Chapter 76

Cheng Huai’an didn’t want to listen to his mother’s incessant nagging, so he headed upstairs directly.

Back in his room, he looked out the window at the dark night outside, remembering the girl he had seen earlier. Her eyes, bright like a fox’s, made him smile unconsciously.

Meanwhile, Jiang Tongjie was hurrying home, crying and cursing as he went.

When his parents heard about the incident, they were furious. They hopped on their bikes and headed straight for Guihua Alley.

Before long, they were banging on Mao Dou’s front door.

Yang Aifang frowned as she looked at the fierce-looking couple in front of her. “What’s going on here in the middle of the night?”

The woman shouted, “What’s going on? Look at what your son did to my boy!”

Yang Aifang glanced at Jiang Tongjie behind them, who had bruises all over his face. Could it be that Mao Dou had beaten him up this morning? But if that were the case, why did they wait until now to come over?

However, seeing how aggressive the couple was, Yang Aifang couldn’t show weakness, especially since it was her son who had been hurt.

She sneered. “So, you’re saying my son beat yours up? And he left him bruised like this? How dare you come here and accuse my son?”

The couple exchanged a look. Their son had clearly said he was locked in a sack and beaten by someone else. How could it be their son who had done it? They started to doubt themselves.

They turned to look at their son.

Jiang Tongjie gritted his teeth. “It’s true, it was that kid from their family! Tell him to come out and face me!”

Jiang’s father said sternly, “Hey, call your son out. This needs to be cleared up. He went to our family’s residential area and beat up my son. Don’t you think that’s a bit inappropriate?”

He emphasized the words “residential area” on purpose.

Yang Aifang felt a bit anxious inside, but she thought to herself, let them say whatever they want. She hadn’t said anything wrong.

She knocked on Mao Dou’s door. “Mao Dou, come out. Someone’s looking for you.”

Mao Dou had already heard the commotion outside. Fortunately, Sister Yuechan had foreseen this. He opened the door and yawned. “Mom, everyone’s asleep. What’s going on?”

Yang Aifang was startled to see how badly Mao Dou looked. When they came back earlier, he didn’t seem so badly hurt. How had he gotten into such a state now?

Mao Dou quickly gave his mother a look. Yang Aifang understood and shouted, “Didn’t they say you went to the residential area and beat up that kid?”

She pointed at Jiang Tongjie.

Mao Dou looked over and saw that the boy had one swollen eye, a cut on his lip, and his nose was still bleeding. He couldn’t help but smirk. Serves him right!

The couple from the Jiang family looked at their son and saw that his injuries seemed worse than their own son’s. They began to feel a little uneasy.

Mao Dou shouted, “Mom, that day, he had three people beat me up. You see all these bruises? I almost died from the pain. Don’t let him get away with this. He should pay for the medical bills and tuition.”

Jiang Tongjie gritted his teeth as he saw Mao Dou. “Dad, that’s the kid, the one who came to our residential area and beat me up!”

Yang Aifang immediately sensed something was off. She spoke up with confidence, “Are you trying to slander my son? Mao Dou was bruised all over the day he came home from school. He’s already asleep now, so how could he have gone to your residential area and beaten you? Don’t you have a security guard at your place? How did he even get in?”

“…I don’t know. But it was him, he did it,” Jiang’s father muttered.

The Jiang couple were starting to waver. What if their son was lying? Maybe it wasn’t their son’s fault after all?

Yang Aifang sneered. “Could it be that you offended someone and are now here trying to make up stories? Mao Dou is usually such a good kid.”

Lin Guang, hearing the commotion outside, came out of the room. When he heard the visitors were from the municipal party, he immediately greeted them politely.

The couple, with one playing the “bad cop” and the other playing the “good cop,” ended up getting the Jiang family to pay five yuan to settle the matter.

Yang Aifang closed the door and glared at her son, who was standing there with a mischievous grin on his face. She was furious.

She grabbed the broom and smacked Mao Dou’s backside. “So, you think you’re so capable now, huh? Running around beating people up at other people’s residential areas? Let’s see how I deal with you!”

The next afternoon, Zhang Jinbu hurried over to deliver the payment to Li Yuechan. With a cheeky grin, he said, “Sister Yuechan, I’m treating you to a meal today, no matter what!”

Li Yuechan gave him a good look and said, “Oh, look at you! Finally not wearing those patched-up clothes anymore!”

Zhang Jinbu scratched his head sheepishly. “Hehe, all thanks to you, Sister Yuechan!”

“Alright, kid, I was actually just thinking about you. What do you think? Should we switch things up and expand the market? The prices here are still too low.”

Zhang Jinbu’s eyes immediately lit up. “Really, Sister Yuechan? I’ve been thinking the same thing! Just the other day, I told you I went with Brother Jin’s convoy to the provincial capital, right? You know, their prices there are outrageous! Our rice could sell for five mao per jin there! I bet it could even go for six mao!”

Li Yuechan raised an eyebrow. “The supply and marketing cooperative sells it for only one mao six! I didn’t expect the black market prices in the provincial capital to be so high!”

Zhang Jinbu nodded quickly. “Yes, yes! And Brother Jin mentioned he wants to develop in the provincial capital too. After all, our little county, Luoan, has such low purchasing power!”

Li Yuechan stroked her chin and nodded. “Alright, you go ahead and rent a warehouse in the provincial capital. I’ll figure out a way to transport the grain there. It’s best to find a more remote place.”

“Sister Yuechan, really? We’re really going to develop in the provincial capital?”

Li Yuechan patted Zhang Jinbu’s arm. “Go handle it well. I won’t let you suffer.”

Zhang Jinbu was overjoyed, but still a bit shy. “Sister Yuechan, you’ve already given me so much. I feel embarrassed to accept more.”

“Don’t mention it. As long as you’re with me, you won’t lose out. Once we’re in the provincial capital, your commission will be two cents for grain, and five cents for fruit.”

Zhang Jinbu’s jaw dropped in surprise. That’s a lot of money! He couldn’t even calculate how much it would be.

Dazed, he mumbled, “I… I’ll go handle it right away.”

Just as Zhang Jinbu was about to leave, Li Yuechan stopped him. “Why the rush? Didn’t we say we’re going to eat?”

Zhang Jinbu laughed awkwardly. “Oops, I almost forgot!”

“Let’s go, we’re eating!”

The two of them went to the state-run restaurant. Zhang Jinbu glanced at the small blackboard and laughed. “Today’s special is pork and cabbage dumplings. Sister Yuechan, let’s have dumplings today!”

Li Yuechan nodded. “Alright, then we’ll have that!”

“Sister Yuechan, find a seat. I’ll go order.”

Li Yuechan happily found a small table and sat down. Just as she looked up, she was surprised to see an old acquaintance!

She quickly raised her delicate hand and waved toward them.

Cheng Huai’an smiled at the coincidence and waved back.

The young man sitting across from Cheng Huai’an suddenly widened his eyes. “Old Cheng, why are you smiling?”

Cheng Huai’an rolled his eyes at Tian Haozhe but said nothing, occasionally glancing over at the back of Tian Haozhe’s head.

Tian Haozhe, feeling curious, turned around and immediately saw Li Yuechan’s charming little face.

Li Yuechan smiled at the young man who had turned around, thinking he must be Cheng Huai’an’s friend.

Tian Haozhe’s face turned red in a flash, and he quickly turned back around.

“Old Cheng, do you know that woman?”

Cheng Huai’an nodded and after a moment of thought, replied, “Not really.”

“Come on, if you’re not familiar with her, just get to know her better. You’ll be familiar soon enough!”

The young man turned back to Li Yuechan and asked, “Hey, how about we share a table?”

Li Yuechan thought about it for a moment. It didn’t seem like a big deal, and it would be a good opportunity to see if Cheng Huai’an had any thoughts on what happened yesterday.

She agreed, “Sure!”

As soon as Tian Haozhe heard this, he immediately smiled brightly and quickly moved the dishes from his table to the one across from them.

Cheng Huai’an had no choice but to move to the opposite table as well.

Li Yuechan smiled at Cheng Huai’an and said, “What a coincidence!”

Cheng Huai’an looked at Li Yuechan, noticing that she wasn’t shy or awkward at all, and replied, “Yeah, it’s quite a coincidence. Did you come here by yourself?”

“No, I have a friend.”

At that moment, Zhang Jinbu came over. “Sister, I’ve already ordered, two servings of pork dumplings…”

Tian Haozhe immediately interrupted, “Our food just arrived too, we haven’t touched it yet. If you don’t mind, we can all eat together!”

Zhang Jinbu rolled his eyes. “Sister, I’ve already ordered, it’ll be ready soon.”

Li Yuechan nodded. “Good boy!”

Tian Haozhe awkwardly rubbed his nose and exchanged a look with Cheng Huai’an, who just ignored him.

Tian Haozhe grinned and introduced himself, “Hello, I’m Tian Haozhe.”

Li Yuechan nodded. “Hello, Brother Tian. I’m Li Yuechan.”

Tian Haozhe smiled and said, “Your name is really nice!”

He then looked at Zhang Jinbu, “Brother, what’s your name?”

Zhang Jinbu shot him a glare. “I’m Zhang Jinbu.”

“Hello, Brother Zhang.”

Cheng Huai’an, remembering the earlier conversation with the girl about joining the military, said, “The North Military District’s art troupe is recruiting this month. If you’re interested, you could go have a look.”

Li Yuechan furrowed her brow. “Where is the North Military District?”

“Very close to the capital.”

As soon as Zhang Jinbu heard this, he quickly spoke up, “Sister, are you going? If you go, what will I do?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take you wherever I go.”

Zhang Jinbu grinned. “That’s great!”

Cheng Huai’an looked at Zhang Jinbu, surprised that a grown man would call a young girl “Sister.” Was her status higher than his?

Tian Haozhe, hearing that the girl might go so far away, quickly said, “Comrade Li, are you looking for a job? I happen to know some people at the police station, and they’re hiring. Would you be interested?”

Li Yuechan shook her head. “Not interested.”

Tian Haozhe, not giving up, said, “I heard the municipal propaganda department is also hiring. Would you be interested in that? If you are, I can help you.”

Li Yuechan looked at Tian Haozhe. Could it really be that jobs were so easy to come by, like cabbage, and even the municipal propaganda department was struggling to find people? Or was this man’s background just too strong?

She wasn’t interested in a propaganda department job, especially since they weren’t even close. She didn’t want to owe anyone any favors.