Locust Blossom Street

Huaihua Street is the most chaotic old street in Yanbian County. It has every kind of person imaginable, from all walks of life. The clack of mahjong tiles never stops, day or night. Couples curse and fight each other while neighbors watch, cracking sunflower seeds and cheering them on. The gaudy, vulgar prostitutes look as if they’re high on opium by day and hopped up on stimulants by night. Oh, and there’s also a gang of street thugs who rule Huaihua Street.

Recently, the residents of Huaihua Street have found a new topic to gossip about: a family that just moved in. Everyone says they’ve never seen the man of the house, so the woman must be someone’s mistress. Just look at her: she spends all day playing cards and never works.

If Yu Xiang heard this rumor, she’d surely thank everyone on behalf of her mother, Ms. Wu Huiling, for thinking so highly of her status. Come to think of it, was Ms. Wu Huiling the fourth mistress, the fifth, the sixth, or perhaps the seventh? Even Ms. Wu Huiling herself wasn’t quite sure.

There’s another interesting thing about Huaihua Street: to the left is Yanbian No. 1 High School, the best high school in the county; to the right is Yanbian Vocational School, the most chaotic middle school in the county. There’s a saying at the vocational school: “Whether the school’s in chaos or not is up to Brother Chuan.”

Yu Xiang wasn’t especially clever, but she was fairly hardworking. After studying seriously for a year in her final year of middle school, she finally got into Yanbian No. 1...