23
Shen Zhiwen and his companions arrived at the town’s general store. He picked through the items while dropping literary references and showing off to the two girls for quite a while, until even the store owner grew impatient and started to shoo them for taking up space. Only then did he finally pick up a worn-out collection of essays and prepare to pay.
“Educated Youth Shen, are you only buying this one book?” Zhang Wenfang asked, having assumed he’d intended to purchase all the books he’d been gushing over.
Shen Zhiwen’s expression stiffened for a split second—it wasn’t that he didn’t want to buy them; he was short on cash.
Fortunately, in this backward place where hardly anyone read, books were sold as cheap junk, which allowed him to occasionally buy a few to keep up appearances.
He smiled and explained, “There have been some issues at home lately, so my family hasn’t been able to send money. I’m just tightening my belt a bit. Honestly, I don’t really need to buy this book either but I simply can’t go a day without reading. Do forgive me.” The truth was, his family had never sent him any money at all; he’d been living off the small sum he’d brought when he left home, spending it carefully drop by drop.
Zhang Wenfang, however, found him even more admirable after hearing that. What an outstanding and honest man! As the saying goes—even in adversity, he stays true to himself.
Shen Zhiwen added, “Would you two like to buy something? I can make some recommendations—those two books I mentioned earlier are quite good.”
Li Daidi grew a little nervous at the suggestion. She fidgeted with her fingers and said, “I… I’ll pass. I can’t read anyway…”
“Ah…” Shen Zhiwen said softly. “That’s alright. I’ve heard the village is planning to start a literacy class for the villagers soon. You could attend then and learn.”
“I know about that!” Zhang Wenfang’s uncle was the village party secretary, so she was in the loop. “My uncle is just about to pick two teachers from the village.”
“Then…” Li Daidi bit her lip and asked, “Will Educated Youth Shen be teaching us?”
Both Shen Zhiwen and Zhang Wenfang’s eyes lit up at the question.
Shen Zhiwen was hopeful—he’d heard that literacy teachers earned ten work points a day, and it was easy money.
Zhang Wenfang, on the other hand, was thinking she could ask her uncle to give the job to Shen Zhiwen. Then he could personally teach her to read and write!
She couldn’t help but say excitedly, “I’ll talk to my uncle about it later. It’d be such a waste not to have someone as educated as Educated Youth Shen as our teacher!”
Shen Zhiwen cleared his throat lightly to mask his anticipation and said, “I would be honored to help everyone become literate.”
Internally, he was kicking himself—so Zhang Wenfang had this kind of connection! He should have gotten to know her sooner.
Seems like he really need to network more, he thought. She’s far more useful than Jiang Miaomiao, wasn’t she?
With that thought, his smile grew even brighter.
The three chatted and laughed as they left the general store. On their way, they passed by the supply and marketing cooperative, and Shen Zhiwen noticed the long queue snaking outside. He asked curiously, “Why are there so many people here today?”
Zhang Wenfang explained, “They’re doing a buy-one-get-one-free deal on cotton fabric today. A lot of people are rushing to get some.”
“Oh?” Shen Zhiwen felt a twinge of temptation—the few sets of clothes he’d brought were nearly worn through. If only he could…
But after a quick mental tally of the money in his pocket, he silently gave up on the idea.
He smiled and said, “I hadn’t expected such a big discount. What a pity—it comes at a time when I’m a bit strapped for cash.”
Zhang Wenfang hesitated for a moment, then said, “My aunt’s cousin actually works at the cooperative. My mom asked her to set aside two lengths of fabric for us. Maybe…”
She stopped mid-sentence, not wanting to continue. Fabric was precious—a whole family might only manage to save up enough for one new outfit a year. She was genuinely reluctant to part with it.
Seeing her hesitation, Shen Zhiwen quickly said, “That’s perfect—it’d be just right for Comrade Wenfang to have a new dress made.”
Zhang Wenfang lowered her head and smiled shyly at that, and the topic quietly passed.
The three continued past the cooperative, never noticing Jiang Suisui in the queue.
Meanwhile, Jiang Miaomiao had followed in the direction Jiang Suisui had gone for a few steps before stopping.
She had something important to do today—she didn’t want to hang out with Shen Zhiwen and the others, nor did she intend to join Jiang Suisui and Song Weizheng.
After asking several people for directions and wandering around a few blocks, she finally arrived at a shabby, crumbling mud house. The courtyard gate was half-closed, and a pile of junk was heaped in front of it. Jiang Miaomiao wrinkled her nose in disgust, stepped around the garbage, and walked in.
This was the town’s scrap collection yard, run by an old man who spent his days sifting through piles of refuse, picking out anything usable. If he got lucky and found something decent, he’d trade it with others.
Jiang Miaomiao had come here because, in her previous life, she’d overheard villagers gossiping about someone in town who’d grabbed a few plates from this very scrap yard. A few days later, it was discovered that one of them was an antique—and just like that, the person had struck it rich.
She vaguely remembered it happened around this time because she’d heard the news after the autumn harvest that year. Word was that once the person realized they’d found an antique, they moved away from town. Jiang Miaomiao was green with envy—they’d probably moved somewhere better after getting rich.
Unfortunately, she had no idea what those plates actually looked like. Jiang Miaomiao frowned as she scanned the piles of junk scattered around the yard.
What a mess! How am I supposed to find anything here?
The old scrap collector was hunched over, sorting through his piles.
Jiang Miaomiao stepped forward and called out, “Hey, old man… do you have any… plates here?”
The old man didn’t even look up. “There’s all kinds of stuff here—see for yourself!”
She was taken aback by his bluntness, but figured it was better to search herself anyway. She crouched down and began rummaging through the piles…
At the back of the mud house, in a more concealed room, Song Weizheng who had disappeared earlier sat with a stern face, listening silently to the man across from him.
“Brother Zheng, that’s all I was able to find out.” Tie Zhu watched Song Weizheng’s expression and tried to comfort him. “It’s been so many years—there’s no trace of their relatives left in town. The best I could dig up was that they moved to the capital. Brother Zheng, maybe… just let it go…”
Song Weizheng shot him a glance and said flatly, “The capital, huh? Fine.”
“Hey, Brother Zheng!” Tie Zhu stopped him. “You’re not actually thinking of going all the way to the capital, are you? Never mind that we can’t even get there without a letter of introduction—even if you did, it’s a huge place, you’d never find them!”
Then he added, quieter and more timidly, “And even if you did find them… what could you do? He was already the director of the Revolutionary Committee eight years ago—he must be even more powerful now.”
“I know you want to get Aunt Lan’s jade pendant back, but honestly, Aunt Lan herself doesn’t seem to care anymore. Maybe you should just let it go?”
Song Weizheng curled his lips into a faint, contemptuous smile and said coldly, “Don’t worry. I’m not stupid.”
Eight years ago, his mother’s jade pendant had been seized by someone under the pretext of confiscating property from a landlord household. That incident had left her injured and weak, ultimately leading to a difficult labor. His father, desperate to find a doctor to save both her and his little sister Xiao Xue, had braved a snowstorm to cross the mountains in search of medicine. He had slipped and fallen from a slope, freezing to death in the mountains. And his sister Xiao Xue, born prematurely from that harrowing labor, had come into the world frail and sickly—so tiny and weak it was a miracle she had survived at all.
All of this had happened because of those maddened, greedy people.
Song Weizheng had always known that his mother had been brought back to the village with no memory of her past. The jade pendant had been the only possession she had left on her. Because it was engraved with an orchid, she had simply taken the name Rulan.
As a child, Song Weizheng had lost count of how many times he’d seen his mother caress that pendant, her face clouded with confusion and sorrow.
He’d come to realize that she had always wanted to recover her memories—and that jade pendant was perhaps the only clue to her true identity.
So once he’d managed to find some connections, he’d asked people to look into the whereabouts of the group that had ransacked their home that day. Eventually, he’d learned that the pendant had most likely been pocketed by the Revolutionary Committee director who had led the raid.
Unfortunately, the only information he’d managed to gather was that the man had used some unknown connections to secure a promotion, and his whole family had moved to the capital. No word had come back since.
“We’ll talk about it later. Thanks for your help this time.” After a moment of quiet reflection, he patted Tie Zhu on the shoulder.
Then he shifted to another topic. “How have things been lately?”
Tie Zhu understood right away what he was asking and broke into a grin. “Business has been great! It’s just that you’ve been busy lately, Brother Zheng—I’ve been run off my feet!”
“You’ve worked hard,” Song Weizheng said. “I’ve been tied up with the harvest rush, but it won’t be much longer. I’ll be back before long.”
“Got it—I’ll be waiting!” Tie Zhu chuckled. “With you around, Brother Zheng, I feel a lot more at ease with the work.”
Tie Zhu and Song Weizheng had met just last year. One winter evening, Tie Zhu had been cycling back home with several large sacks of grain loaded on his bike. The road was dark and slick, and he’d been exhausted after a full day’s work. He’d lost control, and bike and all had tumbled into a ditch—and he couldn’t get back up.
Tie Zhu had instantly realized he’d probably broken his leg, and a wave of despair had washed over him. It was already late, and this was a remote path he’d deliberately chosen for its seclusion—no one ever passed through. And even if someone did, he was too afraid to ask for help, given that his business was hardly aboveboard.
Lying in that ditch, cold and in agony, he’d lost track of time. Just as he thought he was about to freeze to death, he suddenly heard steady footsteps—coming from the very path he’d fallen off of!
Tie Zhu had opened his mouth, torn between the fear of freezing to death and the risk of being caught for his dealings. Before he could decide, the footsteps stopped—right above him.
He’d quickly clamped his mouth shut, his heart racing with tension.
The footsteps paused for a moment overhead, then suddenly jumped down into the ditch!
Startled, Tie Zhu had been about to speak when the newcomer walked straight up to him.
It was Song Weizheng.
Pushing aside waist-high weeds, Song Weizheng crouched down and saw Tie Zhu lying on the ground, unable to move, with his bicycle pinned on top of him.
Since he’d already been found out, Tie Zhu stopped struggling. He’d managed to croak out, “Brother… give me a hand…”
And so Song Weizheng had saved him, cycling him back to town that very night and getting him into the town hospital. The doctors said that if he’d arrived any later, it wouldn’t just have been a broken leg—the bone would probably have frozen solid.
Song Weizheng had quite literally saved his life! If his leg had been ruined, he wouldn’t have been able to go on living either.
But that wasn’t even what touched Tie Zhu the most. Afterward, Song Weizheng had quietly ridden back, retrieved the scattered sacks of grain from the ditch, and sneaked them to Tie Zhu’s house under the cover of darkness without a word to anyone.
Even though Song Weizheng later said he’d done it because he was interested in Tie Zhu’s business, Tie Zhu had still been moved beyond words. He’d sworn allegiance to his brother and brought him in as a partner.
Tie Zhu’s business was actually quite simple: he bought up grain and resold it, pocketing the price difference. It was a bit risky, but that margin was enough to give his family a worry-free life.
Song Weizheng had a steady temperament, plenty of stamina, a quick mind, and had even opened up several new channels. Gradually, the roles had shifted, and Song Weizheng had become the one leading the way. Tie Zhu felt the money came easier now—and safer too. Of course he was counting the days until Song Weizheng finished with the harvest and came back!
**