“Mom, could you point me the way to Wang Duizhang’s house? I need to ask him about something.”
“Wait for me a minute. Let me finish assembling these matchboxes, then I’ll take you there immediately.”
Accompanying her was secondary; Zhou Mu was actually afraid she might cause trouble at Wang Duizhang’s home.
Zhou Mu quickly finished her task and led Wen Nianxin to the Wang family.
“Xiao Lan, doing laundry I see.”
Wang Duizhang’s wife, Chen Lan, turned toward the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law pair upon hearing the voice. When she saw Wen Nianxin, her expression stiffened for a second before quickly composing herself.
“Aunt Wu, what brings you here today?”
“Nianxin has some matters she wants to ask Yongshun about.”
Hearing this, Chen Lan’s heart immediately sank, unable to even maintain her forced smile.
“Wh-what matters?”
“Lan Jie, I just want to ask Wang Duizhang about the situation of the Zhiqing after they left the team. Don’t worry, my fall at the village entrance knocked some sense into me. As long as no one provokes me first, I won’t cause trouble easily anymore.”
“Um… Why don’t you both wait in the main room for a moment? I’ll go to the bedroom to get him. He had some nasal congestion this morning and hasn’t gotten up yet.”
“Lan Jie, maybe let Wang Duizhang rest first. I can come back another day.”
“No need, I’m up.”
Wang Yongshun emerged from the room upon hearing the voices.
“What brings you to me?”
“Wang Duizhang, I’d like to get the addresses of He Chunyan, Deng Yue, Liu Jiaojiao, and Liu Mingsheng after they returned to the city. If they were admitted to university, I need their university names.”
“You’re not planning to go quarrel with them, are you?”
“Of course not.
They borrowed money and ration coupons from me before leaving and never paid me back. I need to collect what they owe me.”
“Do you have IOU slips?”
“Yes.”
“Even with IOUs, don’t go making trouble at their universities. It’s too far, you won’t gain anything from it, and you might even lose money on round-trip transportation costs.”
“I won’t. Just give me their addresses please.”
Wang Yongshun wrote down the detailed addresses the four had registered when leaving the Production Team and gave them to her. As Wen Nianxin was leaving the Wang family, he repeatedly advised that if the amount was small, she definitely shouldn’t cross provinces to collect the debt.
Listening to his persistent warnings, Wen Nianxin felt both touched and somewhat amused.
She would never spend twenty or thirty in travel expenses to collect a ten-yuan debt – only a fool would do such a thing.
……
Returning home, Wen Nianxin bought envelopes and stamps from her sister-in-law, then sat at the dining table in the main room and began writing furiously.
After lunch, she went to town alone.
She didn’t know the town’s layout, but she had a mouth and could ask for directions.
Looking around, she selected a girl who appeared gentle and approachable, walked up to her and asked with a smile: “Comrade, hello. Could you tell me which direction the post office is in?”
The person she’d chosen to ask for directions took two large steps backward in fright upon seeing it was her.
Her retreating movement made Wen Nianxin realize the other person recognized her – probably someone from their production team.
“Sorry, I hit my head recently and don’t remember people well. I just want to ask for directions, no ill intentions.”
“You… you really don’t recognize me?”
“You are?”
“I’m Wang Jiahui.”
“Oh, it’s you, Jiahui mei mei. Are you on break?”
She was Wang Duizhang’s youngest daughter, currently in her first year of high school in the county town.
“Mm, I’m waiting for my dad to come pick me up on his bicycle.”
“Could you please point me toward the post office?”
“Alright.”
Wang Jiahui was an enthusiastic young girl who not only told her the location of the post office but also pointed out where the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, grain store, and State-Run Restaurant were located.
After thanking her, Wen Nianxin headed toward the post office.
“Jiahui, who were you talking to just now?”
Wang Yongshun rode up on his bicycle and stopped in front of his daughter, taking the schoolbag from her back and the bag she was holding in her arms, hanging them on the handlebars.
“Auntie Wen from the third household asked me for directions earlier. She didn’t seem to recognize me.”
“Did she scold you after finding out who you were?”
“No, not only did she not scold me, but she was also very polite. After asking, she even thanked me. She’s completely different from before. Did she really hit her head that badly?”
Hearing that Wen Nianxin hadn’t scolded anyone, Wang Yongshun breathed a sigh of relief.
“She did fall, and not only does she not recognize outsiders, but she doesn’t even remember her own family members.”
The father and daughter spent the whole journey discussing how much Wen Nianxin had changed, while the subject of their conversation had already finished mailing her letter and was wandering all over town.
She didn’t go to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative for now, not wanting to run into the original owner’s rival, Second Daughter-in-law.
What she needed to do now was to get a general sense of the town’s layout, preparing for her future entrepreneurial endeavors to make money.
Before crossing over, she had been a moderately well-known entrepreneurship blogger, starting out by setting up street stalls.
Mala Tang, jianbing guozi, grilled cold noodles, egg waffles, puto cakes, starch sausages… almost all of them had made an appearance at her stall.
Basically, whatever made money and had high profit margins, she sold.
Later, as live streaming became popular, she kept up with the trend. While running her stall, she also taught people online how to make various snacks and analyzed the pros and cons of selling different items at street stalls. Her account had accumulated nearly a million followers.
After years of hard work, frugal living, and saving every penny, she had managed to save over two million yuan in her bank account, planning to open a small shop and settle down. But in the blink of an eye, she crossed over, and everything she had built vanished into thin air.
Sigh…
Feeling the only twelve yuan left in her pocket, Wen Nianxin silently cheered herself on.
Fortunately, she had crossed over to the early 1980s, a legendary era said to be filled with golden opportunities. She was confident she could leverage the information gap to make a fortune!
After wandering around the town, she already had her first idea. Now, all she needed was to secure the startup capital!