Starting with a Steel Bar

Chen Ping'an inherited his father Old Chen's silver tongue, which was his biggest asset for making a living on construction sites. Old Chen was also a smooth talker in his youth, but later he couldn't let go of the bottle. When drunk, he would beat people, giving his wife heart disease and turning himself into a loner. Chen Ping'an's mother was in poor health, always dependent on medicine, and spent more time in the hospital than at home. Chen Ping'an dropped out of school at fifteen, without even a junior high diploma. Villagers said he was unlucky, but he said, 'What's so bad? The food at the city construction site is better than the school cafeteria.' Actually, he didn't say the whole truth—the school cafeteria food wasn't good, but at least it filled you up. However, his mother's medicine cost over two thousand yuan, and the school cafeteria couldn't pay for that.