8 - A Splash of Cold Water
When he returned home, the worker's quarters had already been lit up with all the lights from the various homes, the smoke from cooking had already dispersed from the corridor, and the army of dishwashers that usually occupied the public sinks had already disappeared. Every neighbor had all closed their doors tightly, shutting out the cold and darkness, to comfortably enjoy the leisure time at night.
Chen Yuanming's mood was quite relaxed. He was covered in sweat from walking all the way and his stomach was growling from hunger, but the money by his chest was real, letting him feel at ease. This time, he will hand in part of the money to the family to supplement the family income, and the other part will be used as capital for him to try and invest in other businesses...
When he pushed open the door, he was just about to greet his family, but he only saw his father, Chen Jianhua, sitting on the bed with his hands clasped and his eyebrows knit tightly, glaring at the him who had walked through the door. The table and chairs in the small room had been left completely clean and empty, seeming as if there had been no intention of leaving a meal for him, and his mother, Wang Juan, was standing beside the bed with a rather anxious expression on her face, looking like she had been worrying endlessly about something.
What had happened?
Before he even had a chance to open his mouth, the man opposite of him had already said sharply, "Where did you go today?"
Chen Yuanming was slightly seized with panic, "I went to Auntie Liu's house, and Sun Lang and I..."
"Auntie Liu's house?" Impolitely interrupting his son's words, Chen Jianhua stood up and walked to Chen Yuanming's side in a few steps, "I don't think so! Does Auntie Liu live at the municipal committee compound?"
Ah. Chen Yuanming instantly understood that perhaps his parents already knew of the matter of him selling things. The first time, he had gone to the department store in the old city district. It was in the east of the city, and was half a district away from the bearing factory. They had also sold out really quickly, and likely hadn't been encountered by any acquaintances. However, it was difficult to say the same for the municipal committee family quarters. Some of the higher-ups at the factory also had spouses who worked for the municipal government, and he couldn't say for certain whether he'd been seen by any of the people he knew. But what's the matter with that?
Chen Yuanming pulled out a smile, "No, I went over to the municipal committee compound with Sun Lang to sell stuff. Auntie Liu had knitted some gloves, and I helped her..."
"What do you mean you helped her!" Chen Jianhua roared , "How fucking old are you?! Liu Yun actually dared to let you go sell things, how could she be so shameless?! Didn't you go to her house to study? So this is what you studied? Have you become ready to spread your wings already, daring to cause trouble in that aspect?! "
Being rendered speechless by these words, Chen Yuanming frowned slightly, "Father, you've misunderstood, Auntie Liu is doing a respectable business, I was only helping out..."
"Respectable? If it were respectable, then why would she be buying and reselling for a profit?" Chen Jianhua was thoroughly angry, "What about purchasing from Shanghai, what about selling abroad? How would you ever be able to help her with anything?! If she doesn't want to have face anymore, our family still does [1]!"
"Quiet down a little." Wang Juan had already walked over and closed the door. She anxiously looked out the window, "It's late at night, stop yelling, it would be embarrassing for the neighbours to hear."
After that, she also went to Chen Yuanming's side, reached out and touched the back of her son's hand, "Doudou, you don't understand these things, don't go and associate with her. In these years, you might've known a person for a long time, but you'll never know their true nature. Sun Jun also isn't a good person, at the factory..." Seeming to find something wrong with what she'd just said, Wang Juan stopped abruptly and didn't continue speaking, but the condemnation in her eyes was like a needle pricking Chen Yuanming's heart.
What relaxation, what satisfaction, what hope? At this time, they all turned into nothingness. Chen Yuanming's face was stiff like a block of iron, and no expression could be seen, "Then what about the money? Don't you want to make money?"
He reached into his pocket and grabbed a handful of banknotes [2], "I went to help work for someone and received compensation. It's only natural, what's so wrong about it? Isn't our family short of money? In the past, how much debt did you have to owe in order for grandmother to treat her illness? How long has it been since we've last had meat or fish? For this entire New Year, how many New Year's purchases did you make, how many relatives did you go visit? Why? Was it not because of a lack of money?"
The colourful bills were gripped in his hand, in a tangled mess, like it had been burnt. Chen Jianhua pulled back his arm with a sudden force, raised his hand, and slapped his son.
"You actually have money... This much money..." The shaky words were like a mumble, "Do you even know what you're doing? This is speculation and profiteering [3]! You could be caught and sent to jail!"
Wang Juan's complexion also changed. She snatched the money from her son, "You only helped her a little and she gave you so much money! Are you stupid! Why didn't you think about why she even gave you the money? How could she do this? I'll go see her tomorrow! "
"Why would you go see her? Don't you think it would be shameful!" Chen Jianhua shouted loudly, "Just throw the money directly to her! If you still go to Liu Yun's house in the future to earn black-hearted money with her [4], just see if I won't break your leg! "
"Exactly! In the future you can't have dealings with her family anymore. What kind of people even are they? Such a good child was raised up bad, in these years is being a "profiteer" a good thing? Our family is poor, but your father and I are upright workers, we earn honest wages, and spend effort to support ourselves. You can't follow a crooked path like those upstarts [5]! "
"Dogs don't even mind it when the family is poor, in any case, you should still have some integrity! Don't let other people poke at our family's backbone behind our backs, why would a perfectly good student do things that are similar to a dog stealing chickens [6]? You might not feel ashamed, but you should also think of your father and mother!"
One was on the left and one on the right, one was high and one low, two voices buzzed beside his ears. The slap had landed very heavily, and the production-line worker's hand was ruthless and fierce, showing no mercy. Chen Yuanming felt like the ear on one side of his face was ringing, and a cold, hard thing was bubbling down his throat, freezing his heart.
He had thought a lot, and pondered over how to use everything from those memories to change the lives of him and his family. However, he had never seriously considered what those things would stand for in this stuffy, factory workers' living quarters in 1991, and had never thought about what his parents would think of them. Considering what it was like when he had quit his job and headed North, how could he, with his wishful thinking, have ever thought that his family would support him?
They wouldn't... It wasn't about making money or not, it's just a gap in their beliefs. Keeping up with appearances, group psychology, self-awareness, all these things made them unshakable, and stubborn like a stone in a pit. Even though they'll be laid off a few years later, and face an even more poverty-stricken life, their self-respect still wouldn't be able to tolerate hawking along the streets, and smiling and welcoming people just to earn a few dollars. How ridiculous...
Chen Yuanming slowly closed his eyes, and his head was lowered. Hunger and cold started wrapping around his body, just like when he had woken up from that nightmare the first time. That night, Chen Yuanming stiffly lay on his stiff, wooden bed, with the swollen half of his face pressed against the buckwheat husk pillow, which throbbed in pain over and over again. But he was afraid of falling asleep, afraid that the bloody dreams would fill his mind again, making him unable to sleep that night.
The sound of breathing, one deep and one shallow, undulated from the bed not far from him, and seemed to be carefree and full of a determination for life.
What was he doing...
The next day, Chen Yuanming was locked at home by his family. The ten-square-foot room was full of furniture, but he sat in front of the small and narrow dinner table, looking at his hands, which were wearing a pair of coffee-coloured, half-fingered gloves. Liu Yun had specially woven it for him, and the size was suitable and it was extremely comfortable to wear.
But what did even he do ...
Bang bang! "Doudou!"
A voice sounded from outside the window. Chen Yuanming raised his head and saw an anxious face. There were iron bars on the windows of his house, so it was entirely impossible to enter and leave from there, but he still opened the window.
"Doudou, what's the matter with your mom?! She went to our place today and dropped off a bunch of money, and said that you..." Sun Lang couldn't wait to call out as soon as the window was opened, but halfway through his sentence, he looked at the face of the boy inside the room with shock, "Your dad hit you? How is it so heavy, it's even swollen!"
One hand reached through the bars of the window and lightly touched the red and swollen, bruised cheek. Chen Yuanming drew back slightly, dodging the other's touch.
"They locked you inside?! Was it because you went with me to sell things? How could they do this!"
"Second Brother..." Chen Yuanming pulled out a small smile, "Don't worry about me, you can't do anything about it."
"How could that be okay? I should just let them hit you and shut you in?! Aren't you their own child?!" The teenager outside the window was very angry. He couldn't imagine how someone could treat their child like this, shouldn't family members dote on their children?!! Even his dad has never hit his face before!
"Your involvement will only make my parents even more angry."
A cold sentence interrupted Sun Lang's anger. He stood stupidly outside the window, feeling a little at a loss.
"I had underestimated some things." Chen Yuanming revealed a self-deprecating smile, "It doesn't matter, don't worry about me, I know what to do."
The teenager really had never encountered this kind of situation before, and after standing stupidly for a while, he felt his pocket, took out two 50 yuan bills, and stuffed them through the window.
"This is what my mother wanted me to give to you." He stammered slightly and said, "She said that she had troubled you, but she can't keep what should be given to you, so she let me......"
The money that he had taken out in his anger yesterday looked like a lot, but it was actually less than 60 dollars, they were only a fraction of the banknotes that were at the top. Now that all the money has been especially returned today, the implication behind it goes without saying. Chen Yuanming smiled and simply reached out to take it.
"Thank Auntie for me, I'm the one who's giving her trouble..."
"It's not any trouble at all, my mother had wanted to directly rush over..." He mumbled a few words, and Sun Lang scratched his head, wondering how to continue.
"Don't worry, school will start in a few days, I'll just treat it as a vacation." Chen Yuanming smiled and consoled him, "As long as my academic performance goes up, there is nothing I can't do. It'll be alright when their anger cools down after a while."
"That's right..." Sun Lang was coaxed by a few words, and slowly smiled, "What do we need to be scared of? As if we still need to be worried about not seeing each other when we get into the same high school?"
"The same high school?" Chen Yuanming raised his eyebrows, "My goal is the No. 1 High School in the city. If you want to take the exam to get in [7], it's not too late to start working hard now."
The teenager's face turned red immediately, "No~ Isn't it just the No. 1 High School? Watch me! There's still hope to reach the top ten at the Middle School No. 2!"
"Of course." Chen Yuanming didn't interrupt the other's bold words. Sun Lang wasn't stupid, he just had the disposition of a teenager, and had a hard time staying calm and concentrating. If he could try harder for the last semester, then it shouldn't be too difficult to get into the top high school in the city. "You'll definitely be able to pass the exams, Second Brother."
Being praised by the other person, the boy showed a proud smile and scratched his head. "Then I'll leave first, otherwise if your dad sees he'll give you another beating. You should also stop being so stubborn, they can't do anything to you if you're more obedient. Also..." He lowered his voice, "My mother said that she's still planning on doing business in the future, and you can be her advisor then. Once you make a lot of money, let's see if your family can still say anything about it! "
"Pfff!" He couldn't resist reaching out and rubbing the other person's messy, short hair, and Chen Yuanming replied seriously, "Hopefully, we'll succeed."
"Aiyou, fuck, don't touch my hair!" He knocked off the mischievous hand with a slap. The dark clouds that had been hanging over Sun Lang's face had all already dissipated, returning to the cute appearance of a strong good-natured looking boy, and his two big eyes blinked a little, "Then I'll go now. After school starts, I'll secretly come find you to hang out!"
"Alright, it's settled then."
With a smile, he looked on as the other party disappeared into the corridor. Chen Yuanming took a deep breath of the cold air outside the window, and closed the window again. It's okay, this kind of trivial matter wasn't much, he just has to think of some other ideas. Putting his head against the cold glass, Chen Yuanming closed his eyes, thinking seriously about the paths towards the future.
The author has something to say:
Note: The crime of speculation, as the name implies, includes speculating (making a huge profit by swindling and posing as a reputable operator), hoarding, or reselling. It was implemented in 1979 and modified/removed in 2009. At the time, the crimes could be considered as large or small. In 1983, 30,000 people were convicted for this crime. In 1991, the last case was sentenced to death.
Footnotes:
Face: I can't remember if I've already said this before, but "face" basically means "reputation", "esteem" or "prestige", and keeping up appearances is a very important thing in a lot of Asian cultures.Pocket: I never know how to translate this term, it should actually be "chest" or "bosom", but it doesn't make sense when it's translated into English. Basically, it just implies that he's keeping the money near his chest, so I just translated it as "pocket" in this context.Speculation and profiteering: Means to engage in any business transaction involving considerable risk or the chance of large gains, especially to buy and sell commodities, stocks, etc., in the expectation of a quick or very large profit. Profiteering can also mean seeking or exacting exorbitant profits, especially through the sale of scarce or rationed goods.Black-hearted: Ruthless and lacking in conscience.Upstarts: Nouveau riche or parvenus, people who have risen suddenly from a humble position to wealth, power, or a position of consequence, or someone who has recently or suddenly acquired wealth, importance, position, or the like, but has not yet developed the conventionally appropriate manners, dress, surroundings, etc.A dog stealing chickens: To mimic a dog and steal chickens; to pilfer or steal.Exam: Pretty sure in China, third-year middle school students (gr. 9) have to write an entrance exam to get into the highschool (gr. 10-12) of their choice?