The young man looked at Wu Jun with a calm, composed smile. Seeing the three men walk away, Wu Jun gave an embarrassed smile and removed his hand from the young man’s shoulder. Just as he was about to say something, he realized his own waist was still clamped as if by an iron wall. It felt a bit strange—this brother’s arm strength was truly impressive.
“Brother, thank you so much for just now. Do you think you could maybe let go of my waist…?” Wu Jun said, shifting uncomfortably.
“Aren’t you going to tell me what happened? You’re not just going to use me and toss me aside, are you?” The young man tightened his arm around Wu Jun’s slender waist even more and smiled teasingly. The upright and dignified look from before seemed almost like an illusion.
Wu Jun said helplessly, “Brother, I don’t even know why those three hooligans were following me.”
“Judging by the direction you came from, you passed by that small grove, didn’t you? I’ve heard that place has been unstable lately—several hooligans in the county have been pulling shady stunts there. You must have flashed your money and caught their attention, right?” The young man spoke as he continued to hold Wu Jun’s waist and walked briskly toward the state-run restaurant ahead.
Wu Jun was pulled along for several steps. Seeing that this brother was heading toward the state-run restaurant, he thought he understood the young man’s intention and said, “Anyway, thank you for saving me, brother. The state-run restaurant is just ahead. How about I treat you to breakfast today?”
At that hour, the state-run restaurant had just opened. The sign at the entrance displayed the day’s menu: breakfast staples included napa cabbage buns, meat-filled buns, and white flour steamed buns. There weren’t many diners inside—two waiters sat chatting at the counter.
The young man guided Wu Jun inside. Xiao Cai smiled and said, “Xiao Gong, you’re late today. The head chef was just asking why you hadn’t arrived yet. Is this your friend?”
“Brother Cai, please bring over four meat buns and two steamed buns. Put it on my tab.”
Wu Jun looked at the young man and said hurriedly, “Didn’t we agree I was treating?” He began counting out his grain ration tickets and money.
The young man led Wu Jun to a corner table and said with a smile, “It’s not much money. If you really want to treat me, there’ll be plenty of chances in the future.”
Wu Jun wasn’t the type to be overly fussy. Thinking that he would probably come to the county often in the future, there would indeed be many opportunities to return the favor. He smiled and said, “Then thank you, brother. My name is Wu Jun. My friends call me Junzi. I heard Brother Cai call you Xiao Gong, but you look older than me. Do you mind if I call you Laogong?” After saying this, Wu Jun himself felt it sounded a bit strange—calling another man “Laogong.” Although social mores hadn’t loosened much yet and the other probably didn’t catch any odd meaning, he quickly added, “Or would you prefer I call you Brother Gong?”
The young man looked at Wu Jun with a peculiar expression for a few moments. “Junzi, you haven’t recognized me yet? Think again.”
Wu Jun studied the young man carefully for a long time until finally, from the depths of his distant memories, a childhood recollection surfaced. “You’re Li Gong? Didn’t your family get transferred to the city for work? What are you doing in the county?”
The young man before him was named Li Gong. Just from the surname, Wu Jun knew he was related to Li Xue—apparently, a distant relative many generations removed from Li Xue’s family. In truth, aside from sharing the same surname, they were practically unrelated.
But the Li family excelled at social climbing. When they heard they had such a distinguished relative, they tried every possible way to ingratiate themselves, and indeed, Li Gong’s grandmother was quite impressed. When Li Gong was young, he had gone to Hongxing Brigade a few times to play with Li Xue’s older brother, and at that time, Wu Jun and he had been best friends.
Li Gong had always been more handsome than most people, even as a child, and he had once saved Wu Jun’s life. The only annoying thing was that he used to like calling Wu Jun “little sister.” Wu Jun never expected to find him here in the county town when he should have been in the city.
Just then, the buns arrived. Li Gong stuffed a meat bun into Wu Jun’s hand: “Eat first. We’ll talk after we finish. I have questions for you too.”
The two young men polished off several large buns in a few minutes. Wu Jun didn’t even bother savoring the rich, fragrant meat buns. He gulped down some water and asked, “Brother, whatever you want to ask, ask quickly. I still need to make a trip to the supply and marketing cooperative.”
“What happened between you and Li Xue? I remember you two were very close growing up. Later, their family said you were engaged. But then not long ago—just a few days ago, actually—they invited my grandmother to Li Xue’s engagement banquet.”
“Brother, it’s a long story. I don’t know what their family is thinking either. That Aunt Li has been gossiping to people in our village, saying our family tricked them into the engagement. Really, they’re just making excuses. I heard from a middle school classmate that Li Xue’s family got to know someone in the Revolutionary Committee, somehow. That person’s son took a liking to Li Xue, so their family came to break off the engagement with mine. To protect their own reputation, they’re claiming the breakup was because our family deceived them.”
Because Li Gong had just helped him, and if he remembered correctly, this guy’s relationship with the Li family was also quite distant. So Wu Jun didn’t hold back and laid out his situation honestly.
After listening, Li Gong thought for a moment and said, “Here’s what you do: go to the supply and marketing cooperative and take care of your business. I’ll be in the county for a while. I’ll look into the situation first and then figure out what to do. Come back the day after tomorrow—find me here at the state-run restaurant.”
Hearing this, Wu Jun felt a surge of emotion. He hadn’t expected that after all these years, this brother would still treat him so well. With a touched expression, Wu Jun couldn’t help saying, “Thank you so much, brother. You’ve always been smarter than me since we were kids. I’ll leave it to you to come up with an idea. I don’t want anything more to do with Li Xue—I just want to stay far away from their family. But I can’t let them pin this blame on me.”
Li Gong saw the look on Wu Jun’s face, remembered the happy times from their childhood, and looked at the lively young man before him. He patted Wu Jun on the shoulder and told him to go take care of his business. No matter what, with him around, Junzi wouldn’t be wronged.
With Li Gong’s help, Wu Jun headed to the supply and marketing cooperative in a much lighter mood. It was still early, and the cloth counter wasn’t crowded. Wu Jun easily squeezed his way inside.
“Comrade, is there no red cloth left?” Wu Jun thought that at his grandmother’s age, she would probably like a festive color, so he planned to buy some red cloth to make her a padded jacket.
“Comrade, no red cloth. It sold out a few days ago. The cloth we have is right up there. Take it or leave it. Next.” The sales clerk rolled her eyes and said curtly.
Sales clerks in those days were notoriously arrogant. Wu Jun didn’t want to argue with her, so he smiled and pointed to the gray, coarse cotton cloth nearby. “Comrade, please cut enough cloth for three adult-sized outfits. Thank you.”
Hearing that Wu Jun wanted to buy cloth for three adult outfits, the sales clerk’s expression softened slightly. She had initially thought he was just a mud-legged peasant buying a scrap of fabric, but it turned out he was actually a fairly well-off customer.
“Hand over the cloth ration tickets and money first, then I’ll cut it.” The sales clerk looked at Wu Jun with a hard expression, as if he owed her eight hundred yuan. The women watching nearby seemed completely unsurprised and looked at Wu Jun’s stack of cloth ration tickets with envy. If there hadn’t been so many people around, Wu Jun suspected one of them might have tried to snatch them.
Helpless, Wu Jun handed over the cloth ration tickets and money the clerk demanded. He finally got the fabric he wanted. Since he had already given his backpack basket to the middle-aged man earlier, he had no choice but to carry the fabric in his arms as he headed toward the bike parking area.