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A New Beginning

A New Beginning
It was a hot summer day in late June. I had just finished my last exam of the year and eager to start my summer holidays. I ran out of the gate separating the school and the outside world into lao-ye’s (mom’s dad) open arms. It had been a strange year, and it wasn’t going to get any better.
My family lived in a spacious two-bedroom apartment in a Tianjin suburb and I attended one of the most prominent elementary school at that time. After attending only the first half of grade two at Dr. Sun Zhongshan Elementary School, my parents shipped me to a military boarding school across town. I was stunned and confused as I was quite reluctant to leave the school I loved so dearly: honour roll student, class president, revered by fellow classmates and loved by teachers. Good grades get you a long way in a standardized education system. But all this will be ripped away from me as I enter my new school.
I remember that first day of February. My father picked me up from school and drove me to nai-nai’s (paternal grandmother) home. I never stayed over nai-nai’s on a school night. I finished all my homework and as I was ready for bed, gu-gu (dad’s older sister) told me to pack my things and go with her. I loved gu-gu; she would often take me to amusement parks and out to restaurants. Without any doubts, I followed her. The frosty air of a late winter night chilled through the bones so she hailed a cab. I watched the neon lights of the various restaurants on the streets that I was so familiar with pass by and I slowly drifted to sleep.
When I woke up, we arrived in this old neighbourhood. Gu-gu knocked on a large steel gate. Thunk. Thunk. The knocks matched my quickening heartbeats. We entered this large yard where an old man led us to one of the buildings. I thought of making a quick dash for the gates but she held my hand tightly. She knew me too well. I was shown to the sleeping quarters in which I was roomed with a dozen other boys. She...