In China, once a topic touches on gender—whether it's heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or transgender—people become exceptionally silent.
If we were to describe China's sex education using the metaphor of dating, then at the turn of the century, it was like a secret crush: meaning, there was none. By the end of the century, it had progressed beyond a secret crush, but at most, it was just ambiguous flirtation—vague, unclear, with half-spoken words and the rest left to interpretation.
A film drew gasps from the little men, who, one by one, folded their arms and pretended to be mature as they critiqued the movie's content. Yet, when the projector's reflection hit their faces, the boys' faces were all flushed red.
When it came to fetal development, Zhang Yingxuan suddenly stood up and shouted, "No! No! No!"
The Physical Education teacher, leaning against the classroom wall, ran over, paused the film, and asked, "Who said no?"
Zhang Yingxuan jumped onto the back of a front-row chair, standing tall. He slightly spread his arms to maintain balance, and in the faint light reflected by the projector, the young man's silhouette looked cool, like a fearless knight. Some classmates whistled in applause, and the screening room buzzed like boiling soup. Zhang Yingxuan proudly shouted, "I said no!"
The Physical Education teacher recognized him. "Zhang Yingxuan! Tell me what's wrong!"
"It's all wrong, no mother is needed, no, a mother doesn't need a physical body..."
Zhang Yingxuan's nonsensical words drew boos from the other students, and the Physical Education teacher became furious. "What nonsense! Sit down!"
The boy was fearless; he yelled at the top of his lungs, "My mother is a robot!!!"
With that one sentence, the room fell silent.
That day, Zhang Yingxuan became the laughingstock of the entire school.
...
Today is Friday, June 17, 2089.
Today is the Primary School to Junior High School Entrance Exam. Simon has graduated.
This year, Simon is twelve years old, and his two twin sisters are already two. Simon was born on June 21, 2077; his two sisters were born on November 2, 2087. There's a ten-year age gap, so they could be considered two different generations.
His mother, Sun Hui, became a full-time housewife at home, but seeing her little daughters slowly growing up, she had thoughts of returning to work. However, in the past two months, she hadn't been able to find a suitable job, which made her a bit dejected.
It was already four in the afternoon when Simon finished his exams. The last subject was Chinese Language, and the essay topic was a narrative, asking to describe a meaningful day. The topic itself was truly meaningless. Simon scratched his head for half an hour over this essay in the exam room. For other subjects, he would finish early, put his head on the desk, and even get some sleep, but for the Chinese Language exam, he only finished close to the end.
When he returned home, his old robot opened the door. Over the years, technology had continued to advance rapidly, and his old robot's model was long outdated. Generally, the process for replacing a robot was to remove The Core disk, then order a desired model online or at an experience store. After payment, the disk would be sent, and a few days later, an upgraded robot would be received.
The old robot had never been upgraded for a simple reason: poverty. The family's only stable source of income was Lu Jiande. Sun Hui was currently a freelancer, able to earn some quick money from odd jobs, but the family was now cutting corners wherever possible.
Simon had recently earned some money by drawing and modeling for people. A commissioned drawing averaged around a thousand yuan, and modeling, depending on the workload, could bring in an average of over two thousand yuan per job, with the highest reaching tens of thousands.
Therefore, no matter the era, having a skill is capital for survival.
Sun Hui was in the living room, browsing job postings on her laptop. She was now in her thirties. Modern people don't age quickly, but his mother had indeed matured. Wearing glasses, she already had a somewhat old-fashioned air.
"How was your exam, Kang Kang?"
"It was alright," Simon said, walking towards the children's room, which was once his bedroom and now belonged to his sisters.
The twin sisters took their mother's surname. The older one was named Sun Sheng, and the younger one was Sun Ying. The older one was quiet, while the younger one was very mischievous. They were both still very cute now; he wondered if they would be very boisterous when they grew up.
When Simon entered, Sun Ying was sitting on the floor playing with a Rubik's Cube, and Sun Sheng was lying on the side, humming a song. Seeing her older brother enter, Sun Ying jumped up to demand a hug. Sun Sheng continued to hum, looking deeply engrossed.
Simon picked up his little sister and tickled her with his nose. Sun Ying laughed heartily. Sun Sheng sat up with a roll, watching her older brother and little sister play from a distance, not coming over. She was always like this, like a lazy cat. Simon walked over and stroked Sun Sheng's head. She smiled at her older brother and lay back down.
Sun Hui walked over and leaned against the doorframe. "Do you feel confident about this exam?"
Simon shrugged. "Is such a simple exam really necessary?"
His mother laughed, pinching her son's cheek. "You're getting more and more arrogant, little brat. You still have so much to learn."
Sun Ying also reached out to pinch Simon's face but was swatted away by her mother. "Don't touch your brother, got it?"
Sun Ying pretended to cry loudly. Simon put her back on the floor and went out with his mother. Without an audience, the little sister lost the motivation to continue crying. She looked at the suddenly empty room with a bewildered expression.
Simon went to his bedroom to take off his schoolbag. His little sister ran over again, shouting, "Brother is a bad guy!"
"Go play somewhere else, little brat."
His little sister, scolded by her older brother, ran off crying to her older sister for comfort.
Simon continued to lie on his bed, playing on his phone, sending emails to his friends, just like six years ago, starting to discuss their preferred junior high schools.
There were only three junior high schools in Linhai, and the last junior high school in Southeast Province was not in Linhai New District, but in Luoshan District, a thousand kilometers away. Ninghu Middle School had a provincial key junior high section and a municipal key senior high section. Choosing that school would mean boarding.
17:01 "Zhang Yingxuan: Let's go to Luoshan. I heard that school is really good."
17:01 "Su Xiangli: Zhang Yingxuan must be thinking that if he goes somewhere else, no one will talk about his embarrassing past anymore. That's impossible, especially with a rascal like you around."
17:02 Reply to Zhang Yingxuan "Simon: Good idea, we can be roommates then."
17:02 Reply to Su Xiangli "Simon: I'm not the kind of person who mocks classmates. Don't falsely accuse me."
17:13 "Zhou Ping: Simon, I heard you're planning to go to Luoshan? To Ninghu Middle School, right?"
17:13 Reply to Zhou Ping "Yes, did Zhang Yingxuan tell you?"
17:13 "Zhou Ping: I want to go too, but my grades might not be good enough."
17:13 Reply to Zhou Ping "Keep it up."
Simon pouted. Tomorrow was the graduation ceremony. He got up and took out a thick stack of drawings from his desk drawer. For every classmate and every teacher, Simon had drawn a picture and attached a blessing, preparing them as graduation gifts.
They were all familiar faces now, but he wondered what they would look like in ten years.
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