Explore Chapter 15 of "牛天赐传" with the original Chinese text, English translation, detailed Chinese vocabulary explanations, and audio of the Chinese original. Listen and improve your reading skills.
After Tianci entered higher primary school, he thought he could finally hold his head high. But his classmates did not treat him any differently just because he had moved up a grade. His flat back of the head and his clumsy gait remained prime material for their ridicule.
They gave him a nickname: "Luo Luo Gang." At first, Tianci did not know what those three characters meant. But from their laughter, he soon understood it was an insult. His face flushed, and his heart burned like fire.
He went home and told Sihu: "They call me Luo Luo Gang!" Sihu said angrily, "Damn them! They're the ones who are Luo Luo Gang! We brothers don't care about that, right?" Tianci nodded, but the wound in his heart could not be healed by a few words.
At school, Tianci tried his best to avoid those who liked to bully others. He would go to the library to read, or stand alone in a corner of the playground. Sometimes he would try to make friends with some of the more gentle classmates, telling them stories. He would spice up the tales of Cases of Judge Shi he had heard from Sihu and the history stories from his teacher, embellishing them as he went along. A few classmates gradually grew fond of being with him.
But these friendships did not last long. They only wanted to hear his stories; once his tales were finished, they would go off to play with others. Tianci felt a nameless loneliness. He remembered what Teacher Wang had said about the apples of Yantai and the endless sea of flowers. Those imagined beauties seemed more real than the reality before him.
One day, a classmate named Pockmarked Liu deliberately threw his schoolbag to the ground and stepped on it. Tianci could no longer suppress his rage. He lunged at Pockmarked Liu and they tussled. His legs were weak, but he bit and scratched like a mad kitten. The other students gathered to watch the excitement. The teacher arrived, separated them, and gave each five strokes of the ruler. Tianci did not cry. He bit his lip and glared. From then on, though the students still called him "Luo Luo Gang," they no longer dared to provoke him easily.
When Nanny Ji saw the bruises on Tianci's face, she sighed as she applied medicine: "Child, why are you fighting again?" Tianci said nothing, but the hint of tenderness in Nanny Ji's sigh made him feel a little better.
When Sihu heard about it, he slapped Tianci on the shoulder and said, "Good lad! You've got guts! If anyone dares to bully you again, tell me, and I'll go beat him up!" Tianci smiled. He knew that Sihu truly cared for him.
Day by day, life went on. Tianci's status at school did not fundamentally change, but he learned a method of self-protection: use his eyes more and his mouth less; endure when he could, and when he couldn't, fight for his fate. In his imagination, many heroic tales still sustained him. He felt that one day he would become a true hero, just like Huang Tianba.