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墨書 Inktalez
After spending a night at Hunan University Shaoyang Branch, the traveler far from home found many old classmates and experienced the comforting taste of home. Like other new students just starting their journey, I continued my visits. That Sunday after leaving the branch, and for the next three or four weekends, I almost traversed one school after another, visiting various colleges in Shaoyang known as the "Five Dominators of Spring and Autumn," as well as several well-known vocational schools.
Wei School was my second stop. As soon as I stepped through the gates of Wei School, a sense of pride and a hint of envy washed over me. I felt proud that Wei School was ultimately just a vocational school; although it had more students and a larger area than Gongzhuan, its facilities, green spaces, and sports arrangements were reminiscent of middle and high school environments. In the words of some classmates, they ran "child classes" here. What made me envious was its location—though somewhat remote, it was much closer to the city center than Gongzhuan. The street vendors and small shops selling various goods in front of it were incomparable to those near Gongzhuan. Furthermore, there were several large institutions nearby, such as the West District Government and the Mass Art Museum.
After finding my old classmates Shu Yangliu and Zhang Jianhua who were attending the college program at Wei School, my impression of it deepened: this institution primarily trained nursing staff for hospitals, with each graduating class of Xi Hu and Zhong Hu having over ten classes. In recent years, they had added two new majors to barely squeeze into the "college" category, along with a rather inexplicable nursing inspection class that also had one class per cohort. These two programs brought a few boys into Wei School, which had long been dominated by girls—over 80%—making it appear vibrant and attracting attention from many brother schools.
Normal College was the "relative" everyone focused on. When the school bus I was on stopped at Shaoshui Bridge, more than half of the students stood up to get off; on my way to Normal College, I counted nearly twenty Gongzhuan classmates ahead of me. Not only were there many new students visiting Normal College, but we also had numerous old classmates there. It could be considered the largest university in Shaoyang in terms of scale, history, and influence. Every subject taught in high school had a corresponding major here since its primary function was to train secondary school teachers. This arrangement was understandable; however, for some reason, the biology major was assigned to Hunan University Shaoyang Branch, requiring only two years of study—perhaps this was another way to justify biology's mere 70 points in college entrance exams.
I spent the longest time at Normal College. Unlike my brief half-weekend visit to the branch, I stayed longer here mainly because the food was excellent. Compared to Gongzhuan, aside from the unique breakfast buns that were irreplaceable for my big appetite, everything else felt like a heavenly experience. At that time, there were substantial subsidies and benefits for students attending teacher training colleges; in this newly initiated era where students bore their own tuition and living expenses, those coming from rural areas could often avoid financial burdens from home and enjoy meat with every meal.
What truly kept me at Normal College was the abundance of old classmates. In my long-forgotten diary, I recorded some moments: upon entering campus, although we knew where Zhao Shun and Liu Sun Wang's dormitory was located, we couldn't find Building 4. Just then, we coincidentally ran into A Ying and another friend who informed us it was right in front of us. When we walked over, we found Zhao Shun enthusiastically leveling up in a card game; he reluctantly set down his cards to call over Sun Wang, and they started another game.
As we were engrossed in our game, a classmate from No. 1 High School named Tang Wenyin approached us. After chatting for a bit and learning that Tang Liming was also around, we shifted our gathering to their place for some fun conversation. As it neared ten o'clock, I bid farewell and returned to Zhao Shun's dormitory. Just as I prepared to sleep, before I knew it, it was already past one in the morning. The three of us played cards under the flickering light of our only candle (the school cut off electricity at ten), which eventually succumbed to our enthusiastic play. We reluctantly left "a game unfinished" and went to bed.
Lying in bed with no sleepiness at all, we reminisced about old classmates—talking about how Zhu Wenyao was preparing for marriage while discussing how Peng Zequan and Liu Mouchun were dating girls. Naturally, we ended up discussing someone else. Zhao Shun asked if I still corresponded with her and whether we discussed any sensitive topics in our letters. Despite my lack of sensitivity on this matter, I understood what he meant and replied: "Maybe she didn't bring it up; maybe she did but I didn't notice." He then hinted that "you two used to get along pretty well back then." I hesitated to respond; thankfully our conversation took place in darkness; otherwise my blushing face would have invited more teasing.
The next day before lunch, after some effort I found Huang Qiding, borrowing two books on "History of Ancient Chinese Literature" from him. When I heard they planned to open a restaurant together, I suggested: "Let’s have Yin Xian Nan design it since he studies architecture; let’s have Zhao Shun and Sun Wang handle accounting since they are math majors; advertising can be left to Zhao Liang and Qi Ding, you guys are top talents in Chinese!" (Note: Later on among my high school classmates like Wang Jicai and Xiao Wenwu opened hotels; I once managed one for a while—I wonder if they remember my joking remark.)
The recently established Electric University, which emerged in the last two years, is said to be easier to enter than regular universities; thus it's quite popular among high school students who couldn't get into college through conventional means along with their families. Consequently, Electric University has become somewhat disorganized with classes scattered across various locations—some hidden here while others pop up there. My lower bunkmate's new classmate Xiang Ni Hua had several old friends attending there too; accompanying him meant visiting several locations where classes were held intermittently—including teacher training schools, Agricultural Bank training centers, People's Bank courtyards, Zijiang Pesticide Factory buildings etc.; ironically enough, almost all his "old classmates" were girls who needed male companions for sleeping arrangements each time we visited them—it became quite inconvenient! After going once or twice, I became reluctant to accompany him to these "extracurricular" schools.
Among vocational schools, the Supply and Marketing School left a deep impression on me; now I can't recall who accompanied me or whom we sought out there but that prominent disciplinary notice at the entrance remains etched in my memory: some students were expelled for cheating on exams while others received warnings or demerits for tardiness or talking during class—even being expelled for chatting during lessons! These announcements clearly indicated strict management here—perhaps even stricter than some secondary schools! Throughout my career journey post-graduation from this institution alongside colleagues like Liu Hua, Liu Shunhua, or friends like Liu Guangzhuo, who married an alumna from this school who went on to pursue graduate studies at Renmin University ahead of him—while working under bosses' daughters like former student Ming Liu during stints in Changsha or Shanghai—I realized how remarkable this school truly is! Such an impressive institution produced such outstanding individuals—all during roughly the same period as my time at Gongzhuan. It seems any success has its undeniable roots.
As for technical schools, I've visited places like Yi Ji, Er Tech, and commercial technical schools but don't recall much detail—only that students there often came from urban families with an inherent pride that led them to look down upon us rural folks. Additionally, at commercial technical school I tasted my first "candied potatoes," prepared by an old classmate studying culinary arts (forgive me for not remembering who exactly; if any old friends see this they can identify themselves). They had a sweet-sour flavor reminiscent of Western cuisine—perhaps that's precisely what it was!
The only secondary school I visited while studying at university in Shaoyang was privately-run Jingwen Middle School—a relatively novel establishment back then reportedly founded by a businessman returning from Taiwan where Liu Feixiang from Shi Bao Chong attended at that time when I brought him something. The school nestled within an alley beside Dongfeng Road had somewhat outdated facilities with lax discipline—and its achievements seemed unimpressive too! Around 2002 or so I crossed paths with it again when it had relocated elsewhere—the outlook appeared increasingly bleak then! Now perhaps it's faded without leaving any trace—at least not within my sight.
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