A Promising Youth novel Chapter 4

Naturally, I wanted to succeed. Who doesn't want to make something of themselves as a young energetic boy?

I had a goal to find that girl and repay her when I was successful!

Because it was those few words of hers that gave me the courage to live every time I hovered on the edge of life and death.

But now that I was behind bars and my brother had hijacked even my chances of going to college. What qualifications did I have to talk about success?

Between my cowardly self-abasement, I clenched my lips and said.

“I want to succeed, but I don't have a chance anymore.”

“Why the rush to deny yourself?” He asked.

I said that I had a low EQ, I was not educated enough, and now I was in prison. In society, I had even less connections, so how could a person like me succeed?

Master smiled, kindly stroked my head and said.

“First of all, you are not low in emotional intelligence. You are very good at reading people and understanding their thoughts; Secondly, you can work on education. You still have five years in prison, isn't that the most valuable time to learn?”

Hearing this, I looked at him dumbfounded, not realizing that my tattered life would become the most perfect life in the eyes of Master.

It was then that I realized that there was perspective in looking at life, that there was light in the eyes and light everywhere. How could someone with eyes full of darkness see hope?

“Success, of course, depends neither on emotional nor intellectual intelligence; these are merely aids.”

Master taught me sagely.

“And what does that depend on?”

I hastily asked.

“Depends on the adversity quotient.”

That was the first lesson Master gave me.

He said that adversity quotient was the ability of the human heart to endure and bounce back in the face of adversity.

He transferred me to this prison through his connections, not just because I was a good writer and could contribute to the newspaper, but he was shocked by my reverse quotient. A child in prison had a strong desire to live between the lines, which were rare among prisoners.

From that day on, I began five years of “prison college”

Not only Master, but many of the special inmates here, had become my teachers in life, from literature to philosophy, from economics to management, and even music to art, all of them had been taught in every way.

Apart from the weekly publication of the newspaper, I became the greatest spice to pass the time in this prison. Although there were no textbooks, every teacher taught in person, from theory to practice, in every detail and by ear.

And I was most grateful to Master who taught me philosophy, from the Western style of Plato to the Renaissance, to the Eastern doctrines of Taoism and Confucius and Mencius, all of which covered the great wisdom of life.

It took a clear head to polish my eyes to see the world, and by this point I realized that the world I saw before I turned 18 was not as narrow and dark as I thought it was; it was actually a big world and life was exciting.

Time flew by as I studied tirelessly, and it was four years before I was released a year early because of a reduced sentence.

The night before my release, the teachers held a graduation party for me in the cafeteria. The atmosphere was so high that I had long been in tears, and I could not quell the reluctance in my heart.

Once a teacher, always a father. So what if they were prisoners?

They'd sinned before, so what?

With both knees on the ground, I kowtowed to each teacher, and in the face of Master, I even kowtowed 3 times. I would never forget in my life about this friendship!

That night, the teachers collectively gave me a journal, a seemingly insignificant gift that contained skills, experience, and something special from all walks of life; they laughed and said it was the only thing they could give me, and I, too, was their only student.

The next day before I was released, Master slipped me a note with a phone number and a name of “Sienna Johnston“

“Sienna Johnston”.

“Matteo, although you have learned a lot of skills, you are still cowardly and inferior in your bones, which must be tried to change. If you can't change it, it will be difficult to achieve success in the future.”

He squeezed my shoulder and said with a long sigh.

“Go, if you have a problem you can't solve, go to her.”

“Master!”