Chapter 15: The Battle for Hanbai Begins
Chapter 15: The “Han Bai Debate” Begins
“Wait for me a moment, I’ll finish grilling these first,” Li Jingkun said.
“Okay.”
Xie Wenmin stood nearby, watching him. She noticed that Li Jingkun was indeed skilled; not only did he flip the food with perfect timing, but he also added oil and seasoning from time to time. Soon, the chicken wings and squid emitted an enticing aroma.
She couldn’t help but feel a fondness and teased him, “You’re really professional. You could open a barbecue stall.”
He chuckled and smiled at her.
“It’s not that difficult, just takes some practice,” he replied.
After a while, Li Jingkun handed the grilled food to Song Hairong and the others, then left the barbecue stall with Xie Wenmin, walking along a nearby path.
“What’s going on?” The others soon noticed the scene, surprised, whispering among themselves.
Song, ever the sycophant, pondered, “Maybe she’s asking him some English questions?”
...
To be honest, with the lush green grass and the babbling brook, accompanied by a fifteen or sixteen-year-old beauty, the scene was quite picturesque.
More importantly, he was still young, with plenty of time to work hard or waste as he pleased. It felt pretty good.
“Do you have a conflict with Xu Yuebin?” Xie Wenmin asked as they walked.
“Xu Yuebin?” Li Jingkun’s daydream was interrupted. “No, not really. I don’t interact with him much.”
Xie Wenmin nodded, sensing some things didn’t need to be explicitly stated. At least Li Jingkun showed more grace than Xu Yuebin—who had already badmouthed him a couple of times, yet Li Jingkun showed no sign of retaliation.
“You’re a very outstanding guy,” Xie Wenmin said.
“Not so much,” he replied casually.
Though the remark was a bit abrupt, Li Jingkun didn’t press further.
“But I’m not looking to date right now, so I want to be clear with you,” Xie Wenmin continued.
“Ah?”
“I admit you’re smart and better than most boys—you have good grades, speak English well, and have a good social circle, even organizing group dinners. Honestly, you’re way better than most boys who only study,” she stopped walking. “But we’re still young, just freshmen in high school. I want to work hard, get into a good university, and then think about traveling and seeing more of different cities.”
Li Jingkun snapped back to reality and nodded, “You’re right.”
“So you don’t need to do so much, nor have Song Hairong come talk to me. The other day when I asked you to help download English songs, it was because I thought your English was really good and wanted to learn from you.”
“Got it,” Li Jingkun nodded again.
Xie Wenmin glanced at him and said, “I hope you don’t overthink. You’re better than me. You’ll get into a better university. I hope we can all study hard while we’re young. There will be plenty of time to relax and travel later, right?”
“You’re right.”
“So, are we clear?”
“Clear.”
“Good.” Xie Wenmin was pleased. Li Jingkun’s steady demeanor showed she had handled things well and paced the conversation perfectly. “Let’s head back before they misunderstand.”
“Whatever you say,” Li Jingkun agreed.
...
They walked back together.
Xie Wenmin rejoined Xiaoling under the tree, while Li Jingkun returned to his barbecue stall.
“What did you guys do? What did you talk about?” His roommates eagerly surrounded him as soon as he got back. Song Hairong immediately asked.
Li Jingkun said, “She wants you to stop bothering her. There’s no chance for you guys.”
“Huh?”
Song Hairong was stunned; the others burst out laughing.
...
Time flew by, and it was already the end of 2005.
Before that, the school was to hold a New Year’s Eve party.
Registration for performances had started a month earlier. Anyone could sign up, but only those who passed the auditions could perform on stage.
Li Jingkun didn’t participate, but the Guitar Club certainly had some members who signed up and passed auditions.
Two people from the Guitar Club performed: one did a solo guitar piece, and an older club member performed in a band formed with others, including members of the choir.
Li Jingkun didn’t pay much attention, preferring to focus on practicing his guitar seriously.
Meanwhile, his first novel finally began serialization.
The magazine “Tender Sprout” was published bi-monthly—once in the first half of the month and once in the second.
Li Jingkun was among the contributing authors and usually received a copy by registered mail.
He had the magazine sent to his family address, so he only saw it on weekends at home.
Flipping to his story, he read the opening lines:
“There are two middle schools in Jingyuan Town, called Jingyuan Town No.1 Junior High and Jingyuan Town No.2 Junior High, referred to as No.1 and No.2 for short.
I attend No.2. Parents all want their children to go to No.1 because it has strict discipline and a high rate of university admission. But I prefer No.2 because it has more pretty girls.
Actually, No.1 also has many pretty girls, but they don’t dress up. They wear shabby, outdated uniforms and thick-bottomed glasses that make them look silly. They aren’t fun to hang out with.
No.2’s girls are different. Almost none of them wear glasses. No strict rules, and students generally don’t wear uniforms. Both boys and girls can have long hair, pierce ears, smoke, and drink…”
...
There wasn’t much to say about the New Year’s Eve party, but the performances were quite impressive.
Students from the city’s No.1 High School were multi-talented, so many acts were captivating. Among the hosts was a striking freshman girl.
This beauty was named Zhou Jiani. Perhaps because of her light makeup, she looked even more beautiful than Xie Wenmin.
However, she had little connection with Li Jingkun, who had been gently “rejected” by Xie Wenmin and was now focused on making money.
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west... time passed.
Then came the winter break.
Besides studying, practicing guitar, and writing, Li Jingkun met up with some old friends and classmates.
He also invited Song Hairong and Lin Yunkai to visit his hometown for fishing and card games.
At the same time, he used his second royalty payment to buy a used motorcycle.
When the New Year arrived, Li Jingkun naturally went with his parents to visit relatives. As the highest-achieving student among his relatives—having gotten into the city’s No.1 High School—he was the pride of the family.
Around March 2006, something related to Li Jingkun stirred the literary world.
Writer Bai Hua published a blog post saying that the “post-80s generation” of writers couldn’t yet be considered true literature, only amateurs dabbling in the craft. One reason was their rare appearances in literary journals, leaving the literary community unfamiliar with them. They had “entered the market but not the literary world.”
The article evaluated figures like Guo Jingming, Zhang Leran, and Han Han.
At that time, 23-year-old Han Han, engrossed in car modification and racing, saw the article and responded with a blog post titled “The Literary World Is Crap, Don’t Pretend.”
He wrote, “Whether something is literature isn’t for the literary world to decide. The literary world just forms cliques that kill literature…”
A fierce debate broke out, with literary giants, heads of literary associations, and later filmmakers and musicians joining in.
Han Han, like a famed scholar in history, verbally defeated them all single-handedly.
This was the dawn of the blogging era and one of Han Han’s most famous incidents. The debate earned him both many enemies and a loyal fanbase.
Over the next few years, his popularity skyrocketed to unprecedented heights. Whenever he updated his blog or microblog, comments would surge by the second.
At that time, even the top domestic celebrities couldn’t rival his fame. He was arguably one of the biggest stars in the country.
Meanwhile, Li Jingkun, also a post-80s writer, remained a young, unknown author—not even as famous as Han Han was in his freshman year.
But Li Jingkun wasn’t seeking fame then; he just wanted to finish high school and fully experience campus life.
(End of Chapter)