Chapter 17

On a weekend afternoon, when Song Haowen had no classes, he strolled around the streets outside the campus, casually looking for a house. By chance, he noticed a shop with a stylishly decorated glass kitchen window and decided to take a closer look.

“Hey, buddy, I finally found you!”

Suddenly, someone loudly shouted across the street at Song Haowen. Turning around, he saw that it was Qian Youlai calling him. Qian Youlai rushed across the road like a gust of wind, grabbed him, and joyfully said, “You made it really hard for me to find you.”

Song Haowen, somewhat surprised, asked, “It seems like your injuries have completely healed. Do you need something from me?”

Qian Youlai chuckled and said, “Thanks to you that day, or I would have been in real trouble. After my injuries healed, I wanted to thank you properly by treating you to a meal. But I didn’t know your name, so I’ve been wandering around your school, and I unexpectedly ran into you.”

Song Haowen waved his hand and said, “It was a small matter; no need to worry about it. Is the big-headed guy still causing trouble for you?”

Proudly, Qian Youlai said, “With you, my protective deity, who dares to pick a fight with us?” He grabbed Song Haowen’s hand. “This time, you have to tell me your name.”

This time, Song Haowen didn’t refuse and revealed his name.

Qian Youlai said, “You’re my lifesaver. Your skills are amazing. Can I consider you, my master?”

Song Haowen chuckled and said, “Enough, enough. What lifesaver? Don’t say that. Call me master? That won’t work either; I don’t take disciples.”

Qian Youlai’s eyes dimmed. “Students from Beijing University are the cream of the crop with bright futures. I’m not even qualified to take the college entrance exam, just an unemployed wanderer. I know I’m not worthy to be your disciple.”

Staring at him for a moment, Song Haowen said, “Where did you get that idea? I said I won’t be your master because I’m younger than you; I’m only 16.”

Qian Youlai was surprised. He hadn’t expected someone so young to be attending university, especially the top university in the country. He couldn’t help but feel even more admiration.

“It’s said that the capable should be the master. Whether I become your master has nothing to do with age. I genuinely want to be your master. In the future, whatever you ask me to do, I’ll do it. I want to be your follower.”

Song Haowen was intrigued. What he lacked for his entrepreneurial venture was manpower. However, he didn’t know much about Qian Youlai’s character and needed more observation before deciding whether to accept him as an assistant. Thinking about this, he said, “Let’s talk about this later. I need to think about it. I have to go now if there’s nothing else.”

Qian Youlai understood that it wasn’t something that could be decided immediately. He didn’t press the matter further and invited, “My home is not far from here. I’d like to invite you to my place, have a chat, and maybe eat dinner.”

Initially inclined to decline, Song Haowen thought that since he had nothing else to do, visiting Qian Youlai’s home could provide more insights. He agreed.

Qian Youlai was overjoyed and chattered incessantly along the way. Through his introduction, Song Haowen got a basic understanding of Qian Youlai’s family situation.

The Qian family, where Qian Youlai comes from, used to be a relocated household and returned to the city from the west of the river just before the new year. The family consists of five members: the father works in a state-owned factory, the mother is a sales clerk in a community department store, and there are two sisters, one in junior high school and the other in elementary school.

Before their relocation, the Qian family had two bungalows, which were later demolished due to urban redevelopment. Upon returning to the city, the neighborhood committee never provided any explanation regarding their house and relocations. There are many families like Qian Youlai’s who returned to the city without a house, each with its own reasons. Currently, they are temporarily resettled in outskirt area of the town, waiting for the relocation, facing quite challenging living conditions.

In his previous life, Song Haowen was familiar with resettlement communities; many of his acquaintances became rich overnight due to demolitions. However, he didn’t know much about the concept of shantytowns.

It wasn’t until he followed Qian Youlai to his home that he realized the outskirt area where Qian’s family lived was built by the government along the river, consisting of mobile aluminum alloy houses and tents arranged in two rows—one facing the river and the other facing the backstreet.

In the middle, there was a long, approximately one-kilometer-wide main passage. The place was bustling with activity, filled with loud voices, and the sounds of chickens and dogs.

Qian Youlai’s home was composed of two aluminum alloy mobile houses, built facing the river—one serving as the living room, and the other as a bedroom. Outside, there was a small iron shed about half a person tall, piled with several rows of coal balls. Inside, there was a carbon stove with a steel pot on top. When Song Haowen arrived, hot steam was rising from the water in the pot.

The door of the mobile house wasn’t locked, and with just a twist of the handle, it opened. No one was at home. Qian Youlai brought a thermos flask, poured two cups of tea, and then fetched some melon seeds. The two sat at the octagonal table, eating and chatting.

Before long, members of Qian Youlai’s family began to return, and upon learning that Song Haowen had saved Qian Youlai, they were very grateful. When Qian Youlai’s elder sister heard that Song Haowen was only sixteen years old this year and was already a high-achieving student at Beijing University, her eyes sparkled with admiration.

Invited warmly by Qian Youlai’s family, Song Haowen stayed for dinner. The dinner was quite sumptuous, consisting of four dishes and a soup: stir-fried pork with green peppers, steamed yellow croaker, smoked and roasted pig head meat, and stir-fried Chinese cabbage with vermicelli seaweed soup. Unable to resist the family’s insistence, Song Haowen even had half a cup of Erguotou liquor.