As he spoke, he lifted the sheet again. “This page is full of things I wanted to say to you, all the words I wanted to use to urge you to study hard while you still can. But I know it’s useless. For you as you are now, only some enormous upheaval, or my fist, would be enough to change anything. So I won’t say it. I’ll only say this: there are more than eighty million people with disabilities in this country, and countless autistic children. None of you are among them. You live healthy lives, and you should treasure that good fortune.”

For the students of Class 18, all of this was meaningless chatter. No one would care. Rather than saying such things, he might as well have told them that some underworld boss had been arrested.

So after Zhang Pa finished speaking, the next sentence was: “Pop quiz on recitation. Anyone who can’t recite it will come out with me for a physical activity class.”

That sentence carried far more weight than the one before it. The classroom, which had just been quiet, instantly turned into a market. The students shouted, “No way!”

It did no good to shout. After the spot checks, eight students, without exception, all had to go to physical activity class. Zhang Pa congratulated the eight of them on their luck: they could go out and play in the afternoon. He also congratulated the remaining students, because they were the truly lucky ones, having escaped a disaster.

Soon, language class ended. As he was leaving, Zhang Pa suddenly became clever, turned back, and called out names. “You’re starting physical activity class right now.”

The eight students refused to leave the classroom, insisting that it was to be in the afternoon.

Zhang Pa said, “Do you think I don’t know what you’re thinking? You won’t even come back this afternoon! Hurry up and get out.” Then he added, “If you’re a man, come out. If you’re too afraid of pain or death, then stay in there like a woman.”

They could be beaten to death, but not insulted to death. The eight unlucky ones very bravely walked out.

The other students saw the excitement and thought, if they were going to watch a show, they might as well watch one worth seeing. In an instant, the classroom was empty.

It was break time. There were students on the playground exercising, but as soon as Class 18 came out, many of them started going back to their classrooms.

Zhang Pa stood in the open space in front of the teaching building and said to the eight unlucky students, “Count yourselves lucky.”

“We don’t want this kind of luck.” Even a fool could tell something was wrong by now.

Zhang Pa said, “You have two choices. One is for all eight of you to fight me alone. I won’t hold back. The other is one on one, and I can control my strength.”

This was clearly a fight that had to happen, and one-on-one would definitely end terribly. After a few quiet words among themselves, the eight of them launched the battle: eight against one.

Just as Zhang Pa had said, he would not hold back. He essentially finished one with every punch, and all eight unlucky brats were knocked down.

After they got up, Zhang Pa said, “You still have class, so we’ll just make a little gesture today.” Then he headed back to the teaching building.

“And that’s it? You’re just letting them off?” Old Pi felt deeply unwilling. Back then he himself had been beaten into something like minced meat, and it had been miserable.

One of the students who had been beaten fired back, “Damn, do you want somebody dead?”

Old Pi said, “We’re not balanced. Do you know how I was dealt with back then?”

“You’re not balanced? We’re not balanced either. More than forty of us in the class, and only we got hit.” The student answered.

“You call that getting hit?” Old Pi cursed. “Damn it, that barely counts as a beating!”

“How is it not a beating? If you’re unhappy, come get some too.” The student answered again.

By the look of it, those few were about to come to blows. Zhang Pa pretended not to see anything and went straight upstairs to the office.

Old Pi and the others did not fight after all. As soon as the bell rang, they all went back to their classrooms and sat properly. Zhang Pa chatted with Luo Shengnan in the office.

The fact was, he wanted to write a script. But Luo Shengnan was in a very talkative mood and kept dragging him into conversation. The subject was the outfit she was wearing, which cost eight thousand yuan.

Just a plain dress set, and it cost eight thousand? Zhang Pa laughed. “I truly do not understand the world of the rich.”

“I’m not rich. I just like living well, and I don’t want to wrong myself,” Luo Shengnan said.

If you buy beautiful clothes and have no one to show them off to, for a woman it is perhaps the cruelest punishment in the world. No wonder Luo Shengnan was willing to take the initiative to greet him.

He had not expected that after only a couple of sentences, Old Pi would come upstairs and knock on the door. “Brother, Sheng Yang and Luo Chengcai are here.”

“They’re here? Then they’re here,” Zhang Pa replied indifferently.

“They’re here to cause trouble,” Old Pi said.

“Damn.” Zhang Pa hurried off to the classroom.

There were six people standing in the hallway. The two in front were Luo Chengcai and Sheng Yang; the four behind them were crowded at the door, peering inside.

Zhang Pa walked over and asked, “You’re here to make trouble?”

“Damn, you little punk. You knew we were waiting to block you, so you ran off early yesterday? Let’s see how you run today,” Sheng Yang cursed.

Zhang Pa had lost all interest in talking. He asked, “How many people do you have?”

“Not many, fewer than eighty,” Sheng Yang said.

Zhang Pa remarked, “How rich.”

Luo Chengcai said, “You said we could come find you whenever we wanted. Now we’re here. Do you dare step off school grounds?”

Sheng Yang added, “Don’t end up scared off like last night and not dare come out.”

Zhang Pa made a stopping gesture, then walked forward and looked inside. After all, he was a teacher at No. 119 Middle School, a very cultured one at that. No matter who was speaking below, no matter what was happening at the door, he just kept both hands on the sides of the lectern and watched the show in silence, without even trying to stop it.

He said, “Sorry to disturb your class.” Then he shouted at the students, “Pay attention in class.” He turned and walked out.

Now that the main character had appeared, Luo Chengcai and the others quickly followed him out.

On the playground, two classes were having physical education. Zhang Pa gave them space and walked to the wall, where he stopped.

“What’s wrong? Too scared to go out now?” With numbers on his side, Luo Chengcai had become somewhat arrogant.

Zhang Pa looked at him. “You’re truly an idiot. I’m a teacher. If I go out during class time to fight, am I not just making trouble for myself?” Then he added, “You two are too stupid, so I’m going to handle you here.”

He charged forward and poured all the energy he had not yet spent from the earlier physical activity class onto those six people.

Striking first and hitting hard, he ended the fight in less than twenty seconds.

Zhang Pa rolled his wrist and said, “You want to hit me? You want to beat me? Come to school and attend class. As long as you can pass the exam, I’ll take on any challenge you give me. How about that?”

Luo Chengcai cursed loudly.

Zhang Pa let out a soft breath, walked over, and slapped him hard across the face again and again. After that furious barrage, the man’s face swelled up at once.

Since he had already hit one, he could not leave the second untouched, especially since those people were all itching to deal with Zhang Pa. He continued to strike first and beat Sheng Yang as well, along with the four who had followed them into the classroom, until all of them were battered into piglike heads. Only then did Zhang Pa say, “Mission accomplished.”