Chapter 146: Tough People, Tough Pigs, Tough Trees

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee TranslationsIt was May 31st on Monday in the sixth week of school.The old man and Mother Wang would be coming back from their trip today. Wang Ling received the news that they would be home at around five or six in the evening. He had sorely missed Mother Wang’s nutritious breakfast, and was unused to not eating it a few days in a row. Of course, compared with her nutritious breakfast, what he was actually looking forward to more… was the limited edition beef ramen-flavored crispy noodle snacks which the old man was bringing back from South Tianhe…When Wang Ling arrived at school, the topic of today’s morning gossip in Grade One, Class Three was a street singer who had become a sudden Internet sensation yesterday.Hearing this, Wang Ling immediately knew that the street singer had to be Tang Youning. He knew that the latter would definitely hit it big by relying on the impact of the song “Old Boys” from another world. But he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon…Gossip was like a sickness that was contagious. From the silence at the beginning of the semester to almost everyone in Grade One, Class Three getting into the habit of gossiping in the morning… Wang Ling felt that this was all solely due to Master of Dopey. It was this guy who had started everything!“I heard that this Subway Brother has been a singer for a long time, and he had washed out in a talent show audition not long ago. Who knows how he suddenly hit it big all of a sudden.” Dopey Guo shrugged, using the new nickname “Subway Brother” which net friends had coined for Tang Youning.The reason why Tang Youning was called Subway Brother was because he had been busking in the subway when he sang “Old Boys,” and he had become popular after someone filmed him and uploaded the video to the Internet.In the video, Tang Youning’s hair was uncombed and his entire outfit was roadside goods that cost a few dozen yuan; plus the broken guitar, they gave Tang Youning a slightly unkempt look. However, it was precisely this unrefined appearance without makeup that gave the sense that he had weathered life’s storms as he sang “Old Boys.”In the video, it could be seen that many passersby stopped despite themselves to listen as soon as Tang Youning opened his mouth to sing.Everyone was enchanted by it.Actually, Tang Youning had a very fair and delicate appearance, and his lean figure was what most young people admired and yearned for themselves. Although this era didn’t discriminate against fat people, the world’s ideal aesthetic was still limited to skinny beauty.When some girls in class watched the video, they couldn’t help feeling intoxicated; Tang Youning was really too handsome!Who on earth was this person?What kind of experiences had he had?How was he able to write such a song?Of course, Wang Ling himself didn’t bother with Tang Youning.Because no one could have imagined that for him, this song was worth two bowls of beef noodles…Thirty-three yuan and seventy cents……In the morning Dao talismans course, Teacher Pan handed out a stack of leaflets. School teachers were prohibited from giving students private lessons. Each teacher-in-charge hence was worried that students who weren’t able to keep up with the progress in class would impact the class’s average scores. Therefore, the school’s approach was to encourage students to attend a private education institution for remedial lessons. At least, that was what No. 60 High School did.Usually, there were three to four people in a small remedial class, and eight to ten people in a medium-sized one… of course, the fewer people they were, the more expensive the lesson would be.And the most important reason why No. 60 High School was willing to distribute leaflets for these “private education institutions” was that they were poor!The subsidy from Huaguo Water Curtain Group was still being processed, which for a large enterprise would take quite a while. Thus, before they could receive the official subsidy to renovate the school grounds, Headmaster Chen could only use this strategy in his struggle to transform the school.How poor No. 60 High School was had always been the butt of jokes passed down from old generations of seniors.The other thing that had left the deepest impression on them were the few shriveled palm trees at the school’s entrance. Every time Wang Ling passed by these trees, they always made him think of that particular tree on Dahuang Road which had thrived after being struck by lightning.There were tough people in an earthquake, tough pigs ¹ in a flood… and tough trees in No. 60 High School!The students of No. 60 High School were already quite used to the school’s ‘awesomeness.’When Wang Ling received the leaflet, his pupils narrowed slightly.Because the private education institution it was promoting was Mo Immortal Castle!Did they now have their eye on No. 60 High School, and planned to sell their fake medicine here?Wang Ling stared at the leaflet and fell into deep thought.…Today, there was a new patient on the eighteenth floor of the Night Shift Nurses building.The patient had been sent here from the emergency room yesterday. At the time, there hadn’t been enough staff in the emergency room, and the head of the Health Department had called for all surgeons who had been on their way home to come back straightaway. Director Li had already returned home when he was summoned back by the head of the hospital at two or three in the early hours of the morning.The main reason was that the patient hadn’t gotten to them fast enough, so they hadn’t been able to perform the operation in time. By the time the patient had reached the emergency room, the doctors had no longer been able to save the situation.He wasn’t dead, but the neurons in his brain had been so badly damaged that they had resulted in a severe mental disorder.Under persistent pressure from city leaders, the head of the hospital could only transfer the patient to Director Li’s separate hospital compound and then summon specialists overnight for a consult to see if there were any special treatment methods that could be used.While the leaflets advertising Mo Immortal Castle were being given out in Grade One, Class Three, Director Li was presiding over a forum of specialists in the hospital.These were eight specialists from the department of psychiatry who almost comprised the strongest lineup in the separate hospital compound for hard-to-treat mental illnesses.Standing at the head of the conference table, Director Li sighed. “Before we begin the meeting, can anyone explain what caused the patient’s initial brain injury?”An old specialist with a graying mustache and hair quickly replied, “The preliminary diagnosis was chronic brain dysfunction syndrome… or in other words, a cerebral concussion.”“What was the cause?” Director Li asked, frowning.Another specialist replied, “The patient has no family members, but according to the patient’s superior, before this happened, the patient had been rammed into by a tricycle.”A tricycle?Director Li suddenly felt that this sounded a little familiar!“Can you elaborate?”“According to the patient’s description when he was still conscious… apparently, after that tricycle rammed into him, he was driving his Maybach when that tricycle stubbornly chased him over eight motorways. Finally, the symptoms of his condition flared up and he went into shock. Because of that, he smashed into the motorway’s guardrail at three hundred kilometers an hour and the car fell fifty meters straight down to hit another motorway before it finally exploded.”“…”After hearing this, Director Li deeply felt that for him to freaking remain alive after his… was not going to be easy!