Chapter 31.2
Fang Wenhao, who appeared on campus the next day alive and kicking, seemed to have no memory of what he had done after getting drunk. He specially found Lin Jingzhe to reassure him, “Don’t worry, I’ve already made that damn bastard, Hu Shaofeng, take the car to be repaired and pay for it!”

Lin Jingzhe saw his gleeful expression, completely devoid of any feelings of gratitude, and ultimately decided not to tell him that he had puked all over Hu Shaofeng last night.

But though Hu Shaofeng forgot everything else, he hadn’t forgotten that Lin Jingzhe opened up a company! After talking about the car, the young man shifted the topic and began to dissuade Lin Jingzhe against rushing into participating in the bidding.

Lin Jingzhe promised that no, he wouldn’t be impulsive, and began to worry. Seeing Fang Wenhao like this, it was obviously impossible to work with him. Moreover, the shareholders in Fang Wenhao’s company each had their own ideas and were constantly in dispute, making it a poor target for potential cooperation. Now that his company was open, Lin Jingzhe only lacked a business partner.

The name of his company, New Beginnings, came from the metaphorical meaning of Lin Jingzhe’s name—the beginning of spring, when everything wakes up and comes to life. He intended to make this company his starting point; it wasn’t the same as the “throwaway” one he made in Shen City.

He was different from others since the city’s future urban development was no secret to him, but Fang Wenhao’s warning was not unreasonable. It wasn’t easy to gain a foothold in the real estate industry, especially the real estate industry in Yan City. Without even mentioning the powerful backgrounds of competitors who dared to jump in the muddy waters of the early days of the commodity housing development—even trying to bid for commercial land could potentially be enough for Lin Jingzhe to choke on.

No matter the era, it was always hardest to earn the first barrel of gold. No contacts, no connections, meager funds—Lin Jingzhe had almost nothing except his knowledge of China’s future socio-economic development. Although he still had about three million yuan tied up in Shen City stock market, this amount was far from enough to buy land.

Though land today was not going for the billions of yuan it would twenty years in the future, the average price was still higher than Lin Jingzhe’s current assets. During the last quarterly land auction, Fang Wenhao had aimed for but failed to win a piece of land that many people thought was promising; its final bid price was as high as 32 million yuan.

Now that the commercial housing industry officially entered the market, the price of land had skyrocketed. The cheapest piece of land offered at the auction Lin Jingzhe was planning to attend, was at a poor location with few people expressing interest in it, but industry insiders still estimated that it was worth at least 7 million.

Three million yuan seemed like a lot of money, but in fact, it was just crumbs.

Aside from this matter, he was also bothered by Xiao Chi’s string of prayer beads. He had originally wanted to get rid of it, but because of his inexplicable rebirth, he didn’t dare to make light of things related to faith and the supernatural, so he could only carry it with him. This rosary, austere and dignified, seemed to have seen quite a few years—the scripture engravings on each of the 108 beads were almost polished smooth from being repeatedly turned over in fingers. It looked very valuable. Lin Jingzhe still couldn’t understand how it ended up with him. Of course, he planned to return the rosary to its rightful owner, but at the same time he really didn’t want to meet Xiao Chi.

As he worried about this matter, his hand touched his pocket. After a few days, he unconsciously began to form a habit of putting his hand in his pocket and running his fingers over the beads.

Xiao Chi changed to a string of prayer beads made from Bodhi seeds, but they felt different when he touched them and he couldn’t get used to it. On the other hand, Hu Shaofeng was quite efficient and soon brought back news—

“Hey, you have quite a sharp sense of smell to sniff out that company,” Hu Shaofeng said, amazed, as he thumbed through the information in his hand. “The formalities were handled by a DaHu Group agent on Fang Wenhao’s behalf, and it looks like Lin Jingzhe is the founder? And they also applied for bidding documents for the next land auction? Could this be Fang Wenhao’s attempt to blindside us?”

“New Beginnings Real Estate…” Xiao Chi turned the name over in his mouth for a while, passing the prayer beads he was unfamiliar with through his fingers. Hu Shaofeng’s speculation was not unreasonable, but somehow, he found it unlikely.

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Eh? You say it was really Lin Jingzhe who opened it? How could it be that kid?” Hu Shaofeng was used to judging people by their appearance, so he had already formed an impression of Lin Jingzhe that was deeply rooted because the youth just looked too harmless.

“Did you forget where we first saw him?” Xiao Chi asked.

Hu Shaofeng’s expression changed upon this reminder. “The trading room?!”

He clearly remembered the day of Shen City Stock Exchange’s opening—while the other investors had displayed a wait-and-see attitude, Lin Jingzhe had acted as decisively as Xiao Chi, both of them throwing out huge amounts of money with no hesitation whatsoever. At that time, seeing that the situation was optimistic, Xiao Chi had stayed in Shen City for several days and gradually increased his investment every day, finally investing nearly five million yuan. As for his return… needless to say, he’d earned back all the money he had spent at the last land auction.

Hu Shaofeng would never think of questioning Xiao Chi’s vision and means; he knew very well what kind of crazy soul was hidden under his friend’s “standing aloof from worldly affairs” appearance. Could Lin Jingzhe be the same?

He shuddered at the thought. Lin Jingzhe looked pure and harmless, with a bit of baby fat that hadn’t completely faded from his face—this contrast between the outside and the inside was much more shocking than in Xiao Chi’s case.

Xiao Chi looked through the pile of documents and pondered for a moment. As Hu Shaofeng forced his mind to emerge from all kinds of chaotic thoughts, he recalled something else. “By the way, have you heard? Qi Kai’s grandfather managed to fish him out—he returned to Yan City yesterday.”

Xiao Chi nodded calmly, his gaze falling on Lin Jingzhe’s ID photo in the upper corner of the document.

He had expected this would happen. After all, as long as Elder Qi was still alive, he would never allow his only remaining family member to go to jail.

For the sake of this single seedling, Elder Qi had to make a lot of concessions, greatly weakening the family’s roots. Xiao Chi remembered that when his father spoke about this, he had gotten worked up and there had been a tone of regret in his voice.

When thinking of the tough, shrewd man who had been powerful throughout his whole life but finally fell because of his worthless grandson, even his competitors couldn’t help but have mixed feelings. Xiao Chi closed the file and looked at Hu Shaofeng. “I don’t care what Qi Kai does, that’s his business, but if you dare to hang out with him again, don’t blame me for not giving you face,” he said in a deep voice.

“That…” Remembering his previous envy of Qi Kai’s “profitable business”, Hu Shaofeng was filled with shame. “Don’t worry, I’m not that much of an idiot. I’ll avoid him when I can.”

Xiao Chi nodded slightly and leaned back, throwing his arm on the back of the sofa. “Also, invite Fang Wenhao and… Lin Jingzhe to come out for a meal one of these days.”

Hu Shaofeng’s face changed. He asked with some unwillingness, “Why do you want to meet with them? I only fought with Fang Wenhao a few days ago, and the damn bastard ran to cry to my dad that I hit his car.” Aggrieved, he pulled up his sleeve. “Look, my dad hit me so hard—”

Xiao Chi paid no attention to his whining. Pointing to the documents, he said, “Have you read this? Guess which piece of land New Beginnings Real Estate applied to bid for?”

Hu Shaofeng froze, then slapped his thigh and stood up. “Wasn’t it Lot no. 9 by the 2nd Middle Road? It’s in the middle of nowhere—are Fang Wenhao and Lin Jingzhe stupid?”

“I don’t think they are stupid.” Eyelids drooping, Xiao Chi put forward a conjecture that Hu Shaofeng was doubtful of. “They might’ve gotten wind of something. In short—perhaps both sides will benefit from this meeting.”

As Fang Wenhao received an invitation message on his pager, Lin Jingzhe arrived at Wutong University. An hour ago, Zhou Haitang had called him with very unexpected news.

Father Zhou had been included in the latest batch of laid-off workers in Liyun Thermos Factory.

The computer department at Wutong University was a freshly added department, with few students and new dormitory buildings. The school had even splurged and installed telephones in every dorm room.

Zhou Haitang, tanned a healthy bronze from military training, was arguing with Deng Mai. When he caught sight of Lin Jingzhe walking into the room, he rushed to him, a rare lost look on his face. “Jingzhe, what should I do?”

His roommates accompanied him, trying to comfort him. The severity of this year’s lay-offs went far beyond the ordinary students’ imaginations, and everyone was sympathetic.

Lin Jingzhe calmly patted him on the shoulder. “When did this happen?”

He was actually bewildered—according to his memory of their past life, Father Zhou had indeed been laid off, but not this early.

“Nearly a month ago. My parents were hiding it from me, but Deng Mai’s father accidentally let it slip.” As Zhou Haitang recalled the 150 yuan of living allowance his parents remitted to him every month without fail ever since he came to Yan City, the guilt surged up and almost overwhelmed him. Unable to calm down, he kept running his hands through his hair in anguish, repeating, “Why didn’t they tell me, why didn’t they tell me…”

Seeing him like this, Gao Sheng sighed and took over explaining.

Father Zhou was laid off a month ago without any warning. When they got the news, the couple completely collapsed; after Mother Zhou was laid off last year, most of the Zhou family’s income came solely from Father Zhou’s earnings. This incident was nothing short of a calamity for them, but every time they talked with their son on the phone, they still deliberately hid the news.

As for the reason why Father Zhou had been laid off in advance—the problem lay in the money Zhou Haitang’s parents had borrowed to send their son to the university.

Deng Mai’s father explained this during the phone call earlier. A few years ago, the factory, as a state-owned enterprise, had been allocated funds to build a welfare housing estate, which was almost finished and would be allocated this year. Not only were both of Zhou Haitang’s parents working in Liyun Thermos Factory, they were among the most senior employees; it could be said that the couple devoted their lives to the factory, so they naturally qualified for welfare housing.

But there were too many monks and not enough gruel, so someone had to be unlucky; even the factory director had several relatives applying for housing allocation. The relationship between Zhou Haitang’s parents and the director was not very good, and they naturally were targeted. Last year, he had arranged Mother Zhou to be laid off to weaken their competitiveness, since if both husband and wife were working in the factory, their chances of getting housing were much greater.

At that time, Father Zhou rushed to the factory director’s office to raise a ruckus, exposing the director’s dishonest motives. Humiliated, the director wanted to take revenge but never found an opportunity since Father Zhou was a veteran employee and couldn’t easily be removed.

In order to send Zhou Haitang to university, Father Zhou borrowed money from several fellow factory workers. However, someone came forward and claimed that Father Zhou actually used the money to buy stocks.

A bit before this, the factory had arranged for Father Zhou to go to Shen City on a short business trip. After his return, when he and the others were drinking, he mentioned the grand scene he witnessed when passing by the stock exchange, eliciting gasps of shock and amazement.

In the early days of the stock market in China, many people who didn’t understand it regarded it as almost an abomination. Similar to other provinces, in Qunnan Province, a wave of state-owned enterprise workers had also set off for Shen City to speculate in stocks. Many factories decided that it was a dishonest, disreputable practice and directly fired them.

The layoff notice came out right after the accusation, giving Father Zhou no chance to defend himself. He and his wife lost all sources of income, and the worker who identified him as a stock speculator was allocated the housing he had dreamed of, which was originally supposed to be given to them.

The couple was completely disheartened and in despair, and Zhou Haitang was the same. Until now, he didn’t know that his parents had borrowed money for his tuition and living expenses, and that the amount was almost equivalent to his father’s one-year worth of salary.

It was also the first time he was faced with the dark side of humans’ hearts. The worker who accused his father of speculating in stocks used to have a close relationship with his father, but for benefits, he didn’t hesitate to break off their friendship and turn his back on him.

Gao Sheng was fuming with indignation and furious that so many people participated in this incident: “This is really too much!”

Lin Jingzhe was much less agitated—after all, he knew Father Zhou being laid off was only a matter of time. The performance of state-owned enterprises was getting worse by the day; this was the case even for steelworks and coal mines, let alone a small factory producing thermos bottles.

Besides, the welfare housing was not only located in the remote Liyun Town, it also wasn’t a resident’s own property. Though in the future, it would become possible for the residents to buy it, it wouldn’t be worth it—even with the appreciation of the property’s value, it still wouldn’t reach the value of ordinary commercial housing. Was this really something worth cherishing?

Thinking about Father Zhou’s fate in his last life, perhaps being able to leave that place a little earlier was a good thing.

The couple used to live in the staff dormitory, but as soon as Father Zhou was laid off, the factory director threw them out. Currently homeless, they stayed at Deng Mai’s parents’ house while they looked for another place to live.

Due to this matter, Zhou Haitang seemed to have matured—this time, he didn’t say he would drop out of university and find a job, and instead called his parents and firmly swore, “I will study well and not waste the money you borrowed.”

Seeing the resolve in his eyes, Lin Jingzhe was gratified. Zhou Haitang’s parents on the other end of the phone also breathed a sigh of relief. They knew their son’s character very well; their biggest reason for hiding what had happened was because they were afraid he would be impulsive and do something stupid. Hearing him say that he had decided to study hard set their minds at ease.

Father Zhou said, {Mom and Dad are not as weak as you imagine. As long as you study properly, I’ll get the money to let you finish university even if I have to smash all our pots and pans into pieces and sell them as scrap iron!}

“I haven’t spent any of the living expenses you sent me last month, I’ll send it back to you tomorrow,” Zhou Haitang said. “Dad, you don’t have to send me any more money—university students in Yan City can easily find a part-time job, I’ll pay for my living expenses myself!”

Father Zhou disagreed. {You should focus on studying, that’s the most important. We didn’t send you to university so you can waste your time working. Calm down and stop worrying about this, and don’t send money to us—we should have jobs soon.}

He continued, {A few days ago, your Uncle Gao called. He told me that the wages on construction sites in the provincial capital are very high, sometimes even twenty to thirty yuan a day. Your mother and I have decided to leave Liyun this weekend and meet up with him.}

In 1990, a wage of 20 to 30 yuan a day was very high. Father Zhou was clearly filled with expectations, but Lin Jingzhe’s blood ran cold.

This was something he could never forget: in his last life, Gao Sheng’s father had been crippled and Zhou Haitang’s father died in an accident on a construction site, when reinforcing steel bars pierced through his body. His death was so horrendous that the hospital did not let his family visit him in the morgue. As Zhou Haitang’s heartbreaking cries seemed to break through time and space and pierce his ears, Lin Jingzhe straightened and set his shoulders.

After the father and son finished talking, he comforted Zhou Haitang, urging him not to worry about this for today and to have a good rest. Before leaving Wutong University, he stopped at the guardhouse and asked to borrow the phone, then dialed the number he had just noted down.

As Father Zhou answered the call, his voice was doubtful: {Hello?}

“Uncle Zhou, it’s me, Jingzhe.”

{Jingzhe? Didn’t we just talk? Did something happen?} the man asked, surprised.

“Uncle Zhou, can you come to Yan City? It would be best if you brought Aunty too.”

Father Zhou replied with some awkwardness, {Please tell Haitang that we really are fine, he shouldn’t worry about us. We would of course like to reassure him in person, but the fares to Yan City were already expensive, and recently they’ve gone up.}

Lin Jingzhe lowered his voice. “Actually, Haitang’s mood seems a little wrong. I looked for another phone to call you because I couldn’t tell you this while he was listening.”

{What? What’s wrong with him?} Father Zhou exclaimed immediately. {When we talked just now, he sounded normal!}

“Both you and Aunty really should come to Yan City and persuade him. I will transfer you money for the fare if you don’t have enough,” Lin Jingzhe whispered, trying his best to sound alarming enough to push them into action. “Don’t ask him directly when you talk with him on the phone, I’m afraid he’ll do something stupid.”

Father Zhou was frightened at once. A short commotion ensued, then Mother Zhou’s voice, full of anxiety, came from the receiver: {Please don’t take your eyes off him, Jingzhe, don’t let him do something reckless! Aunty and Uncle will go buy tickets right away!}

They knew Zhou Haitang’s character—he was reckless, stubborn as a mule, and hotheaded.

Zhou Haitang was stubborn and prone to acting on impulse—just like the time he gave up his studies to join a gang in his last life. Naturally, the couple was aware of their silly son’s temper, so they never doubted Lin Jingzhe’s words. They refused his offer to send money, only saying that they still had enough for the fare; even before the call ended, Father Zhou, who usually was impatient with his son, had already rushed out to buy tickets.

After calming Mother Zhou and assuring her that he would take good care of Zhou Haitang, Lin Jingzhe hung up and calculated the time.

Zhou Haitang’s parents obviously wouldn’t take a plane. Getting from Liyun Town to Qunnan City by bus, then to Yan City by train, would take between twenty and thirty hours or more, depending on the stops and transfers. If they set out tonight or tomorrow, they should arrive the day after tomorrow, or the day after that at the very latest.

Many things had changed in this life, so Lin Jingzhe wasn’t sure that Father Zhou would still encounter that accident, but he would rather not take the risk. However, Father Zhou was unlikely to give up the well-paid job.

After all, if they didn’t work at the construction site, then where? What other job could they find? Nowadays, factory work was all assigned and didn’t require initiative; having spent most of their life in such an environment, the Zhou couple’s compliance with rules and conventional standards had been engraved in their bones: ‘Don’t make a fuss, don’t contend with others, adapt to the circumstances’. In this era, an individual daring enough to become self-employed could earn much more than 30 yuan a day, but for them, this concept was impossible to understand.

Over the phone, Lin Jingzhe couldn’t explain it to them even if he spoke himself hoarse. However, with the expensive travel fare, the couple wouldn’t agree to come to Yan City for no reason, so he invented a reason.

After hanging up, he felt a little guilty—with his words just now, the Zhou couple would never dare call their son and question him, so they were bound to spend the whole journey in a state of constant anxiety.

Clack—

Lin Jingzhe used the hand with the prayer beads draped over to knock on the main gate and the railings, listening to the quiet sound as they clattered against each other all the way back to the dorm room. He leaned against the door, looking at Zhou Haitang’s back as the young man was studying seriously, with a bit of a guilty conscience—

Sorry, buddy, I’m afraid a beating awaits you in the near future.