It’s depressing to know that this kind of thing doesn’t happen only in China. A good friend of mine was beaten as a child, but the teachers wouldn’t believe him. I always wondered why, because the marks were so visible.

The simile in the last sentence was perfect, it created a very lucid image in my mind. It was also a nice touch of reality referencing their game of chess. Amazing job. :)
(This comment/rating counts for the prequel as well.)

I like this part better than the first half. Very tragic, and the description of his mouth like raw dough was both really accurate and comically over-accurate, like in an anime movie.