Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 303 - 23 ’Unbearable Childhood’_1

Chapter 303: Chapter 23 ’Unbearable Childhood’_1

"Clang... Clang... Clang..."

At the Sancha River Town Central Primary School, as the small bell remodelled from half a shell of a bomb clangs out, all the children in the classrooms become alert, waiting for the teacher to say those two words they’ve been waiting for forty-five minutes to hear.

The ringing of the school bell is easy to distinguish. If it’s a rapid, continuous ringing, it means it’s a preparatory bell, signaling everybody to get ready for class in ten minutes; if it sounds twice, pauses and then again, it’s time for class; naturally, a rhythm like this where it clangs once, pauses for a while before clangs again, signals dismissal from school.

As one after another, teachers on the stage pronounce the words "dismissed", the little kids, both big and small, from different classrooms start to swarm out, carrying their mini backpacks.

After coming out, they still have to line up. Dividing into several queues according to their individual routes home, standing in place before they can march home in a line.

However, once this line exits the school gate, there will always be naughty kids stealthily slipping away. At this time, unavoidably, as soon as a team captain finds out, they would righteously warn: "So-and-so, you left halfway through, I’ll tell the teacher tomorrow..."

Some of the timider ones really return to the queue, while some, bristling with confidence, retort: "Go ahead!"

Then, they sling their backpacks over their shoulders and sneak off to who knows where to play.

Also, there are some who would walk halfway down the line, find a small alley, and then lie down on someone else’s doorstep, stairs, or even directly on the floor to start the ’arduous’ task of completing homework.

Because at this time everyone is present, they can copy from each other. After returning home, it’s miserable, once you’re unable to do it and you have no one to ask. If you ask your parents, they will scold you first, saying that you didn’t pay attention in class. The even unluckier parents won’t even know too, and then you’re left with nothing to do.

This is when the good students become the most popular. After finishing their homework, they can freely choose who to let copy their homework based on how good their relationship is.

The ones that do this are mostly naughty boys, good boys and most of the little girls would carry their backpacks home and then bite down the end of their pencils and write themselves- that’s why the more troublemaking students have pencils that look increasingly horrendous, with some of them having half of it covered in teeth marks. Moreover, some pencils have erasers on one end. The end that wraps the eraser has teeth marks too, and even sometimes getting bitten off.

While copying homework, they still discuss where to play after they return home and report their presence.

Naughty children don’t have any particular fun things to do, sometimes they would play with mud and "throw mud huts." This is about taking a chunk of mud, making it neither too soft nor too hard. Moulding it into a square or circle shape, carving it thin in the middle to make it look like a bowl shape. The bowl underneath must definitely be thin, then they take this and throw it hard on the ground.

With a ’plop’ sound, the bottom of the bowl parts bursts open from the air inside. This competition is about whose "mud hut" can get the largest hole when thrown, the loser has to use a small piece of mud to patch it up.

Everyone’s mud is the same amount initially, but towards the end, some people’s would get larger while others get smaller. Before splitting up, whoever has the least amount of mud loses. Of course, there are those who due to their lack of skills, lose all their mud even before the end.

There’s also playing with card corners – tearing used homework papers, folding them into square shapes, and playing with them. The competition is to see who can win the most. Some of the more addicted students go to school carrying a backpack that’s half-filled with textbooks, and the other half filled with such card corners.

Furthermore, there are glass balls to play with. The wealthy children have many glass balls in their pockets; they compete by betting glass balls. The poor ones only have a few tiny glass balls; they would dig a few small holes on the ground and see who can first make the glass balls go through all the holes.

In addition, during this process, you can do your best to knock off other people’s glass balls, while your own should be nudged closer to the small holes.

Another game involves slapping cigarette paper. Specifically, the packaging paper of cigarettes. Before, cigarettes all came in soft packs. The children would collect these packaging papers, fold them into tiny rectangles, fold them in half, and then have slapping competitions.

The rule was the one whose cigarette paper label comes from the farthest place goes first. At that time, the most representative, and also the most prized in the eyes of the naughty children, were the packaging papers of cigarettes like Furong Dachongjiu and Wuduo Golden Flower.

There was also hoop trundling. A hoop made of steel bars and a hooked stick was used to roll the hoop around. However, playing this game, along with another game called "Chicken Fight," and "Spinning Tops," was more comfortable in cold weather. As you played, you would gradually warm up. But the current weather was unsuitable, too hot.

"Chicken Fight" was a winter game. Thickly dressed, children would strike a one-legged rooster pose, clutching their pant leg with one hand; then they began to bump knees with each other. They were thickly clad for winter, so even if they fell, they could quickly get back up.

Evening self-study commenced in the fifth grade. For younger students, unless someone was watching over them, they dared not sneak away to hit the river. They could only play these games, most of which involved rolling about in the dirt.

The tops used in "Spinning Tops" were homemade. An ink bottle was employed, a well-carved small wooden stick inserted in it, protruding a bit from the outside. A small steel ball was set on the head of the stick, and then whipped into a spin with a whip.

Other toys required money, which rural children usually lacked.

For a while, a large version of a balloon, unlike the common colored ones with tiny inflation points and big bellies, became popular. The new kind was transparent white and tubular, with an inflation point as thick as the body. And it had a protrusion on one end that could be inflated to a really big size!

This "balloon" was very cheap, a few cents apiece at the school gate. The key was, it was also particularly sturdy and not easily damaged. It was popular for a while because not only it was cheap, but also free ones could oftentimes be found at home - distributed for free to newlywed couples at the family planning guidance station.

Er, what, classmates who had this experience expressed that when they got older, they found this episode of playing with these kinds of "balloons" terribly embarrassing. So, they decided not to mention the professional name of this "balloon".

Undoubtedly, such naughty children, tackling their homework with a mind fully focused on playing as soon as possible, one can imagine what the quality of their homework submissions was like. And, the last kid to finish was certainly copying someone else’s work.

Class was dismissed early this time. Homework was done before six in the evening, and in the country, people didn’t have dinner till after dark, so there was still over an hour’s leisure time to play.

After everyone was finished copying, they had all agreed on where to play next.

In fact, many primary school students were already in action. They poked around the drains behind their houses with small wooden sticks, hunting for "tickets" to the place they had agreed to play next.

The place they were going to, which required these "tickets," was a hot new hangout that had sprung up near the East side of the West Bridge, inside a yard where cattle were raised.

The cattle weren’t interesting; however, it was a different story if there were things like giant Trimeresurus jerdonii snakes over a meter long that could kill people, Lycodon rufozonatus (common name: red-necked keelback), Clear-water Leopard Snake, wild chickens and rabbits, centipedes and scorpions. Then it was well worth a visit.

Even though a "ticket" was needed, this ticket did not cost a single dime, and could easily be found with a bit of effort. It was just a matter of spending a little time.

From time to time, the kids would excitedly shout out that they’d found one. Or those faster ones would triumphantly call out that they’d gathered all they needed.

The found items were kept in small glass or plastic bottles. Holes were poked in the bottle caps so as not to suffocate the creatures inside.

When they got home, they carefully concealed the bottles. Throwing their schoolbags onto the floor, they proclaimed boldly: "Homework’s done, going out to play!"

Then, with hands cupping their trouser pockets that contained the "tickets," they ignored the advice of their parents spoken into their retreating backs. And like runaway horses, they ran outside.

Once they had all gathered together, they were ready to check out the big fish over a meter long, the Trimeresurus jerdonii snakes that could kill people!

Don’t think that there’s nothing to see there. Naughty children love to look at these things. They found creatures like centipedes, scorpions, and snakes extraordinarily fascinating!