PCJ – Chapter 315 A Snowflake

At noon, Zhang Yuanbao hurried over to find Zhang Jiaohua.

“Jiaohua, do you have any manuscript paper?” Zhang Yuanbao asked as soon as he walked in.

Zhang Jiaohua specifically used new material paper for his draft paper, which was given to him by Luo Changjun from his workplace. In this era, workplaces often had special custom-made paper for official use, which made correspondence with external units look more impressive. For example, the Xintian County Public Security Bureau would have “Xintian County Public Security Bureau” printed in bright red on the top, and the footer would include their phone number and fax number. This paper was slightly better than the regular paper available for purchase. Writing letters on it made one appear more distinguished.

Luo Changjun knew Zhang Jiaohua wanted to write to his parents, so he had specifically taken some envelopes and material paper from work for him. Since he had plenty of material paper, Zhang Jiaohua casually used some as draft paper, although he hardly ever used it. He always carried at least one sheet in his backpack.

Seeing the header of the draft paper that read “Xintian County Public Security Bureau,” Zhang Yuanbao was taken aback. “You actually use such good paper for drafts?”

“What do you need draft paper for?” Zhang Jiaohua did not answer Zhang Yuanbao’s question and instead asked him back.

“Just got something to do,” Zhang Yuanbao said, taking the sheet and leaving.

Zhang Jiaohua couldn’t be bothered with Zhang Yuanbao’s affairs. The dreams he had been having lately left him feeling unsettled, and he sat in the classroom lost in thought, worrying about whether the old Taoist master was seriously injured.

The mute boy was curious about Zhang Yuanbao’s actions and secretly followed him to see what he would do with the material paper. It wasn’t long before he came back.

“Jiaohua, Yuanbao used your material paper to make a flipping board. Ma Sibao used a calendar to make a huge flipping board and won all the flipping boards. Yuanbao must have lost everything. He just used all your material paper to make a flipping board and lost it to Ma Sibao in no time. Ma Sibao won a whole bag of flipping boards,” the mute boy reported to Zhang Jiaohua.

“Let him make his flipping board; I don’t care,” Zhang Jiaohua replied indifferently. It was just a sheet of material paper.

After one class, Zhang Yuanbao came again. “Jiaohua, can I have your picture book?”

“How much did you lose in flipping boards today?” Zhang Jiaohua asked.

“Not much,” Zhang Yuanbao said, his face turning red.

“He tore up all the books to make flipping boards. There’s only one Chinese book and one math book left,” the mute boy quickly exposed Zhang Yuanbao’s secret.

Zhang Yuanbao glared at the mute boy. “I must win Ma Sibao’s huge flipping board!”

“Are you dreaming? Ma Sibao’s huge flipping board is so big that your flipping board can’t even move it,” the mute boy said.

“Hey, I’m talking to my brother; it’s none of your business! If you keep blabbering, I’ll flatten you!” Zhang Yuanbao said, feeling embarrassed and angry. The mute boy quickly shut up.

Flipping boards were a very popular game among the little kids in Meizi’ao Village. Many times, the kids’ books became thinner not because they studied hard, but because they tore out the pages to make flipping boards. After each class, the playground was full of kids bending over and playing flipping boards.

Because of last year’s incident, Zhang Jiaohua had lost a lot of the joys of childhood shared with his peers.

“Jiaohua, are you in or out?” Zhang Yuanbao asked, a bit nervously, fearing Zhang Jiaohua might refuse.

“If you want to take my picture book, that’s fine, but I’ll go with you,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

Zhang Yuanbao felt troubled; if Zhang Jiaohua went, Ma Sibao might not dare to play with him again. Then he would lose the chance to win Ma Sibao’s huge flipping board.

Actually, Ma Sibao’s huge flipping board wasn’t anything particularly rare, but not many families in the countryside had calendars hanging on their walls. That kind of calendar, when hung on the wall, served as a decorative picture, and it would be a waste to use it for a flipping board. If Liu Yuehong and her husband found out their son had torn up the family calendar to make a flipping board, they would probably cook him a meal of bamboo strips stir-fried with meat. After all, Liu Yuehong wouldn’t even tear a page to make a shoe pattern; how dare this kid tear one up to make a flipping board!

“Okay then,” Zhang Yuanbao had no choice but to agree.

Zhang Jiaohua was actually interested in playing with the flipping board; he was a bundle of contradictions. He had experiences that his peers did not, but he was still just a second-grade kid, so he was still interested in games that his peers liked.

Ma Sibao was wielding a gigantic flipping board with an air of invincibility, making everyone want to shove him into the mud. Next to him was a backpack filled with various colorful flipping boards; anyone who lost to Ma Sibao surely wasn’t just Zhang Yuanbao.

“Come on, hurry up. I don’t have time to waste with you guys,” Ma Sibao said, holding a super large flipping board. No wonder no one could win against him; his flipping board was several times larger than the others. Even the largest flipping board in his backpack was only about a quarter the size of the one he was holding.

“That’s incredible! Other people’s flipping boards can’t even move Ma Sibao’s!”

“Exactly! Only Zhang Yuanbao is stupid enough to tear up a whole bag of books to make flipping boards, and he lost everything to Ma Sibao. At least half of those were Zhang Yuanbao’s.”

Zhang Jiaohua glanced at Zhang Yuanbao, who looked a bit embarrassed.

“Actually, it wasn’t that much of a loss,” Zhang Yuanbao scratched his head.

“Zhang Yuanbao, do you have any material paper from the Public Security Bureau? If you do, I’ll go with you,” Ma Sibao approached Zhang Yuanbao, putting his hand on his shoulder. He didn’t notice Zhang Jiaohua beside him until he saw him clearly and quickly withdrew his hand.

“Zhang Jiaohua, it’s not that I went to find Zhang Yuanbao; he’s the one who came to me. Otherwise, I’ll return all the flipping boards I won from him.” Upon seeing Zhang Jiaohua, Ma Sibao’s expression changed immediately. He had experienced Zhang Jiaohua’s strength before, so how could he dare to go against him?

“No need; I want to play with you. I want to see just how powerful your giant flipping board is,” Zhang Jiaohua said, just wanting to play and not intending to intimidate him.

“What? Are you scared? If you are, just admit defeat and give me the giant board,” Zhang Yuanbao said, not caring about the flipping boards he lost, even though they were made from his textbooks.

“I… I…” Ma Sibao glanced at Zhang Jiaohua several times.

Zhang Jiaohua, however, seemed to ignore him and didn’t say a word.

“Alright, if you’re here to play, let’s play,” Ma Sibao finally made his decision. Zhang Jiaohua only had one flipping board made from art book paper, which was several times smaller than Ma Sibao’s.

The rules of the flipping board game were that whoever flipped it the farthest would go first to attack. If they could flip the board over by the wind force created by their own flipping board, they would win. If the attack was unsuccessful, the attacking rights would pass to the opponent.

Ma Sibao was not afraid of others attacking; he casually tossed his flipping board around, which could easily give the opponent an opportunity to attack. So he chose a relatively close and flat place, allowing his opponent to attack first.

Zhang Jiaohua casually tossed his flipping board, which landed steadily far away.

“Jiaohua, you attack,” Zhang Yuanbao reminded him quickly, worried Zhang Jiaohua didn’t understand the rules.

Zhang Jiaohua smiled, picked up his flipping board, and walked over to Ma Sibao’s.

“Zhang Jiaohua, if you want a flipping board, I can give you one. Your flipping board can’t flip mine over,” Ma Sibao was still worried that Zhang Jiaohua would turn against him if he lost.

“Why are you so chatty? Jiaohua has material paper from the Public Security Bureau; why would he care about your flipping board?” Zhang Yuanbao said disdainfully.

Zhang Jiaohua struck his flipping board against the side of the giant one, and with a whoosh, the huge flipping board actually flipped over. Ma Sibao’s eyes widened in disbelief, repeatedly saying, “Impossible, impossible…”

Zhang Yuanbao immediately grabbed the giant flipping board. “Haha, Jiaohua, we’ve struck it rich! Now, no one in Meizi’ao Primary School can beat me!”

Ma Sibao looked dejected as he watched Zhang Yuanbao triumphantly holding the giant flipping board. “No way! You cheated! Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible for you to flip my giant board.”

“Then when you won so many from us earlier, why didn’t you say you were cheating?” Zhang Yuanbao retorted angrily.

At this point, Ma Sibao was left speechless.

Zhang Jiaohua and Zhang Yuanbao felt as if they had suddenly become wealthy. They held the giant flipping board and bragged about it everywhere in the village. After all, even if they lost it again, it wouldn’t be such a big deal anymore.

That night, as he lay in bed, Zhang Jiaohua still felt happy; they had won a giant flipping board. After all, even if Zhang Yuanbao lost again, Zhang Jiaohua would still be able to maintain his confidence in front of his peers.

Zhang Jiaohua was not yet aware that he would soon need this confidence.