Ann Wan didn’t talk to Liu Chang’an, and Gao Dewei was even less likely to initiate conversations with others. Liu Chang’an didn’t feel bored, holding a modern Chinese literature reading comprehension exercise book.
Ancient literature has its own elegance and beauty, and modern literature has its own timely characteristics and reading pleasures. Liu Chang’an thought he didn’t know enough about modern literature. As a literary person, no matter which era, there wouldn’t be a lack of creative works, and the number of masterpieces would be relatively high.
Taking advantage of Liu Chang’an’s focused studying, Ann Wan carefully flipped through the chat records between Liu Chang’an and her mom.
Ann Wan’s mom had no idea about Liu Chang’an’s real age and actually thought of him as a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties… Just by looking at the content and tone of their chat, it was hard to associate someone who kept bringing up Li Lingyu, Cai Guoqiang, Mao Ning, Yang Yuying, and even some weird stuff from the 80s and 90s, like chicken blood therapy, hand waving therapy, information pot, cosmic energy, and Qi Gong predicting earthquakes, with a high school student.
Should I tell my mom? Ann Wan was hesitant. If she really let her mom know, she would be excited to know that her chat partner was just a classmate, and this classmate knew that her mom was just pretending to be a young girl. Ann Wan was afraid her mom would be too embarrassed and might even come to the school to find Liu Chang’an.
Maybe it’s better to talk about it after the college entrance exam. After all, Liu Chang’an didn’t chat with her mom every day, just occasionally.
The class started, and Ann Wan’s mind wandered. The sunlight and shadows outside the window cast a sparse, messy feeling on the old classroom’s walls and floor, which was completely different from the bright, clean classrooms on TV. But at this moment, Ann Wan felt a more realistic sense of life, without that much freshness and mystery. Three years of high school were about to end, and the girl felt a bit anxious, thinking she hadn’t even had a romance yet.
Gao Dewei’s love life in university was too realistic, lacking the freshness and purity of middle school and high school. Ann Wan glanced at Liu Chang’an, feeling a bit anxious.
“Give me back your phone!” Ann Wan slapped the phone on Liu Chang’an’s book.
Liu Chang’an took the phone from the desk and put it away, as the school had strict rules about using phones, but they had relaxed a bit.
The language teacher handed out the language test papers from last week, and Ann Wan took a look at her score, feeling satisfied. She then glanced at Liu Chang’an, whose score was a bit lower than hers. She saw him flip through the test paper, with many X’s on the reading comprehension section, along with a comment from the teacher: Don’t be arbitrary!
Ann Wan couldn’t help but mock him, “Ha, you’re so fond of doing reading comprehension exercises, but they’re useless.”
“Have you heard of the Dragon Slaying Technique?” Liu Chang’an asked, closing the test paper.
Ann Wan’s long eyelashes fluttered, and she nodded, “Zhu Ji Kang learned the Dragon Slaying Technique from Zhibu Zhibu, a family of a thousand gold, and mastered it in three years, but didn’t use it.”
“The Dragon Slaying Technique is not useless. We can use it to describe the importance of learning certain skills.” Liu Chang’an pointed to the reading comprehension exercises, “This is the Dragon Slaying Technique.”
“You want to say that political economy is the Dragon Slaying Technique, and I can understand that. After all, it’s not something you use in daily life. But you’re pulling this reading comprehension exercise too far.” Ann Wan felt that reading comprehension exercises from 7th grade to high school were the most boring and pointless.
“I saw some news recently about a meeting discussing propaganda work. Someone said that the West isn’t incapable of doing mass work, but they’re very good at it. Where is this reflected? For example, if we randomly pick an American or European person, they all know about democracy and freedom, and they say our country is autocratic and oppressive. But when you debate with them, they can only repeat ‘democracy, freedom, autocracy, oppression’.” Liu Chang’an paused, “Because they’re not good at reading comprehension exercises.”
Ann Wan couldn’t help but laugh out loud. This was ridiculous. She thought about Liu Chang’an chatting with her mom, and this person was indeed good at chatting nonsense.
“The design of reading comprehension exercises is meant to make you think about why the author wrote this article, what their motivation is, what their living environment is like, what their family is like, and how their childhood experiences influenced what they wrote. Are there any emotional manipulations in their writing? What’s their purpose in writing this article, and who is their target audience?” Liu Chang’an pointed to the seemingly dull and pointless reading comprehension exercises, “If everyone could master and apply this, wouldn’t certain organizations or reactionaries find it difficult to control people’s thoughts through media? Isn’t this the Dragon Slaying Technique?”
Ann Wan couldn’t help but nod, realizing she had never thought about this before.
“I chatted with your mom on WeChat, and she often forwarded articles from her moments. Think about it, if you mastered reading comprehension techniques, how could those propaganda articles influence you? Why does Western media have such a strong discourse?” Liu Chang’an said regretfully, “It’s a pity we’ve had Dragon Slaying Technique since we were young, but not many people think it’s useful, and not many can apply it. When they see some rumors or propaganda, they still get deceived and think they’re enlightened.”
“You’re still chatting with my mom on WeChat!” Ann Wan grabbed onto the key point, staring at Liu Chang’an incredulously.
Liu Chang’an carefully put his phone away in his pocket and then sat down.
“Give me my phone!” Ann Wan could only glare, as his pocket was in front, near his legs, and she would have to lean forward to grab it, which would be too obvious a movement.
“Do you understand privacy?” Liu Chang’an asked, looking at her eyes, which were darting back and forth, and pointing to Gao Dewei, “Don’t disturb Gao Dewei’s studies.”
Ann Wan thought for a moment, deciding to sneak a peek at her mom’s phone later. Since Liu Chang’an didn’t want to reveal that he was her classmate, he wouldn’t remind her mom that her daughter might sneak a peek at her phone.
“Are you planning to sneak a peek at your mom’s phone?” Liu Chang’an asked suspiciously, looking at Ann Wan’s calm expression.
Ann Wan didn’t respond.
After class, their classmate Bai Liu invited Ann Wan and Liu Chang’an to go to KTV and sing together.
“It’s just a small gathering for our class,” Bai Liu said, “We happen to have a day off tomorrow, and the boarding students can also leave school. There will be fewer than twenty people, so we can just book a big private room.”
“Are you going, Gao Dewei?” Ann Wan asked Gao Dewei through Liu Chang’an.
“I’m not going. I have a tutoring session with Liu Laoshi tonight. Liu Laoshi said there are some details she can discuss with me, and I’ll bring my notes tomorrow to show you guys.” Gao Dewei shook his head, Liu Laoshi being a relative who didn’t teach their class but had some private lessons to offer.
“Be careful,” Liu Chang’an said to Gao Dewei, who was the type of student who always thought about solving problems while walking.
“I can’t go. My mom doesn’t let me go out at night.” Ann Wan said regretfully, “I’ll get in trouble if I’m not back home by eight.”
After saying that, Ann Wan looked at Liu Chang’an, thinking that if she didn’t go and Gao Dewei didn’t go either, would it be inappropriate for him to go?
“I don’t mind,” Liu Chang’an said to Bai Liu.
Bai Liu gave Liu Chang’an a beautiful smile and then went to find other classmates.
“It seems like you really like Bai Liu,” Ann Wan said nonchalantly.
“It seems like you really like Chen Changxiu,” Liu Chang’an smiled and said.
Ann Wan felt like she was being teased to death by Liu Chang’an. Although they were classmates, there were always some people who got along better, and some who didn’t. Ann Wan and Bai Liu didn’t have a bad relationship, but they didn’t really play together either.
In their first year of high school, Ann Wan was quite famous in the school, but Bai Liu was the type who loved making friends and organizing events. Ann Wan remembered that in their first year, Liu Chang’an was quite quiet and introverted. Once, he even fell down the stairs because he was staring at Bai Liu. Ann Wan thought it was quite pitiful, wondering how Bai Liu could like someone like him.
Now Liu Chang’an was no longer quiet and introverted, but Bai Liu still wouldn’t likely be interested in him. Ann Wan felt a bit sorry for Liu Chang’an, thinking that Bai Liu was the type of girl who cared about material possessions and reality.
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